Predicting the Week 8 NFL Headlines

0:00Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Sheil Kapadia. Today we are looking at the week eight slate. You know the exercise. What headlines are we going to be seeing after this weekend's games are played? Can the Ravens save their season or will the Bears win their fifth straight? Can Drake May and the Patriots stay hot? Can the banged up 49ers find a way against the Houston Texans? How will the Cowboys offense perform against that stingy Denver Broncos defense? The Ringers' Danny Kelly will join me and we'll make some predictions on what we think is going to happen in Week 8. We'll take a break and come right back with the headlines.

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2:46All right, back here on the Ringer NFL Show talking week eight headlines with my friend, Danny Kelly. DK, you're the guest, so you get the first pick. What is one headline we're going to be reading next week after these games? So I'm not the best headline writer. I've never been an editor. makes it even better this is more like a blog headline Drake May cementing himself as one of the league's brightest young stars so I think I like the Patriots this week against the Browns just looking at Drake May's numbers this year very impressive and yeah I think obviously you know the Patriots have been good they haven't really played any great defenses yet but I think Drake May if he plays well against this good Browns defense good Browns pass rush we're going to just continue to talk about how he is ascending to you know almost superstar at this point so if you look at some of his numbers this year well first of all what's your reaction to that and then we can get into the numbers.

3:36Yeah I'm with you I do like the Patriots in this game and I wasn't like May's biggest you know I'm not I wasn't crying to the draft stuff like you were but I'm like this guy looks pretty awesome to me you know he can chuck it down field he's good in the pocket he can scramble like there's nothing really that I see that he's limited with and the numbers are sick even the nerd stats but You're giving us, we call, we decipher nerd stats and boomer stats. Are you giving us some boomer stats here for Drake? No, these are going to be nerd stats. Oh, okay. I'll give us the nerd stats. Well, how about, here's a boomer stat.

4:1012 touchdowns to two picks. I mean, that's a great boomer stat. Kind of like that. Yeah. He is, and I comped him to Justin Herbert coming out. Okay. I think he gets stylistically, he's got, he's big, big arm. He can move around a lot. But yeah, here's some nerd stats for you. Second in the NFL in EPA per dropback. Second in pass rating. second in success rate. And this is something DiBundo sent to me today. In obvious passing situations, the Pats are fourth in the NFL in EPA per dropback. So that is third downs and fourth downs and five plus yards. Situations where the defense knows what's coming more or less.

4:44He's still been really good. And the nice thing about May that I think is it just feels more sticky is that he's not just dumping the ball off. He's pushing the ball down the field. And I think also he doesn't have like any superstar receivers. Stefan Diggs is definitely still a very good veteran. pass catcher and booty has come on strong but you know he's kind of elevated this offense that was not very good last year and you know they're 6-1 have a chance to go to 7-1 I think one of the talking points for him coming into the season was he lost all his games last year it wasn't good and they're winning now so I think you know that's certainly a plus there's another Boomer stat for you wins wins there you go yeah no he has been awesome this year and that Browns defense I think has been better at home than on the road i don't know if they could just kind of jump snap count or noise or uh whatever it is but they've given up 41 to the ravens 34 to the lions 23 to the steelers uh on the road there and may right now where do you think he ranks in mvp odds do you know the answer to this if not guys i think it's third third yeah so like i'm pretty crazy yeah it's mahomes josh allen and drake bay i know and i don't know like how much this will be involved in the narrative because like obviously the MVP is a bit of a narrative thing, but the Patriots have one of the easiest schedules down the stretch.

6:01And if they go on to win 12, 13 games, it's going to be tough to ignore him, certainly in the MVP conversation. Yeah, the qualifications, I did a thing on this before the season, and it's like, you got to be the one or the two seed, and you have to win the stats, really. And then the narrative can be like a tiebreaker, but it's like, those are the two things that unless you have them, you're probably not going to win. It's actually in great position for both of them. I mean, what is the ceiling for this? Are you like, this Patriots team could be a sleeper Super Bowl team in the AFC? Are you like, settle down, good step forward, but not quite there.

6:34I'm kind of the latter there. I'm a little bit settled down. But at the same time, like I said, the schedule just kind of lays out so nice for them, so nicely for them that they could go into the playoffs with home field advantage, potentially the number one seed. That's certainly going to help them. I think their defense is good enough to give them a chance in every game. so I don't look at them right now personally as like a Super Bowl favorite I don't think you don't probably not as a favorite yeah right but they're in the mix and especially with a quarterback playing this well and taking such a big leap this year I you know I'm not like discounting it at all yeah I like that I mean the supporting cast isn't great their run game's been terrible right and to your the stat you gave out yeah and so there are situations where it's third and long he has to pass and he's like he's passed the test yeah he has passed all the tests so far All right.

7:22All right. So we got Drake May performing well. Patriots host the Browns. They're seven point favorites in that game. All right. My first one. After week eight win, Jerry says Cowboys are ready to deal. Oh, Cowboys go to Denver. Three and a half point underdogs. Very interesting spot for them. They're three, three and one. They win here for three and one. They're in the mix for a playoff spot. They've gotten healthier on offense. Their offense has been awesome. Defensively, it seems like last week, they tried to add a little variance and blitz and play man coverage, which I think they got to just try to create turnovers and negative plays.

7:59They're trying to create chaos. Chaos. That's the type of defense they should be. They're not going to be like, oh, we're forcing three and outs every week. Sorry, we're not good enough to do that. So in Denver, I think they can play well in that game, maybe upset the Broncos. And then Jerry keeps hinting. We didn't get those picks from Michael Parsons. I don't know. Do you believe him? Max Crosby, something like that. So I gave this one out. Here, here's the one I gave yesterday. Two first round picks for Max Crosby. Who says no to that? I asked Deontay yesterday. That's a really good question.

8:28Okay. I feel like as much as it would hurt Raiders fans, wouldn't that behoove them to make that deal? How else are they going to get any good players? Right. They kind of need to just rebuild the whole foundation. Yeah. And it seems like Max Crosby is getting up to that age where that's kind of the point in someone's career. How old is he right now? 28, I think. That's the point in his career where you're going to get max value. Right. Everything after this is probably going to just diminish and diminish. Yeah. So two first round, I mean, if they give them two first round picks, I think both sides, it kind of makes a lot of sense.

8:58That's where I had to get to because first I was doing weird conditional stuff. I was like, a first and a second if he has 10 sacks. Right, right. But then I'm like, well, the Raiders need to be motivated. So if you're the Cowboys, maybe you make a move. Where are you with this Cowboys team? Do you think they're like frisky or? Yes. That's the exact word I would use. They're frisky. Right now they are. Ninth in DVOA, which is actually kind of surprising. That's crazy. I didn't know that. They're ninth in overall DVOA, fourth on offense, and 30th on defense, which is probably about what you'd expect.

9:29You know, I think Dak has been really, really good this year. If they actually end up winning a lot of games, he could work his way into the MVP conversation. Yeah, he has 16 touchdowns to three picks. I think the George Pickens trade has been working out brilliantly for them. He's been awesome, obviously. and like that's the other thing that I think that we didn't really talk about this a lot in the offseason but if you lose your number one if you lose CeeDee Lamb you got another guy that can go in there and make big plays and be that number one receiver even though now I think he's more of like a number two a really good number two I think you know showing that you can do that and that's another big reason to re-sign him going forward but yeah I like this Cowboys team they're very fun to watch very fun high on the watchability oh 100 % I like Schottenheimer too honestly I did a thing like you know a couple weeks ago I was like best coaching performances of the season I'm like I think Schottenheimer's on there I mean they they chopped his legs out from on our own before the season by trading away Michael Parsons he's like you know working with this terrible defense and so it's the best the offense has ever looked yeah you know so it's like yeah he has to get some credit I think they've had injuries absolutely it's not like you know they lost CD lamb they lost offensive linemen and they still are just playing really well I know Dak deserves credit he's playing awesome but still they've had dac for a long time and he's had mostly good seasons but he right i don't think he's ever been like this might be the best he's ever looked right yeah i agree so all right so i got the cowboy where are you with the broncos because i feel like i've been a bit of a broncos hater i am too okay i i'm a little bit so i you know i come from the fantasy side of things i'm a i'm a sean payton hater because he just loves to platoon at every position.

11:10It's so impossible to predict who's going to do what in fantasy. And so it's like very annoying to me. But I would say generally speaking, I'm kind of a Broncos hater. Before they made that comeback last week, I was like, this team feels like a fraud. It doesn't feel like... But then of course they made this incredible historic comeback. And so they obviously have that friskiness in them, that fight in them. And I think that's obviously a good sign. And their defense is very good. I think Knicks has been pretty underwhelming for what we were, I think expecting this year because he had such a good rookie season.

11:43This last game maybe will be the turning of the tide for him because before that fourth quarter, if you go back all the way to the beginning of the year, he was not, the numbers, the analytical numbers were not good for him. And he was just missing throws. You watch their games every week. Man, he's missing a lot of throws. Legitimately joking earlier in that Giants game before they made the comeback that if you made a super cut, like a collage of the Broncos season, it's just receivers diving full on and like the ball is five feet in front of him. Because it just seems like every week he misses a guy that's wide open down the field and they have to like dive for it and they miss it.

12:17So maybe this will be the turning point. He got his confidence back or whatever because obviously that fourth quarter and that last game was amazing. But I'm kind of, I'm with you on this one. I kind of like the Cowboys. I think they're frisky. We'll see if the Broncos can harness what they did in the fourth quarter there and like start to go back. I know, it's just like every week. It's like, there's going to be a week where you're not able to do, yeah. There are three quarters where it feels so hard for them, and then all of a sudden, they go off. So we'll see what it looks like. But I do like Dak against that kind of defense where they're blitzing and trying to create chaos.

12:48Like, he is so good before the snap there. All right, let's take a break. We come back. We'll get to some more headlines from Week 8. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Trimphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required. Tremphaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis.

13:29Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tremphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit TremphiaRadio.com. Somewhere out there is a Chevy truck. And the person who drives it, well, that's a Chevy person. You probably know one. your buddy, your sister, ones who always show up. They're the first to rise, the last to leave.

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14:24All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. DK, what do you got? What's next? All right, the 49ers keep it rolling with the skeleton crew roster. Okay. So they're playing the Texans in Houston this week. Sorry, are they in Houston? Yeah, that's right. Yeah. The Texans are favored, which I think is kind of an interesting... And this is just an interesting matchup because both teams, I think, are scrappy. I would say Houston's defense is one of the best defenses in the NFL. But their offense looks just out of sorts at all times. No identity. CJ Stroud has not been particularly sharp for the most part this year.

15:01Now they're going to be missing Nico Collins, most likely. Christian Kirk is still injured. It's going to be like three or four receivers that are all rookies. The Dalton Schultz, even, who is like their one veteran who is going to play this week, is banged up. So I kind of like the Lions in this one, just because, and I feel like the 49ers are a little, they have a little bit of the vibes of the Detroit Lions from last year, where they're just, they keep losing a major person every week, and they still continue to win somehow. yeah so I kind of like the 49ers in this one what's your reaction to that?

15:33so I said earlier this week we were doing like teams we don't really like to watch anymore and the Texans are can you describe to that you saw me during that Texan Seahawks game yeah you're just up walking around like pacing you're just like frustrating to watch yeah I couldn't watch it I think DK thought something was wrong with me he's like what's wrong with this guy why is he walking up and down the stairs I was just like I cannot watch this team anymore but I also had the 49ers on there And since then, I wonder if that was a bad take because I made the case that just like it's sad. You know, they've lost all these players and Shanahan's like so wound up.

16:06But then reading the coverage this week, there's a lot about how like Shanahan's kind of been energized by this group. Oh, he needed a little challenge. He's like proving like, all right, you know, all these young players on defense who have come in and he's showing them like videos and stuff. And the players are like, he's a genius. And so I'm walking that back a little bit. And I think they're a little, maybe they are a little bit more watchable and maybe they got a little bit more life than I thought. But yeah, I mean, I can't take the Texans to win a game right now against a competitive team.

16:36I mean, they have just been so hard to watch. It's a miracle when they complete a pass. So yeah, I think that is a good one. And maybe I had the wrong read on the Niners. Yeah, I think, I don't, it's funny because I don't know if the Niners are really good. Yes. But they're just, they're in, they're fighting. And it's a great coaching job. Yeah, great coaching job. I mean, if you look at what Shanahan has been able to do with Mac Jones, who came in to try and rehabilitate his career, I think he's done a great job of that. Mac Jones is probably going to end up being a real full-time starter at some point again because of what they're doing.

17:09Four and one with Mac Jones. Brock Purdy has been out. Pearsall has been out. Juwan Jennings, who is their clutch guy on third downs, he's been really banged up. I mean, he's going to play probably, but he's really banged up. They brought in random guys like Kendrick Bourne, Demarcus Robinson off the street and Mac Jones leads the NFL in passing yards per game not that that's like the end all be all stat but they don't have a run game and he's just like slinging it so I think they're a fun team to watch considering what they're dealing like what types of injuries they're dealing with so and then on the other side the Texans offense is just unwatchable give me the fantasy take on McCaffrey because I think he has 31 more touches than any other player in the NFL.

17:56Yeah. And I'm like, this is crazy. This can't. This can't. Like, yeah, if you have McCaffrey, are you like, all right. Sell high. Ride it, or are you thinking about, man, the edge is coming? I mean, yeah, I think there's an argument to be made that you should probably sell high just based on the inevitability of injury coming, if that's a thing. I don't know, because we've talked about this, we joked about this in the offseason, grading coaches for how much they can't help themselves. And in fantasy, obviously, it's sometimes a good thing if they can't help themselves. They don't, like, this is a McVay thing.

18:29He doesn't trust anyone except for Kyron Williams. So Kyron Williams gets all the volume. Volume's great in fantasy. I feel like there's an element with that with Kyle Shanahan. He's just going to keep sending McCaffrey out there until the wheels fall off. I don't know when that's going to happen, but you're right. McCaffrey has been, in PBR, he is the highest scoring running back. He's, you know, basically, if you look at what he's done, as a receiver. Yeah. He's a top 12 receiver. I can't remember what exactly. He leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage. Yeah. Right now. Yeah. It's crazy. He's got like 900, right?

19:00Yeah. It's like having two positions in one roster spot. He's a really high-end receiver and a really high-end running back. Yeah. And put it together. It's like double or nothing. So, yeah, he's been amazing in fantasy. He's like one of the fantasy MVPs for this season. I made the case on the Ringer's Philly special that every real-life relationship has a coach and a GM. Because you reminded me of Shanahan. Shanahan's like, what do I need to do to win this game right now? And then the GM's got to have the long view. And I feel like that. We played Brian Robinson a little bit. Yeah. That's why we traded for him, pal.

19:30In my marriage, it's like I'm the coach. I'm like, wait, do I have to pick up a child today? Let me look at the schedule. But then my wife is like, all right, should we go on this trip on May 30th? May 30th? I'm not there yet. I feel like in every sort of relationship, right? Isn't that how it goes? The long view and the short view? Yeah, you're just, you're one foot in front of the other. That's right. I'm just trying to win these games. I'm trying to win the day. Get McCaffrey out there. I can't even think about May. No. Are you crazy? Okay, so 49ers, Texans, I'm with you. Yeah, I do worry a little bit about Mac Jones against that Texans defense.

20:04Yeah, it's a very good defense. I would never take the Texans in a game against the competitive team right now. I need to see more. All right, next one I got here for you, DK. Okay. Pocket Lamar saves Ravens season with epic performance versus the Bears. That's a blog post right there. That's a blog post. I'm ready. All right. Can we launch a blog? Yeah. All right. I'm ready right now. So here's the deal. As of now, Lamar Jackson was limited in practice Wednesday and Thursday, hamstring injury. But the Ravens are favored by six and a half points now. You know, we're friends at FanDuel. Would they have them favored by six and a half points?

20:39People know some things. Yeah, if Lamar Jackson was not going to play. So it feels like he's going to try to play. Now, will he be 100 %? Probably not. So now we can get into the, you know, all of you, probably a lot of us who have said, no, Lamar Jackson is a great pocket passer for years. Now it's going to be like he's really going to be a pocket passer. Because I think it feels like he may have a tough time moving in this game. And this Ravens team, man, they are 1-5. They're coming off their bye. It's like every game is a playoff game. Back against the wall right now, yeah. Back against the wall.

21:11Every game is a playoff, which is crazy to say. We're in October, but that's kind of where they're at right now. They play the Bears at home in Baltimore, and I think the Ravens can have a nice win and give their fans a little bit of, as long as he's out there. I really don't want to wake up Sunday morning to a Lamar Jackson's not playing tweet from Adam Schefter or whoever. So I just hope he can get out there, even if, you know, great players. One thing I love watching is great players when they're not 100 % and they deliver that like epic performance. It's so fun. So I'm hoping we get that from Lamar Jackson.

21:44Yeah, I like that one. We talked about that too. We have a joke, park and bark. Just park back there and throw it. It's, I think he's just, yeah, he's definitely going to have to kind of relax and not try and scramble around too much. I think, yeah, he's proven over the last few years that he can really make, like do damage from the pocket. it. You know, I think there's still some throws that he probably wants back, but for the most part, he's very accurate. Over the last few years, he hasn't turned the ball over very much. This year, so far, he's taken a lot of sacks, but that's felt more fluky than anything to me.

22:20He's just trying to make something out of nothing. So, yeah, I like that. Maybe that means they played DeAndre Hopkins a little bit more in this game than they had earlier on in the season. But yeah, I think I'm fairly confident the Ravens are going to get their act together, get things going I think their defense is going to be a lot better because they're starting to get some guys back and so yeah I'm with you on this one actually too on our show we bet the Ravens I believe okay yeah my ringer 107 is coming up later who knows I'm chasing these guys you might have changed it yeah we were thinking about it but yeah I like this one too so right now the Steelers are plus 130 to win the division and the Ravens are just plus 150 yeah that's crazy 1 in 5 1 in 5 when they're plus 150 to win the division.

23:05They have an easy schedule, I think, down the stretch. They do. I think it's one of the five easiest schedules in the NFL. And a really tough schedule to start the year, I want to say. So, yeah, I think that's just been, and the injuries have just been horrific for them. The turnover thing's a good point because that Bears defense, Dabundo's getting a lot of shout-outs on this pot of the ringers. Dabundo, he just walks around the office just spitting stats to anyone who will listen. He's like the water cooler talk guy. He's just trying to get some buzz going. I told him, I'm like, man, you're built for this office life.

23:36I'm like exhausted. That's a Bundo. He really has some stats. He had this one that the Bears defense has produced a turnover on 24 % of opponents' drives this year. That doesn't feel sustainable. I'm like, the Bundo, I'm a stat. You can't give me. So I'm like, you know what else, the Bundo? If you look at the last 25 years, no defense has had a rate that high. So how you like that? The Bundo. Don't come at me. So there you go. So, yes, they are feasting on. The point is they're feasting on turnovers. They have not been like a sound defense that's really, you know, sustainable. Just high variance.

24:13Yeah. So I feel like if the Ravens are, if he's healthy, you don't turn the ball over, you really have a chance to win. So 24 % of opposing offensive possessions have resulted in a turnover this year. What is the highest of all time? Do you know? It can't be even close to 24. No, it's not that high. I don't know. Move on. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Next time I'll ask you that before the show so you can look it up. Sorry. During this four-game winning streak, it's been 36%. Just crazy. Yeah. Yeah. So that's not sustainable. So I think the Ravens have a chance here. Let's finish with this one real quick.

24:46Sure. I just wrote down quickly. Sunday night, because that's a fun game. Love out Dules Rogers in Sunday night thriller. I think these are two offenses that are pretty good. The Steelers offense is definitely better than I thought it was going to be. The Steelers defense has not been good. I feel like we're getting a very entertaining game. Sunday night. Yeah, I think this one's going to go down to the wire. We may even get another Hail Mary from Rogers. 70-yard toss. I don't know. We'll see. I think if you just kind of take the pulse of the Packers fans on Twitter and kind of, I like to follow teams like Twitter and see where, what they're belly aching and like moaning about or whatever.