Well, full disclosure, the last topic we were supposed to talk about today is the Bears and everything that happened in that game.But quite frankly, I can't wait that long.So we're going to jump into them first.
EJ, my fellow Bears fan that unfortunately has been rooting for this accursed franchise for 40 years at this point.Almost.How are you?How are you holding up?Because that was a very long, angry 24 hours for me.
I'm fine.The bears have conditioned us.Well, we were have been built in this darkness for the last, oh, 15 to 20 years.We understand it pretty well.
This one hurts in a particular way, but I'm all right because luckily my mental health is no longer tied to how a professional sports franchise goes about its business, which is excellent because this team looked. really bad coming off a buy.
So we're just gonna rip the bandaid off and do this first.
So I want to say, and this is important to say it, right?Because like all fan bases, there's many factions of bears fandom.And there's some people that don't blame Caleb at all for this loss.
There's some people that only blame Caleb for this loss because he didn't play very well for 80% of this game.There's some people that are putting it more on Iberflues or Tyreek Stevenson or Shane Waldron.I'm just here to say yes to all of it.
Like they're all responsible in their own way.But I think there is degrees of responsibility here.And for me, it's it's more on the coaches than it is on the players, right?Caleb struggled early.
I would even say he struggled in the middle part of the game.He didn't really put it together until the last few drives.And the defense played spectacularly well and kept it close, like the Bears should not have even been in this game.Right.
Like Washington had two touchdowns taken away by penalty.They had another one.You know, the Zackerts could you could argue the Zackerts thing should have been a touchdown.But I also understand the argument for why not.
Either way, Washington was outplaying them by a lot.The Bears defense just kept it kept it close. But when you finally get Caleb.Who persevered through a lot of poor play, not just by him, but also by the offensive line.Kieran got absolutely.
Just crushed in this game, like he's obviously like not ready to play in Braxton Jones is by far the better option at left tackle when he's healthy.But Caleb persevered, put it together late in the game and then Shane Waldron.
for whatever fucking reason, when they finally get a good drive going, they're on the goal line, gives it to a backup guard.And they fumble it, obviously cost themselves an opportunity to score.
And in the postgame press conference, Matt Iberflues was asked about it.And he does what Matt Iberflues does, which is blame the players, you know, talks about execution.Oh, we repped it in practice.Like that was part of our package.
We had that ready to go.He just didn't execute. your job as a coach is to put your players in a position to execute, right?And when you have DeAndre Swift, who was the only reason you were even in that position, right?
Because DeAndre started ripping off runs late in the game.
you have multiple opportunities at the goal line, you could just, you know, give it to D'Andre Swift and try to power that thing in there when you need to score by the way this was not like a oh we're up by 10 let's be cheeky let's let's be like the lions and call hook and laterals to to penne zuo like
You need to score.We should probably play the percentages here and call the plays that are higher chance of scoring, which is not giving the ball to a backup guard that doesn't exactly practice getting handoffs every single day.
So that in itself was a terrible call.They fumble it.The defense steps up again.Caleb then puts together another good drive to get them into scoring position where they need five points.
And then you get to a third and five opportunity and Waldron calls a designed QB run with Caleb and Caleb's mobile, but he's not Lamar, right?So you call a design QB run with Caleb on third and five from the 12.
When you need five points, you need to score a touchdown.And then on fourth and three, they get bailed out by a Keenan penalty.Like that in itself was an inexcusable call, almost as bad as giving the ball on a dive to a backup guard.
So then you get down to the one yard line.By the grace of God, you were somehow in position to win this game, right?You're on the one yard line.You have all three timeouts, by the way.There's like 30 seconds left.You need to score a touchdown.
And their first and goal play call is a fade to a 5-11 D.J.Moore, which by the way, they just drafted 6-4 Roma Dunze for exactly that play.No, let's throw it to D.J.
It's incomplete, so clock stops without using a timeout, which comes back to bite them because there was only like two seconds on the clock when the commies were throwing that Hail Mary in the first place.
When, again, you have three timeouts, you can run the ball on the goal line, and if you don't make it, you can stop the clock yourself.
Like, you have the ability to manage the clock to turn this into a walk-off situation where the commanders don't even get an opportunity. to get 15 yards for free to then set up a Hail Mary opportunity that you blow.
Like you have the ability to completely set the board however you want to.And in the last two drives, Shane Waldron completely fucked it up.And that's also part on Iberflues as well, right?
So yes, the players didn't exactly play their best game on offense.Defense played spectacularly well.
But the job of the coach is to set his players up for success, not to blame the players when they don't succeed in a position that you set them up for failure.So this was on the coaches.I hated that they sat there.
In particular, Eberflew sat there in the postgame press conference and was talking about execution.It's like, motherfucker, you're the one who set them up to be bad at execution.Like I,
I it's been so long since I've been this angry after a Bears loss, especially one that that honestly, they should have lost.Like this team didn't play that well.But to have a defensive performance like that wasted.
and to be on the precipice of victory and then watch the coaches blow it and then not take accountability for blowing it.That irritates me to no end, right?That that is an insult to the intelligence of the fan base to the fan base.
That's an insult to your own players. Like that to me was a fireable offense for this coaching staff, that loss.It's not just that they lost, it's how they lost and then not taking accountability for it.Everything about that disgusted me.
There's a lot to be disgusted with.
Like you said, we can spread this around.There's blame to go to a lot of places.Caleb did play like junk for three quarters.He looked very out of sorts.That's period.End of story.
You can talk about wide receiver usage and Waldron's play calling, but Caleb missed a lot of throws that he's going to want back in the first three quarters.As you said, defense kept the team in the game and Brace yourself.
Tory Taylor, as advertised, mitigated field position damage.He did a very good job.There it is.Sorry they needed him.Glad they had him.That's how that goes.A lot of chippiness in this game.It's a very physical game between the two teams.
Some of that spilled over.You can have emotion in a football game until it hurts your football team. Bears tripped into that territory.They also had a lot of unforced errors, procedure penalties.Usually that's enough in a close game to kill you.
And it probably should have been.As you said, the Bears shouldn't have been in position to win this game.They were getting wildly outplayed.But then a funny thing happened.
Caleb rounds the pole into the fourth quarter, comes out, starts playing well, drives the Bears.DeAndre Swift has a huge chunk run.They get down.
The play that bothered me maybe even more than the ones you listed is that Waldron didn't call the design QB run read once.In that series, he called it twice in a row.He called it back to back. And that was like, okay, that's a choice.
It's a terrible one, but that's a choice.You talked about the handoff to Kramer, the fumble, despite all that. The Bears come back, they get in position, they come to their senses after a couple of not so sensical plays.
They give it to Roshon Johnson.He banks it in.They score.There's time left.I understand that.For a defensive coach, the uncontested completion, other coaches have come out, other players have come out and said, that's the one that killed you.
McCordie on Sunday Night Football said Bill Belichick says that's the one you can't give up.No free lunch, right?Do not give him the 10 or 15 yards.Then you're not worrying about it.
Doug Farrar put out a piece and said it wasn't the problem that they left a spy, which was a strange choice on a Hail Mary.It wasn't that Tyreek Stevenson was doing whatever Tyreek Stevenson says he was doing in the corner.
It's that you lined up three guys for not pass rush, but contain.
Yeah, what's he going to do, run 52 yards?
You lined up three balanced guys that basically allowed the commanders straight double teams.Now the Texans had the same opportunity at the end of the game against the Colts, and they lined up three rushers, two and a spy.
You want to talk about a similar setup, but they lined up all three rushers on one side as an overload. And they chase Richard out of the pocket and they slammed him.So all this, oh, you know, he refuses a really good defensive head coach.
Oftentimes he is, but in high leverage situations he is not.And then what you talked about after the game is equally distressing. So you talk about Tyreek Stevenson and people want him run out of Chicago.Look, he's an emotional player.
This was the scouting report on him.He was handsy.He was full of contact.He was full of mouth.There's nothing wrong with that.It's almost required in a lot of ways for that position.
But what you expect as a team that drafts a young player into that position is they'll spend the first year
getting their penalties, stepping over the line, figuring out where that line is, and then tone it down and use their gifts and not hamstring themselves with all that BS. Hasn't happened, didn't happen yesterday.I don't want him run out of town.D.J.
Moore came out and said, as captains, we have to address this.Hell yeah, you do.
You know, he should be sitting for a little bit to say, look, this multiple things you did in that game, not just the final play, were not up to the standards we need you to play to.
And this is how we're going to get your attention, because that's how you get professional football players attention. For everybody wringing their hands that Iberflus is a good head coach, he's not like we're just going to go through some numbers.
He seems like a nice guy, and often enough he is a very good defensive coach.The Bears have been very good overall if you look at the numbers for over a year now.So overall he is a good defensive coach.
People say, oh, he's a people person and he understands that kind of business and whatever else. Sorry, these are not great numbers.First one comes from Carmen Defalco, ESPN 1000 in Chicago.Flus's road record is 3 and 17.
The winds coming against Bailey Zappi, Sam Howell and Josh Dobbs. So that is his entire tenure, his road record in the NFL three and 17.And the only three times he's managed to win away from home was against Zappi, Howell and Dobbs.
That that is not a great head coach, folks.You will find ways to win.Yes, it's a team game.But again, we're talking about a game they very much could have won.They had in the bag and they didn't. Second one bears fourth quarter win probabilities.
This one comes from Adam Hoag, CHGO.Love you, Hoagie.Sorry I had to put these numbers out.2023 versus Denver, 98.1 percent.2023 at Detroit, 98.2 percent.2023 at Cleveland, 91 percent.And 2024 at Washington, that was yesterday, 96.4 percent.
These are fourth quarter win probabilities. Lost all four of those games.
I vividly remember all four of these.And the fact that we're, what, in the last two years, I have vivid memories of four different fourth quarter collapses.That is inexcusable.
Yeah, we gave you the answer in the previous question.You knew they didn't win these games because none of them were against Bailey Zappi, Sam Howell, or Josh Topps. It's going to be a very difficult loss for Chicago to come back from.
This is, again, the blame is widespread. They shouldn't have been in the position to win this game.This is they didn't deserve to win this game.I get that.But regardless of this, they could have and they should have.
And that's just the way the league is sometimes.That's the way all sports leagues are.We see it in international soccer all the time.Team gets its ass kicked all day long, gets a lucky own goal and goes on to victory.Should they have won?
Absolutely not.Did they?Yeah. And when life presents you this opportunity, and for whatever reason, through all these missteps, The football gods handed the Bears this game and said, we're going to give you a lead with less than a minute left.
And then they pissed it away.They dropped that gift.They worked very hard to do it.Multiple people responsible.That part to me is inexcusable.And it's not just about coming back for the next game against the Cardinals.
It's not just about, you know, saying, oh, well, we'll not watch the film, burn the film and start like.
No, because this is a pattern at this point of not doing what you need to do, being the worst coach in your own division by a fair bit and having a roster that is capable of winning.And those two things are not equal or even.
And the bears are going to have to deal with it.And traditionally, They ain't great at that.So the path forward is murky at best in a couple of ways.And Chicago is going to have to deal with that.
And we're going to see whether or not they kind of strap on their big football people pants and and try and get right or whether they just keep trying to blame this away.
This just reminds me so much of what the Bears have done over and over and over again, right, is when they do these resets with these first round quarterbacks, whether it's Trubisky, whether it's Justin, and now Caleb.
Yep, they refuse to also change coaches at the same time.Right.And so there's always this carryover from a prior regime that isn't working.And they're like, oh, well, maybe the quarterback will save us.
OK, a 21 year old quarterback is going to come in and save this coach's job. And then they make it one year and they realize like, oh, no, actually, this coach isn't working.
And so then they bring in an entirely new staff for year two of this quarterback who then has to learn a new offense and also learn how to take a leadership role during all this change, because obviously there's no continuity with the coaches.
The veterans have to then run the team while bringing along this young quarterback who's trying to, you know, figure everything out as a now 22 year old is what Caleb's going to be next year.
And they've done this three years in a row and they wonder why it never works.
And it's like, because the best opportunity you have to establish continuity for a young quarterback is to also change the coaching staff as he's coming into the league, right?So that you know that they're not going to get fired, usually.
after one year like urban mire was kind of its own case right but the commanders on the other side of this game like they jettisoned everybody right so you're bringing in dan quinn you're bringing in cliff kingsbury so you know there's going to be continuity going into next year
And they're already better than this Bears coaching staff.You could argue that just within the NFC, the Bears have like the 12th or 13th ranked coaching staff just in their own conference, let alone all the AFC coaches.Right.
We've seen this exact sequence of events so many times before.Right.
Whether it was with Mitch, whether it was with Justin, now with Caleb, you have a holdover coach that we don't think is the answer, but it's cheaper to retain him because the McCaskies are always going to the cheapest option.
They don't want to pay a coach to not coach for them because this is not a very cash rich organization compared to a lot of other teams in the NFL.
Like they're old money NFL, but old money NFL has nothing on the amount of resources that new money NFL has. So they're going to go with the cheap option.
They're going to retain the coach and hope for the best that this 21 year old rookie can come in and save the day.
And then when a 21 year old rookie has 21 year old rookie struggles, then they decide, OK, we should we should actually change the coach and do the right thing.
And then they reset the clock again for a year two quarterback that has to relearn a new system and try to become a leader.There's no continuity in the coaching staff to then take on that leadership role.
So Caleb's going to have to do it and the veterans are going to have to do it.And it's it's just this constant cycle of change and turnover.
And rather than bite the bullet and do turnover with the coaching staff at the same time as turnover at quarterback so they can establish some kind of rapport and continuity, like what the commanders did, right?Bring it in.
Dan Quinn and Cliff and Jaden all at the same time. Now they're going to have to reset in 2025 and hire not just a new coach, but whoever the cheapest new coach on the market is.It's not going to be Ben Johnson.
They're not going to pay for Ben Johnson.It's not going to be Belichick.They're not going to pay for Belichick.You look at why the Chargers are all of a sudden doing really well right now, and it's because they're paying for stuff.
Like, they're competing with their wallet just like they're competing with their talent.You know, they went out and they paid for Harbaugh.They paid Justin.They retained Khalil Mack.They retained Joey Bosa, these expensive pieces.
Like, they could have blown everything out of the building, not just Kenan and Mike, but they could have blown everything out. They still are paying money to their guys and paying money.
Their coaching staff, their head strength coach makes like $2 million a year.They have a high price defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter.Like the Chargers are willing to spend, which is why the Chargers are in a much better spot.The Bears are not.
The Bears honestly are just the Illinois version of the Bengals.And the Bengals aren't very good either because they refuse to spend money.So.
I look at this constant cycle of mediocrity and hoping the quarterback can just like elevate a franchise that refuses to invest in the structure that's necessary to build a winning organization.I'm just so tired.I'm so tired.
It's the same thing over and over and over again.Three quarterbacks in a row doing the cheapest option, the worst option. you know, pissing on our face and telling us it's raining.Like, I just I'm so over it.
And I love Caleb, I think he's gonna be a really good quarterback in this league, but they are not doing right by him.They absolutely are not doing right by him.
And I worry that he is not going to be maximized in this organization, because of who's running it.And I'm talking at the very, very top, not head coach and GM level, but beyond that.And until that changes?God knows when that's going to be.
Do I have hope?Not really.Not really.And that's really sad.
It's a difficult proposition because it is a talented team.We saw that even yesterday, and obviously we both think Caleb is a very talented quarterback and could win at the highest level in this league.
And may win at the highest level in this league, but right now there's an obstacle to that, and I'm not saying the Bears aren't going to turn around and play well for the rest of the season.
I think they probably will, but I do not think they will achieve the heights that they could. under different circumstances, and that makes it a very difficult franchise to watch, to say, yeah, there's enough here to win with.
But I don't think they're going to do it.And I go back to the summer and I kept my head down a little bit.A lot of people ask, what do you think of retaining Iberflus?Are you worried about it?
Because especially after the draft, oh, look at what you have now.You've got this wide receiver core, you've got this great young quarterback, and they've invested in the offensive line, and Poles has made sure the defense has what it needs.
Aren't you excited?And about the roster, I could say, yeah, I am excited that it is a better place than most rookie quarterbacks.Certainly most rookie quarterbacks pick number one overall have ever come into.
But one time I was on a podcast this summer and the host kind of wouldn't let me go.And he said, do you point blank?Do you have reservations about Matt Ibrafluz's head coach?And I said, yes. And he's like, oh, oh, talk about that.
Cause that was a, that was very, Ibraflu's had the whole glow up this summer and he did the press tour and he's got the shiny roster and everybody went, it'll be fine.And I was like, I'm not so sure it's going to be fine, but there wasn't a lot.
He grew a beard though, EJ.I know.
Everybody knows that's what matters. There weren't a lot of ears for that viewpoint this summer.And honestly, I hoped I'd be wrong.That's the other reason I kept my head down.I hoped I'd be wrong.I hope that the roster would paste over the issues.
I hope that he would adapt and learn the lessons.So interesting thing.You compared him to Quinn going to the commanders.Do you know what Dan Quinn did after his last head coaching stint?
He went to go be a really good DC in Dallas, but if you're talking about like before that, I don't know.
Right, but do you know what he did to prepare to be a head coach if the opportunity ever arose again?This is fascinating, I just learned about this.No.
So he hired a journalist to go interview everybody he'd worked with as a head coach, including people he'd fired people he moved on from, people he loved and, you know, had to tell that they were getting run out of town.
Everybody, soup to nuts, top to bottom.And he paid her to go interview them at length about him.Hmm.And then he took all the results and he read them.Interesting.I like that, though.
It's a tremendously honest approach to, hey, I screwed some things up and I would like to know what the perception is from the people I worked with about the things they think I failed at.
Because I have blind spots, I'm me, I have my own biases, I have my own beliefs.You need those as a coach.But he said, I'm gonna go outside of that.
And he credits that process with the success he's currently having in the culture they're building in Washington.And I think he's right.
I mean, if we're talking about the value of introspection and self-evaluation, humility, you know, those all tend to be qualities of very effective leaders, and we're seeing the culture turnaround. in Washington, like immediately.Immediately.
I think that Dan Quinn's a big reason for that.Obviously, Kingsbury has also been on his own coaching journey and has also approached this with humility and self-evaluation.I don't know.I look at those two teams play yesterday and
As much as it pains me to say it, the right team won.The better coach team won.And you know, the Bears had an opportunity to steal a victory, but like that's what it would have been.
It would have been stealing a victory like they were not winning that game for 90% of it.95% of it even so.I don't know, I just I.
I don't want to be like too reactionary to one loss, but that one loss was indicative of so much more than just one loss.
Now, before we get to the Eagles, which is going to be a fundamentally different segment, because it's a lot more positive, because the Eagles, you know, speaking of humility and self-evaluation and introspection, everything like that.
The Eagles have corrected a lot of their errors that we pointed out earlier in the season.I do want to thank Underdog Fantasy for making this show possible, making all of our shows possible.
If you have not played pick'ems with us at all this season, you still have an opportunity.Like they have promos going every single week, every single day, especially now that all four major sports are going on at the same time.
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On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the 29th and 30th, your free picks for new customers are going to be LeBron James.And then on Thursday, TNF, which is when EJ and I do our TNF live streams, CJ Stroud is your free pick for Texans Jets for TNF.
Oh God, we are talking about the Jets.Yes, yes.I was waiting for you to stumble into that. Oh, man.OK, well, the game will be half interesting to watch for me.
But anyway, if you guys want to do free picks or you want to do pickums with us this week using those free picks, you can find the link for Underdog Fantasy at the link in the description below or at the QR code on the screen.
Use those free picks, do your pickums, have fun and especially make TNF this week a lot more interesting than it probably otherwise should be. Now, we'll get to the Jets a little bit later.I want to talk about the Eagles first.
And we have been very critical of, of Nick Sirianni's Eagles this season.And for good reason, like even when they were winning early on in the year, there was a lot of fundamental flaws with this team.
And they were fairly similar to the fundamental flaws that we pointed out last year when they were winning.And we're like, I, this doesn't seem super sustainable.It seems like they're getting by on talent and speaking more about 2023 and 2024.
You know, and it felt, I don't want to say fraudulent, but it felt tenuous.And then that tenuousness, you know, unfortunately resulted in a late season collapse.And we saw a lot of similar things in the early part of this season.
completely like not taking their injuries into account.I'm talking about like schematic issues early on this season that were really, really concerning.
Like for instance, you know, going into this year after hiring Kellen Moore, we thought maybe they're going to go under center more.They're going to have a more diverse run game.That wasn't happening.They were still highly shotgun centric.
the entire outside zone concept they ran at 7% of the time, even though the league meta these days is to be, I don't want to say reliant on outside zone but to incorporate it more than any other run concept they were running at 7% of the time compared to like say Atlanta that was running it.
you know, 50 60% of the time, right.And part of that was because they were in shotgun all the time, they weren't under center, and you don't really want want to run outside zone from from shotgun because the angles are all screwed up.
So the run game just like last year, was very inside zone centric, which made it extremely predictable, and extremely reliant on explosive plays from Saquon, right, it would be nothing, nothing, nothing, 50 yards, nothing, nothing, nothing, 40 yards.
And so like the end results would look good, but the efficiency was not good and it just felt off because they were still predictable and still way too reliant on just out-talenting everybody.Now you look at the last two weeks and especially
this week, and they were 10th in under center rate, their outside zone rate jumped from 7% to 22%, which by them, like that is, by their standards, that's incredible.Like that is incredible to run that much outside zone for them.
And oh, by the way, it worked.Shocker. They were ninth highest in play action rate, again, because they were under center more, which increases the effectiveness of play action when you're doing hard PA fakes.
This is the second straight week that Jalen Hurts has 20 or fewer attempts.Not that I think that Jalen Hurts shouldn't be throwing the ball, but...
It was more complementary than just, hey, chuck up a 50-50 to somebody down the boundary and hope it works.
Like they did throw a 50-50 ball down the field and it worked to Devonta, but just one like it wasn't it wasn't the only way they were getting explosives.They worked the middle of the field like A.J.Brown ran a dig route in this game and they hit it.
Like, it was amazing.I just don't see that from them.
And this is, especially the last two weeks, this is the first time that I've seen Kellen Moore's offense and not just the leftovers of what Sirianni was running last year, or rather what Sirianni's dream offense was last year, which is 97% shotgun, 55% inside zone, taking shots down the boundaries, middle of the field doesn't exist.
Like this now looks like Kellan.Like this looks like what Kellan did in Dallas.This looks like what Kellan did for the most part in LA.And it's functional.It's sustainable.It doesn't just rely on out-talenting everybody.
And it's also much harder to game plan for.So to all the Eagles fans that were upset that, you know, I was criticizing them early in the year, this is what I wanted them to do. Like this is how you maximize that talent.
This is how you actually go on a run.I am more optimistic about this Eagles team right now than I ever was at any point last year.
It doesn't seem like they're quote unquote as good as the first half of the season, uh, as they were last year, but I promise you this is more sustainable.This can actually go on a run in the NFC.So Bravo Eagles.
Thank you for looking inward and realizing what the issues were and making changes for the better, because this is an actual good team.
If they stick with it. They have to commit to big copy.And yes, if they pivot and go see, we knew we could do that and go back to what they were doing.I like you think the results are going to go back to looking like they were looking.
So the cool thing about structural balance in the offense is it also balances better with their roster.Like when you talk about maximizing players as you move towards under center play action.
more varied run concepts, all the things that you wanted to see that Kellen has done in other stops.And then you get Devonta Smith back.It's such a big deal for them because defenses can't key on one pass catcher.
Devonta Smith caught six, AJ Brown caught five.It's sort of damned if you do, damned if you don't.And then if you go, wait, these guys are killing us and you start backing into your
basically four over sort of umbrella shells, then Saquon goes off and rolls for 108 on 22 carries at about five per.So again, damned if you, damned if you don't pick your poison, it's the perfect NFL offense, right?
You can go wherever and we've got a counterpunch thanks to the fact that we structurally balanced our offense and that maximizes our talent.We don't have to heave it up and hope in low percentage shots down the boundary that it's going to work.
the middle of the field, we can work the run game, we can work the inside passing game, the outside passing game, short passing game, long passing game.Basically, we have counter punches for whatever defense you throw up.
And you're going to see us play better because of that.As a result, you don't leverage hurts as much.I like you think he is a good thrower, but he played within himself, less deep shots, no picks. Just less liability overall.Yes.
He ran the ball a little bit.
But again, he didn't have to to keep drives going for the most part He just did what they really need him to do, which is key this offense and what he's done during their most successful stretches Haven't seen this kind of balance out of them really all year and to be honest into parts of last year It is a different team
in that configuration.And yes, it is much harder to game plan for and much harder to deal with because it is still a very talented team.And we haven't wavered from that position that the roster is loaded.
But if you don't use that roster in the proper ways, you don't get a team that is as efficient and deadly as the Eagles team.
In fact, we're going to talk about another team in green a little bit later on that has that very problem on offense, but the Eagles have gotten out of their own trap.I really appreciate it.And by the way, Quinion Mitchell is freaking killing it.
This doesn't have anything to do with the offense at all.He's been targeted 36 times.He's only allowed 18 receptions for 224 yards, no TDs and a passer rating. allowed of 69.7.This was the one that caught me.
This is not a stat that everybody brings up.Catch rate allowed over expected CROE.Negative 12.1%.Oh, is that good?That's real good when you look it up.
It's second best on the Eagles, but overall, especially among rookies, that is a very nice number, and he's only giving up 2.8 yards after the catch. per reception.So even if you do catch it, he's going to tackle your ass right there.
Quinion Mitchell is a dog.We said so before the draft.He was my CB1.This guy is playing as we hoped he could and man did Philly need it.And it's just a perfect marriage so far.
Cooper Dejean as well has turned into an elite nickel like already like he's turned into an elite nickel and the one thing that I didn't necessarily expect
was Vic Fangio leaning into man coverage on early downs as much as he has, but he is relishing in the opportunity.Even with the Bears back in 2018 when he had Kyle and he had Prince and Eddie, he had a really great secondary.
He didn't call man coverage on rundowns as much as he is this year, their third in terms of first and second down calling cover one at about 31 percent, which I know doesn't sound like a lot.That is a lot of man coverage on on early downs.
But on those early downs and distances, they are seventh and fourth in completion rate.They are sixth in terms of fewest first downs given up.They have the ninth best or lowest passer rating allowed.They're fourth in stops.And here's the big one.
Second best in the NFL in receiving allowed per coverage, receiving yards allowed per coverage snap. with two rookie corners playing man at the third highest rate in the NFL on those down distances.So it's not just Quinion.
I mean, Quinion's been exceptional, but Dejean has also proven himself to be an incredible pickup for them.He's a natural in the slot. And then you know, slay is having a typical Darius slay year as well.
So, you know, we look at last year's Eagles defense that couldn't cover anybody, because they just didn't have the DBs to do it.And now they can cover everybody.Like, I don't know, I just look at this Eagles team.And I'm like,
They don't have the same record that last year's Eagles had at this point in the year.And I'm not even sure if the point differential is the same.Like a lot of like the raw counting stats are not the same.
This is a better team right now than they were at this point last year for all the reasons we talked about.So I think right now, if I had to look at like two best teams in the NFC, it's probably Detroit and Philly.
Like truly, it's I think it's those two.Like I count or I rely more on the Eagles now than I do the Niners.Even the Niners coming off a strong win, but Philly just looks better.One quick note and then we'll get right back to the show.
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That will give you 20% off and free shipping on whatever you get.Thank you to Manscaped for sponsoring today's show.And with that, let's get back to it.Now, the other team in green that we mentioned, the Jets.Good God, EJ. Sorry, Jay.Yeah, Jay.
Jay, our editor is a Jets fan, and he's like, please don't talk about the Jets.We have covered the Jets.Cover your ears, Jay.We got to do it.Rich Samini had a really had a really fun stat.
So the Jets had no turnovers, held the Patriots at 247 yards and still lost.They are the first team to lose a game in which they did not turn the ball over and held their opponent under 250 since week three of 2012.
Week three of 2012, the last team to do it was the Aaron Rodgers led Packers, who lost on the fail Mary against Seattle.So the fact that every other team in the NFL is 220 and 0 in that scenario and Aaron Rodgers is 0-2 is pretty remarkable.
What is also remarkable, and I haven't been able to find out if this is the first time this has ever happened before, but I wouldn't be surprised because I can't remember this ever happening before.
The Jets called three timeouts on offense in the first quarter.Like they're, I was almost at a loss for, I don't think I've ever, ever seen a team do that.Like not just in the pros, but in college too.
Like the level of disorganization, discombobulation, whatever word you want to use for it. Like, this is just inexcusable.And you can't blame Robert Sala for it anymore.He's gone.He's been gone for three weeks, and they're 0-3.
Like, they look arguably worse than they did pre-Sala firing.So, like, now who do you blame? Like, are you willing to blame Aaron Rodgers?
Cause like you and I know it's, he's a pretty significant factor in all this, but like, is the organization finally willing to admit that this Rodgers thing isn't working because can't blame the coach.He's gone.What else you got?
Yeah.I don't care whether they're willing to admit it or not.The league is going to show them the league has a way of doing that.And this schedule is not going to be very kind to them.
The Jets are a team we thought might be good for a lot of reasons.And if you go back to our summer preview series, we talked about all these the defense loaded with talent and had played very well.Offensive talent, not scheme.
We're not going to talk about how they're being used, but they've assembled a lot of good offensive talent.We thought, hey, there's all the ingredients are there.You can make a pretty good meal with that. and possibly high level QB play.
That was always the linchpin.If Rogers comes back and plays at an 80% level of where he was, that's good enough with all this stuff around him to make this a good team.Well, They're a team we thought might be good, but they're just not.
They're not good.They're not a good team.The offense is out of rhythm.The QB thinks it's everybody else's fault.You can see that after plays where he's just like, if you just want to run that better than I wouldn't have thrown that in completion.
And that again, isn't it?Very, uh. It's not a warm and fuzzy team environment.Let's put it that way.Skill players aren't being maximized because of that.
We see Garrett Wilson, who we know has gobs of talent and in a lot of other systems would be a much more productive wide receiver, not putting up numbers every week.They're 25th in points per game.
So you can, you can talk about the quarterback and you can talk about the scheme.You can talk about solid when he was there.You can do whatever you want, but this team halfway through the season is almost last in points in the entire NFL.
They're just not getting it done.The defense is still putting up really good numbers this year, but without points to support it, it doesn't mean much.
So the pass defense has the fourth lowest yards per pass play allowed, the sixth most sacks, the second lowest amount of yak allowed in the entire league.This defense is still playing very, very hard.
If they have a crack, it's explosive runs, that's runs over 10 yards, they've allowed 30 of those, which is 8th worst in the league.
And as a result, they're facing the 6th highest percentage of run plays in the league because teams are like, well, I don't really want to pass against them in those corners.And certainly not the pass rush they have either.
I think we'll just run it against them because if we do that enough consistently, we'll get a similar result with less risk.
So everybody keeps looking at this team, this just team, this assemblage of talent and the coaching shift and everything else.And kind of this is Jets fans in the media and everybody else is poking him with a stick going, do something, do something.
Come on.Right.And I'm just not sure at this point that they're going to like, it just doesn't feel like we need to pay attention to this team anymore, because if they were going to do something, I think all the levers have been pulled.
They would have done it by now. And it just doesn't feel like it's gonna come together.That's kind of sad and it will create all kinds of turnover that we say we don't like to see in the league and whatever else.
But the bottom line is you tried, you tried real hard.In fact, you pushed all your chips in the middle of the table to run this strategy and it fizzled.Like it's just, it's not gonna work.This isn't a couple of tweaks away.
Like this is fundamentally flawed as a football team. And you're probably going to have to start over.And I know that is not music to Jet's ears, just fans ears.It's, it's the tune that's being played every week.
You can not hear it if you want to, but that is literally just burying your head in the sand. This is not working.
It looks to be over, and I don't think they're going to go on any crazy kind of second half run because we just haven't seen any evidence that that's in there.
They would basically have to go undefeated.Correct.At this point.Maybe you could lose one more game the entire rest of the year to make the playoffs, right?I just don't think it's going to happen because they have to play Houston. in three days.
I'm sorry.Like, do you have any faith they're going to be able to beat the Texans?And again, I say this as a Texas fan fully aware I'm about to curse the shit out of my own team.
Do you have any confidence that this team based on what we've seen can can beat the Texans right now?I think the maximum dollar amount I would bet on that's about five bucks.And that's probably the $5 bill I found stuck to the bottom of my shoe.
And you'll probably get pretty decent odds on that because I don't anticipate Vegas thinks they're going to win either.Yeah, like this is just not a good enough.Offense and honestly, it's not even a good enough defense either.
Like there are good defense.They're good, but they're not.They're not a good enough defense that if your kicker misses four points worth of kicks and you give up a 63 yard punt return like your defense isn't like Chicago.
that can still make up for that by just making these Herculean ridiculous stops to keep you in it.
Like if your special teams has a bad day, the other two phases of this Jets team are not good enough to make up for it, and especially not their offense.And so much of it is kind of their own fault.
Like we've talked all year long about how they haven't been able to run the ball.This is one of the first times I've actually run the ball decently well, but only with Brees Hall.
But when Brees is averaging 7.8 to carry in the first half and Braylon Allen's averaging was at 2.9 in the first half, why is Braylon Allen out touching Brees Hall in the first half?Like who's making that decision?
I mean, we know who's making that decision, but why are they making that decision?Like this team. They just, they do it to themselves.Yeah.They do it to themselves.And the players are good enough.And they have talent, they're just not good.
Yeah, the players are good enough.We're not saying the players aren't good.It is a classic collection of very good football players that is not a very good football team.And there've been lots of those throughout history.
There've also been the opposite.There've been teams that we considered under-talented that played together beautifully as a team. And the Jets don't have that.They have a lot of talent.They are certainly capable.
And that's what makes Jet fans just pound their head against the wall is we got good players.Just make them play good, right?And they don't.And this is what you get.
If the Jets end up with like a top five pick this year, which I don't know if they will, it's very possible that they end up in like that 6-7 win no man's land.Yeah, limbo land.It's like, you know, too low to get a quarterback, but.
also too low to make the playoffs if they end up there.That's one thing, but if they end up with the top five pick this year, it's actually pretty desirable job. Right?Because you have like they invested in the offensive line.
Yeah, you got stuff, you know, you got stuff like they drafted a future franchise left tackle in Oulu last year.Like you have Garrett Wilson, you got Brees, you got Braylon, like they're not that far off talent wise.They just need a better OC, right?
But if you have a top five pick and there's a quarterback you really like, let's say Ben Johnson falls in love with Cam Ward. Like the Jets job would be pretty attractive, right?Because there's defensive talent, there's offensive talent.
Like I wouldn't hate that, but right now, you know, especially with their OC situation and having an older quarterback that can't move. The talent that they have there, they just, they can't maximize it.
It almost feels like we're talking about the bears, honestly.And that's what's frustrating about it.It's like, bears have talent, not being maximized.Jets have talent, not being maximized.Eagles have talent, now being maximized.
Our outlook is very different. Very, very different.So I don't know if I was a Jets fan, I'd be immensely frustrated.Honestly, if I was a Jets fan, I might just be numb to it at this point.
But I would be very, very frustrated because it's just it's an even worse season from hell than last year.And that's really saying something.It really is.All right.Moving on to the Colts.
I don't think we've talked about the Colts in a while, but this is a topic that... Yeah, we haven't, and there's a reason for that.Well, they're kind of a weird team to talk about.
And they're predominantly a weird team because their quarterback situation is so weird.You have Anthony Richardson, who had a very high big time throw rate in this game, 12.1%.
He had four big time throws that was either first or second best across the entire NFL this week.
I'm pretty sure only one of them were complete, though, and he only had one turnover worthy play, which unfortunately was that kind of backbreaking pick to Petrie.
But even while having a bunch of big time throws and a low turnover worthy play rate, he still had an extraordinarily low completion rate and was extremely inefficient and put his offense in a horrific spot to lose a game that ultimately they probably should have won.
Like the Colts as a team, you could argue, were outplaying the Texans as a team.It's just the Colts offense couldn't get going because the ball kept hitting the ground.And in the modern NFL, the ball keeps hitting the ground.
Every time you throw it and you throw it more than 30 times, you're going to lose.I'm sorry.You just are.So I'll kind of get into more of my thoughts on Richardson specifically, but first for you, what was your impression of this game?
It's not even the game, it's the season, because the game looks a lot like the season or sections of it.And you said the Colts are a weird team and they are.We like the coaching staff.We like a lot of the talent they've assembled.
This does stop us if this sounds familiar.It's the same refrain.And we both came into this season very high on what we thought Richardson could be. And it's weird because it's kind of binary with him.It is black white one zero on off.
It is massive, amazing play that few quarterbacks can make or nothing.And by or nothing, I mean like no screen passes, no little dink and dunk stuff over the middle. Uh, no, what I would call regular or sort of unexciting quarterback runs.
They're big ones.Again, it is just max or nothing.It's, it's, it's like a car with a stuck throttle, right?Either turn it on and it's revving at 8,000 RPM or you turn it off and that's it.And you can't get anywhere like that.
Going to the grocery store is very tough to do if that's the case. His accuracy is really what it comes down to, and it is horrendous.Like, it's not bad.It is historically awful.He's completing 44.36% for the season.That's 59 of 133.
You want to talk about a lot of balls hitting the turf, that is absurdly inaccurate.
So to put it into context or to try and put it into context for our for our viewers and listeners, I looked up some other notoriously wild throwers from the past because people might say, oh, well, it's not as bad as, oh, hang on, dear viewer.
Worst season long completion percentages for their career.So I just picked the worst one for a full season. for their career.Now, Jeff George, this is somebody the Colts have familiarity with.
His rookie season was his worst in terms of completion percentage, 54.2%, 10 points higher.And that was his worst ever.Notoriously scattershot guy.Brett Favre had struggles with accuracy throughout his career.Again, high payoff throws.
We're talking about a Hall of Fame player, MVP awards, but ask Mike Holmgren about Brett Favre and his accuracy.It could be maddening.Worst ever was 56%, and that was in the middle of his career, 2006.
Tim Tebow, now this is where people are starting to dip down and people are like, oh yeah, right, but he couldn't throw.He was terrible.46.5% in his second season, 2011.So- Not that terrible.Well, terrible, but not as terrible, I should say.
Two percentage points better than what we've seen out of AR.And if you want to talk about expectation levels going into the season, That's banana.
So the only one player since 2006 to have a lower completion percentage with a minimum 100 throws is Josh Freeman in 2013, 42.9%.That came from our buddy Steve over at the 3013.
Like, there's one player since 2006 that's been less accurate, and it's not anybody you want to hang your hat on and go, Oh, well, I wish we rather had Josh Freeman.No, you don't.
And when you drafted this guy as highly as you did, and you're hanging your franchise offensive future on him. You you can't afford this like the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
You have to find a way to get some of that mid-range quarterbacking stuff back, because that is the stuff that NFL offenses thrive on, function on, work on.And the whole boom bust feast famine thing.
isn't great, his adjusted yards per attempt of 5.44 is really low when you add up again all the high highs and all the low lows, the low lows just drag it down too far.You can't win with that in the NFL.
And the Colts are just kind of stuck because of it, because you have this superstar in waiting, you hope, who just doesn't function on like two thirds of his basic quarterbacking needs.
And I know that there's a bunch of people that are going to, you know, enter in the comments and say, OK, but there were drops in this game.You're correct.
There were drops.You could argue that there was up to about five drops in this game.PFF termed them at two.You could argue there were five.
Even if we give you grace and say, okay, five drops, including two for touchdowns, even if all of those were complete,
including the touchdowns you're still only at 16 for 33 on the day so you're still under 50 percent and you still have those touchdowns yes but then we kind of go back to what we were talking about whereas which is you're entirely relying on big splashy explosive plays to get points and you're you're not relying on efficiency
And so when those splash splashy plays don't happen for whatever reason, whether it's drops or just inaccuracy or any or penalty, whatever.
If you don't have the efficiency to back it up, that means that you're not giving yourself extra chances to then make those splashy plays.So I I think that's also on Richardson.
Like we can acknowledge the drops in the missed opportunities that were not necessarily his fault. while also saying, okay, but the other 20 throws in this game were his fault.And even if you're looking at one of those so-called drops.
And this is, this is where I take issue with how some drops are charted.If you use the Alec Pierce drop as an example.
Okay, so he's breaking to the outside, the ball goes behind him at about like abdominal level behind him, and he's breaking out balls placed in, he has to turn and try to catch it underhanded.
And the reason he has to try to turn and catch it underhanded is because you literally can't do an overhand catch because you have to turn even more to do an overhand catch so you can stretch your shoulder out.
So he has to try to do an underhand catch because he's moving away from the ball and it bounces off of his wrist because when the ball is behind you and you're trying to underhand it, you can't trap it into your core compared to when it's in front of you, then you can trap it into your core.
So like they charted as a drop because it hit his hands. But when the ball is behind you and you're moving away from it and you literally can't do overhand catch technique because your arm isn't 39 inches long, it's kind of still Richardson's fault.
yeah it's on him like it really is and i i just i'm frustrated because i know he could be better than this and he's not and i'm waiting for him to get there but i kind of feel like at some point the cults are like we got to win some fucking games here let's put in joe and he's not going to get an opportunity to turn into what he could because he's just not there yet
Yeah, this is the problem is that, you know, people can talk about the drops yesterday.And yes, he played better in the second half than he did in the first.Still not great, but definitely better.And yeah, there were a lot of drops.
We just talked about those.But if you look at all of his throws over a season, This is this is not one bad game.This is a pattern that we're picking out from everything he's done in games all throughout the season.He's got four touchdowns.
He's got seven picks and what nobody's talking about is he has a fumble per game.He has six fumbles in six games.You can't balance that out.You're basically putting yourself in a hole waiting for him to get the rhythm.
And then we have to talk about this. He taps himself on the helmet yesterday and says, I gotta come out of the game because I'm tired.Just lie, just lie.
Say I tweak my ankle, say my communication device in my helmet isn't working, I can't hear, say something.But for those of you thinking it's not a big deal. I got news for you.The NFL is still tough guy land.
Like it, yes, the rules have changed, but the guys have gotten bigger and faster and no, you can't slaughter a quarterback into the turf headfirst.Like I get it.But every week we see real tough person stuff.We see broken bones.
We see muscles tearing off bones.We see guys playing through all kinds of injuries that would be completely debilitating for any of us.And on game day, Dan Olofsky make this made this point this morning.
Nobody's job is easier physically outside of the specialist than the quarterback.And so for you to go back into your huddle and look at guys and say, you got to give me something here.I know you're tired.
I know you've been getting your ass kicked all day.I know that guy's just absolutely tearing your face off.I need you to buck up.
When you left the game as a quarterback because you were tired, like as an offensive lineman, if you look at me and say that to me after you've done this and we haven't cleared the air, it's going to be very, very difficult for me to go, dude, I am getting my face stepped on over here.
You left cause you were tired. You're the guy, you're the guy that tapped out because you didn't what condition enough?And it's not like he was Debo and hospitalized earlier in the week for a couple of days with fluid in his lungs and pneumonia.
Right.I would say, well, then condition a little bit harder, dude.Don't get tired.You are the leader of this team for him to have done.
That is going to be a thing because half the guys in this locker room already think Flacco is their better chance to win.And by continuing this experiment with AR, you are now decreasing
my professional futures, my statistics, what I'm going to go out and sell myself on for my next contract.They already think that.And to do something like this in a vacuum It might be okay.He's not in a vacuum.
He's under a microscope and this is absolutely marked by words going to be a thing.He is going to have to find a way to get past it if he can in this locker room and it is not going to be easy and they are not going to let him forget about it and
It is just one more thing that makes you go, oh, is this sustainable?Like the stats and everything else we talked about, you already knew it.You already have that feeling as a team member.Oh, we're just not putting ourself in the best spot to win.
At what point do we pivot and see what we can make out of this season for everybody else in the organization?And then this dude taps out.
It's not a good look.No.It's not a good look because, you know what, quitting Nelson doesn't get tired. Like Jonathan Taylor doesn't get tired when you give him 20 plus carries, he's getting the shit beat out of him.
Like in the games where they actually do give him 20 plus carries.By the way, side note, JT looked awesome in this game.They should have given him more carries.But regardless, like they don't get tired.
Your receivers don't get tired when they're when they're running cardio for your 90 yard bombs that fly five yards over their head.Like.I get it, receivers rotate and everything like that, but quarterbacks don't. Not for that reason.
And I just I couldn't imagine any other quarterbacks in the NFL that run around frequently, whether it's Lamar, I would even say Mahomes, Josh Allen, like even CJ Stroud.
CJ runs for his life, you know, every week this season because because Kenyon Green is not good in pass protection at all.So CJ constantly has to run.I could not imagine any of those quarterbacks taking themselves out of the game for being tired.
It would never even cross my mind.Again, it's not everything, but it's something.It's something.I think that will have to be addressed internally in the Colts building.He's going to have to sit up in front of those guys and say something.
because everybody's hurt.Everybody's tired.You're the quarterback.You don't get to take yourself out of the game for that.So if the if the media asks you that question, fucking lie.Say your shoe was untied, say your ankle hurt.
Like like you said, communication in the helmet went out like just lie.Don't say that.That's the one thing you can't say back to the football. One extra point I wanted to make.
You know, the Colts defense has gotten lambasted and rightfully so for being a rather soft run defense this year, like they have the second most carries against them per game.
They have the 30th ranked rush defense in terms of yards against them per game.They're fairly average in terms of yards per carry allowed, but when teams know they can run on you over and over and over again and gas you out, they're going to do it.
So they allow a lot of run yards because of that. Part of the reason why this defense gets so gassed is because the offense.They have the lowest time of possession in the NFL, like by a decent margin, 26 minutes per game, T.O.P.
So the other team gets 34.So the other team has eight minutes more T.O.P.every single game.And what are they doing?They're running the ball. And their their defenders are getting tired.
And trust me, Zyra Franklin's not taking himself out of the ballgame for being tired.That's another thing he's going to have to talk.
He's going to have to talk to the defensive guys who have more snaps against them than anybody else because the offense can't stay on the field.
I mean, you think about it, it's an extra half a quarter per game. Yes, yes, it's literally four and a half quarters.So that stuff adds up.
And I, you know, I feel for Shane Steichen because he is trying to do the good thing for the organization, right?He is trying to develop a young superstar quarterback.And if that works,
It pays way more dividends than almost anything else in professional sports.If it doesn't work, you got to look at everybody else in the building at some point and go, yeah, we tried.We did.We really tried.And, you know, maybe we'll try again later.
I'm not saying we won't.Like, we'll take a different approach.We'll do some things in the interim to make sure he's ready.But all of you deserve a decent chance to win every week.And this wasn't giving it to you.
And at some point in an NFL building, you got to be honest because everybody knows what's going on anyways.
Breaking news out of Indy, the Colts are benching quarterback Anthony Richardson and turning to Joe Flacco, sources told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Adam Schefter.
You know what the amazing part about this is, is this morning, I got a call that this was happening.And I reached out to a couple of people to confirm and I spoke to some people on other teams.
And when I said, hey, my sense is that they're benching Anthony Richardson. The reaction I got from some very smart people was like, of course they're benching him.Like it wasn't even an option.
Well, why don't we close the show on something positive? We've talked about a lot of negative things today, but there is something happy we want to discuss, and that is the return of Microwave Kirk.
Kirk Cousins had himself an amazing game against Tampa, and there's an interesting oddity with the Tampa defense I want to bring up.
But first things first, Kirk himself had a tremendous game and there was a drive that he had towards the end of the second quarter that I think encapsulated it best.This was about a minute to go.I think it was 58 seconds to go.
They get the ball back.They want to get some points before halftime.And there was a throw 24 seconds on the clock that he made to Darnell Mooney against two man or cover five, whatever you want to call it.
If you want to use the Sabanese language, cover five. So it's man coverage across the board, two high safeties helping over the top.
And there was kind of a nod seven that Darnell Mooney ran outside release, give the nod, flatten out the seven route to the boundary.And Kirk let this ball go with a corner in man coverage bracketing underneath and a safety over the top.
He let it go before he was even out of the break. Like he knew like this is my throw against two man.It's a really hard throw to make.
But if anybody can do it, it's me because I'm microwave Kirk and I'm in my groove and I'm going to put it into a spot where only Mooney can get it.And he let this ball go and Mooney turned around.
You could tell he's like, holy shit, that's in the air already and it's coming down.The DB didn't even see it till it was like 10 feet away.That's how early he let that ball go.And he dropped it in the bucket.Perfect placement.
to get them in the field goal range.They got three going into halftime.And that drive to me was everything.Because if you have the arrogance to make that throw, you're going to win like eight times out of ten.Like that is a ridiculous big boy throw.
And Kirk was doing that all day long.You like that?You like that throw?I love it.That's right.
Kirk loves it, too, and when he is on a heater, when he flips that switch, when he goes over or transitions into what we call microwave Kirk, and we haven't seen it for a while, it is really fun football.It's incredibly sharp.
Haven't seen him this sharp in a while.23 of 29, 276, four TDs, no picks, a 143.9 passer rating. Average yards per attempt, 12.28 hasn't been higher this entire season in a game than 9.69 for him.
So we're talking about a full 25% better than his best.Only took two sacks for a total of 11 yards was being efficient.You know, even when he was losing yards, he wasn't putting his team way behind the sticks.
Hit six different receivers, including three different ones for TDs.Interestingly enough, it was one wide receiver, one tight end, twice, and one running back.
So when I say receivers, he was not only spreading it around between quote unquote receivers, but running backs, tight ends, everybody on the offense.You throw in a balanced run game and the Falcons get really tough to defend.
Now we can talk about the defense.I know you've got a couple of points on the defense as well, but like this level of offense is what Everybody in that organization wanted to see what they said.We got all these weapons.
We've got a really good offensive line.If he can get in there and trigger it at the level that we have seen Kirk Cousins triggered at in the past, we will be fine.We'll probably walk away in this division.Again, this is a divisional game for them.
It is super important.And to have Kirk come out and just lay one down like that, That's a message kind of a game and it's what everybody in Atlanta was hoping for.
I'm really happy for Kirk and for all the folks in that offense who have struggled through some pretty dark times to be able to come out and just get on a heater with him and roll over division opponent.That's gotta feel so good for the Falcons.
I also do want to bring up the Bucks defense.They were They're really weird in this game, because this is a team that through the first seven weeks of the season had the second highest blitz rate in the NFL.
Like they just blitzed and blitzed and blitzed and blitzed and blitzed.And they only blitzed Kirk seven times in this game.They were 20, hold on, 24th? Yeah, 24th across the NFL, just in blitz rate alone for week eight.
And in those seven dropbacks where they blitzed him, he was four for five for 36 yards and a sack.And in all of the reps where they didn't blitz him, he was 19 for 25 for 240, four touchdowns, no picks, three big time throws, no sacks. So.
To go from being super blitz heavy to not really blitzing Kirk at all, even though he can't move, and I don't know if it's because they got spooked out of it based on what happened with Lamar the week before, but Lamar is Lamar.
Like if you blitz Lamar and you miss like he's going to punish you with his legs like Kirk can't punish you with his legs.So why are we not blitzing him?It was just a really odd.
choice schematically by the Bucks defense, and they just like never adjusted throughout the game, even though it clearly wasn't working.And they're like, screw it.We're going to keep doing this.I don't know.Very odd choice by them.
And then one last side note, Jesse Bates.Hey, now, I mean, Jesse Bates, like we're used to him having great games like this was a tremendous game by Bates.He had an incredible pick.
Uh in the second half he had a punch out, you know, they targeted him a bunch.He allowed nothing A.J.
Terrell also had an incredible interception and that one I thought was even crazier than than Bates's Like it was just in cover three And uh, they kind of had like a delayed
like a delayed burst fade up the sideline against cover three, and they were hoping they were going to catch Terrell squeezing into the seam area to make it so that he couldn't get back outside and help this curl flat defender that had lost a step because of that delayed burst release.
And AJ did step inside.He did squeeze on the seam area.And then he saw Baker, you know, tilt those shoulders and he was and he's like, oh, God, got to get back outside.
And the quickness with which he put his foot in the ground and then got back out to the boundary to undercut that ball.Oh, my God.Chef's kiss.Like that was one of the most impressive picks of the entire year.Like they had AJ throughout.They had him.
He was beat. until he wasn't.And that's why you should draft corners that run for three and jump 38 inches because sometimes they can do that shit where they lose and they still win.So overall, just a really, really good game by Atlanta.
Almost top to bottom.I still think their pass rush needs work, but when their DBs are playing like this and Kirk is playing like this and the offense and Like that's a that's a tough team to beat.So that I think right now.
You know, especially just looking at the injuries that Tampa has and then looking at the rest of the division right now, I think Atlanta is firmly in control of the NFC South, and I would be very surprised if they let it go the rest of the year.
I've got a lot of balance.It's theirs for the taking.They're warming up, if you will, at the right time.We knew that it might take a little while for this to get going at the beginning of the season with Kirk coming back from the injury.
Turns out that was a little while longer than a little while.But again, if they can get hot right now, stay on this role, continue to play like this on both sides of the ball.I'm with you.I think they're the favorites in that division.
All right, well, fun little sort of kind of recap show today.We had a lot to get off our chests and hopefully you guys enjoyed watching and listening.However, you happen to watch and listen.
I want to thank, of course, all of our sponsors, Underdog Fantasy.Again, if you want to do Pick'ems this week, especially with us on TNF for the Texans Jets game.You can find that at the QR code on the screen or at the link in the description below.
CJ Stroud is your free pick for TNF.So we will be doing copious amounts of pickems for that game.And I also will be drinking copious amounts of Balconas. to get me through it.I also want to thank Manscaped for sponsoring us.
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All right, I think that's all I got.EJ, any final words?
Nope, looking forward to the rest of this week.I think the NFL is sorting it out to an extent, but we're still seeing some pretty wild stuff.In fact, we had games we didn't talk about.Sorry, Browns fans, we'll get to you, we promise.
But in overall, sort of looking back at this, it's a really good week, some really fun football.Not every team's going great.We started off with a team that's near and dear to our hearts that is not playing super well.That's OK.
Still a lot of good football to go around.
Alright, we'll see you guys on Thursday for the TNF stream, and then later this week for the Week 9 preview.Until then, later.
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