Week 3 Recap: Broncos stun Rams, Ravens upend Cowboys, Jaguars roll Patriots, and the 3-0 Raiders

Welcome to the athletic football show brought to you by the US bank smartly visa signature card. I'm Robert Mays, week three in the NFL was one heck of a ride really from start to finish. Both windows were incredible. Tons of just amazing, exciting games. We hit all of them, started with the Sunday night game, hit Ravens Cowboys, and then tried to dig into everything else we possibly could from week three. An amazing week in the NFL. Let's get to it with me, Dave Enderick right now. What a game. What a day. That's what you look forward to for nine months while we wait for this whole thing to get going. I mean, the only thing missing was like an insane London game in the early early window and we'll get that in a few weeks to really hammer home the like 18 hours of pure football. My goodness. I'm not even sure my nervous system could have taken that. Well, they get to all the action from today, but we're going to start with a phenomenal Sunday night football game. I mean, obviously all the way down to the end, a really impressive performance by the Broncos in the second half, considering what their offense looked like in half number one. In fact, the Rams were in total control of that game. And then over the course of the second half, you just start to feel it leaking out. The Rams settling for a couple field goals because of penalties, ultimately came back to bite them and then they leave the door open and a couple special teams mishaps. And the Broncos defense really locks in and that's enough for the Broncos to kind of claw their way all the way back in this game. Would you say a couple special teams mishaps? That's right. No, that's right. Not the LA race. Well, you get a long field goal. And that you get a long power turn on the first drive of the second half. They're going on square touchdown. And then what should have been a fantastic point down inside the 10 turns into stuff is followed up by a penalty and then they have to re kick it and then the Broncos get the ball in midfield again. And so two drives essentially and then the Broncos getting the ball in midfield in the second half. They turn both of those drives into touchdowns. Not touchdowns inside the game is tied. This is two weeks in a row where the Broncos have looked dead in the water going into half time of a game that they wound up winning against the team that we think really highly of. I mean, I don't think this does a lot to sway my opinion of the Rams. Denver is an incredibly tough place to play. The Broncos turned it on in the second half. But still like a team that I think really highly of and the way the Broncos were able to you know what I think is impressive. I don't even know if you could say they clawed their way back into it because the aggressiveness with which they went after those two point conversions and you see why people push for that in these sorts of like in-game situations when you're playing the math out. I mean, they were back even before the third quarter was even over. I thought that was tremendously impressive. The execution to steal those points, not just once, but twice in order to just erase that deficit in one quarter basically. And then when the fourth quarter starts, you're even. And obviously we can get into some of how that happened, but we're able to outlast the Rams and just I mean, I'm still processing the finish to be honest with you. I mean, I think it going dark. Yeah, I was going to say like I thought the way that Denver kind of handled that game in terms of going for the two points the way that they did in multiple situations. Like I just thought that that was really impressive. That is like a clear, you know the kind of team you're playing. And obviously the Rams and have had some mishaps and stuff like that. But they also had the drive where in what four plays, Matthew Stafford goes down and scores. You know that they can do that. And so if you know that they have that capability, why would you not try to get this game as close to tied as you can or actually tie it rather than I will take the two, you know, touchdowns will be down to and we'll go for the field balls. And especially to like, like you guys mentioned, the special team stuff, they were capitalizing on short fields. Like to that point in the game, they just not moved the ball very well. They got two situations where they get great field position, boom, they score. They say, let's get the most out of it. And then after that too, I thought their defensive game plan in the second half was incredible. Like I just it was a really, really well called game. I thought. The you really started to see where the limitations for the Rams are just as a team period and those limitations are compounded when you lose guys over the course of this game. I mean, you go into this game and you're the Rams. Essentially, your most important pass catchers are the running back, Devonte Adams and Terrance Ferguson. And then Terrance Ferguson goes down and you're essentially down to Devonte Adams, the running back, Cannata Montfield and whatever you can piece together with the tight ends. And then the area we we've talked about this with the Rams all the time. If you can start to make Stafford uncomfortable in the pocket, that's how you start to just puncture a hole in the offense and it starts to leak out there. And that's exactly what has started happening in the second half of this game is that the interior pressure. And we saw that last week for Dender, right? I mean, the when the Broncos are really able to give trouble to these really good offenses is because they're interior guys in a world where we don't have Jonathan Cooper are winning consistently. And that was happening. Malcolm Roach had a moment, Zach Allen had a moment. Look at the stats from Matthew Stafford when pressured in this game, finished five of 18 with an interception. And we can mention the pick six is probably the swing point in the entire game. But I thought that's when you can get them into pure drop-back situations, they're just not equipped normally. They're not equipped when Pukinakua and Terrance Ferguson, when he's a big part of the game plan or playing in the game, let alone when they're not. And I thought when they were in those situations in the second half, that's when you really saw the Broncos really take hold. And it was everything. It was some of the one on ones like obviously Zach Allen had that moment where I think it was a play action. And he just beats one of the offensive lineman like that was super impressive. But they actually like took their foot off the pedal a little bit with the blitzes in the third quarter, but then by the fourth, they come back to it. And there's that third and five with about 10 minutes left where they're kind of showing a gap pressure. Stafford moves the back to go handle it and then Huffanga comes screaming off the left hand side completely untouched. And then they kind of show like a similar if you look on the next drive. And that's where you get Huffanga actually staying out there in zone coverage. He kind of is playing the two for one on the tight end and Karen Williams. And he just jumped that out route. And so like they were it felt like in the fourth quarter not as well equipped to handle some of the pressures that Denver was bringing, especially from I think both of those plays were an empty. And I think they just assumed like Stafford seen this stuff, he can make us right and he can make it work. And he just in both scenarios, just like they did not have the answer for it. And you look at what happened on the final drive. Obviously the Rams score they get the double move to Monfield, which is a phenomenal job in past protection by that entire group to pick up that big pressure and even give yourself time to hit that double move. It was two really impressive completions to month on that drive. The one that's like a keyhole shot on the previous chunk play and then you hit the double move. And then on the final Broncos drive, it's really nice play design. I mean, you have two plays in a row essentially where the coverage gets dropped. One is like a big crosser that McDuffy drops where he's passing off and passing it off to somebody else. And on the Franklin completion underneath, McDuffy sticks with the vertical route and leaves that underneath when wide open. And so on two big big chunk plays on that final drive, the Broncos just purely by design get guys wide open. And then we obviously have to talk about the call that flipped the game. I mean, that's just it's one of the first, the second of two that we'll talk about over the course of this game or over the course of today that really dicey defensive past and your appearance calls in moments where it probably should not have been called live in the moment. I thought it looked like a DPI, but I'm not standing there with a, you know, with the vantage point on the call. I'm right up next to it with the bird's eye view like a referee. And at the time you saw like two replays of it, you're like, oh, no, this is a, this is a terrible call. And certainly not one that should allow the Broncos to completely control the end game, which is what they were able to do. Comb that combined with newly launched the face on. When like, which, I mean, that, that's a legit call. That's fine. But light in the face. When you, when those things snowball on top of you and when that DPI just gives you control down there, that close to the goal line is a crappy call. I don't, I don't think there's any way around it. It was a horrific call. And honestly, I'm always in the camp of like, if you let the game come down to one call, losing you the game, you didn't deserve to win the game anyway. So this is not even like, I don't even really feel bad for the Rams. It's just like the DB is clearly playing the ball and the receiver, if anything, is pulling him back and like kind of flop it away from it. Like, I was, that just to me is one of those that really doesn't matter whether that could have happened the first play of the game, and I think it would have been just as insane of a miss call just purely on based on like how it looked. It's just such a, it's, it's a penalty that just swings things in such a huge way. And you're alluding to Cowboys Ravens, which we'll get to in a little bit. But the, just the way that a call like that going in favor of the offense, again, just allows them to dictate everything that happens after that game would have been over. I mean, the interception. The game would have been over. Like he caught that ball cleanly. He's playing the ball. It's a phenomenal sell job by Pat Bryant in the same way it was a phenomenal sell job by CDLAM in the first game. I do agree in general, Derek, that a lot like if it comes down to a call by a referee in a situation like that, there's something else that could have been done. And that, I mean, that is true in this game. We talked about the Rams settling for too many field goals, missed opportunities, but that's still just, it's a brutal swing in a sport where the rules are stacked in favor of the offense anyway. They're not equal games, but this is like recompense for Sean Payton losing the, the playoff game over the most. I'm sure if he thinks that's equal in the ledger. I was going to ask you guys if there you think there are any big picture takeaways from this game. And I think the answer is yes, like even if the Rams are included. played well enough to win. This is, and I think they'll be, even at one and two, obviously will be a relevant team as we continue throughout the rest of the season. I will say that even in a game where Puka doesn't play, you get banged up, you lose Jalen Watson, the fact that the same issues keep playing this team against really good teams in really big moments, that is important. I think that is something that's worth pointing out. I don't, because I think too often, I know I'm guilty of this. We've hand-waved that shit away in moments like this and been like, ah, you know, you have a couple special teams flubs, but you're a good team. It's probably going to be fine in the long run. And it's happened way too often to do that and continue to do that. The fact that, again, multiple penalties on offense, like just, and like just shooting themselves in the foot in some of these moments combined with the special team's mistakes. I think that when you have the aspirations that this team does, even on the road against a good team, banged up, it's not stuff that you can just sort of hand-wave away even at this point in the season just because it's been such a consistent issue over a multi-year period. You can't hand-wave a game that you had as 16s that lead at half time. I mean, plenty of way into the game. It's not like some fluky start gave you a lead. I mean, they controlled this game. They dominated it in the early going. And to the point we were making earlier with the two point conversions, like, like I said, the Broncos didn't even have to scratch and claw it to get back into this thing. You kind of blinked halfway through the third quarter and you're like, "Oh shit, we got a game." And so to let it slip the way they did, I'm not worried about the Rams. And I mean, you lose Terence Ferguson in the blink of an eye in this game. I think I was working on other notes for the show. And I looked up five minutes into this thing and I was like, "Oh no, he's headed to the locker room, and that's when you already don't have Pukenakua. The defense is missing Miles Gary." I'm not worried about the Rams, but I think you're right. This isn't stuff that you can ignore. I mean, the LA Rams, the super team, the team that everybody expects to win the Super Bowl is one and two. That is a pretty huge story, even if the losses are very explainable and two good teams that still not where they were supposed to be as we approach October. They, to me, look like the same team as last year, which is a very good team. And maybe you can have, you know, last half full that and be like, well, if they look like roughly the same team without Pukenakua in this game, without Miles Garrett in this game, it's like, and obviously, you lose a handful of other players. Watson goes out, Ferguson goes out. For them to still look roughly of the same quality, it is maybe nice, but again, I think some of the special teams flubs. And we knew this, like, the fact that Matthew Stafford, when he gets pressured, is such a problem. And the offense falls apart when they can't play the game that they want to. Again, I probably trust that they'll win 11 games anyway and play enough of the games that they want to, but it's a little bit frustrating that we've seen the same cracks that we always have. Can I ask you this? Because I think, really, if I'm, because at the end of the day, having said all that, not that worried about the Rams, I'm sorry, I'm just not. What if my big picture takeaway is the Broncos and the fact that they've looked like dog shit in all three games they've played for at least a little while? They're two in one. They're two in one with wins against the Rams and the Jags. And they just put up 30 in one half against the Rams. Like I, I'd like to see sort of, I mean, they put up 30 points. The defense did some lifting, but they did that. They scored 30 points in a half that that happened. And the team scored 30 points. Yeah, I didn't say the Broncos, yeah. That's not what I said. I said the Denver Broncos. There's three components to this thing. I would love to see it over four quarters. I'm not convinced that they're, I mean, clearly they have a lot of work to do. I'm not convinced that they're like a juggernaut or anything, but to be in this place, especially after the way the season started. I think my big picture takeaway is like, okay, the Broncos should be a pretty good team even if they're incredibly frustrating. You have to feel really good about being two in one at this point when you had one disaster game offensively. And then let's call it half a disaster game offensively in this one, even though they finished with 34% offensive drop-back success rate and still won the game. I mean, it's, this is a game where you win on the margins to their credit, right? Again, you special teams, the defense comes through with several huge game swinging moments, whether it's pressures, interceptions, all of that stuff. And so, yeah, to feel like you haven't played your best football and you're sitting in two in one in an AFC that's just a mess. I mean, you look at it right now. I mean, it's the AFC wild curve race as it currently stands. The Ravens, Browns, and Bengals are all two in one. There's no, there's only one two in team in the AFC South and the AFC West are Raiders or Serena, which we'll see what happens with that. But to feel like you're squarely we're probably where you wanted to be out of this stretch after really not playing well, I think you have to feel pretty damn good about that if you're the Broncos. All right, let's get to the rest of the day. Let's get to a couple performances, a couple games that really stood out. It is time for you have my attention. The Ravens win just a thriller over the Cowboys 34-31 in Rio. I mean, so just to give you guys a paint, you guys a picture a little bit, we had a huge meeting of all of our NFL editors and staff here. So we were watching the game with like 30 people today. And it happened during a day where there was plenty of stuff to get excited about. And so there's just a huge crowded room of people watching the end of Ravens Cowboys. And that's as good of a late game ending, good of a late game finish, you could possibly ask for. So we'll dig into every aspect of this game. But just Ravens Cowboys period, you firmly have our attention. You had everybody's attention. That was a perfect game to come away feeling good about both teams. Like I feel very good about both teams actually. I'd feel better about both teams if Brian Chottonheimer just gone for it down in the low red zone when they kicked it to tie. Like when they decided to force over time. Oh, so yeah, I don't even, that's not my, that's not the mistake. I don't think that's like a mistake. I think that's a 50/50 call at the, at worst. I think me not kicking that ball out of the end zone with seven seconds left is like borderline indefensible. And the only reason that you probably decided to do that is that you kick two balls out of bounds over the course of the game. Special teams. I'm sensing a trend for the week. My God. Two kicks out of bound and a blocked field goal, by the way, which I think is was in. It was a shitty decision in the moment. It was fourth and sixth. So I get how you wind up there because it's long enough that maybe you don't feel good about it. But a 59 yard field goal, just even with Brandon Aubrey just doesn't need to be like the fallback. Like all this feels safe. This feels safe to me in the NFL, especially when you have Jack Prescott, CD Lab and George Pickens playing the way they were playing today. Anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves. But I thought Brian Shottonheimer made some really shitty decisions in this game, in my opinion. And you're right, kicking it out of bounds. If you're going to play for over time, at least make the Ravens return and bleed clock. But we talked about it in the moment. We talked about it on the preview. Kobe DeRan and PJ Locke weren't available for this game. They lost Jalen Thompson during the course of the game. Like they were down to like DB eight and nine. You saw that in that final play. It was nothing short of heroic that the Cowboys were even able to force the stops they could get. They forced not only the goal line stand that sparked the comeback, but they got a three and out in the second half of this game, which they've barely been able to do all year. And so to know what your defense was up against, I would have just, I would have lived or died with one more play at the end when it in regulation and go home or say, we did a hell of a job here at the end of this thing. And we felt just short. I would have, I would have preferred that, but they played for OT instead. I think if you get the ball back and over time, your offense is playing well enough that that's not the issue that I have. My issue is that I just, you that game should have gone to overtime. Like the idea of not kicking out of the end zone was seven seconds left and giving them a shot to run a play and call time out. It's just borderline and defensible. Like I just don't understand how that ball does not land short of the goal line when there are seven seconds left in the game. And you have a pass offense that you have not been able to stop the entire day. Amar finished 15 of 20 in this game. They essentially did what they wanted throwing the ball. There's the Cowboys had plenty of really nice moments and several huge runstuffs on short yardage plays in this game. That's the only thing they did defensively. When the Ravens wanted to throw the ball, they did what they wanted. And so even to give them one more shot with seven seconds left, I just have no idea how that is your approach in that moment. And because the thing is, man, Lamar threw the piss out of that ball. He threw that round so fast, so hard. I was shocked that he was able to come down with it and they were able to have enough time for him to call the time out. That is, you probably lose that game less than one percent of the times, but obviously they still put themselves in a bad position, but that's a crazy thing that Lamar was able to make that throw and then Luke was able to make that kick. The fact that he was able to do that, I thought it was incredible. I was really impressed overall with the Ravens in this game. Obviously, like you mentioned, the Cowboys stopped the Ravens run game for the most part, especially Derek Henry. They were coming up with a bunch of huge stops. I think in the Red Zone, obviously they had the one fourth and one other, not the Ravens had a number of other plays that they were able to get, but I thought they acquitted themselves fairly well. The Ravens, I just thought, man, they continued to do a lot of the stuff that I really liked. So on offense, I was just really impressed with the way that they're using Hibner, the way that they're using Bateman as a motion player. They had, at the end of the third quarter, it was the first play of a possession. The motion Bateman left to right and he shoots up through the C gap on that banana motion, and like whatever the juice check thing kind of. And he, He just runs his deep corner that bleeds everybody out and hipner is open for like a 30 yard game because he just catches in the flat and runs like their ability to skim up that sort of stuff while you also have the most dynamic quarterback running back duo and the league is they're just an incredible team to watch. I really, really love offensively what they're doing with Zay. And I don't really remember them like any Ravens team ever using him quite like this before. He was used on a ton of inbreakers and that like where he that was where he lived against zone when they were really row on in 24, but they're using him even more as an underneath player in this offense where and it's probably I mean the reality of it might be that they're playing with way more 11 personnel and just more sets where you can have a player in the slot. But what they're doing is they're keeping him at number two or in the slot in so many of these situations and they're getting him one-on-one with linebackers or just spine of the defense defenders and a little jerk routes and just like creating leverage for him and he's unguardable in those situations. I mean, there were multiple of those receptions on their final touchdown drive where they're just getting him on guys like D winters and there's just no shot. And I just, that's a situation where I think that this is the a staff that is really almost like inspired by what he can do in a way that and I'm not even like I thought top of them on to the fantastic job in Baltimore, but just the ways that they're using Z flowers right now and he just felt the difference in the offense with him playing this week versus when he wasn't playing last week like he's just far in a way the most important pass catcher they have and they're consistently all the time trying to get him into these matchups where he's unguardable in the middle of the field. I couldn't believe he played like coming up with the injury the way it was and then all to talk about the field in Rio and how concerning it was all the videos coming from Brazil made it look like it was going to be a mess. And maybe if he did play, you know, maybe, maybe he's mostly a decoy or a guy that draws attention away from other people. So to get him looking pretty damn close to himself and being, I mean, he was the biggest component of this Ravens passing offense all day long. Sure. I look at Marquis Bell right before the Hibner touchdown like it just he what the way that they're using him especially against this team like Dallas at this point where and Barham was playing downhill a lot in this game either as a blitzer or obviously made several really nice plays against the run like how much better he looks over the last two weeks and he looked in week one. You have to be excited about if you're a Cowboys fan but it left de winters is like the solo middle of the field zone defender on a lot of plays in this game and they just had absolutely no shot and especially when you combine that with the depth that safety and the fact that they they're down to like safety five and six. The Ravens did anything they want to throw on the ball in the middle of the field. Marquis Bell who they picked on also got like left to get an IV he was dealing with dehydration and I like Caleb Downs got I don't know how if he missed time or how much time he missed but he like he was dealing with something as well. So again this and I don't think even at their full power they would have been a match for what the Ravens were doing or have been doing this year but I just I thought the Cowboys defense had a hand tied behind its back at the end there. And they still almost won this game in part because the last drive when there was one thirty left with the Cowboys and they had one time out left that last drive just insane stuff from deck. I mean he hits four night on the little on a little quick out cut big yak on that play. He checks into or then they hit a screen to CD lamb Jack deck checks into the play where he hits the quick out to four night with tray Hendricks and just in his lap. And then my favorite play maybe on the whole drive they're throwing a screen he ejects it in the middle of the play because he sees that it's dead scrambles on that play. And then they get down and then obviously the pass interference we don't have to talk a ton about it. It's a awful call. It's absolutely an awful call like that should have been pass interference on CD lamb if anything. So what nailed it in the moment where he was like if anything that should be OPI and if you don't want to call OPI on CD lamb there that's fine at the bare minimum it needed to be a no call again especially in a moment like that. And that's what I'm talking about where you just give these offenses so much control. I mean twenty eight seconds with one time out from the plus twenty two as opposed to twenty three seconds from the plus two I mean it's just it's unbelievable and if like I said you don't have to throw a flag on CD lamb if you don't want to but to just to throw a flag why just let them play in a situation like this especially how much fun we were having in this sequence of the game where we were trading haymakers Robert I'm glad you brought up the playwork deck like it checks the screen because there was actually on I think the previous drive he almost threw a pick that's right to throw like the alert slant to I forget what who the receiver was but like tabious Robinson jumps up and gets in the way dropped right into it yeah dropped right into it almost through a pick that like that that might have ended the game there if like Robinson picks that off that might not that really would have given the Ravens like a pretty strong hold in the game and so then to go back on the next time you see something like that where he's like oh shit I'm just going to tuck it and go and he got me it's like a ten yard game it was it was like one of their best plays on that drive and so I just thought that that was such a nice nice little spot of like in game learning um this was a game too we're like I know the Ravens defense struggled in a lot of ways I thought they're tackling in particular in this game was horrific um but in a lot of other cases I was mostly just impressed with how Dac and CD and and pickens played on top of a couple of just like schematic ways that they were able to I think especially when the Ravens were in quarters they were just getting a bunch of beaters and I thought that that stuff was really impressive like the big CD throw that they get out of their own end zone that's just they get the weak safety to poach the other way and Dac is just like all right I have my one-on-one I'm just gonna rip it and like that that particular thing where you just get the weak safety to poach the other way is like kind of feels like the explosive play hack in the NFL right now and the teams that can do it if you have a guy and the Cowboys obviously do you can get big place like that and so I just thought that was a great call from that spot that that call that place specifically pointed that out I think is worthwhile because my frustration with the Cowboys offense I mean two things really crept up to me when I was watching the first couple games back as we were preparing for this week we talked about coming into it the run game just hadn't been very good and them really starting to push people around in those first couple drives was really nice to see it's the first time they had gotten any sort of consistency on the ground they finished the game with I believe 48% rushing success rate you felt that like those first couple drives they were starting to move people for the first time that was really nice to see but even as that was happening I had been frustrated just with how underneath and like quick games centric a lot of the passing game had been I looked it up with at the time of the Ferguson fumble. But when they he fumbled on the shovel pass at that point in the game the Cowboys through the first must a two and a half games of the season were 31st in the NFL in explosive pass rate that can't happen like on that sort of like short yardage situation I don't want you to be throwing shovel passes to Jake Ferguson like that's cutesy bullshit like you have aliens on the outside you have that press got as your quarterback like let's take some hate let's throw some haymakers let's try to push the ball down the field let's try to be explosive and when they started trying to tap into that as the game went along that's the version of this offense that I think it's going to be really easy to buy into and get excited to get excited out over the course of the season and I think like Derek said that's probably where I land with both of these teams the Cowboys defense. There's a chance it's just a problem all year, especially with how banged up they are in the back end. I mean, you saw the mean the ready Stewart was like a combination of like ready Stewart and Mark East bell and Elijah Clark were the three guys who had the most important assignments on that Sean gain to say before the play before the game ended. I think it was Bell was talking about poaching Derek. He was that weak safety on that play. He comes down and takes away the in breaker at the sticks for no reason. I mean like who cares if they complete that pass? He does that. It gives a huge window behind it for Zay to break in when Stewart thinks he has help inside it leads to the game swing completion. If you're playing with third, fourth, fifth safeties on a defense that already was going to have a hard time keeping this together. There's a chance they're just kind of holding on for dear life for a while. I think the offense. This is the version of it today that we saw that has a chance to be dynamic, explosive, good enough to keep them afloat even as the defense has to figure this out. I don't disagree, but oh my god, was it encouraging to see Quinn and Williams look like Quinn and Williams? That was that was the big part of this game. Yes, this is the best thing for the whole year. Yes, if the front is good, if Quinn and Williams blows up two to four plays by himself a week, if Jason Barham keeps, you know, wreaking in from the top to get TFLs. If Caleb Downs keeps coming along, I think they don't get me wrong. I don't think they're going to be good anytime soon, but they can be disruptive enough to give you a chance. I mean, that's what they did against Baltimore who we think so highly of. You're not going to be playing Baltimore every single weekend. So even as bad as it looked at times in this game and as bad as the secondary looks on paper, we'll see how the injuries bear out. I weirdly feel encouraged about the defense overall, just because the front was sort of holding up its end of the bargain. I don't disagree with that. And the front, especially Quinn and Williams playing that we did early in that game, now is the bait. That's what felt the most different about this defense in this game compared to the first two. I still just, when you combine the safety issues with the fact that the linebackers can. I can't really cover anybody. I just don't know how that's feasible or workable. When you play anything resembling a good offense, you're gonna be hanging on for dear life. That's absolutely true. And hopefully you can just make, hey, get enough from the offense. The offense looks like this more often than not. And be get a couple wonky plays or a goal line stand here or there. I've overall feel encouraged about the Cowboys to your point. I just, I feel like they let the Ravens off the hook at the end. I mean, that being said, like the Ravens that they don't get stuffed on fourth and one in that game. Like in terms of winning the game, yeah, they let the Ravens off the hook, but I still think the Ravens offense in particular in this game. Just, and the only thing with the Ravens is, we're down to center number three now. And that's actually not true. We're down to center number four. You want it because it's happening at one point in this game. Sure was. And so that's probably the one thing about the Ravens where I'm like, man, how are they gonna figure that out? Because when got hurt and then poachish had a terrible, I mean, it looks like he broke his leg. It was a disgusting injury. And then at one point, you want his having to snap and they have Andrew Voorhees in there. And so that's those are the moving pieces on the Ravens offense that are worth paying attention to. But I mean, you look at how efficient the Ravens passing game has been again. I mean, they were, Lamar was 15 of 20 in this game. I mean, like they're doing so many really nice things in the passing game. I think they will continue to do that. I think the interior offensive line shuffling, the run game is where you might see that show up here over the next couple games. But I think to Derek's point, I leave this game feeling encouraged about how both of these teams have looked and especially the Ravens. Like again, you combine the offense with how Hamilton another huge game where he's making three or four big time plays the gate. There's a lot to be excited about with Baltimore. Apps, oh, the Ravens absolutely deserved to win this game. I hope I didn't sound otherwise. If anything, I expected the Ravens to win this game pretty comfortably. And the fact that it had the finish that it did is why you come out of it feeling good about the Cowboys, but a phenomenal performance from Baltimore. All right, before we move on, let's take our first quick break. Let's get to our next one here. The Jacksonville Jaguars absolutely stomp the New England Patriots 35 to 6. Another rough outing from the Patriots offense, which we'll dig into, but another really nice game from the Jags and their offense. The Jags at two and one with a near 30 point win over a team that went to the Super Bowl last year. You guys have our attention. Fjall are wondering why the Harris down is because Trevor threw a hat trick. Well, the way that I think what's been so impressive overall, especially recently with Trevor Lawrence and really the passing offense in general, I don't mean to just put this all in Trevor, the way it's all operating is incredible. Their red zone passing offense right now is insane. Like they feel like once they get in the 20, they've got it. Like he, the in-breaker that he throws to Myers is incredible. The way that he finds underneath Josh Cameron is insane. And then really on the other touchdown, the Parker Washington touchdown, he's running that like seam up the left hand side. By the time Trevor throws it, he is not open. But Parker Washington like fights and nudges Marcus Jones. I think it was Marcus Jones off the spot just a little bit and goes and like plucks that ball out of the air while he's diving to the ground. Like Parker Washington's balance and strength and like ability to find the ball in the air, no matter where it is, is really special. It reminds me a little bit of like he's kind of like Ammon Ross St. Brown a little bit in that way where he's just like stronger than you think always finds the ball. He always muscles it. And that's why I think what he does in the air is more impressive though. Like it's like the contested catch stuff like Ammon Ross great and tight spaces. But the way that Parker Washington can elevate for balls in that area specifically, I mean, that touchdown shouldn't even need it to happen. He mosses a dude on the play before that and it gets called back because of the penalty. Like his physicality in that area of the field is exceptional. And I think it's a good thing to point out there because it's a little bit of everything. It's the fact that you have a player like that that just brings again just incredible physicality and physicality and a test of catchability to some of those situations. And to me, it's just how Trevor is seeing it right now. On the touchdown to Jacobi Myers, he it's there's four minutes left in the second quarter. Trevor starts to the right side. He comes back to the backside on that play. If you pause the tape watching it on the end zone view, you cannot see Jacobi Myers when Trevor decides to throw that ball. He is not in the picture and it's not like Marcus Jones is totally out of position. Like he's actually kind of sitting underneath that throw and it requires a missile shot from Trevor Lawrence to complete that thing. And that play and I said this to Dave in the moment. The way that he goes front to back there and co's all sweeps the board and how he throws that ball in rhythm. He is playing with so much comfort and confidence within what the offense is asking him to do. And I think that on top of a lot of the schematic designary shit that we can dig into, which there's plenty of from this team, is just such an indication to me of how dialed in and well coached and on the same page, every single element of this Jaguar's offense is right now. It is truly a pleasure to watch. And I think the quarterback being willing to make those throws and being confident enough to make them is a huge part of that. If you've ever wondered what Derek is talking about when he talks about honorable quarterbacks, it's that man. Just watch, just watch Trevor Lawrence. What cracked me up the most was, I mean, I'm not even going to call it a mistake, I don't think it was, but the interception that Trevor threw, he's got Britain's strange is breaking over the middle and it really doesn't need to happen. It doesn't need to happen. That's what I would say. That's kind of why I love it so much is because Trevor's just like, it's there, screw it. It's there and I'm going to have confidence in the play and the scheme. And yeah, Jaylen Reed has draped all over him and yeah, this could go poorly, but screw it. Here we go. It reminded me of Game of Thrones, Valar Marguilis, he's just like, we're all going to die. I'm ripping this thing. I don't give a shit. And it's so fun. Lawrence is third in the league in pass attempts, eight plus yards between the numbers. So everything in the middle of the field, down field, he doesn't give a shit. And he's fourth in the league in EPA per drop back on those throws. Despite doing it more than everybody in front of him on that ranking, he's just, he's fearless, man. And it's not always going to work out. And maybe the mistakes don't need to happen. Maybe there are throws that he could dirt or check down, but that's not what Trevor's all about. He's here for a good time and I really appreciate that about him. That's not what he's about. And like they have, I think one of my biggest gripes for a long time with the Jaguar's offense is like, listen, he's going to throw, he's going to throw the ball no matter what. And for a while early in his career, they just did not have receivers who were good at that. The fact that they built the thing now out of Jacobi Myers, Parker Washington. And now Josh Cameron, who I think has a little bit of that, where it's just like, get to the middle and I will throw you the ball. I thought that that was insane. And you speak of like, oh, we're all just going to die here. I think my favorite play from Trevor in this game, there were four and a half minutes left in the third quarter. This was like right as the Jaguars were like, really pulling away to make this just a completely dead game. He stares down the barrel of the gun against the running rusher and Rips want to Jacobi Myers against man coverage against Christian Gonzalez. I was like, he believes, he believes he cannot die in this offense and a player that talented believing that much with as good as the past catchers are in the offensive line. I think looking better than it had last year, they've really got all the right stuff, man. It's, they're just so fun to watch right now. The other play on that drive was when they went up 21 to three. So that is late in their drive. And it was third and I and they, the Jags got a screen blown up and Ellis just comes completely untouched, folds Trevor in half as he completes that ball Jacobi Myers. But to start the drive, and this is just a reminder of how nice it is to be big and strong playing quarterback in the NFL, he's getting yanked down to start that drive. As he's going down somehow, he spits the ball of the basal toot in the flat for 15 yards. And so that combined with him, I was exact to sequel, to play sequence on that drive, I had written down, Derek, that combined with him staring down the barrel and throwing that ball Jacobi Myers is excellent. And then you just combine it with so many little nice moments that make things a little bit easier. I think the first drive in the game, I was actually, it was late in the first quarter. They had, it was a third down where they do a little shuffle motion to get Parker Washington number one. And he just has a little bit of leverage on Carlton Davis runs a little in breaker, Trevor Ripsett. The Jags used bunch formations on 28% of their snaps in this game. It's the highest rate by any team in a game this season, which makes a lot of sense when you're playing as a team that's playing a lot of man coverage and playing a lot of man coverage really well. And that's exactly what the Patriots have been doing. Couple others, their completion to strange, where he inserts as the fullback is such an incredibly cool play. And it happened. It's a 23 yard game, but my favorite part about it is Ellis is on him as the play starts. He inserts in like the B gap from a fullback spot, Ellis is on him in the flat. But because there's like a wrap around in breaker coming, Ellis knows he has to get back under that. And so he leaves Bren Strange in the flat and Trevor to spit it to him for a 20 yard game. The purest expression of putting a defender in conflict that you can ever see. Because the guy is literally covered that ends up making the play. And Ellis turns around and starts sprinting in the other direction because of what that design is doing to him. And then they did a lot of nice stuff on the ground. I think that to me is maybe the most encouraging thing about this entire offense. is that we've seen the passing game do this. We saw the passing game do this in the back half of last year that that part shouldn't be newer surprising to anybody. The fact that they're really moving people on the ground. And the guy that jumped out to me, we've talked about a lot of their offensive line in this year, talked about pregnant, we talked about Harrison in the first couple of weeks. I thought Hanzi was really good in the run game today. I mean, some of the stuff they're asking him to do is a pivot player as the center of reach blocks that he's making. I mean, like overall just every box checked again with what you want to see from the Jags offense, which is just a really exciting place to be for a team that clearly has an incredibly high ceiling on that side of the ball. They just have more teeth in the run game. Like they can just do a lot of stuff. And the backs, like I think Tudon is just a better overall player than he was last year. And then Rodriguez at that being your second guy off the bench also has like a little bit punched him. The offensive line looks better. Like you mentioned, I thought Hanzi, like he's had a couple of moments up like this year where it's like, okay, you can start to see it coming along. This was his best game overall. I think we're still really excited about pregnant. I thought Harrison had a couple of nearly nice moments in this game. I'm starting to believe in the Jacksonville Jaguars in a way that makes me uncomfortable. I just adore watching Trevor Lawrence right now. He's one of the most entertaining players in the league through three weeks. All right. So how do we feel about what's happening on the other side of this game and rather not talk about it? It's bad. I think like it's I. They are in a weird spot where I still think that like on a down to down basis, Drake May is playing fine. But then the blowup moments are completely nuclear. And that's kind of the issue. I'm really glad you said that because it's easy in the in the early window when there's nine games on and stuff is just flying at you. It's easy to look away and it's 14 three. And then it's 21 three and then Drake throws the pick to Jerry and Jones and you're like, well, Jesus, get this off the screen. Let's find something more entertaining. Then you go back and look at it and it sounds silly to say in a 35 six game. I'm not saying there's a world where the Patriots win this game, but it took a little while for it to just completely snowball away from them. You know, like they were getting stops early. Drake has the completely inexplicable, you know, fumble out the back of his hand Aaron. Did you explain it? Did you hear that? I'm guessing it was the humidity. No, I think he said Jared Wilson bled on the ball. Jesus. Well, I mean, that's the secret world of football if I've ever heard it. Bled on the ball. Bled on the ball. I'm pretty sure that that is what he said about what happened. Yes. Great. That's when you know things are going your way. Yeah. This is on NBC sports. Yeah. It's on everything. Like he bled on the ball and the ball slipped out of his hands. That that fumble leads to the Jags first touchdown. So it's seven nothing. Then Trevor throws his pick on the Brenton strange ball. Yeah. Bad drive. You know, that's, I think that's the drive where the Patriots can't just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot and they back way the hell up and then kick a field goal. But seven three. And then at the end of the half, you got a chance to at least make it a one score game going into halftime, even if you don't cash it in for a touchdown. And that's where to, to Derek's point, you just have this completely nuclear moment where the Travis Hunter interception is just the most indefensible thing I saw all week. I mean, the Jerry Jones one's not that far off. But at least that happened to like put this thing completely out of reach. This happened in a game where if you make a better decision here, you go in the halftime feeling a hell of a lot better about your chances of climbing back into this game. I'll say it again, the Jags were playing well enough that that probably doesn't happen. But the blowup moments in this game just completely exacerbated the issue and made it easier on the Jags than it needed to be. Here's where I say with this, it's a combination of a lot of stuff. The offense is bad right now. Independent of the mistakes the quarterback is making the offense is bad. Two things really jumped out to me today. Morgan Moses was on playable for the entire time he was out there. He eventually gets yanked for Caleb Lomu because of just what the state of the right tackle pass protection was over the course of this game. So that's a problem. I don't understand what the intense and like overall vision for the offense is supposed to be like you have a quarterback. And maybe this is a product of not having AJ Brown or whatever. AJ Brown wasn't on the fucking team last year. Why are we in a spot where you lose AJ Brown and now half of the offense is built out of like quick game on third and two. Like the sheer number of plays, one of the sacks that may took in this game. It's running a quick game concept on third and medium. Hunter Henry like slips on the play and there's nowhere else for him to go with the ball. And so he just eats it. It's like that. Those are your options on third and three. And the number of times it happened multiple times again in this game. Remember in week one against Seattle when you threw the pick in the red zone and people were like, why is the offense tackle on the ground? Well, the offense tackle is on the ground because it's supposed to be a quick game concept and he's cutting the guy. But then the ball has to come out. It happened again in this game where they do it in the red zone. Low mood cuts. The ball doesn't come out and then he's trying to push the ball down field with an unblocked guy in his face. Like if it's quick game cut, if it's, if you're not, if it's not, you're not getting rid of the ball in half a second. Why are guys cutting? Like I just don't understand what they're trying to do on offense. Like there's so many plays that are dead in the water based on like what they're trying to do situationally. And then when you're combining that with the quarterback making at least two to three plays over the course of the game, they're like, what are you possibly thinking in that moment? You get an offense that looks like this. It's, it is everything like they still can't run the ball. They ran the ball terribly in this game and they ran the ball a lot in this game. And so that was I think a big part of the issue. The pass protection plan overall, I think this year has not been good. And then like you said, Morgan Moses has taken a step back. I do not think that he's obviously not playing well enough to even continue to hold the job. I think the other thing too about the structure of the passing offense. And I think that they were hoping that AJ Brown would be a good fit for this. They don't use as much movement and shifting and motioning as other teams. They want to beat you by formation. And then the quarterbacks going to be right and the players going to win. Well, that's cool when you have AJ Brown or last year when you're maybe not playing the strongest schedule. When you've played the last eight teams that they've played where they are all machines for the most part. And now you don't have AJ Brown and Grobino Dobbs is probably not really what you wanted him to be. Who's winning? You thought it was going to be like Kyle Williams on this deep stop route when you're trailing and he can't even sort of get open. And so I think it really is everything. And then May is, again, I think long term, I still think that he's going to be really good, but he is the type of quarterback that when things are not going right, he's still going to try to make the play. He will lose the game fast. And I think that that is kind of the problem they have right now. It's a great thing to point out. And if you're trying to figure out why does the offense look the way that it did in the playoffs last year, that's the reason is because they're trying to pick on teams they can pick on with, they're trying to do it formationally. They're trying to do it with matchups. Like if you're trying to win that way against teams that are as good or better than you, you're going to have a bad day. And so that I think that's why there's been such a stark difference between what this offense has looked like in the playoffs last year and against good teams this year compared to what it looked like for most of last season. That shit's going to work when you're playing against teams that are poorly coached to work. They're of lesser coaching than you and lesser talent than you. When you're playing against team that teams that are equal or better to you in both of those scenarios, you're going to look like this. You're not going to be able to hold up against them in the same way. And we've seen that twice in three weeks from this offense. The other team that is like similar in terms of, ah, they don't use as much motion as you would think or all that stuff is the Dallas Cowboys this year. Well, you know what the Dallas Cowboys have? They have sales and George Pickens and a quarterback who's going to see it and throw it. And so it's like it and the offensive line is better. Like it's just they have the dudes to do it. And maybe that's not the ideal way to do it anyway. But they can at least they have the horses to do the things they want to do. New England is not even sort of in that stratosphere. Let's get to our next game here. The Pittsburgh Steelers offense has a big time bounce back game against the Cincinnati Bengals after looking completely dead for the first two weeks of the season. The Steelers put up 30 in this game, get to some of the plays. Seven yards per play for the Steelers. The second best mark of any game over the last two years. The only game that was better was they're winning against the Bengals in week seven last year when the Bengals didn't have an offense or didn't have a defense. And the Bengals defense has looked considerably better over the first two weeks. And so for the Steelers have this sort of output against a Bengals defense that had really shown some life. Pittsburgh Steelers and this offense today, you guys have my attention. How much do you think is a Steelers bounce back and how much did the Bengals just revert to being the worst version of themselves? Do you think combination of the two because I rewatching this game, if I sound like I'm taking credit away from the Steelers, I'm sorry, I could not get past some of the absurdity of what the Bengals did today, forcing two punts having one of them called back by a roughing the punter, having the other one muffed to hand the Steelers a late game fuel goal, the tackling issues cropped back up. Did a Steelers receiver catch a touchdown with somebody near him today? Like we're Was it a Steelers receiver catch a touchdown where the where a bangle was nearby like capable of breathing on him. I don't I think the answers know and so good like these good scheme good good play call. I mean that we talked about it just before the show the red zone touchdown to DK where they just ran deep crossers through the end zone and the bingles DB's just took themselves out of the play by colliding with each other like the keystone cop. So that's it was very fun to watch but it I think it made me more concerned about the bingles than anything I that's a fair place to land and I will say there were a couple like I think big time plays in this game from the Steelers offense that I I was very impressed with the there there were two of them there's a throw that Rogers made to Roman Wilson on a third long early in the game that he pins on Roman Wilson for a huge conversion like that to me was probably the most impressive throw he made over the course of the game the other one was the ball that nearly gets hit by DJ turnity came that half late in the game. Rogers was making some tight window throws that he had not made over the first couple weeks. I think that sticks out. I'll say that even winning by design is something that was not happening for the Steelers in the first couple weeks. That's Geronik touchdown even both touchdowns. You the the the Geronik touchdown design is gorgeous and then even hitting like the little rub slot fade to Roman Wilson on the first drive like getting easy completions by design is not something that was happening for the Steelers offense over the first couple weeks. So I think there's enough of that to be excited. The other thing that to me is totally Steelers centric their offensive line was kicking ass in this game like they were moving people and you know what it wasn't even just the offensive line. If you go back and you watch the effort from the tight ends and the skill position players as blockers in this game. Really the only down moment of that was the DK McAff hold on the huge jail and Warren run, which I don't think was a halt. And you the especially to how much have we talked about especially with the first two weeks with the Bengals defense man their run defense the way that Dexter Lawrence is playing like all the front guys and the linebackers look better and all this stuff. And in this game like Steelers come out it was like six yards of pop 40% success rate. They had four runs of over 10 yards like they were moving people the way that you want it. And I do think like sure Rogers make honestly like Rogers making two or three really nice throws you having one skimmed up really nice big explosive play whether it's a touchdown or not whatever and then the run game being your engine because you're off the line kick kick people's that that's the formula. That's exactly what it should be exactly what it should be. And so I think that's why even if the Bengals should win this game without to catastrophic special teams mistakes and turn over at the end by Joe burrow. The fact that the formula is actually closer to what it needs to be for this to be a real team. I think that's the encouraging part. The guy that to me I have to shout out it. Fattano made just like five crazy blocks in this game like crazy blocks either in space or reaching people has no business reaching or is blowing people off the ball on double teams like I really do and that's that was if you were going to have any sort of optimism about this team coming into the year offensively it was going to start with the offensive line. And so for them to look as out of sorts as they did over the first couple weeks it's like man if that's not even going to be something you can rely on what is this offense going to look like. And so for them to look like that Hanashore got his first start today like that's the group because of what they can do in the run game. And then the other. I mean, we haven't even mentioned his name. She had one war incredible. Baller. He looks awesome. I thought we were going to talk about the other big man Darnell Washington had like two in the same place in this game. I got I got some for him. Although I liked I liked this point though because it's worth it's worth bringing up in a week to week league. Dexter Lawrence controlled an NFL football game all by himself a week ago. And you can hate on the Bengals linebackers. I thought Barrett Carter probably wants to forget today a little bit. Well, that's that's what I was going to get to with the Darnell Washington. Absolutely. Absolutely. But in their defense like the way the Steelers were mauling the line of scrimmage. And like if Jalen Warren has a free runway to get up to the second level on a consistent basis. Every you're always going to have a bad day. That's a terrible world to live in when he's getting a free runway for the first three to five yards of a play. And it felt like the Steelers were doing that on a consistent basis. So if I'm encouraged by anything from this game. Yeah, like I'd be excited to go back and rewatch the Steelers offensive line. It was a lot of perimeter runs or runs that were hitting if not to like explicitly perimeter runs. And they had a couple where it was it was pin pull. It was tosses. But then multiple runs were it's hitting off tackle where they got to kick out the one that was called back. Is that exact sort of play. Friar move comes screaming across kicks out cash is how that hits off tackle into big chunk gain. And so that's the area that the that the bangles and their run game are going to have to worry about is that if you're got anything happening outside. That's where it's the edges. It's the linebackers. It's the DBs. And the tackling overall was a team problem for this team today. And that's what we can get into. I think the Darnell Washington plays. I mean the big one obviously Bear Carter misses a tackle. But a lot of the other Darnell Washington completions. Where are the bangles defensive players in the middle of the field like I don't understand. There were so many just simple easy completions for the Steelers over the middle of the field in this game with absolutely no resistance. And I just don't understand how that's the game plan. I looked it up because I was curious between between the hashes and in the seams in this game. 64.3% success rate for the Steelers per next gen. That is their best in a single game over the past two seasons. They do. That's not what they do anymore. That's not what they do. And so some of that is the Roman Wilson completion on 3rd and 11 where that's definitely not what they do. They're not attacking that area of the field very often. But so many of the completions in this game. It doesn't matter if it's not what you do. If Darnell Washington is walking off the line of scrimmage catching a ball from it, turning around catching a ball and running for his six yards. And that was happening so often in this game. And we did is this real on Wednesday with me and Barnwell. We were talking about the bangles defense. And my hesitation with the bangles defense was the middle of the field spine of the defense in past defense is still a concern when you go back and you watch it. I didn't realize it was going to look like this again. So many who is even relatively skeptical about it. This was a worst case scenario in just what they were allowing consistently throughout this entire episode. Starting the first drive and never really stopped like their inability to defend tight ends whatsoever is something that is going to need to change if this team is going to have any shot over the over the long run. And then even tackling the back and I think one of the warn runs like Brian Cook like way overrun the angle. And he's just completely what you thought he was supposed to be your fixer there. And like he's been generally good. But this game was not his miss either. He got banged up in this game too, I believe. So that's something to watch moving from reverse. Before we move on, I think sitting with the idea that if you're a bangled, if you're the bangles, if you're a zactoe, you got to be sick losing that game to lose that game. And because the Steelers defense been the best defense of football over the first two weeks, the bangles offense was excellent in this game. I mean, just in terms of how they were moving the ball. I mean, they they played as well as you could hope to play essentially against the Steelers defense. And still lost this game because of just a drive swinging play on a roughing the kicker and then a must putt. But it just off. I mean, it's that is to lose that to lose the game that way when your offense played like this against the Steelers defense, I that's one that's going to sit in a pity your stomach for a while. I hate to do it to my boy, but don't leave don't leave the offense out of that completely because 48 seconds to play on plus 38 with a time out is exactly where you want to be to at least tie the game. If not, just steal it and rip the Steelers hearts out. And Dalton Risener gave up an easy pressure to Derek Harmon. There was two moments where the guards got their asses kicked and just got walked back into the quarterback. There was the third and one that came here where it did it to Dylan Fairchild. I think on the drive before two drives before it ennooked the drive. And then there was the Derek Harmon sacked in the game. And then I'm like, obviously, it's terrible if you take this sack, but like the bingles picked up chunk yardage in this game at will. Like Joe could have thrown them out of here if he doesn't put the ball in the ground. If he doesn't thumbles a game away here. And so every single person had a hand in this including Joe burrow, which, which hurts, but I mean, this is, this is a tough one for Cincinnati. And having said all that about the offense as high as bingles fans were on their defense through the first two weeks, this was this had to be a pretty gross wake up call. Last one here. This was not in our original plan until the late game went a certain way because it looked like they were going to be out of it. The Las Vegas Raiders are three, you know, the Las Vegas Raiders with a big time come back win over the New Orleans Saints today. Their defense coming up with some huge turnovers in the second half. Las Vegas Raiders, the three and a Las Vegas Raiders, you guys have our attention. I think it's important to say too because their game was winding down during the end of Cowboys Ravens, which had the attention of the football universe. But yes, we did see this happening. And I for one was pretty impressed by it. Like the way they just took this game over in the fourth quarter. There were about 27 16 after fumbling the kickoff return and allowing a touchdown with six minutes and it's left in the third quarter. and came back and won this game because of all the turnovers they created on their end of it. I'm going to, I'm just, I'm not going to do this for that rock this week because I just used the Las Vegas Raider. Malcolm Coons. Yeah. Dammit. On this game on his own because, and it's worth pointing out, Calvin Banks gets hurt last week. I thought the Saints did a pretty admirable job of mitigating that for most of this game. And then awesome Richards gives up the sack fumble that really swings this thing and puts the Raiders up. And then one play later, Coons, I like took my breath away. First play of the drive after the Raiders take the lead. I think it was 29, 27. Malcolm Coons just puts his hand on awesome Richards's collar and just walks him right back into Tyler Shug just like we are going to the quarterback whether you like it or not. And that's why that pick looked so goofy is awesome Richards was just stepping right into Tyler Shug's throw. It's massively under thrown, Zieg Masses gets the pick and that kind of felt like all she wrote. And like in the span of like two and a half minutes, I was like, God damn, Malcolm Coons just turned this game on its ear. And the Saints down to down moved the ball well in this game. Like this was not a dominate all the way through four quarters performance from the Raiders defense. But they're consistently doing enough interesting stuff, especially in high leverage moments where I'm impressed at what the plan looks like. Two of the other turnovers that ended up swinging in this game, the chin sack that it creates the sack fumble. It's really cool. If you go back and you watch the all 22 on that, the Raiders are in a pressure look before the play happens at the snap. Both of the DBs on the right side get depth off the line of scrimmage. And the pick play that the Saints were trying to run doesn't work because they can't get the rub because the guys are playing at different depths. And so there's no one to throw the ball to chin the linebacker or the tight end that he was covering. It's a cover zero look where they have multiple droppers. And so it does turn into man coverage. Chin is covering the tight end to the right side. He stays into block. And so when Chuck doesn't have anywhere to go to the left side, he pulls it down and chin just takes grass and gets the sack fumble. So that's a play where just one little thing right before the play happens, it gives Chuck nowhere to go with it. And then the pick he throws with, I think eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, he thinks he's going to have one on one with the left side because they're in a single high look before the play. As the play happens, they shift into cover two like as it's unfolding. He double clutches it because as a kind of master's was sinking underneath the vertical ride to a lava. And because he double clutched it, he gets hit as he's throwing that ball and master's gets the interception. And so again, they don't have great players top to bottom. The Saints moved the ball pretty well in this game, but yet again, there are multiple moments over the course of this thing with the Raiders where I'm impressed at some of the stuff that Rob Leonard is doing and they're really feasting on turnovers because they're creating them. They feel like they can be explosive. And if you're going to keep enough games close, you really just need to make a couple of good plays. And I think that's kind of what I want to say on the other end, like I think offensively they can't keep a lot of games close, like what they were doing with Brock Bower's in this game with being that he hadn't played the first couple of games of the season. We weren't even sure what he was going to look like. The fact that he was just able to move it around as much as he did, like Bill Barnwell had this from the first half and I'm sure this mostly held for like the rest of the game. But he had 13 snaps out wide, 14 in the slot, four as an inline tight end and one in the backfield. They were targeting him one-on-one like outside as an extra see for a number of times against like Kool-Aid McKinsey, he was picking balls off the ground like when he had to because it just based on where the throw was, like Brock Bower's was sensational in this game. He is, we've done for so many years, so it's like, oh, this tight end, you can just play him a wide receiver. He actually can do that shit, man. And it's like kind of rare to see it in practice the way that he's able to do it. He's, I think that he is just phenomenal what he's able to do for them. We were talking about this in real time, how I think a lot of coaches in the league, it's not that they want to do it the hard way. It's that they want to do it what they see as the smart way, right? It's like, we're going to take what the defense gives us, we're going to design the offense and go to the right read. That's how we're going to play. Where the ball's going to go where it should go. The last two years, Klingkoobie X been like, I got a really, really awesome dude and I'm going to throw him the ball 15 times a game and I'm going to see if you can stop it. And I'm going to take that approach. Yes. It's like, why would you not would you have a player like this? Like I just, yeah, the way and like obviously them scheming up stuff for Bowers in the red zone, they had that little like slant flat rub where the nickel has to get over and he can't, like obviously that's open by design, but also Bowers just gets out of that break so fast that it makes just for such an easy throw for Kirk Cousins, which at this age, given his arm, you need as much room as you can get. And so the fact that Bowers is able to make that happen, I thought was great. I did want to give one Saints shout out for this. I feel like Devon Veile is kind of becoming to what Juan Jennings was for a long time. Like he just feels like bottom adding no adversities as he was, he is becoming like a really good player for them. And obviously a lot is the star in this, in this offense and he's really good, but when they really need a play, when they need to attack the stakes, when they need to just throw one-on-one on the outside, he could do it, man. Like Veile, I think it's playing really, really well for them right now. >> You want to take a guess at Devon Veile's measurements? >> Yeah. >> Like 642 point. >> He's 65210. >> Yeah. >> Yes, sir. >> Actually, he's not quite as heavy as I would have guessed for Derek to have a crush on him, but it tracks. >> It's as good a start as you could possibly ask for if you're a Raiders fan. And beyond like the three of no, it's just looking like it puts together operation. >> Being fun to watch. Just being fun to watch, just having, just a plan on offense and just the fact that it all seems so put together. And again, the fact that the defense, even if there's not a ton of talent line in that thing, it's a lot of young guys. A lot of young guys, I think you can get excited about, but, and then, and Nicobie Dean is also somebody we should mention. >> Yes. >> Nicobie Dean's made a play in every single game for the Raiders. And so if you're a Raider fan, after going through what you went through last year and just having your team be unwatchable every single week. And now getting to enjoy a team that, I don't know what it's going to look like over the course of the year. I don't know if they're going to make the playoffs even starting three and a, like Kirk Cousins is playing well, but Kirk Cousins is still Kirk Cousins at the stage of his career. But just to watch a team that has a handful of exciting players and that you know is giving itself the best chance to win weekend and week out has to be such a welcome experience. I know it's going to be a welcome experience for us, like having another team and we'll talk about another one of these later, like the Jets and the Raiders could have been disasters this year, offensively. And the fact that both of them are in a place where I'm going to be excited to like open up the tape the next morning and see what the Raiders and Jets did is, it's just a really, really great place to be considering how unwatchable those teams were last season. >> Throw in the Cardinals who were just a pain in San Francisco's ass all day and that's three teams that were widely joked about as fighting for the number one pick who look like. And I'm not saying they're going to win in town of games, but they look like buttoned up NFL operations right now. >> The Cardinals are doing exactly what we hoped they might. >> Seriously. It's just like be, look like a team that probably knows what it's doing, be decently entertaining and just keep losing all of these games. Like that's exactly what the card, we'll talk about the Cardinals a little bit later. But of all those teams, like they're the one that I think is actually the closest to what we thought they might be coming into the year. All right, let's talk about a couple teams that are not what we thought they might be coming into the year. It's time for what the fuck. >> What the fuck? >> Here's our now 0 and 3 and lost a game where the other team turned the ball over five times. Don't really know what else to say about this team at this point. Everything about the 2026 Los Angeles Chargers. What the fuck? Can I put a number on that? The five turnovers thing? Before today. >> Please do. >> Before today, the last 10 years of NFL football, teams were four and 64 when they turned the ball over at least five times. And none of those wins were by more than eight points. There was only one win that was eight points. That is exactly how much the bills beat the Chargers by today. Despite turning the ball over five times, so you have like a 93% loss rate or whatever, and the Chargers ended up being on the other side of this. It's the perfect way. This is a very Chargers loss regardless of how the season had been going, but given how the season has been going, it's an extremely, extremely Chargers loss. We were on the same wavelength, Derek, so I'll pull out the other stat I found that teams with a plus four turnover margin in a loss over the last decade, the Chargers today, the 2025 Cardinals who went three and 14, and the Broncos did it in 2020. >> Did the Cardinals do it against the Titans, and they did it against the Jags? That one. >> Oh, yeah. That was weird. >> Yeah. >> I also thought tights for a second. >> Yeah. >> It's not supposed to happen. It's really, it's a stat that encapsulates everything in a game like this. And you could kind of feel it immediately when Josh threw two picks and James Cook had the fumble on the first play of the game. He was out of sorts the entire game. He was double clutching, like he was not seeing it cleanly the entire game. This was one of those games where the bills have it every once in a while, where they try to give it to you. The quarterback is not sharp and to allow that to happen and to allow it to happen two maximum extent and still somehow lose the game is something that really is only reserved for this version of the chargers and whatever they happen to be. Well, that's the funny thing though, because even like when the bills weren't full on meltdown mode, because they turned the ball over like three of their first, because the rear first four possessions, it was 10, 10 and a half time, like they drove for the touchdown and half and I was like, ah shit, the chargers squandered all of this. Like even if this isn't a good win for the bills, they're not going to lose this game. And that is like at half time, I was like the chargers are just going to be living in some misery here in about an hour and a half. And that's exactly what it felt like. I mean, it's exactly what it felt like. And again, everyone is culpable, right? I mean, there were some truly like hero plays in the pocket where like with some of the pocket movement from Herbert in the first half. And then you have him throwing a horrendous interception with the game still very much in the balance. And I think that's one of the dumbest plays he's ever made in his entire life. Like just horrendous. It made no like there he's it makes no sense. There's like no conceivable reason for him to throw that ball in that moment. There's nothing moving the middle of the safety, the middle of the field safety anywhere but to that throw. Like there's nothing tying him down. Like what he's going to sit and jump that route every time. Like it truly was like he made some other plays in this game. He's made other plays for this team. I think over the first handful of weeks where like things should have gone his way. That particular interception. I was like, if he's doing that, they are not going to win this football game. And then it's in the fourth quarter. It's third and ten. Game is still in the balance. And Quentin Johnson just has a canister up. And then they have to go forward on fourth and ten. And part of the reason they had to go forward on fourth and ten is that the game is only that close because twice in this game, when you are having the season that you're having, you cannot kick 21 yard field goals on fourth and three. That can't happen. And so it's just everyone has a little bit of blame in this. The same way that everyone's had a little bit of blame in this over the first two games. The offense is incredibly sloppy. The amount of drops and just consistent mistakes happening everywhere is fine. It continues to pile up. The quarterback is making multiple big-time mistakes every single game. And the coaching overall is just not putting this team in positions to win when the entire argument as to why Jim Harbaugh is your coach is that that's supposed to happen. Can we actually, you mentioned the 21-yard field goal? Can we like walk through the process that got us to the 21-yard goal? Please. It's second and sixth from the plus 16, Arande Gadson gets called for an illegal block, that block, that backs him up. Joe All gets called for holding immediately after that, which backs him up. So now you were on the plus 16 and you get backed up like 20 yards. They gain enough of it back and they get a defensive holding that goes to first and goal from the three. False start on a replacement tight end that backs you up to second and goal from the six. Unsuccessful bubble screen, which is just whatever, like the bills made a nice play. Then cold strange false starts on third and third and goal from the sixth. So then it's third and goal from the 11. You throw the check down near the sticks and then decide not to go for it and just kick from the three-yard line. Which all kinds of line got six of the Chargers seven flags in this game. Again. There's no, I don't really need anything to say. I don't have to spend much more time on this team. It was a frustrating loss just because, again, when you win the turnover margin to this degree and still lose, it's worth mentioning, but I don't really think we have to sit in this. Why should we keep talking about this team? One other thing that pissed me off just because I took the time to chart it and write it down. I mean, they went one and four in the red zone today and the bills went three or four. Again, that's how bad teams lose football games. They had third and five from the plus 15 and they just, they outside zone to Keaton Mitchell like a perfectly acceptable play call if you're deciding to go for it anyway. And it picked up two yards and then they kicked the field. That was the other fourth and three. Keffield with that. Yeah. To call that run not knowing for sure that you're going to go for it. And I'm sure they would probably say, well, if it had gotten another yard, we would have gone for it. Screw you. Don't call that play then. Like, why are we running outside zone on third and five unless going for it on fourth down is absolutely the game. I thought that was mystifying as was most of this entire game for the chargers. So we can be done now if you want to congratulations to the Buffalo bills for winning a game that they consistently like any team would lose, but the bills seem to have a couple of these every single year. And so to get away with the win in this one, I think speaks to the current state of the Los Angeles Chargers. All right, before we move on, let's take one more quick break. Our next one here is Seahawks lost to the commanders today. And a game that had was way more exciting than it had any right to be Seattle Seahawks after looking like an absolute machine over the first two weeks, playing against the team with its backup quarterback. What the fuck? You know what's funny? I thought they looked kind of good for a lot of this game. Like, I did not come away thinking like, oh man, there's some sort of like flaw with the Seahawks are like, oh god, what's wrong with them? I was like, I don't know, man, Sam Darnold's ass was broken. And he was kind of dealing for a lot of this game. I really appreciate that you said this because when I went back and re and looked at everything and did the stats and broke it all down, I was like, I think this was just a goofy game and it was a goofy game. Yeah, it was a goofy game. I refused to take anything meaningful from this. I just think a lot of weird shit happened at the Seahawks on a day where they were kind of banged up. Sam Darnold was coming back from injury and I just, I don't know, I'm not going to draw any weird, like firm conclusions from this. I just think the Seahawks had a really weird day at the office. That last interception is a backbreaker. That's a bad decision. That's a play that just can't happen. And I think that's one where, you know, I, you want to say like we just learned to live with that with Santa quarterback and you live with the highs and every once in a while, that stuff is going to happen. But in a game where it's close in the fourth quarter, that's the type of stuff that can't happen. Like that, that's one where I do think that we can sit with that being a bad moment. Other than that, I, I don't disagree. Like the first interception is a tipped ball that gets picked off. The gigerian price fumble happens at one point in this game. And I'll say this, I, the, what I do want to talk about is I think Washington deserves a ton of credit. Of course. I agree with that. How are their offense played? Like I, again, down to down, it's not like Washington was moving the ball at will in this game. They finished with a 35% success rate offensively. But there are a couple of things that stuck with me just in rewatching that game and just trying to parse like exactly how Washington did this. First thing, Terry McCorn was insane. Unbelievable game. On unbelievable Terry McCorn game, the touchdown is a crazy play. Like getting adjusting to that ball on like a back shoulder throw, the 30 yards down the field coming back to make that play is crazy. But what, what I was really impressed with is he does that. But the play, the first play that I wrote down from Terry McCorn on the opening touchdown drive, he cleans out AJ Finley digging him out on a run play that goes for nine yards. And that's the other thing that really jumped out to me about this performance from Washington. You have no Jane Daniels. You are 0 and 2. It would be so easy to just completely roll over in this moment, going playing against the Seahawks. And from the first moment, it was clear that was not going to happen. Your 30 million dollar receivers digging out a safety on the first drive of the game before he goes on to make like three or four insane place. And so that was part of it. McCorn just overall ridiculous. The other side is, even if it wasn't again, super consistent down to down, there are two things you need to do to beat the Seahawks defense. The first is you need to make some tight window throws that you shouldn't have any business making. Mario does like a decade into his career. It doesn't give a shit anymore. Like he will let those things go. And the trail on Berks touchdown is a perfect example of that. Like he's throwing that thing come hell or high water. And you do need to do that when you're playing against Seattle. And so that throw in that moment, like that needs to happen. You need to be whizzing the ball past guys ear holes to beat this defense. And the other part, you need to be patient. You need to take stuff underneath. If they're going to sit there and let you throw five yard hookup routes to Stefan digs, you need to do that over and over and over again because of the depth they play with in zone coverage. And he did a little bit of all of that in this game. And so again, it's a weird game for Seattle. But Washington deserves some credit for how they were able to consistently chip away at this thing. Mario to solid man. Like he he is playing legitimately like a really nice football the last couple of years. And like at the throw there to Berks, that's also it's not even just like that's how you have to attack this defense. That's their backup safety. That is the guy you should be attacking in really exactly the ball against. And honestly, I thought I think their first touchdown was maybe one of my favorites. I thought it was a really heavy play by Rashad White. So he's on the shallow coming from the left to the right. But he sees Mario to bail back out to the left hand side away from pressure. And he just like whips his head around back around the linebacker he's on and just finds a little soft spot in the zone. And just like to have that awareness. It's a quickly snapped into a spot where the quarterback was going to be able to go make a play for him. I thought it was impressive. And I think that's the other thing I want to say, like a lot of the new pieces that you would have wanted made a play like a shot white had that play. I thought of me. Robertson, even though he gave up the one touchdown to JSN, like it was perfect coverage on that play. And he also had a number of really impressive reps. I thought in this game, sunny styles had a number of impressive plays like the interception is tip. He's just like right place, right time, but in the two minute, he runs with Jadarian price on a wheel wrap and breaks it up. And I was like, oh, buddy, if we're going to be able to do that, and we knew that we could, he could base off his athleticism, but to finally see it in practice in that NFL game, it was like, all right, man, we're starting to cook both this could be it. He had another play where I think it was on, it might have been the play where Jadarian price fumbled. He gets to that ball on a run through from the back side, like the sheer amount of ground that dude can cover. I am really excited to watch him over the course of this season and moving forward. He just moves in a way that off-ball linebackers do not move. And that past break up is a perfect example why. And it's again, it's a burn the tape sort of game from Seattle and them losing this thing. I do think that it's an example that at a certain point, it doesn't matter how much magic you have if you're Mike McDonald. When you're on safety number four or whatever it is, with now Julian love also hurt, you're going to feel that over the course of the game, even against an offense that's been struggling, even against the back of quarterback. You could look at this one of two ways. They played this game last year around this time, it's probably like week five or six with the Tampa game and Julian love didn't play in that game either, to great backup DB's got picked on. They are not infallible, even though they started to feel that way by the time they won the Super Bowl. And you could say, all right, well, Julian love, Tio Kata, Gettinichem and Worry healthier, like, and we'll be fine. And that's true, but this is a 100% chance of injury sport and hopefully you don't have to figure out how to live this way over a prolonged period of time. I'm not going to be concerned about the Seahawks right now, but it is, it's not fun to gaze into, like, imagine a future of what the Seahawks defense could look like if it does unfortunately deal with injuries like this. But for a one off, I'm not going to worry about it right now. This was the second best defensive rushing success rate of the Mike McDonald era. And the irony is, and again, that's where I come back to with just like burn the tape. They allowed like six successful runs on Sunday, and one of them. And the only explosive they allowed was the game clincher, like the third and nine. They sent seven because they were expecting pass because they had enough timeouts to where they thought Washington would want to throw because they had been pretty aggressive. And they just leaked out the side and ran for like 19 yards. That was there. Their only explosive run allowed was when they sold out to stop the pass at the end of the game. I just think it was a shitty day at work for the Seahawks. I'm not super worried about it, even though I do admire the job the commanders did. There are a couple of those moments and there was a really nice successful run on like a second and nine when the Seattle was in like a pressure look thinking they would get pass and the commanders caught them in. So that's just play-calling stuff that I think David Blodges there's some credit for. The last guy I wanted to mention before we move on, on the Rashad White touchdown, and I'm only saying this because he had some really nice moments against Quinn Williams last week too. Chris Paul clamps down Leonard Williams on that Rashad White touchdown run. And so as a guy that spot started last year didn't get paid a lot of money in free agency. He's had a couple really impressive moments in pass protection over the first three weeks and he had another one today on again a crucial play for Washington. Last one here, the Houston Texans after falling to the Colts 1917 are 0 and 3 for the second year in a row. And I find myself maybe a little bit more worried about this this group being 0 and 3 than even that group last year. The Houston Texans, a team that is currently sitting at our contender table here is 0 and 3 three weeks into the season. What the f**k? And feels like foreshadowing. It is a little bit. I'm definitely more worried than last year because honestly some of the offensive stuff again I can live with like I don't like how bad the offensive line has looked obviously and we can talk about that right. Lidge got picked on. I think a number of times in this game which you don't really want to see the past catching stuff. Yeah, both guards because they yeah, they're on a backup there too like the the past catching stuff is like yeah, they're down, Nico Collins and Jayden Higgins. That sucks. That is what it is. I think when Nico comes back, that's going to look a little bit better. My issue is that the defense, I think this was the most frustrating game that they had to me because the first two weeks, their success rates were like pretty good, but you run into Josh Allen doing some of the stuff that he can do and then Jamar Chase just being an absolute superhuman. Sometimes that's going to happen. This was a game where I actually thought schematically they got picked apart like the cold were able to find a lot of the stuff that they wanted over the middle of the field against Houston's like spot drop zone stuff. That's really all that they played when they tried to get into some of their like double mug pressure looks and stuff like that. I thought Jones was able to pick them apart and kind of find all the spots and throws that he wanted for the most part. And there was one play in particular. It was early on in the second quarter, it was a second nine high red zone and they run this like zone covers zero where read blank and ship is at like 12 yards or whatever sitting over the slot. He's trying not to show that everybody's going to actually go. And he should know if we're pressuring like that slant might be coming as like a quick sight adjustment or maybe they've just got that called because of what you have there. And he is so slow driving on it that it allows the receiver. I think it was Josh downs that catch it spin out of it and almost go score touchdown. That kind of play to me is like we have to be faster on this shit if we're going to be the defense that is like bigger faster than stronger than you and I think the fact that they had that moment and a couple of moments like that in this game. That's where I start to get a little bit of concern you still get the sacks the strip sacks a couple of nice plays, but down to down this game was the most frustrating that they've played. I thought that area of the field specifically that was a no go when you play against this team over the last couple of years like that when you watch those safeties come downhill, you were going to try to access middle of the field throws against this team at your own peril. And that's just not what it's that's not what it felt like today like the Colts were able to really attack that area consistently. I think some of that is you're down to backup live actors, right? Jake Hansen's playing 71 snaps in this game. I think you see that, but I think like it ships had some rough moments over the first couple weeks. And so just the spine of this defense overall against the pass. It just doesn't feel as good as it did over the last couple seasons when again, like it was a hornet's nest in there. Like you just wouldn't even try to throw the ball in there. And so for the Colts to be building their passing game around attacking that area, it just doesn't feel like this unit has quite the same teeth as it did over the first couple of years. Oh, for over the last couple of years, I think like to Derek's point, it was easy to explain that away over the first couple of weeks because explosives are really what was doing them in. Today, it wasn't just explosives. It was the Colts passing game having the upper hand way too many times over the course of this thing. I think y'all are living in the reality that the Texans are in right now. And so you have a point, but I can't get past the idea that we're harping on the Texans defense in a game where they held the opposition to 19 points on the road, forced to take away sack Daniel Jones four times completely shut down one of the most ruthless running games in the NFL. And to sit here and pick apart the Texans defense admittedly were not they did not play up to the very lofty standards that they have set. To be harping on them for why the Texans are o and three when the offense put that out there. And I know I won't speak for y'all. I went into this game saying, well, it's the Colts, the Colts, the Colts defense has been so bad. You need to look good against you. You need to look better than this. They were atrocious. They didn't like, I got to give the Colts way more credit for or give the Texans way way less credit than I did because clearly the minimal gains they made against the Bills in week one was complete fool's gold like to have a 38% rushing success rate in this game. Absolutely. And that was even not indicative of how they ran the ball in this game. That was a couple of nice job runs. David Montgomery had two successful runs on 11 carries per next gen. They had no explosive runs and they had six runs of five plus yards that's bottom three in the NFL for week three. It's bad. It's untenable. And Derek, I think you're right that getting Nico Collins back could fix a lot of this shit because they ran into an eight man box on 62% of their attempts this week, which is a top five number. But I can't completely trust Nico Collins availability at this point. It doesn't even matter. It's getting Nico Collins back is not it's it would help some of that. It would loosen things up a little bit in terms of what defense is good to you. It's not solving all of these issues that these issues start off from period. Yeah. That's what's happening. They absolutely start off right in the thing. I'm actually glad you kind of have framed it this way, Dave. I want to be clear to the reason they're O and three is the offense is fault. I don't think it's the defense is fault. I just think that if the defense felt like the defense last year, I could live with it or cope myself out of it. They don't like to be like that. Back out of the same hole they did last year that that that's the point that I was trying to make is that that's why this feels different last year. They're sitting O and four that you can win any single game because of how the defense is playing. The defense isn't going to play to this. that level, then it's going to be a lot harder to dig yourself out of this and the offense is culpable here. The offense is inability to run the ball and the fact that the offensive line doesn't look any better than it did a year ago is just a devastating place to have landed. And that is where we have landed. I think you're very respectfully because I do this more than any of the three of us. I think you all might be being prisoners at the moment a little bit right now, though, because last year, these were, these were the scores of their games, the first three weeks of the season. They lost 14-9 to the Rams in just like, well, one of my favorite defensive games in recent memory, 2019 to the box, 17-10 to the jacks, where like the offense was just doing nothing for them. And like, these were low scoring games. I know the Pills game wasn't low scoring, but they turned it on as the season went on. And so I think in an era where like training camp is as, that's year one. That's year one. I just mean like two. I mean, supposed to look better than this. Playing your way into form with new pieces on defense, particularly a new piece of safety and you're dealing with an injury, injuries at linebacker, I think it's understandable if the defense is merely holding the opponent to 19 points and looking merely good instead of like frightening. Like the Texans could look frightening in December and that wouldn't surprise me at all. Will it matter if the offense doesn't start doing anything? I think that's the bigger issue for me. Even though I agree with you, though, that the defense, it definitely, it hasn't lived out to the expectation. Absolutely. That's completely fair. But is it fair to expect them to be that right out of the gate every week? Yes. I thought this had a chance to be like a once every several years sort of defense that was just dismantling teams weekend and week out. And that has not happened. I do think Dave makes a decent point. Like if you just like I looked it up right now, like their EPA and success rate from the first three weeks of last season is like not that different from where they're at now. But I just think that like this game in particular watching how they got picked apart by the Colts passing offense, a passing offense that I think is like pretty limited in what it can do right now. And I know they have the best player in the league. But yes, in Josh down. Yes. I've got a pretty good game. But like I just do not watching it happen that way just felt a little biticier to me than I can ever remember it really feeling. And again, this is still going to be a really good Texans defense. But if they are the eighth best defense or even like the sixth instead of absolutely nuking everybody that they played over the course of last year for the most part, that I do think is going to be a little bit concerning. And I do think they will get better. Like Lincoln ship will probably look better in this defense. They will get healthier. Or you know, the linebacker should look better at a certain point. But I don't know. It just doesn't feel quite as sturdy as I wanted it to. I think y'all are 100% right. And you're I mean, we set lofty expectations for this unit heading into the season. I'm not trying to back away from that. I do kind of hate the idea that they've given up 23 points in the last two weeks. And I mean, they didn't even have a shot in the bingles game. And then they lose this game. And like we knew going in that this was going to have to be a defense first team. But they're getting no help the last couple weeks. And and it sucks. And it sucks that they're back in this hole. And if I was a Texans fan, I would be clinging to the fact that they've done it before as to why the season's not over right now. That's why I don't that's what's worrying to me is that you need it to be that you need to be a truly dominant dominant defense to climb out of that hole. And I just don't know if they look like that right now. Because of the way the offense looks, you need the defense to be next level exceptional for you to dig out of this hole because of how the offense looks. And that's just not what's happening right now. I want to say we jokes about it. Josh Downs had some like ridiculous moments in this game. Josh Downs is a really cool player. And they're having to build a lot of the passing game out of Josh Downs right now considering the current state of the Colts offense. And they were able to do that in this game. So it's credit to him because he he had a few really, really nice moments. And I thought that they really deployed him in a in a cool way. Like some of the stuff they did with him in motion and just getting him on some of these explosives. Like again, I thought that the Texans that the Colts on that side of the ball had the upper hand in this game in ways that you just aren't used to seeing with with the Texans defense. And that's where I land with it. I'm with there. Even though it was limited play, it's not like the Colts had this explosive day. The Colts felt like they were dictating things to the Texan exactly on a pretty regular basis, which is a it's a disconcerting place for Houston to be all right. So with that in mind, Texans are sitting at 0 and 3 Patriots got dismantled by the Jaguars today. Both of those teams are currently at the table. I don't think either of them should be. I Patriots and definitely not. I'm offended that the Patriots are at the table. Like I want them out of there. The Texans, it's it's mainly math for me. Like Owen, I mean, seven teams in history have made the playoffs after Owen 3. Especially now where we can put teams back on. If it right now, if you can put teams back on, the Texans absolutely should not be at the table. Like we shouldn't be hesitant to do this when you're sitting there at 0 and 3 just because they did it last year. And again, we just went over all the reasons that I don't think they're quite as capable of pulling out of it as they were last year. So and if they if they do, we can put them back. Like yes, that's even if I'm not as down on the Texans as y'all are, but 0 and 3 is 0 and 3. And knowing that we can put them back later, I have no problem getting them out of there. The Patriots, I'm just like we look silly having a team that's played this way through the first three weeks at the table. All right, I'm ready to do something about that. So we're taking them both off. I think the two worthwhile replacements are the team that just kicked the shit out of the Patriots today. That is the Jacksonville Jaguars who have looked really, really good for most of the first three weeks. And the other team that deserves to be on here, very similar to the Rams last year, where one of the reasons we didn't have them on here was injury concerns. What are they going to look like coming into the year? Because of how rickety this thing feels, the Niners offense has been insane over the first three weeks and was insane again today. I mean, just what they're able to do throwing the football right now and how well the quarterback is playing and just how well well the machine the San Francisco offense feels like. I think both of those teams deserve to be at the table. Do you guys agree? A hundred percent. I mean Jacksonville, you know, I don't want to speak for both of you, but like might have been the closest to knocking on the door before the season started. Like they were, I think Jacksonville and the Niners were probably the two teams. And so the fact that maybe that's what it is to like they were the ones that were right there. So we only needed a few games of confirmation to be like, Oh, yeah, maybe they just should have been the teams that were in. So I'm totally on board with both of these. All right. So I'm I'm way in on the Jags. So let's just we'll have that be unanimous, but I'm not done here. So the Jags can have a seat at the table. I'm with you about the Niners and they look like a wagon. They're currently dealing with the thing that scared us in the preseason. Mike Evans left this game against Arizona. It's a they're calling it a rib strain. We'll see what the prognosis is there. Trent Williams left this game too. And I know Stinger. The Amador LaNour came back, but he also got hurt like Joey Bozo got hurt this week. Right as I like as I was just donning my sourdough Sam outfit in the studio this afternoon and just getting ready to love on the Niners. All of that existential dread came rushing back where I was like, wait, this is an old hurt team and they get old and hurt sometimes. I don't care. You said Stinger very dismissively. You said Stinger very dismissively as if it can't be like a chronic, very painful thing that happens to guys. I don't care. Like I don't we did this before the season and they have been by far unquestionably the best offense in the league through the first three weeks. Like a week in Hammond Hall and go back and forth and be like, oh, man, they're all banged up. Who cares? When you go to look through the advanced stats, like all of it like Trevor, you're like, oh, Trevor's having this crazy start to the season. How do his number stack up? And like every single time you do that, it all like everything starts behind Purdy. Like Purdy's leading like every same. He's had the two best efficiency games of any quarterback in the league over the last two weeks. Like this is not I don't even think this is a discussion. Even if you have concerns about them, if your offense is playing at this level, even if you're having to piece some of the rest of it together, it doesn't matter. Like we can talk about it in week 12, like based on where they're at. Right now, based on the way the first three weeks have gone, if you have a table and a list of ten contending teams, the Niners on equivocally should be on there. I think that's my thing. I don't think if we have an empty seat because I think this table thing is honestly more about removing some of those teams than did not. I don't think an empty seat necessarily has to be filled immediately. But if you have the best offense and football, you have a coach I've seen make it to the Super Bowl multiple times before with this quarterback with a lot of these pieces. I'm willing to just be like, yeah, you'll do it. It is funny. Why are the Cowboys here if the Niners are not here? Right. Yeah. Exactly. I think that that is completely fair. I also the other thing. I didn't want the Cowboys there in the first place. I still want them there. I believe that they are. I feel better about being there right now than I did a week ago. So that's what they want to do. It's just funny. I will say to Dave's point, the defense right now is worse than they were at the start of last season. They're decimated. They have no linemen. Well, I know, but that was the **** problem last year. The offense, the offense is no. The offense is better than it was last year. I do think it's well, they are better. I would like to see how that holds up over the course of the just like what it looks like relative to, I do think they'll like CMC looks healthy. Caleb Black has, his Bobby's been good for them. George Kittle looks like way healthier and better than I thought it was going nothing ever happened is a wagon. But I, I do think they like Dave is not wrong that this is probably not that different than what it actually was last year. You know how you're, you love fantasy football. You know how, and I don't mean to make light of, of players injuries. I know these are real people dealing with real pain. But like, you know how in fantasy football, when you just have to keep an eye on a guy's injury status every freaking week, it just starts to wear on you. You're just like, oh my God, like I just, I keep having like, am I going to have to sit in? I'm going to have to start him. That's how I feel about the Niners. Yeah, but if you're fantasy football team is scoring 135 points a week, you cease to care. Well, you cease to care on Sunday, but on during the week, you're still doing all of the same juggling and preparations and stressing out about it. So let's do that. Let's do that for Monday to Saturday. And while we'll watch the Niners have a 65% offensive success rate every single week and we'll be like, good, they should be, I'm glad they're at the table. They should be, you know, the Niners play next week. No, Denver. Great. I can't wait. All right. You set, you're very convicted, Derek. I'm, I'll go along. I, I, I, I'm at 100% yes to be clear. I just don't think that you're like small modicum of pushback was like that crazy. It's not crazy. I completely understand where he's coming from. But like, we'll deal with those problems when we get there. The idea that the Niners defensive injuries and deficiencies might be enough to keep them from winning the Super Bowl is a completely rational thing to say. But if we're going to have 10 teams that sit here, an offense that has looked the way the offense looked for the Niners for the first three weeks has to have one of those spots. You said defensive injuries as if two of the biggest pieces of their offense did like they didn't finish this game. And they won by six points. Like it's not like this was a blowout where they just sat these guys. I'm choosing to believe the chart was going to be fine. I'm sure he will be because he's Trent Williams, but it scares the shit out of me. I just wanted to say that. I want to make one more compelling case. And again, I do think that they should be on here. Who, who would even be next? That's, like, if it, like, it's not the Bengals may float. Yeah, maybe the Bengals. Yeah, you can maybe the Bengals. But I only, no, if you're a team that's even in the stratosphere, it feels like my suggestion would have been to leave an open spot for a week. And like, you know, if the Niners beat the Broncos, that's a hell of a statement to go at the table. But I just, I don't think that I get, if there were, if there were teams that were like Broncos, I probably won't care. If there were teams where it was like, oh, we need to steam more. If we were like making a point, if we were like parents, like trying to teach our kids a lesson by leaving an open spot at the table, that's fine. The Niners don't deserve that sort of treatment after the last three weeks. The Niners don't deserve to be made an example of considering how well they've played offensively. Like, let's do this. Like the Niners should be at the table. I'm in. All right. Quick note before we get to what we, what was romantic about week three, three hangover games for tomorrow. Three games we've not had today. We're going to dig into in depth tomorrow. The Vikings win over the Bucks. Baker Mayfield injury. Obviously, something to monitor for an only three Bucks team that feels like it's unraveling what that game tomorrow in the hangover, Giants Titans and Brown's Panthers. Those are going to be the three games we dig into in depth on the hangover tomorrow. Just wanted to get that out there. Let's talk about what made us feel romantic about football week three. I mean, this thing was a thing of beauty. The game we wanted to sit with was Jets Lions. Because Jets Lions, I think, really didn't encapsulate what today felt like where every single game that was on seemingly over both sets was must see TV. And the Jets Lions game was absolutely that. Starting at the six minute mark in the second quarter of this game, it was nothing but fireworks back and forth from both of these teams. The I can't remember what play made me think that. But it was at six minutes up in the second quarter. I think it might have been. Oh, I know exactly what it was. Six minutes left in the second quarter, I believe is when Gino throws the corner, no, it's a corner out to Jolani Woods. The Gino throws. Oh, yeah, yeah. Gino throws a nasty corner out to Jolani Woods. Comes back, finishes that drive off, which is an absolute missile shot up the seams, a Kenyan Cedique. And as soon as that happens, we are on on both sides of this thing. The back and forth from that moment is just wild. Five different guys had like plays of the day that like in any other week of football might have been the coolest play of the entire day. The first Gibbs touchdown that he scores. That's like a Barry Sanders play. Like him cutting that back and taking it all the way to that. Drew Breese said that on the broadcast. Yeah, that's that. I was trying to like who reminds like what does that remind me of? It felt like watching Barry Sanders on that touchdown. Garrett Wilson had three like insane plays in this game. The catch he has over the middle of the field. I think in the third quarter with like nine minutes left him going up full extension and catching that ball is absolutely ridiculous. The Jamison Williams whole shot on the left side line that he goes up and gets would be the best catch in any other game and almost any other week. And then that Garrett Wilson follows it up again on that fourth and sixth touchdown where he gets the PI and somehow comes down with that ball. And then Gino throws another just rocket on the two point to tie it. Just insane. Like the amount of back and forth to say haymakers and the Dallas Ravens game. The amount of haymakers offensively from both of these teams in this game. What an absolute thrill this thing was. I just feel like you got like both teams hitting like had some moment of like all of the stuff that you wanted the team to be like you got it. Like obviously like some of the plays that Gibbs made. I thought we're really impressive. I thought the Lions offensive line for the most part was winning a lot of their one-on-ones in pass protection and in the run game down the stretch. But early in the game you actually saw Aaron Glenn like scheme up a number a number of really impressive like sacks and pressures where they were able to scheme open guys. He had one where like off literally completely like 180 in the pocket. He was like oh shit. Di Mario Davis is about to kill me. So you had those plays and then on offense like they're on offense for the jets. The fact that Gino is sticking and ripping again where he is just like on his spot. God damn it. I'm going to make this throw. It's incredibly fun to watch because it makes this offense work again. I don't know how good they're going to be every week. I don't know how good they're going to be when they're playing teams that are not the banged up Lions secondary. But the fact that you get to see oh yeah Garrett Wilson is incredibly talented. Oh yeah. They spent a first drum pick on a on a tie down to Cedric had the the seam shot but he also had there was another really impressive play they threw like a little sticker out to him and it's like way outside of his body and he just plucks it from the air like so easily. And so you get those plays like Breeze Hall. They were checking it down to him a number of times. He had some impressive plays like all the young players in the offense finally have someone to facilitate it and I actually still think the defense had their moments in this game for the jets even despite the Lions heel players also having some insane moments on the other end like all around it was just an awesome game. And the when the Lions were the Lions were I think we're down seven to three at one point. It was the first quarter in that it was seven three late in the first quarter. The throw that golf pins on Tesla on fourth and two. Oh my god. That ball throw a low in a way is such an incredible throw in tight in in tight circumstances. And then he comes back the throw on that like de facto fadeball one on one to I'm on Ross St Brown the touch necessary to get that ball up and over on that play. You mentioned it Derek like we're talking about Parker Washington what the golf I'm on Ross St Brown connection looks like in the condensed area of the field when they have to be precise. There's like really nothing else like it in the league like their their ability to fit balls into just the tightest of windows all the time in that area of the field is truly unlike any quarterback receiver pairing in the entire NFL and that play was a phenomenal example of it. I was mad at myself rewatching this game halfway through for not being more excited about it going in because we talked about it as like the air and Glen reunion and and that's an interesting component of it. Personally, I didn't feel that juiced up for it in the noon window with everything else going on. And then I was rewatching it. I was like, Oh shit, we've seen this before. It's actually almost to the day because it was it was September 30, Derek and I were in Detroit 2024. Oh my god, yes. What a two year two year anniversary of Lion Seahawks when Geno was still in Seattle one of every nerd's favorite football games. And I was just like, how did I not see this coming? And why can't Geno Smith and Jared Goff play at Ford Field like once a year because incredible shit happens. I actually was curious. It wasn't quite as crazy, but remember in that game in 2024, Goff went 18 of 18. Goff was 10 of 10 for like 120 something in the second half of this day. Before the Seahawks figured it out on defense. And Geno was like Geno was Geno was just incredible. I think the sterling shepherd two point conversion was my favorite throw followed closely by the fourth and two to Isaac to slot because they were both similar ideas of like, I'm just going to fire this right past your face before you can do anything about it and I bet it's going to work. And just ethical hoops, man, just two guys standing back there playing Isobal, dealing the ball all over the yard. It's a shame it was buried in the new window because it was a phenomenal game. I don't know how many people actually got to see the whole thing, but it was fantastic. Tough of Vera Jets fan the fact that you go down, tie that thing up, and then you drop a coverage. And Tesla was just wide open and leaves the door for the Lions to win the game. But even if it's a frustrating end, similar to what we said about the Raiders, Vera Jets fan after enduring what that team looked like last year, like getting to watch stuff like this every single week for the rest of the season. It's a welcome change because this team has been entertaining. It's been fun. The quarterback when he's able to, the quarterback when he's playing like this, even if again, the quality of it over the over the season who knows what it's going to look like, it is entertaining. And so to watch them play this way over the course of this game, it again, what a fantastic entry into what was an amazing day of NFL football. All right. That is all we've got for the week three recap. We will be back here tomorrow. Chatton Bears Eagles, please be on the lookout for that for now. That's all we got. Appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you very soon. (upbeat music)