WENDIGANG: The Massive Heist You've Never Heard of - The Sand Mafia

The NBA on ESPN is happening now, and we're here from all of it. From the superstar moves, to the next gym revolution. Let's get who we are, boy. We're here in another trade, hey! We don't just love it, we love it. Because the NBA is a world of its own. ♪ It's time to eat now ♪ So from the biggest names, to the biggest moments, ESPN is where you call home. ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ I really can't stand my nail ♪ Do you remember? Oh, the ball was dropped! It happened so fast! Touchdown Kansas City! And that is over. We're out of wind! The two-time defending NFC North Champs will not be going to the postseason. What's going on? What stays with you? No matter how often you try to forget. We know exactly what's in front of us. Something's still in there. It's a nightmare. Leave it now. Got a love Halloween week here on First Take. Hi, everyone! Happy Thursday, Shay Cornad here with you. Evan Cohen, Lewis, Ridic Mina, Kinds in the building. We're going to get to the World Series a little bit later on, but we've got football people around us. We're going to talk a little football. Huge week, this weekend in the NFL, because the builds in the Ravens are going to square off. Especially because we're going to likely see Lamar Jackson back under center. Lamar was a full participant in practice yesterday for the first time since he heard his ankle back in week four. The Ravens went one and two with Lamar out, losing to the Browns and the Bengals the last two weeks. And so let's focus in a little bit more on this match up here. Evan, I'm going to start with you. What do you think's on the line for the Ravens this weekend against the builds? A losing season. Lamar Jackson, I'm thrilled that he's back. I love Lamar Jackson. How can you not? Lamar Jackson vs. Josh Allen is an awesome one. If the Baltimore Ravens do not win this weekend, all of a sudden those late season division games against Cleveland, against Pittsburgh are way more competitive in our minds, at least, than they've ever been. And then I start to think about what if, what if they have a losing season? Then what happens? He's not extended. We've always heard this as he'll extend the moment he feels like it. Well, at some point, I wouldn't do this if I'm the organization, but as you worked in our front office, that they look at it and say, you know, you haven't played a full season in a little bit. We can extend you early, which means cap hit later. I think a losing season and its future in Baltimore definitively are in the conversation if they start to lose again this weekend with Lamar in the lineup. Yeah, I see where you're going with that. I think there's been a lot of discussion in the preseason about, you know, what would happen here? What's going to ultimately happen with Lamar's contract situation since he's the guy who drives the bus in that regard. And look, over the past couple of weeks, you can see Jesse Menor, you know, when he starts talking about Lamar's availability, you kind of sense, like I'm not trying to be a body language reading expert, but you can sense there's a growing, you know, kind of sense of frustration and like kind of like wandering about, when is he going to get out here on the football field? You lose the game, you lose further ground in the division since an ad he's playing well, Pittsburgh is playing well, you don't want to do that. And the schedule over the next three weeks, look, it quite honestly, look in the NFL, it's always a toss up anyway as far as it being a 50/50 proposition with the way these games are playing out. I still think the Jaguars to me are a top two team in the AFC overall, despite the hiccup that they had over in London, you know, against the Houston Texans. The Panthers can rise up at any time, the charges obviously on a big time skid, and then you have to add the Texans. What's there? Look right now, they're kind of ticked off. So look, you need to kind of, right now, you need to take every single game as kind of like a one game playoff type of scenario for Baltimore. Yeah, I do think that this is a very important game for them. And one that definitely, by all accounts, is not a given in by any means. - If Lamar Jackson is healthy for the rest of season, and I know that's a big caveat, but if he's not, for sure, we can throw this season out the door. They're not gonna have a losing season if he's healthy. Now, I do think in terms of what's at stake this week, the division is absolutely on the line, especially with not only Cincinnati and the offense returning to form and looking as amazing as they have, but also the Bengal schedule is the easiest or the second easiest in football, depending on who you're looking at. So, for the Ravens, you stuff to start stacking wins before you just completely lose pace in the division, but let's we forget. When Lamar Jackson was playing, before he got hurt these last few weeks, this looked like a top three often. Top three, I feel like. And I mean, he was playing at such a high level, the accuracy, the way that safe flowers was being used, how much better the run game looks with Lamar in the lineup. So, if Lamar Jackson is healthy for the rest of season, this is still a playoff team, there's no chance in hell they have a losing season, but that isn't it. I grant that. And so, mean it to that point. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that when Lamar Jackson plays, the Ravens have a winning record any season. This is not just isolated to this season. That said, I don't know that he's been in a division where all of the teams are as good as they now are, and I don't mean record wise. I mean, Cleveland's good. Cleveland can play good football. I think a lot of people are higher on the Bengals than I personally am, but the Bengals can score with either defense is improved. So, I don't know that he's ever been in the division where all four teams are this good, where a split is more acceptable than it's been in God knows how long. - I think that's kind of what we're getting at here as far as, look, if they lose further ground by losing a game like this, it's not a given that Baltimore can just automatically pencil and wins against Cleveland, wins against Cincinnati, wins against Pittsburgh because of one thing really in particular. The quarterback play with all these teams right now is at a winning level with all of them. And you know, and you would, when's the last time you were able to say that about the Cleveland Browns? When's the last time you were able to say it there? - When you were about to, yeah, maybe. In 1994, '95 where you guys were probably all kids. The weird thing about that is, their quarterback right now in crunch time is playing the best of all the quarterbacks in the division, minus Lamar, although we've only seen him in a small sample size. The Sean White, I'd never thought I'd say it. The Sean Watson, we're gonna get to this probably later on in the show if we have time here, right? Who would you count on right now in the division, game on the line between like Pittsburgh and Cleveland? You know, Aaron Rogers, the Sean Watson? Sean Watson, game on the line. - You've seen how he's looked in the fourth quarter this year so far? - Still an if on if Lamar is gonna play this weekend, of course, against the bills. The full partisan and practice part, though, is huge. Last week he was eliminated. Participant obviously was ruled out later in the week. Didn't end up playing. So we'll see what happens against the bills. Let's go to the bills side of things, though, in this matchup. Their defense isn't good, okay? It ranks towards the bottom of the league in many categories, excuse me, including yards and pass yards per game. Buffalo has given up the most first downs per game as well as the most fourth-order points per game with 12. That's not great news, right? If you're the Buffalo bills, probably good news if you are Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Can the bills win the AFC with their defensive struggles, Mina? - I think they can, and for me that answer is more about the state of the AFC than the Buffalo bills, just because I look at all of the contenders and we'll get into them, and they all have flaws, right? Kansas City is still my front runner, but I think we've seen, unless they had a receiver, that passing game has some significant limitations. So we can revisit that if they do add a wide receiver. Denver, we've seen that offense is extremely flawed. Jacksonville, I love them, they're so good on both sides of the ball, but discipline, penalties, there's some issues that have cropped up. So yes, the bill's defense, absolutely a problem, another thing that I think they should upgrade ahead of the trade deadline. But that defensive line has just enough where I think they can get some stops. I go back to the Detroit game, I view them as a contender in the AFC. The way that game played out, back and forth, back and forth, but you couldn't keep pace with Josh Allen. I think a lot of games will play out with that way with Buffalo. - Yeah, it is a problem. Look, I mean, QBR allowed points for game, they struggling man and zone, really undisciplined in zone in particular, certain route combinations has just been driving them crazy. Jim Leonard's been trying to figure out a way in which to get the pass rush ramped up. Outside of Greg Russo, they're blitzing quite a bit. There's a lot of different things right now that they're trying to figure out on that side. I really worry though about this team, look, to me. Okay, so if you have a really good dynamic, one side of the football, one phase of the game, the other side has to be at least top 15 in order for you to really be a Super Bowl contender. That's what we're talking about with Buffalo. We're not talking about getting to the playoffs, we're not talking about getting to the title game. We're talking about being a Super Bowl contender, meaning can you win it? If you don't have a top 15, especially when we're talking about pass defense in this league, I just don't, I mean, how there's so much pressure on Josh Allen, so much pressure on James Cook in this offense to deliver time after time after time after time. You need competency at least top 15 to me. They need to make some big time improvements here, I think in the second half. So just before I answer them, just follow up on this. Are you saying right now if they don't do it, mean it says an add on defense, they're not a Super Bowl contender? Okay, so to win it? No, I don't think they'll, I don't think they're a contender to win it. Not with that kind of pass defense, not with that kind of deficiency. No, again, what you're asking the offense to do then is be damn near perfect. That Josh has to make plays where he's scrambling around down the red zone, and he's looking one way and flicks the ball, just blindly and makes play. He has to be Superman all the time, and we've set all the time. When he starts having to do that, what usually happens? - Turnovers. - Exactly. Disaster usually follows in some point in time because the law of average is catches up to you. They have to be top 15, or somewhere in that range for me in order, and look, it's the same discussion, right? Not to get ahead again. It's the same discussion with Minnesota. We have the same discussion. - It's a flop side in there. - Exactly the other way. Like, Colour Murray has to pick it up. Same kind of thing. - So I do think the Buffalo Bills can be contenders. I would not pick them over the chiefs. I think there's two ways for me of them improving the defense. One is, as Mina said, just added defender, wherever that is, the other thing to me is strengthening the strength, which is running. And James Cook has struggled recently. Why can't they be in the mix for Jonathan Taylor? Why can't-- - What? Oh my God. - Why can't they be in the mix? - James Cook is one of the three best, five best running backs in the NFL. Are you serious with this? - Who else is in that mix? - Lewis. - Yeah, I don't, look, why not? - Okay, there's, well, because quite, look, somebody told me this a long time, you know, look, there's talent acquisition and then there's team building. That's not smart team building. That's not smart allocation of research. You don't need that. You need to figure out to find a way, look, can you get another run-in mate with Greg Russo? - Yeah. - Can you get another secondary player somewhere else off the-- - Okay, okay, okay. - That's what you need. - Can James Cook play a cornerback? Is he a safe player? - Yeah, that's a nice one. - Can he rush to the corner when he can defense off the-- - Evan, they have a top five run-game football. - Yeah, great, great, great, great. - But, I mean, yeah, I mean, they have one of the best offensive lines in football. They, that isn't the issue. I'm telling you, if I'm Brandon Bean, I'm going, look, how do we become legitimate Super Bowl contenders? Meaning, how can we get there and win? I'm looking on the defensive side and I'm going, I need to find somebody, especially in the back-end. - Okay, I think what we've declared here amongst me is, yeah, I'm blessing you for getting me. What really? - I'm up. - I'm not, I'm not acting down for the idea. - I'm an retailer in J.R.A. - Strengthening? - Strengths. - James Cook is, like Jonathan Taylor is not. - So what you're saying is, you think that adding a guy like Jonathan Taylor could kind of offset what I think is the necessity of having a top 15 defense. That you'll offset-- - I know, I'm saying to you, it's what I'm saying to you is twofold. Number one, I don't believe the Buffalo Bill should pick in the first two rounds of the draft this year. I think it is inexcusable if they pick in the first two rounds. This is a win now football team. So how are you going to go and use those first round and second round picks now, not in April, now? What are they going to do right now? And I understand the ideas go on defense. Yes, that is one of the ideas. But, but I believe that if you play the defense less snaps, they have a much less chance of letting up yards and points. Obviously, control the ball as much farther. - You already have a top three offense. They already have a dominant run game. They're already controlling the ball. They need-- - He humbles, does he not? - He has had some humbles. That is his flaws of player. James Cook is one of the best running backs in the NFL. - I am. - He's going to be fun. - Gobsmacked, honestly, defensively. Moro Jomo, you talk about the draft picks. I agree with you. I think they should be buyers. Moro Jomo from Philadelphia, maybe Dante Jackson, Nurwen James, if you want to get ambitious with it. I just think defense, Lewis. Yeah, right, like that. - That would be interesting. - Yeah, if you want to make a big swing. - No doubt. - Let's go good. - If you're saying they shouldn't pick in the first two rounds. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so they go ahead out there and call in L.A. and call the charges and say, "Can we get number three out of here?" - Ancule, Mac for the-- - Yeah. - They may laugh and hang up the phone, but hey. - Here's what we know. They need to be buyers before the trade deadline, which is November 10th, okay? Also, I want to point this out, heading into this weekend's game against the Ravens, those bills have won their last 11 games following a buy. Something to keep in mind. Let's go to the last undefeated team standing. That would be the Minnesota Vikings who will be in Detroit this weekend to take on the Lions. If you look at Jared Goff against Kyla Murray and their numbers, Murray has thrown for nearly 1,000 yards less than Goff so far this season. Now, I know he did miss some time with injuries, but it's another illustration of the struggling Vikings offense. However, Star Whiteout, Justin Jefferson, who is on pace to have the lowest output of his career, says it's all good. - I definitely would love winning games over then having that production. I just like he said, there's definitely years before where I had that production in not winning games. So it's definitely in between filling on, you want to be the best player in the league and you want to have that production and to show you are the best player in the league, but we're winning games and we're the only team undefeated in the league. So that's kind of something that you kind of got to take initiative in and just kind of sit back and just play my role and be there whenever they need to be and whenever those plays do come to me and make the most of them. - I mean, he's got to love Justin Jefferson saying all the right things, right? We're all like nodding along. Like I hear what you're saying, Justin. But, but this is the best player on a team that is undefeated and not because of offense and not because of his what their wide receiver, but because of their defense. Are you buying what he's saying? It's all about the team. His numbers don't matter. I'm going to point out one more time he is on pace to have career lows in every statistical category for him. - Yeah. I buy what he's saying in theory. Of course he wants to win. Of course he wants to get to the playoffs. Of course he wants to in the end. If this meant he could look into the future and they could win the Super Bowl and he would have career lows in terms of output, I'm sure he would take it. Because he's done everything that you can do individually so far in his career that you could possibly do. But the fact of the matter is he knows this and we just talked about this. Look, Kyler has to be better. Okay, yes, he's taken care of the football over the past three weeks. His performances have been very up and down. 73% completion percentage against Miami two weeks ago. New Orleans a week ago, 80%. And then it dips back down to what, 58% last week. And I watched those games. When you watch the New Orleans games I'm sitting there going, he's starting to turn to corner. He's starting to turn to corner. He's really dealing from the pocket. He's seeing the field. He's throwing the football with accuracy. He's taking off when necessary. But he has to be able to consistently do that. I think Kyler kind of needs to go ahead and go look, I know that everyone said that I couldn't play from the pocket in this offense that it was a bad match. Don't try to force that. Don't stay there unnecessarily. Use your athletic ability when necessary. Distribute the football and just be you. And if he'll do that again, if you can get top 15 quarterback play, top 16, top 18 in terms of all the important metrics. QBR, fourth quarter, QBR, third down, QBR. And don't turn the football over. Don't be the reason why they lose. Sometimes be the reason why you win. Let the defense go ahead and be the driver of that football team. That's all they need. They will go as far as that defense will take him, which I think can take him to the NFC title game. Yeah, I don't think that people understand game manager you guys do obviously. The idea that he can be a game manager would be a heroic thing for the Minnesota Vikings. That is the ultimate compliment. To me, the way I look at football is every drive ends in a kick. Distribute the football to those that need it, which Justin Jefferson would be one of them. And don't give it to the other team. So when we're looking for Kyler Murray to be more and more dynamic, they're six and oh. They have not lost the game this year. Whatever is working can be one percent better. It doesn't need to be a hundred percent better. Throw the ball to your team, hand it off to if Aaron Jones is there, or if they go out and get another running back, I mean, what Johnathan Taylor on the bills could be tricky. But if they get like Jonathan Taylor in the mix, I just look at this. That one I like could do, I know. This team does not need to worry about Kyler Murray living up to number one overall pick in the draft status. He needs to live up to what Sam Darnold lived up to last year in Seattle. Be that guy. Do not try to be the number one overall pick in the draft or the number nine pick in the baseball draft. And I say that because to illuminate, he's one of the great athletes to ever live. Cool, be a quarterback. Just be a quarterback. You know what's interesting when you say that? What was Sam Darnold last year in terms of overall QBR at the end of the year? No, it was in the middle of the pack, around 1819. And what was Seattle's defense? Championship caliber. That's what I'm saying. You can't be 28, 29, 30. You can't be that guy. You can't be one. You just don't need exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's the media. Yeah, exactly. Just be with all the road. The way you described Kyler's play was so accurate because it's been like fits and starts. It's like two steps forward, one step back. 'Cause two weeks ago, I thought, like, you just said, I was like, he's turned to corner. He was looked accurate. He looked confidence finally. The timing of the passing game was starting to click. And then this week against Indianapolis, which is a pretty bad defense, two steps back. And I do think it is going to be a little bit like that over the season, just in terms of some of the awkwardness of the fit, with the play calling him coming off of the injury. But to your guys' point, if you could just tell me he's like the 19th best quarterback, given what this defense is capable of, I do think that's enough. And as far as Justin Jefferson goes, first of all, let's take a moment. That's the most unreceiver, like, right? Comments I've ever seen. Even that must have done receiver. But the reality is, he does have to be more involved for this team to make a run. And I think he's capable of that. I mean, Kyler's getting, we know Justin's capable of that. But it's gonna have to look better than did last week, undoubtedly. I remember just having this conversation about game managers. And obviously, that comes with a lot of negative connotations. I remember talking with Bill and Bella check about this just a couple of weeks ago. And he said, really, look, besides the fact that Tom was, you know, very, very uniquely gifted throwing the football. The best thing that he did was keep them out of trouble. Was change plays at the line of scrimmage. Keep them out of bad place. Protect the football. Put the ball where it needed to understand that punting is okay. And especially if our defense was really the strongest unit of the three, that just go ahead and play to their strengths and stay patient with it. Just, and I know people always get on him about this, but it's true. Learn how to not lose before you can learn how to win. And that's, if Kyler can do that, perfect. Because this defense is built to go ahead and take the reins and run with it. - You know, at 42 years old, Aaron Rodgers, I was watching him on Sunday morning. And the most impressive thing for me is that he does something better than most quarterbacks do in the game today. Throw the ball in the dirt and throw it the ball away. Just knowing when to get rid of the football. There are too many, in my opinion, mistakes of just let me just fling it down field, right? If you could be, if you can understand, a punter can be a weapon, I mean, I guess for Bella Check it has to be a lefty punter, but a punter has to, can be a weapon. And Kyler should say, Brian Flores is better at his job than literally anyone in the NFL. It's okay for him, for me to give him more opportunities. Like if there's a debate, Should I force it to Jefferson or hand it to Brian Flores? Just hand it to Brian Flores, yeah. The Brewers won their first World Series last night in Tampa Bay defeating the race four to one. Jacob Mizorowski threw five and two-thirds scoreless innings and the rookie Cooper Pratt hit two hits, had two hits, and two RBI, the Brew Crew, only lost two games this entire postseason, one of the Padres and game four to the race. Here's Pat Murphy, their skipper, given props to his team. But you did it for the city, you did it for the state, and your boys ought to be awfully proud to know that you're the first ever Milwaukee Brewer team to be World Champion. So over the five World Series games, William Contreras batted 381 and went 10 for 13 on ABS Challenges. He was named World Series MVP, very impressive. Evan and I both have ties with the State of Wisconsin. You obviously went to college there. I have family there, I grew up there. So this is really exciting, obviously, for the Brewers. But what does this mean for Major League Baseball as a whole? It should mean nothing, but it means everything. And the reason I say it should mean nothing is because we cannot rely on roster composition as a way in which to determine the business of the sport. I hate that it happens that way. But if we're going to sit there and say that the Dodgers were a problem, which I don't believe that they were, but if the Dodgers were the problem, paying all of the players as much as they were paying them, well then the opposite should be true, that the Brewers paying players very little all on rookie scale contracts should be the solution. Jacob Mizorowski doing what he did last night. I'd like to see him go more innings. That's me. They almost made it six now, let's not. Almost made it six. 1991, Jack Morris went 10 innings in a close-out game. I'm dropping things as a result of this. - Dodgers, calm down. - The point is that almost going six, yes. But Churiel, 11 hits in five games. Most hits in a five game series of anyone in the history of the sport. And what we had in this series and all throughout the post season was a team that could do a little bit of everything. Their bullpen was amazing. Station and station in terms of singles and doubles. They were not really a home run team, but they had home run hitters. Guides hit home runs in big spots. I just think that this should be celebrated in a way that if we're going to say a team saved baseball, it's then this team. - I agree with you. The way they utilize their farm system, obviously, the pitching depth was impressive. I feel like the Brewers did it in a way. We are not a customer seeing. We're a customer seeing guys' rake to go yard, get paid millions, bajillions of dollars. That's not ever who this Brewers team was. And I think it just shows there are other ways to win. Now I think having two teams that have never won the World Series in the race and the Brewers obviously was something, but this means a lot, I think, for Major League Baseball going forward. - Shay, let's also acknowledge those that left this team voluntarily for greener pastures. David Sterns leaves them to go to be the General Manager president of the Metz and Craig Council leaves them to go to manage the Cubs. I don't want to say it's backfire for both of them. It certainly hasn't worked as well as Pat Murphy, Matt Arnold, Mark Antanasio, the owner of the team. This is the best franchise right now in the sport. Also, the irony of all ironies. The Green Bay Packers are the furthest removed from a title amongst the pro teams in the State of Wisconsin. - Wow. - The Box One in 21, the Brewers won this year. - Well, Packers got a game tonight, so maybe they can get back on the map here. All right, coming up on first take after being shut down in Seattle, our Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs still scary. The ones to answer might surprise you plus after leaving yet another fourth quarter come back on Sunday. Would you actually trust the Shaw Watson more than Aaron Rogers with the game on the line? I already know someone's answer 'cause he gave it away. What about the rest of the table? We'll tell you next. (upbeat music) - Chris Kennedy here to tell you about the most iconic, the most requested flavor, pumpkin spice five hour energy shots are back with rich pumpkin and cinnamon flavors in every sip. You get all that fall favorite in a portable two ounce energy shot, a pocket-sized pumpkin spice flavor hookup. - Yes, sign me up for that. Find those vibes and spice up your taste buds with the pumpkin spice five hour energy shot. Use promo code Canty for 15% off any energy shot at fivehourenergy.com. - As you know, managing maintenance repair and operations is never easy, but for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your back. From professional grade products, you can count on to fast, dependable delivery. They're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Granger no safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-Granger, click Granger.com or just stop by. (upbeat music) - We have some breaking news in a first take, Adam Schefter is reporting the Titans are trading all pro-defensive tackle, Jeffrey Simmons to the Chicago Bears. Her source is Ian Rappeport is reporting it's two first round picks at least. We don't have the exact trade details yet. Of course, we will give them to you once we have them, but high for what I'm thrilled with this news. I mean, obviously the Bears were looking for defensive help, defensive line help. They get it in a big way. This is a big blockbuster trade. They are clearly going all in on this season. This is cap what we've seen so far this week. The NFC is a whole really boosting, especially defensively, but let's talk a little bit more about the Bears here. And this acquisition will go around the horn, Meena, go ahead. - First of all, I love your happiness right now. It's just exuding joy. - I'm sorry, it's Seattle on Monday. I can't wait for them today. - Oh, and they just say it for Quentin Nelson. I'm up opposite each other. Okay, so let's talk about the Chicago Bears. - Okay. - To me, this makes them clearly the favorite to win the NFC North now. And I would say, along with the San Francisco 49ers, I would put them neck and neck to get out of the NFC. That is how big of a deal this is. We have seen what the Bears offense is capable of. We have seen the leap that Caleb Williams has made. We all know how good Ben Johnson is, but this defense has been leaning on variants under Dennis Allen. They've had some really clever pressures and they'll be able to create negative plays, but they've had vulnerabilities. He's been able to scheme up. I think a pretty damn good defense given their limitations, but I did not have confidence in that unit moving forward. I now have confidence in this unit moving forward. Jeffrey Simmons is that good of a player. Third amongst all defensive tackles and pressures. Third and bad in passes. He has been so consistently great now. I know a lot of people maybe don't watch Titans games. I am telling you, if you have not watched this man play, he is one of the best defensive tackles and football easily this is a league changing move to me. - Yeah, I think for the thing that's really distinguishing Chicago this year is their coaching overall period. Look, Ben Johnson has been on it. There's no question about that. What he has done with Caleb and his development, the way in which he sequences plays, and you combine that with how they have built this football team inside out. One of the best offensive lines in football that will just absolutely mull you, running backs that are tough as hell. Luther Burton is just a freaking stud and you move over to the defensive side and you figure this as a team, they're right now top 10 in pass rush win rate. Austin Booker has all of a sudden people are going, who the hell is Austin Booker? Who's this 94, who's this wreck and everything? Everyone has known what Grady Jared has brought to the NFL during his time in the league. Now you have Grady Jared on the inside and Jeffrey Simmons and now D.A. Dennis Allen, who's their defensive coordinator, has really kind of dialed up the blitz this year. He's been creative meaning as you're talking about. They have really, they've gotten some really good mileage out of some of their rookies in the back end when you think of Dylan Thienman and now he has looked, this is right now a team where you can tell there's a lot of good vibes going on around it right now. They're looking at the offense going, okay, Ben has got Caleb right where he wants him as far as his development. Caleb is this on a whole nother level, even though his air yards for attempt, he may not be bombin' it down the field. He's just so damn efficient. And then they can mull you and then on the defense with the way they're playing right now, look you can see why Ryan Polz said hey, you know what? I think we need to go all in on this thing. I think right now that we can strike while the iron's hot. We don't know who's gonna come out of the NFC. We're right there with everybody and the AFC isn't as strong as it's been typically. Why not? - No, no, no. - Here they go. - I do have the trade details in full now. Adam, Chef, you're just tweeted them out. We can give them to you. So here it is. The full trade terms, per sources. Bears received Jeffrey Simmons at a 2028 fifth-round pick. Titans get a 2027, 2028 first round and then a 2027 fourth-round pick. Bit of a haul, but worth it, go ahead Evan. - Yeah, complete no-brainer for the Chicago Bears. - I absolutely love what they did. I think they likely watched what happened on Thursday night against New England and specifically the way that Caleb played and said, okay, it's now. It's right now that they didn't know that prior, but I thought against a Mike Vrables that could coach defense. I thought that was another level of play by Caleb Williams. In addition, this guy, Jeffrey Simmons, is a monster and I say a monster complimentary. This is absolutely no-brainer. It's how you should act when you're this good. It's what we've been suggesting whether it's Buffalo or Kansas City or teams that are close should act this way. That all said, it's simultaneously a no-brainer and it has to look different than the peer-level trades would look. The Rams have not hit big because of Miles Garrett's injury so far. The Green Bay Packers have not hit big because of the Micah injury. Those are his peers in my mind of non-quarterbacks received from multiple first-round picks. They have not yet, I'm emphasizing yet. They have not panned out. But if you want to talk about the big, multi-first-round pick move for a defensive player to really work out over the last however many years, this one has the best shot of working out. I think it can't be overemphasized enough. Jeffrey Simmons has been as good as he is, both against the run in the past, by the way, he's a complete player. Playing for a bad football team that doesn't have leads. You can so easily imagine this Bears team in the NFC Championship fourth quarter, who's our closer. All right, we've got a penetrate. creating three tech who can beat any card in football right now who gobbles up double teams who creates opportunities for everyone else who can call game. They didn't have that before and to your point he belongs in that group. A lot of times with these trades, especially for older players, I think we lean too much on reputation. Oh, it's a multiple time pro-boy. I am telling you guys, if you have not watched Jeffrey Simmons, the reputation matches the play. It's just that America hasn't been able to see it. The only reason why you do this kind of thing, honestly, look, his tape speaks for itself. And we know Jeffrey's been good for a long time under multiple different staffs down there in Tennessee. The reason why you do this is because of trust. You trust what Ben is doing. You trust how he has Caleb playing. You trust Dennis Allen in the way in which he has utilized this personnel this year, especially with the way they've been. It's not just about X's and O's. If you watch Chicago's defense and you watch the way, like guys like Devon Bush are flying around and smacking people, you sit there and watch the way Austin Booker is flying around and smacking the crap. I mean, you sit in there and you're going, there's something unique there. So as a GM and you're sitting there watching this and you're talking to ownership and you're talking to your head coach and you see how these guys are all responding to your head coach in the locker room after games and you see your quarterback who in one year has gone from a guy who people go, is he ever going to be really able to be that marksman, that efficient guy that doesn't want to always make this classy play? And now people are going, well, he doesn't push the ball down to feel like he's like, you did a year ago and you're going, well, which one do you want? What you want is the guy who you're getting this year. And that in turn makes the GM go, we got to go in all in on this thing. And me and I brought up a really good term that we use in baseball. We saw the brewers with it all last night and like their bullpen is amazing. The word closer. And I think that it's an underutilized term in football. We saw it last year. When you think about the Patriots getting to the Super Bowl, you probably don't think about Milton Williams as a closer but late in games at 20 plus million dollars a year, he was worth every penny because he was the closer. Did the Bears not have a closer and that's part of this? And I, it seems as if they got their closer. No doubt. The last time the Bears gave two first round picks was for Khalil Mac. I was covering the team at the time. I remember it very vividly. Also, we asked the question about his past rush win rate. Right now, Jeffrey Simmons has amongst defensive, defensive tackles the best in the NFL so far this season, 15 sacks since the start of last season, 33 over the last five seasons, most in the NFL among defensive tackles. If you can't tell I'm excited, thrilled by this trade. Love it for the Chicago Bears. Lou, you have the final word on this. Do you want to add something? Yeah, look, I think this is how you build football teams though. This is team building 101. They have invested heavily in the offensive lines and the offensive lines, well, both lines are lines of scrimmage. And I think this is a function of Ryan Poles being an ex-offensive lineman and he understands we're about to get into the Chicago months now. It's now November. It's now December. It's going to be awful cold in soldier field. And now what we're going to do is up front, when coaches are standing there and they always show that sideline shot, that's where you're going to want to be in Chicago. Because whether it's defense or offense, look, they paid Darnell Wright, one of my favorite players in the league, one of the best tackles in the league. Now you got one of the best defensive tackles in the league. As Jake can already tell you, it's a good time to be in Chicago. You call the monster monster the midway. Come on over buddy. We can't wait to have you. And we'll continue to follow this breaking news. Obviously, we'll have more of it as we lead up to the trade deadline, which again is November 10th. Let's go to another monster game we have this weekend. The chiefs and the Broncos are going to square off Sunday in a rematch from week one, where the chiefs absolutely crushed the Broncos. Bow nicks, though, is coming off a stellar performance this time around against the Cardinals, while Mahomes and Company are looking to get off the mat after a bad showing against the Seahawks. Here's Micah Parsons. Yes, no, I know he doesn't play for you these days. Here's Micah Parsons with a take about the chiefs offense you must hear. The chiefs don't, they don't scare me. You know what? I was not scared. I was not, like watching that game, I was not scared. What are they missing that prevents you from being scared? They need someone to be able to take the top off. And it's crazy. They got Xavier worthy, four two, whatever that is. We have to stop this madness. This is because you buy Tyree kill speed on me, you buy Tyree. We can get to if he's right or not about what he's talking about there. But do we have any issue with Micah Parsons talking about the chiefs while he's currently on the Packers and not playing on his podcast on a couch? Yeah, so I want to be clear. I have no issue with Micah Parsons talking. He can do whatever he would like to do. If he's going to make his career in media, that's awesome. He's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. And if he already has a head start on the media career, awesome. I don't, if I'm a Packers fan, this is not what I want to hear. I'm sorry. Like, why do you worry about the Kansas City Chiefs? Cool. You can worry about them. February 14th at Sofie on ESPN ABC and Disney Plus. That would be awesome if you could worry about them then. I don't think you're worrying about them. Is your team scary? Ask the question back. Is your team scary? The Packers meet your meaning. Yeah. Micah, yeah. And you know, the chiefs still have that 15 guy. So in a big spot, they are always scary to me because Patrick Mahomes is breathing. I don't love it. It's necessary if I'm a Packers fan. Yeah. Look, there's two parts of this. You know what Micah is doing. This is what Micah does. Yeah. He's right now. He's not playing. He gets bored. He likes to talk. He loves the media space. He likes to kind of always be in the conversation. Look, I have no issues with him saying it simply because what he's saying is true. I mean, do the chiefs scary on offense? No. Do you watch the game against Seattle? Why receiver? Look, he's right. Xavier Worthy. That's not it. That's not. They need more than that. It's offensively, Patrick didn't play his very best game in that game either. So Patrick has to be perfect along with Kenneth Walker being effective in order for them to be quote unquote scary. So he's not saying anything none of us already know. I think the issue here is like, Micah, just get on the field. Yeah. Just go on the field and help your team because I'll tell you what, you talk to people around the league, you talk to other past rushers, they will tell you that he is the one guy who quite honestly has truly transcendent past rushability. He can, you want to talk about closures? Micah's that dude and the packers need him because you're right, they aren't pretty scary at all without him on the field. So he needs to get out on the field and we wouldn't even talk about this stuff. Yeah, the note I sent was, that's just Micah being Micah. Yeah. I just how he talks generally. I agree with Lewis if he was playing. I think it would hit differently in the fact that he's not obviously makes it come across a certain way. But I also think objectively everything he said is accurate. Ray saw that the chiefs desperately do need someone who can take the top off a defense. Right now it is a very one-dimensional offense and if Patrick has an off day like he did against Seattle, there's very few answers to be found. Are the chiefs scary? I still think that they are contenders, but I don't think they're scary unless they add a wide receiver. I think they will. So we can revisit this conversation after the trade deadline. But if they don't, I do think while they're tough out and the defense is playing really well, the offense is just too one-dimensional. I'll tell you what, as unscary or non-scary as they are, they're right there with Seattle. They're right there until JSN decides to do JSN stuff. Sam hits them on a couple of big passes. They still get the fourth, the stop in the end zone with the interception by Noel Williams. And they're still right there, but they can't generate any explosiveness outside of K9. And that's the problem for them. I just believe they are scary. I just want to be on the record and say they're scary. Are they scary in the moment? The answer is no. I don't look at the Kansas City chiefs until January or February. Am I going to assume they're going to be scary, then, the answer is yes. Even without the wide receiver added, it would be- You would still be scared of them if you don't add a receiver. Yes. Because if we're going to do the obvious comp, which is to Brady and Belicek and that dynasty, Tom Brady played with Rashek, Caldwell, and Doug Gabriel in an AFC Championship game. And I was against Peyton Manning, but he made it to the AFC Championship game. You don't think the opposition was scared of Brady in that spot with receivers that are three at best? You know, I think there's a difference between what I think maybe what Micah should have said is this. I still respect the chiefs because of exactly what you're talking about. And look, Patrick has gone in one super bulls without having a stellar wide receiver court. And he's already done it. He respects him, but I'm not scared of the same way I was when Tyrick was out there disdropping bombs on everybody. Definitely. That's the difference. So weeks one through six, the chiefs led the NFL of 414 total yards per game and 6.7 yards per play. Obviously, that is fallen off in the last week or two. We'll see what happens if they do add wide receiving help or people get healthy there on the offensive side of the ball. Coming up here, the NFC West just got that much tougher for the Rams after yesterday's two big trades. So are we confident that the Rams will still even make the playoffs? I can only say that one just a few months ago saying they're going to win the Super Bowl. We're going to touch green next when we return. More first take after the break. First take, we see you two are continues on Friday, November 6th. We're going to head south to Susquehie University for a live initiative, first take at 10 a.m. Eastern. Steven A, Cameron, Gerald McCoy and I will all be there. We cannot wait. Time for a quick take, Steph Curry was cooking last night, dropping a season high, 44 points to lead the Warriors to a 119-114 win over the Timber Wolves who are without Anthony Edwards, of course due to injury and surgery. He'll be back in a month or two, Evan, what did you make of Curry's performance? That's right. That's what he does. Over and over. I don't care if he's a hundred. I'm going to believe in Steph Curry. There's something going on with this team right now. Are they going to win a championship this year? Probably not. Do they have tremendous trade flexibility? They do. The unfortunate sickness with Christavs Porzingis probably use his contract to trade. We'll see what happens with Jimmy Butler. Roxell Lindenborg is the most entertaining rookie in the NBA right now, both in terms of the locker room comments as well as the play. There is something cooking with the Warriors, where maybe once again. their league pass team. Maybe those on the East Coast should be staying up at night and watching Steph Curry and possibly dare I say second timeline guy in the oxalenberg playing together. Why not? I love it. I love how you use cook in there with Steph Curry too. As for the timble rolls, they obviously got to figure out a way to win for the time being without Anthony Edwards. Let's go back now to the NFL with the trade deadline about two weeks away. The Colts are moving players and acquiring draft assets that started Tuesday with Quentin Nelson heading to Seattle in exchange for a third round pick. Next year in a fifth round pick in 2028, Nelson has only played for the Colts three time all pro player. He immediately boosts the Seahawks offensive line a few hours later. The Colts sent offensive tackle to force Buckner back to San Francisco in exchange for a fourth round pick next year. Buckner has a reunion with John Lynch to help a very injured Niners team specifically that defensive line that had a really hard time pressuring Michael Penex Jr. Sunday in the Niners first loss of the season. So the 49ers are now minus 330 favorites to win the NFC West at draft Kings. The Seahawks have the next shortest odds at plus 345. The Rams now have longer than nine to one odds to win the division after entering the season as odds on Super Bowl favorites. So let's talk about the playoff chances here for the three and four Rams. The floor is yours Evan Cohen. I want you to show us on the touch screen why this maybe will or will not be a challenge for the Rams to make it to the post. Oh, it's going to be a challenge. The 33 and 4 and the Niners as you mentioned are the favorites as they should be. They have the best offensive duo in the league. People don't realize what it is. It's Brock Pretty and Trent Williams. Now let's go through this. Chargers, commanders, those two are wins obviously. Cardinals same thing. So we're going to have them win three in a row going into their bi-week to get to six and four. They've got the confidence. They got the health. I think they beat the Packers. Then I think right there, this is where it gets tricky. I have them losing to both the chiefs and the Niners in back to back weeks. Home against the Cowboys, that's a win. We put them in eight and six and now this part of the schedule is very difficult. At Seattle, I'm obviously going to give them a loss. At the bucks, I'm going to give them a win. Now I don't know what Tampa is going to be at that point because if you told me Tampa was still competing for the division, I actually would believe it in the NFC South at that point. I'm still going to give them a win on the road and then home against Seattle. I'll have them win that game which will probably mean something for both teams. I have them at 10 and seven. I don't think that's too overboard positive. It's also not too overboard negative. I think the fact that they have a really easy, as an NFL easy can be the next three weeks. I think there's something there for them. Meena, go ahead. I think this is pretty realistic. No, I actually, I think maybe that final game we'll see how things go. Look, I hate to be the cop out if this player returns person, but that's how good Miles Garrett is. If Miles, if you were to tell me, Miles Garrett is back by here and he looks like Miles Garrett, less people forget. That's the defensive player of the years. Was the best player in football last season by some estimations? Yeah, at least this, honestly. I really think that. I also think offensively there's injuries of the White Receiver position, but they've realized they've leaned into their identity. What should be their identity? Which is a dominant and efficient, efficient rushing attack. So I think if Garrett returns here, no doubt. I think they get to 10-7. If Garrett doesn't return or he looks limited by his injuries, then I'm skeptical of this playing out this way. Yeah, I think there's a lot of things that have to go their way. I know they're not playing for a division title clearly. I think San Francisco is going to run away with that. In Seattle, look, we know how good Seattle can be. We know that they're going to hit their stride. I'm worried about this football team. I can see this being a reasonable expectation and seeing it playing out this way, but there's a couple things that you disillusioned to, I mean, that have to go right for them. Miles has to come back and look like Miles, which we don't know how that's going to affect him. We don't know how the rehab's going. We don't know how he's going to be on the football field. Trent McDuffy has to come back healthy. He's practicing this week. He's dealing with a groin, a groin playing corner. You know that can be, that's a stressful situation. He has to get back. He has to be healthy on the offensive side. Now, if the Vonte has gone, Huka has always been dealing with his health this year. You know, every week, you're kind of like wondering, is he okay? They lean on him so much in the passing game. They put so much on him. Look, your billbell is checking. You subscribe to that philosophy. You're going, well, we're going to make sure that no matter what number 12 doesn't beat us. Now, it's up to the rest of you guys. Can they will Sean really stick with the running game? Can 13 personnel, can 12 personnel carry the day? There's a lot more questions for me than answers. Now, and I can't believe I'm saying that about this team when we looked at this back in August. But because of the fact that San Francisco has done, but Kyle Shanahan, Shanahan has done about as good of a coaching job, him and Raheem Mars, as you could possibly do. The forest buckner is a man now. He really helps them. Seattle is hitting their stride. We already saw what they can do. They worry me. They worry me. I'm not throwing in the towel. I think they make the playoffs, but they worry me right now because so many things have to happen for them in the right way. Can I ask a question? If one of these is a loss, let's say Packers, because Michael will be back by then too. So let's say that Packers gave us a loss there. Put them at 9 and 8. At 9 and 8, are they missing the postseason? Yes. Affinitively. So there's not a lot of wiggle room. There you go. Not a lot of wiggle room. No, but even if we go back and we put this as a win and we get this to 10 and 7, a no context question before the season. If I told you the Rams with 10 and 7, I think everyone would say that is a tremendously disappointing season. The no context question. Obviously the Miles injury, Aaron Donald is played, but kind of ramping back up. You mentioned McDuffie. I guess I don't understand why they wouldn't look at what happened last week with Quorum and Williams in the backfield and say, "Let's just do more of that." I'm sure they're going to do that. But the thing is, look, I mean, it's great to run the football. Of course, it's great, but the NFL is about explosive plays. And now without the Vante being there who was a red zone, absolute monster, so much falls on Puka that, look, Stafford's going to have to be MVP now in the second season. Another team that could trade for a wide receiver. Even I on the Rams who talked about the chiefs because Toulouse's point, they need more help. Good point. Coming up here, Jordan Love and the Packers, they're getting set to kick off week 8. Tonight, so what should be Green Bay's offensive identity? Fresh hour, first take on the way. We'll address Thursday night.