2025 NFL Week 6 NFC Preview

16:33Gregg Rosenthal:The Cardinals are one of the worst. And this is before they lost their running backs and before they lost tip Ryman as, as a blocking help, the Cardinals become one of the worst rushing success rates teams in the league. Cowboys become one of the best, but you see the vision. Clayton Adams was the Jenga piece. Yes. Clayton Adams was the Jenga piece. That was my, That was what I was saying is like, it's rare that it's actually, you see the theory and actually apply the theory. And then everybody buys into the theory and the players make the theory come to life. And it's a completely different Cowboys rushing attack than I think many of us expected.

17:06Gregg Rosenthal:And I love seeing it. And I think it's, it's good for Dak Prescott. I think vice the reverse is true as well. Dak Prescott is making this, all of this saying, it's fun to watch.

17:15Patrick Claybon:It was, it was a play calling clinic against the jets. The screen to Jake Ferguson, where he scored the touchdown. if not for him like making a move to celebrate before he went in he would have been untouched uh from 22 yards out and you know just to to see guys schemed open um in an offense where it's been really relying on deck to make these tight window throws down the field for years like this has been a thing that's going on for years um and and they've solved that and i'm i'm just excited to see carolina in a if they can go two weeks in a row yeah looking solid on offense and credit to xavier laget not only did he catch a touchdown last week but go back and watch those rico dowdle runs oh there's a lot of 17 out front paving the road uh for rico dowdle and so if they if they get like a performance like that it has that promise not necessarily to to catch on uh to the feeling of the run last year, but some of the problems.

18:12Well, they could be three and three. This is a huge game for these two teams because one of them, like either the Cowboys are going to have a winning record or the Panthers are going to have a 500 record after six weeks, which is going to feel like a minor miracle considering how they start out. It's a good test for the Carolina run defense, which looked better last week and it's better overall this season against Dallas. I'm going to miss having Eric Collins on the play by play though. I loved it. He was great. He was in the booth for that Panthers-Dolphins game And apparently he is low enough on the Fox depth chart that he is not in the mix this week.

18:44Give me more Eric Collins, Fox. Give me Eric Collins right now.

18:49Gregg Rosenthal:Tongo by Laura.

18:50Patrick Claybon:Has Waddle. He's open. Touchdown. And Donald. Look at him. What kind of speed do you get, young man? To the end zone. H in. Did he? He did. Look at this. Oh, no. Still on his feet. Caught. Back in the end zone. Xavier Lincoln. I love it so much. Give me more. Need that energy. Need more Eric Collins in my life.

19:20Gregg Rosenthal:I loved it so much. I also loved this. So I called the Panthers an anomalous team because they do enough to have some sort of breakout quarter or half. In that case, it was the Falcons game itself. they do enough to just like pull their fans back in give a little hope and then it shattered the next week or like at the very end of the game that's when they make their comeback just when everybody so I want to see some consistency, right? So I've called them this. I got a really great message from a listener of our show and I'd like to read it to you guys. Please. So this is from Cameron J. And Cameron J says J-Rod, recant the anomalous Panther statements on the pod at once As a longtime listener and longer suffering Panthers fan, this team is a moribund berserker.

20:09Gregg Rosenthal:Only dangerous once it's wounded. Only effective after self-sabotage. A mad dying thing that fights hardest when it shouldn't. Cheers from Canada. It makes sense. It's so good. It's a very Canadian email. Love it. I loved it so much. Cheers from Canada.

20:24Patrick Claybon:They were down 17 to nothing on fourth down. And the animal was wounded. And Bryce Young comes out there. like they run play action he's in the flat dead to rights like ducks under two defenders and hits a first down it's you know he had two of the best plays and you're talking about one of them and if you're watching us on on youtube you can see it that fourth down play by bryce young where he ducked under the defenders uh was like one of the best maybe changes the season types of plays uh that that we've had all year you mentioned it like free rusher in they're down 17 nothing mid-second quarter at this time.

21:02He puts a couple moves on, makes a man miss, hits the touchdown. And then later on in that drive, I'm going to present to you, and I know it's not as flashy. This isn't quite throw of the year candidate, although the fourth down play might have been, you know, one of the plays of the year, especially considering the situation. Like they're not winning that game if he doesn't hit it. Great diving catch too by Tetaro McMillan. But this touchdown throw that he made later in that drive, I know it doesn't look crazy on the TV copy, but the anticipation and the heat that he put on it to be absolutely, absolutely perfectly caught by Leggett on the all 22 version was just outrageous.

21:39I want to put that on the throw of the year candidate nominee. You should. Let's do it. I mean, looking back also, Xavier Leggett's getting tackled.

21:46Gregg Rosenthal:And Bryce Young cannot see him. It's an anticipatory throw. That's the point. So that's like anticipation throws in that game by him. Yeah. Like onions on that throw in that game. And I, I feel like, yeah, only dangerous once it's wounded, only effective after self-sabotage. Shout out to that emailer. I love it, which doesn't bode well for this week, by the way, because they're not really wounded. And Bryce Young does have a tendency this year to start catastrophically. There's three of the five games where he's had like multiple turnovers right at the beginning, and then he's rebounded a couple of the times.

22:18Shout out to the Cowboys who are just like figuring out their team still too. They just keep like naming new starters. I think Nate Thomas might keep a starting tackle job even when Tyler Guyton's back. Shamar James came in at linebacker last week, looked like better than their starting linebacker. He might be a new starter. James Houston is better than their edge starters in general. They're playing, they bench Kair Elam. Like they're still just like figuring out who their guys are. I applaud that. And they've done a good job. It's almost like you have to do that

22:47Gregg Rosenthal:when you trade one of the best players in the world. Right. Before the season starts. How about that?

22:51Patrick Claybon:But also before the season start, Greg pointed out that Schottenheimer was going to be very, very good.

22:57Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, we were in. They're 2-2-1.

23:00Patrick Claybon:Considering the circumstances.

23:01Gregg Rosenthal:The tape says it. They got the juice. Him and Prescott together. That's something cool. I believe it.

23:07Patrick Claybon:No Ben Johnson on tape last week as the Chicago Bears were on a bye, but they're back on Monday Night Football, the number one overall pick a couple years ago, taking on the number two overall pick and rookie of the year. They are at the Washington Commanders, who are favored by 4.5. The over-under is 50.5. Joe Buck, Troy Igman, Lisa Salters, and Laura Rutledge, on the call as it was fun last year. Bears at eight deep. Four with the goal line. They bring three. Daniel's backing up. He's just going to have to let one fly. Goes to the right side. Steps away from the defenders. Gives himself some time.

23:45Patrick Claybon:Now steps up. Fires. Heads towards the end zone. It is... Oh! Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!

24:12This is why watching that, what an amazing moment. Of course, Bram Weinstein in London, Fletcher. I remember where I was, you know, watching it. Like, that's just one of those plays. But it's why I joked to Hytham, our producer, Patrick, on Game Day View, where we have to pick every game, that we need to get this show canceled because picking these games is ruining my life. I remember watching that in the moment and being somewhat annoyed because I had picked the Bears.

24:41Patrick Claybon:It happens. It happens every week.

24:43Gregg Rosenthal:Can't stay in the moment. I know. Picks. I know. That's what I like to see.

24:47Patrick Claybon:It's terrible. I've changed picks just because I would have been alone and by myself. Yeah. And it's like, well, why don't I just go ahead and go back with Greg and Cynthia just so I can sit back and enjoy the game? That's true. Then you don't really care who wins or loses. It's just like absolutely stupid. I'm really excited. And I think the primetime schedule this week is awesome. The Sunday schedule is not as good. The Sunday morning and afternoon, maybe the weakest one that we've had. But the primetime, I feel like this game is happening at the perfect time to learn a little bit more about these two teams.

25:19Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, I agree. And Chicago potentially making some significant changes coming out of its bye week. They are potentially going to have a new left tackle. The Canadian! Speaking of, there's a Canadian theme in this NFC podcast a little bit. Theo Benedet. Is it Benedet? Benedet. Theo Benedet. Hopefully we're not hearing his name a lot on the broadcast. That means he's probably playing well. But he had a strong camp, according to reports out there. and change positions from the right tackle to the left tackle. And Ben Johnson is sort of coyly, like not naming who or whether they're going to change or who it is, which has prompted the local people to do some digging of their own.

25:57Gregg Rosenthal:They think it's happening. And he did start against the Raiders as an injury replacement. And now it's like, will he just start when everyone's healthy? They seem to be happy with how that went. Like, so did, so was Max Crosby because he dominated him. So that's it. It's a tough matchup, but I don't know. Like they, they need to, it will be interesting to see what Ben Johnson wants to do. Like, what would you guess he wants to do coming out of the buy? I always find teams very interesting because they're pretty intentional when they come out of the buy of like what they want to do. Like, what do you think Patrick might change?

26:29Like with this Bears team from the first four weeks that he wants to accentuate?

26:33Patrick Claybon:I think we might see more Kalman Nungai on first and second down. Like that. DeAndre Swift. I'm borrowing from Adam Rank. of course joins me on NFL Fantasy Live. He's going to be doing a game day live with me on Sunday, so that's going to be fun. But he had pointed out that Ben Johnson, saying throughout the season, they're trying to figure out the picture in the backfield as they get some clarity up front. Both of the guys, he said, have had opportunities, but every time they have a run play where there's a designed hole, there's always a player in that hole in the defense. And so there's some things for him to get better at.

27:07Patrick Claybon:But I think he's going to maybe deploy things a little bit differently. I think the real issue for Ben Johnson is they have not been good against the run and the commanders are running over every single opponent that they face.

27:17Gregg Rosenthal:Bill. Bill's stats are crazy. Bill. I know he doesn't have a ton of carries, but he does lead the NFL in success rate. I think he leads the NFL in rush yards over expected per carry. He leads the NFL in just yards per carry. if you just gave me that profile blindly, you'd say, well, that's the most effective running back in the league. On a person that basis, he is, which is amazing. And they've been effective when they're running the ball with the other guys too. So I give Cliff a lot of credit. I thought that game plan against the Chargers and Anthony Lynn, I feel better about the commanders today by a decent amount than I did going into the season in terms of them being real contenders.

28:04Gregg Rosenthal:Well, I, I agree because not, first of all, Jaden Daniels played awesome against the chargers in my opinion. I mean, I know that defense isn't what it started out as, but I thought he looked great. And if he continues to come back from that injury and, you know, continues to prove us wrong about not having him on quarterback Island for this iteration of it because of the, because of the injury and it weighs on me heavily, Jaden Daniels fans of which we are, um, friend of the show. and I just think that this is all coming together, right? The run game is there and that can, barring injury, that can stay where it's at and sustain as excellently as it has because they're blocking it open.

28:46Gregg Rosenthal:I mean, Bill is running great. Don't get me wrong. I want to credit him as well, but up front, they are blocking it open. When you see that happening, that carries you into October, November, cold weather games, cold months, and certainly against a Bears defensive front, like as you guys mentioned, that has not been great against the run specifically. They're built to stop the pass. They were previously.

29:09Patrick Claybon:Larry Tunsell on his way to another season of a pressure rate under 10%. Good player, huh? Blocking, yeah. A lot of those runs, there were two Bill Merritt. It's always funny. It sounds like an air conditioning salesman from Sheboygan. Ja 'Cory Krosky Merritt touchdowns against the Chargers where he's running to the left and they looked almost identical. Like one was 20 plus, the other was five yards, but just caved in. Some of it was probably some scheme issue for the Chargers as well. But I say that they've done it week in and week out. And I don't know what the Bears do to oppose it. I don't think they do much.

29:44I remember there was a Dennis Allen. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, but a Dennis Allen Saints team versus the Commanders late last season. That came down to a failed Spencer Rattler two point conversion after the buzzer. and so on that day, I believe they sacked Jaden Daniels like seven or eight times and they did give them some problems. That was a Saints team that probably had no business being in it to the last play. I don't think that Dennis Allen has some secret formula to slow them down, but he's got that. Maybe he does.

30:17Gregg Rosenthal:Do we think that Dennis Allen thinks he has some sort of secret? Maybe. Yes. Yes. I think he does strike me as that. Yes. the Bears have really improved a lot in avoiding sacks, Caleb Williams specifically, but I think that's like a team-wide thing. He was taking so many sacks and that really seems to be an emphasis that Ben Johnson and him have had that you can see a completely clear difference between this year and a year ago. It's not like the pass protection is that that much better. It's just that Caleb Williams is at least bailing on the play or scrambling or throwing the ball away. So that's all good.

30:52And the commanders, for the most part, have looked pretty good up front. My guy, Jerry Newton, who I never cashed in his stock, having loved him coming into the draft, is starting to make some noise. Johnny Newton. Johnny Newton, not Jerry Newton.

31:04Gregg Rosenthal:For someone who's your guy. Yeah, it's Jerzon Newton, technically, with a capital Z. But yes, that was a bad job using the shortening. I'm really curious to see what happens in this game. Nothing would surprise me. It'll be fun. Maybe the Bears come out and make a statement. All right, let's take a quick break. and then afterwards we get to the game that I thought we were getting to about 25 minutes ago. It just means you want this game, right?

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34:27Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, proud partner of iHeart Podcast Network. That's right. We're back. It's my most anticipated game of the week because it's the one announced by Kevin Harlan. Yes. God on the call as Joe Flacco.

34:46Patrick Claybon:Stop calling him old, folks, because what's that saying about the rest of us? OK, Joe Flacco traded in the division to the Cincinnati Bengals to solve all their problems. Jordan taking on, once again, a team he's already beat this year because quarterback wins are definitely a real thing that we should evaluate. The Green Bay Packers, who are favored by 14 points. The over-under is 44.5. Greg mentioned it. Kevin Harland, Trent Green, Melanie Collins on the call. Is Joe Flacco the answer for right now?

35:14Gregg Rosenthal:I don't know, but he's playing, according to Zach Taylor. He's playing. He's going to. I trust Zach Taylor on this one. Yeah, I do too. And he's already, you know. That'd be something. just kidding guys the old bait and switch here you know it is uh it is a uh a team that feels like it has not played football in years and years in the green bay packers because of how long ago that game against dallas was and a team that seems to completely have forgotten how to play football so let's see how this works out right you think about the bengals and yes they should have made a a change at quarterback.

35:53And we talked about this already, so we don't need to repeat ourselves, but like, I don't think it needs to be like ignored that this is by far the worst team in the NFL. The last three weeks. I mean, it's not even close. I would argue Patrick, there's some folks in Baltimore.

36:13Gregg Rosenthal:No factory of sadness to my left. I think you could make the argument that the two most lopsided games of the entire season were the Bengals Broncos game. Okay. Followed by the, uh, what was the game before that with the Bengals, uh, involved? And now I, I made a mistake. I'm thinking about last week, lions Bengals. That was the best performance that they had, but in week three, 500 yards of offense by the Broncos. Yeah. The Bengals got absolutely whitewashed in that week as well, by the Vikings. Those, I think, were the two maybe most lopsided games of the year. And then the Lions were up like 34-3 or something like that in that game, too.

36:53I mean, they were awful in every respect. And I saw this thing about, like, Andrew Whitworth, who obviously is as good a source as humanly possible on the Bengals' offensive line, saying they need to spend more resources on their offensive line. I'm thinking, well, you have your best player as a first-round pick that you spent that resource, and you had one of the highest-paid tackles in the league at left tackle, and you have a pretty high pick at one of the guard spots and you've spent on the three contracts and Alex Garris.

37:18Gregg Rosenthal:So subtext though, subtext though, if I'm seeing that, because Witt is very aware of those things, of those details. The subtext to me is needs better coaching, needs better scouting of talent. Well, that's what I think it means by more, because you're paying those people in depth. They didn't get anyone this year for depth, but they're basically starting the guys they expect.

37:38Patrick Claybon:I mean, I'm looking back at like a guy like Hakeem and energy, right? who was with the Cincinnati Bengals. They had success. Of course, they went to the Super Bowl. They tried to upgrade the offensive line. He goes, he plays 53 snaps for the Dallas Cowboys last week against the Jets, and the Cowboys look like world beaters. They've got other, Jonah Williams looking successful in other spots in starts where you start to wonder, like, this is franchise team related in terms of the issues up front, which is why the Flacco move was so iffy to me, where it's like you can't protect Joe Burrow or Jake Browning, and now you're asking Joe Flacco to just come in here

38:14Gregg Rosenthal:and get thrown against a Packers defense that's going to,

38:19Patrick Claybon:like Joe Flacco's going to get hit. And I understand he's got like a per win bonus rate on his contract, and so he wants to go somewhere where he could start and play. At one point, is it worth it, Joe?

38:30Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, but I don't know if they're sitting. I mean, I guess probably he has some say in it, right? Do you want to do this? Yeah, that's what I'm asking. Like, really? Do you really want? But but I better than sitting in the room with Shadur and Dylan Gabriel. I think for him, it just seems more like if this is going to be my last season, I'd like to go throw the ball to T Higgins and Jamar Chase and see what happens. He's a confident man.

38:53Patrick Claybon:And I hope they get it blocked up so that he can do that. But in this game, forget it.

38:57Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah, this is to that point. I am so excited and interested. Maybe not enough to want to take this game from you, Greg. But why is it my game again? You are so excited about it. Yeah, this is this is this is the Greg Rosenthal game.

39:11Patrick Claybon:You want to see Joe Flacco? The late window is quite interesting this week. You got that great 49ers Bucks game. And then you also have the Raiders Titans and Bengals Packers.

39:22Gregg Rosenthal:I am really interested to see what this Green Bay Packers defense looks like with this time off to actually take a break. A lot of times the bye weeks are pure rest, right? Unless you're a team that has some serious fiddling to do. and I would count. We just talked about him. The Bears may be up front with what they want to do with their offensive line being one of them and also this Packers team with this defense because Micah Parsons, best pass rusher in football right now. Argue with Miles Garrett. I wouldn't want to do that. I already did the would you rather where apparently instead of being followed around by cats, my choice was just to get a surprise hit by Miles Garrett at any point.

39:59Gregg Rosenthal:Still 20 times in your life. Questioning my terrible decision. I just, that's how I feel about cats, I guess we could say. But I, but I feel like this is going to be cool to watch because they've had time to actually plan. He arrived so quickly to the start of the season to the point where just for his own kind of wellbeing and safety with that back issue is on a little bit of a pitch count, which increased a little bit, but still having him fully in this defense and a full deployment plan where it's not just him knowing what he's going to be doing and where he's going to be. It's all the guys around him also having some, you know, autonomy and some, you know, integration into that plan as well.

40:42Gregg Rosenthal:I am extremely interested to see what this looks like. And I think you get kind of a blank canvas to do it on, you know? Right. It's going to look awesome. That's the news. This team was consistently dominant on defense for three and a half games too before suddenly the Cowboys just kick their teeth in for a half and that'll happen but they were pretty great before that. This is going to be a blowout. Maybe I'll take it though. Yeah.

41:07Patrick Claybon:Just watch what got Joe.

41:08Gregg Rosenthal:Is this our survivor pick this week?

41:10Patrick Claybon:Out there. Yeah. Let's just keep going against the Bengals. I kind of forgot about Survivor. Yeah. Yeah. We'll chase the Bengals. We'll take the Bengals. We'll just keep following the Bengals' beat. Until they get in the division.

41:21Gregg Rosenthal:I get points. I see Klub and Eric back there. Good job. I care so much about this. Survivor.

41:28Patrick Claybon:They know. We already all lost. No, but we all win together. Together is how we approach things. Together is how the Bills will try to bounce back from their first loss of the season on Monday Night Football. They're back in prime time. This time, they're on the road, though, at the Atlanta Falcons. The Bills giving up four and a half points. The over-under is 49 and a half. Chris Fowler, Louis Riddick, Dan Orlovsky, Katie George, and Peter Schrager on the call. Greg, you guys had a good conversation. John Robinson give you any insight in how they're going to face up against the Bills. Yes, you will hear that conversation as part of the Thursday night recap show.

42:04So it'll go on along with our recap of Eagles and Giants. And it was a great conversation. And he talked about the improvements that he's made throughout his career, that he's a more confident runner, that he's a patient runner. And he's given a lot of credit to the scheme there with, how did he call him? Z-Rob, Zach Robinson. Z-Rob. That definitely sounds cooler than Zach Robinson looks.

42:30Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah. Oh, I just mean like he doesn't see that one go by. And then all of a sudden it just, he doesn't look like a Z Rob. What do you mean? He looks like a fricking one tree Hill character. That's sort of what I mean.

42:44Patrick Claybon:Is that a Z Rob?

42:45Gregg Rosenthal:All right.

42:45Patrick Claybon:Well, you're saying like you drag, like put a little gel on a bang and drag it down. And all of a sudden that's Z Rob. Like you put a leather jacket on. I'm not trying to like profile or anything. I just mean Z Rob.

42:55Gregg Rosenthal:Red jumpsuit apparatus plays in the background. You know, that's Z-Roy. This doesn't seem to fit. Also, what doesn't fit is two of the best games of the week opposite each other on Monday Night Football. We've only got two more of these ever, according to our bosses, bosses, bosses, bosses, bosses, boss, Roger Goodell. So this is one of the last two. Next week is the very last one. But this one annoys me. I wish these two were separate.

43:16Patrick Claybon:They all do to me. Me too, but this one especially. A noted shield robot. I don't want to have to. The whole point of prom time is being able to put singular focus and all of us collectively on social media are having a conversation about one game. And now we're bifurcated and, you know, they've killed broadcast television in general. And so everybody's on a weird delay because everything is streaming now. It's yeah, it's bad. Prom time. Bring it back.

43:41Gregg Rosenthal:He's got the gavel. Yeah, it is. It is. The NFL agreed with you and they say this is all going away next year. But it was just still stuck on the schedule. I just wish they did the thing that we were up till one in the morning on the East Coast for this game. You know, just just stagger. I'm excited for this game. I think that the Bills have a huge advantage if they want to run the ball. James Cook is among the best rushers in the NFL right now. Number two in yards. And the Falcons are six worse in the NFL in terms of success rate and defending the run. That's a huge, huge mismatch and probably a key contact point for Joe Brady in game planning for this game.

44:14Gregg Rosenthal:because one of the biggest advantages for the Bills remains this offensive line and what they can do between Josh Allen and James Cook. You know what shocked me is looking and seeing that the Falcons are still first in defensive DVOA right now. Like the numbers, now granted, you look at the schedule and that seems to be a factor, I think, but they've been very good against the pass in general, despite like not playing their two young players that much, like James Pierce and Jalen Wager aren't playing that much. Despite every week, the opposing team seems to target Mike Hughes and D Alford a lot, and it seems to be working.

44:52So I don't know. They've forced a lot of turnovers, which is part of it. But what a great test to go up against this Bills passing game, which is starting to – it's been amazing, but I think they're wondering, like, do we need something else? Do we need a guy that can go down the field and make a big play? Because they are right now kind of a station-to-station type of offense.

45:11Patrick Claybon:It's felt kind of Eagles-ish for the Bills.

45:14Gregg Rosenthal:Good pull.

45:15Patrick Claybon:Where they kind of wait to deploy late when they need it. And it's like, all right, Josh, hero ball engaged.

45:22Gregg Rosenthal:Get mad.

45:23Patrick Claybon:And so, like, I think they have to kind of take the governors off in this game because the Bills defense continues to be a problem. And especially when you've got guys like Drake London and, you know, to some extent Kyle Pitts, but especially Bajon Robinson, where they get loose. Forget to some expense. It's just happening. The pizza side.

45:43Gregg Rosenthal:What I see for this early is for them to scheme up a lot of quick yak slants and screens and dare the Bills defenders to tackle in space or in the middle of the field, both places where they've been having issues actually wrapping and pulling to the ground. This is where I think they try to go fast early and they try to really hammer them with those specific types of plays with those players, with Bajon, with Kyle Pitts, with Drake London to try to dare you to tackle them because the Bills have still, you know, slight improvement up front last week. Deion Walker's playing well, but there's just not a consistency week over week in how this defense is containing players.

46:32Right, and I think if you look at Pitts' stats, for instance, like they don't look that crazy. It's only 10 yards per catch, but he's someone if you just watch him this year, he's just way better. He could be a pro bowler. He could be an all pro. I think that the stats and he does have at least four catches in every game. So he's been consistent are better than he looked. I thought Michael Penix is coming off his best game of the year. They haven't played in a couple of weeks now, but that Washington game, he showed a lot of good anticipation. He throw, he threw over the middle well in that game.

46:59So I think if you just took out that Carolina game, which you can't, it was a terrible, terrible performance by him, but I think he's played well in the other three starts. I think it's an offensive game for both teams. And I'm curious because I think the Patriots really showed their hand in what they thought matters about the bills. When you talked about the running game, they really loaded up to stop the run and they dared the bills to beat them in man-to-man coverage. And it's not like they, they got a little lucky with a couple of turnovers. It's not like they shut them down or anything, but I think that game plan makes, makes sense to me when you're playing the bills.

47:32Patrick Claybon:Can't wait. Great matchup. And sneakily, where would you think Michael Penix Jr. is in terms of drop back EPA among passers in the NFL right now? Well, the fact that you're asking this question means it's going to be surprising. But if I didn't think about that, I would say like 18th right now. He is at 40. What? The Panthers game.

47:57Gregg Rosenthal:Is that everybody who's ever thrown a pass?

48:00Patrick Claybon:Yeah. Let's adjust it. Maybe he's on that list. Yeah. It's, it's everybody, but still, It's still, that's not good.

48:06Gregg Rosenthal:I'm doing the rude thing where I'm leaning over and looking at your screen. I'm like, who, what? I get it. The first couple of weeks, it was a lot of checked up. But I think he was taking what defense was giving him. There haven't been a lot of explosive plays until that Washington game. And obviously that Carolina game was so bad that it's going to skew the numbers a little bit. But that is interesting. All right, so perhaps an opportunity. Number one defense, number 21 offense, according to DVOA, which I would never have expected coming into the year. Yeah, something weird. That's just weird.

48:35Gregg Rosenthal:That's. I don't really believe it. Yeah.

48:38Patrick Claybon:Thanks. Thanks to not believe. I believe one thing that I know for certain, Jordan. All that matters is Drake May. The New England Patriots are favored by three and a half points at the New Orleans Saints. A couple of Greg Rosenthal's core beliefs.

48:54Gregg Rosenthal:Yes.

48:54Patrick Claybon:Drake May. This is the city of New Orleans. The over under is 45 and a half. Spiro Ditas, Adam Archuleta and Aditi Kikabala on the call. They're back. The vibes are great. They just got a big win in the AFC East, Greg. And now they go on the road to New Orleans. Dangerous game. You're right about Drake May. He's the only thing that matters with this season. Look at his face. Look at his face. They also aren't particularly like that great of a team. They're 20th right now in DVOA. Like, I think that indicates even last week, they were lucky to win that game. They were out gained. Like, there was a lot going on in that game.

49:27And they have it. Definitely not a Wii. But when it comes to the Drake May fan club, there is definitely a we. If you're watching, you can actually see our throw of the year candidate that I'm going to throw out there from Drake May from last week's game where he is rolling out to his right. And especially when you watch it on the overhead view and he throws it on the run with a defender in his face. Just perfect anticipation. And I think it does.

49:58Gregg Rosenthal:It gets better as it sails. because look at how close to the sideline he's getting. I mean, he throws a pretty deep ball. And I think his connection with Stefan Diggs has made me reconsider the upside of this passing game because Diggs and him are giving more as kind of a tandem than I thought he would have with anyone this year. Shout out to Stefan Diggs and whatever he did in that recovery because he's still not a year away from that ACL surgery. It's pretty amazing how much juice he looks like he has. Yeah, back-to-back games. He's played awesome. And that was a little bit of a revenge game, although it seems like good vibes.

50:34Gregg Rosenthal:And he interacted with the crowd and all of that stuff. And kind of I want him to play every game in Buffalo. He seemed like 15 % faster. Yeah, he and he he was feeling it. You could tell. I mean, he he took extra time before the game to interact with the crowd. This this will not be that same type of of like nostalgia and dynamic. But man, this is kind of this is going to be actually, I think a much more fun game than I think people thought it might be coming into the season, looking at the schedule because obviously new England is coming off their biggest win, certainly in the variable era in the Drake may era, I would say too, right.

51:10Gregg Rosenthal:Beating Buffalo like that in prime time. Oh, in the last four years. Yeah. And forever. And that's, that's great for them. They're, they're healthier on the, on the defensive side to Christian Gonzalez. Holy cow. Looks just as advertised, right? Looks incredible. But they're also going against a better than most people think, playing better than most people think, Spencer Rattler. Certainly not in QB Island range, but playing better than a lot of people would think. And playmakers, young playmakers all over the ball. Jonas Sanker, again, I shouted him out a couple of weeks ago. Again, making plays.

51:45Pepsi rookie of the week candidate this week.

51:47Gregg Rosenthal:Making plays. In addition to Jackson Dart, which was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Two names where people are like, what the f***? and it's like, you're like looking at it and all over the field attacking the ball. I told you guys to keep an eye on Kendra Miller. Very hard to tackle that guy. He's starting to get into an even carry share, if not a little edge on carry specifically with Alvin Kamara. This is the type of thing you kind of hope to see with Christian McCaffrey and Brian Robinson in terms of Alvin Kamara's being used still as a passing game mismatch. He's great there, but also you're getting someone else coming in and getting more of a workload with the carries.

52:22Gregg Rosenthal:He's very hard to tackle. So I think this is actually kind of a frisky game because you got a lot of interesting guy, like interesting players on both sides of the ball for each team. And the young guys are really the story of all of this, starting with the New England quarterback.

52:37Patrick Claybon:I'm concerned about the, you know, the reverse chargers on the sideline with Brandon Staley. And, you know, it's head coach. Now, I'm not necessarily saying that, you know, things at the start for Coach Moore have been like that bad. But for Staley and the Saints defense, they're blitzing at one of the highest rates in the league.

52:59Gregg Rosenthal:And he never used to blitz.

53:00Patrick Claybon:And they're getting the second worst pressure rate in the league.

53:05Gregg Rosenthal:And Chase Young hasn't been out there either.

53:07Patrick Claybon:The pressure rate on blitzes. Like there's a significant, like almost 12 % difference where they're blitzing 33 % of the time. They're only getting pressure on those 23 % of the time. And so like even when they're sending the house, they're not getting there. and it's not going to work against 17. My take in this game was like, these two teams are not that different other than the quarterbacks in terms of their overall ability. And that's a pretty big difference. I think the Patriots have a dude, you know, that QB Island worthy dude. And the Saints have an offense that's punching above its weight.

53:38It's like 23rd. But they are different because the Patriots have pass rushers. Yeah. Both teams are thin. The Patriots might even be thinner. Once you get past like the first, the best 15 players on the Patriots roster, it's one of the worst rosters in the league from 16 to 53. I really do think so. It falls off a bit of a cliff but their top end talent is much better and the Saints, their defense is one of the three or four worst in the league and their special teams is one of the two or three worst in the league. Their special teams has really cost them. So this is a game that the Patriots should win but it's kind of an interesting test.

54:13I said it for the Colts last week for instance. Okay, you're a heavy favorite at home against the Raiders. I don't think the Patriots are as big a favorite this week, but this would show me something. If they can back up what was a big win, I don't even care if they cover this game, just find any way to get a victory. And if they're a playoff type of team, which is now I think realistic to expect that they could get a seven seed or something, then you got to win a game like this.

54:35Gregg Rosenthal:It's two rebuilding teams, both rebuilding for very different reasons. One who has their quarterback, the other who still has obviously major questions at the position. And they're both kind of teams that play a little bit, But more so even now, the Patriots, I think, have opened it up a little bit as well. Playing as if, what do we have to lose? You know, like I see that even though the Saints are losing almost every week, last week excluded. I see that from the Saints. They don't have. They've been in four out of five games. And they don't have the guys. They have a major position holes to fill.

55:07Gregg Rosenthal:And so do the Patriots. The Patriots are behind by like three draft classes at this point. so it's like both I think in terms of you know I think this becomes a tight like a little bit tighter of a game because it's like okay we neither of us have anything to lose we expectations were already low right I think higher now for the Patriots after winning the game that they did but you never know I mean I just I don't know I just I see the Saints making this tougher on the Patriots than I think again people who haven't watched the Saints all year would expect It's also the big expedition fan meetup field trip for the Saints block party.

55:47Gregg Rosenthal:Yeah. The Saints traditionally performed very well that week. I'm going on with Adam and Ryan this week. So check that out. Just really quickly. I wanted to do a Will Campbell check in for you. Been fine. Yeah. Probably coming off his worst game. Did not like they gave him a lot of help in that Bills game and wasn't amazing, but good, good in the running. He's been fine, which is all you can expect. Well, just, just for you. I thought I'd pull a PFF. Okay. 27th ranked tackle overall. So that's great. Third. That's great as a rookie allowed. Obviously one sack six pressures total in five games.

56:19Very good. Hopefully it is very good. Hopefully it's a great game. My game. I am taking that one for sure. I just want Drake may to have like a statistically. Untouchable game so that Mike Rabel will finally give him a game ball. He's given two to Andy Borg. Alice the kicker. he's given zero to Drake May it's on people's radar in New England that like Mike Vrabel is negging Drake May and he won't ever talk about like too positively about Drake May they all think it's calculated but Borgallis

56:51Gregg Rosenthal:wow gotta hook that guy up what a complex psychological I don't know if he's doing it intentionally I don't know it's cool when the kicker

56:59Patrick Claybon:hits a game winning field goal he gives him the game ball I get it but a couple weeks ago like I'm actually Galaxy Band and our quarterback to make him try it. They had that Panthers game. He had like three incompletions. They put up a 40 burger and he's like, hey, let's give it to like Matt Collins.

57:14Gregg Rosenthal:He always gets the game ball in your heart. There we go. That was it. Preview shows. We did it. We've done it. As we mentioned, we're going to have Bajon Robinson on our Thursday night recap show. That is the next time you will hear from us. Me, Nick Shook in the feed talking a little Eagles Giants. That's it. I'm over the jet lag. Oh, he's back. Declaring it's over. It was over when you picked up the Snickers bar and swung it. That's why you got to watch the show, because you never know if I'm going to use something as a foreign object and just take you out. See you Thursday night.

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58:28Gregg Rosenthal:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.