2026 NFL Week 4 Late and Primetime Games Preview: Undefeated Chiefs-Raiders, Broncos-49ers Banger, and The Best Rivalry in the NFL

21:21Jourdan Rodrigue:It's also, despite using motion, which typically does create extra space on 67 of their 81 rushing attempts on motion runs, the Chargers have just a 40 % success rate. Like, it's just not working. NGS had like almost a cruel stat. I do wonder if sometimes when, you know, they're writing these stats out, if they feel bad, that, yeah, their EPA per play on motion plays through three weeks is the worst of all time. No team has ever been worse on motion plays because they have so many... Casually, of all time. So many different turnovers. in the NGS era, which is the only era that I recognize. I think about how they're running offense to the Chargers and being so conservative, like running on third and five, but then kicking a field goal.

22:11You know, they get to fourth and three, but then kicking a field goal. So like, it's almost like they're like afraid of putting too much on Justin Herbert. I don't even know. And then, you know, you pass on a fourth and short to go on fourth and long later. I thought Herbert was worse last week than I expected when I went back to watch it maybe his most concerning game he was lucky that he didn't have more interceptions I thought he could have had four or five interceptions he's happy kind of like Mike Vrabel about how poorly Drake May is playing this year because I feel like Drake May has taken a lot of heat off Mike Vrabel and Justin Herbert maybe not that much off Herbert you know what I mean because this game especially against the Bills I was like, it's just not a lot of confidence right now.

22:55Jourdan Rodrigue:Do you know what I am keeping an eye on and I thought was a little bit unsettling where some of the quotes coming out of Chargers, the Chargers building, even from Mike McDaniel, who was saying he's spending more time in his office, having more conversations with Justin Herbert. And I'm kind of like, you've all been installing this for several months at this point. you know like this is what what are and so for me you know we said this we don't need to keep going on and on about this we said this last week I think a lot of stuff needs to be simplified they've got to get better up front they've got to execute better at every single position that's what's crazy on offense every single position has to exit yeah you can just do that against the the Seahawks yeah yeah why not coming off a loss at home off a loss to an underdog that they are so pissed off about the way to win is just to to limit the the Seahawks offense which is possible The Seahawks running game has not been great.

23:51Darian Price benched for much of last week's game. So I guess that's one way. He's turning the ball over. That's one way where maybe this Seahawks team is not quite living up to the John Harbaugh or Jim Harbaugh, you know, philosophy of ground and pound that they would like to do. So that's something they will be looking to improve upon. Let's take our first and our last break and come back to talk about the best rivalry in the NFL.

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27:30Back on NFL Daily, week four is special. It's always a special week when the Falcons and the Saints play. year after year, they play classics. And maybe no one pays attention outside of the NFC South, but they were paying attention back in 2006 when the most emotional, most noteworthy version of this rivalry took place. Of course, it was the first home game for the Saints after Hurricane Katrina the previous year. And I love that the NFL put this game in primetime to remember what to me is right near the top of the most memorable moments in the NFL this century. The former St. Morton Anderson is here for most field goals.

28:20Look out! Right through! A kickoff by Steve Gleason! It is scooped and scored by Curtis Deloach! Touchdown, New Orleans!

28:35Man, I watch that now and it gives me chills every single time. It makes me emotional. It's a great call by Tirico. This is an audio medium, but if we kept listening, it's just silence by Tirico and the crowd shots and everything that meant. They made a statue about it. Steve Gleason, of course, has the statue. You know, Curtis Deloach doesn't get his props for landing on that and completing the play. And I'm sure they're going to be remembering that night and just everything it meant. And, you know, someone just that loves that city. You know, you can't say what that game meant to them. And I think about the team in 2005 that Jim Hazlitt coached with absolute grace that went around the country with no home and played their hearts out each and every week, had so many tough losses in the next year for Sean Payton to come in and change this franchise.

29:39We'll just never forget it. So it's cool that that's being remembered on Monday night. But this is a sneaky, fun game that means a lot because it means a lot to the fans and it means a lot historically, but it means a lot to these two teams who are fighting for first place here in the NFC South.

29:55Jourdan Rodrigue:How exciting is that? And also, I know this is your joy game, but it did bring me joy watching Greg talk about that. I know he wore his glasses on purpose today so that none of you watching at home could see behind the frames how earnest Greg and emotional Greg was watching that and talking about that. It is a truly, truly special thing. We're all lucky that we get to see moments like that. I think about those guys, like young guys, Tyler Shuck, for example, you know, getting sort of taught about this as he comes in and takes the helm of that franchise. Such an exciting player. And on the other side of the ball, we got finally what we were waiting for.

30:36Jourdan Rodrigue:Seeing Michael Penix thrive for most of that game in Kevin Stefanski's offense. I was impressed how different he looked and that they looked to previous Michael Penix offenses. is it was 35 snaps under center. His previous high in a game was eight. Like he had never done it. It was mostly quick throws. Oh my God, I even saw him in the pistol once and I didn't throw up. Right. It was mostly quick throws, like under two and a half seconds. So it was the point guard point and shoot that I thought they wanted to a Tungle-Vailoa to be, but he did a good job doing it. And there were throws over the middle of the field and to the perimeter to Drake London as the game got going.

31:17And look, I think Kellen Moore and Brandon Staley are going to test their patience. That's the type of defense that they want to play. OK, you want to go down the field slowly, like go prove that you can do it. And they've got the players in Drake London and Kyle Pitts, who's been pretty quiet and B. John to get that done.

31:36Jourdan Rodrigue:Somebody who is really much more immersed in like draft in the draft process than I am. maybe even you, Greg, can maybe go back and check this because I am suspicious in a good way that I think Michael Penix's release is quicker. I think that his arm looks faster to me as he's getting the ball out. And to me, that's really important because that is, to your point, what Kevin Stefanski wanted. But it's also the confidence that he played with. I am so glad for his sake that he took that extra time that he needed. I know that it stinks to lose and I know that was a disaster and all of that. And to take that extra time to be as mentally ready as he so clearly was to run this offense, to get the ball, to distribute to the skill guys, to make on time throws on target, to make some difficult level throws as well.

32:27Jourdan Rodrigue:A variety of them spread across the field. It's really important for this offense. And he was throwing in a lot of positive down and distance situations because John Robinson not only gave him a lead, but is averaging this season 4.9 yards after contact per carry. Oh, my. I'm sure that's skewed by a few long runs, but it's still absolutely outrageous. And the Saints run defense has been very disappointing this year. They were a little better last week, but they got gassed for that Mike Washington play. And they're a team that likes to play lighter. So the Falcons will take that bet. And they've got Bill Callahan coaching up that offensive line.

33:12It could wind up being...

33:14Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, the Callahan-a-sance. Oh, I like that. That's good. And look, Pennix being back, I think makes this team just much more watchable in general. That's true of the Saints, who I think are one of the better one and two teams in terms of like looking better than their record shows. I feel like they could very easily be 3-0, but they're not. Watching back that Saints game, I thought Tyler Shuck played an excellent game until the fourth quarter, and even the turnovers weren't really all on him, but it all fell apart on them, and I think the Falcons present a sneaky big challenge. They're really well coached on defense.

33:46Not a lot of talent, but they're just sound, and you don't know where they're coming from. I actually think both these coaching staffs are a little underrated, and it's a fun matchup.

33:55Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, it's a good, it's a watch the tape game. it's a oh yeah you see NFC South and these two teams this is going to be another sneaky fun game similar to what you know how the Falcons looked last week and then also the Saints Raiders game watch the tape game kind of a revenge game for Caden Ellis that's true although he also was on the stage before it doesn't matter I just like it he's blitzing all these games are revenge games the reason why it's the best rivalry in the league is very similar to Auburn Alabama or Michigan Ohio State if you're the Saints coach and you go 2-0 against the Falcons, or vice versa, these games do mean more.

34:33And they're like, well, yeah, we didn't have a good season, but we did beat the Saints twice. It really is viewed that way. And then when you look big picture, as we get to our Panthers game on Sunday night, the Panthers are a mess because of injuries. The Buccaneers are just a mess, period. So as... The immortal words of Todd Bowles. As we sit here heading into week four, I think the Falcons and Saints are the best two teams in the NFC South have the best chance to win the division. Just makes it bigger. Everybody's got a shot. Everyone does have a shot.

35:02Jourdan Rodrigue:Which also means nobody has a shot. You never know. You just get to the dance and you could pull off an upset like those beast quake Marshawn Lynch Seahawks when they were a losing team. Let's talk Sunday night football. The NBC crew gets Lions Panthers. Surprise spot for Carolina early in the season. And the Lions are three and a half point favorites for Mike Tirico and Collinsworth in part because of the injury situation. I will break down the injury situation in a minute. Let's get to what's giving you joy with this matchup. Yes, I choose to look at the silver lining for this Detroit Lions team, which is I think that we might get a few weeks to enjoy the Lions offense is so back vibe.

35:46Jourdan Rodrigue:The Panthers, as you'll get to, are decimated by injuries. unfortunately. The Cardinals defense, their next opponent is Porus. The opponent after that is the Packers which I don't even think I have a polite word to use about the Packers right now. And right now the Lions offense is fourth in EPA per play per true media. When Drew Petsing similar to what we just talked about in this Kubiak system of which he is from, finds a guy that he can use in space and all over the formation and the run in the pass game and that guy is Jameer Gibbs. He is going to get the ball a ton and he is and he will continue to do that.

36:20Now you said you couldn't find a polite word. I mean, old potty mouth Rodrigo over here. Do you need one?

36:26Jourdan Rodrigue:Bad. She's getting dangerous here. Bad. Deep in the season. I think Jared Goff is playing good football. Speaking of QB Island coming up. It's going to be a crazy quarterback. He has some complaints for not getting on the initial version. He was 14 of 14 against the Blitz. One thing I noticed from him this year, he talks every offseason that he's really trying to improve on his movement, trying to improve on his ability to make off structure throws. He will never be higher than like a bottom five or eight quarterback in that category. And yet, if I squint hard, I do think I see just a little bit better pocket movement.

37:09There was a play last week, too, where he spun out of a sack to force a fourth and one attempt. and I think he's gotten just like a little bit better. I know he's tried to work on it and I think he's just moving a little better. So there's a little pop for Jared Goff. Let's talk about those injuries for the Panthers. Mike Jackson to injured reserve. That's new. We hit his injury previously. Didn't know he was going to be out about eight weeks, according to Dave Canales. JC Horn to injured reserve. He actually says JC Horn is not out for the season, despite our reporting at NFL Network to the contrary, that he will need surgery.

37:45That would be about an eight to 10-week injury as well and could return.

37:50Jourdan Rodrigue:Tore his quad. But they're saying no surgery. It was expected to be a surgery. Ouch. We'll see. That doesn't sound like the best idea. Bryce Young has a knee injury. He's going to play this week, but he does have a knee injury. Monroe Freeling, their tackle, has a concussion. He's in the protocol. Sounds like some optimism he might get out of it. Xavier Leggett is week to week. There's other injuries. Damian Lewis, another offensive line. He's out. Devin Lloyd was out last week. We'll see. Gail Coker working to the side. It got so bad, they were supposed to run a normal practice on Wednesday. Then they did the, we're going to just run a walkthrough because we need more players out there.

38:30And when I think about this matchup specifically, up front, if Freeling's not there, they gave up so much pressure to Bryce Young. He looked better on film than I expected. It was a tough situation. Four offensive linemen gave up at least four pressures. Their left tackle, Rasheed Walker, who's healthy, gave up nine last week. And that's problematic against a Lions defensive line who I think's building. Like, I think they're getting a little better each week.

38:56Jourdan Rodrigue:I think they're getting a little better each week. Aiden Hutchinson is going to be an absolute menace against this group. You can get tons of yards against this Detroit Lions defense in general. What I liked that I saw from Kelvin Shepard last week, who still wants to blitz regardless of, you know, was I thought his timing for when he called certain blitzes was better last week. I saw improvement there. Obviously, the game ending one as well was really, really important for him. And the Lions defense is particularly susceptible to tight ends in multiple tight end sets in the passing game. The Panthers, as I've celebrated, probably too loudly because I seem to be jinxing everybody this year.

39:39I mean, Darren Waller's done some things.

39:41Jourdan Rodrigue:They've gotten their tight ends so much more involved. So if they lean on that, if they're not fully healthy in the in the receivers room with Jalen Coker as as high production as he is, you know, or even consider maybe Ted McMillan goes back into the slot. And maybe you try to use him and attack the middle of the field where the Lions are just so visibly missing their safeties and still are. And they're going to have to win a shootout because... Sounds like they're looking everywhere for safety help. The secondary for the Panthers. That was their identity on defense. And you're short in terms of your pass rush.

40:16They've been playing Trevon Morrig in the slot. They've actually been trying everyone, which is not a good sign. Like 15 snaps for him, 10 snaps for him. And it's just getting picked on. So they're going to have to just score a lot of points. That's the recipe. I have loved what I've seen out of Chuba Hubbard this season. I think Chuba Hubbard's playing better than he has ever played. They were smart to give him a long-term contract over Rico Dowda. Like, he's a legit weapon in a way that I never expected him to be, where I don't think he's just a replacement-level guy. I think he's a plus-plus guy.

40:44I did think for the Lions, good sign that they got Jamison Williams going last week. They got Isaac Tesla going last week. And their rookie right tackle, Blake Miller, had a really good game dominating David Bailey in kind of a fun, young, rookie matchup.

40:57Jourdan Rodrigue:You're saying Isaac Tesla had a little spark? Hey. I'm a proud owner of a Chevy Spark, by the way. No longer, they no longer make those. What other car do you own? I'm not, I'm not gonna, you know, the Chevy Spark is the one that I really go with. We still haven't hit 3 ,000 miles. A different one. A nice car, you know. Taking a while, I decided to own it. I decided to also have you own the Dolphins-Vikings game this week. Woo-hoo, thank you so much. These are your teams. You can't just... I listened to your episode with Colleen. I heard what you had to say. I felt bad about dogging on the Dolphins, but they're your teams.

41:36You've been a Kevin O 'Connell gal for a few years, a Brian Flores gal, and the Vikings have a chance to go 4-0.

41:44Jourdan Rodrigue:Which is wild considering. Considering a lot of things. Not outgaining a single opponent once. Or even close. 10 and a half points are what they're favored by. Might take Miami there. what's giving me joy is a Miami Dolphin rookie class. And you're right to point this out. And you've talked about Jacob Rodriguez, but here's a good stat for you. He has 15 run stuffs this season. That's more than anyone in the NFL. He has last more, not just more than any rookie, more than anyone, period. So last week he became probably the only player that's managed to get Kenneth Walker to the ground in the backfield all season.

42:23And if you watch that game, you saw their first pick at guard, you know, I think has played well enough. And then they saw production out of Caleb Douglas, a third round pick who's been hurt now the last couple weeks. And then Chris Bell, who I loved his college staple was coming off a torn ACL. He looked like an NFL player. So the vision for the rookie class, which is what this season is largely about, is starting to happen. And the problem is their offensive line who run blocking. It's not really happening for them. I think pass blocking Patrick Paul's played. Well, actually, the offensive line looks pretty good.

42:59But man, what a test this week against Eric Wilson and the Vikings pass rush.

43:06Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, which pressure coming from everywhere or maybe not even happening at all. And then suddenly happening again. And it's just it's going to be that like it will be forever when the Vikings play this year or seems to be trending that way. The toughest psychological warfare matchup you're going to see. That's where I think that maybe Malik Willis, we see more of him in the run game this week, where when he has had opportunities, there was a fumble at one point, but when he's had opportunities for the most part, he's looked great as a running quarterback. He's thrown the ball really well in spurts, some streakiness, but he seems week over week like he's getting more confident.

43:43Jourdan Rodrigue:This is a game where Brian Flores is going to say, okay young quarterback I would like to break your confidence and on the other side of the ball it's not like you know the Vikings quarterbacks like factory or whatever they call it is is putting up any sort of production either so for me I am very curious to see how this goes because the entire crux of the experiment the Dolphins are running this year on offense hinges on two things getting better play out of Kyler Murray and getting a better run game going. And neither of those things have happened yet. No sample size, especially for Kyler, but none of that's happened.

44:20I'm glad you brought that up about the running game. I checked some numbers like they were getting really excited about the zone running game. They've actually been pretty average on everything but zone running, but that's something where you need cohesion. You need cohesion and practice. And they brought that to them and their bottom five in all zone running stats this year.

44:40Jourdan Rodrigue:one thing I did want to shout out is we had Keenan McArdle on power players this week next in the feed Justin Jefferson of course but the standard that Keenan McArdle holds that group to and the way that that room is coached it it really shines a light or clarifies a lot of things I think people have been curious about and if you don't remember Keenan McArdle back in the day a really fun like you thought he was a possession receiver but then he would pull away from you like like a little bit of Chris Godwin vibes back in the day, kind of like a ball knower's favorite as a receiver. You're right.

45:17I'd love to see Jordan Addison's development there. He helped get Jalen Naylor like a big contract. You really will be watching for Kyler Murray's improvement in this game when you are watching it closely. You're not allowed to watch these other games as closely as this one. Kyler Murray, like it's a thing because this team can compete to go deep in the playoffs if they get good play out of their quarterback. We'll see. I mentioned Eric Wilson in terms of the pass rush of the Vikings. I will leave this game with this stat. He led the NFL last year in quick pressures from like non-edge positions with 23.

45:52That's a, that's a ton of quick pressures from like an off-ball linebacker. He already is halfway there. He's at 11 right now. Like Eric Wilson coming from the linebacker spot is getting more production than basically your every, all of your favorite pass rushers in the NFL. and often it's unblocked. So you give Flores the credit there, but that's the kind of defense that they are running that Eric Wilson has better numbers rushing the passer than like the Max Crosby's and the guys who are all making$30 million a year. It is absolutely nuts what this team is doing.

46:24Jourdan Rodrigue:It messes with the timing, the way that he likes to blitz too. And that when I look at, and I think about a Bobby Slowick operation, the offensive coordinator for the Dolphins, I think about all of the times it failed, which is when timing was disrupted because of that type of pressure because of, uh, Kate, like, you know, just like all the little technicalities of, of pre-snap and at snap for an offense getting messed up because of what the defense does. You were right to give them some, some pop last week. That was, that was a one score game against the chiefs that they showed some improvement.

46:54We'll see if they can do it on Sunday.

46:57Jourdan Rodrigue:I'll be watching closely in Minnesota. I'll take you off dolphins duty in week five. That's a, that's a absolute promise. Uh, these games are going to be bangers. I am really excited for it. I'm also excited. Hit that music for Power Players. You hinted at it, Kenan McArdo. That'll be a great interview. That is next in the feed. We also, like we do every week, we'll be recapping Thursday Night Football Live on YouTube. That's myself and Nick Shook. Then it'll be in your ears, in your podcast feed. We love everyone who has helped us to some great September numbers. The bosses are noticing. We love you.

47:33We'll see you next time.

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