2025 Week 6 Recap: Baker Is Balling and The Chiefs Are Back!

18:47Patrick Claybon:is in full of this comeback album for, for Darren Waller on the offensive side, but it's just, it's weekend and week out like consistent barriers by, by this deep well these other like we look at the panthers defense even the ravens defense today everybody's seen growth uh but the fins are right where they were let's listen to uh to a tongue of a low it's funny because so much focus is on this offense and their relative struggles you're right it is the league's worth worst defense it's really been the bigger problem but two is just an honest guy at the podium and i i think this one is not going to get him in trouble but it's going to get them a lot of conversation.

19:22Nick Shook:I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys and then what we're expecting out of the guys, right? We're expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that? We have guys showing up to player only meetings late, guys not showing up to player only meetings. Like there's a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? So it's a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. And it starts with the little things like that. What was the question there? I'm not sure. I think it was about what they needed to improve upon in terms of the details and everything.

20:03And I think he was talking about the player leadership. He was talking about himself. He's like, it comes down to the leadership. He is the leadership. And the way he said it, I think, was a little confusing. It was an indirect way of pointing him at himself, I believe, because he's talking...

20:19Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, himself and other captains, I assume. Yes. Yeah. Like, it's like an onion level of headline to say that players are not showing up to player only meetings on time or at all. So I think, I mean, he's trying to do the AJ Brown thing where he talks to his teammates through the media, but he's so like, he's to us. So he's like really earnest and maybe says it in a way that's like not subtle enough. Like it's almost too overt that we're like, wait, what does he actually mean by this? um so it I mean the vibes are strange in Miami Patrick you mentioned the the run defense um so I am like uh a bit of a football sicko as you guys know and since it's week six and it's the thing that's cycling through my conscious and my subconscious at any given moment I'm a vivid sleep talker um like full sentences like coherent like vivid painting a picture of things in my sleep talker.

21:17Jourdan Rodrigue:I'll wake myself up often talking in my sleep. Last night, I woke myself up in my sleep talking about the Miami Dolphins run defense and how they defend the run as if they only want to rush the passer. And it was like a full on, like I was on this podcast making this exact point. Now I've made the point. So weird. Oh my God. You were also, you're kind of a sleep mumbler watching games, just like saying things to yourself that aren't really intended for me, but just making the little comment. Look, they were better on paper than the Chargers' run defense today, at least in terms of success rate and everything.

21:54The Chargers' defense has been terrible on the ground too, but ultimately...

21:58Jourdan Rodrigue:I was trying to give Patrick time to look up this quote. Yeah, I'm trying to find the context. The question was, how do you keep this team from taking a woe-is-me mentality like this keeps happening to us? And that was his answer. Oh, so yeah. So he volunteered the whole idea of them not showing up to the players only means, which means I think he was really going out of his way to make that point. The AJ Brown thing, but you can't nobody but AJ Brown can pull off the AJ Brown thing to like, especially because he's the quarterback.

22:27Patrick Claybon:I mean, the issue is they're one in five. Yeah, like that's the issue. They're not winning football games. Like who we joke about the players only meetings. Like none of it matters like that. That's the thing. And there's so there's going to be because even in looking for the context, I've already seen all these. Oh, well, here comes to us saying this. and so it's disaster and disarray. No, the disaster is on the football field.

22:47Jourdan Rodrigue:It's going to be a great morning of TV tomorrow, Patrick.

22:49Patrick Claybon:Yeah, but no, it's going to be horrible because we're not talking about the things that actually matter in terms of not being able to stop the run, like making horrible decisions. Not having a pass rush. I'm talking about it. I actually saw a couple plays where Herbert was just back there and actually didn't have any pressure on him and I'm thinking, wow, their pass rush really is struggling. So you're right. There's a lot of problems. No meeting is going to fix that. Yeah, you're right. Let's end this game on a positive note, which is a Jim Harbaugh quote. And we just haven't had enough of those the last few weeks with the losses.

23:23And he said how he'll remember that Ladd McConkie play.

23:27Nick Shook:Justin Herbert back to throw.

23:31Patrick Claybon:Defender wrapped around him. He was able to just mighty man it and shake it off and hit Ladd McConkie. that doesn't stop fly by yeah I'm gonna remember that play till they throw dirt over top of me

23:49Nick Shook:that's how great I feel about feel about that that's how I'm gonna really categorize anything that happens in my life whether I remember or not until the day that they throw dirt on top

24:00Patrick Claybon:well I mean yeah I mean that's betting on yourself if you're gonna remember it all the way till the dirt's going on that's fighting till the end that's fair it's like hey guys it's a little early

24:14Speaking of throwing dirt on the team, let's talk about the team we pick against in our survivor pool every week. The Bengals and the Packers.

24:25Nick Shook:Here's a fake handoff. Love bootlegging right. Dumps it off. Clapp to the 10, to the 5, to the end zone. And it is a touchdown. Touchdown, Green Bay Packers. Touchdown, Tucker Kraft. Wayne Larravee. Yes, on WRNW. There's no such thing as being a hero when it comes to a survivor pick. There's just picking against the Bengals each and every week, which I feel bad about because they battled in this game, at least in the second half. 27-18, the Packers get it done once again on a day where the teams that needed to win found a way to get a win. And in the first half of this game, I was just wondering, what are we doing here?

25:11Why did we add Joe Flacco to this mix? It was the most one-sided 10 to nothing halftime score that you could possibly imagine. At one point, it was 241 yards to 20. The Bengals have not scored a touchdown in the first half for four straight games. That has not happened for them since the 1970s. And I got to hand it to Joe Flacco. After halftime, He played pretty well. And the Bengals defense, which had at least been competing pretty well, stopped getting stops. And that's what good teams do. And that's what the Packers, I believe, to be at 3-1-1. When they needed their offense to step up in the second half, they did it.

25:53In the first half, they didn't necessarily need to get that much done. And I will remember a play from Jordan Love. It was third and nine when the Bengals had actually just scored a touchdown. that the result was still up in doubt. And Jordan Love is rolling left. He takes a shot while throwing the ball down the field to Matthew Golden. One of my favorite throws of the entire day. And a throw that reminds you like, okay, not many people in the world can make that throw. That might not be on a ton of highlight reels tonight, but like that is a game-winning throw. And ultimately, the Bengals never got a chance, even though they kept scoring, to have the ball when it was only one score game.

26:33Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, the Packers started off kind of quiet and a little slow and a little messy on offense to start this game, especially coming off that much rest. 17 fourth quarter points and they're awake now. They looked a lot more like this team that should have just steamrolled over the Bengals by the end of this game. Yeah, Golden was very active in this game. It doesn't look crazy in the box score. Two carries for 16 yards, three catches for 86 yards. but he was open down the field. The throw that he made to Jordan Love was a terrific catch. And you could tell right off the bat, they were making a point to get him involved.

27:12And that was after having the bye week. So it was kind of like LaFleur. Like the first thing he wanted to do, I think, in this game was get Josh Jacobs in the running game and get Matthew Golden back on track. Two for two there. Josh Jacobs ends up with over five yards per carry.

27:26Patrick Claybon:Yeah, a solid game from both of them. And we got to that point there in the second half because the Bengals started the third quarter with the ball after the kickoff. Opening kickoff, they take the ball, they have it for 10 minutes. It's almost the entire third quarter before Jordan Love gets back on the field. And they go down and score. They shorten the game on themselves. I love that strategy. And I wondered, like, this is an ugly, nice drive from Joe Flacco. This is just like the game in Cleveland that the Packers actually lost. But they ultimately get plays where Jordan Love had a nice scramble to extend on a third down.

28:03Patrick Claybon:But there was, again, I owe Joe Flacco an apology because I, like you, Greg, thought that this didn't make any sense. But there was great coverage by Kashawn Nixon on Jamar Chase on one of these throws where you'll just realize, oh, that's Jamar Chase, where Flacco fits the ball in between Nixon. Well, Chase got in between Nixon and McKinney. But still, the ball was there where Jamar could get it. And, you know, they weren't getting that the past few weeks.

28:28Jourdan Rodrigue:It makes you happy and it makes you sad, honestly, because it's like that's going to be the play. Right. Joe Flacco hurling an impossible throw toward a receiver who will always be able to make what we would otherwise think is the impossible catch. And then a lot of the other stuff looks like what a lot of the other stuff look like today, including, you know, Trey Hendrickson leaving with a back injury. Oh, man, that's brutal. And that some people were raising their eyebrows at. Yeah, conspiracy theorists are wondering, hmm, is he just not like playing through it when he could be traded in the next couple of weeks?

29:06I do wonder, not about that. I don't believe that for a second.

29:11Patrick Claybon:We've got to name and shame those people. I will not do so, but I do know one.

29:17Jourdan Rodrigue:Not me. I would never think that he's faking an injury. I felt everyone's eyes on me all of a sudden. If they don't win on Thursday night football, the Bengals. That will be their fifth straight loss. And after the first half of this game, I was thinking, man, you don't see a team get thoroughly dominated for four straight weeks like the Bengals have been in these four games. And they always just give you a little something like, oh, the defense played pretty well in this one. Or the offense made a couple plays late like Jake Browning did last week. And in this game, to be fair, they did not have the ball that many times in this game.

29:53They started with a little over 20 yards on their first four possessions, which is a disaster, but they scored or missed a field goal on the remaining five possessions. I actually thought the offense looked pretty good. The offense played better. They ran the ball well. Flacco, you meant like in general, Flacco made a couple of nice throws, but it's like they always give you just a little to believe. And like Zach Taylor's going crazy. I don't believe. I don't believe at all. And I do think there might be a fire sale, at least in the, in the form of Trey Hendrickson, if they keep losing. game.

30:21Patrick Claybon:There's an asterisk on one of those field goals because Evan McPherson lined up for a record-tying 67-yard field goal, puts it through the uprights, but Matt LaFleur, the ultimate hater, waited for him to be in his seconds before the snap. Calls timeout. We had the record! It was there. It was there. It was at Lambeau. It was on grass. There was no way anybody was going to be able to asterisk this. Instead, Evan McPherson has to come out after breaking the NFL record, try to kick it again, and he missed it. He was short, like eight yards

30:51Jourdan Rodrigue:I'm so glad you brought this up because to me, it showed exactly where the Cincinnati Bengals reputationally are at right now. Because Matt LaFleur, despite the first half performance that his own team had put up at that point and his own offense that he's calling the plays for, had the like onions and the sort of, I'll just say it kind of a move to go and say, finally turned to his special teams coach. He's standing kind of off camera. We saw a closeup of it on the broadcast. And he, he looks like to me, he looked like he's saying the words, should I get him right before he goes and kicks it?

31:32Jourdan Rodrigue:And Matt, if you can pick on a team like that, if you can bully the kicker of all people, the one glimmer of positivity that you might get, you might get a record. It's an unfair advantage. I don't think you should be allowed to call timeouts like that. There's no way to outlaw because you can't. Yeah. And Zach Taylor knew it. He was, he was kind of like laughing. He was, but he was kind of doing the thing like, what the heck man on the other side, on the other sideline. Obviously these two know each other very well. And it's like, man, it's fun to pick on your friends when they're on the opposite sideline.

32:01Jourdan Rodrigue:But in, in Matt LaFleur's case, he I think you know you relish being the bully in your house with a team that is so just poor in every phrase in every phase comes in like that and the real loser is all of us because more

32:14Patrick Claybon:coaches are going to try to ice the kicker now as some sort of weird psychological game it comes to your advantage when you have to like rip into a 67 yarder and then seconds later have to do it again it's like that's that's the actual problem there's no like oh yeah I'm getting in his head

32:29Jourdan Rodrigue:with this time I know you're just wearing him out intentionally you're like yeah wind up and do that crap again, man. They always say they like to take the practice kick, but I think in that case, you probably shouldn't. Okay, yeah, the Bengals have lost four straight since they lost Joe Burrow. The Packers at three, one and one. Good job by them. Taking care of business. Let's take a break and let's come back and let's take a little visit to the rest of the NFC West.

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34:32Nick Shook:Sam Darnold starts under center. Horton wide to the right side. Play fake. Darnold has time. Going to let it fly. JSN is out there. JSN has it. Touchdown Seahawks. A spike in the end zone and a 61-yard rocket to number 11. JSN puts six more on the board for the Hawks and that's how you loosen up that defense that is fighting you tooth and nail at the line of scrimmage. You throw over them and the Seahawks explode for a big touchdown reception. Oh, Sam Darnold to Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. Maybe the best connection in the entire NFL this season. Hey, you got to put Jackson, Smith, and Jigba in the MVP conversation.

35:21Who was it, Greg? Hey, we're having a conversation. Everyone's always, it's the MVP conversation. Got to put Sam Darnold on the MVP conversation. And we're five weeks in. Who is this conversation? Just say it. That's what they're trying to do. Sam Darnold is pretty awesome right now. Seahawks win 20-12 in Jacksonville. I loved everything about the Seahawks' performance in this game, except for their running game, I would say. but considering they were down three starters in the secondary really every group i thought of their

35:54Patrick Claybon:team was better than the opposition they were and going down it started with the jacksonville jaguars getting in the end zone first where this you wondered if the seahawks were their coverage was we're going to be all game because they blew a coverage on brian thomas jr they gave the jags their opening touchdown but in in jags fashion uh cam little misses the extra point that's how you the six on the board when they they get that big 61 yarder from sam darnold to jsn and the jags offense really couldn't get anything mustered over the course of this game well the the defense continued to make plays they got trayvon walker back uh this week he had wrist surgery uh so he was playing with a cast on uh but still had the impact in the game heinz allen bothering donner Darnold as well on several plays, but it's really when you see Sam Darnold and the way he's played these past couple of years, hitting these deep passes, like that was the story of the game.

36:50Patrick Claybon:It wasn't just that one to JSN. He had a nice ball to Cooper Cup that ultimately set up another Cooper Cup touchdown.

36:57Jourdan Rodrigue:His first one as a Seahawk.

36:58Patrick Claybon:Congratulations. Welcome to the end zone. And that touchdown was a really nice throw by Darnold too. And so like we get to the point where it's third quarter, it's 20 to six. Trevor Lawrence hits Brian Thomas Jr. on a great ball down the sideline. BTJ breaks the tackle, goes in the end zone. The folks in Duval are celebrating. Everything is great. But Travis Hunter was a full step off sides. And it's just frustrating because it had no impact on the play. It's one of those things where it comes all the way back. But that gets Liam Cohen this wild hair. And the drive continues. They go for it on fourth down twice in that drive.

37:30Patrick Claybon:Ultimately get a Tim Patrick touchdown. The ensuing possession, Ventral Meller gets a sack on third down. The Jags get the ball back. but the offense is clunky. Once again, the Seahawks defense gets the stops and it just continues that way. Ultimately until the Seahawks improved to four and two. It's one of those where Trevor Lawrence in the box score looks solid enough. Although I guess yards per attempt is under six. That's that. That's not great, but watching the game, he just was not accurate throughout the course of the game. Now, some of that you can give to the Seahawks pass rush, which was, they came back.

38:02Jourdan Rodrigue:Welcome back, everybody. Yeah, it was intense. On the other hand, And the Seahawks pass rush looked incredible in part because Trevor Lawrence just would not get rid of the ball. And he was just holding on to it forever. The Seahawks finished with 17 quarterback hits. You do not see a number like that too often. And seven sacks taken by Lawrence. There were definitely quick pressures in there. And the Seahawks pass rush deserves a ton of credit. The Jaguars offensive line, which had played so well throughout most of the year, I think struggled a little bit the last two weeks. But a lot of that was Lawrence just kind of holding on to the ball.

38:34Jourdan Rodrigue:Part of the statistic analysis that proves that what your eyes are telling you to Greg is 22 pressures total for the Seahawks defensive line as a group and their pass rush as a group. According to true media, that's early numbers from true, true media right after the game. And so many of those are turning into hits and sacks. That is partially and a huge part in this game, watching him on the quarterback. And what I am really impressed with, I've been impressed with the Seahawks since week one. This is an exciting team. They're ascending. They can be dominant in different types of ways. They can win games in different types of ways.

39:09Jourdan Rodrigue:They coached around the deficiencies on the defense. They took advantage of what is really an area of the Jacksonville team building process that is still very much coming together in terms of forming its identity, which is their passing game. And they attacked them in that. They attacked them up front without worrying as much about what was going to happen on the back end. And I thought it was really impressive. They they're winning with math. The Seahawks are all over the field, whether it's deciding we're going to, we're going to send the pressure and try to win that way and not really trust as much what you're going to do with your receivers, because we haven't quite seen a full on identity take hold yet.

39:48Jourdan Rodrigue:We've seen bits and flashes of it, but not the full thing. And then on the offensive side, Seattle's winning with math with their tight ends. AJ Barner is wide open on at least two passes, two catches a game. And it's, it's really interesting. They love to load up and go heavy. And it is a nightmare for especially zoning defenses that are trying to flip their math in their shell coverage every single time you change the personnel on them.

40:10Patrick Claybon:Yeah, there was a A.J. Barner play that essentially ended the game in the hopes for the Jacksonville Jaguars because it led to a Jason Myers field goal that would make the comeback a little unfeasible. It's 61 yardage from A.J. Barner where he's got wind guard to his left and he's hand fighting with him for 30 yards down the field. but it's the downfield passing of Sam Darnold. Once again, we're in weeks where we saw some quarterbacks get hidden today, where Sam Darnold in the fourth quarter, like in fact, the whole second half on full display, full availability to attempt every throw. And the Seahawks team expects their quarterback to complete them, and they should.

40:49And the defense picks up the offense and vice versa. I mean, there was a four drive stretch in the second half where the Seahawks had a total of two first downs, and they were almost begging the Jaguars to come back in the game, but the defense holds up, and then Clint Kubiak comes up with that great play call, being aggressive with a chance to put the game away with under three minutes to go. And yeah, he sees Barner just wide open on the throwback pass. And Darnold's been pretty good under pressure in general, but we wouldn't find out today. He was one for four under pressure. He just was not facing much.

41:23So good win by the Seahawks. They get to four and two. Jaguars fall to 4-2. They will be heading overseas to play the Rams. Spicy one. Would the Rams be going to London on a high?

41:38Nick Shook:Stafford has first and goal. Takes a snap. Boots out the right side. Early to the flat. All alone. Tyler Higby struts in. Big rig. Higgs with a spike. And a two-touchdown lead on the road in Baltimore. our friend JB Long on KSPN great call even if I don't love the fake hamstring celebration Tyler Higbee gets it done gets in the end zone on a day where the Rams played with their food a little bit it happens that's what these Rams do but they did score two touchdowns in the span of a minute and 32 seconds early in the second half and that ultimately finished out the scoring 17-3 against the Cooper Rush and Snoop Huntley led Baltimore Ravens.

42:30Jourdan Rodrigue:This looked like a worst case scenario unfolding for the Rams in an early, early game to start a long road trip first to Baltimore, then to London. Their offense could not move the ball. Awful in the red zone at first, including back-to-back misses to receivers, Devontae Adams included in that one. Receivers were dropping passes. Puka Nakua was injured before halftime, spent halftime in the locker room getting his ankle wrapped up, tried to come back in, came back a couple plays, had to leave, was sporadically in and out of the game. Their defense was getting run over in the first half to the tune of 90 yards by Derrick Henry, and special teams continued to be awful.

43:06Jourdan Rodrigue:They were tied three all versus the Cooper Rush at that time, Ravens at halftime. And then... Doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. That's right. Enter Landman. The Rams middle linebacker punched out another ball his second of the season to force a fumble in the third quarter. Quentin Lake recovered it. The Rams scored two plays later. That play to Higby that you just watched. They went up 17-3 and there they would stay thanks in part to that play. Landman. Swung the game big time for them.

43:40Patrick Claybon:Yeah, on the broadcast, there was a discussion about that being Zay Flowers first ever fumble and every Ravens fan in the world was like, there was one. Playoff games count. I hate when they bring this up. Anyways. Yeah, no, definitely counted that one. But you started and there's the old Hawkeye meme from endgame where it's like, don't give me hope. But Tyler Huntley comes in the game on a fourth and 12.

44:06Jourdan Rodrigue:Rams still can't cover quarterback runs.

44:09Patrick Claybon:And there was a moment, but the offensive line breaks down. Ultimately, there's sacks and throwaways to end the game. But signs of life from the Baltimore Ravens defense. Like if you say the Rams are playing with their food, it's like, oh, or maybe Baltimore didn't like trip over. Well, they got Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey back in this game, which is pretty massive for their secondary. Still a little surprising that they were able to slow them down. But yeah, they outgained the Rams ultimately in this game, 296 to 240. And yeah, that Tyler Huntley drive that you mentioned, that was the ultimate shorten the game on yourself drive.

44:45Almost a 10 minute drive, 17 plays where they ultimately couldn't score any points. And it was over after that.

44:51Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. And I want to commend particularly Marlon Humphrey because he was in position to have an interception on that play in the corner of the end zone. Actually, unfortunately, that's the one Pukunakua got hurt on. Pukunakua had to go into defense mode, essentially, to break up that potential interception. This was a really up and down game by everybody, by Matthew Stafford, especially by his receivers. He missed a couple of throws, but he also had a couple of crucial drops. Jordan Whittington, who seems to be the number three receiver on this football team at this point, maybe we'll have to do more in the future because Puka Nakua's status is very much up in the air.

45:31Jourdan Rodrigue:Sean McVay said postgame, it was an ankle injury. The team's official word on it during the game was a foot injury. So this happens frequently with the Rams. So definitely something to keep an eye on there. It's especially bad to be injured on a really long road trip like this. Never good at all. Huka Nakua. I mean, let's do it. Let's put him in the MVP conversation. No, but it really is. He's having the best season leading the league of all receivers and in so many categories. Huka Nakua! Thank you, Walker. A walking first down waiting to happen. And if he is hurt, the entire lens of this offense shifts because it was, even though Sean McVay has said he doesn't want to funnel his offense through one player.

46:13Jourdan Rodrigue:It has been going through Matthew Stafford and Puka Nakua. And so getting that multiplicity that Sean McVay keeps saying he wants, especially if Puka's banged up, is going to be big now. Yeah, Tutu Atwell was inactive for this game. Blake Corum left with an injury. They haven't consistently gotten their rookie Ferguson, Terrence Ferguson, going. I mean, Higby ends up leading the team. They've tried to force the ball to Devontae Adams, and it hasn't been incredibly efficient. Not that he hasn't helped. I'm glad you mentioned Landman, though. I mean, 17 tackles. 17 tackles. That's a new franchise record.

46:45Jourdan Rodrigue:I want to shout out, too, because now you're going to see other players. They need more from Jordan Winniting. For sure, he had a bad drop and then had a couple of other errors throughout the game. But Kyron Williams, part of what gets the Rams going in the right direction and gives them a little bit of life after more missed kicks by Josh Cardi. And Sean McVay hates his kicker so much at this point that he's like going for it all the time, which is a big deal for McVay, who didn't go for it earlier in the game. And then Cardi misses a 26-yard kick. It's just bad. And so on fourth and three, on the opening drive of the third quarter, Matthew Stafford hits Kyron Williams for a 1.5 cheeks down.

47:27That was an awesome play.

47:28Jourdan Rodrigue:30-yard catch, which then sets up Kyron Williams' own rushing touchdown with a big block by Davis Allen to help him out. These are huge plays that gave them life. And the Rams cannot seem to put a full game together, but for every second or fifth game, you know, and that's bad. They have to be able to put a complete game together. Their defense carried them in a lot of ways today. Shout out to Byron Young leading the league in sacks up to this recording with seven and a half, helped close the game out. It's just, I don't know what this team is. I know what they want to be. I feel like that's most of the league right now.

48:04And yeah, this was one they just had to survive. The Ravens got to where everyone thought they were going to get to, which is one in five at the bye week. We'll see if Lamar Jackson can save them on the other side. It is going to be difficult. All right, let's go to New Orleans where our friends at the Saints block party podcast were having their big outing. They've been undefeated previously, but could they challenge and defeat their biggest challenge yet? Drake May.

48:34Nick Shook:Biggs on the right side with Rupert. Snap this back to May. Stands in, throws it near side. Booty, catch made at the three. Shove it to the end zone. A black on the play. And it's a touchdown for the Patriots. Headshot. We got a headshot. Yep. Yeah. Gayshawn Booty.

48:55Patrick Claybon:Zolak's playing COD. Yeah, Scott Zolak. Let's not celebrate that. Celebrating the headshot that the Patriots player Kayshawn Booty made. Yes, Drake made down the field to Kayshawn Booty 25-19. The Patriots win. That play was symbolic of a fantastic game by both May and Booty. Booty pays for 40 of his friends and family members to attend this game. LSU guy, of course. I mean, we know his salary. That's a pretty big chunk right there. Having to pay for 40 tickets. Do the math. That's minimum like$10 ,000,$5 ,000,$10 ,000, something like that. To watch him go five for 93 and two key touchdowns. Drake May, as he's been all season, money on plus 20 yard throws.

49:45I think he was three for four in this game for over 100 yards. and it would have been five for six for over like 200 yards, but he had a long throw to Stefan Diggs taken back by a penalty and another long touchdown to DeMario Douglas taken back by a weird phantom penalty. None of it mattered. What mattered in the end was kind of like the flip of the Packers-Bengals game, Patrick. Like right when they needed to, the Patriots defense actually got a few stops late in the game when the Patriots offense slowed down. So it was very much like an all offense game in the first half. And it was three, three after halftime, but they, they found a way to get a win over the hard luck.

50:31One in five saints who have been in four of these losses to the last possession.

50:37Patrick Claybon:Yeah, it was a Caden Ellis, I believe jumps on top of a fumble that was forced on a, on a pass from Spencer Rattler to Juwan Johnson, where Spillane Christian Ellis, yeah. Oh, Christian Ellis, excuse me. Punches the ball away from Jawan Johnson who was red hot to start the season and has really slowed down. They hurt the Saints' comeback opportunity because it was 25-19 there for quite a while. The Saints just couldn't break that number and that was an opportunity there at their 36-yard line where they got up close to the 50 and turned the ball over where it's another one of these games where you're like, oh, Spencer Rattler played pretty well.

51:15Patrick Claybon:And the Saints were in. You can't celebrate almost all the time, but it's true. The Saints were in these games.

51:23Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I think every week someone gets mad at me for saying that, but it's true. It is so true. It's the defense that's the problem, and their secondary was a disaster in the first half. Jonas Sanker. Oh, my dude. Yeah, the rookie safety got confused a couple times. One of the times he was bailed out by one of those phantom calls. The officials were terrible in this game for both sides. like they're they they they called back at that touchdown and demario douglas on a complete phantom opi on the patriots and then in the two of the worst makeup calls the next two plays like called complete phantom calls on the saints almost to make up for it and it just it just wasn't a great day for for the zebras there but i don't want that to be the focus uh with drake may i just feel like they'll always have a chance.

52:10He's so calm in the pocket right now. What are you laughing at?

52:15Jourdan Rodrigue:I don't want that to be. I don't want that to be. Drake May. I'm just saying like it's. Me and Patrick immediately just looked at each other. There's nothing more boring than talking about bad, bad calls, even if it was a bad call game. But Drake May. Yes. Back to Drake May. Yeah. Like he's, he's so calm in the pocket right now that on one play, he was stiff arming a guy with his right hand and then threw it out of bounds with his left hand, which to me is a little George Pickens. Yeah, that's like a little too much like calm. But there were so many plays that he bailed them out of penalty after penalty after penalty or like terrible.

52:52Like they're one of the worst running teams in the league, which is mostly a offensive line issue. And so they kept being in these long yardage situation. And I'm thinking about a fourth down to Diggs, a third and nine to Mack to the sidelines. There was one play where they had three straight penalties, and one of them was on a 50-yarder to Diggs, and he kept having to make them right, and ultimately, he did make them right. Typical of that was the play to Booty to ice the game.

53:25Nick Shook:Three receivers to the right. Stevenson lines up behind the right guard snap back to may a twist up front he stands in he throws the left back shorter caught by booty what a throw the connection is there again drake made to keishon booty with the defender on his back and our first down to england near midfield and back to the saints 49 yard line that's a big time throw boys that is a big time throw start the buses pack the bags you got a 4-2 football team heading home baby

53:56Patrick Claybon:They're heading home, baby, with their quarterback, Greg, who took over two and a half seconds to throw 69 % of the time in this game, which I think kind of skews those pressure numbers because the Saints, again, who had a defense that struggled, pressured Drake May on 58 % of dropbacks. But I think a lot of that is Drake May holding on to the ball to hit home runs, and he hit them today. So many of the third downs, like they're 6 for 13 on third downs and hit another fourth and long. We're like third and longs. And yeah, he's holding onto it because the Saints don't have much of a pass rush.

54:27Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, he's calm. That's why I think he's okay with holding onto it. He's calm and he knows that he can buy a little bit time too. If he absolutely needs to, he can move around in the pocket. He can move around outside of the pocket. And I think he's playing with that kind of confidence where normally you see when a quarterback is really confident in getting in rhythm, he'll get the ball out quick. He's done that too. But this game is a little bit different because yes, to your point, Patrick, there was, they were dialing up pressure. They were trying to get pressure on him. You just never quite felt like he was, despite what the numbers say, you never quite felt like it was too much for him and that he could hold the ball and was holding the ball because he has sort of that patient confidence.

55:05Jourdan Rodrigue:Some would call it, you know, a lot of dip on his chip, but it's like paying off for him. Like the Tostitos does not break in half in this case. In this case, you can scoop it on up. His numbers are getting outrageous. I love that. I love the way you just kept with that one and just finished it off. I want to go wash my face after saying. Over 10 yards per attempt in this game. Yeah, his numbers are getting crazy. He is one of the many people I saw. And journalists suggest, hey, he should be in the MVP conversation. We're just having a conversation. We're having a conversation. Do you know what I love?

55:38Jourdan Rodrigue:I've learned about this. It's one of my favorite discoveries this year. Watching a Patriots game next to you. Like you watching it. I'm not really. I got one eye on it. I'm not really watching it. But you watching it. And then like you're making noises. But then also you're there's a wave of college football coaches that just get fired in the middle of the second quarter of some of these earlier games. And that's when you decide to send out some of your spicier takes just about the game in general. The Spencer Rattler. I'm not saying you should be in the MVP conversation. You kind of did the adjacent take.

56:10I said if he was a first or second round pick, people would just talk about him like a franchise quarterback.

56:14Jourdan Rodrigue:But you wait for the news dump. You think I'm paying any attention? We are very different. I don't care about college football coaches being fired on a Sunday. That is not my interest. Where can I get Greg? Just a little under the collar. I mean, I'm not noticing. I have to admit, I am not a Twitter or Blue Sky reader on Sundays. I'm just a post and duck. Post and duck. Post and duck. Speaking of ducking, you don't want to duck this Panthers offense right now because it's one of the best in the league.

56:46Patrick Claybon:It's going to be a 33-yarder for the win and a chance to get to 500. J.J. Jansen, the venerable Jansen, to snap. Martin puts it down. Fitzgerald swings the leg. The kick is good. And the Panthers win it. Ryan Fitzgerald, the game-winning field goal. Carolina 30, Dallas 27. Sweet Caroline indeed. Oh, and he's strapped on WRFX. We got J.J. Jansen, NFL Daily's own. Yes, into a highlight. Fitzgerald hits the game-winning kick 30 to 27. and you might have thought I was being a little flip by calling the Panthers one of the best offenses in the league. Well, today, and this is according to Sheil Kapadia at the Ringer, the second highest success rate of any team in any game all season.

57:41And actually, for the entire season, they're up to fourth overall on offense. They're getting it going on the ground consistently. Rico Dottle goes over 200 yards from scrimmage for a second straight week. and the Carolina Panthers are three and three.

57:57Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. All the things I was about to say. Leave no doubt. Rico Dowdle had 239 scrimmage yards, including 183 yards rushing and then a 36 yard receiving touchdown that I know we have sound for. That was just beautiful against his former Dallas Cowboys team.

58:16Patrick Claybon:In the game, orbit motion again. Shotgun snap. Fake to Dowdle. Young backpedaling. Flush to his left. Throws downfield. down a wide open 10 5 touchdown Rico down a buckle up yes I loved it and as you can tell

58:33Jourdan Rodrigue:after back-to-back 200 plus yards rushing games by the Panthers who by the way through weeks four through six are second in the NFL in rushing success rate which is outstanding they're also getting the fourth best yards before contact in the NFL blocked for them it's all clicking the offensive line and the run game. You can tell that it has settled down the entire offense. Bryce Young threw the ball really well off of that foundation. He was 17 of 25 for a 199, three touchdowns and an interception, but the interception wasn't really on him. It bounced off of Ted McMillan's hands. Ted McMillan made up for it in a big way with his first and second career touchdowns.

59:13Jourdan Rodrigue:This, you can tell they're going to start seeing more loaded boxes soon. They're not seeing a ton of loaded boxes right now, but you can absolutely tell that them establishing the run behind Rico Doudal, behind this really, really solid offensive line, the way that they're playing right now, this group is starting to form a little bit of an identity and it's, it's settling the quarterback. When they start seeing these loaded boxes, it's time for Bryce Young to repay the favor when they test his arm a little bit more. And I bemoaned them for

59:41Patrick Claybon:upwards of over a year on this. Javante Williams had 20, negative 27 rush yards over expectation. is your ever either it's rico doddles giving those guys a whole bunch of rest on the bench i'll say the panthers fixed the run gate run game what did he do like this is the most intriguing thing on the planet to me because dallas could get nothing going through the air mike jackson never wants to see george pickens again because he gave him all kinds of fits but other than that like this this was a slog on the ground and the cowboys had to do everything through the air and Dak almost pulled it off.

1:00:16I continue to be impressed with Dak Prescott, but you said it, this rush defense, which is historically bad, had improved to like average-ish until the last two weeks. And the last two weeks, they've been flat out good. And that was the difference in this game that we mentioned that that was one of the best rushing performances by any team all season by the Panthers. Meanwhile, the Cowboys had an 11 % success rate, which is just horrendous. one of the worst performances by any team on the ground all season. And it happens against Carolina. Like, even though the score is high, you can't go too crazy that they're like some shutdown defense.

1:00:54That's complimentary football. And man, that's a stinging loss for the Cowboys.

1:00:58Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. And if they were going to have this defense was going to have at least one problem happen to it. The problem was George Pickens and Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott had another excellent, excellent game that kind of goes to waste here. George Pickens was 9 for 11 for 168 yards in a touchdown. And on one, anything can happen when this man has the ball. Okay. On the touchdown, he blew the Carolina crowd a kiss. On one of his long catches, he slowed down toward the sideline just so he could throw a stiff arm just for the heck of it. Didn't know what was going to happen.

1:01:29Patrick Claybon:It was a punchy stiff arm. Yeah.

1:01:30Jourdan Rodrigue:Just exchange the ball casually in one hand, slows his pace down, tries for the stiff arm. But overall, you know, the run game for the Cowboys was shockingly not there. Although the Panthers have improved to about middle of the pack against the run over the last couple of weeks, still not a strength for them by any means. But it's interesting because when this defense had to step up and make these big plays, they forced, you know, a three and out Dallas had just forced its first three and out of the game. The Panthers defense, which was, as we know, so embattled all season, stepped up in return.

1:02:04Jourdan Rodrigue:Uh, Trey, Trayvon Merig made a huge stop. He's been great the last three or four weeks on first down. And then Bryce Young and the Panthers get the ball back. They're driving. He hits Tommy Tremble down the left sideline. And that was when the Cowboys finally did load up the box to try to stop Rico Dowdle. And then he hits Hunter Renfro on an absolute dart of a slant route that seals this game, sets up this game winning field goal. Like it was, it was a ballsy game by the Panthers. And I love that this turned into a little bit of a shootout. Just a little bit of one. Because these two offenses are fun to watch for the most part now.

1:02:42Jourdan Rodrigue:And I think they're both improving. And for one or two of these teams every week, you wonder, is it going to be a wasted effort? Today it was for the Cowboys. I just like that these two teams are going to be in the mix. We've got too many teams that are looking a little DOA after six weeks. Then I would like. We've got eight or nine teams. The Cowboys and the Panthers are turning into teams that are entertaining. They're in the middle. We need some teams in the middle. We don't just need the top and the bottom. Let's take a break and talk about one team that is really at the bottom on the other side.

1:03:12But as we do, let's actually listen to Rico Dattle answer a question from Charlotte Great, Joe Person. We'll be back on the other side to talk London game.

1:03:24Nick Shook:Rico, if your message last week was buckle up to the Cowboys, what's your message after the game?

1:03:31Patrick Claybon:I want to buckle up.

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1:05:22Patrick Claybon:On fourth down, and the Denver Broncos somehow will eke a win out in London. The Jets will fall to 0-6, 13-11 with 1-09 left on the clock. Yet again, the Broncos defense get it done. Oh, just because I'm not in the booth with them doesn't mean we can't get Will Gavin of TalkSport into the show. great call, fitting call, fitting play to end a defensive struggle, to put it mildly. Justin Fields takes nine sacks to go along with his nine completions, and the Jets end up with negative 10 passing yards in a game that they were only a few yards away from attempting a game-winning field goal at the end 13 11 because yeah the Broncos only had 12 first downs in this game as well are you taking this Patrick as a positive of the dominance of the Broncos defense or as a negative for basically anything else in this well I think you were you had been calling for uh this week a nice consistent Bo Nix game didn't necessarily get it there were times where Sean Payton was taking the hand the ball out of Bo Nix's hands were like weird third down reverses and screens uh that were ultimately doomed I yeah celebrate nine sacks but there's there's cause for concern because they almost did the thing we talked about on the preview show they almost beat the last unbeaten and then turned around and lost to the team uh that had no wins in the 2025 season where just some weird stuff from the Jets at the end of both halves.

1:07:05Patrick Claybon:Ultimately, given the Broncos a little bit of a gift there in London. Yeah, the end of the first half, especially. Garrett Wilson gets upset, and I was equally upset with how they handled that. A 10-play drive in which they somehow ran out of time at midfield, and then they have a fourth down with about 20-something seconds to go, And instead of just running a Hail Mary to give their playmakers a chance to go make a play, they can't get organized and the clock just runs out. Aaron Glenn also took a timeout in the second half, taking too long to make a decision whether to go for it on fourth down.

1:07:49And oh, by the way, he didn't even go for it. Anyways, just a guy in Aaron Glenn who game management wise seems to get a little overwhelmed and freeze. and on the field, Justin Fields, I think, was kind of his avatar because I'm sure there weren't many Jets receivers open, but he's just hoping that they're open and he's just standing there and he's holding the ball forever, Jordan, and he's taking sacks. Not many of these sacks were quick pressure sacks.

1:08:14Jourdan Rodrigue:No, and 2.6 yards per attempt in this game. That's the lowest of any quarterback in any game so far to the point of this recording. It can always get worse, folks, but it so far has not here in week six of the NFL season. He's also the owner of the second worst EPA per drop back game this season and the third after today. Well, I mean, negative 10 yards passing. I was wondering. It was worse in Buffalo. This was the third worst today. I was like, that can't happen too often. It has not happened since Ryan Leaf's third career start. That is the worst overall passing performance just by yardage in 37 years.

1:08:50Patrick Claybon:He's the first quarterback that was sacked nine or more times with nine or fewer completions since he did it in 2021 when he was sacked nine times against the Browns and he only had six completions. It is an awesome defense when they're playing overwhelmed quarterbacks. And I know that's not trying to damn with faint praise. There's only been four games all season. This was Chio Capati again, where a team's had under 10 first downs. The Broncos defense has caused three of those games. And if you go back to last year, they built up those crazy numbers, absolutely destroying substandard quarterbacks and passing.

1:09:27So if you are a like bottom 10 passing game, the Broncos defense will just win the game for you. Bo Nix doesn't have to do anything. I didn't even think he played that poorly today. Relatively there. The running game was terrible. There was just some weird play call.

1:09:40Jourdan Rodrigue:We got one 100 yards rusher game from Sean Payton. And now nothing else. Please. No, no more. I just felt like I don't know if I'm a Broncos fan. it just feels like a survive in advance type of game. Kind of like the Rams win. It was kind of a rock fight, except not like an interesting one. It was interesting in the sense that you wonder like these mistakes that seem to compound for the Jets. They're happening with situational management too. And I want to point out like, listen, I am 100 % on the team of give a coach a chance to develop as a coach, just like the rest of the team is getting, you know, give them a chance to develop as a team, find an identity, all of these things.

1:10:19Jourdan Rodrigue:Aaron Glenn is known for his development of players, of culture, of scheme, and when his hands are on the scheme. But he's not calling the game. Steve Wilkes is on defense. Tanner Engstrand is on offense. And he's not making good situational decisions. And all of that combined is a problem because it's almost like I wonder perhaps if his hands are in too many fires behind closed doors when he's trying to develop all these different phases at once of this team. And now some of the things are falling short, such as the situational management, which coaches often give up play calling. Coaches who are flailing give up play calling in order to better situationally manage games.

1:11:03Broncos fans were saying Sean Payton should do that, which is crazy today, but because he had some strange games. He had some strange calls too. Those third and long calls were frustration calls. Like, I'm sick of watching this. I'm just going to give up on this drive at this point. That's what they felt like.

1:11:15Patrick Claybon:Yeah, and he will do that. He'll occasionally do that, and this was a game where the Broncos can afford to kind of have those rage calls where it's like, all right, well, Franklin did have a fumble on a drive where the Broncos ultimately could have scored. The Jets got one of those turnovers. They just couldn't take advantage of any opportunities that the Broncos provided them. So, yeah, get your rage calls out, Coach Payton. Right. What do you think it sounds like? it's probably something like X-Jet throw the ball or just like just get these off the field they had seven drives in the second half the Broncos or six drives rather and only gained a first down on one of them I mean that's they actually look totally normal in the first half I would say it was like normal but not exciting and they had that fumble and after that the Jets defense played well this game was not indicative of how this Jets season has gone, where their running game has been great.

1:12:17Today it stunk. Their defense has been maybe bottom three in the league. They played well today against Denver, and the passing game has at least had spurts, and the passing game was god-awful. But that's what happens to bad teams. They just find a way to lose.

1:12:31Jourdan Rodrigue:Shout-out to Will Gavin for making it sound like an exciting game. Yes, it was. It was at that moment. It was. I mean, I'm not saying I have links that allow me to listen to certain things. I'm just saying, he made the game sound great the entire time. Shout out to Will Gavin. He is the best. And to everyone else in the UK, we apologize. Jaguars-Rams will be much better next week. You know what else is better? Get Nick Shook on the show. Yeah.

1:13:00Nick Shook:Jones out of the gun. Changing the play at the line of scrimmage. Now he's going to dip under center. Jones quick pitches the left side to Jonathan Taylor. It cuts up. He's in. Touchdown. Touchdown. I-N-D-Y for Jonathan Taylor. And the Colts indeed retake the lead. 30-27. 432 remaining in the fourth quarter. Colts win 31-27. They get two fourth quarter touchdowns to come back on the Cardinals in a back and forth fun football game that was worthy of having the man Nick Shook cover it. The Colts, Shook, have won games, I think, in different types of ways. And I thought it was cool to see them win a game like this where it looked like they were going to let go of it against a bunch of backups, frankly, for the Cardinals with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback.

1:13:56Nick Shook:Yeah, it was an interesting day for them because they jump out to an early lead and then the Cardinals come storming back and then it's just blow for blow, kind of like a heavyweight fight between the Colts, who are a good team, at least in terms of record, and the Cardinals, who are not a great team in terms of record. It was a fun example of how oftentimes, week to week, we don't really know what's going to happen in an NFL game. One team can come out and be way stronger than you anticipate, and the other one can kind of still be themselves but find it to be a little bit challenging. But the one consistent theme with the Colts this year has been Jonathan Taylor, and he goes for 21 for 123 and a touchdown today.

1:14:26Nick Shook:Daniel Jones, pretty sharp throughout most of the afternoon, runs a touchdown in, also throws a pick to Mack Wilson, which was like an incredibly athletic pick that didn't matter because the Colts got it right back defensively, like two plays later, maybe even the next play later in their own red zone. So very much a fun back and forth game with the consistency of Jonathan Taylor and an offensive line that continues to perform above our expectation. And the Colts man, five and one, they keep on rolling. I want to point out the bizarre injuries that happened before this game and the more normal injuries that happened during it before throwing it back to you, Chuck, Anthony Richardson suffered an orbital fracture before the game using one of those resistance bands and had to go to the hospital.

1:15:09That sounds horrifying. So Riley Leonard ends up being the backup quarterback for this game. Charverius Ward suffered a concussion after getting run into. I think it was by a wide receiver. I was a tight end during warmups. And then he's suddenly out just completely bizarre. And then during the game, the Cardinals, who were already short, Kyler Murray, of course, and their running backs and Kelvin Beecham, also lose Amari DiMarcado. They're running back. They've been down a couple of tight ends, and then they lose Marvin Harrison Jr. in this game. And yet, Chuck, they put up 25 first down. So before I put on game pass tonight, how did the Cardinals offense get 400 yards going against this Colts team and make this such a good game?

1:15:59It should warm your heart for me to tell you that Jacoby Brissett was the reason.

1:16:04Nick Shook:settled down this offense he gave them the consistency that they've lacked for most of this season they also went nine of 14 on third down at one point it was nine of 12 like they were great in clutch moments because of brissette who was just a bit of a point guard passer he scrambled like once or twice when he needed to one time to get a first down drew like a call from the broadcast crew he was they were like he's not kyler murray but he can run it looks a lot different but it worked out really well for them that and a dependence on trey mcbride especially in the red zone. They threw a touchdown pass to him early.

1:16:34Nick Shook:It was after one was kind of wiped away. I thought that he was already in the end zone. They ruled that the forward progress was stopped inside the one. The next play, they run a bootleg and throw it right to Trey for a touchdown. Justice is served. That's why they were strong. Their strength is kind of statistically doesn't back it up with the Cardinals, but their defense has been stronger than their offense this year. This time around, because Brissette was in and was commanding this offense like a seasoned, weathered ship captain guiding them into the storm. They were able to be a better offensive unit and go toe-to-toe with the Colts.

1:17:04Jourdan Rodrigue:Jake Brisket, a.k.a. Drew Petsing's favorite backup who's played in this system before, who came in and was going rep for rep in practice, in training camp with Kyler Murray, and was so confident. And what absolutely fits what this system is. Now, locally, and it is so fair to be upset locally. And I think they are about the way that some of this offense is going. And I think they should be in parts of it because it's Kyler Murray and an erratic connection with Marvin Harrison Jr. And it's the ball is not going enough to Marvin Harrison Jr. And it's the Cardinals are terrible at running the ball in terms of success rate, even before James Conner and Trey Benson suffered the injuries.

1:17:51Jourdan Rodrigue:But this at its heart, and I keep saying this, and I know I sound so hideously annoying at this point, But this offense is built to run through the tight end, come hell or high water, no matter whatever else is happening and taking shot plays down the field, every so smattering of it, every so once in a while to a X receiver, a speed receiver, a gadget receiver, anyone you want to throw in there. And that is what's happening at the end of the game. You see this plan in action. Jacoby Brissett to Mike Wilson, contested catch 30 yards. and then they go for the touchdown again to Trey McBride, who doesn't get it.

1:18:27Jourdan Rodrigue:That's happening all game. This is what Drew Petsing wants to do on offense. Like it or not, I don't have an opinion. Like it or not, this is part of the reason he brings this guy in is to be a perfect match for what he specifically wants to be doing. They tried to get McBride involved on the last play of the game when you have a chance to go take the lead. And I think if Brissette puts the ball on Trey McBride, maybe they call a pass interference, but it was such a rocket that no one had a chance to catch it. Maybe they didn't call.

1:18:58Patrick Claybon:And ultimately, the trajectory of the ball changed how Trey McBride pursued it as well because I think if he jumped or lunged earlier while he was being grabbed, it might have looked more like a call that the official could make.

1:19:09Jourdan Rodrigue:Gotta sell it, Trey.

1:19:10Patrick Claybon:Instead, like he's fighting through the contact when he actually is being held. And then after he sees where the ball is, he's like, oh no, that ball's not on me. Fake lunge for it and the stripes weren't buying it. Yeah, they fall to two and four. And just reading between the lines from the National Insiders this morning, Kyler Murray could be out one more week. They have a bye after that. They have the Packers. Man, that Titans loss really hurts now because this would just feel different at three and three. You could feel like you could take that one more loss before the bye. But two and five would be a long way to come back from for the Cardinals.

1:19:46But good on the Colts who, you know, focus on Tyler Warren early in the game. Josh Downs has a big-time touchdown. They just spread it around. They get it done. Let's go to Pittsburgh, where, yeah, the Steelers are feeling pretty good in that division.

1:20:00Nick Shook:He'll stop in an H-back position there. Now he'll motion back to the right as Rodgers gets a snap. Play action pass. Rolling to his right, looking downfield, looking. Throws back across his body and caught in the end zone. What a grab by Connor Hayward. Magnificent throw by Rodgers and Hayward with his first touchdown of the season. Put that on the throw of the year nominee.

1:20:23Jourdan Rodrigue:That's a vintage throw right there. I've been tough on Rodgers, but his best throws this year, if you just take the highlight reel of his 10 best throws, they look pretty sweet. Steelers win 23-9. Nick, that was Rob King on WDVE. Max Starks helping him out. very similar to I think how the Steelers would draw it up even if Aaron Rodgers would probably love to like have better numbers overall this is Steelers football right now yeah and when you run

1:20:57Nick Shook:this one back on NFL plus what you're going to find is a lot of nothing in the first half some minor successes a great first play goals to Darnell Washington everything ends up grinding to a halt and a lot of Chris Boswell field goals but in the third quarter and early fourth quarter you're going to find vintage Aaron Rodgers making throws just like that. That completion to Connor Hayward made me audibly shout, wow, in nobody's home, so it doesn't matter. But for me, I was shocked by the fact that he fit that ball in that window. Yes, exactly. You know, who knows? He might have been shirtless.

1:21:28Nick Shook:Who knows? It was a heck of a performance by Rodgers. Did you just go third person talking about how you were watching the game shirtless? I wasn't. I wasn't shirtless. I was going to cut off, but I did go shirtless.

1:21:42Patrick Claybon:Why did you add in this extra non-existent detail that Shook was trying to do? You said that. Wait, no, you didn't.

1:21:48Nick Shook:Because I was told to let my freak flag fly, and Aaron Rodgers let his freak flag fly for about eight minutes in this game. I'm bringing it back. We're getting back on track here. It's okay.

1:21:56Jourdan Rodrigue:Greg's been explaining my jokes a lot recently. I just was trying to help out the female and male audience out there. Don't limit it. 2025, Greg. I want to listen to Miles Garrett talk about Aaron Rodgers and this game plan because it sounded very similar to the game plan that they had overseas. Stop us to the D-line front.

1:22:20Patrick Claybon:They got in chunk formation. They chipped. He got the ball out as quick as possible. And there weren't a lot of situations in which even if I was running but I'm f***ing naked. I could have gotten there. So I think that was the situation for all of us. The way he was getting it out or sprinting out to the other side. He moved behind the line scrimmage more than he has in the last couple years. And that wasn't by mistake.

1:22:48Jourdan Rodrigue:Ah, so we have a theme for this segment. I see. No clothing. NFL Daily After Dark, baby. David Njoku, who might be getting towards the end of his Browns tenure here. Another man who doesn't like to wear a shirt too much. It just seems like the book is out shook a little bit on how to at least slow down this great Browns defense.

1:23:08Nick Shook:Yeah, I mean, it's a theme. Pretty much every one of their games, save for maybe Baltimore, follows the same track, which is first half, feel out period. Browns defense is going to limit you to field goals or just stop you outright. It's going to keep the offense in the game. The offense is going to do nothing. Then you're going to get to the second half. The defense is going to wear down. The opposing offense is going to take half time to figure out how to attack this defense. They're going to find success, and it's up to the Browns offense to match it. And that's the same team that hasn't scored more than 17 points all year.

1:23:35Nick Shook:So guess what? They're not going to match it. So yeah, it is. It's definitely a theme. It's not encouraging because I don't think the Browns have another route to go down this season to try to find success, save for another quarterback change. Well, that'll happen at some point, don't you think? Yeah, it will. It will. I mean, Dylan Gabriel, he's fine, but he's like, he's Gardner Minshew. That's who he is at best. And you need more than that unless you're in an emergency situation like the Colts were a couple of years ago. So that, but I don't want to take any credit away from the Steelers because they played with their hair on fire.

1:24:03Nick Shook:They played with more emotion. They were also very sloppy, which is unlike them. They had 10 accepted penalties against them. They entered the game with the least amount of penalties on average per game. So something to clean up there, but they played with a renewed sense of passion, energy. Like they really believe this is our division and we're going to go take it in a division game.

1:24:19Patrick Claybon:Yeah. TJ Watt had seven pressures and he didn't even have the most pressures on the team. Nick, Nick Herbert had eight as well as two sacks where like Dylan Gabriel in the Browns offense didn't have necessarily a great game. I don't know how much opportunity Dylan Gabriel had as a quarterback that traditionally, that's his ability where he excels relative to other quarterbacks is getting rid of the ball quickly. Has that crafty left-handed nature that lefties tend to have where they're just able to achieve where some of us can't. How do you do that? Left-handed. Most sports, it's helpful. Quarterback, it doesn't seem to help enough.

1:24:57Jourdan Rodrigue:It doesn't help in podcasting. I can tell you.

1:25:00Patrick Claybon:It does. It does help in podcasting as well. But yeah, the opportunity is very limited for Gabriel today. It's just yeah. I mean, if you make a change, what's the point? But I said that about Joe Flacco. Look, he's had brutal, brutal situations and checking the quick pressures too in this game, like Nick Herberg had five quick pressures. He had three.

1:25:18Jourdan Rodrigue:But you have to against a scheme like this that's trying to mitigate pressure quickly. Right. Like you just have no like no one else in the NFL had that many quick pressures today. So he's had a brutal start. And we say we don't know much about the NFL and what these teams are. And I think that could even be true about the Steelers in some way. But I think we do know something for the Steelers after six weeks. They should win the AFC North. Like they may not, but they should. You know, the next closest team is led by Joe Flacco and it's the Bengals. And then the next closest team has four more losses than them.

1:25:52That's a big comeback to try to make for the Baltimore Ravens. They should have a home game in the playoffs this year. We'll see if they get there.

1:26:01Jourdan Rodrigue:And what will they do with it? In the end, yes. We still have a long time to go until we get there. All right, two teams that probably won't be playing home games in the playoff this year. Let's go to Las Vegas.

1:26:12Nick Shook:Tucker left. Shotgun. Smith's going to throw. Clean pocket. Stands. Stands. Scans. Throws. Michael Merritt. It's a goal line. Turns. Touchdown Raiders. Geno looked all over the field, and he followed Michael Mayer. Oh, yeah, Geno's back. So is Jason Horowitz. KRLV, 20-10. Dynamite performance from Geno Smith. Don't actually watch the tape to see if that's true or not. He was fine in the end. It was not great for most of it. But the Raiders' defense was more than game, and I will start negative on this one, Shook. I do think this was the game where the Cam Ward Titans offense just went from like, man, Cam Ward's fun at least to just, man, this is depressing.

1:26:58Nick Shook:Yeah, they couldn't protect him. He couldn't get comfortable. You saw the lack of talent around him and you saw his lack of experience. There were instances in which he was holding onto the ball too long and it ended up going nowhere. Instances in which they had decent field position or opportunity and did absolutely nothing with it. And they also turned the ball over, you know, three times. He threw a pick and he lost two fumbles, including one with the game essentially out of reach. It was a really, really tough one that he just dropped. Right. Am I crazy? Yeah. Yeah. He went to go throw it and just slip right out of his hand in the face of pressure.

1:27:26Nick Shook:It was a really, really tough watch. It was just like you take Calvin really, really out of this offense, which they did today. And he has nowhere to go. Like he's trying to hit IO Manor. He's trying to, you know, find Van Jefferson. Tyler Lockett is all but non-existent in this offense. And they can't protect him more than anything. Their investment in the offensive line has not paid off at all. and it's just a bad overall unit. So yeah, I don't want to start negative, but it's true. Like the Titans are a tough watch. This was probably their worst game of the year and the perfect time for the Raiders.

1:27:54Nick Shook:Losers of four straight. Losers by 34 points in Indianapolis to get back on the winning track. A get right game comes at just the right time for the Raiders.

1:28:02Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, they really needed it because there's reports coming out of Las Vegas all week this week. Pete Carroll, like not so subtly calling out Chip Kelly. he took a leaf out of Patrick's very not so subtle book of the last couple of weeks of Brock Bowers still struggling, dealing with the injuries. He was out today. And he was out today and just tough times. It felt like even on that Gino touchdown, the play-by-play was a little passive-aggressive. Scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, scan, all over the field before getting to the touchdown. They needed this in Las Vegas. And I don't know that it fixes pretty much anything, but man winning is a little bit better feeling right now than some of the, the bad vibes that were coming out of there all week.

1:28:48Patrick Claybon:Yeah. And they got a great defensive plays, uh, especially, uh, from Devin white who had a, just an absolute whiff up front on the protection by the Tennessee Titans, where Cam Ward got blasted. Uh, the ball came out there. He picked off Cam Ward on a plate late later as we like got into this game. I wondered on air on game day live today are the Titans going to do this two weeks in a row? Right, it was very similar Did not separate but Cam Ward ultimately we saw from Jackson Dart as well sometimes the ball just flies out of your hands inexplicably and that's what happened when the game wasn't necessarily out of the course like some weird stuff could happen and the Titans could have done two in a row Right, because Geno threw they were up 17-3 and the whole game plan seemed to be around not letting Gino make a killer interception like he has the last few weeks.

1:29:40He did not attempt a pass that went over 10 air yards until the fourth quarter. And then he hit a couple, but then he also got a little panicked on a third down and thought Michael Mayer, I believe it was, was going to stop on a route and threw an interception up 17-3. Otherwise, he only had six interceptions and the numbers are all six incompletions, rather six in completions. And the numbers like looked pretty good, but it almost looked like they were afraid of what Gino was going to do. And in theory, they're only a blocked field goal away from being three and three, but they do feel like they're a deserved two and four here.

1:30:16Shooky.

1:30:17Nick Shook:Yeah. Yeah. This record, I think accurately represents the state of this team right now, by the way, Gino average air yards per attempt today, 2.7 is fewest in a game since week nine of 2022. But I didn't give them some credit. credit fields number i know i know let's not go there uh i do give them some credit though because that touchdown to michael mayor they did that a few times and i think that it's going to be an important part of how they operate their offense going forward because their offensive line is not great we know how often ash and gent is getting hit behind the line of scrimmage but they are bootlegging a lot a lot of play action buying gino some time and what they're doing is they're using mayor as a blocker just a chip and release type and he finds a soft spot in the zone gets open and gino went to him a couple times including on that touchdown pass i think that's going to be vital to him because as we know, Geno likes to push the ball.

1:31:00Nick Shook:And if their receivers are not getting separation, he's got to stop pushing the ball and find somebody underneath. So 2.78 yards per attempt is not exciting, but it might be what we see more from the Raiders going forward. Little Trey Tucker down the field, at least late in the game, they get a home win first of the year for them at home. And yes, the Titans fall to one in five. I thought it was interesting after the game, Jeffrey Simmons, who's been incredible this year, said he thought they had their worst week of practice all year. Usually you hear, oh, we had a good week of practice. And he thought they came out flat.

1:31:32And I'm not sure if he said unprepared. I think he just said flat on Thursday that there was like no energy in the facility during the week, which could be a passive aggressive conversation about the coaching staff. I don't really know.

1:31:46Jourdan Rodrigue:It depends. Was it a players only led energy feeling or was it? That's not what you want to hear. Coming off like your one miracle win of the year.

1:31:54Patrick Claybon:Yeah, the Cardinals had dope as hell vibes. Yeah. And Jonathan Gannon and them came out and competed. Meanwhile, you know, teams are losing and the meeting structure is bad. There's bad vibes. It turns out winning is good, unless you're in Arizona where the vibes are dope as hell. We'll see. But our friend Justin Graver, who does a great job with his podcast of the Titans, and of course is the producer of He Had the Call. I remember a couple of weeks ago on his podcast, Music City Audible, there were back-to-back show titles that were called Why is Brian Callahan still the Titans head coach? Followed by, is this the worst Titans team in franchise history?

1:32:29I think both of those titles would work again this week. I hate to wrap up Patrick and Jordan's section of the show on such a down note, but it was a joy to have you both. It's a positive note.

1:32:38Jourdan Rodrigue:Justin does great work. Yes. Well, I mean, I'm talking about what it's like to be a Titans fan right now. I have a positive note that I gave you earlier

1:32:45Patrick Claybon:because I was taken aback by the idea that Odafe Owe could somehow compare to Khalil Mack. He had one fewer pressure than the entire Baltimore Ravens team. Let's go. So congratulations. I'm glad you pointed that out. He did lead the team in pressures today. And the team being the Los Angeles Chargers. How about picking him up? Speaking of. May we all. Go ahead. Yeah, go.

1:33:09Jourdan Rodrigue:I was going to say, and may, as we, Patrick and I leave, may we attack the rest of our night like George's stiff arm on the sideline. You know? Please. Yeah. It's a Sunday night. The three-yard line. Pacheco motioning left. Mahomes in the pocket.

1:33:24Nick Shook:Darts it near side. Caught. Touchdown! Kansas City! Hollywood Brown is having a night! And the Chiefs answer a touchdown with a touchdown to go up 26-17. 9.30 to go in the game. Oh, that is Mitch Holtis on KFNZ. Hollywood Brown's having a night. Patrick Mahomes was having a night. It felt like a throwback night because the Chiefs offense has been having night after night after night last few weeks. 30-17, Chiefs win going away against the Detroit Lions. They are 3-3, Nick Shook, and yet it feels like they are scarier than they've been in a few years on offense, at least. One of which they won the Super Bowl.

1:34:13Nick Shook:Yeah, let's bury the concerns about the Chiefs once and for all, folks. I know that we talked about their close loss recently, and we were like, but it actually felt good even though they lost the game. Well, we're seeing it bearing out in this game right here against the Lions. We knew that the Chiefs were probably going to have a bit of an advantage against that Lions defense, but to see them work at the efficient rate that they did, to see Mahomes continue to improvise, and to see him lean on Travis Kelsey, especially getting him going early and then all the way through the rest of the game and distribute the football.

1:34:43Nick Shook:It was classic Chiefs. And the craziest part about it all to me was the way that they ended the game by doing what the Lions usually do best, which is run the ball with authority to get those first downs. I thought you were going to say fight with the Lions. Yeah. So the game ends with Patrick Mahomes trying to shake the hand of Brian Branch. now. Patrick Mahomes is a sharp guy. Is there an outside chance he knows how salty Brian Branch is in general and it's a little passive aggressive with him there? I don't know. I don't know if he's that next level. Probably not. Brian Branch just passes his hand, which is fine.

1:35:20Juju Smith doesn't appreciate it. Probably says something. And then Brian Branch puts his hands on Juju's face. Juju maybe exaggeratingly goes to the ground and fracas practice ensues. And then I love football because a minute later, both teams are just dapping each other up. Wouldn't be surprised though, if Brian branch gets punished and might even be more than a fine. You just never know. No need to focus on that. When, when you're talking about Kelsey and this chief's offense, yeah, he goes six for 78 tonight. And I thought the pass interference that he drew late in the first half to extend the chief's drive.

1:36:01was really massive on a play where he's going down the sideline. And I think it pointed out all the mismatches tonight that the Chiefs had. Lions missing their two starting cornerbacks, and they will be back later in this season. But ultimately, the Chiefs now have an offense. And I mentioned they haven't looked this good in three years. This is the most they've scored in a three-game stretch since 2022. And it was without their starting left tackle, Josh Simmons. but Jalen Moore, the highest paid backup in the league, comes in. He plays well enough against Aiden Hutchinson and the Lions. And yeah, they had seven drives before that last one shook, and they reached the red zone on six of them.

1:36:43I mean, that is about as dominant an offensive performance as you could have, and they left it so that the Lions basically couldn't make any mistakes, and they made a couple mistakes on offense on a night where their defense just couldn't get stops.

1:36:56Nick Shook:Yeah, there was a stretch in the third quarter that was most concerning to me about, it's just something that you don't see the Lions do, where they went on a decently, it was like a seven-play drive, right? And they started throwing 26. They handed off a couple of times. They get a short pass over the middle to Amon Ross St. Brown. They get a first down and a pass to Jameson Williams. And then the next three plays, they kind of fall apart. And there's a handoff to Jameer Gibbs for a gain of two. Then there's a swing pass to the left that gets absolutely blown up. And then there's a swing pass to the right that goes for one yard and they punt.

1:37:24Nick Shook:And in that sequence, I thought, are the Lions like out of answers for the first time offensively? Cause usually they are such a well-oiled machine. They're in a great rhythm. The chiefs got them out of their rhythm. And the crazy part about that, the strange thing is, is they did it while only pressuring them nine times, 29 % on the night. So the usual strategy to beat the lions is get Jared Goff off a spot. He didn't really get off a spot until late in this game when things got desperate. It's just that, I don't know. I felt like the, the pressure of trying to keep up with the chiefs, which is what they used to be in the Tyreek Hill era.

1:37:55Nick Shook:kind of got to the Lions tonight. Yeah, a little bit. And look, they had a touchdown on the first drive of the game. When the Lions look good on offense, they just look like the best team in the NFL. That first drive, everything is working. Then they go for it on fourth down on the goal line. They throw the ball on a trick play from David Montgomery to Jared Goff. After a long discussion, way after the play, they call the flag and call in the legal formation. So that seven turns into three. And then later in the night, they have a fourth down. Amon Ross St. Brown drops it. And I don't know if that's pressure, but it was the need to feel like you had to play perfect.

1:38:33Because until the end of the game, I was thinking, I was like, how much better could Jared Goff play? He played almost a perfect game. He had a lot of dimes in this game. The touchdown to Jameson Williams was fantastic. The touchdown catch by Sam Laporta was absolutely incredible. like Jameer Gibbs was running to the outside early in this game like for the most part they did well but you had to be perfect because the Chiefs offense was nearly perfect and you mentioned it to end the game with Pacheco they did a lot more under center runs tonight and finally I look at the box score Shooky and the leading rusher for the Chiefs is not Patrick Mahomes we shouldn't be throwing a parade for 12 for 51 from Pacheco but just having like a respectable running game and Kareem Hunt had a couple successful runs too.

1:39:21It was just an average running game with such an upgrade for them. That's all they really need and they had it tonight.

1:39:28Nick Shook:Yeah, a couple of anger runs at the end to finish the game, which I think is important because too often we look at this team as, well, Mahomes is going to have to do everything and he'll distribute the ball, but he's going to have to run. And like you said, he was leading them in rushing. So it was nice to get contributions from both Pacheco and Hunt late in the game and prior to that in key moments. But there was also, it was interesting because I don't think the final score necessarily gives us the full picture of how close this game really was it's just that the lions they didn't run out of steam they just couldn't get past what suddenly became an insurmountable advantage on the part of the chiefs in the fourth quarter but like there's a sequence earlier in this game where they each turn it over on downs they each go for it on fourth down they each having complete passes where i'm like this is i mean these are two fairly evenly matched teams i would love to see now granted josh simmons wasn't out there so that's you know one one feather in the cap of the chiefs i would love to see them play again at some point possibly in the super bowl that's the The only time, Shooky.

1:40:19Nick Shook:The only time it can happen. Where they get both the corners. They get both their corners back and see if that evens things out a little bit. I think it could happen. So it's not just the two corners. And Kirby Joseph left this game, but then went back in. It's Aleem McNeil is still out. He started to practice for this Lions team. And the Lions have talked about, you know, how they're going to get some of their injured players back, unlike a year ago when they did not. The Chiefs, on the other hand, get Rasheed Rice back. They survived this early portion of the schedule at 3-3. And I know they got some tough games coming up, but they have to feel great about where they're at.

1:40:58And they told Chris Collinsworth during the week and Mike Tirico that they feel better about this team at 2-3 than they did last year for most of the year, despite all the wins. And I get it. We see why. At their heart, they're an offensive team, Nick. They don't want to be winning the way that they won a year ago. They're incredibly healthy. They literally did not have an injury designation this week. Josh Simmons missed the game for personal reasons. So they're as healthy as any team in the NFL right now. Chris Jones, the one big weakness that they've had this year is Chris Jones hasn't looked like Chris Jones until tonight.

1:41:37Three quick pressures. Got a hit on Jared Goff on the key third down late in the game. was very active in terms of beating the Lions guards throughout the game. I get it. If I was a Chiefs fan, I would feel better about this team right now, especially in an AFC where Lamar's team is 1-5, Joe Burrow is done and dusted, and it seems wide open.

1:41:58Nick Shook:Yeah, and the weird thing, too, is as I'm running through this in my head right now, I'm thinking, yeah, you want to be an offensive team because that's your identity with Andy Reid as your coach and your background since he's taken over. But I think about when they beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl two years ago, and that was a defensive team. And then I think back to week one and how we haven't really, we didn't see that wasn't the same Chiefs defense. But then you consider tonight and you're like, that defense kind of put that game away for you in the fourth quarter. So I'm come all the way back around to ask you, Greg, is the Chiefs defense like competent slash better?

1:42:27Nick Shook:Or are we still masked by the fact that they can move the ball so well? I don't think their pass rush is great, but every team has some sort of weakness. Like you mentioned, their pass rush tonight wasn't amazing. They had to blitz a lot to get it, But they're a team that's better when they're ahead with Steve Spagnuolo. Compare that, by the way, to the Lions, whose pressure rate tonight was 17.9%. They have nothing other than Aiden Hutchinson in terms of their pass rush. And you give Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid a great offensive line, and you have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Okay, they made a big statement today.

1:43:03We made a big statement, Shook. We served this beautiful week six, I think, with glory. with respect and with a lot of fun for the first time since Sam Darnold, uh, was the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers four years ago. The, the Carolina Panthers are 500 in the middle of an NFL season. I just wanted to say that one, one final time, anything is possible in this season and anything is possible, uh, tomorrow night when we will be recapping Monday night football, we got a double header shook. So let's go. I would say get some sleep, but let's go watch some games and feel as ready as we're going to need to be for that game.

1:43:46Buffalo, Atlanta, Chicago, Washington should be a fun one. We are going live on YouTube after both of those Monday night games finish. It's me and Shook. I can't wait. Week six, it's alive.

1:44:03Jourdan Rodrigue:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.