2025 NFL Week 8 Recap: Love vs. Rodgers, Blowout Sunday, and Teams that Stayed Alive

18:26You know, CMC is not going to be held to 25 yards on the ground very often. Like, they are due to have some stink bombs and the way that they've won games that they shouldn't lets them have some stink bombs along the way as they get healthier, if they get healthier at all. But they're always going to be the third most likely team in this division to win it long-term because of all those injuries. Part of the issue is they have very little receiving help.

18:53Jourdan Rodrigue:Even the guys they do have on the field, John Jennings has been playing through multiple injuries. And he almost helped lead a comeback with a massive explosive catch he made down the field, especially right after a tough drop. The 49ers started putting things a little bit together, looking like maybe they were going to try for a comeback in the second half, but the Texans stalled it out. Murray Lasseter had a great interception to sort of ice the game out as well on the Texans' side. But the 49ers are sneaky hurt in players that are also still playing. And part of that's along the offensive line.

19:24Jourdan Rodrigue:Matt Hennessey, another center, is starting now for this team. Trent Williams came on and off the field looking like he was not feeling great, just looked banged up. The broadcast pointed it out multiple times. And so as a result of that, you have to bring George Kittle, their superstar tight end, into the line a little bit more to help with some of the blocking, especially against this Texans front that is so dynamic and ferocious. And you lose him as a receiver. So now you're trying to funnel everything through Christian McCaffrey and Juwan Jennings, a little Demarcus Robinson sprinkled in there.

19:56Jourdan Rodrigue:And that's just not enough. That's just not enough. Christian McCaffrey is having such a high production year, high volume year. Part of it's out of necessity. And you just you have to get Ricky Pierce all back. You have to get some of these guys back. But they're also playing through these like really quiet, I think, simmering under the surface injuries that could hurt them down the line, too. It's brutal. And you you hope for the Texans sake, you know, on the other side that like maybe they feel like they figured out some things on the offensive line that that will help out. The running game wasn't consistent, still gave up like a lot of negative runs.

20:28and yet they at least hit some explosives. And they're just in the mix. We want the teams in the mix. And after last Thursday night, we thought, okay, there's a path here for this Cincinnati Bengals team to stay in the mix. The Hollywood fairy tale story of Joe Flacco. But we forgot about the Bengals defense.

20:52Patrick Claybon:Jets hoping for their first win of the season. They could get it with a stop on this play. Flacco, shotgun, five-man rush, looks over the middle, throws, low, and it's incomplete!

21:02Nick Shook:In and out of the hands of Yosivas! The Jets are going to win it! Jarvis Brownlee there in coverage! 27 seconds to go, and for the Jets, it'll be victory formation! They'll finally get their first of the season, and it couldn't have been more dramatic in come-from-behind fashion. Oh, dramatic on what has been a difficult season for the New York Jets and their fans, to say the least. And yes, a very difficult day that they got to end on the field on a happy note. Great to see Aaron Glenn there hugging it out. Great to see Justin Fields. We'll hear from him later. Get a victory led by the offense.

21:4839 to 38 in Cincinnati, breaking the hearts of a lot of Bengals fans in their long term hopes. Tell us, Jordan, about the chaos that was the end of this Jets Bengals game.

22:03Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, let me set the scene here because the Jets were down 31 to 16 at the end of the third quarter. And then they make, I think, what can only be described as an admirable effort. They're running the ball well. Justin Fields was throwing the ball really well, making some great decisions. and the Bengals defense started caving in, right? And so then you started to see, oh, is this possible? Could this actually happen? Joe Flacco, he takes the first sack of the game. The Jets' first sack of the game came halfway through the fourth quarter, right on time if you're the Jets because they were right in the middle of attempting to mount this comeback.

22:37Jourdan Rodrigue:And after that sack by Will McDonald and a Bengals punt, Justin Fields had a couple of truly excellent throws to get the Jets into scoring position with the Bengals having a six-point lead, excuse me. And one of those was a third and two absolute laser to Mason Taylor for a first down, which also was a really situationally smart play by Justin Fields because it happened right outside the two-minute warning, and it gave them a fresh set of downs on the other side of the two-minute warning. And then it's Brees Hall's turn.

23:09Nick Shook:Ruckert motions right. The lone setback, Brees Hall. Toss sweep to the right. Brees Hall, he's going to throw the ball. Pumps one, throws back in the end zone. It's caught. Mason Taylor. The option pass right by Brees Hall for a touchdown. And the Jets are a point after away from the lead. As that play is developing, you're just assuming it's going to end in total catastrophe. You're saying incomplete. Patrick, you're just saying insane call.

23:37Patrick Claybon:Yeah, I'm saying what's going on? Justin Fields is having a great game. You got Brees Hall who himself with the pump fake acknowledges, I probably shouldn't throw this. Nah, I've never completed or attempted a pass in college or in the pros. I've got one chance. And Mason Taylor bails him out with an absolute ball. He should not have thrown that ball, though.

23:58Jourdan Rodrigue:The irony, too. And it struck me. There was a lot of cool poetry in this game. First of all, that play not only gave the Jets the lead, but they crossed 500 offensive yards. They finished with 502 yards of offense. We're looking at you, Bengals. Against this Bengals defense. Al Golden. We are seeing, we are noticing. But also, early in the game, I thought that this game was going to go sideways and stay sideways after a fourth and one play that Justin Fields checked into a toss play to Brees Hall. And it was a huge tackle for loss. The foul, or excuse me, the Bengals, the Flacco-led Bengals turned it into a touchdown on the other side.

24:35Jourdan Rodrigue:This was going to stay sideways. And then Justin Fields just starts bawling. And so it's funny to me that Brees Hall is the one that gets a throw at the end of the game because he shouldn't have gotten the play at the start of the game, but then he gets it at the very end and they make hay out of it. And I love seeing this for the Jets. Aaron Glenn's first win as a head coach. I love seeing this for Justin Fields who had a really, really hard week. Some of the, not just the criticism he's getting for some really bad football he's played, but also some unnecessary criticism lobbed at him by the owner of the team.

25:08Right, and after the game, you know, he was asked about it a lot and he kept saying that, you know, it was a tough week in terms of outside noise. It's just thinking like, I mean, just you've repeatedly said outside noise, but it's like the calls coming from inside the house. Thank you. The perfect words for it. And he handled it beautifully. And I think any team that hasn't won a game in the NFL, it wears on you. And the focus that's been directly at Justin Fields only amplified by ownership that made it even harder. So it was really fascinating to listen to Fields talk about it after the game.

25:46Nick Shook:I'm going to get pretty vulnerable right here. But this week I kind of, you know, I found myself in my closet crying on the ground, laying down. Not because of the hardships, not because of the troubles.

26:04Patrick Claybon:I felt like you know I was built to handle that and I was put in place to handle this situation but so I was just praying over and over and over again like yo like just just one one win yeah and he was saying how it was really just about the losing that that was getting to him and throughout the course of the week it was unclear of course that if he was going to start or not sure seemed like you know the Jets were planning to start Tyrod Taylor if he was healthy he wound up not being healthy enough. Now, maybe Fields and Tyrod kind of knew all along. That's my suspicion that Tyrod really wasn't going to be healthy enough to go.

26:42But you just feel happy for everyone there, including Aaron Glenn, who was also really poised after the game. Let's, in terms of talking about the win and talking about everything that went on there. Before we wrap this, let's at least get on the Bengals a little bit here, giving up 500 yards.

27:01Jourdan Rodrigue:502. People forget the two. This is one of those games you look at the rest of their schedule and I know they have the Bears next week, which is a winnable game. And I think the Bengals offense with Flacco is showing that they can be competitive in most games. But I think it's all about managing the schedule and they've got some really tough games before Joe Burrow could come back at Pittsburgh, home for New England, at Baltimore, at Buffalo, home for Baltimore. Yeah. This was one they needed And it just points out something we've been talking about, which is I would put this defense with the bottom three or four defenses in the NFL.

27:36Jourdan Rodrigue:It's tough to the Bengal. They can't get any pressure. That's part of the problem. You know, I noticed some commentary from they have a great group of beat reporters down there noting that, you know, Al Golden's going to have to like face the music and say, OK, I do need to blitz more because that's the only way that they could possibly get pressure. the only way they really got pressure when they did get it all game. And Trey Hendrickson's dealing with the hip and some of the snaps, some of the pass rush snaps that he had, they sort of ISO cammed it. And oh my God, it looks like he's playing through a lot of games.

28:06Jourdan Rodrigue:He left in the, at the end, he never came back. And he left the game, he didn't come back in. And so his status for next week and beyond is in question. And it just looked, it looked difficult. It looked painful. They could, teams can always run the ball on them this season, but especially what was it? 254 yards of those 502 yards were rushing. And this is a running back in, in Brees Hall who had not had the best productivity over the last couple of weeks. Braylon Allen was actually poised to take over before Braylon Allen got hurt early in the season. So this is a Bengals defense that is in serious, serious trouble.

28:44Jourdan Rodrigue:And yes, Joe Flacco can get them, you know, up and down the field. and he had some great, a couple of great sort of savvy veteran moves. The Jets were a clean operation. They only had one penalty and it was in the fourth quarter, excuse me, at the end of the first half, Joe Flacco on a hard count got Quinn Williams to jump off sides. It was their very first penalty of the entire game to that point. This has been a highly penalized team throughout, but they were playing pretty clean. And then Joe Flacco and the Bengals turned it into a touchdown on the other side. So I don't really worry about that side of the ball, but this defense is a mess.

29:19Yeah, I don't worry about any side of the ball that gets Jamar Chase 19 targets.

29:23Patrick Claybon:Yeah, he's over 40 targets. Game plan. In the past couple of weeks. Like, you get the ball to your kids. Maybe I should. It really wasn't that efficient. 19 targets for 91 yards. They scored 38 points. Yes. They did all they could. And, you know, it wasn't just Brees Hall. Allen had a nice game. Allen Davis had a nice game on the ground. And, you know, shout out to Justin Fields. He trusted his eye because that's the thing. He played great. It's kind of he's kind of seemed reluctant to put the ball in danger. He hasn't thrown a pick all season. And wow, he trusted his eye, even when, you know, to Al Golden's defense against the Blitz.

29:55Patrick Claybon:He had a passer rating of 146 today. So the Blitz, nothing works. Think of who he's thrown to. They were without their number two receiver on top of missing Garrett Wilson. Josh Reynolds isn't there. So it's Tyler Johnson is easily their best receiver, who is a guy who hasn't been able to make, you know, consistent rosters. Who's like a fifth, sixth receiver type. Then it's Isaiah Davis, you know, had a big game over 100 yards from scrimmage as a backup running back who had some big time catches. And it's a rookie tight end. And Mason Taylor looks very promising. But man, it's easily the least talented receiver group in the league.

30:27So they made it happen. They ran for over 250 yards on the ground. And it was all on a day that, you know, that started with tragedy. And it's so sad to to hear what happened with Nick Mangold, their longtime center. and I know a lot of the people with the Jets organization certainly Aaron Glenn talked about it first right afterwards just sent their their thoughts to Nick Mangold and his family who died on Sunday at 41 years old it was on Saturday night that that it happened and if you remember Mangold had sent a tweet out actually a couple years ago he was suffering with chronic kidney disease and he was on dialysis he was seeking a transplant and he was looking for help there and it just it just breaks your heart um a man a father a multiple time first team all pro a really great player and and someone that everyone that played with him at ohio state and with the jets just looked to him like as a as a leader i remember on around the nfl we talked about with dan like it like mangled might be the jet of like the last 20 years because he he was a guy who It wasn't always easy being with the Jets, but he was there during the best days and he was always there.

31:43So rest in peace to Nick Mangold, dead at the age of 41. We'll be back on the other side.

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34:35Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, proud partner of iHeart Podcast Network. Hertz under center. Barkley, the single setback.

34:44Nick Shook:Hertz to Barkley. Off left tackle. He's across the 45-50, 45-40. He's going to go. Saquon Barkley finally explodes. 65 yards. Hello.

34:58Jourdan Rodrigue:I know that guy. I remember him. Yes. Saquon Barkley. Remember me? Merrill Reese does from WIP. A tone setting 65 yard touchdown run from Saquon Barkley. OK, you can spend the A black talking about all these different teams that are just trying to keep their season life. How about some of the teams that are already atop their division? And they're saying, yeah, we can get upset by the Giants a couple of weeks ago, but we're going to restore order in the NFC East as of October 26. six, get to six and two with the win 38 to 20 over the giant. Saquon ends up with 150 yards on the ground. Tank Bigsby adds another hundred yards on the ground in a, in a game that man Eagles fans must've loved seeing.

35:45Cause it looks so much like last year, right off the bat.

35:47Patrick Claybon:That's the second snap. Uh, the first, you know, Jalen got a little wiggly on a pass attempt, uh, threw the ball to Devante Smith incomplete. It's like, Oh, this office is going to be bad. No, the second play, uh, Saquon goes for that 65-yard touchdown run right up there on the left side where Mailata and Dickerson blocking for him just like 2024. And the Giants, though, come right back. Jackson Dart hits Cam Scadaboo on a touchdown of his own. And then things got kind of wiggly on a weird officiating play. I won't say it's weird. It was just a downright jobbing on behalf of the Stripes out there.

36:25Patrick Claybon:They run the brotherly shove. Jalen Hurts extends the ball. Kayvon Thibodeau takes it away from him, rolls on the ground. Then they blow the whistle, and the Giants are thinking they have the ball. But ultimately, they say that forward progress was stopped despite the fact that there was no whistle. So Brian Dayball, for the first time on the sideline, goes absolutely ballistic, tries to challenge it. The referee, in explaining why they can't challenge it, is like, I tried to explain to the coach, like, this is all in the microphone. The referee is saying this. But ultimately, it's the Eagles' ball.

36:56Patrick Claybon:hurts hits saquon for a touchdown and then with about eight minutes to go awful awful play uh scadaboo is running an angle route gets target from dart uh if you have a chance to not watch the play i think it's great because it's a dislocated ankle mike garofalo says he's going to have surgery in philadelphia tonight so it's hard to take away some from that's the big takeaway from this game uh saquon goes on another long run later in the game he would leave tank bigsby comes in and plays great in his stead. There's like a second and 26 after Hertz takes a bad sack where Tank Bigsby comes up and gets that first down.

37:33Remember when the Eagles traded like a couple of draft picks for Tank Bigsby? And it worked out. That was weird for the last like six weeks where we didn't see him.

37:40Patrick Claybon:And, you know, having Jalen Carter and Quinion Mitchell play the whole game helps a little bit. But there was another opportunity involving Quinion Mitchell that caused Brian Dable to fully blow his top where Darius Slayton on fourth and 11 has a long touchdown catch they call it back for offensive pass interference and looking at the tape it did not appear to be offensive oh no and and yeah fun you can watch that replay because dayball app you can see heat waves coming off of his head you hate to like put the game in in those calls ultimately the eagles out gained the giants you know 427 to 246 Yeah, it was a blowout.

38:20But you also, if you're a Giants fan, hate to see those calls come up so big, especially the Cave-on one, who that's when the game is still in doubt. And he called a BS after the game. And then Brian Burns was listening to him nearby and said, hey, man, like, stop that. You'll get fined. And then Cave-on was like, that was a great call, actually. So we'll see if the retroactive great call saves him. But you're right. Scadaboo, unfortunately, down, you know, of course, we don't expect him back. And I saw the report today that Malik Neighbors is also getting his surgery this weekend. And you just think about, like, what could have been with this Giants season.

38:59And unfortunately, I have to take the Rob Lowe hat off for this one. And like, we're crossing off the Giants now. And it's a shame considering where we were. Forget two weeks ago. How about five quarters ago? You know, like it really felt like this was going to be something fun to watch. And now it's going to be different. It's going to be very challenging, I think, for Jackson Dart and them to come up with an offense that works.

39:21Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. And he recognized that he talked at the podium after the game about how upset he is. He hates losing. I think that's fair for me. I appreciate when people, no matter their profession, like earnestly feel their feelings and aren't really shy about that. You could see this entire team, how much that hurt having Scadaboo, you know, be carted off. every single one of those players came to, you know, wish him well and fist pound him. And Jackson, this one actually really did twinge at the old heartstring. Jackson Dart came over and gave him a little head bump, a little head, their little head tap that they do to each other.

39:59Jourdan Rodrigue:He gave him one of those as he was on the cart. It's tough. It's tough. And for me, you know, I wasn't gonna see a sweep of the Eagles. Like, I just didn't think that was happening. It was good to see Saquon Barkley show flashes of his old self. And I want to point out like the Eagles, they did look like the Eagles, but a little bit different because eight of Saquon Barkley's 14 carries were either with six offensive linemen, right? So heavier personnel or three tight ends or two tight ends. And so they were loading up and basically saying, we are going to will this run game to happen where previously Saquon Barkley just was not getting the yardage we're used to seeing from him.

40:43You saw different personnel, in part maybe because A.J. Brown is not on the field, but you do wonder if they're going to use that more later. A.J. Brown was inactive for this game. They're hoping, according to Ian Rapport, that he is back after the bye. And also, you don't want to take Dallas Goddard off the field. He's got two more touchdowns today. He's got seven on the season. To quote Jordan Mailata, dude he's unreal how many touchdowns does he have now and we almost didn't bring them back can you believe that how funny is that what a great quote by Jordan feel your feelings everybody I feel like

41:18Patrick Claybon:they they lined up Dallas Goddard out wide for in as AJ Brown like role-playing as AJ Brown on one of those touchdowns where he gets matched up against the safety and it was advantage and to be honest uh the giant secondary already dealing with injuries it was a tough move for them um where you know late in the game uh eagles making plays and they already were giving up a lot of deep passes um and so it's rough considering the injuries and the defensive deployment we saw 70 percent of cooper dejean lined up at slot corner and i think that's that's the move for the remainder of the season we're just not seeing uh dejean at safety it's going to be around making plays being the star on the team.

41:59Patrick Claybon:Yeah. I love that. And I think Vic Fangio is going to be adaptable and changing to what he sees in front of him. But why mess with what's working? And they just look more like themselves the last couple of weeks. And yeah, Cordell Flott, who's been the best cornerback for the Giants, got hurt again in this game.

42:18Jourdan Rodrigue:So Jalen Hurts played great, only threw it 20 times. Incredibly clean game, four touchdowns, 179 yards, 141.5 passer rating. His numbers for the last two weeks are insane for a guy who threw a total of 45 passes, like half of them are for touchdowns seemingly. So yeah, everything is good. It's happy for Philadelphia. And oh, what the heck? Let's listen to how familiar it feels to Saquon Barkley, who didn't forget what happened in the Meadowlands. It's always great to win. It's always great to be a division rival. For sure, we definitely saw how they celebrated when they beat us last time. got the wind going to a bye.

42:59Jourdan Rodrigue:It's good to get away from each other for a little bit also.

43:04Jourdan Rodrigue:Just to wrinkle that one in at the end. You could actually hear Mike Garofalo, and that is courtesy of Mike Garofalo's Twitter account, laugh a little bit when Saquon said that. Oh, I'm sure they won't make too big a deal out of that quote. Eagles hate each other. We will see if, yeah, after the bye, A.G. Brown is back on the field. So the Eagles get the job done. some separation in the NFC East, suddenly looking like pretty heavy favorites to repeat in that division. Would the same be true for the four-time defending NFC South champs? Second down, a long one. They move right.

43:41Patrick Claybon:Shotgun look, hand the ball. Layax a fake rattler. Throws the pass upfield.

43:45Nick Shook:It is bad at that. Intercepted. Intercepted. Picked off of the touchdown for the Buccaneers. It's Anthony Nelson.

43:51Patrick Claybon:So Anthony Nelson. With a forced fumble and a pick six. Oh, yeah. It was the Anthony Nelson game. It was. Gene Deckerhoff, Dave Moore, WFUS. Yes, they mentioned two of Anthony Nelson's bigger plays early in that game. You know what else he did? He had a couple sacks. Everyone on this Buccaneers defense got to eat. But when Anthony Nelson is getting the post-game interview on the field, You know something special is happening. It's a bad sign there for the Saints offense in 2025 when that is happening. Man, Antoine Winfield was an absolute beast in this game. Yaya Diaby actually had the most quick pressures, three of them for this defense.

44:39Vita Vea was making noise in this game. Jamel Dean continued a streak of making a massive play every single week for seemingly the entire season. He had a forced fumble in this game. And on a day where they pulled the ripcord on the agenda, Spencer Rattler getting benched in the third quarter, the Buccaneers win 23 to three to move to six and two on the season. Sorry. I didn't want to have fun at the expense of Spencer Rattler. It's a tough day for us agenda folks, but let's, let's talk positive. Let's talk bucks to start. Yeah.

45:17Patrick Claybon:The Buccaneers make the plays, especially Nelson, who you think about the past couple of weeks where they all go up to Detroit, hurt, have a great performance by the opposing team. Nelson is on the receiving end of a fourth down highlight play by Jameer Gibbs where he puts him in the dirt and goes on to score later on in that drive and to come back and get that tip interception in the sack that you mentioned as well where the Saints offense, Rattler or Shuck, really had no answer long-term to the Bucs making plays. And I still believe at the punch-out play, Antoine Winfield picked that ball up that Jamel Dean forced and scored a touchdown.

45:55Patrick Claybon:I'm not sure how they ruled Jamel Dean had possession of the ball and was down. That could have been another defensive touchdown by the Bucs, but a dominant performance going into the bye. And we always say well-deserved and well-timed. but yes for the bucks in 2025 week nine is the perfect opportunity to not believe this was a mature like professional championship performance to just get there and get there comfortably on a day where their offense couldn't do much of anything and that's why I say it's professional because like sometimes you just need one side of the ball just carry the other side of the ball and that happened today like Baker Mayfield and the bucks had 212 yards of offense the Saints defense kept stopping them on the goal line, seven straight plays on the one yard line over two different possessions.

46:42One time it was four straight downs. It was all these runs where they kept stopping it and they almost did it again. And finally, Sean Tucker broke through and that made it 14 to three in the third quarter. But that was only, you know, that was like the one long drive the Buccaneers offense had all day. But that's all they needed to have because one side of the ball had them locked down.

46:58Jourdan Rodrigue:A lot of times when Greg and I are watching different games and I don't have full vision of whatever game Greg is watching, then I just listened for kind of what he says or some of the things he says out loud as he's watching. And he just kept going, oh my gosh. But it was both sides. Baker Mayfield played another bad game. It was like Chase Young beating Tristan Wirfs over and over again too that I said it to as well, to be fair. Yeah, and Baker Mayfield had another, I would say, bad game. I would like to issue a request to all of the talking heads in national media out there. Would really love it if everyone just stopped talking about Baker Mayfield in the MVP conversation.

47:33Jourdan Rodrigue:Because he clearly keeps on rolling, baby. I mean, look in the mirror. I've never said that three-letter word. I've never said it. That's the thing. He needs the chip on his shoulder. You could hear him the past two weeks. He was manufacturing it for himself. He was coming up with reasons to be angry and pissed off and play his particular brand of football. He has not looked good the last two weeks. That man is happy for a bye week. I'm telling you. And then hopefully get some of his guys back after.

48:00Patrick Claybon:it was and really considering the struggles and the quarterback change kind of a wasted performance of a very good performance not just from the Saints front Chase Young had a strip sack where he got the ball and then like he's running like he's gonna have an option pitch and that was weird like they were didn't even know what to do with their success like Alante Taylor had a couple great pass break up on you know the rookie star where we've we've seen you know Emeka Abuka do so much didn't really get going today nine targets three catches there was a moment where baker mayfield is looking directly at kool-aid mckinstree and for some reason throws the ball directly kool-aid mckinstree at the corner of the end zone uh where that gets they were really locking up uh the the bucks today but you know if the offense can't do anything it's not really gonna yeah and you mentioned like the winfield like nearly at a touch and there was a point in this game where it felt like every other play the bucks almost scored a defensive touchdown it was just getting crazy, which is why I did not have a problem with the timing of the Spencer Rattler benching as much as I believe in him.

49:03Last week, I thought he had the turnovers, but he sort of bounced back and most of his plays look like he's looked all year today. Even though the numbers look OK, 15 for 21, he had a couple more turnovers, that six turnovers in about six quarters. And I thought he wasn't a little bit of his head and he was in a bad place where he was almost playing too safe and he was making mistakes and so it felt like a worthy time to give shuck a spin the problem is everyone else on the saints offense is not playing well right now either the offensive line without eric mccoy was cheeks today like giving up a ton of pressure alvin kamara and the running game is really poor right now alvin kamara more or less is getting benched now on third downs because he's been such a problem as a pass protector.

49:51Chris Olave, you know, had a play where he almost fumbled it. That was the one I think that got called back. And he left a little banged up at one point. Rashid Shahid had one fumble that stood, another one that could have stood. So they're not like winning these contested catches. And ultimately, Shuck comes in and somehow throws 30 passes in four drives. They don't score any points on him. And it was like four yards per attempt. And he ends up with an interception on a ball that Shahid got ripped away from him. And it was just like, it was just all bad. There's just like no, no real bright spot to point out of, of anything there.

50:27That doesn't leave you anywhere to go. Jordan, I apologize.

50:30Jourdan Rodrigue:But well, all I could think of was, you know, the guy who was absolutely losing his mind in the stands when Tyler Shuck came in. I wonder what that guy's doing right now. I wonder what his reaction and takeaway was from the game. He clearly, and you could see there are a couple of, Describe it for the people that didn't see it. Oh, my God. It was this guy who was wearing a Tyler Shuck jersey, I believe. And when Tyler Shuck finally came into the game, he lost it. He was waving his arms. He was yelling. I think I read his lips. It took too effing long. He was absolutely. So I just, when you were saying all this stuff, I just, I started daydreaming a little, Greg.

51:06Jourdan Rodrigue:I was just wondering, what is that guy doing right now?

51:08Patrick Claybon:I'm so glad that Mickey Loomis will watch the game among the fans wearing his Tyler Shuck jersey. it shows that he's a man of the people. I mean, they made, they made a change at quarterback. My gut would say they'll stick with Shuck for the next, uh, same start. We'll see, but that's not the change they need to make. You just mentioned the man who, to me, I think they risk losing the most diehard fan base. One of them certainly in the league, if they don't, because they're getting to apathy point. And this, this is what it looks like. Everyone wanted the saints to tank and they tried as hard as they could not to tank, but this is what it looks like when you do tank.

51:47Let's go to Denver, where there's no tank in teams. There's a team that's just getting in gear.

51:54Patrick Claybon:Harvey resets to the left of Nix, three to the right. Harvey in the flat, wide open. Harvey gathers it in, tiptoes into the end zone. Touchdown, Denver. Bo Nix's fourth touchdown pass of the game. And for R.J. Harvey, that is his third touchdown. First by pass. And with 7.14 left in this one, it is all but over in the Mile High City. It's Denver 43, Dallas 17. Woo! The fourth quarter of week seven rolled right on into week eight. A 40 burger for the Broncos against a defense that has served up some 40 burgers this season. It's the house specialty in Dallas. They did it on the road today, 44 to 24.

52:45And the 6-2 Broncos hasn't always been pretty this season, but they got to feel great where they're at. Whereas the Cowboys fall to 3-4 and just kind of an every other week type of team and the Broncos found a defense that they could just victimize.

53:01Jourdan Rodrigue:Just complete command by the Broncos offense against a Cowboys defense that I fear to say is back to its new normal for this season after a pretty good week seven last week, that was as the broadcast announced RJ Harvey's third touchdown. He also had two rushing touchdowns to open the game, including one where he took a direct snap and he's a former quarterback. So it shouldn't have surprised the Cowboys defense the way that, that it did, but it did because in part they got to the line of scrimmage really, really fast before the defense could read and react to any, even the alignment Bo Nix was kicked out and declared as a receiver.

53:34Jourdan Rodrigue:And that was a moment that showed me how much command this Broncos offense had over this defense at halftime. The Broncos had 264 yards of offense and 9.1 yards per play, almost an entire first down every time they touched the football in the first half. And this was such a lopsided game that Joe Milton himself was playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys midway through the fourth quarter. I do think sometimes the key sequences of games are right off the top. And when the Cowboys got a stop, you know, Bo Nix starts off like Bo Nix has been doing so often this season, scattershot and throws an interception to the Cowboys on the very first possession.

54:20And the Cowboys get down to the one yard line and they have a second and goal from the one. They also had a first and goal from the three and they throw an incompletion. They have an offensive line penalty and ultimately they don't score on another incompletion. Like that to me is great complimentary football. It's something we haven't always seen from the Broncos this year, but I think it was like a case of the defense kind of having the Broncos back and then Bo Nix, you know, became the best Bo Nix that we've seen all season.

54:48Patrick Claybon:And we had to see the Broncos defense for the majority of the game because on that drive that you mentioned, Dak throws a ball to George Pickens where that's a touchdown 99 times out of 100. But Pat Sertan comes up, knocks the ball away, comes down, has a lower leg injury, leaves the game. would come back to the game, but then leaves with a shoulder injury and doesn't return. And so you're in this situation where Riley Moss, who's getting targeted more than almost every other cornerback in the NFL, as having to deal with CeeDee Lamb, has multiple pass interference calls. But, you know, the defense holds up and they hold because the Milton to Tolbert touchdown was an absolute garbage time.

55:25Patrick Claybon:So the 24 points is fraudulent. It was a great performance by Vance Joseph's defense without the defensive player of the year.

55:30Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, and here's the thing. with and without Pat Sertain and hopefully he's okay. I was worried. I mentioned to Greg, I was worried watching him on the broadcast, walk out, walk to the locker room. Cause he was sort of pointing to and sort of feeling his like underneath his pectoral almost to the side of like closer to his armpit, which made me worried. That's obviously that could be really serious. We hope he's okay. He's so fun to watch. Great player. But I thought Vance Joseph had a great plan for every single one of Dak Prescott's preferred targets, generally speaking, in a season where mostly Dak Prescott is playing incredible football.

56:06Jourdan Rodrigue:They kept bracketing different receivers as a secondary, right? So they were sort of picky. They were playing matchup based football that you really only usually will see from a team, especially a defense in the postseason or deep into the season. And they were playing that type of football. They were pressuring. They were pressuring well, or at least well enough, only a couple of sacks, but really well enough to really get Dak off his spot. You know, Ferguson only had one target in the entire first half and they just had good plans for coverage of everything, despite the fact that they were dealing with the personnel issues.

56:41Jourdan Rodrigue:Jaday Barron played probably his best game of the season, had a takeaway on Dak Prescott. Like it just, they are playing so confidently on both sides of the ball. And when their quarterback meets the moment, like he did today, even after the initial error, they really have something. I think that's so well said. And it just makes me think about how many different paths the Broncos have had to win games this season. They have so many different parts of their team, either line, you know, in on a certain day, like today, like Bo Nix get gets it going. They've had days where Harvey and Dobbins pops up.

57:13Their defense hasn't been like elite every single week, but sometimes it's a secondary. Whereas the Cowboys have such a narrow path to win every week. Like they have one way to win. And if it's not Dak's day or it's tough matchup, like no one's going to pick Dak up. Unfortunately, you mentioned the pass rush for the Broncos, Jordan. Eight different players had quick pressures for that team, which you almost never see. And six different players had multiple pressures. And Benito and Jonathan Cooper had five of those quick pressures between them. But we do want to, I do want to give Bo Nix some love before we move on from this game, because there were some dots in the second half of this game.

57:51Jourdan Rodrigue:Oh my gosh. He made some throws. There was one throw that he made that actually Courtland Sutton dropped. It was a should-be touchdown. And if this game was going to swing, that would have been the moment where the Dallas Cowboys could have tried to mount a comeback. But then Bo Nix hits Courtland Sutton a couple of times late in the game. One of them, a 39-yard pass. And it's just beautiful. It's just a thing of beauty. And... Hole shot. Hole shot. Defender crashing in. It's ahead of him. It leads him well. Even with a defender crashing in, the timing of it is perfect because he is going to get absolutely smoked if that ball gets to him even a little bit later.

58:28Jourdan Rodrigue:Bo Nix, I thought, played some really mature football today and it helped that a supporting cast rose up right there with him. I just think that this was a fully, like the most complete game to a position we've seen from the Denver Broncos this season. Yeah, they are rounding into form and Cortland Sutton ends up with four for 67, which to me is like the ultimate Cortland Sutton line. He's just a four for 67 type of guy. Still getting it done. He's on pace for 1 ,000 yards. Again, still around like 15 yards per catch on the season. Like, there just aren't that many guys like him, that consistent year after year.

59:01Let's go to a team that I know has been annoying, Jordan, that you could describe as perhaps the least consistent team in the NFL to Atlanta. Second down and eighth of the Falcon 43.

59:15Nick Shook:Play action. Fakes. slant to Waddle. Waddle's got a 20, 10, 5 touchdown Miami. What a great fake and he put it right on the money with Waddle and strike going across the middle and nobody nobody was going to catch that man. Oh Joe Rose with a little help from Jimmy Cephalo on WBGG. The Miami Dolphins needed a win in the worst way and they got it 34 4-10 in Atlanta over the Kirk Cousins-led Atlanta Falcons. Yeah, there were a lot of surprising injury situations this week that we were unaware of when we did our preview show. No Michael Penix in this game, no Drake London, but it was really the offense of the Miami Dolphins who put this game away, and it was a laugher to the point where Tua Tungavailoa is doing bits after he gets his touchdown.

1:00:09Patrick Claybon:Yeah, coming into the game with conjunctivitis, which I had no idea that this was an issue or that you could play an NFL game. Pink eye, right?

1:00:17Jourdan Rodrigue:Pink eye? Yeah. I was like, which one is that one? Yeah.

1:00:20Patrick Claybon:Using the official terminology. Joe Burrow got me to look up the real name of Turf Toe, which I've already forgotten. So they get the first quarter touchdown from Tua, which hadn't happened in 13 games. Wow. Where the Dolphins are getting a touchdown pass to start off. They had a couple of explosive runs from Devon H. A couple of drops as well. We were thinking, oh, this is the 2025 Dolphins. But no, he gets a chance in the flat for six because there was no Darren Waller in this game. The quick three and out. The Falcons has another nice. Excuse me. The Dolphins have another nice drive to a running to his left with the eye, which is basically almost swollen shut on that side.

1:01:01Patrick Claybon:Fires a seeing eyeball, oddly enough, to Malik Washington for his first career receiving touchdown. 16 to three. And so you saw if you're watching us on YouTube, you saw the Jalen Waddle touchdown where he's pulling away from Falcons. in the secondary. And I haven't mentioned the Kirk Cousins Falcons offense because they had 58 yards in the first half. Wow. A solid game from Tua in the offense, but there's been a couple of those. This is either the best Dolphins defensive performance of the year far and away or a woe is me situation where pending our conversation, our lengthy conversation we had on the preview show about the pistol, I'm going into next year stats.

1:01:38Patrick Claybon:I'm like, can I blame this bad Cousins performance on the pistol? No, they were bad under center. the one time they were under center they were bad in the shotgun it was nasty in the pistol there was one point where Darnell Mooney wins on a dig and Kirk Cousins literally throws the ball 12 feet over his head and starts pounding himself on the helmet I don't really know what was going on we gotta look for that that'll be for Wednesday's show as a potential worst throw of the year candidate I also am going to submit the play where Tyler Shook hit a cheerleader with Rashid Jahid going wide open for a touchdown.

1:02:12He just nailed it. It just wasn't great. But to answer your question in terms of like best Dolphins offense or worst Falcons defense, like, you know, why not both? Why not everything?

1:02:23Jourdan Rodrigue:It could be both. It definitely statistically, I believe, was the Dolphins defense's best run defense of the game. They held Bajon Robinson to 2.6 yards and Tyler Algier, 2.6 yards per carry. They were the 29th ranked run defense entering the game. this team irritates me. They irritate me. The Falcons irritate me. I think we kind of came into this game knowing that pretty much anything that was above rock bottom for Miami's defense would be good and they showed up. And Miami's offense has not looked terrible for the past couple of weeks. Certainly since, you know, even with the Tyreek Hill absence, like they haven't looked awful even without Darren Waller.

1:03:03Jourdan Rodrigue:You know, they made their plays. This offense... They have the best player in football right now, maybe perhaps in Bajon Robinson. And it's like one every five freaking games. They have a game plan that funnels their entire offense through him legitimately as a mismatch, as a threat. They help him help himself, which good scheme and good players do. And I'm just it's I'm not seeing it. I don't know what this Falcons team is. I don't know what their identity is. Their defense was playing pretty great at the start of the season. much better than people expected, but they absolutely blew it today.

1:03:40Jourdan Rodrigue:This, what are you? Who are you?

1:03:42Patrick Claybon:Well, even the parts that were successful because that Jalen Waddle touchdown came after Bajon had a fumble in the red zone in one of their better scoring opportunities of the day. And the offense was running through Kyle Pitts today. He had nine targets. He caught all of them. Unfortunately, it was only for 59 yards where it just looked clunky. And I guess the ideal situation to find a silver lining is, well, you know, right before the deadline, if Kirk Cousins comes in here and plays well, and then we get Penix back and we can ship Kirk off, no, all that's gone because it just looked like a mess.

1:04:17And I think they have such a unique defense that you cannot count on them to be a dominant defense every week. I know statistically they have been for the most part until this week, but it's so game plan specific. It's not based on having more talent that those types of defenses are going to pop off six, eight, 10 times a year at best. But if you're not talented enough, you're going to need your offense to carry you every once in a while. It's an offensive league. And they've been pretty consistent on offense in terms of being disappointing. I know there's been like one or two games, but for the most part, they've been a mediocre offense and they now trail the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by two and a half games in the NFC South.

1:04:58That is a significant margin that they need to make up.

1:05:01Jourdan Rodrigue:And they're ruining the reputation of our beloved, Pistol formation. Yes. God. And I don't think they're going to fix it. So good on Mike McDaniel because, you know, before I say goodbye to you guys and we're going to welcome in Nick Shook and you guys get to go home and say hi to Tucker, say hi to your beautiful children, Patrick. You know, I'm going to put the Rob Lowe hat back on. Oh. And say, I'm glad just wouldn't be all misery on Thursday night football. The Dolphins are coming in with a victory, and so are the Ravens. Yeah. Yeah. One of those teams is so back. Yeah, one of those teams is back.

1:05:40The other one, at least, we don't just have to hear about someone getting fired all week.

1:05:43Patrick Claybon:I'm going to see if down in wardrobe or in costume, if we have the Rob Lowe hat.

1:05:49Jourdan Rodrigue:I feel like we probably do. I need to get that for Greg. I can't wait. You know who would wear that hat who's all ball all the time? It's Nick Shook. We'll be back on the other side to talk about the best offense in the NFL. Bye, guys. Bye. Great job.

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1:08:55Nick Shook:Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, proud partner of the iHeart Podcast Network. Under center, Jones on first down. They give it to Taylor, left side. He's in the 20, 25, 30, 35, down the sideline, 40, 50-yard line, still going, Taylor up in the sideline. He's got a chance. 10, 5, touchdown. Round! Jonathan Taylor takes it 80 yards to the house, tightroping that left sideline. No problem for the great running back going right now. It's the longest rush this season for the Colts and for Taylor. Oh, that's Matt Taylor talking about Jonathan Taylor. No relation. W-F-N-I. The Colts and the Titans were potentially the biggest mismatch you could create If you just looked at the numbers this year in terms of the offense versus the defense, and that's exactly what happened.

1:09:4838 to 14. The Colts run away with it. They take care of business every week as favorites. They pass all these tests. Many more are to come, Chuck. But how impressed are you with this Colts offense right now?

1:10:02Nick Shook:I think I was one of the last people on the planet to get on board with the Colts just because I'm a skeptic. Oh, some people are still holding out. Nick Wright doesn't have him in his top 10 teams. That's preposterous. Give me a break. Over the last two weeks, I've seen everything I need to. Yes, they play the Titans. Yes, they were supposed to roll. But it's the fashion in which they roll. Their offensive line blocks well. They have Daniel Jones throwing the ball all over the yard. He's got all day to throw most times. And when he has to scramble, he makes plays. He threw a touchdown pass to Josh Downs on a scramble today.

1:10:31Nick Shook:That was a perfect demonstration of quarterback and receiver rapport and understanding. And they have Johnson Taylor, who's having an incredible start to the season. We're almost halfway through the season now. The guy's got four games of three or more touchdowns. If he gets two more games like that, the rest of the season, he'll tie LaDainian Tomlinson for the most in NFL history. LT won the MVP that season. It was 2006. They have everything in their favor right now. Even their defense is playing better than expected. Of course, they won in a romp today. So 174 yards from scrimmage for Taylor.

1:11:02And I love that he did it on only 14 touches. And that's crazy. Like 12 runs for 153 and then has a couple catches. he's been complete they get Josh Downs back today which I think really rounds out their offense one of the best slot receivers in the league and yeah I think in terms of weapons one to five they are better deeper than any team in the league and then in terms of their offensive line I think they're top five so I'm kind of this is not you know talking to to anyone in particular what the hell we'll talk to Nick Wright he listens to the show like they are to me the second most likely team to make the Super Bowl in the AFC.

1:11:39We're not usually about takes here on Sundays, but I just don't think that's a crazy take at all. First of all, they're 7-1, and so they're going to have a good chance at not just winning the division, but possibly getting a one seed. But second of all, offense travels, and I've seen enough that this offense is going to be one of the best offenses in the NFL full stop. And other than the Chiefs, there's just so many questions. Where are these great defenses in the AFC that are going to stop the Colts. I just don't see a team that's more likely than the Colts. Sorry, Bills fans, then that then to make the Super Bowl other than, you know, the Kansas City Chiefs, I will give them their flowers.

1:12:17Nick Shook:Yeah, and I would agree with that. And this is not a take that I came to today. This is not an agreement that I came to today because they roll the Titans because of what they do week by week. And this was a performance in which it was 17 to seven at halftime. And they had, you know, they had the advantage, but they hadn't quite dominated it felt like they were still a couple of plays away from completely running away which they did taylor literally running away to 80 an 80 yard touchdown but it's the fact that they can do this week by week consistently and they didn't fall victim to a divisional rivalry game and even let it get really close in the second half they put them away like they did it in their sleep like they knew they were the superior team they're just playing complete football oh and also by the way they have i don't know what it is about them to this point this season but it seems like every game there's just a stretch in which everything goes their way.

1:12:59Nick Shook:And Michael Pittman makes an incredible catch in this game over the middle where the ball gets tipped up in the air. And it's like the sea of hands. It's like the DeAndre Hopkins Hail Mary when he was with the Cardinals. There's just a ball in the air and he's surrounded by Titans. And somehow as he's running, he tracks it, brings it down. And then a few plays later, Jones throws a seed down the sideline to him. And he's got a defender draped all over him, hanging all over him. He can't use his left arm because he's hanging all over him. And he just, Jones fits it right into his armpit and he just traps it with his other arm, makes one of the most incredible unlikely touchdown catches you'll see this season everything goes in their favor but they set themselves up for success which is why i'm a believer in them yeah but that catch is just amazing athleticism and a dime from mr jones let's listen to it one of the plays of the year colts near the red zone now out of the pistol actually they're going to move jonathan taylor to the right of jones out of the gun now ball on the right hash shotgun snap for jones looking left he's going to take a shot and throws a laser towards the pylon and that is a catch for michael Pittman Jr.

1:13:57Nick Shook:There's a penalty on the play, but Pittman scores a touchdown as Pittman snared it in with one hand on a 21-yard absolute dart thrown by Daniel Jones to Michael Pittman Jr. This group, what a ridiculous catch by Pittman who's having a great year. He goes eight for 95. He's just so talented. And Daniel Jones is so much confidence. The play that I'll remember from this game is Jones for the second straight week, just throwing it as far as he can possibly throw it. Alec Pierce is down there somewhere and he mossed the Titans for a 50-yard catch. So you're seeing these great individual plays and we're going to get to see the Colts tested again and again in the second half of this season.

1:14:37They have a game at Pittsburgh next week, but they have a game at the Chiefs. They have an at the Seattle. They still have two games against the Texans and the 49ers. So I just love that they're just part of our lives. And yes, if you're watching on YouTube in the break, shout out to Chris Pabona, shout out to Drew Christensen, they got me a Rob Lowe hat and I'm wearing it.

1:14:57Nick Shook:And you look like you're in the replay center. I definitely would like to either be a replay center guy or maybe like an offensive assistant that's just like grinding, grinding some numbers and telling the coach like when to go for it or not. Great game by them. And there's not much to talk about with the Titans right now. I do like that Chimiri Dike has been a way bigger factor. It looked like they found two rookie receivers on the Titans. So let's just give the Titans like a little lollipop here for DK and Io Manor. Yeah, Io Manor and DK both kind of settling into their roles. It's just that you can tell they're both rookies and they lack talent.

1:15:32Nick Shook:Otherwise, Ridley was not out there again today. And it became very evident to me in the third quarter when they were down, I think, 21 to 7 or 31 to 7, that they were essentially just dedicating the rest of the game to continuing Cam Ward's development. They knew they weren't going to get back in the game. They're not going to ask him to throw 60 passes. They're going to mix in the run. They're going to try and insulate him and see that development through, which is fine with me. You've already fired your coach. Commit the rest of the season to developing your quarterback. He's the number one overall pick.

1:15:58I've had a correction. This is very important. It was not Drew Christensen. It was Drew Lee in the back. That makes more sense because I was like, Drew is a wool knit guy. Yes, he does not wear hats. I got it. There you go. That's totally fair. And yeah, I mentioned DK. He's a rookie mid-round pick who goes seven for 93 today. So a little positivity. I think Cam Ward actually has looked a little better and steadier the last couple weeks since they made the head coaching change, but ultimately doesn't help out. They're 1-7, Colts at 7-1. Let's go to Carolina, where the Bills were coming off their bye week.

1:16:35Nick Shook:Receiver to each side on this two-tight end set. Pause in motion, handoff to Cook, through a hole, and darts it to the open, and he is G-O-N-E gone. 20, 10, 5, touchdown, James Cook, as the cook is in the kitchen for the first time in three games. Wow, I'm surprised it's been that long. It feels like James Cook has been running all over opponents all season, but Bills fans will remind you, the run game has been pretty absent the last couple weeks. That was not the case today. James Cook ends up with 216 yards on the ground. That was one of his two touchdowns. Almost 80 % of his runs went for at least five yards, and the old Carolina Panthers run defense showed up 40-9 for the Buffalo Bills coming through for me, who took them minus seven on our picks against the spread show.

1:17:31So thank you, Buffalo Bills, there to five and two on the season. Carolina can't get it done with Andy Dolan at quarterback, but let's give the Bills some love. What did you see out of them coming out of their bye week, Nick?

1:17:42Nick Shook:I mean, obviously a shift back to relying on James Cook. I mean, I'm the guy who has complained about this in their losses and their recent, you know, underwhelming performances. So you go to James Cook against a stingy run defense, at least statistically, and you just ride him to success. 19 for 2, 16 and two rushing touchdowns. That long run there, that wasn't the only one. He's so smooth. He's so fun to watch. He's got great vision. He's got great burst. And they should go lean on him a lot and take some of the pressure off of Josh Allen, especially with a passing game that's just not as explosive as it's been in previous years.

1:18:10Nick Shook:So that's great. But also on the defensive side, they finally showed up. They get Maxwell Hairston. Finally, he makes his NFL debut. He has one tackle, but he's on the field. They lose that Oliver to an injury. And yet they still bottle up the Carolina rushing attack, which put together, I think, 30 or 40 yards in the fourth quarter, which was garbage time. Otherwise, they shut that down. Andy Dalton's playing quarterback and the Bills feasted on that. The Panthers turned the ball over three times. They got after Dalton plenty. It looked more like a Bills defense of old. Now, I'm not going to say this is what we're going to see every week because you're playing the Panthers with Andy Dalton at quarterback.

1:18:38Nick Shook:but it was really encouraging to see them play cohesively out of the bye week, especially after the struggles they've had recently. And the pass rush looked good in this game and it really hasn't all year. And the Panthers have played well on the offensive line this year. Now they lose Brady Christensen. It sounds like a season ending injury to him. He's been playing. And then Taylor Moten, their right tackle also left this game. So there were injuries, but there were some real changes. We were talking about what would be different for the Bills coming out of the bye. You mentioned Cook. You mentioned Hairston gets in the mix, rotating in with Tredavious White.

1:19:10They benched Terrell Bernard. That was a pretty clear change. So Shaq Thompson, I guess, is the guy who really takes his role. Bernard didn't have a single defensive snap, and he was healthy for this game. Dorian Williams has been in there, too. And they also get Michael Hoyt back from a suspension, and he had a ton of pressures. He was on the field the most of all their edge rush guys. They also get Larry Ogunjobi back from suspension. And so two of their big free agency pickups kind of quietly return from suspension. There were real differences. We'll see if it keeps up, but a good get back to who they thought they would be game for the Bills.

1:19:44And that includes at least one big play through the air. Yes, Josh Allen was in this game, 12 for 19 for 163 yards and one long touchdown.

1:19:54Nick Shook:Allen going to work from the shotgun here. Two receivers to the right, one to the left, and now Shavers in motion right to left. Here's the snap. Back to pass. Quick hitter, Shakir. Spins away from the defender. He's up the sideline. 35-30. Down to the 20. Cuts it back. 15-10-5. Touchdown Khalil Shakir. Old Reliable goes 54 yards to the end zone. Touchdown Buffalo. Old Reliable. The guy's 25 years old. But in this receiver group, I get what he's saying. He's kind of the safe guy saying, we don't need some explosive threat. I think they still do. They might pick one up before the trading deadline, but Shakir, they don't have to worry about him.

1:20:36One other change I did want to mention, Sean McDermott revealed after the game, he was calling plays along with Bobby Babich on defense. So that's a little bit of a change too, coming out of the buy, him taking more control. Are you more thinking this is a reveal of the Panthers not really being contenders now at four and four, or just that the Bills are getting back to who they are?

1:20:56Nick Shook:I think it could be a little bit of both, because I don't want to discount the way the Bills dominated today. That touchdown there was the official point in which the tone of the broadcasters went from this is a game to this is a blowout, let's get into the blowout material. So, I mean, credit to them for really dropping the hammer on the Panthers. But I also think it was a check with reality that the Panthers maybe aren't as good as they thought they were. And it makes you go back and review who they've played. They played a lot of porous defenses, which statistically this should have been a tough or a great matchup for them on the ground, and it wasn't.

1:21:24Nick Shook:So I think that it's a reminder that it is still difficult to turn the corner in the NFL when you're trying to, you know, revive a franchise like Dave Canales is with the Panthers. And probably a good reality check for them at this point in the season. But yeah, if I had to answer that, it's probably more Panthers than Bills. But it's still really good to see the Bills get a win like this because they needed it. Yeah, I think some of those changes on defense, we'll see if they continue to bear fruit. And I do worry about Ed Oliver because they said it was a biceps injury, which always worries you.

1:21:51I did want to point out, by the way, Shook, why not here? that I was at a wedding in New Orleans this weekend. Shout out to Lloyd D'Souza for having a wedding. You know, it's pretty rare to go to a first wedding now in our mid 40s. So congratulations on making that happen. But I didn't know if I'd ever do a second line down the street, you know, down Bourbon Street again for a wedding in New Orleans. So that was a lot of fun. But big takeaway for me, because I'm always thinking NFL Daily, big NFL Daily fan came up to me at the wedding, big time listener, and he just wanted to pass along that he is such a big Nick Shook fan.

1:22:29And that makes two straight trips I've been on where people I don't know have come up to me and say they're huge Nick Shook fans. So that's a pretty big deal. We need more Shook in our lives. I'm bad at taking compliments, but thank you very much. I appreciate it. No, when he said that, I was like, and it was not that long ago. I actually woke up in New Orleans this morning. I feel like I was just at that wedding. it was not that long ago that I was like I will get that to Nick Shook. So for all the Shook heads out there, we see you we love you, we love Shookie too. Let's do one more game with him before Sunday Night Football Let's go to Foxborough

1:23:04Patrick Claybon:53 rushing yards for Drake May. Works from the left hash with a 39.

1:23:08Nick Shook:He takes the shotgun snap. He's back to throw. He loads up a long ball off the downfield Touchdown! Keyshawn Booty! What a weapon! What a pretty throw Keishon Booty has played himself into one hell of a player for you. Really. He really has. Drake May has two, 32-13. The Patriots take care of business after an early deficit. They were down 7-3 in this game. It was only 9-7 Patriots at halftime, but a third-quarter explosion out of Drake May, and that play is a reminder, Shook, just based on efficiency, accuracy. The most effective play in the NFL this year is not the Josh Allen scramble, as I've often said.

1:23:58It's the Drake May deep pass. The numbers are just outrageous. And he was two for three in this game on throws over 20 yards for 81 yards. And it's just been crazy. When he goes deep, they get touchdowns.

1:24:12Nick Shook:Yeah, and oftentimes those deep passes end up in the hands of Kayshawn Booty, who, like Scott Zolak said, has played himself into one hell of a player. I'm a little concerned about Zolak's mental state, like his health over the course of a season, because if Booty continues to play like this, is he still going to be sane by the time we get to week 18? That's how well Booty is playing with Drake May. And really, it's funny because this was a game that was a bit of a slog in the first half. The Browns defense did a good job of limiting the Patriots, but you felt like they were approaching an explosion.

1:24:41Nick Shook:And then you get to the third quarter, and that play right there, that touchdown pass to Booty was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was the one that opened the floodgates, whatever cliche you want to use to describe how it became a blowout victory. And another example of Drake May, who, by the way, got sacked five times by Myles Garrett today is unflappable. He is unflappable. It doesn't matter how many times the pass rush is getting after him because Myles Garrett wasn't the only player with a sack in this game. And yet, despite all of that pressure and all that harassment, he just stayed locked in and he ends up with another great line, 18 and 24 for 282, three touchdowns in an early pick.

1:25:11Nick Shook:That was probably the worst mistake he's made all year. and it didn't matter because the Patriots, they are a Mike Vrabel team. They will fight through adversity and they will see it all the way to the end and run away with the victory like they did today. They almost double up the Browns in terms of total yardage, 422 to 213. These Patriots games are looking awfully similar every week, which is they feel it out in the first half and they make adjustments and the defense especially plays better in the second half. And I think Josh McDaniels in May have just been such a dynamite combination. You saw it in the first drive coming out of halftime.

1:25:45McDaniels knew exactly what to do. It was a run heavy drive with a lot of trivia on Henderson, breaking a couple big plays. They also had a couple plays that if they didn't work, everyone would say, oh, why, why'd you get so cute? You know, they had a running back pass back to Drake May, which ended up in the hands of Matt Collins, which worked out. McDaniels loves those sort of plays. You had a Demario Douglas run that was an effective run. And McDaniels has had a knack for calling the right play and making it easy on May to then set up the tougher stuff later. And they've been really good in terms of dissecting what the defense is trying to do.

1:26:22And in the end, this stat was from Ben Solak at ESPN. The Patriots end up with a 54.5 % drop back success rate in this game, despite all those sacks. And that is the second worst mark of a Jim Schwartz Browns defense since he was back there as the coordinator. So they ended up having a very effective day, despite the five sacks for Miles Garrett. Like what a what a crazy tungsten O'Doyle type of game for Miles Garrett.

1:26:48Nick Shook:You're right. I thought that that drive that ended in a rollout pass to Hunter Henry for a touchdown was perhaps Josh McDaniel's best game script of the entire season, because he identified why the run game was struggling coming out of halftime. And it was all perimeter runs. It was tosses. It was stretches. It was Travion Henderson getting to the edge, breaking tackles and ripping off big gains. But it was well balanced where it wasn't every single play, but it was well timed. He mixed in, you know, the running back pass back to the quarterback, like you said. And then he finishes it off perfectly with the play action rollout to Hunter Henry, who was wide open.

1:27:20Nick Shook:Like it was one of those drives where you see it live and you're thinking this offensive coordinator has the defensive coordinator completely outfoxed. Like he has just a step ahead of him. And this defense has no idea what to do. And that is an illustration of the potential of McDaniels and May. And while we give May all the credit in the world and he deserves it for his physical ability and his and, you know, him completing deep passes and handling all the stresses of the job. He is perfectly paired with an offensive coordinator who knows exactly what to do with him. And now that they have enough talent to succeed, Kayshaun Booty developing, Stefan Diggs becoming a bigger part of this passing game over the last few weeks, going between Ramondre Stevenson and Travion Henderson to balance out this rushing attack.

1:27:58Nick Shook:It's just a beautiful thing to see. It's all coming together. Even on a day in which Will Campbell's getting cooked by Myles Garrett, it doesn't end up mattering because that's how in sync they are. Yeah, this was a game that confirmed my priors, which is that the offensive line for the Patriots really isn't very good. They got totally dominated. The pressure rate was so high in the first, and yet May is overcoming it because they do have real strengths. And the defense, the run defense for the Patriots is one of the best in the league, and they sold out to stop Quinchot Jenkins today. and they did it.

1:28:29And then Judkins, unfortunately, gets hurt in this game. I thought it was such a telling sequence. They're showing the montage of the Miles Garrett sacks, five of them in one game. And then the CBS camera pans to Miles Garrett just because he was out at that point. And he is slamming, must have broke the helmet. I mean, he's a man who knows how to slam a helmet. Slam the helmet on the ground. I'm not sure why he was so mad. If I had to guess, it was maybe that they took him out of the game or maybe just that they're struggling. And I don't really know, but he is frustrated. You know who wasn't frustrated after the game?

1:29:04Mike Vrabel, who is not above taking a shot, asked about his defense today.

1:29:09Nick Shook:Taking advantage of the turnovers is huge. Certainly one on third down there was playing. And then the long one there that Hawke had. So we've got to take care of the ball better and continue to find opportunities they hadn't turned it over. And then when their gimmick plays ran out, I thought we played pretty good defense. Yeah, and gimmick plays are handing it off to Malachi Corley, who is a receiver, in case you don't know, for a long gain on the first drive. That's the type of stuff the Browns have to resort to doing because they know they're limited offensively, especially when the run game's not working.

1:29:38Nick Shook:Dylan Gabriel throws a very ugly first interception that sets up a touchdown, puts the Patriots deep in Browns' territory, and then he throws another one on the next drive that's a fantastic play made by the defensive back. So the Browns are limited, the Patriots took care of business, and the dark season continues for Cleveland. Yeah, Gabriel is a man who Kevin Stefanski believes in and made it pretty clear to me that they're going to stand by him, say that you got to ride the ups and the downs, but he has pretty clear limitations and you know, yeah, it's not going to be your day when Robert Spillane steps into the passing lane for an interception, but even more, you referred to the other interception.

1:30:12It was like a one handed catch by Jalen Hawkins, 50 yards down the field, which Gabriel probably shouldn't have thrown, but I think he just wanted to show everyone he could throw the ball 50 yards down the field. And he did. And Christian Gonzalez also had a really nice game for the Patriots. Enough about this game. I almost feel like this entire show has just been a little, you know, preamble, a little foreplay to the good stuff. That's Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. To Sunday night. Here's a snap to Love. Rush on, throws the middle.

1:30:42Nick Shook:That is there. Cutting left to the five in the end zone. It is Tucker Pratt having a night. Wow. Touchdown, Green Bay. They beat Chuck Clark on a Quarzer. 24-yard touchdown reception. Oh, on a night where two great quarterbacks go up against each other, you want to see greatness. And we got greatness in Pittsburgh. 35-25, the Packers win it. That was Wayne Larravee on WRNW. And, yes, Tucker Craft was a huge part of the great night of Jordan Love with 143 yards and two touchdowns, seemingly all of it after the catch, but ultimately shook this game, this matchup. It was about the quarterbacks, and I just wanted to leave it with something memorable, and I'll admit I'm a little bit of a hater.

1:31:38I wanted it to be a memorable passing of the torch, and that's exactly what we got a second half for the ages by Jordan Love. He ends up with 360 yards and three touchdowns, 20 straight completions at one point. And it's not like he's just thinking in Duncan. He had some great plays down the field. The Packers dominate after halftime. They knew what the Steelers defense was going to do. And they crushed them. A really impressive night for Jordan Love.

1:32:07Nick Shook:And a great case for halftime adjustments and just figuring out what you want to do against the defense in the second half. Because this Packers offense was struggling mightily. They just couldn't finish drives. Their kicker couldn't make field goals. And then they come out and look like a completely different offense in the third quarter and dominate steamroll that Steelers defense, the much maligned Steelers defense back in the crosshairs this week after the second half they had, because they had no answer for Jordan love, who was fantastic. Welcome back, Christian Watson. He makes a big catch deep in the red zone to set up a score.

1:32:36Nick Shook:And of course, like you said, Tucker craft, this is Packers offense near its peak potential. And it all starts with your quarterback who did a great job of outdueling Aaron Rogers. Yeah, ultimately, look, they did punt three times in the first half. They were all three and out. Some of their third down play calling I found frustrating, like first drive of the game. You know, they throw it on third and one. They are struggling in short yardage. But ultimately, you know, they have a touchdown and it's a couple of missed field goals before half time. After that, they go three straight touchdowns and two field goals.

1:33:09You mentioned the Watson catch, and that's what I'll remember about this second half. It was one of two things. Number one, it was what you said, the adjustments. Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love having answers against the Blitz. After Kraft kills you all night, you got Chuck Clark on him one-on-one. Like, you're not a good man coverage team. Stop putting your guys in man coverage. They benched Darius Slay at one point when they were in the nickel and brought in Brandon Echols because he can't cover one-on-one. But when it wasn't the answer of the scheme, it was just Jordan Love doing things that only he can do.

1:33:43Maybe a young Aaron Rodgers could do, but not anymore. Let's listen.

1:33:48Nick Shook:Here's the snap. Rush on. Blitz on. Love rolls out right. Lofts it over the middle. Christian Watson's got inside the 10. He's tackled at the 7-yard line of Pittsburgh by Brandon Echols. Christian Watson, welcome back. Wow, that's one of those throws on the TV copy where you're like, oh, that's a terrible decision while it's in the air. and then it actually gets there and you see a little what Jordan Love was seeing and what a night Watson to me can help change this offense off the torn ACL four catches for 85 yards. He looked as healthy as a guy in his first game coming off a torn ACL has ever looked in my opinion.

1:34:28Nick Shook:I feel like it's been so long since we've seen a fully healthy Christian Watson because he's just dealt with so many injuries over the last few years. So it was really exciting to see that happen, but it was especially exciting to see them connect in such a big spot. That's third down. Jordan Love's under pressure. They're down 19 to 14. Their offense is still trying to figure things out. That is a game changing completion that inspires the team injects confidence into them that yes, we can go into Pittsburgh and beat this team. We have figured it out in the second half. It's a huge play and a huge win for them.

1:34:57Nick Shook:I think a bit of a statement for the Packers. Yeah. Five, one and one for all the hemming and hawing about how they haven't done this right. Defense hasn't been as dominant as we would expect. They're the number one seed in the NFC, like full stop. Yeah. They were entering this week. They just won this game. They have a lot of tough games coming up in the second half of the schedule. Both them and the Lions are right there in the center of the NFL when they play each other. And then some other difficult matchups like the Packers have the Ravens coming up later in the season. There's an at Denver in there.

1:35:31It's going to be fun, but they are such a tough out. While we're just giving love his flowers, let's go back to the earlier in the second half. They trail 16-7 at halftime. Ultimately, the Steelers did a good job running the ball in the first half. I thought it was a key sequence. Coming out of halftime, the Steelers go three and out. They did not run the ball one time in that sequence. Packers get the ball back, and it took a little love magic to really turn this game around. Single receiver to the left. Snap to Love. Looking and waiting.

1:36:05Patrick Claybon:Lofts it over the right side. Caught by Tucker Craft to the 30.

1:36:08Nick Shook:He's to the 40. He's to the 50, to the 45, 30. And down he goes inside the 30 at the 25-yard line. Tucker Kraft on National Titans Day. Another big play. Thornhill and Elliott made the hits. 59-yard pass play to flip the field. Oh, wow. Did we make it the whole show without mentioning that holiday? If so, that was a good job by us. The fake holiday that was created by George Kittle on a whim a couple years ago. and now dominates one week every year. Yeah. Greg, have you ever played the game Jackpot as a kid? No. 500, where you just throw the ball up. I'm talking to my nephew last week, and he's like, yeah, one of the games we play with my friends is Jackpot.

1:36:52Nick Shook:And I'm like, oh, I remember Jackpot. It's where you just throw the ball up in the air. You call it like a value, and it's just a jump ball game. Tucker Craft must have been the best Jackpot player in the history of Jackpot because he made a great play there. And it was also a pivotal play in the sequence of this game because Deshaun Elliott gets hurt, unfortunately, on that play. And then they have to rely on other players. You mentioned like a Chuck Clark. And it creates a bit of a weakness that the Packers are then able to expose. Yeah, this method of how the Steelers play defense, and we just talked about it quite a bit on the Thursday night football loss to the Bengals.

1:37:23It's just too predictable when they're in single high. It took a little bit for the Packers to get adjusted. And I thought the secondary played better for the Steelers tonight. But ultimately, the mismatches were there. and they've played seven games this year, the Pittsburgh Steelers. In four of those games, they've given up more than 30 points. I mean, it's just, they're just not the defense they expected to be. Aaron Rodgers was game. He looked old at points and he took a couple sacks that, you know, maybe when he was younger, he would escape out of, but ultimately he was solid tonight. He moved the ball.

1:37:56I know they got a late touchdown when it almost felt like garbage time, but they put 25 points up. I'm not going to kill him or Jalen Warren. I didn't love the play calling in the second half. It's more that they just went up against an offense that is more ready to win shootouts. And the Steelers are not. For instance, the Jordan Love completion there on third and long, he's hitting 63 % conversion rate on third and seven plus, according to Sam Schwartzstein of Amazon Prime. I mean, that's ridiculous. That's more than double the league average. They're just, that kind of shows who they are as a team, that you can get them in third and long situations, and they can still win.

1:38:34So just an impressive performance. And the Steelers can't win this way. And their schedule, now four and three, two straight losses, is about to get a lot tougher.

1:38:41Nick Shook:Yeah, you know, meanwhile, the Steelers are one for 10 on third down. They're constantly in third and long, especially in the second half. I think we should mention, though, and we've talked about this many times, so maybe it feels a little ad nauseum. Micah Parsons, his role in this game was insane. Like in the second half, whether it was sacking Aaron Rodgers while getting held by two guys simultaneously or lining up repeatedly in the A-gap and just getting into the mind of Aaron Rodgers, a guy who was notoriously unflappable and forcing Aaron Rodgers to get the ball out quickly or bail out of a pocket that's not collapsing on him.

1:39:09Nick Shook:We cannot overlook or even overstate the impact of Micah Parsons. It might not be a four-quarter impact, but in the big spots over the last couple of weeks, he's really made a difference for them. Yeah, and they have other players making great individual plays. Carrington Valentine has stepped up as a good outside corner. I think he's taking that job from Nate Hobbs, who was the big free agency pickup. He made a number of good plays in this game. Edron Cooper was flying around, was maybe their best defensive player. And he was, for all four quarters, being a problem. And I thought they rushed well as a team.

1:39:39Rashawn Gary got two sacks, but you kind of mentioned the impact that Parsons had on those plays. So they look like a complete team right now. The Steelers in trouble. And it just is one of those games. We kind of circled it at the very beginning of the season, shook, like Aaron Rodgers against the Packers. you know the hugs afterwards it's just like one of those games we're going to remember and i for one feel like uh it delivered but maybe only because i got the result that i wanted sorry

1:40:07Nick Shook:steelers fans i mean yeah it's fine it does it if this is rogers last year which we all expect it is it felt appropriate that that he would you know host the packers and in pittsburgh and fall short not because i'm being a hater either it just felt appropriate well and he's playing well he's really doing his job he's more of a game manager at this point in his career but he's been a pretty good one the problem is Mike Tomlin and the defensive talent where all the money is he said that he thought this could be a historic defense it is not so far and that division looks open for the taking for the Baltimore Ravens who are I know the schedule's easy you gotta just win one at a time but man they're gonna be heavily favored and a lot of games in a row the Steelers will not looking forward to tracking it and yes yeah we're just wanting to to keep this season and as many teams as possible going even the Bengals were watching somewhere and thinking okay maybe it wasn't as embarrassing as we thought that we lost to the Jets oh yes it was Bengals fans hold your head we had 16 teams in the Super Bowl running right about a week ago yes still there all options are open baby yeah there there There was only one game all week that was a one score game, which is absolutely preposterous.

1:41:25That's not the NFL that I want, the NFL that I love. Maybe we'll improve it, but I'm not so sure on Monday night. We're live every Monday night, and we're going to make it fun. We're going to add a spicy segment along with Chiefs and Commanders. That's a little bit of a tease. It's going to be me and the people's champion, Nick Shook, talking Chiefs, Commanders, right after it's done. join us on YouTube. We will see you then.

1:41:55Jourdan Rodrigue:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.