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Nathan Hawthorne: My victory lap this week is the Chicago Bears defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twenty-seven to twenty-four. I know a lot of people are thinking, they barely won. This is a team they should have beat. People need to understand that the NFL is a long season. It's any given Sunday. And when you find a way to win a game and win it ugly, the offense isn't perfect, but the defense picks you up. That's what you're looking for for a championship caliber team. So my victory lap again goes to the Chicago Bears, to MVP, in my opinion, Caleb Williams, and this Team that is ascending and going to new levels each and every week. We're seeing something different. At first, it was okay, quarterback by committee, right? Caleb Williams is injured. We got Tyson Beijing, we Casey Keenan. We're just making things work to keep it going. And then Caleb Williams come back, comes back. He looks like a superstar, looking flawless. And then he finally has that game where maybe he trusts his arm a little bit too much. We saw that interception. It was a meatball sub. That's just, him trying to be the guy when he didn't need to be. And again, your defense comes around the corner, picks you up. The addition of Jeffrey Simmons has been fantastic on their defensive line. This to me is not just your division winner in the NFC North, but this is pro this might be your NFC champion this year. It's probably gonna come out of the North Division and there's gonna be a good chance it's the shock it's the Chicago Bears. What say you?
Jarod McInroy: Yeah, this was the week where ultimately we see what teams are going to be the ones that stick around in the postseason and what don't. they couldn't get the ball going on the ground. DeAndre Swift didn't have a great game. And they had to rely on Caleb. But yeah, he had a couple of those ego throws where he was trying to fit it in in places where he didn't need to. He was throwing off his back foot a bunch, you know, a couple balls that maybe He was even trying to throw away that he couldn't quite get the juice on to get them out. but how how does your team respond in those games where things aren't clicking on every level? And yeah, Tampa Bay is a feisty team. They're not a good team. like it's a game that you you look at and you certainly should win. but I mean they were they were moving the ball. That the as simple as that. They were still moving the ball despite the mistakes of Caleb Williams. However, I like how they didn't shy away from it. They didn't
Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm.
Jarod McInroy: tighten the playbook. They didn't get scared. They weren't like, okay, well maybe they were just they kept adjusting to okay, that's not working, let's try this. They'd move to kind of a dink and dunk here and there. you know, hit Luther Burton on a couple curl routes, find Lovelin across the middle. Not every h play needs to be that home run play. in Tampa Bay's got holes all over their defense, so outside of Anzalone, there's
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you know, not too much happening on that defense. But yeah, I mean, Burden, 97 yards, Rome, 60 yards, Loveland 54. That's kind of their recipe, I think, moving forward. kind of getting everybody involved. Khaf Raymond, maybe trying to find a way to utilize him a little more in the actual offense. obviously we can see the speed that that he has to offer, but The defense, like you said, that pick six at the end by Jalen Johnson was was fantastic. Great for my fantasy team also.
Nathan Hawthorne: Ha ha.
Jarod McInroy: It it won me this week. But yeah, no, hats off. Bears Bears looked good, but they need to continue to obviously improve. But can you win those games when things aren't going your way?
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, and y you mentioned Kyler Gordon. I'm sorry, Jalen Johnson had not had a stellar start, you know, to this year, but yet he stepped up and made a big play. Devin Bush was everywhere, right? He made Bucky getting going, having a tough time. Now he still ran for ninety seven yards, but they it was a that was a hard earned ninety seven. And Bucky, he might be one of the slipperyest guys in the league. I don't you know he doesn't look like the most menacing size, but the way he forces missed tackles, But yeah, this this team is just really, really good right now. And again, to be able to do it when your team is not firing on all on all on all cylinders, it's incredibly impressive. and again, just looking at the broader scope of this team, they're seventh in scoring and that doesn't include the games that they were missing, Caleb Williams, third in total offense, third in rushing. And the to me this is one of the bigger ones. They are fourth in their third down percentage. Means they're keeping these drives sustained for the large in part, forty five percent. on third downs, that's huge. And I expect that number to continue to get better as Caleb continues to get better and in a game where you're gonna have better success running the football with DeAndre Swift. It was interesting. Only twelve carries. I think part of that had to do with interceptions, maybe cutting some drives short. not typical from a Ben Johnson offense to quite skirt away from the run like that. But hey, you got the win and you're right, Caleb Williams did not show shy away from using his gun, the final drive, two big throws to put him into field goal range. I I'm impressed.
Jarod McInroy: I will say though, this is this is a good week to learn because if you look at Ben Johnson, the play calling toward the end was a little suspect. the the little screen bubble pass to Luther Burden that got him absolutely lit. I'm sure he's probably in concussion protocol.
Nathan Hawthorne: I believe it is. Yes.
Jarod McInroy: but th the yeah, that hit of course it's a freak thing, you know, he makes a cut, he gets and Reuben Bays Bain somehow just makes it through all of the blacker blockers to get a clean hit on him. he immediately dropped the ball because I think he was disoriented. however, it was still a questionable call. I know the run game wasn't working, but that was certainly a situation where if you're not going to throw it past the sticks to really go for the first down in that situation to ice the game, then just put it on the ground. It's that simple. trust your running back, trust your line, trust your run game and your run scheme in general. So those are the moments where it's like, okay. Reel it back. Real it just have some piece of you that's able to make the right call, the smart call, and because that won't fly. they tried to throw the game away. They really did, in every way which
Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm.
Jarod McInroy: every which way. And yeah, I I just I ain't got anything else to say on them really. If it I do want to jump to the bugs for a second. I know this is the victory lap for the Bears, but I think this is a terrible game for the Bucks honestly. When you get four turnovers or sorry, five turnovers if you can include the fumble also, you gotta capitalize. You gotta win that game. That was that was atrocious. Baker again, we don't really know what he is this season because he has had a lot of help from Bucky and Gainwell. So he he hasn't needed to really show up. But also like on the important drives he he did show up. He was able to hit his open guys. He was able to move the ball, find Tez Johnson. Like there's the they were they were able to make things happen. But at the same time, the defense, again, it's so weird because they contained the ground game so well this game again, similar to how they did in the Mud Bowl against Bijan, but their secondary is just cooked. I and I don't know why that is. Maybe it's lack of talent, but also I just Something about the back half of that defense just looks unprepared. They look disjointed and they have holes all over the field. But they were also keeping everything in front of them. There weren't any gigantic plays that were really beating them. so it was it was just a weird game, but that that's that's one you you can't have happen, especially if you want to take over this division. And again, was it was it four losses this weekend for that division again? Or Saints beat the Browns by one. They ended up winning that game.
Nathan Hawthorne: I believe it w Yes, they did. Yeah.
Jarod McInroy: It should have been four losses for that division.
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, it it should have been it would have been great to see the Bucks pull this one out. I think in a game like that, maybe you think about going for two. I know that's scary. You you think that you can get to overtime, but maybe think about going for two, especially in a game where you've you're going against a high powered offense. Antoine Winfield Jr. is hurt. so that sucks for that back end. He was kind of their guy. but man, yeah, th this Bucks defense seems to have something going With Todd Bowles as the head coach. They are they're always going to have that. But Baker Mayfield, I
don't think quite fits this team. And if we're being honest, just talking about Meka Igbuka, with the departure of Mike Evans, he hasn't really, and I know he's been a little injured, but part of your best ability is your availability. I don't think we've seen him be the guy that they drafted him to be, this this next big bodied wide receiver one for the team. if you're Baker May Mayfield and you're getting paid the way you are. You gotta work with what you got. It's the story of all quarterbacks in the league once you start to get those bigger contracts. So just a just a weird team that I don't think is extra special anywhere, other than running back. And if that's all you're extra special. I don't really know. I don't know. But again, this is the the Bears,
Jarod McInroy: Yeah. They gotta pick a direction.
Nathan Hawthorne: they do. And I think it starts with moving on from Todd Bowles. The Bears. They are your victory lap winners. Who's who do you have for your victory
Jarod McInroy: Yeah, good week.
Nathan Hawthorne: lap?
Jarod McInroy: Yeah, mine's gonna be the Texans this week. it was a trap game against a desperate team. the Chargers, we know they have talent. we know that we now know that they have no gas in the tank. They they're everybody's checked out. I I really thought this was gonna be the prove it week for them at home. go beat a team that's two and five, but also way better than that. And th this was their chance. But CJ Stroud balled out. I got a lot to say on him and I'm not gonna go too much right now, but CJ Stroud, insane game, five TDs, three hundred and eighty-five yards, kept the ball out of harm's way, one pick, that was kind of whatever. They were already up in that game. So but four receiv four different receivers with TDs. Woody Marks gives you seventy yards on the ground. We've been complaining about how they can't get the ball moving on the ground. and yeah, the defense finally looked solid. I think a big piece of it is Typically this defense has been really bad to start the game and it hasn't allowed the offense to play with a lead much. they kind of came out and held them early, allowed them to get that lead, and then they kind of, you know, toward the end there was a lot of garbage time, a lot of you know, points scored where you're just trying to slow them down a little bit, which is fine. but that's the big piece. is they need to be able to get a lead early and allow this offense to play with the lead instead of having to play desperate because that's how they unlock their playbook and be able to play their game. And that's also how you keep another team from putting up 30 to 40 points in a game is stop them early rather than having to lock them down late. it's it's that'll be the recipe to actually winning games moving down the stretch of this season. But also Every game on from here on out, I've looked at their schedule. They're all winnable. There's a couple good teams in there for sure, but none that shouldn't be winnable from your standpoint if you consider yourself a playoff team. So a lot of wins on the schedule, keep it moving, keep it rolling. They got my victory lap this week, but can they do it two weeks in a row? That's been the tale of this season is they haven't really been able to. So do it two weeks in a row. I'd prefer if you did it three or four weeks in a row and really get this thing going.
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, you got the Browns, Colts, the Ravens coming up next. Very, very winnable. Not just winnable. You should win these football games. You know, provided that Shador Sanders is still starting at quarterback. he he maybe isn't better than Deshaun Watson, just different than Deshaun Watson. They're two not great quarterbacks, but they're just not great in different ways. So that's interesting. Colts obviously tanking. Ravens, you know, their quarterback situation, it's gonna be it's gonna be difficult for them, you know, just installing Jacoby Brissett even two weeks from now. a non-mobile guy going against Will Anderson Jr. and my gosh, Janil Hunter, that's scary. So but yeah, shout out
Jarod McInroy: Good luck.
Nathan Hawthorne: to the Texans. It seems like CJ Stroud is finding that confidence that he had. And again, we gotta take it with a grain of salt because it was the Chargers, but that ball was jumping out of his hand. He was throwing with decisiveness, and he's hitting all the different targets. Shout out Tank Dell. He's back. You still got Nico Collins, Xavier Hutchinson, Keyshawn, big old booty. it's just
Jarod McInroy: Yeah.
Nathan Hawthorne: I I'm happy for them. I'm still concerned about the run game. I know Woody Marks had 70 yards. You're you're hoping maybe you get David Montgomery back, but I'm still not convinced that they're running the ball well. But also, maybe you don't need to. We're seeing a couple teams right now, whether that's the Packers or whether that's the Bengals and maybe now the Texans, they say, Hey, we ain't gotta run the ball. Well, we just gonna we just gonna keep throwing it. So we'll see. But yeah, shout out to the Texans. good good call in this victory lap.
Jarod McInroy: Yeah, the he he sh probably should be getting my performance of the week, but I wanna give it to somebody else later, so we'll but yeah, hats off to him. let's move over to the stinkers, the walk of shame. give me yours first.
Nathan Hawthorne: gonna be the Atlanta Falcons, one of the most talented teams with the opportunity to win their division. You didn't have a tough matchup. You had a tough offensive matchup this week going against the Cincinnati Bengals, but again you've got all the talent in the world to keep up and at least keep them off the field. You had Bijan Robinson account for 147 of your yards, a hundred yards rushing, forty seven yards receiving, and then outside of that, nothing else could get going. Michael Penix wasn't sacked. he was hardly hurried, but just w where was the offense? And I know
we've talked about this Bengals defense, potentially being top five. It's better than people give it credit for. But it it the offense was almost non-existent out of B. John Robinson. And that's problematic. I don't know whether that's Penix's inability to unlock players. I don't know whether that's the the the playbook and what's getting called. I don't know if it's Drake London honestly really isn't that good. But goodness gracious, there just was nothing to write home about outside of Bijan Robinson. And that continues to be this continues to be the case this year for the Atlanta Falcons. If B don if Bijan doesn't have a great game, they don't win. And even if he has a great game, they'll still find ways to lose. I don't get it.
Jarod McInroy: I don't think their defense is that good. And I think that's a big part of it. I think their defense is Falcons defense. I think they
Nathan Hawthorne: Bengals defense or the Falcons defense? Mm. Mm-hmm.
Jarod McInroy: they are stinky. They're no good. especially in this last game, man. They were giving up now I a tough a tall, tall task, with
Nathan Hawthorne: Yes.
Jarod McInroy: that Bengals offense right now. I'm so I'm not gonna go crazy, but but I d I think they're bad and I think they'll continue to kind of prove that. but I'm gonna jump into mine here. The Panthers, They're they're gonna give my walk of shame. Off t so they have a long week coming from Thursday night football and they show up genuinely with what seemed like no game plan. The second half they came out with a game plan, but just the beginning of the game, the Broncos weren't playing great. They were giving them a shot. I mean, certainly to their standards not playing great. time of possession, they split it damn near thirty-one minutes to twenty-nine, so they certainly
Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm.
Jarod McInroy: had their chances. Miss Field Goal to start, that you know, tough start. Bryce Bryce Young in the you know, one yard line throws a pick. That's inexcusable. But then the fumble at the end of the game, to lose it, that that's that's inexcusable. these are the little details that tell me that this team is just not ready to compete. Yeah, they just they didn't have a dialed. I know you use this term operational excess excellence. they
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah.
Jarod McInroy: certainly they lack a lot of operational excellence that would be required to beat good teams week in and week out. And ultimately, they they also they just don't seem to have that firepower. I know they have talent just screaming all over the field, especially on offense. And we thought we saw some maturity in Bryce Young, but it almost feels like he's regressed a little bit. And in the the second half, th this is also one thing I wanted to touch on. Third quarter, you know, they have a a decent drive. I think it was about three minutes. They get a f three and out. From the Broncos, get the ball right back and then they go down on an eight minute drive. That is
the the worst possible opportunity to have that interception happen because you're controlling the game. You're getting back to, like I said, what seemed to be the game plan that you had set earlier in the game that you didn't execute on, and now all of a sudden no points come from it. that's it's just inexcusable and they're gonna give my walk of shame this week 'cause again, somebody take this division. We're begging.
Nathan Hawthorne: Somebody's got to take the division. They're on a three game streak right now, three game losing streak. And again, it's the operational excellence and it's the ability to win and close out games. Yes, they had a tough and slow start. Yes, they started looking better in the second half. But it never really l it looks like from drive to drive, even they're a different team. And that I think that's one of the tougher parts about this Panthers team, 'cause they could go three drives in a row looking fantastic, and then they could go four drives in a row where it looks like they don't even know how to play football. but Jonah Coleman's gonna be great.
Jarod McInroy: It's not good.
Nathan Hawthorne: Jonah Coleman's gonna be great. I I think that's a huge development. You know, talking about the the the Denver Broncos now, I think that's gonna help turn this offense up a little bit, take some pressure off of Bonex to turn his own game around when he hasn't been playing superb. But again, you had an opportunity early in this season with a ton of respect from teams around the league to start to move away with this division, and all you've done is pull everybody in that NFC South closer, closer. the Bucks are still in it for this division. The Saints are still in it for this division. The
Jarod McInroy: They're all in it.
Nathan Hawthorne: Falcons are s everybody is still in it for this division race. And you're gonna end up having a team who's gonna be below five hundred again. And so I yeah, walk a shame.
Jarod McInroy: Mock Shame. performer of the week. Who you got and I think you got another defensive player this week, huh?
Nathan Hawthorne: I'm gonna I I really love the defensive players right now in the NFL because there's been such a excellent, what do you call it, a shift in the way defense is being played where they are trying to force an offense into the look that they wanna see instead of being forced into a look that the offense is dictating. I think it's been exciting. Miles Garrett is my performer of the week, and what Chris Shula is doing with him in with the Rams right now is is incredibly special. Number one, he's Miles Garrett. He's coming back from that knee injury. You weren't quite sure how he was going to play. He's got three sacks, a force fumble. And did you see the way Aaron Donald was just smiling? Like, hey, you know, those are our sacks, blah, blah. He couldn't be more elated that Aaron Donald's on that same defensive line. He's doing Euro steps coming across the center's face. He's lined up out wide. And then his his speed is so killer. And I think that's what ultimately that the Rams offense wasn't great. But their ability to neutralize Jaden Daniels, like we talked about, and take his legs out of it, his speed to chase down Jaden Daniels and to keep him in the pocket just completely changed the game. so he gets my performance of the week. He was special. He was special all day.
Jarod McInroy: Yeah.
Nathan Hawthorne: In this defense, we talked about all glamour, no hammer. If they play like that without same sort of tenacity, Aaron Donald continues to ramp up, this team could be extremely dangerous again. But R.I.P. Puka Nakua.
Jarod McInroy: Yeah. I asked my cousin, he's a large big ol' Ravens or Rams fan rather, and he said he's not worried. He thinks that this is just a get to the playoffs and we'll be fine situation and games like this, when you see talent like that all over the field, if it's it's kinda seems that way. I I don't know if I agree with that yet, but I digress. Here we go. Performance of the week for me, CeeDee Lamb. And you know I was big on him coming into this season, but this was one of those games where yes you know, the Colts might be trying to lose games, but no George Pickens on the other side, so it's it's you out there. you know, Ferguson's coming back from an ankle injury. the the offense seems like they can't really move the ball out of nowhere. And you got open. You did what you needed to do. Sixteen targets. Dak wasn't throwing the ball very well. He was overthrowing him, under throwing him, putting the ball in crazy places, but he ended up finishing with ten catches for one ninety five and a touchdown. again, d having to deal with Sauce Gardner and Travarius Ward is not an easy task
Nathan Hawthorne: No.
Jarod McInroy: also. And they were one of them was on him the entire game. and yeah, I again this is one of those games that kinda set you apart. we're trying to round out, you know, our our top ten rankings of wide receivers as we kind of watch the season go on and he's certainly in it already. if not, he might be creeping up on that top five. So yeah, big big shout out to C D Lamb this week. love to see it.
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, and he even had an overturned touchdown. He could have had another one after that one that he had earlier in the game. three total penalties against him, one of or two of them being those offensive pass interferences, which to me were, you know, were a little bit interesting. But to have those ten catches, a hundred and ninety five yards, you know the ball's going to CeeDee Lamb and he's still getting it. He's being heads up when he's almost down on the sideline. Was he down? Who knows? Gets up and just keeps it moving. Like plays that are what Is going to keep this team moving forward because it's not going to be it's not going to be Schottenheimer carrying this team. It's going to have to come from Dak and CeeDee lifting this team up. And even if it get even if it is
against a team like the Colts, I I love to see that from CeeDee Lamb. I did trade him in fantasy football. I had to get him off the roster. My team was my team was struggling
Jarod McInroy: Bad.
Nathan Hawthorne: mightily. I got Nico Collins and I got Bucky Irving. Worked out great this week. But who knows how it's going to happen every week.
Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Good week.
Nathan Hawthorne: Wet eggers, but yeah, great place. C D Lamb.
Jarod McInroy: Let's get over to let's get over to Brilliant or Blender. And I personally actually don't have one this week, so I think we will both double down on on the one that you have have brought to the table because I I I really like this one. So why don't you why don't
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah.
Jarod McInroy: you tell us what you have?
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, this is my defensive game plan, Josh Gannon, the defensive game plan that he had set up against Drake May. Josh Gannon is coaching some of the best defensive football in the league right now. And I think people forget how great of a defensive coordinator he was with the Eagles because there was those lost years in Arizona where nothing was going right. four sacks, three picks, a forced fumble. It was just an all out assault. Xavier McKinney had two picks. Evan Williams had the third pick, and just Drake May did not look comfortable the entire game with three of those interceptions happening in the first half. And they did the classic Drake May beater. It was cover six, split safeties. They were in, you know, some form of zone over 80% of the time. And the thing that was really special that Gannon was doing is forcing that New England offensive line to slide to the right or to the left based on an overload pressure that they were showing. And then having the pressure come to from the other side. You get New England's line, sliding left. You're coming from that opposite side. And it was just confusing Drake May because he had to solve for two things. He had to say, Hey, where's this pressure actually coming from? Can I get my back set on my hip? Or do I need him to be up chipping somebody, right? And then, where are the safeties at pre-snap? Cause when you're looking at that too high look. And McKinney's either running down the block, Evan Williams is taking out deep. It's just hard to track these guys. and it costs them a couple of times with how rangy these safeties are playing. They don't even have Micah Parsons yet. This defense is dangerous.
Jarod McInroy: Yeah, it was a great performance. And also for us, we love to see it. We absolutely love to see we see we love to see a guy who gets and you know what? They gave the one thing, the only knock on this green by defense is how many garbage time yards and touchdowns they allowed Drake May to have to boost his stats so people can make excuses and arguments down the line that it wasn't that bad. It was a terrible performance. He looked lost. He looked like The the Sam Darnold, I'm seeing ghosts out there.
They were everywhere. They were in his face. He didn't know where to go with the ball. he was missing open receivers. I think that's how you really know you're getting to a quarterback is
Nathan Hawthorne: Yep.
Jarod McInroy: when he's also mi missing the easy throws. That's how you know you're getting to him. So I agree. And again, this is a team that we know needs to win games now. it's a it's a tight division race with some really good teams, and also there's only three wildcard spots. So either you win the division or you hope you get one of those. And that NFC West division is going to try and steal a couple of so yeah,
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. So yeah.
Jarod McInroy: big one and and a great great look by that that defense for sure.
Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, again, congratulations, Drake. You had great games against the Raiders, the Jets, and the Dolphins, and and and the Bills defense who gives up 30 to any but to anyone who asks nicely. Played the Bears, got smoked, Packers got smoked. So that's all I'm saying. Drake, I think that he is going to continue to develop. It's hard to disagree with what Tom Brady says on the broadcast, talking about the growth that he's continuing to see. But I haven't seen enough of it yet. So Patriots fans come at me all you want.
Jarod McInroy: Easy hung. Yeah.
Nathan Hawthorne: and can I talk about one honorable mention here before we wrap this up? And it's and this is just
Jarod McInroy: Yes.
Nathan Hawthorne: a brilliant move, by Gladstone, the general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars, going out and getting Jordan Davis Jordan Davis and Jesse Bates. Wow. You had an injured defensive lineman, who is part of your big, you know, stopping the run defense. You go out and get Jordan Davis for picks that you don't need right now. It it just said that you're going all in. And same deal. Safeties were a point of concern this year on your defense. And you went out and you go and get an elite safety. So I I gotta give him a brilliant move here, recognizing how good your team is right now, that you've got one of the easier schedules in the L NFL coming up, and then you go out and get yourself a safe an elite safety and an elite pass rusher and run stopper. Brilliant.
Jarod McInroy: I think what makes a GM good and you can take this, this is this is a quote from me specifically right now in this moment. Are you ready? What's
Nathan Hawthorne: Let's hear it.
Jarod McInroy: makes a good GM great is being able to not make the same excuses at the trade deadline at the end of the season. They need to be different problems. If you didn't address what you know is a problem at the trade deadline, then you wasted away the rest of your season and we see it far too often. So yeah, huge huge shout out to him. Great move. hey, thank you all for listening to this point. we love ya. we appreciate you.
Nathan Hawthorne: we would love to have your support with a subscription, a like, leave a comment, and just let us know how we're doing. We'd love to talk back in the comments. We love to hang out with you guys. So please let us know. We're trying to build a community where we are giving not just great sports analysis. So again, please like and subscribe. And we will see you on the next one.