The NFC East is Wide Open, and More Observations from Week 7

This episode is brought to you by Sharpie for Jeremiah Love Sharpie's 2026 rookie of the year and third overall a draft pick career milestones deserve a signature that stands out. That's why he signed his pro contract using the Sharpie S gel pen, making sure his mark looked clean, confident and unmistakably his Sharpie S gel features no smear, no smudge, no bleed technology and always vivid writing, high performance for a high performer. For life's biggest signing moments, make it Sharpie. Sharp now at AMSI. This episode is brought to you by Sony Pictures Classics, a perfect crime film says the Daily Beast. John Torturo gives a career best performance. Don't miss the acclaimed New Thriller, the only living pick pocket in New York. Torturo stars as an aging master pick pocket whose latest score puts him in the crosshairs of a ruthless crime family. It's also starring Giancarlo Esposito, Tariana Mazzlani, Will Price and our guy Steve Buscemi. See the film that the OA Times calls instantly classic. The only living pick pocket in New York opens in theaters October 23rd in New York in Los Angeles, nationwide October 30th. What's up everybody? It is the Ringer NFL show late Monday night October 26th. The Cowboys beat the Eagles, really dominate that game in Philadelphia. Jerry Jones now going to use this as the catalyst to make a trade that Eagles go trading in the other direction. We'll talk about all of that also dive into the Sunday slate, the big winners, some losers. We concerned with the Chiefs and the 49ers after they fell from the ranks of the Unbeaten. What was Dan Campbell doing? What were the officials doing in that game? We'll get into all that and a lot more for after this. This is the Ringer NFL show presented by Fan Duel, make every NFL week more rewarding with Fan Duel Rewards Club. Just bet like you normally would and earn points on eligible settled bets winner lose. Keep collecting points level up and unlock bigger rewards. So keep an eye on your Rewards Club progress and see what you can unlock. This is your most rewarding season ever with Fan Duel. 21 plus select states 18 plus DC or Wyoming, gambling problem called 1-800-Gamber, call 1-888-7897-77 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut. [Music] Tom Pellicero here, Shield Kapati, Billy Gill as well as always. Shield, there's two ways to look at this at this game. On the one hand, you have I think a bitterly disappointing Eagles loss. Yes, you're on your third string quarterback. By the time it's over, you're like on your sixth string running back, your receivers around, all that. The defense plays poorly. It is a no-show type effort by the Eagles defense, giving up over 400 yards. That's the unit that's supposed to keep you in it. Flip side of it. The Cowboys defense got some pieces back. The Marvian overshown, not a household name, but it missed time. Comes back. It's a big pick in the game. I didn't see just like the massive coverage bus and everything else. It seems like maybe they're kind of figuring some things out. And if they have that type of balance on offense, they're a tough team and a not so tough division. Where do you start with this one, Shield? Yeah, I think if you look at the Cowboys and the strength of their team is so strong with their offense. I know they're coming off a couple games where it wasn't as good, specifically last week against the Packers. But you look at this game tonight. They had the ball nine times and they scored on seven of those possessions, four touchdowns and three field goals. And it's just like we've seen this for the most part here through the first seven weeks. That most weeks, not every week, but most weeks, they're going to be able to move the ball. They're going to be able to score. Their wide receivers are going to be tough to handle. Their run game is going to be good. Their offensive line is going to be pretty good. And so now they're at this place here as we're going to do a lot of stuff. But before the trade deadline, I still don't look at that defense as good enough. And I don't know if there's another move to be made. Maybe they've made all the moves they can. Maybe it's just a matter of let's keep me. Let's keep getting these guys healthy. Like you're saying, get everyone together and go at it. But man, there were stretches through what three quarters, two and a half quarters of that game, where you're like, man, the Eagles are kind of score. The Eagles offense has been horrible all season. And they had scored three touchdown drives out of six until they kind of fell apart at the end there. So I think the Cowboys are just such an interesting team as we look ahead to the next two weeks. Is there like one more move to make where they look at this and say, this could be our, I don't want to say final chance. But the team's going to look different next year. And maybe we can make one more move to try to help that defense. It feels like Jerry's not going to sit still, right? Like he's not just going to say like, okay, we made some moves. Let's kind of see how these things play out. They have a favorable schedule moving forward, right? Especially compared to the Eagles. The Eagles basically have, it's two weeks to the deadline. They have a game against the commanders next week. And then they have another game following against the giant. So I mean, it seems as though they would be sellers where the Cowboys could be stacking up some wins here and might trick some people, including themselves into thinking that they are a better team than they are. But I was actually surprised that Eagles hung in it as long as they did as the third quarter they were leading at one point. So it wasn't the best performance early on for the Cowboys ended up kind of putting things away like we expected them to. But you know, not the blowout you'd want it to be from start to finish. They got there towards the end, but slower than you think. But again, I go back to, yeah, the Eagles are very challenged offensively with all the injuries. But that's a talented defense. I mean, you're not missing like everybody back there. Nolan Smith's self of the game. Like they're not super short-handed. Sheila, I mean, you've watched this team more than I have just over the course of the season. We've seen flashes. I mean, in London, the Eagles defense looked really, really good. And Jalen Carter looked good. I don't know if I saw Jalen Carter in this game outside of smacking a guy in the face a couple of times. I mean, that's that's kind of the up and down piece of it that I would think is maddening. You'd like to think it's Vic Fangio. And all these former first-round picks, like go out there and say, we're going to single-handedly go win the game. They give over 400 yards. They give over 200 rushing yards. Devante Williams had the most rushing yards in a game by a cowboy since Zeke Elliott, like a decade ago. I mean, this was a, this was a bad performance. I understand the offense plays in a part of it when you're not moving the football. The other team has the ball. We're like, I get all that. You just like to see that defense just go, you know what? Not tonight. We're not going to let you do it. The Packers did it last week. It gets the same cowboys offense and shut them down. And then this game, it just, I didn't feel the Eagles defense at all shield. It's a great point of distinction, because I think everyone looks at the Eagles and it's like, oh, season from hell. They've gotten all these injuries. Like, what do you expect? That's on the offense. The defense had nine of 11 starters healthy in this football game. The two guys they didn't have Nolan Smith, who is like, you know, is a fine player. He's not a superstar player. And then they have Michael Carter, who's kind of like a backup safety, who was ended up starting. It wasn't like they were down. Their best players on defense. And to your point is the eighth worst defensive performance by a team in a game this season by EPA. And to your point watching it, it felt even worse than that. I tweeted that out and people were like, wait, how could there even be seven teams that were worse than that? Zero turnovers, zero sacks, zero quarterback hits. It has been a completely underperforming unit. You know, you go into that game and you say, the offense is going to score in the 20s. You feel like that's at least going to be a game in the last four minutes. Their defense has really underwhelmed all season long. It has not been the same unit. They're paying a lot of money to the guys up front. Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Jonathan Grenard, they make that trade for Jonathan Grenard in the offseason. He's been healthy. He plays in this game. They gave him a contract extension. To your point, I really don't remember a single play in this game where the broadcast was said, one of those guys names where they actually made a play. I mean, they just got gashed on the ground. And again, they did. How do you not hit the quarterback one time in the entire game? So yeah, just a huge, huge underwhelming performance. The stats in the broadcast too. They mentioned you're the end of the game that the Cowboys are in 65 plays and Eagles did have a tackle for loss. No one was making a play, Billy, in that game. Now again, you know, Sequan is not right from go. Like I give credit, you know, whether it's they announced there's a back right that he was questionable with, but he's had the hamstring. All these things are connected. He's clearly like, all right, I'm being smart, right? That's what he was saying that you could read his lips on. But he's out there trying, like he's trying to set the tone. Your team leaders are showing up. It's a big battle, obviously, for the Eagles right now. And, you know, for the Cowboys, like, this is what you're supposed to do. When you catch an opponent, who at least on one side of the ball is gashed like they are like, you should go out and dominate them. It was harder than it needed to be probably in the first half. But I do give credit to Christian Parker, the leaders on that defense, just like it's incremental. It's not like you snap your fingers, and it's all fixed, but they were better. especially in the second half, like they were playing more fundamentally sound you weren't seeing the bus and they don't have to be great. They just have to be okay. They've been bad to this point in the year. You can get to average. I know what the record says, but I still feel like this team Billy and the Cowboys can be dangerous. Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where luckily again, they have the Cardinals coming up, the Colts, the 49ers obviously will be tough, and then Titans, Eagles again, and then the Seahawks. Like they can get wins together if they can just kind of piece things together slowly against these lesser opponents. I credit to the Eagles with how injured that they were, you know, in the red zone, they were three for three, two of three on third downs or on fourth downs. Third downs, five and twelve is really what got them, but they were kind of hanging in. They're aside from the turnover. They were right there in time of possession. Like they were hanging with the Cowboys as much as they could with kind of this mash unit. So, you know, the Cowboys did pick it up, but I think over the next couple of weeks is when you really figure out who they are, and if they are going to finally be able to piece together and then actually go on a run, maybe win the division, and then, you know, I don't think anyone thinks they're going to go on a Super Bowl run. There were these expectations before the season with the offense, right? We were talking about this could be the greatest offense that there is, and maybe the defense would hold them back a little bit. Have we, have we chilled a little bit from that shield where we think that this is like this can be one of the best teams in the NFC, maybe a, you know, dark horse for Super Bowl? I think they're very similar to the team I thought they were going to be. I've got, don't get me wrong. I've gotten 400 things wrong about how the season was going to play out, but the Cowboys, I feel like I had a pretty good handle on. I think we, you know, we did a bunch of pods in the preseason. I thought they were going to have a top five offense. Their offense has been excellent for the most part, and I had them, I think, in the 20s when I was doing my preseason projections on defense, and they've been worse than that. But to Tom's point, like, there's a chance teams do evolve. You know, it's so funny when the season ends, and you look at what happened in like the first, you know, four or five, six, seven weeks of the season, you're like, oh, that doesn't really matter. It's like, well, you know, all that matters is what happened later. So there's a chance their defense finds themselves a little bit. I want to see them against some more worthy offensive opponents. I want to see these guys play together a little bit more Joey Porter Jr. Obviously played in this game. He's only played in a couple of games, but he had a nice play. Yeah. His first moment, Quinn and Williams had a moment there, late in the game. So yeah, I still think they have a chance. We'll talk about the giants later. I think those are clearly the two teams in the NFC East that are going to be battling it out. I believe to the end there, the Cowboys have a chance if they configure some things out on defense because their offense really is going to be that prolific, I think, most weeks. So now, you know, the Eagles, well, let's just recap the NFC standing juror quick. Giants 4, 2 and 1, Cowboys 3 and 4, Eagles, 2 and 5, and next Sunday night, they face the 1, 4 and 1 Commanders. She'll, you know that city, you know how he and how he operates. I don't foresee this being the Eagles just kind of, and we'll write it out for the next couple weeks and see. This is going to be either you're going to try to plot twist the whole season and get back into this thing, or you're going to get really aggressive about not fire sale, but if we can get a big deal on a couple of our guys, let's do it. You already did one big trade involving Cam Jurgen, so that was also frankly a convenient trade for Howie because you had a former Pro Bowl Center who was playing out a position at Guard and wasn't very good at it was making a lot of money. What do you think? Howie Roseman is going to sleep tonight contemplating? Is he contemplating? We might have to go trade for a quarterback. We can still win this thing. Is he contemplating? Man, if Sequence healthy enough, I want to trade him in the next two weeks like where do you think his head is at right now? I think they're going to be big time sellers in the next couple weeks here and I don't think they'll ever admit that and I don't think it's tanking. I don't, if football it's more nuanced than it is in some of the other sports because the fact of the matter is you have to feel the team every week but I think the guys that are in the final year of their deals that they don't think they're going to sign at the end of the season. I think they're going to trade those guys or at least gauge the market and if you reach a certain threshold, you're going to trade those guys. Moro Ojimo is a defensive tackle who you're like that's not a household name but he's going to be a free agent after the year and he's going to get paid a lot of money where once we get to March it's going to be like wow a lot of people are talking about this guy. There are contenders that are always looking for starting defensive tackles. Guys who can play all three downs. Guys who can rush the passer. I think he's a name to keep an eye on. Rick Wollin had a very bad game on a national broadcast. I'm telling you, I've watched every snap this year. He has not been nearly that bad. He's also one on one against the CD the whole game. That's not easy. He's been a solid starting quarterback. I would say this season and he didn't have a big free agent market. You mentioned before and that's true. He was a free agent. He could have signed a big deal in the off season. That didn't happen but now contending teams look at it and say hey, do we need a starting corner that's not going to cost a lot? He's a guy to keep an eye on. Tight end Dallas Goddard. Again, he was also a free agent last off season. Could have signed anywhere. Signed a one year deal. I think he's healthier now. He's a guy to keep an eye on and then you get to the more interesting names like a Seiko on Barclay, who you mentioned. Guys, we're still under contract because the thing is, I don't think how he's looking at this. We're having a three year rebuild. I think he'll look at it like this season. Didn't go our way. At this time, next season, I expect us to be competing for the division. I think guys like Seiko on Barclay, even linebackers, Zach Bond, some of these other guys who are more household names. I don't think those are guys that you necessarily aggressively try to move, but I think you certainly take calls on anyone. I mean, the fact of the matters, they've been out, they've been outgained by 745 yards this season. Only the Titans are worse. They can fool them, say, you can fool yourself into it. Someone has to win the NFC East to get Devante Smith back, who knows? It's just like, I don't think they're that team. I think they'll look at it realistically and be like, we're not that team. Let's look ahead. Let's be smart about this. I would expect Tom, when you're working the phones non-stop here for the next two weeks that these Eagles players are going to be brought up quite a bit. I have a question for both of you. Let's say they do go that way, right? They become sellers and they, you know, not fire sale, but they get rid of a lot of players, and they end up having not a great record. There's always the Nick Sireani of the thing, right? Where is, oh, should we move on from? Oh, it's time for Nick to go. Is there any like reasonable person in this scenario where it's like, they've been so injured and their hand is kind of going to be forced potentially to make these moves. It's not entirely Nick's fault that everyone got hurt and the season fell apart so quickly. Or do they take it as an opportunity to say, you know what, we need a fresh start. We're going to bring in a new voice here. I personally think it could go either way, you know, and it's not about what Sireani deserves. Like, look, their ownership has been pretty quick to move on from guys after one bad year before and they've kind of gone through this cycle where they've tried to find offensive coordinators for Nick Sireani. Sireani's resume, you know, and just look at the pro football reference page. It's like, you know, top five coach in NFL history. When you look at winning percentage and in the playoffs, all five seasons. So if you were like, is it fair to him? Then it would be no, it's not fair. You had everybody injured this year. He's been to the playoffs five times and won a Super Bowl. At the same time, they're going to look at it at the end of the year and just be like, what's our best path moving forward? What does our team looks look like? Is Nick Sireani the best coach for that team or not? So I think that's a TBD, you know, if you told me to put the odds on it at this point, I would say Sireani is going to be the coach in 2027, but I can't say that with certainty. I think there's kind of a lot of ebbs and flows here. The rest of the way that could potentially determine that quick pop quiz. All right. Top three active head coaches. So head coaches in 2026 in career winning percentage. Sheel, name three names. Top of your head. Just gun to your head. I know, Sireani is one. He's one. He's number one. He's our minimum. 50 games, I think. Oh, no. Okay. Oh, maybe I guess. Todd Bunkett. Because otherwise, Liam Cohen's got to be in there. If there's not a fucking. Okay. Minimum one full season. Liam Cohen's got to be in there then, right? Ooh. Oh, maybe it's the minimum. The minimum might be 50. Yeah. Minimum might be 50. We're going down. We're going down. No quick. You didn't say LaFlauid non-qualifiers for rate stats. Come on. Proof of all reference. What are you doing here? And you read. I took about. Okay. Joe Brady, Liam Cohen, Todd Munkett, Mike McDonald. You're all out. So minimum, minimum as I'm looking at at least three full seasons. Three full seasons. I'm going to go. Sorry, you can tell I came up with this on the spot, but I thought that was fun. Sireani LaFlauid, I know Jim Harbaugh was there before the season, but he's falling. He's falling to fifth. I'm going to say McVeigh. Billy, I was going to say McVeigh. Sireani is one. Number two is Kevin O'Connell. That's funny. That's funny. They should do it. That should be Kevin O'Connell/Prime Flores. I mean, he should demand that. He should email Proof of all reference that. I deserve to be in there. Look at how my defense has ever formed for all these wins. I did think it was interesting. The Trey Ackman was creating Sean Manion on the broadcast with a third string quarterback and all the weapons out about the job that he was doing. You know, they may have gotten that higher right. They've got the bright young coach. Look at all the different teams that are trying to install a variation of this offense. They've all started slow. Obviously, Mike McDaniel with the chargers is another prime example of it. Like it's not, I guess, Clint Kubiac, that's another variation of the same offense. They started fast, now they're three and four. Like it does take time. And when you've got all these moving parts on the offensive line at the skill spots, now on your third quarterback, like that does make a difference. I do know this. And I am not, this is a, this is not a Tom think or a Tom know. This is just a Tom thinking of things on the fly here. There is a quarterback out there that knows this offense extremely well. And by the way, the Eagles, two games for the trade deadline. They're at the commanders next Sunday night. The whole country will be watching. And then the following Sunday, add home against the Giants. You win those two. You are back to four and five. And you happen to have a quarterback that potentially could be had who is very close with your offensive coordinate. Because Sean Manning was his backup in Minnesota. He brought in a Kirk cousins and plopped him in. I'm just saying, I intellectually shield your career. How he is the best that there is in turning negative assets into positive assets. Nowadays, got maybe some positive assets to trade could be even better than that. But if you see that window to get back into it and do what you've done every year and be right there at the end and get into the playoffs, there is a guy out there who could come in and function in that offense. It would know from the moment he walks in the door, how we're gonna do it. You get Sequan healthy. We'll see about Devon T. Smith. If you can get him healthy, they didn't put him on IR. That's a good sign. Thought David Wix knows the offense really well. There's-- - Wix is playing well. - Yeah. - When he was healthy. - There's upside to it again. This is not a prediction. I don't know anything. I just do know the Raiders are a three and four team with the number one pick on the bench. And for any teams to run that system, I would have to think any GM with a need their first call is Las Vegas. Buy yourself Billy. Kirk Cousins traded in the next 15 days. - I'm gonna say buy. I liked it. Especially for the Eagles, I always say if you are four and five and you have a Kirk Cousins available, you go for it. (laughing) It's, I mean, I'm just saying she'll, like you know how it isn't Philly. Like you never want to totally bottom out. It may be the right thing to do. And how we above all else, he'll do the right thing. But if you win these next two, are you blowing it up? You win two in the division? It's a whole, yeah. That would be tough. - There's also really bad teams in the NFL. Like it's not like they're gonna get a top three pick, even if they tank. - Yeah, I mean, they've lost five in a row here. And again, only the Titans have been out game. But I think you're right that in their heart of hearts, they don't believe, they don't want to punt on a season unless they feel like they're backed into a corner and they have no choice. So they've surprised me before. Maybe they will surprise me. I feel like the defense was playing a lot better. It would be such an easier thing to talk yourself into or you say, hey, we get Davante Smith and Seikwon Barclay. Healthy, maybe what if we do upgrade a quarterback? What does this look like? With the defense playing the way it is, there's literally, I can't point to a thing that they do well as a team right now. And I'm not trying to be harsh about it. But they don't run it well, they don't pass it well, they don't rush the pass it well and they don't stop the run well and their special teams aren't very good. Other than that, they're a really good team. But I guess they don't have to decide on this right away. We have until when November 8th is the turn. - November 10th, 10th. - Okay. So November 8th is that final Sunday. That's when they play the Giants. You have until the 10th. So it's 15 days, which is 15 days for Seikwon to get healthy. 15 days for you to assess all the potential offers. Just knowing how he, he's gonna be open to listening to trade offers. He is still gonna be in on every trade to potentially acquire. That's just how he's geared. I think it's fascinating. You can say that the division's just complete horse shit and that wouldn't be wrong based on where we are. Right now, no offense to the Giants. We'll talk about momentarily. But like, it's just not a very good. It's a chaotic type of the division. But the commanders are one, four, and one, and they're not selling. They're coming back from their bi-go and we're gonna try to write the ship here. It's hard to blame people, man. You only get so many shots at this thing. There's a reason that a lot of teams, some of the old and six chargers aren't selling right now. You're, it's a long season. We are seven weeks into a 17 game season. And even after, remember, the trade deadline got pushed back. You still have some teams who are looking to this and going. It's just a little too soon. Let's get a little bit more information. We'll talk about a lot of things around the NFL, the Giants, the Lions Packers game, the officiating in that game. We'll get into all of that. We'll talk about the Chiefs, the 49ers, the Vikings. Only one of those teams emerged from the weekend. Victoria's, let's more compare after this. The Ringer NFL show is brought to you by Fandall Thursday night football. Just got a little more rewarding with Fandall rewards club. With Fandall rewards club, you can unlock exclusive offers throughout the NFL season, including Thursday night football. We're talking profit boosts, promotions, and more ways to get rewarded on the matchups you're already watching. And as you earn points on eligible settled bets, winner lose, you can level up and unlock even bigger rewards with Fandall rewards club. So before Thursday night football kicks off, head to the Fandall app and check out what's available for your level. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall. 21 plus select states or 18 plus DC or Wyoming opt in required refund and bonuses issued as non withdrawal bonus bets or tokens. Restrictions apply C terms for all offers at sportsbook.fandall.com. Gambling problem called 1-800-Gampler, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat. And connect this episode is brought to you by Nationwide. A football team is so much more than a set of players. It's a complete roster filled with depth and grit. It's offense and defense coming together to make something unstoppable. It's like how Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company. They're one of America's largest financial services companies too. Insurance and financial services together. That's a whole team in and of itself. Team Nationwide. For your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side. Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, member Finra Columbus, Ohio, the kid. Lots to talk about from the Sunday Slate week seven in the NFL, Sheel goes back through. Watches, I actually believe Sheel, if I'm not mistaken, all like five versions of the game that are available, you do the all-22, you do the condensed, you do the longer versions, you can hear the witty banner. You break it down like nobody else. So upon further review, what do you want to discuss? That's some good lore, as my kids would say, and I'm not going to either confirm or deny how like we talk about what games, you're always like, well, I still got to watch some of the games I didn't watch. You know, listen, there's the young analyst out there, there's no substitute for actually watching the games, right? You pick stuff up that you might not otherwise, you can talk to people, you can read stuff, you can look at the numbers. But when you watch the game, that's when you get the money observations. Now that might not be clear from my first observation here, but you're right, these are going to be three takeaways from week seven. What's the big one, is that John Harbaugh is the biggest winner of week seven. And you're saying, "Shil, we didn't need to watch the games." So no, that John Harbaugh was a big winner. They get the big win at Houston, they're 10 and a half point underdogs. We can certainly get to that game and talk about what happened there. They go in there with Jay-Jay McCarthy, they win and over time. So that's a huge win for John Harbaugh. I mean, they have exceeded all expectations. They've had three different quarterbacks, and they're in first place in the NFC East. That, in and of itself, is enough to make him the winner. But there's a couple other things happening here. One is that, if you remember this time last year, John Harbaugh is getting blamed. Every time the Ravens blow, he double-digitly, everyone's saying, "John Harbaugh doesn't have his fastball anymore." Well, guess what? He's probably, you know, turned it on the highlights when he gets home from that victory flying back from Houston and saying, "Oh, it's still happening in Baltimore. I guess that wasn't all my fault." So the way the Ravens season is going, that's also working in John Harbaugh's favor. And then he's pushing all these little buttons. And the biggest one, I think, was last week, they had the controversy where, "Did he bench camp, Skatabo? Did he not bench him?" You know, he didn't give many touches, and Skatabo doesn't know, and these Harbaugh's having this back and forth with the media. And then you watched the way that game unfolded against the Texans, where they run for what was in 188 yards, their running back room, and at the end of that game, Skatabo, Tyrone Tracy, Devon Singletary, they're having like a running back huddle, whatever buttons he pushed, he motivated them, and they played their best game of the season. and after he did that. So I think John Harbaugh is just having a fantastic start to the season. We thought he might be washed. I made fun of him. Billy made fun of him for the way the giants courted him in the off season and his training regimen and his clip of trying to motivate the team by just saying, "You're a giant's over and over again." Harbaugh's having the last laugh. He's the biggest winner from week seven. I mean, it's still, we're not even halfway through the season. I don't know if I'd say that he won. He gets the last laugh yet, right? I think what you pointed out though with Cam is a great point, which is he kind of shadowed Benchdom last week because of the fumble and the overtime game the week before that ended up, you know, almost costing them the game. They won it, but it almost could have cost them the game and had they lost it. But I think another button that he's kind of figured out and pushed and it's one that, you know, is probably overlooked and it's like, that's just part of the business. It's not a big deal. But it's also finding a role for James Winston with this team, right? Because you lose Jackson Dart early in the season. James comes in, James is kind of a mess that first game. Then he has a decent game. They start kind of, you know, figuring things out, but the giants realize, James isn't going to be enough to get them into the playoffs or get them as far as they want to get them this season. So they go and they pull out, pull the move and they get JJ McCarthy in here. And JJ's looked great so far, right? They started, they started James last week just to kind of give JJ some times to figure it out. They realize, okay, James is not what we're going to need. They bring him in the fourth quarter. JJ has almost two over 200 yards in the fourth quarter since he's taking over. He has another great game this week. James now has a role in terms of like the push push where he's also throwing people off with the snap count that he's doing. Then he's handing it off to Cam. He seemed to be engaged. Yeah. And he's at it's different every time he's doing it. Cam goes on the run. You also mentioned Cam. Cam had a career game this week after the shadow benching. And Cam could have had more yards, but he did that weird slide after he was kind of like breaking away from guys. They were catching up to him in overtime. And I guess he was worried like, what if they come behind me and they punched his ball out again? I think he pulled this hammer. He said, I was the little hamstring. Yeah, no one knew. Sounds like he'll be okay. But it was great. It's the first time ever that Cam scared of who didn't run over five people or at least run into five people before before going down. I'm surprised he didn't turn around and just run into guys just to get the contact. I mean, I feel like he needs that to get the blood flowing. But see, when you position, this is John had the biggest win of the week. I was like, you know, what? He's right. This was a big win for the Giants is setting them up great in their division. Because we've kind of been acting. I think some of us so far as when is this all going to follow part for the Giants? Like they're not really going to win their division. It's going to catch up to them at some point, right? The use lie dog shield tying in the ravens and their struggles, particularly in the second half. I think you might be on to something here. I give John our about credit for making some of those tough decisions. Like you're trying to build a culture, benching the guy who is in five ads during the game. It's a pretty strong way to assert the hey, like there's no scholarships. Like you have to earn every single thing. And so at doubt, Scataboo was happy with it. You know, they start nodgy Harris instead. Then they cut nodgy Harris. It's very much, you know, you earn your way out of the team. And there's some people, listen, if they were losing games, all this kind of old school stuff would boomerang. But they're winning. Like that's the point is to get to a point where you are winning. I was nervous about the decision to start JJ McCarthy on the road in Houston because it's one thing when, you know, you got him playing soft coverage in the fourth quarter against the Saints and he can just throw the ball over and over underneath and rack up yards. You made a big time throw on the touchdown Isaiah likely like there were some really good moments too, but like there's a little bit empty production right now on the road, all the pressure on him. And JJ played great. You know, I had one GM for a different team, not Minnesota either, but a GM for a different team. You're like, why didn't he play like that with the Vikings? I'm like, well, he did at times that JJ McCarthy was there. The highs were pretty high with JJ McCarthy. He played whole games. They were pretty good. The issue with McCarthy was the lows were very low. You know, you hope if you're a giant span that he's able to stabilize that and it just kind of like the environment and the way that they want to, you know, run the football that that's going to be a perfect place for him. But you also know like there's probably going to be some more challenging moments to come for JJ McCarthy. So just being able to kind of even it out and stay in there. If he has a really awful game, you're going to have to make a decision. Okay. Can we fight through it? If he gets hurt, which is a huge issue in Minnesota, are you going back to Jamis or are you bringing someone else in? I do think I'd also give Joe Shane credit for this. The vision of we can play with JJ McCarthy like we were playing with Jackson dark. The whole offense was built for quarterback movement skills. Not all design runs, like you can get him out, make some things happen. Like look at some of his biggest plays in that game. They're places where that mobility sliding up in the pocket. All the things that Jamis just never really, it's never really been his game. JJ did and it was on a big stage for the giants. You know, the Texans are trying to have a three game win streak into the buy you beat him on their home field. It's a, it's a huge win. I'd say Harbaugh and McCarthy both shield definitely big winners. Yeah, he, I like that McCarthy was going for it, you know, because that Texan's defense, we've seen all year, you can throw the ball down field on him. I think they're giving up explosive past plays at the second highest rate in the NFL. So it doesn't have to be one of these station to station performances where you're racking up, you know, 31st downs in a game. It's like hunt those explosives and McCarthy was doing that with, you know, Malik neighbors with Malachi fields. I mean, he had a throw at the end of the first half when Harbaugh was being aggressive and like, hey, we don't have a lot of time on the clock. This guy's making his first start for us, but we're going to go for it. McCarthy, I thought had his best throw of the game on the left side that they end up missing the field goal, but it was like a tight window. It was a layer throw. There's a safety closing in near the sideline. So he did a nice job and I really will give their whole coaching staff a lot of credit. You know, I had a lot of concerns when they were putting together that offensive staff specifically. And it just felt like he was gathering a bunch of veteran coaches who had been let go elsewhere. You know, it's like naggy, Brian Callahan, Greg Roman. I'm like, these are a lot of cooks in the kitchen. A lot of guys who have done it their way. And I don't know that this is going to work great with the talent. They were scheming guys open in that game. I mean, they really called a nice game. They had nice calls and short yardage in that game. So yeah, even the locker room, the stuff that is just my entire Instagram algorithm, Billy is just coaches giving locker room speeches. And so now it's just become a tradition that like I have my coffee on Monday morning. And I'm scrolling through it. I'm like, eh, that one wasn't that impressive. Eh, didn't like that one. The giants want to like, oh, they, they sort of feel like they have something right now. And they're not used to winning games and they're winning games right now. So yeah, I mean, that's one of the biggest upsets of the entire season. They were 10 and a half point underdogs on the road against what's supposed to be a tough Houston team that has its back up against the ball. And honestly, it shouldn't have even been that close. When you look at the yardage and you look at the miss field goals, they outplayed the Texans. There was nothing fluky about it. How long do you think, because we're talking about Jim Harbock and pushing the right button to making the right. John Harbock, Billy. John Harbock. Sorry. You know that's been happening to them their whole lives. And now you on this very popular podcast. Yeah, I can't even get them straight. Well, can I tell you why you're going to, you're going to figure out why very soon, because I was wondering this, how much patience do you think he's going to have for his rookie kicker, because he's missed five of his last 10 kicks. And when, you know, you're winning games by a tight margin, you really can't have a kicker missing two field goals in the game. He's tied for the NFL league and miss kicks this year. And the reason I bought that game, that name is because I was so worried about pronouncing his name Dominic Zavada. Is that the proper way of saying his last name? I believe that's right. Sounds great. Yeah. Yeah. John Harbock stuck it out last year with Tyler Luke and at the very end, literally cost him a spot in the playoffs. I think that you always had to be conscientious of it. I mean, the situation in Green Bay, too. And I know we're going to talk about that in a minute, feel draft trace Mac in the sixth round. And you look at like the types of kicks he's missing. You almost have to think about your options. I mean, that, that, you can't say directly that cost him a game, but it didn't help. That's for sure. And, you know, way too many misses right now for smack. I think that there is a point at which you just go, hey, we're in this thing. We like the kicker, but guess what? Like we would be releasing anybody else with this performance. I think that if you're the Giants, where the Packers, you have to be thinking about everything. There's a couple of kickers out there, too, right? Like Harrison butkers have a rough go so far this season. I saw this that I believe on NFL now where we're saying it was 74% of field goals were made yesterday. It was the worst week since 2024. So kickers, you know, we've been impressed by the length of the kicking the past couple of years and like, wow, they can hit kicks from like 68 yards, 57 yards, 59 yards routinely, right? But now it's like some of these shorter give me ones. They seem to be sailing to the sides for whatever reason. And we haven't had the most accuracy. They can kick up long, but they can't kick them between the posts. This is a huge story. I couldn't say my notes. I'm writing down like our kicker is going to get traded in the next two weeks. Wow. You have all, well, you have all these contending teams like, can you imagine Kyle Shannon? And if he's like, this is the, you know, we're going to get the one seed. We're going to, we have a chance to go to the Super Bowl. And Eddie Pinyero is the reason why I'm not going to get there. Like he is, he can allow that. The Rams, we know are on what their third different kicker. Tom just mentioned the Packers. That's a big issue for them. You know, you just mentioned it. Billy, another one with the chiefs there, the giants. It's like, it really is the haves and the have not to have some of these teams. It's just about just in Tucker this week. I was about to say elephant in the room, from the most accurate field we'll kick for NFL histories on this. Yeah. Justin Tucker's had several workouts. There's obviously a lot that you have to dig into in terms of the background and serious allegations of misconduct or a massages, but he can make field goals. He didn't have his last year in Baltimore. It wasn't good. You know, he missed way more kicks than he normally did. But I know it, you know, and his work out with the dolphin so we can go. I think the stats were out there. I mean, he was, he was bombing kicks again. Somebody at some point is going to look at this and just go, all right, we know how what the reaction is going to be. We know, you know, what the background is. We need a kicker who can make kicks. I think that day is coming for Justin Tucker. I don't know which team does it. I don't know when, but I think by the end of this year, there's a pretty good chance of Justin Tucker being on a roster because we've seen it every week. There's not 32 NFL kickers walking the face of the earth, which is still shocking to me. How is there not time? How are there not 32 people on the earth who could make kicks at a high rate and be like elite at their jobs? Isn't it, isn't it just weird when you think of how many people are in the world? You can go international. You can go wherever you want. Sockers, you know, this is the most popular sport. It's just like, can we, how do we not find 32 of these? I'll never understand. I mean, there's also, you know, you're, if you make 80% of your kicks, like your failure, there's a little bit of that too. And the longer extra points make things challenging. And the fact that there's just some guys like, you know, Brandon Aubrey and Cam Little who just like viciously mauled you because they're just like banging 65 or 65 yard kicks almost to get 65 yard kicks. They're no problem. It makes everybody else look bad. We'll work record. It's just automatic. There's like the small number of kickers who are so good that everybody else just looks okay in comparison. And then if you start missing them, you know, that's where you really get, you know, that's where it can ramp up quickly in terms of the feel that, hey, we just can't let it go on like this. Shield, did you know that there's kicking influencers online? So do you remember Roger go blank and ship? I do remember him. Yes. So what does that mean kicking influencers? I think he's trying to make it a thing because he goes out there and he will try to recreate kicks on his social platform. So if people miss kicks or they make big kicks, he'll go out there and he'll set up his tripod and he's out there and he's, he's drilling some of these kicks to the point where like, wow, hot rod can still kick it, huh? And it's like, no, you really can't like. So is he analyzing? Is he like, this is what went wrong? Or is he, or he's just trying to show off his leg yourself? I think he's trying to flex and maybe hope that these videos get him another opportunity. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but he's out there and he's doing. He's got some graphics. Then, you know, the sad part is he's doing it like usually like at high school fields. So then he has like superimposed the fact that the NFL is like a little bit tighter. So I'll have like fake field goalposts and he has to kick it through there. It's kind of sad, but it's entertaining. Tom, is Justin Tucker facing discipline if he gets signed by a team? No, he already served an 11 game suspension last year. So he's good to go. He's good to go. He's had a bunch of workouts. You know, I'm sure some have gone better than others, but again, like that there's going to be a response. You're going to have to go out there and talk about it, but like he's far from the first player who teams have had to explain how they got comfortable with the background. Again, like very wrong or different people are going to be listening and feel different ways about it. Like, yeah, give me the good kicker or no, I don't want anything to do with the guy and that's fine. Every team is going to make their own judgment on it too. But can you make kicks in the NFL? He's maybe the greatest to ever do it. So I think that there's a probably a pretty good chance that we're going to see him back. All right. Number two, on my list, takeaways from week seven upon a further review. I've thought about it and I've no issue with Dan Campbell's fourth down decision. In fact, I think I liked it. The nerds have gotten to me. Yeah, you're right. If you're saying she all the nerds have gotten to you, you're right. They have gotten to me for so for those who weren't totally locked in here, 453 left. Lions Packers, game tied at seven. Lions have the ball at their own 24 yard line facing a fourth and one. They bring the offense out. They announced and crew rightfully so is like, oh, I guess they're going to try to draw them off sides here. They were not trying to draw them off sides. They were going for it. They hand the ball off to Jameer Gibbs. He gets stuffed. Initially, I'm with Brady. I'm with everyone else. Campbell, what are you doing? My group chats are saying Dan Campbell needs to have his head checked. What's up with this guy? This is absolutely ridiculous. And then I thought about it more. And I consulted with the nerds a little bit. And I heard Dan Campbell's explanation after the game. And I heard Mike Tomlin talk about it on NBC. And I'm like, I actually think I get it. I think the key here, the bottom line is that Dan Campbell wanted to make sure his offense got a chance to win the game. I think that's the underlying. If you just need the one sentence explanation, I think that's why he decided to go for it there. And so the thinking is, hey, if we go for it, we've got what, like a 65, 70% chance to get it. That's great. We hold on to the football. We go down and we score. We take the lead. That's a great outcome. Now, if it's the other outcome, which is the one that played out, the 30% chance. All right, we give the ball up. That sucks. They're probably going to score. But you know what? Regardless of whether they score a field goal or a touchdown, I'm giving Jared Goff and this top three offense in the NFL, they're going to have a chance to go down and tie the game or win the game. Whereas if he punched the ball there, fourth and one, again, there's fewer than five minutes left. You very much risk the possibility that the Packers just hold on to the football, the rest of the game. They string together a few first downs. They get into field goal range or maybe they go all the way. They score a touchdown. Jared Goff doesn't set foot on the field again. So I understand what he was doing. And I actually think it's smart outside the box thinking it wasn't, you know, like back in the day when he was on tilt and he went for that two-point conversion against the Cowboys, even though they kept getting backed up. I think there was a Saturday night game several years ago where it's like, oh man, this guy's just completely lost in. I don't think that's what this was. I think there was a reasonable assessment of his team of the game of the situation. And I liked it. So in the simplest terms, he just wanted his team to have the ball last. And he figured either I. I could have just said that. Yeah, no, but it was good context to keep everyone else. This is just for the people that weren't watching, you know, the DVD extra features that you're watching and all that stuff. They didn't see the Dan Cowboys condition. He wanted his team to have the ball last. And with where they were on the field not getting it, it would have been hard for them to kind of not get the ball back too, right? Because only 20 yards, there's only a certain amount of first downs that you can get. There's only a certain amount of plays you can run to drink, to drink down that clock like five and a half minutes or whatever was left in the game, right? So it was a good risk. But it's also a good risk because they won, right? Because had they lost, we would have been kind of making fun of Dan Campbell to no end, I believe today. And there would have been the nerds out there still kind of like, you know, shaking their hands and saying, no, he was actually right about this situation. And we always had shut up nerds. You guys don't know what you're talking about. Can't always defend like the crazy moves that are being made. But I'm kind of with you. Like, I like it. You know, this is Dan Campbell. He's trying to do things differently. It ended up not working out there, but ultimately working out because they got the ball back. They ended up winning the game. So good for Dan, I guess, right? I mean, he's trying to figure out anything to get back in this division. His defense has been a troche. See, you know, not, not, they played better. Yeah. Some great spots. Yes. And defense training upwards yesterday. I would say, but I'm with you. Like it, fine. I'm not going to be too bothered by this decision. What do you think, Tom? You mentioned the, you know, the two point thing a couple of years ago, do you know, as the Jets had a sequence of three two point attempts yesterday, including two of them from the 12 yard line because they took a penalty on that nullified the first one. Then there was a defensive passenger appearance that wipes out the second play. They had get it on the third try. It's from the 12 yard line. That kind of three laid in the game. You know, Aaron Glenn, of course, trained under Dan Campbell. This is defensive coordinator in Detroit. Every week, there's one of these game management things that you walk away scratching your head of, like, what is Aaron Glenn doing? And it doesn't help that the explanation gives after the game often doesn't match the explanation he gives the next day, and almost can seem contradictory. The, the not using timeouts right before half time. And we've all now seen the numbers in the last two minutes of the first half under Aaron Glenn. It's like a hundred seven to six. They've been outscored or something totally ridiculous. The difference with Dan Campbell is it appears to always be processed based. He's not doing things in a vacuum. It's not like he's just going like, ah, what do you think here? No, like, they've got a system that appears to be very good. He's highly aggressive, especially on fourth downs. But also, like, he's not just going really nilly. I guarantee you in that moment, he's got somebody going, all right, this, that scenario, we've talked about it here. The right move is to go for it because of the clock. And Dan is in tune enough with what's going on in the field to go, okay, yes, we're going to do this even though you subject yourself to criticism when you do the thing that's not traditional. So I had zero problem with it. I'm sure there's an explanation for why it was an inside handoff, like I had no playing up blown up in the backfield. There's something in the percentages where they're going for it. But you know, but that's play call. I just don't get into the question in the actual play call because again, I'm sure they've got reams of data that says this is why they're running that play in that moment, but like the actual going for it. And like it, you know, don't, don't be scared off from your process. Whatever that is, some coaches are going to be aggressive. There's something that are going to be conservative. Yeah, you want to have a feel for the game, but like stick with the process, whatever that is, that was very much within the Dan Campbell that we know. It didn't work in terms of executing, but the Packers go three and out and then Trace Mac It happens to miss the kick. which gives the Lions the opportunity to close. I know sometimes on the broadcast, I'll mention the models and the analytical models and everyone gets free of set. I mean, they literally, I'm sure in the Lions organization have run like the simulation of hey, if we give the Packers off and specifically, I mean, these things are very sophisticated. There are people getting paid lots of money in these analytics departments to put these things together that if we give the Packers the ball back and front here at this exact time, you know, what is the likelihood that they score? When will we most likely get the ball back? I think it would be under a minute probably with one time out or no time out's left. And what are our chances to win the game in that scenario? So yes, all that stuff I think is being done during the week now, listen, sometimes coaches just, it is a good decision. And it's just like, I'm, this is what I feel like doing, I'm doing it. I don't think that that was the case here. And I actually think, you know, people will say, well, come on, if Trace Mac hits that field goal, then it didn't work out. It actually, it actually would have worked out exactly-- - It's a full possession. - You would have seen the benefit of it there. Because yeah, if he makes the field goal there, the Lions, remember, they went 70 yards down the field and Jamira Gibbs slid down before scoring a touchdown. So it actually would have still worked. Where hey, they get the ball back. Now they have enough time to try to go score a touchdown and win the game. So yeah, I liked that he did that there. It's been a very intriguing sort of game management type season so far through seven weeks. It feels like every week we have something to talk about. And you can take either side of it. But that one, I was on Dan Campbell's side. The other thing with this game, and there were a lot of aspects to this game, but did you guys notice Tom Brady was ripping the refs during this game? And I usually hate to be the guy who brings up, hey, let's talk about officiating. It was really hard to ignore, I thought, this week, where every game you watch, you're like, man, there are a lot of flags here. There's a lot of questionable calls. I just looked it up before we started that this is the most flags there have been through seven weeks in any season this century, aside from 2005. So if your eyes are telling you that a lot of these games have a lot of flags, I'm not saying it's like a crazy different amount, but it is more than most other years. Billy Brady was going after the refs, I liked it. And I don't have an issue when the announcer start calling them out like that. And it wasn't just Brady. It was like other games yesterday as well. You seem to be shaking your head. Let's not talk about officiating or let's rip Brady. What's the take one? No, you know, I'm a man, you know, for the power here. So I obviously respect the officials here. Not the little man. No, but here's the thing. Like Berkhard was also kind of getting in there. He was being a board diplomatic at Tom Brady. He was like, there's been a few questionable calls. So far. He's crazy on intentional ground. Everybody take us to this. When there's an intentional ground, he's like, the guy's right there. The guy's right there. It is the single biggest irritant to me in the NFL today is the way that pass interference is being enforced. And I don't blame the officials. They're calling it surely the way that the league office is directing them to call it. In my world, in my perfect NFL, we all know what intentional grounding looks like. I want to call when it's obvious the quarterback's in the pocket and he throws it and there's no one on that side of the field. Like we all see that. And then you're like, that's intentional grounding. You've had this kind of creep over the past couple of years of like, well, you threw it to a receiver, but it didn't quite go far enough. It's like, it's toward the receiver. The almost identical play to the one that Jordan Love gets flagged for happens going the other way in the Sunday night game and Patrick Mahomes throws it and it doesn't get halfway to the wide receiver and there's no flag. Those are the ones that just like, it just irritates me the roughing the passer-billy. I'm sure you can get into that too. Those were just two soft calls and I'm sure the NFL, when they review the tape, we're gonna go, now we probably don't want that call. But the passenger clearance piece, I think it's just become confusing. I don't think it's good for the product of NFL football to have rules that whether you're a casual fan or someone like us who watches every game all the time and you have no idea if it's a penalty or not, you can't tell for my entire lifetime. Intentional grounding has been, you throw it nowhere near anybody. Now it's, we're throwing it to a guy. Even if you get hit and it impacts where the ball is going, they're gonna throw the fly because it didn't get close enough to him and that contradicts everything with like the way that you can ground the ball of people's feet right on the screen that you don't want to throw it. Just throw it into the ground. Call intentional grounding, my world. Call intentional grounding. When it's intentional grounding, it has a literal subjective word in the name of the rule billy. Intentional grounding. You throw it and there's no one over there. The throwing the ball toward the tight end, but it didn't, it wasn't close enough. Give me a break. - Well, I mean, the confusing thing is a viewer too, right? Is when the officials are calling things by the letter of the law, then you have Tom Brady, Berkart, whatever, saying like, "I don't think that was right "and then they'll bring it like Dean Blending." I was like, "No, that call is definitely wrong." It's like, "Okay, well, I don't know what we're doing here "because you have the official experts who were telling you "that this was wrong, but the officials were like, "this is the letter of the law." I think the other one that was weird was that unnecessary roughness called the late hit. I think I'm March on Louis that had Tom Brady kind of upset where it was like, "Okay, well, he didn't catch the ball, "but then he got bumped and knocked over at the end of that." The funny thing about Tom Brady losing his marbles, if you will, losing his patience with the situation, especially on the rough thing, the past thing, like, "Oh, that wasn't a hit. "Oh, that wasn't roughing." I'm saying, "I don't think there's anyone in the history "of the NFL that benefitted more "from some of those soft calls than Tom Brady "who was constantly looking at them." And you could even kind of, if you wanted conspiracy board, do you like the red lines and connect the dots? We were like, "Tom, you're responsible "for why these are being called this way." So now when you're watching it and you're kind of seeing it from a different angle, you're like, "That's a ridiculous call." But when it was happening to you, you were more than happy to take those calls and get the free yards. You were even soliciting it half the time. You were screaming at the official saying, "Hey, hit me later." Whatever, so, I mean, were the calls soft? I, listen, I'm never getting hit by some of the ways 400 pounds. So I'm sure that it hurts. I'm not gonna say that they're soft calls. I'm not gonna say that you shouldn't call them. They look like they shouldn't necessarily be called, you know, roughing the passer calls, but at the same time, like, Tom, you can't really be the one that's telling us these are soft calls, man. Like, what are we doing here? - I'd also say this, if you're the packers, like, you have a right to be pissed at this point because it hurt me if I'm wrong. Jordan Love has not had a single roughing the passer penalty called on a hit on him the whole season. And that's not the saying they've missed, you know, 15 calls or something. Like, what are the statistical odds? The one team gets called for those two roughing the passer penalty specifically in a single game. And the packers haven't had a single illegal hit over seven games this season. Like, that's highly unlikely. And also to tie back to what I was saying earlier. Intentional grounding is a way for the quarterback to get the ball out of his hand, late in the play. If you want to protect quarterbacks, let them ground the ball within reason. Like, literally, you see it. That's why you can throw the ball at the guy's feet. That's why these rules exist. You know, legislating things to make it harder. So now the quarterback's got to try to get, you know, further away and throw it farther like you're subjecting them to more hits. I think that it, that's just one thing. I know it's been a point of emphasis in recent years in my personal opinion. It's gone too far. If you want to protect quarterbacks, one way you can do that is let them get rid of the ball. Yeah, if you're standing in there and you throw it to absolutely no one, call the penalty. Anything else that's within reason, if it's close, I don't think there should be a flip. - I mean, I think you're right. I think that's the, and that you can even zoom out and to other calls too. And I've heard officials talk about this before, where it's like they're supposed to be operating under the idea that makes sure it's a penalty before you throw the flag. That's like supposed to be one of the main rules. So when you see some of these and you're like, what, really, you know, that's a flag there that I think they're getting, I mean, there are games you watch and you're just like, do they think they're the stars of the show here? This is crazy. Some of the calls that are being made. So yeah, you are right about Brady, though, Billy. Anytime he goes on about it, it's like, all right, come on. We all were not 12 years old. Do you remember your career? When Aikman does it, I'm like, all right, Aikman could do it because he played in an era where they were basically like, ripping his head off and like, you know, bearing him in the turf like 10 times a game. So I'm like, all right, if he's calling it soft, he's allowed to do that, but I'm with you on break. Tom's also the reason you can't hit a quarterback below the knees because that's how he blew out his ACL back in 2008. I like the Tom, by the way, cutting it loose. That's what I want to hear. I love when the color analysts just start complaining. It's my favorite thing, complaining about play calls, complaining about what they're seeing on the field, the quality of it, the efficiency, whatever it is, because that's the real thing. If they were in the game, they'd be furious about it. So the moment you cross that Rubicon and just get into the territory of like, I'm gonna say when this is garbage, I'm gonna say when this is bad, that's a key part of going from the Tom Brady knew in his playing career who was always on message and always on brand to the guy that now was like, you know what, screw it, like that sucks. I'm gonna tell you it sucks. He's proved a lot since he started as a commentator. Like the first year everyone was questioning is he even gonna finish this year? Is he gonna be able to do this? And to your point, it's enjoyable to see him somewhat unhinged because he also, and this is like an added benefit that he has at some of the other guys. don't have right? He doesn't really, I mean, I don't know this, but he doesn't really need to be doing this job. Like it seems like he could be just fine if he's, you know, doing his things with, you know, like the card companies and all that stuff he made plenty in his career. But the fact that he's doing it, he's getting paid a ton of money, but to not be afraid of just kind of ripping people is great from that position. I said John Harbaugh was the biggest winner through week seven. Tom Brady's right there for me. I think he's the best, I think he's the best color guy out there. Now I can't believe it, but well, because he has, he has now this great mix of it's always supposed to feel like you're just hanging out with the announcer, watching the game, couch, bar, whatever. He has that, like you said, he's just letting it rip. He's telling you what he thinks after every play, every time, cursing sometimes, piss, missiling sometimes, you know, and then making jokes about it the next week. So it feels like his personality is showing more and it feels like you're getting to hang out with him. His analysis is good, like he's clearly doing the homework. He's got the excitement level where I kind of like it when he just is like, he just makes some weird sound effect after every good play. And I'm like, you know what? I kind of like that. That doesn't annoy me. So yeah, I think he is having an awesome season. And I'm with, I did not think I would be saying that when he first started broadcasting, but he's having a great, I'm excited. You know, when you're excited, when you go to the game, you're like, oh, yes, this person's calling it. He's reached that level for me. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This is going to be more enjoyable than it would would have been if there were someone else calling the game. I think that's all you're looking for when you have an announcer. I'm not getting paid by Tom Brady or Fox or anyone else, by the way, that's an authentic opinion. All right. My last one here upon further reveal, we had two undefeated teams go down here for the first time. I am way more concerned about one of them than the other. Do you want to guess the two teams are the Chiefs and the Niners? I'll give you both again, which one do you think I'm more concerned about? Tom says Chiefs, Billy, now you're in a tough spot because you could just follow Tom, or do you take the other side, which would be better for the audience? Okay. So you're asking who you're more concerned about, not who I'm more concerned about. I'm more concerned. You can tell me who you're more concerned about if you want. Well, here's the thing upon further review in the spirit of the name of the game. I thought like, you know what? Like, that's just one week. Whatever things happen, it's not a big deal. And then upon further review, I was like, whoa, hold on a second. Like there'd be more going on here. I'm going to say you're more concerned about the 49ers. Okay. It is the radio. Sorry, Billy, you're in a tough spot that you're the Chiefs. So you review both these games. They both lose 49ers, lose to the Falcons, Chiefs, lose to the Seahawks. That 49ers game, they have all those entries and they had 400 yards of offense. I mean, that's a very simple. We've all been watching football a long time. Sometimes in the course of the season, you have a game where you have four turnovers. The other team has zero turnovers. You miss a couple kicks and you lose the game. To me, that's all that was. I was actually pretty impressed with the way they move the ball. We're having again, no wide receivers, Christian McCaffrey's going in and out of the lineup. They get the buy here coming up. They should get healthier coming out of the buy. I think, you know, it feels like they're going to make a trade maybe on the defensive line. The forest buckner feels like he's already, I know we're not doing the trade segment yet. He feels like he's a 49er to me already. So I think the 49ers are going to be fine. I'm not concerned about them. The Chiefs lost to the Seahawks. I thought I don't want to say like 20 red flags, but maybe like a couple red flags where you just look at it and you're like, I can feel this type of loss happening to them in the playoffs. I've seen this type of loss happen to them previously in the playoffs where you're just like, wait, who is Patrick Mahomes throwing the football to? It just feels like they're physically outmaned against their opponents. They had 11 first downs in that game. That's the fewest they've ever had in any start with Patrick Mahomes. So we've been talking about their run game all season long and it was like, well, what's going to happen when they can't run the football and they couldn't run the football and it got really, really ugly. I have the Josh Simmons situation at tackle. So to me, I watched that now all of a sudden, I'm like, huh, there's kind of a lot going on with the Chiefs now. Some of those issues have come to the surface, even though it's only one game. Billy, what do you think? Chiefs were 49er. So you more concerned about the team. I was more concerned about was also the Chiefs because, you know, when we went on for the review, it was kind of like, okay, this can kind of just happen to either team and you start looking at the Chiefs. Like, oh, well, this, this isn't good. Like 213 yards, like obviously, you know, this is an elite defense in Seattle. They give up like 250 yards. So 213 yards and off. And it's like, okay, it's lower than they normally give up. Like, not the biggest deal in the world I get. Chiefs had zero red zone drives. Yes, right. The first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, like that's not a good thing. You could say, like, okay, well, it's just a bad game for Patrick Mahomes. This is the second straight week that he hasn't had a rushing touchdown or passing touchdown. Like also not a good thing if you're Patrick Mahomes. In terms of receivers, I mean, who is their number one receiver? We don't have a number one receiver if you're the Chiefs right now, right? Like, who do you look at and say, that is their number one receiver? Cause Travis causes a tight end. So they don't have a number one wide receiver at the moment. Yeah. Where they had a drop in that game. I thought there was a point in the game when I was like, oh, Mahomes is getting going a little bit. He feels like he has to put the team on his back. And Tom, he had worthy on that like crosser and he drops it. And Mahomes, who generally is not showing that type of frustration right away. You saw it in that game. Surrender Cobra. They need a trade for a wide receiver. You know, we talked about I wrote it like a month ago. They've been trying to see if they can get something done. Nothing's materialized to this point. You know, maybe where she rises back sometime in the coming weeks, he's dealing with a hamstring. But this has kind of been the story of her for she is when he's on the field and he's locked in like, it's pretty good player. But there's just, there's too many injuries. There's too many issues where I don't know that you can just rely on him coming back and fixing everything. Look, look at the reinforcements. The 49ers are going to have after the buy. Kyle Shanahan said, Christian McCaffrey is basically fine. He had a slight hamstring tweak. It wasn't a style. It was a hamstring. But things will be good to go after the buy against the Raiders. Debo is going to be back. Nick Bosa is going to be back. Like they're basically the quarry. And even if they don't make a trade at the deadline, which I think they will, but they're going to get some guys back in the lineup who are like your acquisitions. So chief's definitely more concerning at this point, just because there are five and no coming in. You don't take that away. When you play a game like that, and Kenneth Walker isn't able to run over the opponent, you saw right now they're just a little bit handcuffed because of what they lack at the skill spot. So I'm sure Brett Vich has a plan here to try to get something done. If I were guessing, I would say that the absolutely trade for was receiver. If it's not this week, then in the next couple of weeks, that's definitely going to be something I'm watching because there's still a dangerous football team and pattern mobs is still Patrick Mahomes. But when you're only targets in the passing game, essentially, or Xavier worthy and Travis Kelsey, that's a hard recipe to still be working, you know, come December and January. It also like not to throw a red flag out there. Sorry, should not to throw a red flag out there. But the chiefs haven't really played a great defense this season. I think the best defense that they've played is the chargers who are like 15th and League in terms of yards or game. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm saying before last night, they hadn't really played a great defense. So you see this offense is putting up 400 yards of game, 350 yards of game. You're like, wow, this offense is really clicking in this kind of like, well, maybe it was the defenses that they were just kind of taking care, they were taking advantage of a bad situation here where there wasn't a good defense. And now they played a good defense and they were somewhat exposed to their limitations. The test is going to be next week when they play the Broncos because they played the Broncos early on week one. They blew the Broncos and I'm like, oh, wow, the chiefs are back. They figured this all out. Next week, we're actually going to see because I mean, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Broncos are going to be in first place in this division soon. So I think next week ends up being a huge week for the chiefs to actually see where they are in terms of, you know, offense defense against a good team besides the Seahawks. And the Broncos offense looked better in that game. You know, somewhere I'm sure there's a certain panelist on network TV show might have wanted Botanix to throw the post into double coverage instead of scrambling for 62 yards there, but it worked out, but a bonus 400 yards of offense in that game. Maybe that can be the spark, the catalyst. You saw the joy back for Botanix. You saw once again, how much his teammates love Botanix, how they rallied around him and celebrated that play. I mean, the divisions wide open right now. You know, let's see what the Raiders do. They're on a four game losing skid. I know Clint said that it's still going to be Kirk cousins at quarterback. The Chargers are 0 and 6, but they're not moving anybody because they're still sitting there going. We can maybe get ourselves going. I don't know if they're going to win the division coming from 0 and 6. You basically have to run the table, but you don't feel like you're as buried as you otherwise would because right now you don't see a truly dominant team in that division. Kansas he's going to have to do something to just try to move this thing forward besides, getting over she writes back. Yeah, that's a big game next week. I'm with you guys because the Broncos saw exactly how the chiefs wanted to play against them in week one and it was Kenneth Walker. It was like, oh, they're going to be a different team, but now they have that information. They're a different team now than they were before. I thought that was the first time we saw the Bronke. I was like, okay, that's the version of the Broncos. If you thought they could be a Super Bowl contender this year, that's kind of what you thought it would look like with Botanix making some plays, defense, still very good, just them having more talent than the opponent, well coach team. So yeah, they feel like they're on the rise a little bit and that's going to be a huge game in week eight. In terms of 49ers, they're not going to have games where they turn the ball over four times more than their opponent. Like this is just kind of a fluky game. It was prop hurties worse game of the season. Even as two interceptors were kind of fluky, there was an interception on the sideline, whereas like a miraculous it's like two feet bare. That was a weird, weird play. It's a great play by Jesse Bates, but also like what's Brock doing in that moment? There's a lot of places you can throw the ball there and he just throws this kind of low liner along the sideline. I mean, we saw, we saw a few of those in games yesterday where I think that maybe one of those league wide points of emphasis in the meeting this week's shield where it's like, hey guys, we're gonna throw the ball out of bounds. Throw it way the hell out of bounds. We don't need to come, we don't need to come this close. Yeah, absolutely. All right. There you go. I'm not, I'm not as good. That was a weird play. That was a big play. It was a weird play, but it was a big play because they were driving there. It was like, man, if he would have just thrown that out of bounds, maybe they win the game. But yeah, I think the Niners are gonna be okay. All right. So we're more concerned about the cheese than the Niners. All right. That's upon further review for week seven in the NFL. All right. We got still more to come on this show, the Vikings, the last remaining undefeated team. What do we make of them? What do we make of the five and two Steelers coming back from the trip to Paris for getting to that and a lot more after this? This episode is brought to you by the new Amazon Alexa tablet. For me, Sundays are all about watching the game and obsessively checking my fantasy team. The new Amazon Alexa tablet is great for both with a big vibrant display and immersive Dolby at Miss Sound. Plus Alexa is always the tap away when I want to check a stat or figure out what just happened. The new Amazon Alexa tablet here for game day here for all of it. This episode is brought to you by Chevrolet. Chevy drivers need a truck that shows up the same way they do. That's why Chevy Silverado is number one in manufacturer loyalty so they can go where others won't make their own way there and always get it done. And as long as Chevy people keep showing up, we'll keep building trucks that do the same Chevrolet together. Let's try visit Chevy.com/trucks to explore the lineup. Billy, if I had given you the choice, you're going to pick, you're going to rank them one through 32 coming out of training camp. What team will be the last unbeaten? Where would you have had the Vikings on that list? Well, if I was going by my rankings or my schedule of every single team and exactly who I thought would win every game, the Vikings would not have made it very far on my list in terms of our ranking. I would say I would have them made middle of the pack maybe in terms of undefeated just because there were so many questions marks around what could Kyler Murray actually be and would he be good enough that the defense can kind of carry them this far? And he has been good enough. So I'm very surprised that he's no longer with us. But if Mercury Morris was still around, this would be like the Thorn and Mercury side waiting to toast the last team losing the first game of the season with the other 1972 dolphins. Yeah, I don't know that Mercury would be losing a lot of sleep over this whole identity. I know, but did you really think he would have thought that the Vikings were going to go 17 and oh, maybe I guess he just would have had to wait till they lose their game. Very, very fascinating team because we all watch him and we watch the offense and it still isn't really happening. Yeah, it's better than it was early in the season, but it's not happening. But I think there's this thought that they're like a fluke team, like they're winning out, they're getting lucky and a bunch of close games. And it's like that's not what's happening. They have a plus 51 point differential that's second in the NFC to the Niners. They're six and oh, they beat a couple good teams in there. It's just the way they're doing it is with like the most dominant offense we've seen statistically in the last five years. And it's just happening week after week after week. And I was watching that game and it felt like oh, they're getting Jonathan Taylor going. Maybe Stikens cooked something up. My prediction that he's going to get a contract extension before he gets on the plane. Maybe I'm going to nail this one. All right, I didn't exactly nail that one, but the Colt were doing some things and then you look up at the end of the game and you're like the Colt had 64 net pass in yards. They didn't have a completion over 13 yards in that game. And when the Vikings needed to just put the clamps down, it was like Daniel Jones had no chance. So yeah, what Brian Flores is doing continues to be one of the most impressive impressive coaching jobs in the NFL. It's like the Vikings deserve to be, you know, 6 and 0 5 and 1 or whatever. It's not like they're a bad team that's getting lucky. It's just we keep waiting like, can this offense take that step to being better? We're now we're like, all right, let's actually take them seriously as a Super Bowl contender with Kyler. The one thing you can't overlook, like I know quarterbacks, not it wins or not a quarterback step, but he is playing a style that's winning. He he is being for the first time his career Kyler Murray is a game manager. He's not having to scramble with Tony at one big one in the game. He's not having to throw 50 50 balls down the field, which you know, the vertical passing game was a big part of what he did. You think of all the big plays like the Andre Hopkins over the years. A lot of those just throw it up and let him go make a play. You have Justin Jefferson now. You have Jordan Addison. You have some guys you can do it, but you don't have to. If I'm Justin Jefferson, I'm wondering, okay, when are we going to take that step forward? Do I have to wait for an opponent to score 20 points on us before we start taking more of those shots down the field? But like my my level of concern with the Vikings often still isn't really high. You know, yes, the run game could be better. You're getting by Jordan Mason gave you a little something yesterday taking the heat off of Aaron Jones in an ideal world. Maybe you can add a back before the trade deadline just to kind of become a little bit more dynamic in that phase of the game because let's face it when you're playing defense like this, you don't need to throw the ball all over the place. Having time up possession and just controlling it and eating clock and then letting the go defense go to work, it's a winning formula. It hasn't been a winning formula a whole lot in the last 40 years, but the way that they are playing until you tweeted the the blitzing numbers earlier today, like it's so off the charts, the style that they're playing on defense. It's just it's it's something onto its own. It's led to the Vikings winning 11 consecutive games, which is one of the longest streaks in the NFL, one of the longest streaks in Vikings history. These Steelers, now five and two, they get the win over the Saints in Paris. It's not a game that if you want to doubt Pittsburgh and you hurt Kurt Warner, do it a little bit at the end of the broadcast where it's like, are they for real? And like most announcement would be like, yeah, they're for real. Five and two, Kurt's like, they're really not explosive. I don't know, but are they really contender? Well, maybe, you know, they got to do some things differently. That's Kurt. That's why we all love Kurt. Like he was being extremely honest in that moment. You know, I think you have to remember, Shield, they're playing a wide receiver right now with DK Metcalf at a bunch of literal practice squad guys. They're literally elevating multiple receivers just to figure it out. Another team that, you know, we'll see if Michael Pittman can get back from that planter fashion deal. He's got Roman Wilson should be able to come off injured reserved a couple weeks. Maybe there are another team that adds a wide receiver before the trade deadline, too. But I'm just, I remain so impressed by the way that Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers together are managing things around what they lack. You don't see a team shield that looks like they don't have an ability to move the football. Yes, they are challenged. They don't have as much that explosive element are the Jalen war war and just being like a pinball and bouncing off people. But they're finally ways to be really efficient within their limitations on offense, which is, you know, what I expected that Mike's a really good coach. Aaron still can win with his brain. Does that mean that they're the favorite the AFC North? I don't see somebody else in the AFC North at this point that I'm sitting here saying I necessarily fear. They're maximizing the talent on the roster. There's no doubt about it. When you watch them play, it just feels like they have a chance every single week. Jalen Warren has been, I mean, there are times where you watch them and you're like, they should just, they need to really lean on the run game here because it feels like it's unstoppable with him. And then Aaron Rodgers, I think he's played better than he played last year. And he looks better physically. It's not play after play after play, but it's like three plays the game where you're like, oh, he kind of scrambled to his left there, bought some time and fired one downfield to DK Metcalf and that arm still looks like it's very good. So you have that, you have the way they're playing defensively. I think they're just strong on the lines of scrimmage. It's one of the old, you know, football guy things or hey, if you have a good offensive line and a good defensive line, you have a chance most weeks. I think that's what you're seeing with the Steelers. I also don't think Kurt Warner said anything wrong. That was such a funny moment because it was kind of like the game was over like shaking hands and they're like, real quick, you have eight seconds, give us every, give us what you think about the Steelers as a contender. And he's like, don't think they're real contender, not explosive enough. And they're like, all right, yeah, we'll see you next week from forever. I mean, I agree with them. I think right now, now to your point, maybe they get some receiver help and it changes right now. I mean, I don't see them as a true contender if we're talking like playing in the AF. If they play in the AFC championship game or the Super Bowl, I will grow a mustache to follow on last week's show. I don't think they're going to get that far. But I don't know. Was that the expectation for anyone going into the season? Like if they win the division, that's a big deal. If they get to the playoffs, that's I think they exceeded expectations this season. I don't think they were favored to make the playoffs going into the year. So yeah, they're a solid team that's not going to be easy to beat on any given week. I think what Kurt Warner was talking about is what I agree with the ceiling of the team given the personnel. I don't see it in the same category as some of the other AFC teams right now. They're a weird team because coming into the season, you were kind of like, they're going to be great. McCarthy is, you know, he's a good coach. He can eventually take them to the next level beyond where Tom and got them. But it's not going to be this year. So it's kind of like, this is just like an air and Rogers retirement year like Why are they even giving this to him? He's only been on the team for one year. And to your point, he's playing better. And part of it, and I wonder psychologically, it's just like, he knows it's his last year. He's come out and well, you never know with him. But he's come out and said this is gonna be his last year. So I wonder if he's just kind of like letting loose a little bit, you know, like not playing as conservatively, not worrying about taking some of those hits as much as he was in previous years because he didn't know when he wanted to end his career. Also, on yesterday's game, if your defense is able to allow only 18 rushing yards on 17 rushes, you're gonna win almost every one of those games. So incredible defensive performance. I had to look that up multiple times. So I was like, this cannot actually be right. Like you're watching the game. You're like, this run game isn't doing very well. And then you see the stats are like, oh my god. Like this is, I've never seen a game like this, brutal. 18 total yards, 17 rushes is insanity. But they could win the division, right? I think the one team in their way right now is the Browns who keep pulling a rabbit out of their hat and having these game winning drives every single game. And you know, Art Monkan, is it early to be saying coach of the year for him? I think that he might win coach of the year. Is it too early? I mean, we're already saying. Do you call him Art Monkan? Did I call him that yet? I'm sorry. He does, I don't look like an art time in Billy's event. You're thinking Art Monkan, you just combined that with Todd Monkan? Art Monkan? No, I said Todd. I think you're remembering this wrong time. It sounds the way art. No, I don't think so. I get to say Todd Monkan, five, five, two minute drives. What was the staff that they showed on the broadcast yesterday as third quarterback in whatever however many years to do that and the other one who was Trey Ackman and I think Matthew Stafford, now Jashon Watson. Like you talk about things you would never have expected those three names to be on a list together. But you know, give him credit. It's hard to sustain that over a whole season. Winning comebacks, fourth quarter drives. But credit to him that they're winning those games and then you got the Ravens and the Bengals who it depends what half you believe. In the first half, the Bengals just looked like totally disorganized all around, especially offensively. And the second half was if five drives, five touchdowns, you know how good they can be. And I think we know what the Ravens are with Lamar Jackson too. You don't have one of the top quarterbacks in the game out there. It's gonna impact you. It seemed like it was really close. Lamar took and I reported over the weekend. He took the majority of first team reps on Friday. Usually the guy who takes the majority of first team reps on Friday is going to play in the game. Whatever happened overnight and into Saturday, the decision was made. He wasn't going to go. The fact that he was that close makes me think we're going to get a Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen matchup this week. Let's see what Ravens team at that point shows up because when he's been on the field, they were pretty dynamic right out of the gate. Thank you very much to everybody for watching and listening to this episode. We get big stuff coming on Wednesday. We are going to play Billy Coyne last week, model GM. We will have some trade negotiations. Multiple teams bidding on a player. What are the offers that we can make? I think this has real potential. We will do that on Wednesday. I also am going to say this so I don't forget it because I was asked to do this on the podcast and I need you guys to hold me too and make sure I don't forget. We will also take some fan trade questions from a mailbag over at the suite. So if you want to submit questions for the show, go subscribe to the suite. Comment when the mailbag post comes out on Tuesday with whatever it is. Your conspiracy theories, your trade offers, your questions, your rants, whatever it is, I will attack some of those in the show on Wednesday as well. Thanks to Arjuna, Chris, the whole team behind the scenes for Billy and Sheel and Tom. See you. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC or Wyoming, gambling problem called 1-800-Gampler or 1-800-MyReset, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here, visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8 hope N-Y or text hope N-Y in New York for Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867. This episode is brought to you by Core Power Protein Shakes. In football, staying ready isn't just about what you do on game day. Good recovery is just as important to be prepared for your next matchup. Core Power Protein Shakes help you keep going after your workout with high quality protein to build muscle and electrolytes to help hydrate. This shake has all your recovery needs in one bottle, available in 26 gram and 42 gram protein options. Visit corepower.com to learn more. - Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease symptoms don't pause for the moments that matter. That's why understanding your treatment options matters. Discover what's possible with trimpia. GusalkaMap. Trimpia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Talk to your doctor and explore what's possible or call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more about trimpia and visit trimpiaradio.com.