0:04

Hello, and welcome to the m MQB Monday

0:06

Morning NFL podcast. I'm your mo Scary Growling.

0:08

I am joined by Jenny Brentis of the

0:10

week Side podcast once again this week and

0:12

uh and Jenny we had a uh

0:16

I'm trying to sort out the playoff picture right now. That's

0:18

that's kind of the project for the week, I guess, and it is

0:20

uh is complete madness,

0:23

but uh, yeah, I don't

0:25

know. I don't know what's gonna happen with the seventh seed in the

0:27

NFC, because like, the Vikings

0:29

are still in it, the Bears are still in it. This is

0:31

all Uh, I don't know. It's kind of

0:34

upsetting to have this little clarity at this point.

0:36

Yeah, and the seventh seed this year is really

0:39

we're seeing the intrigue that that

0:41

can create, and that's both good

0:43

and bad. You know, it opens up the

0:45

field and there are more teams in the conversation.

0:47

But then you're also looking at some of the teams

0:50

that are in the conversation and you're like, this

0:52

doesn't look like a playoff team. So we

0:54

may have to expand our minds

0:57

a little bit in terms of what a playoff

0:59

team looks like. Because someone's going to be there

1:01

in the second seed. If I've

1:03

written the Vikings off like three times

1:05

this year, I can't deal with them being back

1:08

in it. We

1:10

will. We will get to the Vikings a little bit later. We'll also

1:12

have an ever so brief segment

1:15

on on the firings of Matt Patricia

1:17

and Bob Quinn in Detroit and uh

1:19

David Caldwell in Jacksonville. But we

1:21

are starting with what the marquee

1:24

game of the week was, and that was the Chiefs

1:26

beating the Bucks down in Tampa. And

1:28

I don't know, it might still be a Super Bowl preview

1:30

when it's all said and done, but this

1:33

was one where look,

1:36

when you're playing the Chiefs, there's a very pick

1:38

your poison type of thing going on when it comes

1:40

to uh, you know Tyreek Hill and

1:42

and Travis Kelsey and where are we going to devote

1:45

the majority of our coverage? Uh,

1:48

it was a lot of Tyreek Hill working

1:50

against man coverage with

1:52

not a whole lot of safety help

1:55

and uh, I mean it was

1:57

completely out of hand of the first quarter. He took

1:59

this game over him and Mahomes were uh

2:01

as good as they've been all season, and that was kind

2:04

of the story of this one. Yeah,

2:06

the picture poison is really accurate

2:08

here because they let Tyreek Hill

2:11

get open and get those long scores

2:13

and rack up receiving yards in

2:15

the first half, and then they obviously changed how

2:17

they played in the second half, but the Chiefs

2:20

were still able to win the

2:22

game and still able to on

2:24

third down when they needed a first down complete

2:26

a shorter path to Hill to sinch

2:29

the victory. That was that was

2:31

very fitting to to seal the game

2:33

play going to the guy who ends up with I

2:36

mean it was he

2:38

was over two hundred yards in the first quarter and he ends

2:40

up thirteen for two D sixty nine

2:43

and and the three touchdowns all twenty plus

2:45

year. I mean, this is seventy five yard or forty

2:47

four yard or twenty yard. Uh. And

2:49

again it's you can't

2:51

necessarily devote a double team to Tyreek

2:53

Hill, but he was just it was almost like the safeties

2:56

were unprepared for the fact

2:58

that he was going to run past uh,

3:00

you know what, whether it be Carlton Davis or wherever

3:02

he's trying to cover him in in man coverage.

3:05

And I mean, look like

3:07

you said that they change up how they did it

3:09

after the first quarter, and Travis Kelsey gets eight

3:11

catches from from then on. Ind And I

3:13

mean this was just kind of kind

3:16

of reminder that if you are not going

3:18

to be in Patrick Mahomes's face and

3:20

and really bother him with pressure,

3:23

Uh, there's not a whole lot you can

3:25

do against this Chief's offense at this point,

3:27

right, That's right, that's your best opportunity

3:29

to disrupt the play is pressuring Mahomes

3:33

and somehow throwing off the throw a little

3:35

bit. Because the combination of the players

3:37

that they have to make plays

3:40

and the scheming that they have

3:42

with Andy Reid and Eric the anime finding

3:44

different ways to get players open every

3:47

week. Um, there's just not really

3:49

any way to stop that if you're not getting

3:51

pressure and disrupting the play before

3:53

it really gets off. And the

3:56

as far as the Bucks go, i mean, look at

3:58

they fall to seven and five. That is actually that's

4:00

that's still pretty comfortably in the playoff

4:02

picture here, even if the chance

4:04

of an NFC South title are sort of slipping away

4:06

from them at this point. But uh, they

4:09

had their bye week coming up. They have that that weird

4:11

week thirteen bye week, so uh,

4:13

they have a chance to sort of short things out a little bit more.

4:15

But uh, offensively they were

4:17

they were better. I mean, look, Brady,

4:20

you know he throws two interceptions, uh

4:22

you know which, which obviously is not ideal. But

4:24

uh, the story with him has been just

4:27

the the lack of downfield accuracy

4:29

this year. And he hit a couple of deep pass

4:31

in this game. He hit Gronkowski up the scene, he hit

4:33

Godwin on a on a

4:35

deep post route. He hit Mike Evans

4:37

on a fourth and three on like a nine route

4:40

up the right sideline. He threw

4:42

the ball, I thought, as well as he has

4:44

this season, which uh, again

4:47

you're not counting moral victories if you if

4:49

you're the Tampa Bay Bucks and the roster they put together.

4:51

But uh, I thought it was

4:54

when stepping back in encouraging performance

4:57

by the Bucks offense in this game. Yeah,

5:00

I agree with you on how Brady threw the ball.

5:02

What I thought was interesting was

5:05

the efforts this week

5:07

to point out on for multiple

5:10

former players, some of whom are former teammates

5:12

of Brady, to point out that

5:15

the system isn't doing him any favors.

5:17

It was like the narrative got out there

5:19

right that Bruce Arian system

5:21

is hard, you know. They pointed out during the broadcast

5:24

that quarterbacks in their first year in Arian

5:26

system throw more interceptions. Romo

5:29

went to links to describe how

5:32

when a deep pass is not completed, it

5:34

may not be Brady's fault, and certainly

5:36

we saw some examples of that. I think his

5:39

timing with Evans hasn't been there, and

5:41

there certainly there's the

5:44

transition period to a new team was

5:46

exacerbated by the lack of an off season this

5:48

year. But I did think it was interesting that

5:50

the messaging was getting out there, and

5:52

that to me was more worry some than

5:55

what we saw in the field, because I agree with you Gary,

5:57

like he threw the ball better and some of the things that hadn't

5:59

been working they found with work, they

6:01

clawed back into the game. Um.

6:03

Which raises some questions on the other side

6:05

about the Chief's defense, but that's another topic.

6:08

UM. But I was more alarmed by this narrative

6:11

that got out there this week that maybe Arians

6:13

isn't the right coach and maybe the system isn't doing

6:15

enough to um

6:18

accentuate Tom Brady. The

6:20

the talking points are definitely getting around

6:22

to UH to the people they're supposed to get to. Uh.

6:25

Yeah, it's it's it's interesting. I mean it's

6:27

too late now. I mean, you're not

6:29

gonna you're not gonna bring in a new coach, you

6:31

know Brady realistically, I

6:34

know we joke that he's gonna play forever, but you

6:36

know, how how much longer can this go on? Probably

6:38

not a whole lot longer. So you're not gonna reset with a new

6:40

coach at this point, and you're you know, we

6:42

can sort of second guests and say, well, maybe they should

6:44

have come back to uh,

6:47

some sort of compromise between you know, the

6:49

classic Brady Patriots of it, which is I

6:51

mean, look, it's impossible to replicate

6:53

that. I mean, we talked about

6:55

the short offseason. Even with a full off seasons,

6:57

it's possible. It's impossible to take what he did

7:00

in New England and bring it to a new city.

7:02

It's just years and years of, uh

7:05

of building that thing out in Foxboro.

7:07

So that wasn't necessarily an option. But was

7:09

there a compromise there or they could have come a little

7:11

bit more toward Brady uh

7:13

than what they did this past offseason. But again,

7:15

it's all it's done. Its

7:18

offense is what it is. It's

7:20

not changing. And uh, I mean,

7:22

look, you just kind of hope that Brady sort

7:24

of goes on a on a hot streak down the stretch here

7:26

and if he does, yeah, certainly

7:29

they can they can, they can go on a run here. I mean,

7:31

they were six and two and we were all,

7:33

you know, and that was a couple of weeks ago, and we were all kind of saying,

7:35

uh, they're not quite playing their best yet. But

7:38

there were six and two. That's pretty good. Let's

7:41

uh, let's go out to Indianapolis where

7:43

the the Tennessee Titans retake the

7:45

a f C South lead and and do it

7:48

in I mean, this was this

7:50

was what we saw last year second half of the season.

7:52

Derrick Henry just sort of takes over. Um.

7:55

I will say the one difference in this game is we're

7:57

used to seeing him sort of take over in the second

7:59

half of games. This was he took over the first half.

8:01

I mean he he ran up a hundred forty yards and

8:03

three touchdowns by halftime. Uh,

8:05

put the Titans up three touchdowns and they just sort

8:08

of cruised to a win against the Colts team that

8:10

had, uh, that had beaten them pretty good in

8:12

their building on that Thursday night a couple of

8:14

weeks ago. So I don't know, it's

8:16

it's it's looking a lot like twenty nineteen

8:18

right now for the Tennessee Titans. Yeah,

8:21

And I think you really saw the impact

8:24

of the Colts not having the Forest Buckner

8:27

against Derrick Henry. I mean that really,

8:30

when I saw that he was out for the game, Gary,

8:32

I really wanted to take my pick back and switch

8:34

it to the Titans, but at that point it was too

8:36

late. Um. But it had

8:39

a huge impact on the game. But regardless,

8:41

I mean, Derrick Henry has

8:44

picked up exactly where he left off last year,

8:46

which, to be fair, I doubted.

8:49

I didn't think you could continue to sustain

8:51

this kind of workload and continue to be that

8:53

productive. Um, And yet

8:55

he has. And you know, I think

8:58

he's a rare player. He a

9:00

rare body type for that position, and

9:03

so it was probably unfair for me to

9:05

say that he couldn't continue to sustain this

9:07

workload given the workload he's had

9:09

over the course of his career, even dating back to high

9:11

school, and he'd have like four hundred some touches

9:13

in a season. Um. But he's been

9:15

able to sustain it, and that's what

9:18

got the Titans back on track and in

9:20

a critical game for their season. Yeah,

9:22

this is uh, if you go Week ten

9:25

and later over the last two seasons,

9:27

so that's twelve games including the playoffs, he's averaging

9:29

a hundred forty six rushing yards in those games

9:31

with the sixteen touchdowns, which is I

9:34

mean that we just we we don't see that anymore

9:36

in the NFL. And I don't know what he does

9:38

conditioning wise to sort of be

9:40

able to sustain this level

9:42

of play through all this uh, all

9:45

this contact he takes, but it's whatever he's

9:47

doing, it's it's working at this point.

9:49

As far as the Colts go, obviously still very much

9:51

in the playoff picture and and look their game out

9:53

after splitting with the with the Titans this season.

9:56

Uh, the one thing besides the fact

9:58

that they scored fewer points than and the the Titans

10:00

in this game, the one thing that you really worry about is

10:02

that Anthony Costans and the left tackle goes down with

10:05

um what as of Monday morning,

10:07

is being termed as not a major knee

10:10

injury, but it seems like it is in m c

10:12

l injury. And we will see how

10:14

that plays out, because I mean we've

10:17

seen it. They need

10:19

to protect Philip Rivers. They need this offensive

10:21

line fully intact. Rivers does not

10:23

have the ability to sort of protect himself at this point

10:26

in his career, so of Costanzo is gonna miss

10:28

time. The Cults are suddenly looking

10:30

like a team on the brink. Yeah,

10:32

And I would say in combination with

10:35

the defense not playing as it

10:37

had the previous few weeks against the Titans,

10:40

um, I'm feeling less sure about

10:42

the Cults. I've kind of been unsure about the Colts

10:44

all season. Um, but they really

10:46

convinced me the last few weeks. And

10:48

I probably swung too far to the other side

10:51

and said, Okay, this this division is

10:53

theirs. But the Titans really

10:55

came in and reasserted themselves. That's

10:58

what we do. We overreact on and

11:00

then overreact the other way. I mean, that's that's

11:02

that's the business. At this point. Uh,

11:04

let's go out to Foxboro. This was this

11:06

was sort of this was the game that sort

11:09

of through the entire weekend

11:11

to chaos here. Uh.

11:14

Look, this Patriots

11:16

defense has struggled so badly this year that

11:18

they're obviously they're shorthanded. Uh,

11:21

all their linebackers are gone from last year,

11:23

all those important veteran linebackers. Stephan Gilmour

11:25

has not played up to the level that he did a year ago when

11:28

he was Defensive Player of the Year. Uh so

11:30

you just kind of figured, Okay, well, Arizona is gonna

11:32

go in there, that this prolific offense and

11:34

uh, they're just gonna when are they're gonna put up their

11:36

thirty five points and sort of cruise to a win here.

11:39

Uh, they had the answers and

11:41

and and Bill Belichick gave gave his son Steve

11:44

a lot of credit, uh for putting

11:46

together this game plan to sort of limit Kyler

11:48

Murray as a runner in this one. And you

11:50

could see they were very uh

11:53

they were very conscientious in this pass

11:55

rush. And I

11:57

mean, look, they don't have much of a pass rush, but they

11:59

were not running past Murray. They were staying

12:01

in front of him. They were getting

12:03

their hands up in front of him and blocking

12:06

throwing lanes here and sort of keeping him from doing

12:09

any of these sort of big play stuff that you've seen from

12:11

him the first start of this year. But when it's all

12:13

said and done, Cardinals end up with two

12:16

yards of offense despite possessing

12:18

the ball for for over three or four minutes

12:20

in this one, and uh, that's

12:23

how it ends up being kept close. You know,

12:25

Patriots had a big goal

12:27

line stand on fourth down on the final

12:30

play of the first half to get out of there without giving points,

12:32

and they just sort of hung around and eventually the

12:34

Cardinals miss a field goal and the Patriots make

12:36

a field goal and the Patriots win a game

12:39

in which they had I mean they had a hundred seven nine

12:41

yards of offense and and two turnovers in this

12:43

one. I mean, this is this is not one

12:45

that profiles as a game you normally win.

12:48

Uh if you're the Patriots. Yeah,

12:52

that's exactly right. Although, Gary, you should

12:54

give yourself a little credit. You did pick the Patriots

12:56

to win. You were the only one at the mmq B to

12:58

do so. I was not shocked.

13:00

I just wanted to sort of mindset

13:03

of the rest of the as Yeah,

13:06

uh, it does. It seems

13:08

like this is one of those Patriot games.

13:11

Okay, we're used to them winning more

13:13

games than they do obviously than they have this year,

13:15

but they come in with a really

13:18

smart game plan for an up and coming quarterback,

13:20

Like that seems to be right in the Patriots

13:22

wheelhouse, right, Like we're going to devise a

13:24

better game plan than other people have for Kyler

13:26

Murray. And to your point about

13:29

keeping him contained as a runner, that took all

13:32

levels of the defense to do that. I mean there was one

13:34

play where you saw Stephan Gilmore kind

13:36

of come up and force Murray

13:38

to go out to the sidelines. So there you have a corner

13:41

participating in corralling Murray and

13:43

blocking his ability to run.

13:45

So they really did have a smart

13:48

game plan. And the

13:50

defense has been a disappointment this year,

13:52

but played at such a high level last

13:55

season and they're down

13:57

players. Key players opted out before

13:59

the year. As you mentioned Gilmore, which the

14:02

reports that Belichick looked into trading

14:04

him before the season started should have been

14:06

a signal one that Belichick figured

14:08

this season wouldn't go the way the

14:10

past seasons had been. And also that he

14:13

was kind of at that tipping point that Belichick seems

14:15

to be very good at identifying with players, um

14:17

where you know, maybe last season was the

14:20

high point and wanted to get ahead of it

14:22

with with a move. So those

14:24

were all signals that we probably should have read more

14:26

into at the time. Um, but this

14:28

was you know, I always enjoy

14:31

watching a smart Patriots defensive

14:33

game plan, so this was a joy

14:35

to watch in that regard. This was and

14:37

and and I mean, look, you mentioned Gilmore

14:39

as far as helping corral Kyla Murray.

14:42

This one, Gilmore was locked up

14:44

on deer Andre Hopkins and and again it's

14:46

been a thiss wointing year for Gilmore this one. But he

14:49

won this battle with Hopkins in this game. And Hopkins

14:51

ends up five for fifty five. He drew

14:53

one holding penalty, had one weird

14:56

offsetting past interference penalty that was really

14:58

it was a penalty on Hopkins. But they end up throwing

15:01

the flag on Gilmore as well. But uh,

15:04

he won this battle. I mean this, this was

15:06

this was sort of just vintage Patriots and

15:08

vintage Stephon Gilmore in this one. Uh.

15:11

And I will say, I mean, look, I

15:15

can't really picture of what it

15:17

must be like to be a veteran on the Patriots, where

15:19

you are playing for Super Bowl every

15:21

year and then all of a sudden, you're you're just out there and here and

15:23

also ran and uh, you know, they're on the

15:25

fringe of the a f c playoff picture, but they're

15:27

they're realistic that they're they're

15:29

probably not going to make it to the postseason.

15:32

Uh, so to go out there and give a performance

15:34

like this and again that that fourth and

15:36

that fourth and goal stop at the end of the first half,

15:38

which is sort of a uh you know, just sort

15:41

of reminder that, uh, whether

15:43

it's symbolic or not, that you know, this

15:45

team is they're still going to compete and they're

15:47

still gonna go out there, that there's still a certain amount of

15:49

pride being put into it. And when frankly,

15:51

I don't know if anyone would blame them if they just sort

15:53

of mailed it in for the last month of the season.

15:56

You're right, that is a very interesting

15:58

psychological quiet. And when you've been

16:01

so good for so long and so dominant

16:04

and then you have a down year, it would be easy

16:06

to just chalk it up, Okay, this year is kind of a

16:08

wash, let's strike next year. But they

16:11

haven't done that. And you know, they have young

16:13

players that are still proving themselves.

16:15

And here they have a

16:18

one of the top teams in the NFL coming

16:20

into their home stadium and they

16:22

make a stand against them.

16:25

All Right, we will have a little bit more on the

16:28

NFC Wildcard picture. But

16:31

hang on one second, Jenny, because right now it is

16:33

time for the SI Fantasy segment

16:35

presented by Draft Kings, and

16:38

I am joined as always by Michael

16:40

Fabriano as we as we trudge

16:42

into the stretch run here in the

16:45

UH fantasy playoffs upcoming

16:47

in some leagues on the week thirteen. Some people start

16:49

around then, but uh, this is kind

16:51

of this is this is crunch time here. Uh,

16:54

no matter whether your postseason is starting or not. So as

16:57

we need some early waiver wire help

16:59

here this week, and and there's

17:01

there's gotta be someone somewhere out there. Start

17:04

start with the start with the running backs. Yeah,

17:06

there's plenty, man, there's plenty.

17:08

I'm not guaranteeing they're gonna leave you a title,

17:11

but there's plenty of options. So uh

17:13

at running back, Cam Akers is a guy that I like.

17:15

Uh nine carries eighty four yards, had a sixty one yard

17:18

run against San Francisco. He's the best back the Rams

17:20

have right now. I don't think Darren Henderson's healthy. He

17:22

just hasn't been right since he's had that quad issue.

17:25

Uh Acres has had a touchdown in two straight games.

17:28

I don't know that that he's more than a flex play

17:30

against the Cardinals coming up, but I feel like

17:32

he's an ad in stash because maybe he ends

17:34

up taking over the job during the fantasy playoffs.

17:37

We talked about James White last week. He's still available

17:39

in about fifty leagues. He had six

17:41

touches, which is not a lot, but he had two touchdowns

17:44

and he's now giving a twenty nine Fantasy points

17:46

in the last two weeks with no Rex Burkhead Chargers

17:49

coming up next could be a high scoring game, so White

17:51

should be added Atlanta's backfield.

17:54

I'll tell you right now, I don't know. Brian

17:57

Hill played more snaps, Edo Smith

18:00

had more touches and it was the better option. Does

18:02

that mean it's gonna happen again next week? I don't.

18:04

I don't know. I really don't know. So both

18:06

guys are worth a look. I think Brian Hill has probably been

18:08

added in a lot of leagues because get Todd Gurley

18:11

went down, but it might not even matter. If Girly

18:13

doesn't play, then you

18:15

know, then these guys are probably flex

18:18

starters at best. If Girl's back, this

18:20

is much to do about nothing. And regardless,

18:23

they got the Saints next week. That defense is nasty

18:25

good against running back. So, uh, it's

18:27

desperation. Edo Smith, Brian Hill, Uh,

18:30

Frank Gore, who was gonna be here long after

18:32

the rest of us are dead. He'll probably

18:34

still be playing football and Adam Gates will

18:36

probably still be his head coach. But he had

18:38

a fifty three percent of touch share against

18:41

the Dolphins and he's had a forty eight

18:43

percent touch show the last two weeks. He's got the Raiders

18:45

coming up. Raiders aren't good against the run,

18:48

so listen. I know he's four

18:51

years old, but he's getting touches man a

18:53

couple of other backs. DeVante

18:55

Booker, so Josh

18:57

Jacobs got hurt in the Atlanta game,

19:00

and I don't know how badly it is, how

19:03

bad he's hurt, But if he's out,

19:05

Bookers are really good. Play next week against the

19:07

Jets, and then Alexander Madison like

19:09

Dalvin Cook, Dalvin Cook, and

19:11

I love the guy. He's supremely talented,

19:14

right, but every time he gets hurt,

19:17

doesn't it seem like his career is over? Like

19:19

he can't walk off the field on his own power,

19:22

and he is in excruciating pain

19:24

and then he came back into the game. But I

19:26

don't know how bad his injury is. So

19:30

as as a reminder, folks, he

19:32

got a handcuff those stud running backs. So Alexander

19:35

Madison should be owned just in case

19:37

you get the sense on that Alvin cook injury

19:40

was maybe a little bit of wounded pride after

19:42

the uh, after the lost fumble, after the

19:44

year. Yeah, it could be. It could be.

19:46

Yeah, I don't It's weird, right because

19:48

like we've seen that a couple of times, what

19:51

was it against Chicago? Was against Chicago also

19:53

where he got a little bit dinged up and

19:55

then we're like, oh no.

19:58

And then he came back to addle on the side day

20:00

night where he didn't come back, but he did.

20:02

I mean, he he didn't miss any time after that. So I

20:05

don't know, man. All I know is that as

20:07

someone who has Dalvin Cook all over the place,

20:09

I was scared and

20:12

I thought, God darn it, I'm gonna lose

20:14

him again. And I'm thinking I'm never drafting

20:16

him again. He can never stay healthy. And then he

20:18

came back in again. But regardless, I mean, if

20:20

you've got Dalvin Cook, you have to have Alexander Madison

20:23

and if and if yesterday didn't prove that,

20:25

then you'll you'll never pick him up before it

20:27

just it's just insurance for the

20:29

sake of your blood pressure. Go get alex

20:33

Yeah, how about wide receivers.

20:36

So you're gonna think I'm crazy here,

20:38

and maybe I am, but it we're in we

20:40

thirteen, folks. There ain't much out there. T

20:43

Y Hilton got dropped in a lot of leaves. Now,

20:46

yesterday played fifty three snaps. He had eighty one

20:48

yards in the touchdown against Tennessee. He's

20:50

seeing five or more targets.

20:52

This is about every game this season. He's

20:55

got the Texans this week. You

20:58

know, as a as a intelligent

21:00

NFL fan, t Y owns

21:03

Houston. He has scored fifteen

21:05

plus fantasy points against him and three of his last four

21:07

games. He has scored twenty six plus

21:09

points against them five times in his career. So

21:12

I'm not saying you go out and pick up t Y Hilton,

21:14

start him. But if you're in a deeper league, maybe

21:17

you have multiple flexes. Maybe you've got

21:19

one of the Tampa Bay wide receivers, maybe one

21:21

of the Panthers wide receivers, and you need somebody

21:23

for the week. I mean, you could do worse.

21:26

You could do worse. That's all I'm saying. It's not a

21:29

it's not a glowing uh you know, review

21:31

of t Y. I'm just telling you that he's

21:33

had success against Houston and he's coming off a pretty

21:35

good game. Uh. Some otherwide receivers, Gabriel

21:38

Davis played fifty nine steps and had a touchdown.

21:40

By the way, Cole Beasley throw that touchdown

21:42

pass against the Chargers, John Brown's on injured

21:44

reserve. Uh, so Davis is going to see more

21:46

work moving forward. They got the Niners coming up. Not a great

21:48

matchup, but again, not somebody you necessarily

21:51

have to start. We're just talking about adding.

21:54

Uh. Colin Johnson was the best

21:56

Jaguars wide receiver. No one started

21:58

him, no one picked him up. He played fifty

22:00

one snaps, he had ninety six yards and nearly

22:02

twenty Fantasy points. He was Mike Glennon's favorite target.

22:05

I will say this, if d

22:07

J. Chark and Chris Connley can't go again next

22:09

week and they've got the Vikings, it's a really good

22:11

matchup. I'd still rather have Keelan Cole

22:14

and or Levisca alt but Johnson's

22:16

clearly on the radar. A couple of other players.

22:18

Basha Paraman has had double digit fantasy points

22:20

in three straight games. I know it's a Jet, but

22:23

whatever. And then Al Lazard had

22:25

a touchdown against the Bears. And

22:27

Aaron Rodgers is playing at it Banana's

22:29

level at this point. So it's nice to have shares

22:32

of some Packers wide receivers. So, uh,

22:34

they've got the Eagles coming up in their next

22:36

game. How about the how did the quarterback

22:39

scene here? This one's loath thin,

22:41

it's low thin if you can get Rightan Fitzpatrick.

22:44

Oh get him? Uh, I

22:46

hated when they replaced him. Hated

22:48

it because he's so good and he makes everybody around

22:50

him better. And uh yeah, that's right Fitzpatrick.

22:52

I'm talking about not Dan Marino, but he had

22:55

two touchdowns and nearly twenty fantasy

22:57

points against the Jets. To a tongue

22:59

of alow, it could be out a few weeks according to reports.

23:01

Uh fits has giving your nineteen plus fantasy points

23:03

in five of seven games. He's been really good. And

23:06

he's got the Bengals coming up next revenge

23:08

game. I know they're all revenge games

23:10

for Pitts Kirk Cousins, and

23:13

again, not the sexy is doing in the world. I didn't love the matchup

23:15

against Carolina. I thought they were going to run them all with a

23:17

lot of success, and he wasn't gonna have to throw it. Only

23:19

threw it forty five times. What do I know? Had three

23:22

touchdowns and over twenty six Fantasy points.

23:24

He's now scored twenty plus points and three

23:26

of his last four games. And he's got Jacksonville

23:28

next, and they stink, uh

23:31

three other quarterbacks. You're

23:33

gonna yell at me here, Derek Carr,

23:36

I get it. He sucked. He

23:39

had six tenths of a point against

23:41

Atlanta. Okay, I

23:43

understand the NFL is a week to weekly.

23:46

He's got the Jets next. I'm not saying

23:48

he's a top ten starter, but he's

23:50

got the Jets. Been hegst Okay, Philip

23:53

Rivers has got Houston. That's

23:55

a good matchup. And then for those who

23:57

are desperate, those in two QB or super

23:59

flight leagues, Mike

24:02

Glennon did look terrible. It wasn't

24:04

bad. Okay. I'm not saying he's

24:06

a superstar. I'm just saying desperation,

24:09

and then Colt McCoy could get to start for

24:11

the Giants again. Desperation,

24:15

Okay, And they've got I believe Seattle next on the

24:17

schedule, and I understand that it's

24:19

Colt McCoy. I get it, I understand,

24:22

But um, you know, this is

24:24

this is sort of where we're at right now, folks. This

24:26

is this is deeper too. QB or super

24:28

flex leagues, traditional leagues. Neither one of

24:30

these guys is being touched. But I try to cover

24:32

all my angles here. That's

24:35

uh well, I mean that's why we bring you on. But we're

24:37

not gonna let you go yet because you still gotta give us some

24:39

some tight ends here. Yeah, we can do that. Um.

24:42

The number one guy is, of course,

24:44

the player that you should be starting during the holiday

24:46

season, and that's Rudolph. Rudolph

24:49

right eight targets, seven catches, sixty eight

24:51

yards over almost fourteen Fantasy points against the

24:53

Panthers. So Adam Feeling is

24:56

out with COVID nineteen. I don't know if

24:58

he's gonna come back next week. If he does, then

25:00

you know, Kyle loses some of his luster for sure.

25:03

But er Smith Jr. Is also dealing with injuries

25:05

too, so and it's the Jaguars next week.

25:07

So it is what it is. Dalton Chilts. I feel like

25:09

I've been talking about Dalton ChEls, firm weaves and no one's picking

25:11

him up. Maybe they just don't want Dalton Schalts.

25:13

I don't know, twenty six targets in his last four

25:15

games, Like that's a lot in

25:18

Dalton, Like really trust this guy and Andy Dalton.

25:20

You know he's a mediorocal quarterback at

25:22

best. Here's the thing. I don't know if they're

25:24

gonna play next week because he got the Ravens

25:26

going up in Week three. I don't know what's going on with that

25:28

game. So, but but Schultz is worth a look. It's

25:30

always Trey Burton, who he

25:33

had a fourteen percent target share

25:35

against the Titans, forty two yards

25:38

in a touchdown. He's giving me a ten plus points in two

25:40

straight games and four of his last six. And I mean,

25:42

if you can get ten from your tight end like right now, I

25:44

mean, you're feeling pretty good about yourself and

25:46

you know the matchup against the Texans is favorable. And then

25:48

Logan Thomas, who

25:50

was one of my favorite DFS players last week

25:53

because I know, the Cowboys suck and

25:56

he had a very good matchup sixteen

25:58

point seven percent target chair. I had a touchdown,

26:01

thirteen point four fantasy points. They actually

26:03

remember they he threw a pass and

26:05

then they also used him kind of

26:08

as a as a quarterback too. I

26:10

wonder if ESPN will give him a quarterback. Probably

26:13

not, But they have the Steelers coming up,

26:15

which is not the greatest matchup, but it's week

26:17

their team, folks, and we're talking about desperation here.

26:20

And Logan Thomas, he's played

26:22

you know, more snaps and run, more routs, just about

26:24

it in any tight end and the leaves, so he's always on the field.

26:26

There you go, thin position. I mean, you can't

26:29

beggars, can't be choosers at this point. Look at Thomas.

26:31

Nothing wrong with that. And by the way, Tyler Bass

26:33

had another big game, damn

26:36

it. And how about young Waiku?

26:39

Young Wayku was better

26:41

than all than I think five quarterbacks

26:44

he's folks. Yeah, and

26:46

and look he played through injury too. He got rolled

26:48

up on on an offside

26:50

attempted block. There. He had twenty

26:54

one points. Okay, so

26:57

he scored more points than Ryan

26:59

Fitzpatrick, Ryan Tannehill Baker Mayfield,

27:01

Philip Rivers, Taysom Hill, Justin Herbert,

27:03

Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, Matt Ryan. You

27:05

get my points. That's

27:08

that's what I mean. I have. I

27:10

have a few leagues where I have young

27:13

Way Coup. I still I'm so like

27:15

literal with like pronunciation and h O

27:17

E does not spell way to me, so

27:19

I always have it in the back of my mind. I think it's young

27:22

Way Coup. Dude. He was a

27:24

league winner or he was a he was a matchup

27:26

winner this week with those points,

27:29

yep, So I had to get my kickers

27:31

in there. Man. Tyler Bass was pretty good too, always

27:33

always with the kickers. No fabs.

27:36

We appreciate it every week. Look, he's

27:38

here every Monday. He is on the SI

27:41

Fantasy podcast all the time. If you hate podcasts,

27:44

and I don't know how you got this far into the show if

27:46

you do. But if you hate podcasts, SI dot

27:48

Com slash Fantasy, get all his

27:50

stuff in written form. Uh fabs.

27:52

Always a pleasure. We will talk to you next Monday.

27:54

You got him, man, all right? A welcome

27:57

back to Jenny Brentis and we have lots more

27:59

from us Sunday's actual to get to. But uh,

28:01

we are gonna start with some of the off

28:03

field action before we get to it.

28:05

And that was a couple of a

28:08

couple of firings. Always always a bummers

28:10

Thanksgiving weekend. No one, no one should be fired

28:12

Thanksgiving weekend. But but here we are.

28:15

We'll starting Detroit. Jenny, Matt Patricia

28:17

and Bob Quinn are out and

28:19

and looked at they had what seemed like a playoff

28:22

mandate this year from uh, from ownership.

28:24

They're not going to get there, and so this was

28:27

all just kind of uh, I guess kind

28:29

of expected. Yeah,

28:31

And the way that the team

28:33

has been playing the last few weeks

28:35

especially just look

28:38

entirely checked out. What we described

28:40

earlier about the Patriots is what the Lions

28:42

are not doing. They're not still in games, even

28:44

if the season might be slipping away. And

28:47

I just think the biggest thing is

28:49

that Patricia is supposed to be a defensive

28:52

coach, and his defenses have been horrendous. I

28:54

mean, obviously the win loss record is the biggest thing,

28:56

but here he has a specialty

28:58

and they haven't even bien good at his specialty

29:00

and they haven't shown any signs of progress

29:03

or building. So I think when you're valuating

29:05

a coach and you just see that this is going

29:07

nowhere. There hasn't been any advancement

29:10

forward, there would be nothing to build off of next

29:12

season. Uh. And so

29:14

you make the move now so you can hire

29:16

a search firm or whatever direction

29:19

you decide to go in and begin the

29:21

search because there's a

29:23

lot of other teams now that I have a jump

29:25

on the process. Connor Or has the

29:27

week off, but he has h he has so

29:29

many thoughts about search firm, how

29:32

much he does not like search terms. But

29:34

no, you're absolutely right. And look, Mampiaturchi

29:37

was Bob Queen's guy that they

29:39

got rid of a lot of talented players who maybe weren't

29:43

fit in in Patricia's locker room.

29:45

And then they brought in their own guys and it's year three

29:47

and it's it's clearly not working.

29:49

Like you said, defensive side of the ball,

29:51

I mean they are, They're just terrible.

29:54

Uh. You can't you can't live

29:57

with it that way. If if Mapaturch is your

29:59

coach and and Day called well out in

30:01

Jacksonville, the the sort of long tenure

30:03

GM there who Uh, it's just

30:05

sort of I don't want to say I forgot

30:07

about Dave called well, but it's like when they brought in Coughlin,

30:10

it was kind of like he was you know, you sort

30:12

of set aside a little bit and you sort of maybe

30:14

forgot he was. He was there quite frankly,

30:17

and uh, but now he is, he's no longer

30:19

going to be there as as the Jaguars. You wonder if

30:21

this is is

30:23

this going to be it for Doug Maron? Uh,

30:25

you know, you wonder if this is sort of going

30:27

to lead to even more of a regime

30:30

change in in Jacksonville. Yeah,

30:32

it was a little surprising they didn't make the

30:34

move with both the GM and the coach

30:36

at the same time. UM, but it's

30:39

possible that they just thought

30:41

Maron let him finish out this

30:43

season. He would be the

30:45

best option to finish out the season. It's

30:48

hard to imagine they don't change both

30:50

by the time UM season

30:53

is over, because it's always

30:55

hard to go in with the GM and

30:57

a head coach on different timelines. And

31:01

this doesn't make sense. You won't

31:03

get your best pick of GMS if you already

31:05

have a head coach in place. And uh,

31:08

the results have have been disappointing

31:10

at Jacksonville. You have well,

31:12

let's uh, let's go on to uh

31:15

to the to the action here. Uh, Packers

31:18

Bears the Sunday night game, and here's a here's

31:20

a GM and a coach who are on different timelines

31:22

in Chicago, and we'll see what happens with them down the stretch

31:24

here. But uh, this was we'll

31:27

start optimistically and talk about the Packers

31:29

and what they did in this one. This was definitely the best game

31:31

they played since that Thursday night blowout in San

31:34

Francisco. Uh. They had forty

31:36

one points in this game. And look, whatever

31:38

you think about this Packers Bears matchup

31:41

and the fact that the Packers, obviously you have have very

31:43

much gotten the better of the Bears during the Aaron Rodgers

31:45

years. Uh, Packers scored

31:47

a total of thirty one points in the two meetings a year

31:50

ago, and they had I mean they had twenty seven

31:52

and a half. Time they end up hanging forty one

31:54

on on a good Bears defense in this one.

31:56

It was just for anyone sort of wringing

31:58

their hands about the Packers. Maybe you're not

32:00

completely out of the woods, but this certainly

32:03

makes you feel very good about this team going forward.

32:05

Yeah, there's just have been some inconsistencies

32:08

with the Packers, and but nights

32:10

like this remind you that they are really good

32:12

and they give you hope that they could have some

32:15

long postseason run. Because I think we're trying

32:17

to, as you talked about at the top of the show, sort

32:20

out the NFC picture and try

32:22

to determine like who's actually good.

32:24

It's different from the a f C. I think the a f

32:26

C is really crowded. The NFC.

32:28

We're trying to say, like, who's actually good

32:31

in this conference and it's really hard to

32:33

tell. Um, But despite some

32:35

hiccups, the Packers are very good.

32:39

The uh So the Bears end

32:41

up turning to back to Mitchell Drubisky in this one,

32:43

Nick Foles out, I mean,

32:45

look, I

32:47

I know everyone sort of queued up their

32:50

their Mitchell Droubisky tweets. Uh,

32:52

you know, got got the drafts ready for when

32:54

Sunday night rolled around. I'm not gonna say

32:56

he was good in this game, but he was. He

32:58

was Okay. You could live with this performance

33:01

if if the defense was not so non

33:03

competitive in this one. If you're the Bears, this

33:05

was I thought, this is the best their offense has looked

33:08

in a very long time. And you know, he

33:11

threw two interceptions. One was

33:14

one was forced, one was a really bad

33:16

read that he will he will, I don't

33:19

know. I'll have to all have to live with that, I guess.

33:21

And then he of course had you know, he lost a fumble

33:23

that was scooped and scored quite frankly,

33:25

if if if he was Aaron Rodgers, he probably

33:27

would have gotten a face mask flag on that play. But that's

33:29

neither here nor there. But uh, I mean

33:32

they were aggressive. They you have to be aggressive

33:34

with him. They put him on the move a little bit. They they used

33:36

his legs a little bit. I don't

33:38

want to overstate it, but this was a this

33:42

was above the baseline of

33:44

uh of acceptable

33:46

quarterback play, which is something the Bears

33:49

just haven't been at in a long time. You

33:51

know, that's a really good way to put it, Gary. And

33:53

it's a difficult situation in Chicago

33:56

because they make the playoffs that first

33:58

season and they make the trade

34:01

for Khalil Mack and so everybody

34:03

thinks they're

34:05

trying to win now, and it's

34:08

you know, this team is primed and it's

34:11

just the quarterback that's holding them back. And by

34:13

virtue of being in the draft class with Mahomes

34:16

and Watson, that comparison

34:19

is just hanging over to Whisky. And I

34:21

just wonder if he had been in a

34:23

different draft class and there wasn't always

34:25

that ready comparison to be made, if

34:28

um, maybe things would be a little bit different.

34:31

I think about Ryan Tannehill a lot. Yes,

34:34

Gary, I was just going to make that comparison

34:37

go ahead. No, it's because Tannehill,

34:40

because Tannell was the first Trump pick. He

34:42

was he was he was like seventeenth overall that year.

34:45

Um, when Tannehill sort of

34:47

washed out in Miami and he was out there

34:49

when the Titans signed Tannehill, it was not

34:51

like a like, oh, here's our guy. Tannehill's

34:54

o our saver. He was kind of like, Okay, well, this is

34:56

a guy who now has no pressure on him.

34:59

Uh. And that there's something just

35:01

sort of liberating in that for Ryan

35:03

Tannil. And obviously he found the right system. And I'm

35:05

not necessarily saying true Whisky goes out there and becomes Annale,

35:08

but you know, true Wisky

35:10

is more like in the Blake Bortles category

35:13

where no better where he lands,

35:15

he's just kind of it's

35:17

mean to say, but he's just kind of a punchline.

35:20

And it's because he was the number

35:22

two pick in front of Watson and uh and ma

35:24

Homes and and had he gone late

35:27

first round that year or something like that. It's just it's

35:29

a different narrative and there's probably a different kind

35:31

of pressure being put on him because I know

35:35

he always says like, I don't do social media, I don't

35:37

look at what they're they're saying about me in the

35:39

media. But you can't avoid

35:41

that. Yeah, Tannehill was

35:43

eighth that year, but he was after

35:45

Luck and r G three, so you just don't You didn't

35:48

really think about it, right because Luck

35:50

was supposed to be this generational

35:53

prospect, which he was, but obviously injuries

35:55

and the combination of circumstances

35:57

um made his career go a different

35:59

or action before he decided to walk away. And then r

36:02

G three, there was always, you know, so

36:04

much discussion about RG three, so they dominated

36:06

the conversation. And then Kannahill's

36:09

in Miami and you know, teams are kind of

36:11

mediocre and it but it just wasn't the same level

36:13

of scrutiny that Trabinsky has

36:15

gone. He was the third guy who was

36:18

taken after the other two guys, whereas

36:20

Trabisky should have been the third guy,

36:22

but he was taken first, and so the narrative

36:24

gets flipped. Yeah,

36:27

I mean the alternate universe where like, uh,

36:29

I don't know, the Browns take Watson, and then the

36:32

I don't know that the Bears take Mahomes

36:34

and and Trabinsky just don't know Texans

36:36

or whatever and just sort of hangs out as a Kirk Cousins

36:39

type dude. And it's a much

36:41

different life, probably a much happier life for

36:43

him. He'll get a shot somewhere after the season.

36:46

Obviously it won't be as a starter, but uh, we'll

36:49

see if we'll see if he could be a

36:51

successful reclamation project somewhere.

36:53

But like I said, when like the Titans

36:56

signed Tanna, no one, no one thought anything

36:58

of it. He was just going to be a back up there and then all of a

37:00

sudden, uh, you know, everything

37:03

sort of worked out for him. But ah,

37:07

poor Mitch um

37:09

Let's let's go out to forty Rams

37:11

and look have now beaten the

37:13

Rams in four straight and uh

37:15

both games this year we're upset victories

37:18

for the forty Niners and and I

37:20

mean, look, Sean McVeigh can coach Kyle Shanahan

37:22

KA coach, and Shanahan has just gotten the better

37:24

of him repeatedly including I

37:26

mean this is, this is. We'll get into the

37:28

playoff picture in a second. But um,

37:31

Nick Mullins game, Deebo Samuels back, Deebo

37:34

Samuel was great in this game for the forty and

37:36

uh they just they have the answers,

37:39

they just find the answers offensively. Yeah,

37:41

I mean it was a good testimonial

37:44

to Kyle Shannon's ability

37:46

to coach. Their roster has just been

37:49

ravaged across the board, and they've

37:51

still come up with creative

37:53

ways. And Robert Sala, you know, he's kind

37:55

of been forgotten a little bit this year because

37:57

the team's record isn't very good, but you

38:00

would be very appealing head coaching candidate.

38:02

And look at the game plan they put together for

38:04

the Rams, especially in the first half of

38:06

that game. The uh

38:09

so, I don't know, we all

38:11

kind of waited for the Rams to get back into this one. And

38:14

and I shouldn't say of all people, but

38:16

he does play defense, so you wouldn't expect that to

38:18

necessarily be the case. But Aaron

38:20

Donald just sort of took this game over

38:22

in the third quarter and early in the fourth, uh,

38:25

including a you know, a forced fumble of

38:27

of Rahee Moster that end up being scoop and score.

38:30

Uh. That sort of got the Rams back into and the Rams

38:32

retook the lead after trailing promotes the second

38:34

half, and it was just kind of like, Okay, this is going to this

38:36

is going to play out as we thought it would

38:38

play out. And then you just get to forty Niners

38:41

end up hanging on defensively, they get too late field

38:43

goals, um, and that's ah, that's

38:46

it. Uh. As far

38:48

as the playoff picture, you goes, look, if we're

38:50

talking about alternate universes and and

38:52

and I love to do that. If

38:56

the Cardinals don't get that Hail Mary

38:58

to beat the Bills. Right now,

39:00

it is a thousand team

39:02

tie for the seventh seed in the NFC at

39:04

at five and six, and the Vikings are in on that, the

39:07

Bears are in on that, the Cardinals would would

39:09

be five and six at that point, and the forty Niners are

39:11

sitting at five and six right now. So there

39:14

again, kind of like the Vikings, who you know,

39:16

they've been written off repeatedly this year, and

39:18

yet they're still just kind of hanging around here.

39:20

Yeah, they're hanging around with some of these surprising

39:24

winds. And it

39:26

was interesting to hear Sean McVeigh kind

39:28

of publicly call out golf. I thought

39:30

his comments were pretty strong

39:32

in terms of we just have to do a better job of

39:36

not turning over the ball. Uh. Sounded

39:38

like he was sending a little bit of a message

39:40

to his quarterback, whose turnover

39:42

woes have really creeped up the last few weeks

39:44

and have resulted in some of these bad

39:47

losses for the Rams, certainly against

39:49

the forty niners and then the memorable

39:52

game against the Dolphins were

39:54

not so memorable for golf, quite

39:57

memorable for for many of us who

39:59

sat through that first half. Yeah, it's uh,

40:02

I mean, look, that's that's the prisoner of golf.

40:04

When they get off schedule, whether

40:06

it be whether it be getting into a bunch

40:09

of third lungs, or whether it be a game

40:11

where they fall behind. He just hasn't been

40:13

good enough at this point. You kind of, uh,

40:15

we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Golf has done

40:17

a very good job in a very good system over the

40:19

years, but you kind of wonder if at

40:21

some point, uh, they'll just kind of be

40:24

looking for more, especially considering what

40:26

what you have to pay a top flight quarterback uh

40:29

at this point, and you know the kind of contract

40:31

that Golf ended up getting. But this

40:33

was Look, the Rams

40:36

and Seahawks are obviously sort of battling

40:38

it out for the the NFC West here. Uh,

40:40

this was one that you kind of chalked up as as

40:42

a as a win here for the Rams and expected

40:45

win. They still they get Arizona

40:47

twice. Uh, they get the Patriots

40:49

at home, and they still have to go

40:51

to Seattle. Seahawks have been much

40:54

easier scheduled down the stretch. Obviously,

40:56

we don't know what happened in Monday night yet uh

40:58

in Philadelphia, But um,

41:00

this was this was a tough one to get

41:03

away from the Rams if they are going

41:05

to end up beating the Seahawks this year

41:07

in that division race. But we'll we'll

41:09

see how it plays out. Um. The

41:11

Vikings, Okay, so the Vikings, who

41:14

again we've all given up on them multiple times

41:16

this year. We probably gave up on them multiple

41:18

times during this game against the Panthers

41:21

on Sunday afternoon. That was just completely um,

41:24

it was completely wild. And I guess

41:27

we'll start with Jeremy Chin. I don't know what else

41:29

you say about Jeremy Chen. He had to fummal

41:31

return touchdowns. Uh.

41:34

This is the Panthers rookie safety to funmal return

41:36

touchdowns and a ten seconds span in the

41:38

third quarter to uh to

41:40

give the Panthers an eleven point lead. And it

41:43

was just, I don't know, it was just kind of that

41:46

sort of game, just wild,

41:48

sloppy, and just a lot of just

41:51

kind of stupid stuff happening in this game. Yeah,

41:53

And I also feel like that sort of

41:56

is how the Panthers play, that they're

41:58

just kind of scrappy like that, and

42:00

they come up with plays when you might not expect

42:03

them. They weren't expect supposed to be very

42:05

good this year, but they've come up with a lot of

42:07

surprising performances. I guess plucky

42:09

would be the word. And like, so that's the kind of thing,

42:11

like they just come up with these plays that just

42:14

seemed totally wild, but they make them happen.

42:17

This was I mean, look, the Panthers

42:19

are four and eight this year. I think a lot

42:21

of us didn't think they win four games all season. I

42:23

thought this was like a two and fourteen type of roster

42:25

they put together and what is a full rebuild

42:28

in Matt rules first year? But uh, they

42:30

were right there in this one they end up giving

42:32

up. Uh. I mean, look credit

42:34

Kirk Cousins of this one. Uh they

42:37

are the Vikings are down

42:39

six points. Uh, they get the ball

42:41

back with the minute fifty one left and and

42:43

Cousins brings them seventy five yards

42:46

and seven plays. Chad Beebe,

42:48

who had this just crushing um

42:50

muffed punt to uh to allow

42:53

the Panthers to take a six point lead. Uh.

42:55

He ends up catching the game when he touchdown

42:57

this game where Adam Field was out because of COVID calls.

43:01

It was a game the the Vikings

43:03

acolutely had to have to stay in the playoff picture.

43:05

And uh, and they got it. And they just got

43:08

in such an unlikely series of ways.

43:10

And then of course the Panthers come

43:12

right back. They end up with a fifty yard fifty four

43:14

yard try to potentially win it

43:16

on the final play, and Joey Sly just

43:19

just missing Every Panthers game ends with Joey sly

43:21

Um missing a very very long field

43:24

goal. That's that's a tradition at this point.

43:26

Yeah. Well, and I would say for the

43:28

Panthers, because the expectations were low

43:31

this year, this kind of game is meaningful because

43:33

it shows that, you know, you

43:35

can deliver these kinds of performances. Even though

43:37

they ultimately came up short. Um,

43:40

that was a well played game, and

43:42

you know, they they

43:44

almost came out with a win against an opponent

43:46

that's been well, you know, the Vikings have been up

43:49

and down. As you said, Gary, I don't know exactly

43:51

what to make of them, But I don't know. I I

43:53

took away a lot of positives for the

43:55

Panthers from that game. Yeah.

43:57

Yeah, it's been a really nice season. And again

44:00

and it's their professional football players. They didn't

44:02

want to emphasize the moral victories too much, but

44:04

this has been a really nice year for the Panthers.

44:06

Uh, to just be competitive weekend a week out

44:08

for the most part. Uh, let's

44:11

let's go out to Denver. And this

44:13

was I don't even know what

44:15

else to say about the actual game. At

44:17

this point. The Broncos all three

44:19

quarterbacks uh ineligible to play

44:21

because of COVID protocol. So they end up starting

44:24

Kendall Hint in a practice squad right

44:26

wide receiver who early in his career

44:28

at Wake Forest played some quarterback and

44:31

uh, I mean it was I mean,

44:33

I don't know. They weren't

44:35

going to be competitive, and um,

44:37

you know Connor kind of wrote about this on

44:39

on Sunday. There was

44:42

something of a fascination of like, Oh,

44:44

what's this gonna be. You know, they got this this dual

44:46

threat guy who you know, they're

44:48

throwing him in there the last minute. This might be really interesting.

44:51

It wasn't very interesting. It was just they

44:53

didn't have an offense. They completed one pass,

44:55

they converted one third down. Uh,

44:58

they scored three points that was directly off

45:00

a turnover. They had one yard on

45:02

that scoring drive. It was just

45:04

it was just kind of stupid to to watch

45:07

this game be played. Yeah, and when

45:09

you are that depleted

45:11

at the most important position on the field,

45:14

you do worry about the safety of

45:16

playing the game. I mean this came. This

45:18

comes up and taking conversations all the time

45:20

when you deplete your roster, are you putting your players

45:23

at some risk by putting them out there,

45:25

and certainly when you have an entirely depleted

45:27

quarterback depth chart, you

45:30

worry about that going into the game. Now I understand

45:32

why it was played. I mean, the NFL is saying you

45:35

essentially flouted our protocols

45:37

and so you can't play. And I did think

45:39

that that was a strong step

45:41

to take, and they you know, but

45:43

I think there's also risks

45:46

that the players are exposed to as a result

45:48

of that. So it just wasn't a good

45:50

situation overall. And

45:53

um, yeah, I agreed with what Connor

45:55

wrote. I mean, I thought it was kind of hard to watch. It was

45:57

super cringe e. It didn't really enjoy it at

45:59

all. I do remember when I was in a beat Gary,

46:02

one of the things that you would always do is go around

46:04

the locker room and ask who the emergency

46:06

quarterback is. Like you would try to like ferret out

46:08

that information, and sometimes teams kept

46:11

it very close to the vest. But I remember on

46:13

the Giant Speed at one point in time it was Jeff Fiagels,

46:16

the punter, he was the emergency quarterback,

46:18

which was kind of a funny picture. Um,

46:20

And then when I covered the Jets, I mean there was

46:22

always a former college quarterback

46:25

type around. I mean, Brad Smith was there for a while,

46:27

so he could easily step in. I

46:29

think Jeremy Curley was the

46:31

emergency quarterback, so you always, you

46:33

know, a lot of teams kind of have this someone

46:35

around that takes emergency snaps

46:38

to be prepared for a situation. But that the

46:40

idea is sort of like at the end of the

46:42

game, if there's a bunch of injuries and you need a couple

46:45

of snaps, it's not to play an entire game.

46:48

Yeah it was, and and and look,

46:50

Taysom Hill ends up leading the Saints offense

46:52

again, and this one they end up running forty four times

46:54

for two yards in a game that again

46:56

was just uh it wasn't competitive. And

46:58

you're right, any look at the n f fell certainly

47:01

put their foot down on this one with with the

47:03

with the Broncos sort of asking to have

47:05

this game uh postponed or

47:08

or or whatever it might be. Uh,

47:10

you just kind of wonder, I mean, I don't know, I

47:14

I realized the sentiment of like, okay,

47:17

absolutely, it sounds like the quarterbacks

47:20

room did flout the protocols. Uh,

47:22

and you want to sort of have

47:24

some sort of punitive action

47:27

against that. But I don't know. Maybe it's

47:29

maybe it's fines, maybe it's draft

47:31

picks something like that instead of like the actual game.

47:33

You could have pushed this game back to Monday or Tuesday

47:35

and had one of the Broncos quarterbacks

47:38

participate in it. Uh, but I

47:40

don't know. I mean that's yeah, yeah,

47:45

and uh I do want to mention this real

47:47

quick. Uh. Well, will ever

47:50

so briefly open up the mail bag because Simon

47:52

from Australia who is a friend of the show,

47:55

and uh, Jenny, I don't know if you if

47:57

you know this, but this show is very big

47:59

in Australia. Um,

48:02

Simon Simon, want to ask U, So

48:04

Kendall Hinton had a zero point zero rating

48:06

as a one for nine for thirteen yards two interceptions.

48:08

That is a zero point zero rating. Uh.

48:10

You want to know if there have been other zero points here?

48:12

There have been a lot of zero point zeros,

48:14

uh Simon over the years. Um,

48:17

I have the one of my thousands of tabs.

48:19

I have the list up. Actually, Um

48:21

there was last week Ryan Finley

48:23

in relief of Joe Burrow put up a zero point zero.

48:26

Nathan Peterman in the opener um,

48:28

but some good All the Mannings, Peyton, Eli

48:30

and Archie each had zero point zero games.

48:33

Terry bradhoe I had three of them, Warren Moon had

48:35

two of them. So I don't

48:38

think this is the start of Kendall Hinton's uh

48:41

Hall of Fame quarterback career. But um,

48:43

we have seen ugly games, whether it be weather

48:45

or just just sort of horrific games

48:48

by a otherwise good quarterback.

48:50

Uh. That's the way. That's the way it goes sometimes,

48:53

so good company evidently

48:55

with yes there

48:58

they're uh, they're been a lot um

49:02

but but maybe none of them quite like quite

49:04

like this one played out. Let's

49:06

let's go to the Giants Bengals.

49:09

The NFC East says, the NFCS turns here.

49:11

Uh. So the Giants end up scraping this

49:13

win out against a Bengal

49:16

scene that I mean, look, Joe Judge,

49:18

special teams coordinator become head coach. Uh.

49:21

The Bengal special teams kind of kept

49:23

them in this one. They get the long kickoff return,

49:25

they get a fake punt conversion,

49:27

they got a long punt return at the end of

49:30

this one that almost with them in field goal range for

49:32

a game winner before Uh it was

49:34

Gibal Shear got the strip sack of Brandon

49:36

Allen to seal this one for the Giant. So uh,

49:38

the Giants who got the win. But the story and this one, Daniel Jones

49:41

suffers a hamstring injury. Obviously,

49:43

we don't know exactly what it's going

49:45

to be going forward. Uh, it seems

49:48

like it's significant though. And this I mean,

49:51

if Daniel Jones is healthy, I I

49:53

think it's it's it's not even a take anymore. I think

49:55

it's just a factual statement. Say, the Giants are

49:58

the favorites in the NFC East. If

50:00

Daniel Jones is out in Colte McCoy is going to be the quarterback

50:02

for the next couple of weeks or even just

50:04

a game or two. Uh, this already

50:07

chaotic division gets thrown into more chaos.

50:10

Yeah, and the Giants are

50:12

just getting some momentum. I mean again,

50:15

this game could have gone either way, and

50:17

that was not a great sign for of the overall

50:19

quality of the team. But the NFC East race

50:22

is its own thing, and the Giants

50:24

were gaining some momentum. This was their

50:26

first win outside of the NFC East.

50:28

So um,

50:31

and you know I would

50:33

have said that the Giants were looking like a favorite

50:36

at this point in time to win the division, but now

50:38

the hamstring injury certainly complicates

50:40

that. Oh man, that

50:43

division. I mean you kind of we'll

50:45

sue the Eagles to go forward

50:47

and if they can, they can right the ships. Certainly

50:49

they are very talented roster. Uh

50:52

you kind of right out the right right off the Cowboys

50:55

a little bit after that Thursday night game,

50:57

although I suppose you shouldn't do that with anyone in this division

50:59

at this point, but uh, Washington

51:01

is again Washington

51:04

just they have like no interest

51:06

in scoring points, and it just

51:08

seems like they were willing to just sort of sit

51:11

down and be like, uh, all right,

51:13

well we'll take the rest of the season off, and then

51:15

all of a sudden, it's like just

51:17

doing nothing is going to move them into

51:20

the lead in this division somehow, like by

51:22

not running the race there somehow going to

51:25

win the race potentially. Is how this

51:27

is going to play out, which I guess is it's

51:29

the way it should end in the NFC East. Well,

51:33

you mentioned some reader or listener

51:35

mail earlier, and I got a d M

51:37

from one of the weeks side loyal listeners, Anthony

51:39

Brown, and he points out anyone

51:42

who wins the NFC East is just going to

51:44

be doing more harm than good because the

51:46

season is a wash anyway, and you're losing

51:49

draft positions, So if you get to the playoffs,

51:51

you're automatically picking in the late teens.

51:54

And wouldn't you be better off just you

51:56

know, giving up on the year, Which is true, I mean

51:59

ultimately, I mean ultimately,

52:01

a playoff performance

52:03

appearance rather, uh, isn't

52:06

going to meet a lot for these NFC East

52:08

teams. But if you're a head coach, if

52:10

you're a TM, you're measured on how many

52:12

times you made to the playoffs, and if you go to

52:14

the playoffs, it's something to build off of.

52:16

So of course that is

52:19

going to be the goal, and somebody is going to

52:21

win this division. But um,

52:23

but yes, ultimately, in the long run, what comes

52:25

of it probably not very much. Yeah,

52:28

it's uh, it's I

52:31

don't know. I I will say this, you're

52:33

gonna get to host a playoff game if you hosted

52:36

like Tom Brady in the Bucks. If you're

52:38

the Giants and you get to host Tom Brady

52:40

in the Bucks on playoff game, that game feels

52:43

like a Super Bowl. That. I mean,

52:45

that's a that's a big deal. If I were a Giants fan,

52:47

I would be up for that game. I'd

52:49

becumbed if they lost, but that would

52:51

be something to look forward to for for a week.

52:53

But but you're right, you're you're gonna jump down

52:56

a bunch of spots in the draft order

52:58

if uh, if that's the way it plays

53:00

out, and I don't know, we'll we'll

53:03

see someone's they're gonna make someone win this division

53:05

and play a playoff game. We'll see who it ends up being.

53:08

Uh, let's let's go up to Orchard Park where

53:11

it look this Josh Allen justin Herbert matchup,

53:13

that was uh, you know, you thought you're gonna

53:15

see all these big plays and and all these uh fireworks

53:18

here. It just didn't. It didn't happen. Both defenses

53:20

did a nice job, the Bill's defense, which

53:23

has been rocky this year. You

53:25

know, a year ago, everyone would

53:27

have said, well, Bill's defenses are strength. The quarterbacks

53:29

of the problem. It's been the it's been the reverse this year.

53:32

But it was kind of a throwback to that in

53:34

this game. Or Josh Allen was a little bit shaky

53:36

um put a couple of passes in danger,

53:39

ends up only throwing one inception, but uh, there

53:41

were just there were no big plays for him and this

53:43

one. Uh. But on the other

53:45

side, look, Justin Herbert has been the

53:47

most prolific big play passer in the

53:49

league since he since he gained gained the starting

53:52

job here and uh, they did not

53:54

get any big but I think eight team was their

53:56

longest pass of the day until

53:58

a hail area an other Bills

54:01

opponent hail Mary here got

54:03

them down near the goal line and sort of a meetingless

54:05

final drive there. So, uh, nice

54:08

job by the Bill's defense. Yeah,

54:10

it was definitely one of those mixed

54:12

bag performances for the Bills, because

54:15

while Alan has taken several steps

54:17

forward this year, the defense

54:19

had taken a step back, and so this was a

54:22

nice performance to sort

54:24

of maybe get the defense trending

54:27

back towards where it was last season, or at least

54:29

to say, hey, we shut down a really good

54:31

promising on quarterback that a lot of other teams

54:34

have had trouble with. But on

54:36

the flip side, it wasn't a great day for Josh

54:38

Allen. Yeah, Josh Allen

54:40

is streaky. That's what we're going to see down the h

54:43

down, the stretcher Cole Beasley end up throwing a throwing

54:45

a touchdown on a trick play, and uh,

54:48

that's the way this one went. I mean, Bill's led

54:50

for most of it, but it just was kind of more

54:52

interesting than, uh, than they probably

54:54

would have hoped at this point. But uh,

54:56

let's let's stay in the a f C East

54:59

Dolphins du heat pays still a game back

55:01

of the Bills in the division. Ryan

55:03

Fitzpatrick back in starting line up for the injured

55:05

ta uh and he was

55:07

he was fine. I mean, look at running backs,

55:09

lost two fumbles in this one. It was sort of just sloppy

55:12

game for Miami, but obviously you have a certain

55:14

margin for error when you're going up against the

55:16

Jets. Yeah. Now, I guess

55:18

the question is when will to be able

55:20

to return? And Dolphins

55:23

needed a win like this to stay on

55:25

track to to potentially

55:28

be in play for They're still in play for the f C

55:30

East, but perhaps more likely

55:32

a wild card. Um. But

55:34

yeah, I'm just curious to see what happens with two

55:36

of the rest of the season. That still is the big question,

55:39

you know, when will he be able to return from

55:41

the thumb injury, and how will

55:43

he play when he does. I like

55:45

Brian Floor is playing the word game a little

55:47

bit the the when he's healthy, he'll

55:49

he'll be back in the lineup and we'll see. I mean,

55:52

if if Ryan Fitzpatrick strings

55:54

together a bunch of wins here, I mean, does does that

55:56

thumb linger a little bit longer than uh maybe

55:59

people expect did for a for Tuah, but I

56:02

don't know. I mean, look, Dolphins are are collecting

56:04

wins here, and that's a good thing. And I think there's no doubt

56:06

that going forward. If you're

56:09

looking at one and beyond, it's it's

56:11

to his team and and they'll get

56:13

there eventually. Just see how

56:15

urgently they they switch back to it.

56:18

Uh as far as Jets go, I mean they look

56:20

at still leading the Trevor Lawrence Derby,

56:22

Sam Donald returned to the lineup, was was

56:24

just again not good. Dolphins

56:26

defense is a tough match for young quarterback, but Donald

56:29

just I mean it's it's he's not

56:31

doing anything to uh prevent the

56:33

Jets from taking a quarterback at the top of the draft,

56:36

and uh, that's just that's the way

56:38

it's going to be there. I mean, it's so

56:40

strange. Gary, I was reflecting a little

56:42

bit on that draft and Donald was supposed

56:44

to be the safest selection. And it's

56:47

not all his fault. I mean, he's been in a tough

56:49

situation New York, and um,

56:52

he hasn't had a lot of support around him.

56:54

If you look at the players that he's been throwing

56:56

too, it's uh not

56:58

an imposing cast of characters. They let

57:00

Robbie Anderson go to Carolina. Um,

57:03

and the gaze pairing hasn't

57:05

been what they had hoped. But you know,

57:08

he was supposed to be the safest one

57:10

with the highest floor, and um,

57:13

the Jets felt really good about being able to

57:15

get him where they did. Yeah.

57:17

Yeah, well we'll see. I mean he'll he'll

57:19

probably have to to sit for a year or

57:21

two wherever he goes next. But um,

57:23

I've been saying, Pittsburgh, Go go to Pittsburgh.

57:25

The weird thing about Sam Donald and so

57:30

many quarterbacks are succeeding in

57:32

these highly schemed offense that involved a lot of play

57:34

action. Donald has never been a very good play action

57:36

quarterback. Um, which is

57:39

unusual, but not to Ben Roethlisberger

57:41

is not a play action quarterback. Aaron Rodgers

57:43

for the longest time was not a play action quarterback.

57:45

I think there's room in the league

57:47

for those guys, even if it's not sort of the trendy

57:50

thing to to be. So I've been

57:52

saying, send Donald to Pittsburgh and let him learn

57:54

behind Ben for a year or two and

57:56

then see if he can sort of recapture

57:58

this thing. But it's not. It's

58:00

not working. The Frothford and I did want to mention

58:03

before we move on. Uh, Jason

58:05

Sanders two for two from

58:07

beyond fifty yards Again, the Dolphins

58:09

kicker has made ten straight from beyond fifty.

58:12

That's a uh, that's very good. That's

58:14

a very good story. Wow. Yeah,

58:18

let's go to Brown's. Browns

58:20

finally don't have to play in a monsoon. They go

58:22

down to Jacksonville and just play a normal game

58:25

against the Jaguars, even if it was a little

58:27

bit dicey and um overall,

58:30

I mean, look, the game was too close for comfort,

58:32

and I I don't think any Browns fans

58:34

are going to be upset about hearing

58:36

that assessment. Uh, Mike Glennan

58:38

is under you know, under center for the Jaguars

58:41

here in this one, and uh, if the

58:43

Jaguars got to stop the

58:45

Browns end up converting a screen pass on

58:47

third and twelve to seal the game. But if

58:49

if the Jaguars could have gotten off the field there, they would

58:51

have gotten the ball back with a chance to come back, come

58:53

down and kick a field goal to win it.

58:56

But the Browns, who hang on Nick Chubb another big day

58:58

Baker Mayfield was everyone

59:01

will point to the really

59:03

bad and he had a couple of really bad misses

59:05

in the end zone. Just just gimme throws that

59:07

he just missed on. Uh.

59:10

But other than that, he was

59:12

I mean, he was good. He was he was accurate

59:15

for the most part, he was he was efficient.

59:18

I thought it was an encouraging

59:20

step forward for for sort of a young

59:23

quarterback having again kind of a rocky

59:25

season this year. Yeah,

59:27

I mean this game was definitely a

59:30

little bit more dramatic than maybe the Browns

59:32

had hoped for going into it. But

59:35

they end up coming

59:37

out with a win while the Raiders, which I know we're

59:40

getting to next lose and all of this

59:42

is important as it comes to the a f C playoff

59:44

picture. Yeah, and the Raiders

59:46

go down to Atlanta. I I just look,

59:49

I have so many nice things to say about

59:51

the Las Vegas Raiders and

59:53

and how they've sort of I mean, look, they're

59:55

not terribly talented, and they have one game

59:57

and the games, and they haven't won games

1:00:00

like Flukey means. They've just they just sort

1:00:02

of won games. They played better than they

1:00:05

uh that than to some of their parts. And I

1:00:07

mean this was a complete meltdown in Atlanta,

1:00:09

a game that you thought they get and

1:00:11

I mean, I don't know, I know if it's just a letdown

1:00:13

after you almost upset the Chiefs

1:00:15

and and all that stuff, but I

1:00:17

mean, this was this fell apart. They

1:00:20

end up, they end up with five turnovers

1:00:22

for them, lost fumbles, Josh

1:00:25

Jacobs left with an injury, although that might

1:00:27

have been sort of the result of just the game not being

1:00:29

competitive and not putting a

1:00:31

slightly banged up player back in, but uh,

1:00:34

this was this felt like kind

1:00:36

of a death knell here for for the Raiders. Yeah.

1:00:39

I did have the feeling of a letdown

1:00:41

game, but it is a little reministion

1:00:44

of last year where they really sputtered

1:00:46

toward the finish and they've

1:00:49

been in good position to make the playoffs

1:00:51

here and you know it'll be interesting

1:00:54

to see what happens

1:00:56

in the coming weeks if if they sputter again,

1:00:59

but I think they have the next so hopefully

1:01:01

that is a hopefully for

1:01:03

the Raiders. That will, you

1:01:06

know, be an easy way to get back on

1:01:08

track, a nice way to get

1:01:10

right there. All right, Jenny,

1:01:13

you will be on the week Side podcast coming out

1:01:15

Tuesday. If if y'all

1:01:17

out there don't already subscribe to it,

1:01:20

you should. Uh Connors out this week, but uh

1:01:22

man, I am can

1:01:24

you say the special guest? I? I yes, I

1:01:29

love I love Rohan Uh,

1:01:31

a NBA writer at at the s dot

1:01:33

com and uh huge Dolphins fan.

1:01:36

And I used to sit right behind

1:01:38

them and we talked Dolphins all the time, and I would

1:01:40

try to convince him that Adam

1:01:42

Gaze was was overachieving with

1:01:45

his terrible roster and he wasn't

1:01:47

really hearing it. He wanted to was so bad and now he's gotten

1:01:49

to it. But he lives in l A now, so we never talked about it

1:01:51

anymore. Yeah. Yeah, and the

1:01:53

office is closed, but regardless,

1:01:56

very excited. We will have a lot of Dolphins

1:01:58

talk on this show. Even comparing for this

1:02:00

for a while. Connor Or is out on paternity

1:02:03

leave, so we've been having

1:02:05

Rohan lined up for a few weeks as

1:02:07

the special guests whenever the baby came. Um.

1:02:10

Now, we didn't think it would be after

1:02:12

a week where Ryan Fitzpatrick was starting

1:02:14

again, but this is the chaotic Dolphins

1:02:16

season, so there's just lots to unpack. It's

1:02:18

fitting, it's very fitting. I'm very much

1:02:21

looking forward to that show and uh and Jenny,

1:02:23

thanks again for joining us. We will see you next week. Yes,

1:02:25

always fun. The mm

1:02:28

QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast is Jenny Brentsis

1:02:30

and me Gary Gramling. We are produced by

1:02:32

Shelby Royson s Eys. Executive producer

1:02:34

of podcast is Scott Brody. Ben Eagle is director

1:02:36

of Editorial Projects and product Mark

1:02:39

Rabick is Emeritus editor of the MMQB and

1:02:41

Andy Benoit is the founder of the MQB NFL

1:02:43

Podcast. Be sure to subscribe to

1:02:45

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1:02:48

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1:02:50

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1:02:54

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1:02:59

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