Week 8 hangover: Rams get right, Jets impress in a loss & Patriots escape

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2:14He's actually over in LA helping the athletic live crew. He's going to be watching the Bears and Seahawks game. So God bless him for doing that in front of a camera. Today is going to be me, Derek Klassen, along with Dan Pazuda. He's going to be joining me to break down three wonderful football games. We have actually a really cool hangover slate, I think. We have the Los Angeles Bowl between the Chargers and the Rams. That's obviously a weird game. an absolute firework show between the Raiders and the Jets. And then we had one of many slop bowls that we got this past weekend with the Miami Dolphins and the Patriots.

2:44Patriots just barely getting the win there. So let's go get right into it.

2:58It's the week eight hangover. I am normally the co-host for this show. Obviously, Robert is out today. He's perfectly fine. He's just helping our friends over at The Athletic Live in Los Angeles. He will be there in person tonight covering the Bears-Seahawks game. So that's obviously by the time this comes out, that game will already happen. But everybody should tune in for that. That's going to be a really good time. So here to join me is Dan Pazuda. Dan, how are you doing today?

3:21Dan Pizzuta: I'm doing well. Thanks for having me. Yeah, we have a strange collection of games here. I think a very fun collection of hangover games. We have the LA Bowl, which is whatever the Rams are at this point and whatever disgusting thing the Chargers are at this point, which we can talk about them finding new ways to lose games, which they were kind of competitive for the first half and then obviously let it go. We have a firework show between the Jets and the Raiders, which is actually a really fun game to go back and watch. And then on the opposite end, kind of a slot bowl with the weather down in Florida with the Miami game versus New England Patriots.

3:54So we'll start with the one that probably feels the most consequential in some ways, which is the Los Angeles Bowl between the Chargers, the Rams. Rams end up winning that game by multiple scores. Do you have any new or different takeaways from what was going on with the Chargers in this game? Were there any particular frustrations you had? Because, you know, I don't think you and I have really talked about what's gone wrong with the Chargers this season.

4:17Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, I mean, just going into this game in general, if you had told me before the season that Rams Chargers would have been pushed to a hangover game, first of all, and would have been one of the least enjoyable watches of the season also, but that's kind of where it felt. And the Chargers, it's tough because it's hard to pinpoint what exactly is going wrong because everything is going wrong. There's not one thing, and that would be such an easier thing to discuss. and be like there's maybe not as big of a problem as you can see because it would be one easy fix. But especially after a bye coming out and looking like this, like that was kind of my biggest concern where they did try some different things and like some of the motions.

5:03Dan Pizzuta: But see, early in the game, there's still like weird illegal shifts where there's like still two and two receivers in the same spot. That was like a third and four. So it's just, I'm worried about whether this can like really just continue to go on for the rest of the season. Because it's very clear that this offense and the personnel just do not mesh. And there hasn't been any way to kind of fix it or even change it going forward. And so I think that's a really good place to start is that it is really a mix of, I think, the personnel issues and the coaching issues. And obviously how much of that is tangled and how much of it can you untangle is difficult.

5:44I want to start by this. Like, is there a single player on the Chargers offense right now who is an average NFL starter or better? I don't know. Like, I weirdly think actually Elmerian Hampton is playing, like, fine football considering the circumstances. Obviously, the offensive line is terrible. Everyone else, I think, is playing below average football. Like, Joe Alt is not playing well in this game there. I posted it on Blue Sky. He got exploded by Trent McDuffie on a toss play. And, like, listen, man. Trent McDuffie is as aggressive as a corner gets, and he can do that to some guys. He should not do it to your star tackle, who is, you know, in theory, one of the best in the league when he's healthy.

6:23And I think that's the other conversation. Joe Alta, I think, has just clearly not been healthy and not been right this season. I don't think Ladd McConkie is playing very good football. I don't think the tight ends are playing good football. You know, they paid Charlie Kohler all that money this year, and he has not really done a whole lot for them. Justin Herbert is obviously playing well below his level. like all of the talent is really not playing up to their level, even if it was going to be a flawed roster anyway. And then just from a coaching perspective, like I would like your perspective on this too.

6:50Like I feel like the pass catchers in particular are coached so poorly, like where they're going on their landmarks, how they're running some of these routes. Like it just, you can, I understand why Justin Herbert doesn't trust them, even if the ball does need to come out in some of these scenarios.

7:04Dan Pizzuta: Yeah. And that's, that's part of it because it's, it's, there's a timing issue. It's timing issues like both ways. There are definitely plays where Herbert should be throwing something and he wants to wait for it to come open to like actually trust it. But then there's other times where he's trusting the offense where he should not be. And that's we've seen a couple of those terrible interceptions that we've seen throughout the season. He had the one, the McDuffie one was pretty bad where he'd never even, it never even occurs to him that McDuffie might be there for the interception. So there's a lot of things going wrong.

7:38Dan Pizzuta: And when we were thinking about what Mike McDaniel could bring to this offense, even if the talent wasn't there, he was so good at adjusting even on the fly, not just setting up an offense that could work for lesser talent, but adjusting week to week in game. We just haven't seen that. And it kind of feels like at points they're just giving up. They throw their hands up in the air. After Stafford throws that interception to Hebe Still. Oh, dude, this sequence pissed me off so bad. Right. First down, it's a running back screen to Vidal. He loses two yards because Trent McDuffie comes and blows it up.

8:17Dan Pizzuta: Second down is a McConkie screen that loses one yard. And then on third down, they try another screen to McConkie and he just drops it. So it was three screens in a row after you're getting a turnover like that. And it's just it feels like logo. They got this turnover at midfield. You get one play and you can go get points on the board. and they like didn't even try. That is the most frustrating part to me is like execution errors are like whatever. You get a huge swing play in the early game when you are obviously the underdog coming into this. You haven't won a game all season. Let's try to do something like it.

8:52And I understand that they're limited in terms of their personnel and stuff, but like not doing anything beyond the line of scrimmage there was baffling to me.

9:00Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, and it still feels like there's a lot of just miscommunication like between the coaching staff too. There were again, a couple of times in this game where there's a third and short run and it gains one yard or gets stuffed. That brings up a fourth and short deep in Rams territory. And they still kick a field goal. Like that was something pointed out a couple of weeks ago when they had that, where you're calling these third down runs, thinking that you're probably going to go for it on fourth and short. And they're still kicking field goals. And we saw like the offense is just not going to be good enough to pass up points in those areas.

9:33Dan Pizzuta: So there's still just disconnect all over the place. And I just, I don't know how it gets fixed at all because there's just, there's no solution. I'm not sure it does either. Cause again, I think the offensive line is just not really workable for anybody. But then again, I think part of the, part of why this was supposed to work was that Ladd McConkie was supposed to be a good player. Quentin Johnson was supposed to take a step. And I don't think either of those things are true. And you talk about both of the interceptions, like the interceptions were frustrating because the first one to me is him trusting the offense a little bit too much.

10:05and the offense having execution errors. Like they're in like this bunch formation to the right-hand side. And they're trying to create traffic by having an underneath route going from right to left. And then they have Ladd McConkie on this like little vertical stem who, if it's man coverage, he's supposed to get like a little bit of a rub on the safety who's going to go out and cover the speed out. He gets bullied way off of his spot and he can't make the rub and the safety just jumps it. And Herbert's like, well, on the chalkboard, that's what we're creating the traffic for is that that's supposed to be open.

10:33And so he just throws it and it's an interception. Right.

10:35Dan Pizzuta: And in that one, Quinton Lake starts like wind up deep before he's like slowly comes up. So I don't even know if Herbert really saw him creep up to, which is another part where he's trusting the offense pre-snap and not really looking at what's going on afterward. Exactly. Like he's just not doing enough post-snap. And then on his other interception, he has the opposite issue where they run this like little mini boot with him going out to the right hand side and have Charlie Kohler on this like mid-range crosser. and behind it is Quentin Johnson and his eyes first go to Johnson on that backside dig and like that's open it that is the guys in this offense before the the Purdy's you know to a tongue of Iloa Mac Jones uh Jimmy Garoppolo that ball's out every single time and Herbert just like doesn't want to throw it and I don't know if it's he doesn't like the timing he doesn't love how those windows look he doesn't like turning his back and throwing that like I don't know what it is but he's clearly not comfortable throwing those routes in this offense and he turns it down and then he tries to throw to Kohler.

11:31And like you said, he has, it's never a thought in his mind that Trent McDuffie is just going to be in the flat and float up and pick that off. And so it's just, it's everything about this offense. And then it really felt like after that interception, I think the Rams scored like two plays later and the game's just over. Like you're with this team, when you're down two scores, the game is just completely over and they, they just unraveled from there. Yeah.

11:53Dan Pizzuta: And you, you kind of like want to say it's, it's part of the offensive line, some of the offense, but Herbert right now, 31st in EPA per play among 31 qualified quarterbacks. Negative 0.16 EPA per play when not pressured. When not pressured. That's crazy. And Daniel Jones is, I think, 30th in regular EPA per play at negative 0.17. So Herbert's about playing as bad as normal Daniel Jones when not pressured. And he's the only quarterback with negative EPA when not pressured this year. So it's just everything's going wrong. And then you kind of, when we look at the run game, that could help. This is a run game that's not very creative in ways that are getting people open.

12:38Dan Pizzuta: Rams played dime on like almost a third of their snaps. Chargers had nine runs against looks of six or more defensive backs and 11.1 % success rate and 3.2 yards per carry. so when we're coming out in uh these heavier personnels whether it's you know 21 22 12 whatever they're using and the rams are just sitting in in dime or more they're still blowing through this line and there's no space created in this run game too so everything that we kind of thought was going to work it just hasn't yeah they're not getting you should any offense should be able to run against dime a little bit and i know that like the rams are like they built their entire philosophy on doing this and they're good at it but like you should be successful on more than one of nine of your runs against it and so you you struggle to run against these lighter boxes against these lighter bodies and then there were multiple times in this game where it's third and short like late in the first quarter there was a third and one where Jake Slaughter just like jumps off the snap and immediately just whiffs on Puna Ford he's in the backfield TFL and so you lose a third and one there there was right before the the halftime there was a third and three where Slaughter again out of his stance immediately whiffs on the on the d tackle uh on a trap play and it's blown up again and it's like so you can't get your first and 10 runs against like some of these lighter boxes and you can't do any of your short yardage stuff and so the run game is obviously just completely killing them i do want to spend some time on the defense that did win this game because while the chargers they have a litany of issues on offense obviously some of the stuff the rams guys were doing in this game was absolutely phenomenal like we've mentioned him eight times already.

14:14Trey McDuffie was sensational in this game. The interception, I already mentioned him blowing up Joe Alt. He had another play where he was in the slot, and they kind of flip-flopped putting him in the slot and out of the slot, which I think that's how you should use him, obviously. And he made like a run stop in the A-gap, like for a two-yard stop. And I'm like, that's why you want him in the slot, because he will go and get after it in the run game. And so I thought he played sensational, probably his best game as a Ram so far, which is pretty encouraging given he had just come back. And then the other guys, like, I thought the D-line also just played exceptional.

14:48And again, bad Chargers O-line, but like Puna Ford was awesome. Braden Fisk was awesome. Donald had some plays. Like, the D-line dominated this game.

14:56Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, they were so quick off the line, too. Like, there were some times where the Chargers were trying to do something intricate in run blocking and pulling, but the Rams were so quick. There was one play I also shared on Blue Sky where they were trying to pull someone to Aaron Donald. And he wins so quickly and is so surprised that no one touched him that he just falls on his face. But there were also like two guys already in the backfield. So, yeah, this Rams defense is playing really well. Everything just feels connected in a way that's awesome where they can use a lot of this post-snap movement too.

15:30Dan Pizzuta: That works, especially when they're going so heavy in dime on third down. Everyone is playing in their correct spots, and it's really a defense that's starting to come together really well. It's been cool to see because they've been heavy dime all year. They were last year. For the first three or four weeks of the season, it was a little up and down, but the last handful of games they've played, obviously against the Raiders, what they did this week, they've been really, really good out of it. So it's fun that they have such a unique arrow that they can go to in that regard. Let's flip to the other side of the ball really quickly.

16:00The Rams offense versus the Chargers defense. You know what? Do you feel this way about I have a I have a take about the Chargers defense and really their season overall. The Chargers defense has been kind of exactly what you would have hoped coming into the season where they're a little bit worse than they were under Minter. You have some of these growing pains. You know, it's an incomplete roster, but they're not losing this team games. They're like an average defense, which losing a coach as good as Minter, you totally could have lived with that, especially in the early goings of the season.

16:28And so seeing them kind of hang on in this game until, like I said, that second Justin Herbert interception where Rams are immediately in scoring position in the game unravels. They played a pretty decent game, I thought, against the Rams offense. Yeah.

16:41Dan Pizzuta: And the Rams were kind of worried about it, too, especially like the pass rush. They started the game like they were throwing often. I think that is 75 percent pass rate in the first half. But Stafford was getting the ball out so quickly, like over the full game, 2.26 average time to throw. 3.2 yard ADOT like they were not trying anything against and some of that was the personnel that the Rams had too where they were running especially they really shifted first half second half because no Colby Parkinson so they didn't want to run tight end heavy in the first half so they came out heavy in 11 but then shifted to 63 % 13 in the second half and just started running the ball and it was the successful runs where it's 4-5 Yeah, they were grinding them down in the second half.

17:28Dan Pizzuta: And that's where the Rams are going to win. And that they were able to kind of shift into that way was was awesome. And like the Rams have that in their bag. But early in the game, they were throwing, but it was short and they kind of like weren't confident about what they could do against the Chargers defense. And then it just kind of ended up they pivoted to the run and it just kind of was like a drag out game until it really broke open. later in that second half. I want your perspective on this too. Are you frustrated at all that the Rams continue to come out in a lot of these games with pass-heavier scripts trying to get the passing game going when it's like your run game, specifically the duo and insert stuff, is awesome.

18:14And they're doing new stuff. Like Robert was actually talking about on our recap show about the Lions doing some of this like sidecar double insert plays. And it looks a little bit different for the Rams because they do it a lot from under center, but they are running some of these like double insert plays too. They started it last week and they did a couple of them this week. And so they're doing interesting stuff. They're adding layers. The offensive line's great. They have two good running backs now. Like Blake Corum, I think, is playing like exceptional football. It just kind of blows my mind that they continue to be like, no, we swear that we can throw the ball.

18:45And it's like, right now you really can't the way that you thought you could last year, especially without Devontae Adams in the lineup.

18:50Dan Pizzuta: Yeah. And that was the real weird thing. with 75 % 11 personnel in the first half. And when it was, you know, you're playing Mumford and Tutu Atwell, the emotional support Tutu Atwell for Sean McKay. He got a big play, I'll give him that. He caught the deep pass, which was great. And that was really like their one explosive downfield. It was like their one attempt. Like they didn't even try to throw downfield against this team. So it was very weird where they were trying to establish the pass but knew they couldn't do much with it. So I'm not totally sure how that connects in a way where they thought it was a good idea, but I'm glad they did pivot at halftime and just said, let's get heavy in and run the ball because they can't really stop it.

19:35The only thing I'm thinking now, like as we're kind of talking through this is they know that they're a great running team and they know that even despite their record, they're probably going to make it to the playoffs and they'll probably be okay. And so now I'm wondering if this is a situation where they're just trying to see what works in their dropback passing game, especially now that Devontae Adams is not out there and they're going to have to piece these things together in a little bit of a different way. And so I wonder if this is just a little bit of a midseason crisis, just trying to find something that when they get to crunch time and they've got to play Seattle a couple times at the end of the season and they're obviously going to be in the playoffs.

20:09And so I'm wondering if this is them just trying to find like, okay, can we do enough in the passing game to support what is still one of the best running games in the league and a defense that is already one of the best in the league and is going to get Myles Garrett back at some point.

20:21Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, it's kind of wild. The Rams are still six in offensive DVOA and six in defensive DVOA. And they're 30-second special teams, but that's something that's probably just never going to be fixed because Rams. But to get back to your point, I think they kind of have like three weeks where they can figure that out because their next two games against Washington and Arizona, and then they have their bye. and I think they might be using those games to figure some stuff out because right after that through the end of the season goes Packers Chiefs at Niners Cowboys at Seahawks at Bucks Seahawks so if they're going to figure something out it does need to happen in these next two weeks and over the bye that is that is a brutal schedule I mean the worst team there is probably the Cowboys who like I know their offense has been frustrating but like they can still have their days where they come out and they can drop 30 on you if you want.

21:15And so if that's the easiest opponent that you've got, it's going to be tough. Did you have any sort of lasting impressions of this Chargers defense at all? Because, again, I think it's being muddied by the fact that this team is now, you know, 0-7 and the offense is playing terrible. But I actually think that their defense is doing some things well. It's still an imperfect roster, but like they are playing reasonably well, given that the offense does absolutely nothing for them. They have a new defensive coordinator and it is an imperfect roster kind of the way that it was last year.

21:44Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, and especially playing without Derwin James for as long as they have, too, who has been a skeleton key piece being that slot player. Yeah, they're playing okay. I think they're in the high 20s or low 20s, I guess, in DDOA. So they've been okay. But again, we kind of expected that. The offense was what we had the high expectations for. So they're figuring some things out. And when they are put in such bad situations because of this offense, it's really hard to play good defense too. Yeah, because again, like they, one of the last scores in this game is them just getting kind of completely screwed by the interception.

22:21I do wonder, and obviously it's not going to matter because this team is out of the playoff hunt, all this stuff. Derwin James being back, I do think would like kick them up such a high gear one because he's such a just great player in and of himself. But the safety play other than Derwin James on this roster is horrendous because I like a lot of the other pieces they have. Like, I think the corner play is nice. Like, obviously, Tareem still makes a really nice play on that interception early, and they had some other defensive plays. The front, I think, is, like, legitimately pretty good. Like, Tuli Tuli, Pelotu, Khalil Mack are playing at a really high level.

22:54Mesidor has been fine. The linebackers are okay. The safety play is just like on the Blake Quorum touchdown run, Elijah Molden. It's one-on-one in the gap, and he just, he's got nothing for it. And Quorum just makes a really great play. And just you see too many moments like that from him specifically, but also I think from a lot of the other safeties they've got.

23:13Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, yeah, it's tough. And when you have a guy like Derwin, even though he was playing mostly in the slot, you're still able to just move pieces around in a way where the safety play isn't as important. And you're not putting such an emphasis on those guys that they have back there yet. But it has been certainly tough. Yeah, so one of many frustrating games from this Chargers team this year. Before we move on, let's take a quick break. NBA Cup season is back. When you turn on the games and check out the courts, turn on The Athletic Live on YouTube. Become part of the show in the interactive chat along with hosts Zach Harper, Kofi Yeboah, and The Athletic's Slam Dunk NBA staff.

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26:43No, let's go to our fireworks game. Let's do Raiders, Raiders jets. This game was this was hoops. This was old man hoops, man. The two quarterbacks, I thought the two offenses were playing out of their mind. I know they lose this game, but like Geno Smith in particular was just chucking it and had like zero reservations. How much fun did you have going back and watching this game?

27:04Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, man, this was a blast. I was kind of hoping this ended up on the hangover for the reason to actually dive into it. These players were second and fourth in EPA per play this week. And probably not what we would have expected going into Raiders-Jets. But yeah, man, this was fun. Jets scored on 70 % of their drives. I think we'll get into why they lost in that. But they were just the sixth team since 2020 to do that in a game. but they were able to move the ball and have found some success with a couple of points. A.D. Mitchell, I did not think he had this type of game in his bag. The way he's able to now just play with precision and timing that I just did not think he could have as a prospect and even early with the Colts, where he was running to open space, not always where he was supposed to be, but they really trust him right now.

27:59Dan Pizzuta: They were a bunch of deep outs that they had in this game. there was the one long play that he had he's comes off like it ends up being like a long like cheat motion that they end up and they use that to to break it out and so I think there are a lot of things especially in this Jets offense that have been pleasantly surprising even though the wins haven't been there I couldn't agree more like yeah the the wins have not been there I think the defense has had some bad games and like some of their worst games have happened to coincide with like really good jets offensive games and they've like been wasted like I think of the Lions game like stuff like that where the offense has had some of these moments but I'm glad you mentioned Mitchell because I do think coming into this season I think it was fair to question like what is a Frank Reich offense really look like in 2026 especially with the quarterback coming off of a really tough season last year and Geno Smith obviously with the Raiders did not play up to his standard and I think what we've seen like this game was for a lot of reasons I think what it was supposed to look like where they are a vertical downfield passing offense because I think Mitchell that's what Mitchell wants to do like if you are running him almost purely on deep outbreakers post go balls it's like he that's the stuff that he's really good at and Geno Smith is really willing to throw it those are some of his best throws and not only is that a good fit for what Mitchell does it kind of allows Garrett Wilson to do the stuff that he is best at and you can move him around a little bit more and he doesn't have to be a pure vertical threat for you.

29:26So you've got all that. Kenyon Sadiq, I think, has done some stuff for them. Mason Taylor obviously had a great week last week, but I think he even did some stuff in this game. And so you get all of that on top of, I think the biggest issue with Geno Smith last year is that he's a quarterback at this stage in his career where he's just not very mobile, but he's going to stand on his spot and make throws. And so if you're getting pressured too much, he's just taking hits in the face mask while he's trying to throw a covered route. and it's going to end up in interceptions. This year, I think they're doing a decent job of getting guys open, but their pass protection, for the most part, I think has been pretty excellent this year.

29:59And so you're just seeing them be able to play a lot of their best ball.

30:03Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, and this was the second lowest pressure rate that he had this season. First was when he had that really good game against Tennessee in the opener. So when he is in this game, I think 60 % success rate when he wasn't pressured, 20 % success rate when he was pressured. That's just kind of who Gino is at this point. But to go back to your point about the offense and like moving things just in the way they trust things to get open, third and 10 on their second drive, they have this great concept on a trip side where they got two verticals that clear out Omar Cooper Jr. with a ton of space. But Geno goes right to an out to A.D.

30:39Dan Pizzuta: Mitchell. It still picks up 17 yards. So the fact that they have a wide open concept on one side that they just, those didn't exist for the Jets at all last year. Or Geno to an extent in Las Vegas. But he still is able to go to the isolated side, go to A.D. Mitchell, have that trust for 17 yards on third and 10. Like that was just something there. It feels like an offense that is finding its groove and the players are kind of just playing the way they're supposed to. a hundred percent like they just they just did so I thought some interesting stuff in terms of undressing some of the Raiders coverages in this game like one of the touchdowns they threw down the left seam where they were in like the high red zone it's like they had trips to the right side and they know that they're going to get a lot of teams if you play like a tight split receiver by himself they'll just press coverage on that guy we don't want him on eyes we just like just go and get him buddy and because they're trips to the right side the free safety shading a little bit the other way and Gino just rips it down there and like they were able to do some stuff like that they had another play where they had like a little push motion to take the two and push him out to the one and so the corner expands with him and Gino immediately knows it's covered two and he throws the end breaker under it and so like they're just doing some I think good stuff offensively uh in the passing game Gino Smith I think is playing well they've got all these pass catchers the other thing I want to mention their run game kind of rocks their run game is good man Like they do some really good stuff.

32:00There was even a play, obviously the offensive line absolutely whips ass, but there was a play late in the second quarter where Tommy Eichenberg is on the line of scrimmage for the Raiders. He's one of their linebackers. They do this a ton, especially with Clay Walker, but also with Eichenberg a little bit. And Jelani Woods, they're tight in three, just like takes him and rips him to the ground inside and springs this run to the outside. And you just saw a bunch of stuff like that from them in this game where they were really able to manhandle this Raiders front, which we can talk about too. And I would love your perspective on this.

32:31The Raiders defense was kind of fun for three weeks and they have since been terrible. So what did maybe you see in this game that has kind of been part of their downward spiral over the last few months?

32:43Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, it was it felt like a lot of what they were doing early was a lot of some of those exotic things where they had a lot of guys mugged up. And I think the longer that's played out, the harder that has been to sustain. I think they really were like, we're working Quay Walker a little bit in the run game, just using a lot of like emotion things to create some open running lanes in the passing game too. So I think just when they have all of that going on with a lot of the misdirection that some of these offenses are just kind of weaponizing against them now, it's been real hard. And for as much as I like the young secondary too, Like this is still a very young secondary with with masses.

33:24Dan Pizzuta: You know, I think Trayden Stukes is like makes at least like one flash play per game when he's out there. So it's a lot of fun. Sadiq was really good. Yeah. In the red zone. Yeah. But again, these are guys that are like first, second year when Darian Porter's out there. It's it's still a very young secondary that I still think needs to develop a little bit before they can really sustain over a full season. Yeah, I totally agree. It was them like it felt like they jumped on teams doing some just interesting stuff and kind of had some good ideas. But you're starting to feel that this is a team that still lacks a little bit of talent.

33:57And they're kind of getting by with what they have at D-Tackle right now. Like Fatoukasi, I don't think, played a very good game. Like their D-line. And I think if you're going to have some struggles on the interior, which I think they were playing overall better earlier in the season, puts a lot more stress on these linebackers. And Quay Walker is good at some things. Obviously, he's long. He can play on the line scrimmage. he can hit his eyes I think can lead him astray every now and then and Kobe Dean I think kind of has the opposite issue where I think he sees the game well and he's really aggressive but there are just times where you're reminded that he's small like there was a weak zone play early in this game where Donald Parham the left guard just like kind of takes him and moves him out of the way and they spring this huge explosive run and it's like if you're gonna play from this is I think the other issue to me they play from so many light boxes and neutral boxes compared to a That's cool when you're the Eagles or the Seahawks and you have monsters at defensive tackle who are really able to clean up a lot of room for you.

34:55And especially in the Seahawks case where you have all these edges who are really good edge setters. The Raiders edge setters are fine, but if the D tackles are not going to play at that level and the linebackers are a little bit more specific, you're just going to end up losing in all these concepts. Like they play out of light boxes more than almost anybody. And they are a bottom 10 team doing so by EP or by rush yards allowed over expected according to next gen. And so it's like it's just a losing formula if you're going to give up that much in the run game.

35:23Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, it's tough. And we've seen some of these like newer defensive coordinators try to do some of the Fangio stuff, but not have the same types of players. And that's when you see them start to get into trouble. And yeah, they just don't really have the defensive line to hold up in that way, especially against a Jets offensive line. Like you said, that's been playing really well. They have guys who can move. I think pretty much the entire line is playing really well. And Braylon Allen is awesome. And he sees everything so well and then is able to just cut up the field. And he's been really fun.

35:59Dan Pizzuta: And it's going to be interesting when Brees Hall gets back because I don't know if I'd be wanting to take Braylon Allen off the field as much as that would be necessary. I kind of agree. Like, I think Brees Hall has when he's healthy, he has a little bit more giddy up in the open field. But like Allen, for a player who is his size, has such unbelievable like fluidity and mobility and change of direction. And like you said, like his vision, like he's just a very clean runner. and when you have an offensive line that like creates a lot of space for you like it kind of just makes sense uh to kind of let him do it do his thing and so I will be interested to see how they kind of split the carries when he comes back or if like there there are a lot of teams looking for running backs right now if the Jets think that like you know they don't know what their future is over the next couple years like getting rid of one of those guys and letting them go be the star back somewhere else I think makes a ton of sense to me yeah and to jump in like that's what makes some of their short field goals so much more frustrating and i think we can talk about that because that's that's why the jets lost this game right because they were just so willing to kick short field goals deep in uh the raiders territory and i think zach rosenblatt got a quote i think this this morning uh when asked and glenn said that was a decision we wanted to make those field goals had no bearing on why we lost the game i would argue that that's not how that works i'm Giving up potential to get points will make you lose the football game, actually.

37:25Dan Pizzuta: And then I'm going to stand on going for the field goals in that situation. So, like, also, it's bad. But also, if we ever think that coordinators are just extensions of old head coaches, how you can come from a Dan Campbell-led team and be like, now we're going to kick some 25-yard field goals. That's kind of mind-boggling to me. And that's been one of the bigger issues with the Jets all season, where even when some of the things work, this offense played so well. I think they led the league in EPA per play this week. It's just the game management types of things just continuing to kind of like cut the kneecaps and putting yourself in a disadvantage because you're not handling those situations correctly.

38:07A hundred percent. That is another small reminder. Dan Campbell's an offensive coach like that dude played tight end. Like he he wants to be out there and let the offense give, you know, do their thing. And I do think particularly in this game for the Jets, like I think that there are some games where if the if the opposing defense is just kicking your ass and maybe yours is playing well, totally get it. This was not a game where your defense wasn't playing very well, which we can talk about it in a second. And then you were kind of you were moving the ball exceptionally well on their team. Like you got you don't think you can get another couple of yards like I just some of those moments frustrated me.

38:39But like I just said, Jets defense, I think struggling in this game, which again, they were another team where I think the first couple of weeks during the season, it was like, OK, Jets defense, like they're showing some stuff. And I think as the year's gone on, they have also been a team that has fallen off a little bit. And I think the Raiders had a really good bounce back game against them. So what were you seeing, I think, from the Raiders offense that was able to kind of expose what has been a struggling Jets defense over the last few weeks?

39:04Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, I think, and one of the fun things about this Raiders team is there are just so few defenses in the league who I think can just stick with their personnel for an entire game. The way they are running out of 12 so often, they're using 11 on 9 % of their plays over the full season. It's insane. And when you were just weaponizing Bowers in the way that they are all over the field, even if you treat him as a slot receiver, it's still Brock Bowers as a slot receiver. And I think that was a real big issue in this game. And the Jets, for some reason, and I guess if you're looking at the wide receivers, it makes sense.

39:46Dan Pizzuta: They played their highest rate of band coverage that they did in any game this season. and when you're out I think we saw it a couple weeks ago with when the Raiders played the Patriots too Marcus Jones was left on Brock Bowers a lot in man coverage and you just don't want to you shouldn't be wanting to do that willingly as a defense so I think they were just kind of suckered in by not having a lot of wide receiver talent and thinking they can just man up maybe crowd Bowers but the way he's used and moved around and the way he motions all the time you just can't do that. So there's just always an opening somewhere.

40:21Dan Pizzuta: And I'm really surprised of how much the Jets thought they could win in man coverage because it just didn't work. And I think part of the thinking there is, and to be clear, I don't agree with this line of thinking because Brock Bowers is great. I think part of the line of thinking is like, we'll play man coverage and we'll have a rat, we'll have a robber, we'll have somebody that takes away a lot of these because they do run a lot of crosses with Brock Bowers. Well, they also run a lot of outbreakers and corner routes because he will just bully you and be able to win on those routes. And I think Kirk Cousins, to his credit, is throwing them really well right now.

40:50Like the first Bowers touchdown, he's on the right hand side and they shift him from right to left and it shows man coverage. I think Jarvis Brownlee was the corner who follows him. And Bowers doesn't get like open, like he doesn't separate, but he just bullies Brownlee on the route and he's got like a half step over the top. Kirk Cousins lays it out there and he makes a play and it's like, yeah, if you're just going to try to crowd the middle, he's just going to run an outbreak into the pylon and beat you.

41:15Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, he was pretty well covered on that. I think he caught it one-handed too, which is just things that Brock Bowers is going to end up doing. Exceptional player, one-handed, falling to the ground, like what a player. Yeah, just the way they are moving him around in the first play of the second half, an under center play action. Also weird, I think the Jets didn't have the right personnel on the field. They have someone on the first play of the second half running off the field before the play starts. So already kind of in disarray, but then it's just a 27-yard dig off a play action. Third and five, they have Bowers isolated left, and he just runs straight through Brandon Stevens and gets a hold that extends that drive.

41:59Dan Pizzuta: So it's just there's so much going on, the way they're just kind of moving him around. There's no right plan to stop him, and I think we kind of saw that in this game too. Yeah, unless you got one of those dudes at corner or at safety, you know, like a Derwin James, whatever it's going to be. Unless you have one of those, it's there's really not a whole lot you can do, I think, about Brock Bowers. Because we've seen in other games previously where like they'll have some of these bigger corners who can press on him and he still just finds a way to like make a catch outside of their radius. He's he's incredible.

42:30I'm glad you bring up that right out of the first or right out of the half to play that they throw to Bowers where they catch him on that deep end breaker for the left. Because that goes to another thing I kind of want to talk about and was really impressed with this Raiders offense this week. Their offensive line, I thought, played a really good game in pass protection. And they had a couple of like you just lose some one on ones like Will McDonald had like three or four just like holy shit type of reps in this game. But he's a good DPR like he's going to do that to you. But I was really impressed by some of the stunts and games and twists that the Jets were trying to throw at them.

43:03I thought the Raiders picked him up exceptionally well. I particularly left guard Spencer Burford. Like on that play, he does a really, really good job of not getting beat by the twist. There were a handful of plays, especially on the first couple of drives where they did that. So with Kirk Cousins, the game right now is like if he's clean, he legitimately is playing like a top 10 quarterback. And if he's not, he's like unplayable. but they did a really good job, I thought, of keeping him clean. And Tai, you end up scoring as many points as they did on the day.

43:30Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, he's just, he has such trust in this offense in, like, a great way where he knows something's going to get open, like trust that a Bowers is going to be there and a Michael Mayer. Like, having this type of big personnel is really helpful to what Cousins wants to do because there's just always going to be, like, someone in the middle. And to go back to, like, and Kirk Cousins sneaks in this game. Like, crazy, there was, he had the, what did he have, sneak for a touchdown? And then they had one where it was like a third and two. It was like a really long, or it might have even been three. It was like a really long sneak.

44:09Dan Pizzuta: And they just pushed him forward. So the fact that they have trust in the offensive line to do that, because it wasn't a great overall run game. And do we want to get to the Mike Washington-Asher-Gente split here? What do you make of that? What do you make of what's going on here? I mean, Gente has just, he's not played well. So outside of being like the sixth overall pick, he's not a guy that you would say we need to get going because he hasn't looked all that spry. Although on the long catch and run that he had, that was a real fun design. Sherwood's like mugged up. He drops and tries to run across her with Bowers.

44:50Dan Pizzuta: And then Linderbaum was going to block Sherwood. But then there's just no one there. So he's already out in space. So it clears it for Gentry. But I think Mike Washington is, in terms of the run game, just a much more decisive runner. And I think with an offensive line that you're still figuring out what this run game is going to be, that's just a much better situation to be able to have when you're running on some of these early downs. where you just need a more decisive runner and you're not necessarily doing the Gentry a little inpatient and then trying to get an explosive. That's not going to work behind what this version of the Raiders run blocking is.

45:32Well, and I also think too this to me is such a clear... I think Gentry has not been healthy all year. He obviously came into it with the ankle thing and I think his playstyle being so like you're mentioning where it's very bouncy he's kind of waiting for the right opportunity and boom him I'm gonna go well if you can't explode out of your cut when you're doing that it's not gonna work you're not gonna go anywhere and so I think between the offensive line not giving him that many opportunities him being that kind of runner him not being explosive out in space I think he's had issues really making guys miss which that was supposed to be his whole thing coming out of college so I think next year if he looks healthy there's a totally different conversation we can have about like maybe he can look good again for this year specifically I think you're totally right like Mike Washington even if an imperfect runner is more decisive he is more explosive there's a chance that he can do something for you and I think the reason I think what's interesting now is like they took Gentry off the field a lot for their run stuff they still clearly like him as a passing down player because I think he knows where to be as a pass catcher his hands are good he can pass protect a little bit well Mike Washington doesn't really give you as much of that and so they're just in a weird spot now where they are playing a clearly hampered player because they just don't feel like they have another passing down back who is of that caliber, which like they kind of did like Dylan Lowby's not bad at it.

46:51I just I think that they are trying to keep Gentile on the field because in theory, he is a more threatening player, even if in reality he really hasn't been.

46:58Dan Pizzuta: Yeah. And that's just such a big piece of the Raiders offense where the run just still needs to be a threat. Right. So in this game, Cousins, 40.6 percent play action rate. and the Raiders had a run action of like runs and play action of 73.3%. Like that's their offense. Like over three quarters of their plays have to have some kind of run action. So it has to at least be a threat. And when Gentry is kind of stumbling behind the line, losing, getting stuffed on some of those plays that he has and not as explosive, you can't use that as the basis of your offense. So playing it safer, even if, you know, you might in theory love to get your sixth overall pick going.

47:42And as a, you know, functional piece of this offense,

47:46Dan Pizzuta: you just can't really risk it right now because it's going to derail the whole thing and set you back. And the thing that you don't want is Kirk Cousins in third and long. Exactly. Like if we got a bench, you know, soft bench our sixth overall pick so that we protect the ecosystem of the offense, which like, again, like when Kirk is protected, he is legitimately playing like a top 10 quarterback right now. like the offense is awesome. Bowers is out of his mind. Michael Mayer also, by the way, made a couple of really insane catches in this game. Like he had a diving one over to the left side that was like, okay, that was really impressive.

48:18And so I think that this was, I think we can kind of wrap it up on this game by just saying that like, this game was a reminder that these two offenses are kind of oddities, but they can be really good. And they are just teams that I think have been largely sunk by what their defenses have been over the last month but it's one of those games that like completely inconsequential but this is one where I just loved waking up and watching what those two quarterbacks were able to do.

48:44Dan Pizzuta: Yeah yeah it was it was a lot of fun I think they need specific circumstances to play the way they did but the opposing defenses gave them that and the fact that it was in a game against each other about as fun of a rewatch as you can get. Yeah the really good fantasy offenses I guess if you have anybody other than Ash and Gentry. Before we move on to our last game let's take one more quick break on its black friday sale doesn't start until later this month but our listeners get in early if you're new to on it go to on it.com and use code tafs for 30 off your first order starting today if you've never tried on it start with alpha brain it's their daily nootropic built to support focus memory and mental clarity on days when you need to be locked in whether that's powering through a tough workout, staying focused during back-to-back meetings, maybe exhaustively researching and prepping for an NFL podcast, just an idea.

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51:48a very different football game that was played uh one of two slot bowls uh that were played in florida yesterday obviously bucks the bucks game was a literal hurricane it felt like the the miami new england game was more of just like you know not as insane rain but the pats did struggle i think to move the ball obviously in the first half they do end up winning this game comfortably like by a couple of scores. And so despite some of the conditions, they still pull out the win. What did you think about the Patriots kind of slow rolling in this game before they ultimately go on to win 24-19?

52:20Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, it was actually like really nice to see. And it was something, especially early in the season, that I'm not, you like really wondered if they had in their bag for Drake May to really stand under pressure and push the ball down the field. They did that, I think sometimes we have like a Josh McDaniels offense where things are starting to crumble and like he crumbles up a little bit and plays it like super, super safe. And I think that's what they did in the first half, 3.6 yard ADOT in the first half, while May was pressured on 64 % of his drawback. So they were not really trying anything.

53:01Dan Pizzuta: You switch to the second half, May jumps to a 9.6 yard A dot, still pressured 42 % of the time. But he was just managing the pocket so much better and felt really in control that we did not see the first three weeks of the season. Have seen more so these past couple weeks. So I think that is really nice to see going forward because the Dolphins were able to create some pressure. They were doing a lot of fun things with stunts, completely taking advantage of this makeshift Patriots offensive line that definitely had some issues either passing off stunts or just straight up one-on-one in pass protection.

53:37Dan Pizzuta: But the fact, especially in the second half, that they just had the comfort in May sitting back in the pocket trying to rip some passes without any of his good pass catchers was also really nice to see. And what I want to see gives me more optimism for what he is, again, going forward. I also was like, I think the offensive line stuff, you know, that they come into this with already two backup guards and then they put in Ben Brown in the second half. Like it was just because they came into this game with Matt Pryor and Walter Rouse playing their two guard spots. Rouse eventually gets moved off the field for Ben Brown.

54:13And I think that actually was part of why the offense played a little bit better in the second half. I actually thought Brown did some stuff. Like there were a couple of plays where him and Will Campbell were just moving whoever the three technique was ahead of them. Like there were a handful of plays where they were just doing a really good job on some of those combo blocks and really allowing some space for the running backs. And so still a very imperfect offensive line with those guard situations, but they were at least able to move the ball a little bit. I think you're totally right, though, on them still struggling in pass protection.

54:44And I think what's funny is like earlier in the season, I thought the Josh McDaniels offense was having issues in pass protection schematically. like teams were just finding a way to get all these free runners and they just could not win the numbers game and like Seattle obviously picked them apart but they had some struggles the next couple of weeks as well I think that's been less of an issue over the last three or so weeks I think they've actually done a better job of making sure that you know the back's going to the right place and we've got answers with our tight end we're doing some interesting stuff we're doing more full slide like all this stuff the problem in this game was just like guys just not exactly winning a lot of their one-on-ones or like you were mentioning sometimes they were throwing some of these twists and stunts and like Walter Rouse, the backup left guard, just has no idea that Uche's coming around.

55:27And it's like, well, it's technically blocked up on the chalkboard, but he just doesn't know what his eyes are supposed to be doing. Yeah.

55:34Dan Pizzuta: And then there was one early in the second half that was a sack on third and six where they're all sliding to the left. Zach Seeler gets doubled. Stevenson and Matt Pryor then both leave to take on Jordan Brooks, who's stunting. and then Siler gets free and then Chop Robinson also beats Morgan Moses. So there was just like, there were plays like that where pretty much everything went wrong, but then they were just able to just get enough. I think May was just playing a little quicker, getting out of the pocket a bit. And so I'm happy that they found adjustments because those first three weeks, they were not, they're playing so much better right now.

56:13Dan Pizzuta: Drake May is one of four quarterbacks now who for the season has positive EPA when under pressure. and that's with Alan Mahomes and Caleb. It's pending how Monday night football goes. Pretty good company. That's a pretty good group of quarterbacks. So I think he's just playing so well right now and the difference between what he's done over these past couple weeks to how the season started is awesome and I think this game was really just a great example of that. I agree and I'm glad you mentioned the resilience because I think, obviously, I believe in Drake May at an extremely high level. I think he's an awesome quarterback and has been even coming out of college.

56:49But you were right. Like, I think the first three weeks of the season and obviously, you know, what he was at the very end of last year was like when games started to get away, mistakes started to happen. They would snowball on each other and the game just got away from him. And that very well could have happened in this game. Like, I don't think he was making mistakes necessarily in the first half, but like you mentioned, pressured all the time. One or two throws maybe don't go his way. They're not really being aggressive. I can see how you start to get into like, Like, oh my God, we're losing to the Dolphins at halftime mode.

57:18And he really didn't. Like, he was just able to stand in there strong. Like, a couple of the throws that he makes, like, the big Kyle Williams touchdown that he makes where they're kind of strong rotation cover three. And he's like, well, Kyle Williams is going to be across the free safety's face. And he just rips that one. Like, he just, he was willing to hang in there and play a very controlled and poised football game, which I think I always believed he could. But, you know, given how that seven game stretch at the end of last year into early this year, it was like maybe he does struggle with that stuff.

57:48And I would say the other thing, like on top of him having the resilience over the course of the game to stand strong with that, I actually thought there were a number of times in this game where even on a play to play basis. Right. He could be very even last year, just like a little bit too scatterbrained and like wants to make a play all the time. I actually thought in this game there were like four or five instances where Pockets getting a little bit crumbled and he doesn't have what he wants and maybe he wants to throw the check down and he kind of just throws it at the guy's feet and he's like we'll move on whereas last year he tries to make the hero play and make it fit in there and it gets tipped up and it's intercepted and it's like we don't need to risk a pick for four yards when you're under pressure like let's just move on and I actually thought that this was a good game of him understanding what it was going to actually take to just win this game.

58:32Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, it does feel like he's so much smarter and more confident in the offense, like you said, that there are plays that you can get back. And I think Jordan Love is the most player like that, where it's like, we're going to try some things, and if it doesn't work, we're going to get it back in a couple plays. He can men in black erase himself after every play. He does not care what the previous result was, good or bad. Yeah, and there was a fourth and three late in the second quarter where Chris Johnson has a straight free shot at him, and he just kind of o 'ways him. I'm not totally sure. Chris Johnson, probably not very used to blitzing as the outside corner, and just completely misses him, but May just kind of o 'ways him and has a completion to chish him for 12 yards.

59:24Dan Pizzuta: It's just things like that that have just compounded week over week for May, and he's just playing super well. He's still getting, all right, so since week four, first in EPA per play, first in average depth of completion, which, again, completely different from what he was. Right. This looks so much like what was going well with that offense last year. He's still pressured 43.2 % of the time, which is 28th, but 9.2 % pressure to sack rate, which is fourth since week four. So he is, and that was not something that was happening last year. Even when he was playing well, he still had a pretty high pressure to sack rate.

59:58Dan Pizzuta: He was still taking a high number of sacks. He's just, you know, the defenses haven't been as good, so not quite as tested. But again, that still wasn't really what was happening last year. So the fact that he's now added this to his game is really exciting to see going forward. Yeah, I've just, again, obviously last year was so good, but the fact that little things to his game continue to be added on, I think is super impressive. Another young player I want to shout out on this Patriots offense before we can flip to the other side a little bit. Eli Raritan is like for real, man. Like he is some of the pass catching stuff.

1:00:31He does is great, but I thought as a blocker, he just absolutely kicked ass in this game. Like they were running this same side, like split zone inside split inside zone gun concept and where they would have Eli Raritan, like they would kind of run it to his side and he would have to climb up and go fit on the linebacker multiple times. He's just taken out Jacob Rodriguez, who has been a really good rookie on the other side for a lot of this season. And so I just think his movement as a blocker is really impressive. He gets to the right landmarks. He takes on guys really well. And he's not like the strongest guy in the world, but he's more than strong enough to like be a really, really consistent blocker.

1:01:07So he's just a guy where like that is a real deal. Why tight end in the NFL? Like I'm excited about what he can be.

1:01:13Dan Pizzuta: Yeah, I think the size and the strength was what I think some people knocked him for. But he was a decent enough blocker at Notre Dame where they kept him in to block on a lot of plays. Like when a lot of other tight ends would have been using free shots on play action, Notre Dame kept him in at a super high rate. And then he was, because he got out so infrequently, he had all of these explosive plays off play action. So the fact that that's starting to come together, I loved him coming out of the draft. So the fact that that's starting to really come together, they're trusting him because he's played well, also out of necessity.

1:01:49Dan Pizzuta: And those two have combined. He's going to be a fun player in this offense, too. Yeah, I'm interested to see what the offense can be if their receivers ever get healthy or good at any point. But we'll worry about that at Thanksgiving or whatever. Let's flip to the other side of the ball. I think I want to start big picture and then we can talk a little bit about this game specifically. What have you made of the Dolphins offense overall? Because I think, you know, the last couple of weeks, it feels like they're finding a little bit of something and getting some guys healthy out there. Yeah, it's fun and frisky.

1:02:18Dan Pizzuta: There are ways in the run game where they feel more Mike McDaniel than the Chargers do. I think early in the game, they had just kind of one of those like McDaniel tosses to the outside that worked pretty well. So there, again, this is like one of those teams that it's frisky and playing above what their talent is. And it's a lot of young guys. We all knew that. But you can see something kind of everywhere. Like Caleb Douglas has made a couple of nice plays. The deep touchdown to Kevin Coleman late in the game was a lot of fun. He just like completely turns around Charles Woods when he gets out there.

1:02:56Dan Pizzuta: So there are a lot of like really fun pieces that they're figuring out what these guys can do, what their best roles are. And I think just kind of week by week, we're seeing that add on, even if it's not the greatest offense, you can see what the vision is for all of these players. And there are guys that you should feel kind of good about developing. They're a fun, they're a fun bat offense. They really like, because I agree, like they're doing some stuff that I think is like, and honestly, like, I think Malik Willis is playing, given the circumstances, like playing totally fine football. Like what they thought he could be where it's like, you're let's hope that you are a slightly below average starter.

1:03:36You make five throws a game where we're like, OK, we can maybe attach ourselves to this. And I think that we're we're kind of there. Like he doesn't really make like, you know, the interception he throws in this game where it just like flies off shoulder pads. I was like, that could happen to anybody. I'm not really going to blame you for that. But they're clearly finding some stuff that works for him. Like some of the boot stuff is good. He's so good at throwing a lot of those outbreakers. And I think it actually works for the receivers they have, because almost like the Jets, like what I think a lot of these receivers are good at is they can really get on you vertically.

1:04:07And if you're going to be a team that is stressing teams vertically, run those outbreakers that are going to be off of that stem where DBs are like backpedaling, backpedaling. We don't want to give this team the go ball. And I think they were doing that a lot against the Patriots this game where they were conceding a lot of space, not wanting to lose down the field, knowing that Malik Willis can do that. and they just hit a ton of these outbreakers. And so I thought even just schematically, they did a really interesting job there. And the other thing is like in the red zone, the Malik Washington touchdown, where they run this little like, it's almost like a circle route where he like starts to run a slant and then he whips it all the way back out.

1:04:42And it's like kind of like a pivot route, but them just motioning him in from number one on the outside to number two, where he gets the matchup on Kevin Byard, who can't run at this stage in his career. And so you have like the short, quick, fast guy against, you know, a 30 plus year old safety. It's like just a little stuff like that where they're finding the matchups they want for all these different players. And Chris Bell's like a nice screen player for them. Like you can see what it's supposed to be like. It's not just a mishmash of bullshit. It's pretty cool.

1:05:11Dan Pizzuta: Yeah. And I think like when you're looking forward in the full big picture, like I don't think there's one thing you need to really focus on. Like if you have that high draft pick, if you want to stick with Malik Willis, like I get it. if you're in position to add Jeremiah Smith, I also get that. Yeah. So it's just, there are so many, like there's so many fun pieces where the building box are clearly there. And I think it's been successful enough where again, they haven't been the wins, but that was never the point of this season anyway. But they're doing a lot of fun things, again, figuring out what these guys are, what they're best.

1:05:48Dan Pizzuta: And all of this was out Devon Achan. as they've really been figuring this out. So the fact that they're not going to put up 30 points a game this season, but they don't need to. But the fact that we have a lot of these guys that you can just kind of look at them and be like, I can see what he is in a functional, successful offense in the future. I think that's a big win for Miami. I couldn't agree more. They were supposed to be a weird team, and they just have done some cool stuff. And I think the fact that almost all of the young skill players look like they can be something. I don't know if any of these guys will turn into like thousand yard receivers or anything like that, but these are all clearly NFL players who can do stuff for you.

1:06:33And if you're taking some of these guys, you know, second, third, fourth round, it's like, okay, that is absolutely a win for you. The only note that I would have on like a negative spin in terms of like what this might look like moving forward, I did think Jonas Up and I have played like a pretty bad game, especially in the first half. He played a little bit better in the second half. I'll give him his credit, but the first half was tough. And so the offensive line still has its issues. Like Brewer is a really good center, but he's small. So there's some plays where he just gets moved around.

1:07:00Obviously working with a backup left guard in this game, Savanaya not his best. And so a really good New England interior beat them up in moments. But again, I thought for them to have some of the moments they did in this game where you can see the offense doing something and not just trying to play. Because what I was worried about maybe potentially with the Dolphins offense that we can kind of end with this was like I was worried that Bobby Sloak was just going to do the like Shanahan greatest hits and not really know how to piece it together which was kind of the issue in Houston and I really don't think it's that I really do think that they are trying some other stuff and so credit to him credit to the staff Malik Willis is doing the best that he can with this situation we'll see how it develops but I don't hate watching this Dolphins offense and that is an absolute win given what the season was trying to be yeah yeah it's that's really as much

1:07:46Dan Pizzuta: as you could ask for. Like right now, more points per drive than the Vikings and Eagles, if we want to like throw that in there. So they're 27th in points per drive. But the fact that they're fun in the ways of doing that, they're an offense that I've enjoyed watching and seeing what is going to be next, like is the best possible outlook that you could have at this, especially at this point in the season, like the midpoint of the season where you're like, I could see where this goes. That's more than you could ask for for Miami. Yep. All right. That is all we've got for the week eight hangover.

1:08:21That was fantastic. Dan, this was, I think, maybe the first time we've really had a guest on the hangover like this. Dave and I did it once last year, but, you know, Dave is part of the show, so it's not quite the same. First outside guest doing the hangover, so thank you so much.

1:08:35Dan Pizzuta: Listen, I've felt the pressure. I knew what it would take to make the show good because it is, you know, It's a morning rush, that's for sure. It's a weekly listen. So I'm happy I was able to hopefully fill in well for Robert and hope the Bears game is going well, which obviously everyone will know how that went by the time they listen to this. But yeah, thank you for having me. It was really an honor. Yeah. Before we get you out of here, where can the people find you? What are you doing right now? which find me on Blue Sky it's going to be posting everything there's a whole bunch of stuff popping up weekly at FTN some other places but yeah if you follow there it's pretty much everything you're going to find alright well thank you very much for me for Dan for our wonderful producers that is it for the week 8 hangover we'll see you guys later thanks for tuning in make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode if you enjoyed what you heard please like comment and leave a rating we'll see you next time

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