Can the Patriots get right this weekend? | All 32 NFL Podcast
Can the New England Patriots turn their season around this weekend as they face off against the Miami Dolphins? Both teams are struggling with identical records of one win and three losses. Mike Giardi discusses.
0:00 Intro
2:00 - Miami's quarterback struggles
4:20 - Patriots coaching issues
7:05 - Bengals September struggles
10:22 - Selfish plays breakdowns
12:34 - Patriots need confidence
14:24 - Vikings love to blitz
18:00 - Darnold's Jets reflection
20:01 - Jefferson vs. Gardner matchup
22:11 - Ravens rushing attack
24:00 - Bengals run defense
27:16 - Bills vs. Texans
28:49 - CJ Stroud's performance
31:34 - Bills' defensive injuries
36:09 - Running game struggles
38:19 - Fields' development
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0:00 Intro
2:00 - Miami's quarterback struggles
4:20 - Patriots coaching issues
7:05 - Bengals September struggles
10:22 - Selfish plays breakdowns
12:34 - Patriots need confidence
14:24 - Vikings love to blitz
18:00 - Darnold's Jets reflection
20:01 - Jefferson vs. Gardner matchup
22:11 - Ravens rushing attack
24:00 - Bengals run defense
27:16 - Bills vs. Texans
28:49 - CJ Stroud's performance
31:34 - Bills' defensive injuries
36:09 - Running game struggles
38:19 - Fields' development
************************************************
Patriots Content Brought to you by....
Prize Picks - https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS
Download the app today and use Code CLNS at PrizePicks.com/CLNS & Get $50 instantly when you play $5!
Gametime - https://gametime.co
Take the guesswork out of buying NFL tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code CLNS for $20 off your first purchase. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime!
Merch Store - https://shop.clnsmedia.com
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SportsTranscript
00:00It is caught! Touchdown!
00:04The New England Patriots select Drake May.
00:08He's got the ball! And that's the ballgame!
00:12Happy Friday to you all. It's the All 32 Pod. I'm Mike Giardi.
00:16My cohort, Will Parkinson, on assignment, which is to say I believe he's at a bachelor party.
00:21And I said, you know what? You're traveling on Friday. You have fun. I'll do the thing without you.
00:26I'm the old guy. What do I got to do? Absolutely nothing.
00:29Reminder to you, as always, except, by the way, to get you ready for week five.
00:33Reminder that this show brought to you by PrizePix, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network.
00:39And game time, best tickets, best prices to get you in to see any event that you want to see.
00:44And, of course, there are plenty of them. I will be using my press pass to go to the game.
00:48And that's what we'll lead off with. Patriots hosting the Dolphins.
00:52A pair of one-in-three teams that things don't look good for either one of them.
00:57In fact, I would argue that this is the worst game on the week five slate.
01:01Tyler Huntley on one side. Jacoby Brissett on the other.
01:05Of course, that wasn't Miami's plan, right? To a type of although it was the plan.
01:09But he is still dealing with a concussion. Earliest he could return would be week eight.
01:13Jacoby Brissett, on the other hand, still keeping Drake May at arm's length.
01:16Or at least Alex Van Pelt and Elliott Wolfe, general manager, are doing that to keep May on the sideline.
01:22And continue to marinate while Brissett struggles to run this offense that, quite frankly,
01:26isn't giving him a whole bunch of help. Mike McDaniel, we'll talk about no help, though.
01:30So McDaniel's now on his fourth quarterback this year. After two went down,
01:34it was Skyler Thompson, who was the backup quarterback entering the year, won the job
01:38over Mike White, who they released. Tim Boyle had to step in when Thompson got injured
01:42in the Seattle game. And now Snoop Huntley, who, as Demarcus Covington,
01:47the Patriots defense coordinator, reminded us, was a pro bowler.
01:50Failing to remind us, remember the fact that he threw two touchdown passes that year
01:54and was the ninth alternate. So Snoop Huntley, nobody's idea of a pro bowler,
01:58nobody's idea of a good quarterback, but he is Miami's quarterback.
02:02He made his first start on Monday night against Tennessee.
02:05He threw for 96 yards, 14 of 22 for 96 yards. He did run for 40,
02:10but missed several open receivers. There was a lot of griping on the sidelines.
02:14Tyreek Hill, chief amongst them. And you have to wonder if things are falling apart
02:18for McDaniel, who is supposed to be an offensive genius, right?
02:21This is what he gets paid to do. And I tweeted this out under my handle,
02:25my Twitter handle, whatever, x, at Mike Giardi.
02:29Matt LaFleur took Malik Willis, had him in the system for two weeks,
02:34changed the entire offense, went run heavy with a mobile quarterback,
02:38and won two games. Basically stole two games without Jordan Love.
02:41And obviously they lost when Love returned last week.
02:44And as I mentioned on the pod on Monday, I think that falls on the floor a little bit.
02:48But here's McDaniel, who comes from the Shanahan tree.
02:51He's supposed to be a great run game designer. That was his big thing.
02:55Instead, he turned out to be the two whisperer, built up his confidence,
02:58got him to play pretty well. Now two is out. And if I'm two and I'm sitting at home going,
03:03how much money did I make from you guys? How much did I take? 52, 53 million a year?
03:07I'm worth, like, another 10, probably, at least.
03:10You guys can't seem to run on offense without me.
03:12Mike McDaniel got a contract extension this offseason, can't seem to do it without Tua.
03:15So a lot on McDaniel who said, I'm trying to crack codes every week.
03:20The other team thus far has done a better job at that than we have.
03:23Yeah, I would say, Mike, your team has not had a lead at any point during any game this season.
03:29Of course, they got their one win. It was a walk-off field goal in the opening week
03:33against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
03:35So a lot of pressure on McDaniel to kind of right the ship here
03:38and get the Dolphins going in the right direction.
03:40They're averaging 4.6 yards per play this season.
03:44That's down almost two yards from last year when Tua, of course, was running at a fairly high level,
03:48at least until late in the year, where they averaged 6.5.
03:52I mentioned Huntley in the struggles, but it's also the running game.
03:55And again, like I mentioned, he's supposed to be, McDaniel's supposed to be this run game designer.
04:00Devin Aitjean, 10 carries for 15 yards last week,
04:03and his production without Tua in the lineup has fallen off big time.
04:07This is a team, as I mentioned, feels kind of broken,
04:10also won't have Jalen Phillips, their outstanding defensive end, in this contest.
04:14He hurt himself again, headed for IR.
04:17So they're a mess.
04:18But speaking of messes, let's go to the team that I cover on a daily basis,
04:22that being the New England Patriots.
04:24I brought this up on Monday, and it's sort of taken hold because of some other people,
04:28including a team employee, talking about a potential mutiny.
04:32But it has been a little bit dysfunctional here the last couple of weeks in particular.
04:37And I want to get more to the root of that because it's a coaching thing.
04:42And it's a coach versus a coach, if you will.
04:45I don't want to pit them off against each other, but Jarrod Mayo has separated himself from the offense.
04:49He did it a month ago when he called Alex Van Pelt head coach offense.
04:53And then as the offense has continued to scuffle during the course of the year,
04:57he's constantly pointing out that Van Pelt needs to do a better job.
05:00Schematically, we have to do a better job.
05:02And, of course, my pushback on that would be do I think Van Pelt is lighting it up?
05:06No.
05:07And we'll get into some of the reasons why.
05:09But the personnel is a massive issue, and it's clear that they want to protect Drake May.
05:15They want to have May continue to learn before they throw him out there.
05:19And there are plenty of things that we saw in that performance two weeks ago,
05:22the Thursday night when he mopped up in the Jets game, where, yeah, he said,
05:25oh, that's a great play, very athletic.
05:26He did this, he did that.
05:27He also missed some simple reads.
05:29His footwork became very messy again, and that's something they're really guarding
05:32against because they've been trying to clean that up since the spring,
05:35since when they drafted him.
05:36And they don't want regression in that standpoint.
05:38So they continue to hammer that point home.
05:40And then, of course, the offensive line that we'll once again be looking at,
05:44it's fifth different starting lineup in five weeks.
05:48And, in fact, I mean, the moving parts there, City,
05:51so might not be ready for this game.
05:53Fedarian Lowe appears that he will be ready for this game.
05:56They just stuck Caden Wallace on injured reserve.
05:58You want to talk about one of the players that you wanted to see develop this year?
06:01Wallace was one of them.
06:02Now he's going to be gone for at least four games with the ankle injury.
06:05Nick Levert, who filled in for David Andrews, who's now also on IR,
06:09he's dealing with an ankle.
06:11It's just who knows if they'll be able to finish the game on Sunday
06:16with what they started with.
06:17That's how beaten up they are up front.
06:20But, really, I want to just kind of point that part out to you
06:23that I don't think we're at this, like,
06:25the word used was mutiny by the team reporter.
06:28I don't think we're there yet.
06:29But it just, it's been going down the wrong road.
06:33And then you kind of put that up against how Mayo's talked about the defense.
06:38And the defense is, it's been a player's problem, not a coaching problem.
06:42And, again, where's Mayo come from?
06:44It comes from a defensive background.
06:45Demarcus Covington is his chosen guy as the defensive coordinator.
06:49You know, of the few hires that Mayo really had control over,
06:52that was certainly one of them.
06:54That was the biggest one.
06:56And that group has absolutely gone in the wrong direction.
06:59We saw them look outstanding in week one against a, speaking of dysfunctional,
07:04the Bengals that first week were a mess.
07:06You know, Demar Chase not even getting off the field, yelling at officials,
07:09yelling at his coaches, you know, the whole contract thing.
07:12T. Higgins was out of that game.
07:14They were not prepared to play,
07:16which has been a Cincinnati problem under Zach Taylor in September
07:19for as long as he's been there.
07:21But since week one,
07:24Patriots have given up 327 yards passing to Geno Smith in week two.
07:28284 yards passing at a 77% completion rate to Aaron Rodgers
07:34in that Thursday night, or in a game they were never in,
07:36and never, ever once threatened to make that a football game,
07:40or threatened to stop Rodgers in that Jets offense.
07:43The Jets were the only ones that stopped themselves in that game.
07:46And then, of course, gave up 431 total yards against the 49ers in San Francisco,
07:52and a ton of explosive plays, right?
07:55Which we're just not used to seeing.
07:57I think I wrote for Boston Sports Journal in my weekend notebook that,
08:00you know, the number of explosives that they gave up versus San Francisco
08:03is, in previous years, the kind of stuff the Patriots wouldn't give up
08:06for a month or two total.
08:08And they gave up that many in the game.
08:10Brock Purdy throwing for nearly 300 yards.
08:12Jordan Mason.
08:14Jordan Mason rushing for 123.
08:16Remember, no Christian McCaffrey, a limited Debo Samuel.
08:19Like, they weren't hitting on full cylinder,
08:21and yet they still ran amok winning 30-13.
08:26We talked to Covington on Thursday.
08:30Maybe it's because he feels so confident that this is the week
08:34that they can get right,
08:36that he spoke with a little bit of, what's the word?
08:41There was a little cockiness to it.
08:43Like, you know, he was even talking about the Dolphins offense
08:45and saying, you know, they're an explosive offense.
08:48Best believe I'm not going to be fooled by what they did last week.
08:52And then he said, and they best not believe and be fooled
08:55by what we did the past week.
08:57And I wanted to raise my hand and say, you mean the past three weeks
09:02where you haven't been able to solve the problems that have plagued you,
09:05you know, the blown edges?
09:07You keep talking about it week after week, and yet it keeps happening.
09:09And Covington did say it got cleaned up as the game went on in San Francisco.
09:13But again, when that's one of the most important things coming into the game
09:16and you go out of your way and blow it early on, it's like, well,
09:20are the right people listening?
09:22Do you have the attention of your team?
09:24And we heard later in the week, obviously, Jabril Peppers,
09:26Devon Godchild talking about some guys on the defense playing selfishly.
09:32Not saying they were selfish as a group, but selfish plays
09:34and selfish plays lead to breakdowns.
09:36And I thought, you know, during the course of Sunday's game,
09:38there were several examples of that beyond the blown edges.
09:41The touchdown pass to George Kittle was a great one.
09:43I think it was illustrated by Greg Olson in the broadcast
09:45where Marcus Jones has George Kittle covered.
09:48He's got that play dealt with, but Del Pettis, the safety,
09:51who was in there in part because Kyle Duggar is injured
09:54and likely not going to play this weekend,
09:57he decides to jump on Kittle instead of driving down on the crossing route.
10:03And that was his responsibility, to drive down on the crossing route.
10:06And so what that did was it made Marcus Jones pause for a second,
10:10or split second even.
10:12And that allowed Kittle from being covered to uncovered.
10:16And granted, he still had to make a tremendous catch
10:19with three defenders sort of hanging off him.
10:21But the point being that that throw probably doesn't even get made
10:25if Pettis does what he's supposed to do because Marcus had it locked up.
10:29And those are the sorts of things that are happening.
10:31Jalen Hawkins on the deep post to I believe it was Debo
10:35when the Patriots had made it a 20-10 game, same sort of thing.
10:40He starts to cheat down as a single high safety on a crossing route
10:44when he's got to help in the middle.
10:46He's the lone safety back in the middle.
10:48And all of a sudden, boom, as quick as you had some momentum
10:51and felt like maybe you were playing yourself back into the game,
10:53they hit you with a 53-yard pass and you're back to,
10:56well, we don't belong here.
10:58And indeed, they haven't proven to belong here
11:00at least for the last two games definitively.
11:03But even some of the way they handled that Seattle game in week two
11:06that we sort of glossed over because they came so close to winning,
11:09some of that, those issues, some of the inability
11:12to stop being error repeaters came up in that game.
11:16And it wasn't just on the field, but some of the coaching stuff as well.
11:20I'm curious to see how the Patriots approach this game.
11:23I would think that if I'm Covington,
11:25I am putting someone over the top of Hill.
11:30I am dealing with Jalen Waddell, with Gonzalez,
11:35and I am putting everybody else up in the box and saying,
11:38you're not going to be able to run on us,
11:40and we don't think that you can throw on us.
11:42And this will be another game where they have to play the edge
11:44and play it well because Huntley can run.
11:48It's probably the thing that he does best.
11:50I mean, I forgot, by the way, how small he is.
11:53You see him in the pocket.
11:54It's like might as well have Pop Douglas playing quarterback for them.
11:58But this is one of those games where for both teams, I think,
12:02they're both saying, like, if we don't get it now,
12:05are we ever going to get it?
12:07At least the Dolphins had playoff aspirations
12:10and have a massive injury at quarterback,
12:12the guy that drove the engine for them.
12:14The Patriots are, you know, they've had their share of injuries,
12:17obviously, Barmore being the big one, now having Andrews, Bentley,
12:20and so forth and so on, but they're still a flawed team.
12:24There's still not going to be a team that was going to threaten
12:26for the playoffs, but I don't think we thought that it would be this bad
12:30this early.
12:31We'll see if they can get a win, stop the bleeding.
12:33I think they need it, everybody.
12:34I think they need a bolt of – a jolt of confidence in that locker room.
12:38All right, let's go on to the next game, a game that – well,
12:42Will's not here, so can I make fun of the Jets while he's not here?
12:46Jets-Vikings in London, 9.30 a.m. game, and the big question for me is,
12:52can Aaron Rodgers solve the Brian Flores defense?
12:56And if you watched Rodgers this year, removing the Patriots game
13:01when the Patriots let him run around and make plays,
13:04he hadn't completed a pass outside the tackle box going into week three.
13:08He completed five or six in that game, ran for a couple first downs.
13:11We discussed it on the pod a couple weeks ago.
13:13It was a hot mess.
13:14But before that, and then, of course, last weekend against Denver in the rain
13:19at MetLife, he looks like a 40-year-old quarterback.
13:23And he got beat up in that game.
13:25He has a swollen knee that he'll be dealing with.
13:27They'll take that with him.
13:28He's taken that with him to London.
13:29They're already in London.
13:30Again, a 9.30 kickoff.
13:33He got the snot kicked out of him in that one.
13:34Denver – what I loved about Denver's approach, and I give Vance Joseph credit.
13:39Again, Denver 2-2, wouldn't have guessed it.
13:42They probably don't deserve to be 2-2 with the way their offense has played.
13:47He said, we're going to blitz you, and we're going to do it right away.
13:49And they blitzed him on the first play, and Rodgers didn't like it,
13:52and they kept doing it.
13:53And that's what they've done all year long.
13:55Some metrics have them in the 53%, 54% for the season.
13:59Next-gen stats, which I'm going with here, has them at 49%.
14:02That leads the league.
14:03They bring the blitz.
14:05They blitz the crap out of Rodgers.
14:06He never looked comfortable in that game.
14:08That offense looked impotent.
14:10And they lose in the rain to a Bo Nix-led Denver team.
14:15Bo Nix threw for minus seven yards in the first half.
14:18They lost to a team where the quarterback threw for minus seven yards
14:21in the first half and finished with 60 on the game.
14:24The Vikings, what do they do?
14:26Well, they love to blitz too.
14:28Next-gen stats has them at 41.3%.
14:31Flores, it's not just the blitzes, though.
14:33It's the simulated pressures.
14:34Where is it coming from?
14:38Rodgers is so methodical with what he does.
14:42And we know he loves to – it's part of what makes Rodgers Rodgers,
14:46but it's also part of what drives people nuts is, like,
14:49he thinks he's smarter than everyone else.
14:50And at times he has been, right?
14:52He's very good at the line of scrimmage.
14:53So, he changes the play, changes – check this, check – get out of that.
14:56Boom, boom, boom.
14:57Takes the clock down.
14:58Runs the play.
15:01He might not know exactly where it's coming from when it comes to Flores.
15:04He didn't know when he went back and watched the Denver game over, as I did,
15:08where it was coming with the Broncos.
15:10And I think Flores is going to embrace that.
15:12And I don't know that if Rodgers physically trusts the Achilles enough
15:16at this point.
15:17And if he trusts the people around him.
15:20And I think one of the things that's become very clear,
15:23and I thought I saw some good signs in that Thursday night
15:26against the Patriots where even though he and Garrett Wilson
15:28weren't on the same page, he kept going back to them
15:30because he understands how important it was.
15:34There were a lot of clips circulating this week.
15:36And then I went back and watched just to make sure they weren't taken out of context
15:40or like, oh, Garrett was really open.
15:42No, Garrett was open a lot.
15:43And he wasn't getting the football.
15:45And I don't know, just something to put on your radar
15:49because I think I might have said Garrett Wilson would be the offensive player
15:53of the year this year because I just figured he's going to go over 100 catches
15:56with Rodgers as quarterback.
15:59And they cooked all summer long.
16:00Anybody who was at Jets training camp, that's what they talked about.
16:04But to this point, it's not great.
16:07We heard Wilson sort of speak out this week.
16:09And it wasn't as inflammatory as some of the social media clips
16:12made it sound out to be.
16:13But basically the huge takeaway here is he doesn't feel like the Jets offense
16:19is complex enough.
16:21And I would totally agree with him.
16:24I think what they do is so simple.
16:26And I think it's simple because that's how Aaron wants it.
16:30And Aaron has become so risk adverse.
16:32And this dates back to his time with Mike McCarthy in Green Bay.
16:35He doesn't like to throw interceptions.
16:37If it's not open right away, he's just taking the check down
16:40and getting out of there.
16:41And that means a lot of two-, three-, four-yard throws
16:43and not even waiting for someone like Wilson to run a deep outer comeback
16:48and see if he's open.
16:49It's like, oh, that's open.
16:50I'm getting rid of it.
16:51I'm getting rid of it.
16:52And we know that his relationship with the offensive coordinator,
16:56Nathaniel Hackett.
16:58And Nathaniel Hackett's not yelling at him, telling him,
17:00what the hell are you doing?
17:01You've got to get the ball to Garrett more often,
17:03or you've got to stay in the pocket and keep things live a little bit longer.
17:07So it's just something to watch.
17:10And then on top of that, now you have Devontae Adams still looming.
17:15And I was joking with Will.
17:16I think I tweeted him when all the news came out
17:18that he's asking for a trade.
17:19And then, of course, pretty much right after, it's like,
17:21he really wants to go to the Jets, which, duh, we knew that.
17:24We've been talking about that since the spring.
17:28Is that going to make Garrett happy?
17:30I heard or I read quotes from Garrett saying like, oh, if it helps us win, great.
17:35Well, you're already not getting the ball enough.
17:37And we know that Rodgers and Adams have this relationship dating back
17:41to their time with Green Bay where they both put up their greatest numbers.
17:46Where's he going to go first?
17:48He's going to go to Adams.
17:49So that's an interesting one because I'm convinced
17:52that that trade's going to happen, although maybe not immediately.
17:55Adams still dealing with the hamstring.
17:57I'm sure the Raiders are still hoping for a second round pick and something else.
18:00I don't believe they're going to get it.
18:03And, of course, the longer you wait, trade deadline's not until November 5th,
18:06although I'm sure the Jets would like it done sooner than that,
18:10the less money you have to pay them.
18:11And Adams will have to, I believe, rework his deal a little bit.
18:14But that's just another piece of this thing.
18:16And then, of course, they're going to look across the sidelines
18:19and they're going to see Sam Darnold.
18:21And that's going to give Jets fans, I don't know, the chills,
18:25the heebie-jeebies, whatever.
18:26Obviously, he was their quarterback for, I think he started 38 games there,
18:29and it didn't go well, obviously one of the top five pick.
18:32And there's a lot of talk this week about whether or not the Jets failed Sam Darnold,
18:37who is now lashed on in Minnesota and is having a terrific start to the season.
18:41We see him do this sort of before with Carolina for three games,
18:44and then he fell off the map and was replaced.
18:47But thus far with Kevin O'Connell as the offensive coordinator,
18:50Darnold looks like, I mean, there's still little shades of old Darnold, right,
18:54where he wants to put the ball in harm's way and kind of,
18:56yeah, he's going to do it a little bit.
18:58He's thrown three picks so far.
19:00He's also thrown 11 touchdowns.
19:01That leads the league.
19:02He has the highest passer rating in the NFL as well.
19:05So he's in a good place.
19:07Obviously has some great pieces around him, but is very supported by O'Connell.
19:11Wasn't really well supported by the Jets.
19:13Adam Gase, remember that disaster?
19:16Darnold was asked about it,
19:17and I thought his response to his time with the Jets was great.
19:20He said, had a lot of opportunities.
19:23I could have played better.
19:25Didn't blame it on anybody else, even though, look,
19:28some of it did fall on the Jets and their organizational failures
19:32and things of that nature and what they surrounded him with.
19:36But at the same time, like, hey, dude, you know,
19:39I was 20 years old when I came in there.
19:40I didn't play good ball.
19:41I didn't play good ball for a bunch of years,
19:42and I don't blame them for moving on.
19:44They moved on.
19:45He's bounced around.
19:46Maybe he's found a home, although, again,
19:47it's just a one-year deal with Minnesota,
19:49who drafted J.J. McCarthy in the first round.
19:51But just kind of fascinating to see that matchup.
19:55And then there's one other little piece of this game,
19:57and that's Justin Jefferson versus Sauce Gardner.
20:00Jefferson is the best receiver in football.
20:03I think if you ever even doubt it, go back and watch.
20:06If you can game rewind or on NFL Network,
20:09go watch the game against Green Bay last week
20:11and just see how much of what happens
20:15is because of Justin Jefferson.
20:17Jordan Addison, Naylor catching passes,
20:20making big plays because they had to double Jefferson
20:23all game long.
20:24No Jair Alexander in that game,
20:25so we're just going to double him.
20:27And Gardner was able to spread the ball around,
20:29and those guys were able to make plays.
20:31I'm assuming Sauce is going to get a healthy dose of Jefferson.
20:35The two have met once before.
20:36Jefferson wasn't playing with much at that point,
20:40had just three catches for 14 yards in that game.
20:42I expect this one to be a little bit different,
20:44but we like premier matchups and certainly getting to see
20:48Justin Jefferson versus Sauce Gardner.
20:51It's kind of awesome.
20:52I'm definitely looking forward to that.
20:56Let's bring you a word from our sponsor, if you will.
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22:11Let's go to our next game.
22:12The 2-2 Ravens at the 1-3 Bengals.
22:14And I asked myself one big question about this one.
22:18Can the Bengals stop the Ravens' runaway freight train rushing attack right
22:22now that is number one in the National Football League?
22:25Of course, headed by Derrick Henry.
22:28We talked in the preseason about him likely putting up some good numbers this
22:33year, even if he's not the same type of back in the first couple weeks.
22:36You're like, it doesn't look that great.
22:38They're trying to do some stuff out of pistol.
22:40He's a downhill runner.
22:41What are they doing?
22:42Well, guess what?
22:43They've won the last two games because they scrapped all that nonsense.
22:47We're a power-running football team.
22:49That is what Harbaugh has said to everybody else.
22:52That's what he said to his team.
22:54Lamar Jackson's thrown the ball just 33 times in the last two weeks,
22:57both victories, because the running game, which he is also obviously a massive
23:02part of, has been going bananas, as I mentioned,
23:04number one in the league in rushing.
23:06Derrick Henry, his numbers have gone up each and every week of this season,
23:10including last week when he rushed for nearly 200 yards,
23:13had the 87-yard touchdown in which he reached 21.29 miles per hour
23:18at 247 pounds.
23:20Like, the dude is a freak.
23:22He has 480 yards rushing already this season.
23:28And I really appreciate just the Ravens sort of, hey, look,
23:32first two weeks put a lot on Lamar's plate.
23:35We weren't getting enough out of Derrick.
23:37They saw something in Derrick that said to themselves, no,
23:39he's still got the juice that you were wondering if he had or not.
23:43And what's interesting now is because of the ability of the Ravens
23:48to throw the football in those first two weeks, spread it around,
23:52save flowers, Isaiah Likely.
23:54Mark Andrews still hasn't gotten truly involved yet.
23:56Rashad Bateman, even Nelson Aguilar are making big catches for them.
23:59That Henry is now facing the lightest boxes,
24:03which is seven or less defenders in his career.
24:09You know what that means?
24:10That means that he's building up more speed before he gets to contact.
24:15You know, before when he was with the Titans or even at the beginning
24:17of this year, running into these tight boxes, right?
24:20Well, you're getting hit sometimes in the backfield,
24:22sometimes at the line of scrimmage.
24:23Patriots fans know like Raimondre in that first game
24:25when he broke all those tackles like so many times,
24:28he was having to make a play before he even got to the line of scrimmage.
24:31Well, that was Derrick in Tennessee.
24:33Derrick in Baltimore is getting a full head of steam.
24:37And then you're seeing guys saying,
24:39I'm not going to get that straight arm and get shoved into next week.
24:43I'm not going to lower it.
24:44Like you have to make business decisions when Derrick Henry is coming at you
24:48with a full head of steam.
24:49And so I'm curious to see if they can keep that going
24:51because the Bengals, as we know, cannot stop the runner,
24:53or at least haven't been able to for this part of the season.
24:57Stevenson and the Patriots ran all over him.
24:59That got run on by the Panthers last week.
25:02I guess the good bit of news here for the Bengals is some
25:04of their defensive line pieces are getting healthy.
25:07They expect B.J. Hill back this week,
25:09Miles Murphy, McKinney who plays on the inside, he's expected back.
25:13So maybe with some reinforcements,
25:16they can be a little bit more stout against the run because to this point,
25:20I mean, they even put that game against the Panthers in jeopardy a little bit
25:23because they weren't able to control Hubbard and the Panthers rushing attack.
25:28And look, they're one in three and they got their first win last week.
25:32They need to keep it rolling and sort of stop Baltimore steamrolling here
25:36and getting back to the team that I thought they were going to be
25:39when I predicted them to go to the Super Bowl.
25:43Also quickly on the Bengals offense,
25:48they didn't produce well enough in week one.
25:50And we know, as I mentioned, the Jamar Chase histrionics
25:53and Higgins didn't play in that game with the hamstring
25:57and Burrow looked like he was not feeling the wrist.
26:01But even then, Hudson, the tight end, with the ball out like a loaf of bread,
26:05if you remember that in the first week, going in for a touchdown,
26:07should have been a touchdown, like it was a 16-10 game.
26:11That could have made the difference in the game.
26:13The offense has been cooking since then.
26:15They are top five in EPA, DVOA, whatever metric you want to measure them by.
26:20And Burrow looks like the Burrow of old.
26:22He's picking guys apart. Jamar Chase has gone nuts,
26:25even though he's been double-teamed, I think,
26:27more than any receiver in the National Football League this year.
26:30Higgins is getting up to speed the last couple of games.
26:33Yoshivas, kid from Princeton, pretty good third receiver.
26:37And they found a running game last week against Carolina,
26:39at least with Chase Brown and Zach Moss.
26:42So their offense is cooking.
26:44And if their defense can just be competent, maybe?
26:50Is that too much to ask? Competent?
26:51Louie Annarumo, one of the best defensive coordinators,
26:53at least I believe he was.
26:55Last year didn't go great, but they had all kinds of issues,
26:57health-wise, safety issues, which he relies on the safeties.
27:01Well, now they got kind of the pieces they want.
27:03Again, dealing with health.
27:04But he needs to adjust and be better than he's been
27:08because it hasn't gone remotely like anybody would have thought
27:12it would have gone.
27:13Let's now go to the Bills visiting the Texans, both teams, 3-1.
27:19Bills had been rolling, had looked like all the talk about them
27:24not being what they'd been in the past and taking that step back
27:27the first three weeks.
27:28They were like, ah, shut up, guys.
27:29You don't know what the hell you're talking about.
27:30Plus we have Josh Allen, and Josh Allen is awesome.
27:32And even after the loss of the Ravens' interest,
27:34they got beat pretty bad, 35-10.
27:36Allen still did some pretty amazing things in that game,
27:39just didn't get any help from anybody else.
27:41And then the Texans, who are kind of a – they have 3-1
27:48and it looks better on paper than it's actually looked in reality.
27:51And I'll get into that.
27:52In fact, right now, let's do that part of it.
27:54So when I look at the Texans, what jumps out to me is,
27:59despite their offense scoring a lot of points again
28:02and despite C.J. Stroud putting up great numbers,
28:06they have been in third and long more than any team
28:10in the national football.
28:11Like third and long is three yards – seven yards plus.
28:15They have averaged third and ten and a half this season.
28:19So they're actually going backwards on first and second down
28:22far too often for their liking.
28:25They haven't been able to run the ball since week one.
28:27And Joe Mixon got hurt in week two, so perhaps that's the correlation there.
28:32But the offensive line has struggled with the backups.
28:35And you would think, even with the backups, because you have Stroud,
28:38because you have Nico Collins, because you have Stephon Diggs,
28:41because you have Schultz, that they have enough pieces on the outside.
28:45Tank Dell.
28:46Like, well, you have to defend that part first.
28:49So we should be able to sneak a draw in here or some delayed handoffs
28:52or even get the screen game going.
28:54None of that stuff is happening for them.
28:56And it's putting way more weight on C.J. Stroud.
28:58And to his credit, he's playing pretty awesome again.
29:02So for the guys who sit the young quarterback,
29:05don't sit the young quarterback, I think he's clearly the anomaly
29:09and has just taken the world by storm.
29:13Jaden Daniels has done it through four weeks.
29:15We'll see if Jaden Daniels can do it through the course of a 17-game season.
29:18But Stroud did it for a 17-game season last year.
29:21He's carrying it over into year two
29:23and just making a lot of off-schedule plays as well,
29:26which he didn't have to do as much of last year.
29:29And quite frankly, they're putting a big burden on him.
29:32And when you go into this game, you're D'Amico Ryans,
29:34and you're the offensive coordinator, Bobby Sloak,
29:36who was everybody's favorite last year,
29:38interviewed for five head coaching jobs,
29:40even though the end of last year you started to see some cracks in his approach.
29:44Well, I think now you've seen, like, dude, you've got to –
29:48Sloak's got to step up his game.
29:51He's riding the coattails of C.J. Stroud
29:53and some of these other playmakers making plays more than it is his design.
29:56He's put them in some bad spots, and Stroud continues to bail him out.
30:00So Sloak's got to get his stuff together,
30:02and I wonder if this is the week that he and D'Amico Ryans sit down
30:05and Ryans says, look, the Bills can't stop the run.
30:09And I know we haven't been able to run the ball,
30:11but if we're ever going to get this kick-started,
30:13if we're ever going to find a way to balance our attack somewhat,
30:17then we have to do it this week.
30:18And I think we talked about this on Monday about the Bills
30:22and the Ravens game is the Bills are super light on the interior.
30:26And, in fact, their best interior player, Ed Oliver, won't play in this game.
30:30He got hurt late this week in practice.
30:32He is out for the game, according to Sean McDermott.
30:34I'm taping this on early Friday afternoon.
30:36So he's out.
30:38So their best player, even though he's a lighter interior guy,
30:40he's not even going to be in there.
30:42Teron Johnson, who is so good at nickel and so good in run, in the run game,
30:47that a lot of times they just stay in nickel.
30:50He has been out with a broken forearm.
30:51He's not going to play again this week.
30:53So they continue to have to adjust.
30:54And you've seen some issues there as well.
30:56And, of course, know Matt Milano, who is their best defensive player
31:01and one of the better defensive players in the league.
31:03But, you know, the injuries have stacked up for him.
31:05So with their second level being lighter, the interior being lighter,
31:11that's an easy path to sort of take some of the burden off the stride,
31:15maybe control the clock a little bit.
31:17Obviously, the less time Josh Allen has the ball in his hands,
31:20the less opportunities he has to be Superman.
31:23So I'm curious to see if the Texans can lean into that and get something going.
31:28As for the Bills, I mean, Josh is still going nuts.
31:35And it's even, as I mentioned, after the Ravens game,
31:39there were some metrics that will tell you that was one of the worst games
31:41he's played a quarterback.
31:42But if you watch the game, you wouldn't have felt that way.
31:46So sometimes, again, the numbers, you can make the numbers work for you if you want.
31:50But he has been pressured a ton this year, and he is lighting up pressure.
31:58He's facing a ton of man coverage this year, which, oh, by the way,
32:01that's what the Texans like to do.
32:03And he is lighting that up as well.
32:05So some of the things that the Texans, that Texans get a lot of pressure
32:08and will blitz, he feeds on.
32:12He won't have Khalil Shakir, who's probably been his most dependable,
32:15best receiver.
32:16He's going to have to, you know, the everybody eats philosophy that they've taken
32:19since Stephon Diggs was traded away in the offseason.
32:22Some of those guys are going to have to step up.
32:23They've pointed to Curtis Samuel.
32:25It's a free agent signing for them who has done absolutely nothing so far.
32:29He will fill the Shakir role, and maybe he can give them some Shakir-like plays.
32:32But losing Shakir is a big deal.
32:34He's a good player.
32:35He's a guy that a lot of teams missed on, got picked in the fifth round.
32:39But Allen is going to have to deliver big boy football.
32:43The Texans allowing 57.3% completion rate and 161 yards passing
32:48during the course of the year so far.
32:51James Cook very quiet, and some of that was game script against the Ravens.
32:54I would expect him to be more involved in this game.
32:57And then, hey, there's the Steph Diggs revenge game,
32:59which quite frankly I don't care about.
33:03I know some people do.
33:05I enjoyed covering Steph in my previous life.
33:09I think he's a good dude at heart, but he's got the selfish gene
33:14like a lot of these receivers do, and he washed himself out of one situation.
33:18But he's in another one where even though he's the number two receiver
33:21behind the great Nico Collins, who by the way on pace to have
33:24over 2,000 yards receiving.
33:26I don't want to gloss over that.
33:28He's been awesome so far.
33:29Wrote about him in the Boston Sports Journal a couple weeks ago.
33:33Diggs is just the secondary piece here.
33:35He's not getting the same touches that he would have even been getting
33:37in Buffalo where he was complaining about the number of touches.
33:40So we'll see if that marriage can continue to last or if he starts
33:43to get frustrated, especially if they lose a couple games here or there.
33:47I'm going to wrap it up with one last game.
33:49That's going to be the Cowboys who are 2-2 against the 3-1 Steelers.
33:54This to me is like I'm old.
33:56This is a childhood memory.
33:57This is a rivalry game.
33:59They met in Super Bowls.
34:00They were the two predominant franchises for a while there.
34:04San Francisco came in, and then obviously in the early 2000s,
34:08the Patriots ran the show for the better part of two decades.
34:13Hold, please.
34:17I think this is a massive game for the Cowboys,
34:20even though it's not a conference game because aside from week one
34:24against Cleveland, and that was about as much about Cleveland
34:28as it was about the Cowboys, the Cowboys don't look good.
34:32And I think what's surprising about the Cowboys is how hard it is
34:38for them to play offense.
34:40They just paid Dak, and they just paid CD,
34:44and they've invested some resources at tight end and at wide receiver.
34:49Jalen Tolbert's a third-round pick.
34:51They obviously got Brandon Cooks, and Cooks will miss this week's game again.
34:56He had a knee procedure, has an infection,
34:58so he's going to miss a little bit more time there.
35:00But last year, they were excellent offensively
35:05for a better part of the year, and then started to fade
35:07at the end of last season.
35:09And if you go into some of the numbers about what was happening,
35:13Dak was on one last year.
35:15Like for the first 12 or 13 games, I think we talked about it.
35:17He was an MVP, like the legitimate front-running candidate for MVP.
35:21And then they dropped off and he dropped off because he was just –
35:26he was so locked in, he wasn't missing those tight window throws.
35:29Well, now he's not – he's not in the same form,
35:33and he doesn't have the same guys outside separating,
35:36or the same level of talent, or the guys that – like Cooks,
35:38who when he was playing, like, you know, he's another year older.
35:41Like it's not the same guy anymore, right?
35:43CD missed all of training camp before he came back.
35:46So even though he's come out and looked pretty good
35:49and has had his moments, he's still not the CD that we saw last year
35:52who caught, what, 125 passes or something.
35:54So it's been more difficult for them to play offense,
35:58and at running back, it's been a debacle, right?
36:01So they let Tony Pollard go.
36:02Pollard wasn't very good for them last year coming off the broken foot.
36:05By the way, he looks pretty good for Tennessee,
36:07but again, it's a serious injury.
36:09It takes a little bit of time to feel right.
36:12Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott, and they even went into the –
36:16Dalvin Cook may be activated for this game.
36:19Dalvin Cook hasn't made an impact in an NFL game in like three years,
36:22but that's where they're kind of at right now.
36:25So more on deck, less separation, a lack of a running game.
36:31I think they're averaging 74 yards rushing per game,
36:34and it's not even a good 74.
36:35You know what I mean?
36:36Like sort of they go through the Shanahan scheme
36:39where like we're just going to run the ball 25, 30 times,
36:42like whatever it is.
36:43And eventually they sort of wear you down,
36:45but you're making plays off the play action
36:47because everything looks the same.
36:48This is sort of the older version of the West Coast team,
36:51and they're not getting those same types of plays off
36:53or the same kind of openings that Shanahan has gotten
36:57with his offense over the years.
36:59So more difficult for them.
37:00And now dealing with massive injuries on the defensive side of the ball.
37:04Mike Parsons week to week with the ankle.
37:08Doesn't feel like he's going to play.
37:09Again, I'm taping this Friday afternoon.
37:12Dallas hasn't put out there like he's out,
37:14so don't know officially if he's out, but I would be surprised if he plays.
37:19Marcus Lawrence is out probably four to eight weeks
37:21with a plantar fasciitis injury.
37:23That doesn't sound great,
37:24and he was already slowing down to begin with.
37:27He's going to have to lean on a rookie who I like coming out of the draft.
37:30They talk about him, Marshawn Nealon.
37:32He's going to get more snaps for them,
37:34and he's been fairly productive so far.
37:35But like Diggs is also on the injured list this week.
37:39So they're not healthy.
37:41They're not playing their best football.
37:44But still this is a game, even though it's in Pittsburgh,
37:47that they should have enough,
37:49because I'm still not buying that Pittsburgh is a 3-1 football team,
37:53and even though they came within a whisker of being 4-0,
37:57they're doing a nice job, Pittsburgh is, of managing Justin Fields,
38:00and he's growing, which is nice to see.
38:04A quarterback who had no plan
38:06and wasn't surrounded by much in Chicago,
38:09he's moved on to Pittsburgh.
38:10It's a one-year deal, right?
38:11He and Russell.
38:12It was going to be Russell.
38:13Well, Russell gets hurt.
38:14Fields has taken it, and clearly it's his job at this point,
38:18I feel like, completing 70% of his passes,
38:22three rushing touchdowns, three passing touchdowns,
38:24just has the one interception.
38:26He's making throws and trying throws that he wouldn't
38:31in his previous iteration in Chicago.
38:34So that tells me that Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator,
38:37formerly the offensive coordinator with Tennessee
38:39and obviously the head coach the last three years with Atlanta,
38:41has done a nice job of finding out what he does well
38:46and figuring out a way to build up his confidence
38:48such that you're seeing a more confident passer,
38:50and that's been the knock on him, right, is that he has this great arm,
38:53but it takes him too long to process, and he just doesn't trust it.
38:56He won't throw into those tight windows.
38:58And even at the beginning of the year,
39:00they didn't throw in the middle of the field in that Atlanta game
39:02because they didn't want to chess Jesse Bates, who's a terrific safety.
39:05But sort of as you've seen them progress,
39:07he's pushing the ball to places that he wouldn't,
39:09and the offense is opening up a little bit.
39:11He even mentioned, like, we opened it up a little too late in this last game
39:14because they are trying to play a certain way.
39:17They're trying to win with defense and keep it close,
39:19ball control, and not ask him to do too much.
39:22They got down, and I believe it was a 17-0 hole against Indianapolis.
39:25They had to let him go, and he brought him back.
39:2927-24, he played some good football in that game.
39:32He was a handful, so he is growing.
39:36But it feels like this game matters more to Dallas
39:39than it does to Pittsburgh in terms of I'm a big believer in the
39:43who's the more desperate team, and if Dallas has any balls,
39:46then they're the more desperate team for this game,
39:49and they have to figure out a way to shut down Dusty Fields.
39:52And I think clearly their plan should be similar
39:55to what the Patriots would do to Huntley, right?
39:58Like, go ahead, beat us, throw over the top, make tight window throws.
40:03We're just going to crowd the box, and we're going to sit on the short stuff,
40:07and if you can beat us downfield, we tip our cap to you.
40:10God bless.
40:11And if you can't, well, then we're probably going to win the football game.
40:14So that to me is how that should play out.
40:19We'll see because Dallas is a schizophrenic team,
40:22and you always wonder about Mike Zimmer.
40:26It's out of the game, comes back.
40:28The Mike Zimmer defense has not grabbed hold just yet.
40:32So that's the last one I want to look at.
40:34Also got to tell you about game time because, duh, games everywhere,
40:38and you want to go to games, and you want to do it easily.
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41:16What time is it?
41:17It is game time, and it's also time for my prize picks.
41:22What do we got?
41:23I hit a couple last week.
41:25A couple didn't happen.
41:26Derek Carr threw for more than 225 yards.
41:30Didn't expect that.
41:31Had the groin injury.
41:32Alave had the hamstring injury.
41:34These things happen.
41:35Brock Purdy, though, I think he topped his rushing total in the first quarter.
41:39So I'll try to be better this week.
41:44What I got for you.
41:48How about Derek Henry?
41:49More than 85.5 yards rushing.
41:52I think they're just going to hammer Cincinnati, even with more health on that defensive line,
41:58and dare them to stop Derek Henry.
42:00And right now, I think he's rolling so good, and they're rolling so good and feeling so good about it.
42:0485.5 feels like it's a little light to me.
42:07So more there.
42:08Aaron Rodgers, less than 225.5 yards passing.
42:13Again, I think he's going to have a hard time with Flores' defense.
42:16I think a lot of stuff's coming out quick and short.
42:19Checkdowns galore.
42:20So he might complete 23, 24 passes, but not throw for 225 yards.
42:25That's where my brain is at.
42:27So I would stick with that.
42:29Garrett Wilson.
42:30So I talked about sort of their relationship and how things are going.
42:32Less than 55.5 yards receiving.
42:36One of these days he's going to pop off.
42:38I don't think it happens in this game.
42:41And then you can play around.
42:43They have the devil, the goblin, like whatever it is.
42:46Like you'll see the thing when you go on prize picks.
42:50Mason, the running back for San Francisco.
42:54Play around with it and get him to 69.5.
42:58I'll take an over on that.
43:00He's on the odds a little bit, but that is a good number.
43:03And also, one more, a little bonus pick for you,
43:05because he has become one of my guilty pleasures.
43:09Justice Hill, longest reception.
43:11Over.
43:13More then.
43:14More then.
43:15More then.
43:1611.5.
43:18So Mason, more then 69.5.
43:20Justice Hill, longest reception.
43:22More then 11.5.
43:24Derrick Henry, more then 85.5.
43:27Aaron Rodgers, less then 225.5.
43:30And Garrett Wilson, less then 55.5.
43:35Thank you for listening to me for 43 minutes.
43:38God bless you all.
43:40Don't forget to tell your friends.
43:43Like, subscribe, leave a nice review.
43:45That's it.
43:47We'll see you on Monday.
43:48Enjoy the weekend.