00:00:05
Speaker 1: This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: What is up, Straight Fire fam? It's me, Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire. For Monday, October the 5th. Oh boy, ladies and gentlemen, it was the hottest weekend in Los Angeles since we moved here a decade ago. Oh my gosh. The good news is it meant I got to stay inside Sunday. Didn't really have to leave the house. Got to consume all of the football. I also did that Saturday, but the football was not nearly as good. And Sunday was a chaotic day in the NFL. Also, pretty wild day in Major League Baseball. I feel bad for the Padres fans out there who basically lost two brutal games on the road to the Brewers. I think the bounce back should be a good series. But we got to start with the NFL where, man, the action was hot and heavy. The injuries are mounting.
00:00:59
Speaker 3: Folks, I don't know.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: Rob and I were talking like you start looking at there's three 4-0 teams, right? The Vikings are 4-0. Deeply flawed. The Chiefs are 4-0. They've got major flaws. And the 49ers are 4-0, but they've got major injuries. Like we're basically the one quarter mark of the season. And you look around and you're like, oh, man, Rams. What the hell? Rams should have lost that game to the Eagles. Are the Rams good? I don't know. They will be good. Are they good? I don't know. And you start looking around the Buffalo Bills, who now their defense is getting called into question. They can't stop anybody. Josh Allen's YOLO tendencies starting to emerge.
00:01:36
Speaker 3: I don't know.
00:01:36
Speaker 2: Are the Jacksonville Jaguars the best team in the NFL? Like, there's so many storylines off this Sunday. I think a large part has to do with the loaded 1 p.m. window. Because obviously, listen, the 1 p.m. window, I believe, is the strongest part of the NFL. And when you stack primetime with all the good teams, then the 1 p.m. window is a bunch of Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons and unwatchable teams. But this Sunday, we got a thriller, Cowboys-Texans. Oh, my gosh, that went down to the wire. Texans fall to 0-4. They were my pick to get to the Super Bowl, folks. They are not going to the Super Bowl. They are currently 0-4, and they lost to Dallas in the C.D. Lamb show. But actually, I want to start with the team– I thought this was a tremendous game, and mostly I want to start with it because I won. But I'll start with the Rams and the Eagles. So Eagles, you know, they came into the season with a lot of questions about Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, and they go 2-0 and largely escape criticism. Then lay a massive egg against the Bears in primetime. They get to come home against the Eagles. They're like, okay, we're back. And I don't know if you guys saw this, but the injury report for the Eagles just kept getting worse. And then the big news for me in Rappaport Sunday morning was Lane Johnson, personal reasons, he's going to be out. And it was like, oh my gosh, no Lane Johnson, no Devonta Smith. How on earth are they going to pull this off? And well, they jump out to a 20 to 10 lead, largely due to Matt Stafford interceptions. He had two that basically set the Eagles up with easy touchdown drives. And you're like, oh my gosh, the Rams are going to fall to one and three. The Eagles are going to steal this one. And folks, so this is the exact moment they lost the game. It's fourth and goal. inside the five-yard line. Sorry, fourth and two from the three-yard line. And instead of kicking to go up 13, which doesn't really do much, you still lose on two touchdowns, they decide to go for it. Jalen Hurts has absolutely nothing, gets dropped. The Rams go 98 yards for a touchdown. You're like, oh, game on. Eagles go three and out. They did not convert a third down all day long. 0 for 12 on third. One for four on fourth. Rams get the ball back, and Matt Stafford, that's the MVP, folks. Matt Stafford follows up that 98-yard drive with a 79-yard drive in 145. The cap was a great Kyron Williams touchdown run.
00:04:05
Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: Now, Zach Bond is there for the Eagles. He makes that tackle. But Kyron slips four tackles, and the Rams win and cover 24-20. So this would have been the second straight opponent that the Eagles lost to. I'm sorry, Rams lost to after outplaying them. Folks, yardage. 415 to 172. The Eagles had 172 yards. Their lowest output since 2014. The offense is broken. Now, you don't have Saquon Barkley who left with the hamstring early. You don't have Devonta Smith who did not play. You don't have the tight end Goddard. Those are your three best weapons. And with them out, there was nothing. I mean, they could do anything. Absolutely nothing. Fans, I don't know if you guys saw this video floating around social media, you know, like CBS or local Philly station. We'll go and interview fans after the game. These guys are just absolutely wrecked. And they just start rambling about Sirianni and play calling and meatballs. It's bizarre. But I look at the Seagulls team and I'm like, I misread them. They are 0-4 against the spread. Reminder, you're up 10 at home with eight minutes left inside the opponent's five-yard line. And you lose. So to me, based on this, I'm still of the belief the Rams are the most complete team in the NFL. They should be the Super Bowl favorites. And when they're fully formed, Aaron Donald didn't play. Miles Garrett still hurt. Puka's coming off the injury. He had a good game, 9 for 125. I think the Rams will be fine. Early season, you know, you're dealing with the adversity of traveling to Australia, coming back, prime time, prime time in Denver. Then you're on the East Coast. Now you go home next week to face Josh Allen. And so the Rams have had by far the toughest schedule to open the season. And I think they're going to be fine. But for me, Rob G., I believe that this is the best team in the NFL. They're not playing the best right now, but I think in the end, they will be the best. I just think the injuries are going to catch up with the Niners. And I'm still not a full believer in this Chiefs team. They're doing a lot of smoke and mirrors and beating some bad teams. They're good, obviously. But I still, for me, Rob, if you said who's the best team in the NFL, who do you still like to win the Super Bowl? I'm going Rams.
00:06:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Rams are one of those weird teams where it's like, are you a process or are you a results kind of guy? Because based on the processes, the Rams have the number one offense and the number three defense in football. So you would assume, even though right now they're sitting at 2-2, that as the season plays out, you're looking at one of the elite of the elite football teams, probably even the only one of top five in both categories. So they are, like you mentioned, the best team in football. The problem is, as you alluded to, the results don't show a team that is the best team in football. They probably should have lost that game on Sunday despite dominating the Philadelphia Eagles. Like Matthew Stafford... is currently third in the NFL in terms of the, however you want to view it, third or 29th, depending on which way you're looking at the box score, the worst deep thrower in football. Like, right behind Drake May and Justin Herbert. He has five interceptions on deep balls this season. The defense, despite making a couple of splash plays here and there, Byron Young was awesome on Sunday.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:07:25
Speaker 3: Was giving up a lot of big plays on first and second down against a depleted Eagles offense. They tightened up there on third and fourth, so it didn't really matter, but they were giving it up. And in a game where you dominate the time of possession and the yardage, basically three to one, the fact that you needed a 98-yard drive, or excuse me, a goal line stand first, a 98-yard drive second, and then another 80-plus-yard drive to win it tells me that even though all the numbers say that we are the best team in football, for whatever reason, it's not showing that way when we're watching the games. Sean McVay went viral because he had to have an entire powwow with the offense, and he looked like a high school football coach. Like, everybody around me, I'm going to yell, and my neck vein pops out. We're going to figure this thing out. And so while I wouldn't fight you so much, and you say the Rams are the best team in football, as much as it pains me to say, I believe that the best team, or in this case, the most complete team is actually the Kansas City Chiefs.
00:08:24
Speaker 2: Oh, well, that's a shock. Wait, the most complete team right now, or you're picking them to win the Super Bowl?
00:08:31
Speaker 3: I mean, the team I picked to win the Super Bowl was the Rams. The problem is I don't think the Rams have looked like a Super Bowl team so far this season. The numbers say that they are, but to me, the eye test doesn't match. The Kansas City Chiefs, much like the Rams, are the only other team that's top five in both offense and defense. They're number two in offense, number four in defense. Rams are number one and number three. So they're kind of neck and neck with each other. The difference is when I watch the Kansas City Chiefs, I've seen them win games every possible way so far through the first four weeks. And we'll get to the Raiders game on Sunday later in a few minutes. But I've seen them win games where, hey, the passing offense is not there. We got to run it down your throat like they did in week one. We saw in week two where the running game was great or solid, but pass from home to the play action game, the passing game was incredible like we saw there in week three. We saw them win games with defense. And then on Sunday against the Raiders, We saw them put everything together because the running game was great. Patrick Mahomes was very solid. The special teams made plays. And their defense made just enough plays to end it there and seal the deal against an undefeated Vegas Raiders team. So, so far, based on, you know, my expert opinion, I think that the Chiefs right now are the most complete team. And if I, as much as I hate to say it, they look like they could be Super Bowl bound yet again.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: It's interesting. So the Chiefs, obviously they beat Rob's Raiders. I'm sure that's why he's leaning that way. They did look pretty good. I mean, interestingly, I thought the Raiders were more impressive than the Chiefs. The Chiefs got the win, but the Raiders, to me, went toe-to-toe with them. They did cover the spread, by the way, whatever that's worth, whatever you value that at. But, like, Mahomes 15 of 30 for 225? That's not super efficient. Walker had the 76-yard carry. Otherwise, they bottled him up 21 for 101. Five yards of carry, sorry, outside of the big one. Um, the big loss is Thornton, their deep threat. He was their best receiver and he got the ghastly broken ankle. I don't know if you guys have seen it. Catches a bomb, basically gets hip dropped and unfortunately stands up to celebrate and then realizes he can't put any pressure on his leg and crumbles. And then he realizes that his ankle is snapped. His season is over. Almost instantly. You had reporters calling drew Rosenhouse. So Tyreek Hill and the Chiefs. And it's funny because Tyreek Hill wrote something on social media about getting used to cold weather like a week ago. So I do believe they're going to go. They'll probably kick the tires on Jerry Judy. I saw that on social media. Why wouldn't they? The Browns like their young guys. Why don't they go get Judy? I'm sure the Jets are going to start maybe selling Adonai Mitchell, who they like, but he's hurt. Or even perhaps the kid Isaiah Williams who caught the bomb. The Chiefs need a deep threat, okay? Rasheed Rice pulled a hammy. He got hurt. Xavier Worthy, he's not that guy. He's good, but he's more of a gadget guy. And so I thought the Raiders did a phenomenal job, Rob, defensively on the Chiefs, largely bottling them up. I mean, again, Raiders outgained.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: Them.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: 28 first downs to 18. Raiders held the ball. They did basically everything you've got to do, except at the very end in the fourth, there was that fumble. Was it by Cousins?
00:11:37
Speaker 3: No, no, there was a fumble on the kickoff.
00:11:38
Speaker 2: Oh, the kickoff, the kickoff, right?
00:11:39
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: It was the Chiefs' score to take a four-point lead, and then they fumbled on the kick return and basically hand the Chiefs a short field touchdown that Kenneth Walker's ponced on. But otherwise, that's a nip-and-tuck game. I mean, Kubiak at one point took points off the board. You really hate to see that. But I would say, in my opinion, the flaws are on the Chiefs. And this is, again, looking forward. Right now, they're really good. They head into their bye. I do think Kenneth Walker's getting run into the ground. Way too much usage. The other running back's got one carry and one carry. The other guy might not even... No, no, that's not even a running back. So Matt Arizia got a carry.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: The punter.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: Is that the punter?
00:12:16
Speaker 3: That was the punter. They were on a fake punt.
00:12:18
Speaker 2: Oh, the fake punt early. That's right. So nobody else had a carry for their team. Holy cow. So it's basically Kenneth Walker show. And once he folds, they're done. I just don't think you get that play action. And I did see some stats, Rob, that they've moved Mahomes under center more because you can disguise stuff easier that way. And the results with.
00:12:40
Speaker 2: With Mahomes under center or astronomical, their offense is just a machine because people don't know what's coming. So yes, it is working so far. If we're being honest, they've also played a cushy schedule. Indianapolis stinks. Miami stinks. Vegas is good, but nobody's putting them in the Super Bowl. And Denver, I think we all agree, is kind of overrated. Out of the bye, they got the Chargers. Chargers are dead in the water, 0-4. After that, Seattle. Then they go to Denver. Jets, Falcons, Cardinals. So we know the Chiefs are going back to the playoffs. The question is, are they going back to the Super Bowl? I'm going to say no. I think there's a playoff team, obviously, Rob. But are you sure they're that much better than everyone else in the AFC?
00:13:35
Speaker 3: If that's the conversation, then no. Well, yeah, getting out of the AFC. This is one of those seasons, and you alluded to it throughout this entire podcast so far, is what we're seeing, again, this has only been a month of the season, is that even the teams that we think are good are highly, highly, highly flawed, more so than I can recall, at least in recent memory. Everybody was loving the Buffalo Bills the first three weeks, even though you and I mentioned on this podcast, you mentioned on television. Yeah, but that defense is pretty bad. You know, I know Josh Allen's putting up points, but the defense is terrible. We saw on Sunday Night Football, the Detroit Lions, who had scored 30 points every game coming in. The defense, yeah, they're also giving up 30 points a game, no matter who they play. And so you go down the list. You know, I'm a fan of the Baltimore Ravens. That was my pick before the season to come out of the AFC. And they... Even though the numbers say that offensively, they're pretty good both sides. When you watch them play, they'll have three or four drives where they look awesome. And then like four or five drives where they could not pick up a first down to save their life. And it doesn't matter if they're playing the Tennessee Titans on Sunday or if they are playing hypothetically, you know, with the Rams, whoever you think is the next best team. Like they'll do that no matter who they play. They are one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams in all of football. And you go down the list and it's like, well, whatever team you think is good, the San Francisco 49ers, they were struggling on Sunday against a depleted Broncos secondary. I know the Niners' weaponry was kind of depleted as well.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Major.
00:15:05
Speaker 3: But it's like you couldn't move. It was 3-3 midway through the third quarter. It's like we can't do anything. We needed a 50-yard catch and run by George Kittle to seal things up there against that team where Bo Nix can't hit the red side of a barn and they have no starting corners whatsoever left on the roster. And it's like that. And then not even mentioned Thursday night football, the Cleveland Browns are three and one. And they've played maybe six good quarters all season. They're offensively. You know what I mean? So it's like, no matter who you think is good or not good, I could easily poke holes in every single argument. Even the worst teams. I could say the Houston Texans don't look now, but CJ Strauss is not bad.
00:15:41
Speaker 2: No, he's not the problem.
00:15:43
Speaker 3: That's been the problem. And so it's just, it's a crazy season so far through September and October.
00:15:47
Speaker 2: How about this numbers of Patrick Mahomes pressured versus not pressured. under pressure against the Raiders, three of 12, 76 yards, two sacks, not pressured 12 of 18 buck 49, two touchdowns. So if you get to my homes, you can, I mean, it's, it's good by the way, here are the number under center rankings for the Kansas city chiefs offense through four weeks. Um, Under center EPA per play, second in the league. Under center success rate, fourth. It really is an unlock, and having Kenneth Walker means the safeties really have to respect the run as opposed to years past where nobody was going to do jack squat. That being said, I want to talk about the team that I actually think could be better than the Chiefs, and that's the Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Cohen's squad. Now, once they stop committing boneheaded penalties, I mean– I know the Browns are the most penalized team, but the Jags might have caught them. First half against Cincy, 10 penalties for 100 yards. 10 for 100 and a half. It's just unbelievable. That being said, they knocked Jamar Chase out with a, I don't know if it's a dirty play, but they basically ripped his helmet and it did not look good. And without Chase, the Bengals really had nothing. And I was impressed by the Jags holding them off. Now the Jags started to play a little safe with the lead. I think they were up 22, 10 and kind of in coasting, but the penalties just continue to kill them. They capitalized on, on, uh, burrow turnovers. And according to the model, by the way, model, uh, three and two, very fortunate. It could have been one and four. The model has Jacksonville as the number two team in the NFL. Um, the problem is, uh, their defense is not great. Their defense is ranking in the low twenties in some categories. And again, I don't think people are getting too excited about Jacksonville yet. Obviously long season, but they bottled up Drake may a week, what two weeks, a week later and Drake may throws for like 300 yards against the bills. Right. Um, they had that struggle performance in the second half and altitude against Bo Nix. Um, They bottled up Cleveland, and Burrow did throw for a lot of yards, but it wasn't like an efficient game. So, I mean, I can't find a major flaw in the Jags. The defense, I'll just say it's leaky, but I'll say this. They were getting after Burrow, man. They got Walker, Armstead, and Hines-Allen on the front line, and that's a pretty formidable group. The linebackers are kind of weak. Travis Hunter had a couple nice plays. I would not be surprised if they decided, shit, guys, AFC's wide open. You know, Lamar Jackson leaves the arena on a walking boot. I don't know what Lamar Jackson is. Buffalo Bills, they look like they're vulnerable. I mean, are the Browns? Like, that's our competition? We could smash them. So if Houston's 0-4, if I'm Jacksonville, I start looking around. Can I fortify the secondary? And can I maybe go get a swing tackle? Who's a seller? You know, are Tennessee going to sell? I don't know. Jets? Surely there's good players out there. I think Jacksonville's live to come out of the AFC, Rob.
00:18:51
Speaker 3: You know, you said when you started that whole rant, I don't know who's really in on Jacksonville. Well, I'm raising my hand. Duval, are you kidding me? The Jacksonville Jaguars. You recall during the off season, during training camp, I think it was talking to NFL Network and Liam Cohen went viral because they interpreted it as a shot at Chicago where he's like, everybody's talking about the Bears. Nobody's talking about us. He's like, go on the NFL media website.
00:19:14
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: And all I see is stuff about Caleb Williams, right? And he was just referencing the fact how Ben Johnson had said that they're the team most poised for a regression. And he's like, nobody's talking about us, even in a negative fashion. Like, hey, we could regress too because we were really good towards the end and then no one's mentioning us at all. Dating back to last season, J-Mac, I know you're a stats guy. From week 11 in the regular season all the way through now to what, week four, three and a half, depending on how you feel about Monday Night Football. The Jags are first in win percentage, first in offensive points per game, first in defensive points per game, and first in point differential. Very quietly, Liam Cohen and the fellas are building an absolute monster down in Jacksonville. Travis Hunter, even though I think we can all agree was a massive overpay in the draft for what they did to get to him, thinking they were going to have a two-way pro bowl, potentially all pro, And now they realize you got to play him only one side of the football. When he played on Sunday, corner only, I don't think he played a snap on offense as far as I can tell. Yeah. Was not quite passer time, but one of the better corners in all of football. He had two passes defense. He had led the team in tackles. He had a passer rating allowed of like 40. And then you look at their offense and it's like, well, Trevor Lawrence suddenly, you know, maybe he's not the all caps, you know, Greatest thing is a sliced bread quarterback. But he's been damn good now for almost, what, nine months, ten months. But now you look at it. He's been efficient. He's not turning the ball over. Bashell Tootin has been a revelation at running back. He had two touchdowns called back. That's how good he is.
00:20:50
Speaker 1: Two? Two.
00:20:51
Speaker 3: You had, you know, Jacoby Myers looking good. Parker Walsh is looking good. They don't even use Brian Thomas anymore.
00:20:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:20:58
Speaker 3: They thought he was going to be the guy a couple of seasons ago. There was talk as recently as Friday last week on CBS, on ESPN, and The Athletic saying, Hey, here are 10 guys. Don't be surprised if they get dealt the trade deadline.
00:21:11
Speaker 2: Oh, really?
00:21:12
Speaker 3: One of the guys mentioned at the top of the list, Marvin Harrison. One of the guys right behind him, Brian Thomas Jr. But with the way that the Jags are operating, you mentioned Lamar Jackson's banged up. The Chiefs are dealing with some wide receiver issues. Buffalo has no defense. The Bengals offense, for whatever reason, has been stuck in mud all season so far. If I'm the Jags, not only am I not selling Brian Thomas Jr., I'm probably buying somebody at the deadline. I'm saying, hey, I know our defense is looking pretty good, but somebody good is going to get dumped at the trade deadline. Maybe we can find a way to get a tight end. I know we like Brenton Strange, but maybe we can upgrade there. Maybe we can do something and add another corner so that maybe we can mix in Travis Hunter a little bit more on offense here and there. Maybe not full-time, but here and there. That team is so much better than people give credit for. And if they did not play in Jacksonville, we'd probably be talking about a lot more.
00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say that as well. I know my 49ers fans are going to be like, guys, why are you burying the lead? We beat the Broncos. We smacked them down. Brock Purdy carried. Mike Evans survived. I don't think anyone was carted off, except Juszczyk had the knee injury. I mean, I think the Niners, to this point, unequivocally, have been the best team. But, Rob, I just can't, with all the injuries, look at them now. It is entirely possible that we are missing one team. And that's the Minnesota Vikings who scraped by the Dolphins. Amazing cover for Miami when TJ Hawkinson decided to go down at the one yard line with like two minutes left. Thank you so much. The Vikings defense is elite. They held the Dolphins under 200 yards, eight first downs. It's really good. But I mean, Rob, I don't know how close you've watched Kyler Murray. I really thought he was going to have a big season with Kevin O'Connell because O'Connell made Sam Darnold looked amazing. And there was one other guy, he was, he made an, was it, it wasn't, no, I forget. But bottom line is, he's done amazing things with mediocre quarterbacks. So now he gets Kyler Murray, who's talented. They can't move the football. They had five field goals. And then they didn't score in week two against the Bears. That was largely Carson Wentz. I don't know if there's a quarterback controversy there. I mean, Kyler Murray, he just is not very good right now. That being said, no Justin Jefferson, and you get the win. It's survive in advance. The defense of Flores remains the top unit in the league. The problem with defense, Rob, and we're seeing this with the Houston Texans. So defense, I think Aaron Schatz is the one who always says it. Defense is not sticky year to year. The variance is massive. It's much easier to consistently keep offense, which is why when you have a great offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, you don't let him walk out the door because you've got to keep that continuity on offense. As you see, the Lions get smoked by the Panthers. And we just know that the lions that they're not as good without Ben Johnson. So if I'm the Vikings, I'm riding this defense, but at some point you've got to figure out quarterback, you know, Justin Jefferson and Addison are a good combo. Hockets is a good tight end. Aaron Jones looks good. They're going to get Jordan Mason back. The problem of course, Rob is they've got to figure out this quarterback situation. If it were me, I mean, the next two are, are saints and, and, uh, Colts. They should be favored in those two. We'll see what happens with the saints tomorrow night. Um, I don't know, Rob. I would look at going back to Weds, but that would probably upset the Apple card a little too much.
00:24:39
Speaker 3: You're not crazy. I think that's a very solid opinion. And Kyler Murray just doesn't look comfortable right now when you watch him play. Everything they do is, I can't even say two steps forward, one step back, because their offense isn't even that good. It's more like one and a half or one and a quarter steps forward and then three quarter steps back. They look like they are stuck in mud. And that was part of the reason why on my bets that I did on my own podcast last week, that was my best bet of the week was I know that the dolphins are a college team at this point. They are the junior varsity, the NFL, but I was like, I don't trust the Vikings offense to cover an 11 point spread the defense. Absolutely. But all it took was basically one good, not even one good drive, like two big plays from the dolphins offense. And suddenly an 11 point spread is cut in half, right? Like they only had 198 yards offensively and, 53 or 65 of it came on two plays by Ollie Gordon.
00:25:34
Speaker 2: That's right. Ollie Gordon is nice, bro.
00:25:36
Speaker 3: And so it's like, hey, yeah, the Minnesota Vikings are giving up just under a shade of two touchdowns a game, which is tremendous. But their offense, last I checked, is the eighth worst in all of football. And somehow they're 4-0. Because you can't expect as great as some of these defenses are, even going back to last season. The Houston Texans... As good as we thought the Seattle Seahawks dark side defense was that won the Super Bowl, by any statistical measure, the Texans defense was even better than that one. The reason why we didn't talk about them in the same vein or the reason why they didn't host a Lombardi instead of Seattle is because the offense was terrible. CJ Stroud, when he was in, was terrible. And then when he was out, they had the long neck Davis Mills doing his best impersonation.
00:26:24
Speaker 2: One of those guys.
00:26:25
Speaker 1: Out.
00:26:26
Speaker 3: And so... The Minnesota Vikings, unless they can find a way to get their offense not even good, just league average, they are winning with smoke and mirrors. And it's one of these 4-0 teams that definitely does not feel like 4-0.
00:26:40
Speaker 2: So this is just a rundown of the injuries that I was able to cobble together. Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley, Rishi Rice, Jamar Chase, Patrick Sertan. And I'm sure Taequann Thornton's not really in there. in that group. But those are elite players, Rob. And the bodies are dropping, man. I don't want to hear this crap about 18 games. Like, nobody can... You can't make it. It's just impossible. And so, we got a lot of good teams and they're just going to start to fall. I mean, I don't know what... I mean, I think we could probably wrap up with this, Rob. I put this on social media and all these people got all butthurt. Is it time to have an uncomfortable conversation about Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow? I... Love both of these quarterbacks a lot. I think both of them are, without question, top six quarterbacks in the league coming into the season. We've got four years of data on each of them. Well, Burrow's been hurt, so not quite four. But they're elite, right? It's one thing if you're good for one year like Drake May or one year like Kate Jaden Daniels. These guys have proven they're really good quarterbacks. But I don't know what happened to Justin Herbert. I mean, his first pass was a horrific read interception against Seattle. Very first play of the game. Now, they end up fighting back and they got the push. But Herbert was bad. I thought Harbaugh would just bench him. I mean, he's taken really big hits. It was ugly. Harbaugh was asked if he lost faith in Mike McDaniels and he kind of like danced around it. I don't know. I doubt McDaniels is fired this week. But interestingly, he lives in our area where I live. And a bunch of everybody.
00:28:19
Speaker 4: Lives in your area no no no not close to me come on i'm just for the record we're renting um one of the dads in the text chain goes it's gonna be sad to not see mike mcdaniel at pick up and drop off anymore um because they go to a catholic school and i guess his kids go there um and i'm like i didn't even know mcdaniel had kids i was.
00:28:38
Speaker 2: Unaware but he i don't think he's gonna get fired yet but rob is he gonna make it this season Dude, come on. They can't do anything until it was over. And I'm not blaming him for Herbert, but clearly Herbert is not picking up what he's putting down on the playbook. And then you got Burrow, who took a Brad sack and fumbled against the Steelers last week. That was a killer. And then pretty much the same deal happens this week. He throws a pick six. Well, not quite a pick six, but an interception in the red zone. And can't deliver. And it's like these turnovers are just killers. Both of his turnovers crippled the Bengals. I mean, the one in the red zone was bad. The other one led to a short field touchdown. I don't know, guys. I have bets on Burrow to win the MVP. I'm not saying it's the celebrity girlfriend. Both of them are dating famous people now. Burrow is dating some, maybe she's an influencer.
00:29:37
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:29:37
Speaker 2: And then Herbert's engaged to the singer. who has a billion Instagram followers. It's obviously not that, but something's different about them. I don't know. I don't want to say Burrow looks heavier, but he definitely looks bigger. Something's going on, guys, with those two. I don't know what it is. Patrick Mahomes had a year, year and a half blip. He looks to be back. Maybe this is just that little dip for these two guys and they're struggling, but I'll just say this, like, I haven't really seen a dip for Josh Allen. He'll, he'll regress and do his YOLO moments, right? Where he does dumb ass shit and just throws it up when you're driving down for the game, when tying field goal to force overtime, just chucked in at a double coverage for no reason. Like what the hell was that? And Lamar Jackson had to, has had injuries and, But these two guys, just the level of play has fallen vastly down. I don't know, Rob. Maybe I'm overreacting.
00:30:31
Speaker 3: No, I mean, and we'll start with Burrow because I think that's a more nuanced conversation. Justin Herbert's just been terrible. I don't know what else to say. But Joe Burrow is supposed to be one of the elite of the elite quarterbacks. He is supposed to be one of the four horsemen. He is supposed to be that kind of guy. And their bread and butter is supposed to be their offense. And Joe Burrow has not been terrible, at least statistically, six touchdowns, one pick. He's been like a top 10 to 12-ish quarterback statistically. But they don't need him to be a top 10 to 12-ish quarterback for them to be. Like they need him to be a top three or four quarterback on a week. They need him to perform the way that Brock Purdy has performed, the way Lamar Jackson, the way Trevor Lawrence. Like that's what they need from him for them to win. And when you see games like they had on Sunday where he had, you know, was not great, to put it lightly, for his standards. And a lot of people were saying, well, they couldn't run the ball. That was the big issue. They became one-dimensional and they didn't have Jamar Chase. So after the game, they say, hey, Joe, you know, what do you think about the run-pass balance? It was 54 pass attempts to only 15 rushes. And Joe Burrow says, I say, let's throw it even more. And it's like, well, that's cool. That's a nice sound body. You look cool when you say it all slouched back in your chair with your hair all forward. But nobody, like that's not high-level quarterbacking. Tom Brady ain't saying that. Patrick Mahomes ain't saying that. Guys who are the elite of the elite, who win at the highest level, understand that you can't win games like that. And Joe Burrow has this relentless confidence in himself that on some way should be appreciated. But other times, you're not playing like that right now, though. You're not backing it up on the field with the way that you're playing. And then Justin Herbert has just been an absolute dumpster fire. Five straight games with a negative touchdown-interception ratio. or one-to-one or less. And then on deep field, downfield passing, which is the worst stats of all here. 39% completions, lowest yards per attempt, lowest passer rating, 34.8, and six interceptions, which is the most. If he had just dirted every single downfield pass instead of doing whatever he's doing, his passer rating would be 39.6. So he's even worse than every incomplete pass.
00:32:45
Speaker 2: Yikes. Now that's really bad. Let me, let me say, did you see the stat where Burrow is now one in 35 when trailing in the last eight minutes in the NFL, essentially that he can't come back. Now, Ryan Fitzpatrick went and defended and said, well, in a bunch of those chances, Joe had a chance to tie the game or take the lead. He did that in, um, two thirds of them, but they just, they didn't win, you know? So it's not always on Burrow, but at some point, Rob, can you do more with less, you know, When I'm coaching in the youth sports leagues, I make sure I get the good players. You know? I gotta get them. It's not fun coaching. We're gonna get smashed. Well, what if I gave you inferior players?
00:33:23
Speaker 3: Could you still win?
00:33:25
Speaker 2: I don't know. And I look at Burrow, and he's got Chase, he's got Higgins, and then you lose Chase, and it's like, they looked horrendous. They couldn't move the ball. And it's Burrow who's the one who's throwing terrible picks. So I don't ultimately know if he's not elite anymore, but That stat, 1-35 when trailing in the last eight minutes in an NFL. At least it deserves a little bit more scrutiny. I don't love that he passed 54 times. They ran the ball, I think it's 13 times.
00:34:00
Speaker 3: Like, what are we doing?
00:34:01
Speaker 2: 13 rushes and 54 passes? And the bro's like, yeah, let's throw it more. To your point about he's got major confidence. That's goofy. So I don't know. That's where I'm at with.
00:34:11
Speaker 1: Some of these.
00:34:11
Speaker 2: It was just a fun Sunday in the NFL. I didn't watch a ton of baseball. I saw your Dodgers won Saturday, Rob G. I saw Caitlin Clark got eliminated the other day. There's just a lot of sports happening at NBA. People are getting fired up about that. It's getting close to you. I'm sure you watched the LeBron scrimmage with tons of it.
00:34:36
Speaker 3: No, actually my favorite sporting story of the weekend, but you know, even my Raiders put up a good fight. My favorite story had to have been The Colorado football team leaving their playbook at the hotel bar.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: That really happened?
00:34:49
Speaker 3: In it, their first, I think it was their six first plays of the first half and the six first plays of the second half were scripted. And whoever found it played side by side the highlights of the first six plays from each half with the play diagram underneath it. And lo and behold, it was the exact play that they were scripting out. Yeah.
00:35:10
Speaker 2: Was the other team ready for them?
00:35:11
Speaker 3: Yes. Yes. Obviously, they lost.
00:35:15
Speaker 2: They were covering for a while in that game and ended up blowing it late.
00:35:18
Speaker 3: They're just not a good team.
00:35:19
Speaker 2: Not a great Saturday game.
00:35:20
Speaker 3: But I thought that was a fun story. Only in Deion Sanders' world would that happen.
00:35:23
Speaker 1: The only thing better than sitting on your couch watching the games making money while you do it. Here's your best bet.
00:35:47
Speaker 2: Alright, real quick. Monday Night Football, I'm on the Falcons, getting the points. Hopefully it goes better than the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football.
00:35:56
Speaker 1: Woof.
00:35:57
Speaker 2: I mean, goodness gracious, that was ugly. I don't know. Any thoughts on Falcons Saints? I'm actually low-key excited for this game. Although I will say next week's primetime games, Rob, Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football against winless Tampa Bay. And then Are you ready for Sunday night football? Now, it's better at Baltimore-Atlanta, but the best one is Monday night, Bills-Rams at SoFi.
00:36:25
Speaker 3: That should be a good game, I would hope.
00:36:28
Speaker 2: Two buys next week, Carolina and Kansas City, which means, oh my gosh, is this it? Yep, only three games at 4 o'clock. Broncos-Chargers, Chargers are winless. Lions-Cardinals... And oh, Niners Seahawks. That's a good one.
00:36:43
Speaker 3: Oh, okay. I'll watch that one. I'll watch that one.
00:36:47
Speaker 2: But anything from you on Atlanta?
00:36:51
Speaker 3: Saints.
00:36:52
Speaker 2: Tyler Shuck, your boy.
00:36:53
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what. I am a big fan of Tyler Shuck. Me and him are the same age. We went to high school together. Both in our late 30s, which is exciting. Love to see a 38-year-old rookie. Reminds me of Unnecessary Roughness. They're a pretty good team, the Saints.
00:37:06
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:37:07
Speaker 3: They were the popular people to go worst to first this season. And they are making a lot of people look very, very smart. And we'll see if the Falcons are as good as they looked against Green Bay. The problem is Green Bay, even in the wind, didn't look good on Sunday. So I think I'm leaning with the Corn Chuckers there in New Orleans. I think I like the Saints in that one. Interesting.
00:37:29
Speaker 2: I will need. about 30 from Bijan Robinson to win. I'm down by like 14 and he has shuck and valet and he didn't even start another wide receiver, which is embarrassing as hell. I mean, my guys didn't deliver. I, I mean, I started Jordan love over golf and cousins. That was a net negative. Um, and then Josh downs, nothing. Don Tavian wicks, nothing. Jeez. That's, I guess it says something that I got to start those guys, but I got Henry and Robinson and a Bijan. Give me 30. My dad, my guy, All right, we'll see you on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: What is up, Straight Fire fam? It's me, Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire. For Monday, October the 5th. Oh boy, ladies and gentlemen, it was the hottest weekend in Los Angeles since we moved here a decade ago. Oh my gosh. The good news is it meant I got to stay inside Sunday. Didn't really have to leave the house. Got to consume all of the football. I also did that Saturday, but the football was not nearly as good. And Sunday was a chaotic day in the NFL. Also, pretty wild day in Major League Baseball. I feel bad for the Padres fans out there who basically lost two brutal games on the road to the Brewers. I think the bounce back should be a good series. But we got to start with the NFL where, man, the action was hot and heavy. The injuries are mounting.
00:00:59
Speaker 3: Folks, I don't know.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: Rob and I were talking like you start looking at there's three 4-0 teams, right? The Vikings are 4-0. Deeply flawed. The Chiefs are 4-0. They've got major flaws. And the 49ers are 4-0, but they've got major injuries. Like we're basically the one quarter mark of the season. And you look around and you're like, oh, man, Rams. What the hell? Rams should have lost that game to the Eagles. Are the Rams good? I don't know. They will be good. Are they good? I don't know. And you start looking around the Buffalo Bills, who now their defense is getting called into question. They can't stop anybody. Josh Allen's YOLO tendencies starting to emerge.
00:01:36
Speaker 3: I don't know.
00:01:36
Speaker 2: Are the Jacksonville Jaguars the best team in the NFL? Like, there's so many storylines off this Sunday. I think a large part has to do with the loaded 1 p.m. window. Because obviously, listen, the 1 p.m. window, I believe, is the strongest part of the NFL. And when you stack primetime with all the good teams, then the 1 p.m. window is a bunch of Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons and unwatchable teams. But this Sunday, we got a thriller, Cowboys-Texans. Oh, my gosh, that went down to the wire. Texans fall to 0-4. They were my pick to get to the Super Bowl, folks. They are not going to the Super Bowl. They are currently 0-4, and they lost to Dallas in the C.D. Lamb show. But actually, I want to start with the team– I thought this was a tremendous game, and mostly I want to start with it because I won. But I'll start with the Rams and the Eagles. So Eagles, you know, they came into the season with a lot of questions about Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni, and they go 2-0 and largely escape criticism. Then lay a massive egg against the Bears in primetime. They get to come home against the Eagles. They're like, okay, we're back. And I don't know if you guys saw this, but the injury report for the Eagles just kept getting worse. And then the big news for me in Rappaport Sunday morning was Lane Johnson, personal reasons, he's going to be out. And it was like, oh my gosh, no Lane Johnson, no Devonta Smith. How on earth are they going to pull this off? And well, they jump out to a 20 to 10 lead, largely due to Matt Stafford interceptions. He had two that basically set the Eagles up with easy touchdown drives. And you're like, oh my gosh, the Rams are going to fall to one and three. The Eagles are going to steal this one. And folks, so this is the exact moment they lost the game. It's fourth and goal. inside the five-yard line. Sorry, fourth and two from the three-yard line. And instead of kicking to go up 13, which doesn't really do much, you still lose on two touchdowns, they decide to go for it. Jalen Hurts has absolutely nothing, gets dropped. The Rams go 98 yards for a touchdown. You're like, oh, game on. Eagles go three and out. They did not convert a third down all day long. 0 for 12 on third. One for four on fourth. Rams get the ball back, and Matt Stafford, that's the MVP, folks. Matt Stafford follows up that 98-yard drive with a 79-yard drive in 145. The cap was a great Kyron Williams touchdown run.
00:04:05
Speaker 3: Oh, my gosh.
00:04:05
Speaker 2: Now, Zach Bond is there for the Eagles. He makes that tackle. But Kyron slips four tackles, and the Rams win and cover 24-20. So this would have been the second straight opponent that the Eagles lost to. I'm sorry, Rams lost to after outplaying them. Folks, yardage. 415 to 172. The Eagles had 172 yards. Their lowest output since 2014. The offense is broken. Now, you don't have Saquon Barkley who left with the hamstring early. You don't have Devonta Smith who did not play. You don't have the tight end Goddard. Those are your three best weapons. And with them out, there was nothing. I mean, they could do anything. Absolutely nothing. Fans, I don't know if you guys saw this video floating around social media, you know, like CBS or local Philly station. We'll go and interview fans after the game. These guys are just absolutely wrecked. And they just start rambling about Sirianni and play calling and meatballs. It's bizarre. But I look at the Seagulls team and I'm like, I misread them. They are 0-4 against the spread. Reminder, you're up 10 at home with eight minutes left inside the opponent's five-yard line. And you lose. So to me, based on this, I'm still of the belief the Rams are the most complete team in the NFL. They should be the Super Bowl favorites. And when they're fully formed, Aaron Donald didn't play. Miles Garrett still hurt. Puka's coming off the injury. He had a good game, 9 for 125. I think the Rams will be fine. Early season, you know, you're dealing with the adversity of traveling to Australia, coming back, prime time, prime time in Denver. Then you're on the East Coast. Now you go home next week to face Josh Allen. And so the Rams have had by far the toughest schedule to open the season. And I think they're going to be fine. But for me, Rob G., I believe that this is the best team in the NFL. They're not playing the best right now, but I think in the end, they will be the best. I just think the injuries are going to catch up with the Niners. And I'm still not a full believer in this Chiefs team. They're doing a lot of smoke and mirrors and beating some bad teams. They're good, obviously. But I still, for me, Rob, if you said who's the best team in the NFL, who do you still like to win the Super Bowl? I'm going Rams.
00:06:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Rams are one of those weird teams where it's like, are you a process or are you a results kind of guy? Because based on the processes, the Rams have the number one offense and the number three defense in football. So you would assume, even though right now they're sitting at 2-2, that as the season plays out, you're looking at one of the elite of the elite football teams, probably even the only one of top five in both categories. So they are, like you mentioned, the best team in football. The problem is, as you alluded to, the results don't show a team that is the best team in football. They probably should have lost that game on Sunday despite dominating the Philadelphia Eagles. Like Matthew Stafford... is currently third in the NFL in terms of the, however you want to view it, third or 29th, depending on which way you're looking at the box score, the worst deep thrower in football. Like, right behind Drake May and Justin Herbert. He has five interceptions on deep balls this season. The defense, despite making a couple of splash plays here and there, Byron Young was awesome on Sunday.
00:07:23
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:07:25
Speaker 3: Was giving up a lot of big plays on first and second down against a depleted Eagles offense. They tightened up there on third and fourth, so it didn't really matter, but they were giving it up. And in a game where you dominate the time of possession and the yardage, basically three to one, the fact that you needed a 98-yard drive, or excuse me, a goal line stand first, a 98-yard drive second, and then another 80-plus-yard drive to win it tells me that even though all the numbers say that we are the best team in football, for whatever reason, it's not showing that way when we're watching the games. Sean McVay went viral because he had to have an entire powwow with the offense, and he looked like a high school football coach. Like, everybody around me, I'm going to yell, and my neck vein pops out. We're going to figure this thing out. And so while I wouldn't fight you so much, and you say the Rams are the best team in football, as much as it pains me to say, I believe that the best team, or in this case, the most complete team is actually the Kansas City Chiefs.
00:08:24
Speaker 2: Oh, well, that's a shock. Wait, the most complete team right now, or you're picking them to win the Super Bowl?
00:08:31
Speaker 3: I mean, the team I picked to win the Super Bowl was the Rams. The problem is I don't think the Rams have looked like a Super Bowl team so far this season. The numbers say that they are, but to me, the eye test doesn't match. The Kansas City Chiefs, much like the Rams, are the only other team that's top five in both offense and defense. They're number two in offense, number four in defense. Rams are number one and number three. So they're kind of neck and neck with each other. The difference is when I watch the Kansas City Chiefs, I've seen them win games every possible way so far through the first four weeks. And we'll get to the Raiders game on Sunday later in a few minutes. But I've seen them win games where, hey, the passing offense is not there. We got to run it down your throat like they did in week one. We saw in week two where the running game was great or solid, but pass from home to the play action game, the passing game was incredible like we saw there in week three. We saw them win games with defense. And then on Sunday against the Raiders, We saw them put everything together because the running game was great. Patrick Mahomes was very solid. The special teams made plays. And their defense made just enough plays to end it there and seal the deal against an undefeated Vegas Raiders team. So, so far, based on, you know, my expert opinion, I think that the Chiefs right now are the most complete team. And if I, as much as I hate to say it, they look like they could be Super Bowl bound yet again.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: It's interesting. So the Chiefs, obviously they beat Rob's Raiders. I'm sure that's why he's leaning that way. They did look pretty good. I mean, interestingly, I thought the Raiders were more impressive than the Chiefs. The Chiefs got the win, but the Raiders, to me, went toe-to-toe with them. They did cover the spread, by the way, whatever that's worth, whatever you value that at. But, like, Mahomes 15 of 30 for 225? That's not super efficient. Walker had the 76-yard carry. Otherwise, they bottled him up 21 for 101. Five yards of carry, sorry, outside of the big one. Um, the big loss is Thornton, their deep threat. He was their best receiver and he got the ghastly broken ankle. I don't know if you guys have seen it. Catches a bomb, basically gets hip dropped and unfortunately stands up to celebrate and then realizes he can't put any pressure on his leg and crumbles. And then he realizes that his ankle is snapped. His season is over. Almost instantly. You had reporters calling drew Rosenhouse. So Tyreek Hill and the Chiefs. And it's funny because Tyreek Hill wrote something on social media about getting used to cold weather like a week ago. So I do believe they're going to go. They'll probably kick the tires on Jerry Judy. I saw that on social media. Why wouldn't they? The Browns like their young guys. Why don't they go get Judy? I'm sure the Jets are going to start maybe selling Adonai Mitchell, who they like, but he's hurt. Or even perhaps the kid Isaiah Williams who caught the bomb. The Chiefs need a deep threat, okay? Rasheed Rice pulled a hammy. He got hurt. Xavier Worthy, he's not that guy. He's good, but he's more of a gadget guy. And so I thought the Raiders did a phenomenal job, Rob, defensively on the Chiefs, largely bottling them up. I mean, again, Raiders outgained.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: Them.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: 28 first downs to 18. Raiders held the ball. They did basically everything you've got to do, except at the very end in the fourth, there was that fumble. Was it by Cousins?
00:11:37
Speaker 3: No, no, there was a fumble on the kickoff.
00:11:38
Speaker 2: Oh, the kickoff, the kickoff, right?
00:11:39
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:11:40
Speaker 2: It was the Chiefs' score to take a four-point lead, and then they fumbled on the kick return and basically hand the Chiefs a short field touchdown that Kenneth Walker's ponced on. But otherwise, that's a nip-and-tuck game. I mean, Kubiak at one point took points off the board. You really hate to see that. But I would say, in my opinion, the flaws are on the Chiefs. And this is, again, looking forward. Right now, they're really good. They head into their bye. I do think Kenneth Walker's getting run into the ground. Way too much usage. The other running back's got one carry and one carry. The other guy might not even... No, no, that's not even a running back. So Matt Arizia got a carry.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: The punter.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: Is that the punter?
00:12:16
Speaker 3: That was the punter. They were on a fake punt.
00:12:18
Speaker 2: Oh, the fake punt early. That's right. So nobody else had a carry for their team. Holy cow. So it's basically Kenneth Walker show. And once he folds, they're done. I just don't think you get that play action. And I did see some stats, Rob, that they've moved Mahomes under center more because you can disguise stuff easier that way. And the results with.
00:12:40
Speaker 2: With Mahomes under center or astronomical, their offense is just a machine because people don't know what's coming. So yes, it is working so far. If we're being honest, they've also played a cushy schedule. Indianapolis stinks. Miami stinks. Vegas is good, but nobody's putting them in the Super Bowl. And Denver, I think we all agree, is kind of overrated. Out of the bye, they got the Chargers. Chargers are dead in the water, 0-4. After that, Seattle. Then they go to Denver. Jets, Falcons, Cardinals. So we know the Chiefs are going back to the playoffs. The question is, are they going back to the Super Bowl? I'm going to say no. I think there's a playoff team, obviously, Rob. But are you sure they're that much better than everyone else in the AFC?
00:13:35
Speaker 3: If that's the conversation, then no. Well, yeah, getting out of the AFC. This is one of those seasons, and you alluded to it throughout this entire podcast so far, is what we're seeing, again, this has only been a month of the season, is that even the teams that we think are good are highly, highly, highly flawed, more so than I can recall, at least in recent memory. Everybody was loving the Buffalo Bills the first three weeks, even though you and I mentioned on this podcast, you mentioned on television. Yeah, but that defense is pretty bad. You know, I know Josh Allen's putting up points, but the defense is terrible. We saw on Sunday Night Football, the Detroit Lions, who had scored 30 points every game coming in. The defense, yeah, they're also giving up 30 points a game, no matter who they play. And so you go down the list. You know, I'm a fan of the Baltimore Ravens. That was my pick before the season to come out of the AFC. And they... Even though the numbers say that offensively, they're pretty good both sides. When you watch them play, they'll have three or four drives where they look awesome. And then like four or five drives where they could not pick up a first down to save their life. And it doesn't matter if they're playing the Tennessee Titans on Sunday or if they are playing hypothetically, you know, with the Rams, whoever you think is the next best team. Like they'll do that no matter who they play. They are one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams in all of football. And you go down the list and it's like, well, whatever team you think is good, the San Francisco 49ers, they were struggling on Sunday against a depleted Broncos secondary. I know the Niners' weaponry was kind of depleted as well.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: Major.
00:15:05
Speaker 3: But it's like you couldn't move. It was 3-3 midway through the third quarter. It's like we can't do anything. We needed a 50-yard catch and run by George Kittle to seal things up there against that team where Bo Nix can't hit the red side of a barn and they have no starting corners whatsoever left on the roster. And it's like that. And then not even mentioned Thursday night football, the Cleveland Browns are three and one. And they've played maybe six good quarters all season. They're offensively. You know what I mean? So it's like, no matter who you think is good or not good, I could easily poke holes in every single argument. Even the worst teams. I could say the Houston Texans don't look now, but CJ Strauss is not bad.
00:15:41
Speaker 2: No, he's not the problem.
00:15:43
Speaker 3: That's been the problem. And so it's just, it's a crazy season so far through September and October.
00:15:47
Speaker 2: How about this numbers of Patrick Mahomes pressured versus not pressured. under pressure against the Raiders, three of 12, 76 yards, two sacks, not pressured 12 of 18 buck 49, two touchdowns. So if you get to my homes, you can, I mean, it's, it's good by the way, here are the number under center rankings for the Kansas city chiefs offense through four weeks. Um, Under center EPA per play, second in the league. Under center success rate, fourth. It really is an unlock, and having Kenneth Walker means the safeties really have to respect the run as opposed to years past where nobody was going to do jack squat. That being said, I want to talk about the team that I actually think could be better than the Chiefs, and that's the Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Cohen's squad. Now, once they stop committing boneheaded penalties, I mean– I know the Browns are the most penalized team, but the Jags might have caught them. First half against Cincy, 10 penalties for 100 yards. 10 for 100 and a half. It's just unbelievable. That being said, they knocked Jamar Chase out with a, I don't know if it's a dirty play, but they basically ripped his helmet and it did not look good. And without Chase, the Bengals really had nothing. And I was impressed by the Jags holding them off. Now the Jags started to play a little safe with the lead. I think they were up 22, 10 and kind of in coasting, but the penalties just continue to kill them. They capitalized on, on, uh, burrow turnovers. And according to the model, by the way, model, uh, three and two, very fortunate. It could have been one and four. The model has Jacksonville as the number two team in the NFL. Um, the problem is, uh, their defense is not great. Their defense is ranking in the low twenties in some categories. And again, I don't think people are getting too excited about Jacksonville yet. Obviously long season, but they bottled up Drake may a week, what two weeks, a week later and Drake may throws for like 300 yards against the bills. Right. Um, they had that struggle performance in the second half and altitude against Bo Nix. Um, They bottled up Cleveland, and Burrow did throw for a lot of yards, but it wasn't like an efficient game. So, I mean, I can't find a major flaw in the Jags. The defense, I'll just say it's leaky, but I'll say this. They were getting after Burrow, man. They got Walker, Armstead, and Hines-Allen on the front line, and that's a pretty formidable group. The linebackers are kind of weak. Travis Hunter had a couple nice plays. I would not be surprised if they decided, shit, guys, AFC's wide open. You know, Lamar Jackson leaves the arena on a walking boot. I don't know what Lamar Jackson is. Buffalo Bills, they look like they're vulnerable. I mean, are the Browns? Like, that's our competition? We could smash them. So if Houston's 0-4, if I'm Jacksonville, I start looking around. Can I fortify the secondary? And can I maybe go get a swing tackle? Who's a seller? You know, are Tennessee going to sell? I don't know. Jets? Surely there's good players out there. I think Jacksonville's live to come out of the AFC, Rob.
00:18:51
Speaker 3: You know, you said when you started that whole rant, I don't know who's really in on Jacksonville. Well, I'm raising my hand. Duval, are you kidding me? The Jacksonville Jaguars. You recall during the off season, during training camp, I think it was talking to NFL Network and Liam Cohen went viral because they interpreted it as a shot at Chicago where he's like, everybody's talking about the Bears. Nobody's talking about us. He's like, go on the NFL media website.
00:19:14
Speaker 2: That's right.
00:19:15
Speaker 3: And all I see is stuff about Caleb Williams, right? And he was just referencing the fact how Ben Johnson had said that they're the team most poised for a regression. And he's like, nobody's talking about us, even in a negative fashion. Like, hey, we could regress too because we were really good towards the end and then no one's mentioning us at all. Dating back to last season, J-Mac, I know you're a stats guy. From week 11 in the regular season all the way through now to what, week four, three and a half, depending on how you feel about Monday Night Football. The Jags are first in win percentage, first in offensive points per game, first in defensive points per game, and first in point differential. Very quietly, Liam Cohen and the fellas are building an absolute monster down in Jacksonville. Travis Hunter, even though I think we can all agree was a massive overpay in the draft for what they did to get to him, thinking they were going to have a two-way pro bowl, potentially all pro, And now they realize you got to play him only one side of the football. When he played on Sunday, corner only, I don't think he played a snap on offense as far as I can tell. Yeah. Was not quite passer time, but one of the better corners in all of football. He had two passes defense. He had led the team in tackles. He had a passer rating allowed of like 40. And then you look at their offense and it's like, well, Trevor Lawrence suddenly, you know, maybe he's not the all caps, you know, Greatest thing is a sliced bread quarterback. But he's been damn good now for almost, what, nine months, ten months. But now you look at it. He's been efficient. He's not turning the ball over. Bashell Tootin has been a revelation at running back. He had two touchdowns called back. That's how good he is.
00:20:50
Speaker 1: Two? Two.
00:20:51
Speaker 3: You had, you know, Jacoby Myers looking good. Parker Walsh is looking good. They don't even use Brian Thomas anymore.
00:20:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:20:58
Speaker 3: They thought he was going to be the guy a couple of seasons ago. There was talk as recently as Friday last week on CBS, on ESPN, and The Athletic saying, Hey, here are 10 guys. Don't be surprised if they get dealt the trade deadline.
00:21:11
Speaker 2: Oh, really?
00:21:12
Speaker 3: One of the guys mentioned at the top of the list, Marvin Harrison. One of the guys right behind him, Brian Thomas Jr. But with the way that the Jags are operating, you mentioned Lamar Jackson's banged up. The Chiefs are dealing with some wide receiver issues. Buffalo has no defense. The Bengals offense, for whatever reason, has been stuck in mud all season so far. If I'm the Jags, not only am I not selling Brian Thomas Jr., I'm probably buying somebody at the deadline. I'm saying, hey, I know our defense is looking pretty good, but somebody good is going to get dumped at the trade deadline. Maybe we can find a way to get a tight end. I know we like Brenton Strange, but maybe we can upgrade there. Maybe we can do something and add another corner so that maybe we can mix in Travis Hunter a little bit more on offense here and there. Maybe not full-time, but here and there. That team is so much better than people give credit for. And if they did not play in Jacksonville, we'd probably be talking about a lot more.
00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say that as well. I know my 49ers fans are going to be like, guys, why are you burying the lead? We beat the Broncos. We smacked them down. Brock Purdy carried. Mike Evans survived. I don't think anyone was carted off, except Juszczyk had the knee injury. I mean, I think the Niners, to this point, unequivocally, have been the best team. But, Rob, I just can't, with all the injuries, look at them now. It is entirely possible that we are missing one team. And that's the Minnesota Vikings who scraped by the Dolphins. Amazing cover for Miami when TJ Hawkinson decided to go down at the one yard line with like two minutes left. Thank you so much. The Vikings defense is elite. They held the Dolphins under 200 yards, eight first downs. It's really good. But I mean, Rob, I don't know how close you've watched Kyler Murray. I really thought he was going to have a big season with Kevin O'Connell because O'Connell made Sam Darnold looked amazing. And there was one other guy, he was, he made an, was it, it wasn't, no, I forget. But bottom line is, he's done amazing things with mediocre quarterbacks. So now he gets Kyler Murray, who's talented. They can't move the football. They had five field goals. And then they didn't score in week two against the Bears. That was largely Carson Wentz. I don't know if there's a quarterback controversy there. I mean, Kyler Murray, he just is not very good right now. That being said, no Justin Jefferson, and you get the win. It's survive in advance. The defense of Flores remains the top unit in the league. The problem with defense, Rob, and we're seeing this with the Houston Texans. So defense, I think Aaron Schatz is the one who always says it. Defense is not sticky year to year. The variance is massive. It's much easier to consistently keep offense, which is why when you have a great offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, you don't let him walk out the door because you've got to keep that continuity on offense. As you see, the Lions get smoked by the Panthers. And we just know that the lions that they're not as good without Ben Johnson. So if I'm the Vikings, I'm riding this defense, but at some point you've got to figure out quarterback, you know, Justin Jefferson and Addison are a good combo. Hockets is a good tight end. Aaron Jones looks good. They're going to get Jordan Mason back. The problem of course, Rob is they've got to figure out this quarterback situation. If it were me, I mean, the next two are, are saints and, and, uh, Colts. They should be favored in those two. We'll see what happens with the saints tomorrow night. Um, I don't know, Rob. I would look at going back to Weds, but that would probably upset the Apple card a little too much.
00:24:39
Speaker 3: You're not crazy. I think that's a very solid opinion. And Kyler Murray just doesn't look comfortable right now when you watch him play. Everything they do is, I can't even say two steps forward, one step back, because their offense isn't even that good. It's more like one and a half or one and a quarter steps forward and then three quarter steps back. They look like they are stuck in mud. And that was part of the reason why on my bets that I did on my own podcast last week, that was my best bet of the week was I know that the dolphins are a college team at this point. They are the junior varsity, the NFL, but I was like, I don't trust the Vikings offense to cover an 11 point spread the defense. Absolutely. But all it took was basically one good, not even one good drive, like two big plays from the dolphins offense. And suddenly an 11 point spread is cut in half, right? Like they only had 198 yards offensively and, 53 or 65 of it came on two plays by Ollie Gordon.
00:25:34
Speaker 2: That's right. Ollie Gordon is nice, bro.
00:25:36
Speaker 3: And so it's like, hey, yeah, the Minnesota Vikings are giving up just under a shade of two touchdowns a game, which is tremendous. But their offense, last I checked, is the eighth worst in all of football. And somehow they're 4-0. Because you can't expect as great as some of these defenses are, even going back to last season. The Houston Texans... As good as we thought the Seattle Seahawks dark side defense was that won the Super Bowl, by any statistical measure, the Texans defense was even better than that one. The reason why we didn't talk about them in the same vein or the reason why they didn't host a Lombardi instead of Seattle is because the offense was terrible. CJ Stroud, when he was in, was terrible. And then when he was out, they had the long neck Davis Mills doing his best impersonation.
00:26:24
Speaker 2: One of those guys.
00:26:25
Speaker 1: Out.
00:26:26
Speaker 3: And so... The Minnesota Vikings, unless they can find a way to get their offense not even good, just league average, they are winning with smoke and mirrors. And it's one of these 4-0 teams that definitely does not feel like 4-0.
00:26:40
Speaker 2: So this is just a rundown of the injuries that I was able to cobble together. Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley, Rishi Rice, Jamar Chase, Patrick Sertan. And I'm sure Taequann Thornton's not really in there. in that group. But those are elite players, Rob. And the bodies are dropping, man. I don't want to hear this crap about 18 games. Like, nobody can... You can't make it. It's just impossible. And so, we got a lot of good teams and they're just going to start to fall. I mean, I don't know what... I mean, I think we could probably wrap up with this, Rob. I put this on social media and all these people got all butthurt. Is it time to have an uncomfortable conversation about Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow? I... Love both of these quarterbacks a lot. I think both of them are, without question, top six quarterbacks in the league coming into the season. We've got four years of data on each of them. Well, Burrow's been hurt, so not quite four. But they're elite, right? It's one thing if you're good for one year like Drake May or one year like Kate Jaden Daniels. These guys have proven they're really good quarterbacks. But I don't know what happened to Justin Herbert. I mean, his first pass was a horrific read interception against Seattle. Very first play of the game. Now, they end up fighting back and they got the push. But Herbert was bad. I thought Harbaugh would just bench him. I mean, he's taken really big hits. It was ugly. Harbaugh was asked if he lost faith in Mike McDaniels and he kind of like danced around it. I don't know. I doubt McDaniels is fired this week. But interestingly, he lives in our area where I live. And a bunch of everybody.
00:28:19
Speaker 4: Lives in your area no no no not close to me come on i'm just for the record we're renting um one of the dads in the text chain goes it's gonna be sad to not see mike mcdaniel at pick up and drop off anymore um because they go to a catholic school and i guess his kids go there um and i'm like i didn't even know mcdaniel had kids i was.
00:28:38
Speaker 2: Unaware but he i don't think he's gonna get fired yet but rob is he gonna make it this season Dude, come on. They can't do anything until it was over. And I'm not blaming him for Herbert, but clearly Herbert is not picking up what he's putting down on the playbook. And then you got Burrow, who took a Brad sack and fumbled against the Steelers last week. That was a killer. And then pretty much the same deal happens this week. He throws a pick six. Well, not quite a pick six, but an interception in the red zone. And can't deliver. And it's like these turnovers are just killers. Both of his turnovers crippled the Bengals. I mean, the one in the red zone was bad. The other one led to a short field touchdown. I don't know, guys. I have bets on Burrow to win the MVP. I'm not saying it's the celebrity girlfriend. Both of them are dating famous people now. Burrow is dating some, maybe she's an influencer.
00:29:37
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:29:37
Speaker 2: And then Herbert's engaged to the singer. who has a billion Instagram followers. It's obviously not that, but something's different about them. I don't know. I don't want to say Burrow looks heavier, but he definitely looks bigger. Something's going on, guys, with those two. I don't know what it is. Patrick Mahomes had a year, year and a half blip. He looks to be back. Maybe this is just that little dip for these two guys and they're struggling, but I'll just say this, like, I haven't really seen a dip for Josh Allen. He'll, he'll regress and do his YOLO moments, right? Where he does dumb ass shit and just throws it up when you're driving down for the game, when tying field goal to force overtime, just chucked in at a double coverage for no reason. Like what the hell was that? And Lamar Jackson had to, has had injuries and, But these two guys, just the level of play has fallen vastly down. I don't know, Rob. Maybe I'm overreacting.
00:30:31
Speaker 3: No, I mean, and we'll start with Burrow because I think that's a more nuanced conversation. Justin Herbert's just been terrible. I don't know what else to say. But Joe Burrow is supposed to be one of the elite of the elite quarterbacks. He is supposed to be one of the four horsemen. He is supposed to be that kind of guy. And their bread and butter is supposed to be their offense. And Joe Burrow has not been terrible, at least statistically, six touchdowns, one pick. He's been like a top 10 to 12-ish quarterback statistically. But they don't need him to be a top 10 to 12-ish quarterback for them to be. Like they need him to be a top three or four quarterback on a week. They need him to perform the way that Brock Purdy has performed, the way Lamar Jackson, the way Trevor Lawrence. Like that's what they need from him for them to win. And when you see games like they had on Sunday where he had, you know, was not great, to put it lightly, for his standards. And a lot of people were saying, well, they couldn't run the ball. That was the big issue. They became one-dimensional and they didn't have Jamar Chase. So after the game, they say, hey, Joe, you know, what do you think about the run-pass balance? It was 54 pass attempts to only 15 rushes. And Joe Burrow says, I say, let's throw it even more. And it's like, well, that's cool. That's a nice sound body. You look cool when you say it all slouched back in your chair with your hair all forward. But nobody, like that's not high-level quarterbacking. Tom Brady ain't saying that. Patrick Mahomes ain't saying that. Guys who are the elite of the elite, who win at the highest level, understand that you can't win games like that. And Joe Burrow has this relentless confidence in himself that on some way should be appreciated. But other times, you're not playing like that right now, though. You're not backing it up on the field with the way that you're playing. And then Justin Herbert has just been an absolute dumpster fire. Five straight games with a negative touchdown-interception ratio. or one-to-one or less. And then on deep field, downfield passing, which is the worst stats of all here. 39% completions, lowest yards per attempt, lowest passer rating, 34.8, and six interceptions, which is the most. If he had just dirted every single downfield pass instead of doing whatever he's doing, his passer rating would be 39.6. So he's even worse than every incomplete pass.
00:32:45
Speaker 2: Yikes. Now that's really bad. Let me, let me say, did you see the stat where Burrow is now one in 35 when trailing in the last eight minutes in the NFL, essentially that he can't come back. Now, Ryan Fitzpatrick went and defended and said, well, in a bunch of those chances, Joe had a chance to tie the game or take the lead. He did that in, um, two thirds of them, but they just, they didn't win, you know? So it's not always on Burrow, but at some point, Rob, can you do more with less, you know, When I'm coaching in the youth sports leagues, I make sure I get the good players. You know? I gotta get them. It's not fun coaching. We're gonna get smashed. Well, what if I gave you inferior players?
00:33:23
Speaker 3: Could you still win?
00:33:25
Speaker 2: I don't know. And I look at Burrow, and he's got Chase, he's got Higgins, and then you lose Chase, and it's like, they looked horrendous. They couldn't move the ball. And it's Burrow who's the one who's throwing terrible picks. So I don't ultimately know if he's not elite anymore, but That stat, 1-35 when trailing in the last eight minutes in an NFL. At least it deserves a little bit more scrutiny. I don't love that he passed 54 times. They ran the ball, I think it's 13 times.
00:34:00
Speaker 3: Like, what are we doing?
00:34:01
Speaker 2: 13 rushes and 54 passes? And the bro's like, yeah, let's throw it more. To your point about he's got major confidence. That's goofy. So I don't know. That's where I'm at with.
00:34:11
Speaker 1: Some of these.
00:34:11
Speaker 2: It was just a fun Sunday in the NFL. I didn't watch a ton of baseball. I saw your Dodgers won Saturday, Rob G. I saw Caitlin Clark got eliminated the other day. There's just a lot of sports happening at NBA. People are getting fired up about that. It's getting close to you. I'm sure you watched the LeBron scrimmage with tons of it.
00:34:36
Speaker 3: No, actually my favorite sporting story of the weekend, but you know, even my Raiders put up a good fight. My favorite story had to have been The Colorado football team leaving their playbook at the hotel bar.
00:34:48
Speaker 2: That really happened?
00:34:49
Speaker 3: In it, their first, I think it was their six first plays of the first half and the six first plays of the second half were scripted. And whoever found it played side by side the highlights of the first six plays from each half with the play diagram underneath it. And lo and behold, it was the exact play that they were scripting out. Yeah.
00:35:10
Speaker 2: Was the other team ready for them?
00:35:11
Speaker 3: Yes. Yes. Obviously, they lost.
00:35:15
Speaker 2: They were covering for a while in that game and ended up blowing it late.
00:35:18
Speaker 3: They're just not a good team.
00:35:19
Speaker 2: Not a great Saturday game.
00:35:20
Speaker 3: But I thought that was a fun story. Only in Deion Sanders' world would that happen.
00:35:23
Speaker 1: The only thing better than sitting on your couch watching the games making money while you do it. Here's your best bet.
00:35:47
Speaker 2: Alright, real quick. Monday Night Football, I'm on the Falcons, getting the points. Hopefully it goes better than the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football.
00:35:56
Speaker 1: Woof.
00:35:57
Speaker 2: I mean, goodness gracious, that was ugly. I don't know. Any thoughts on Falcons Saints? I'm actually low-key excited for this game. Although I will say next week's primetime games, Rob, Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football against winless Tampa Bay. And then Are you ready for Sunday night football? Now, it's better at Baltimore-Atlanta, but the best one is Monday night, Bills-Rams at SoFi.
00:36:25
Speaker 3: That should be a good game, I would hope.
00:36:28
Speaker 2: Two buys next week, Carolina and Kansas City, which means, oh my gosh, is this it? Yep, only three games at 4 o'clock. Broncos-Chargers, Chargers are winless. Lions-Cardinals... And oh, Niners Seahawks. That's a good one.
00:36:43
Speaker 3: Oh, okay. I'll watch that one. I'll watch that one.
00:36:47
Speaker 2: But anything from you on Atlanta?
00:36:51
Speaker 3: Saints.
00:36:52
Speaker 2: Tyler Shuck, your boy.
00:36:53
Speaker 3: I'll tell you what. I am a big fan of Tyler Shuck. Me and him are the same age. We went to high school together. Both in our late 30s, which is exciting. Love to see a 38-year-old rookie. Reminds me of Unnecessary Roughness. They're a pretty good team, the Saints.
00:37:06
Speaker 1: Yes.
00:37:07
Speaker 3: They were the popular people to go worst to first this season. And they are making a lot of people look very, very smart. And we'll see if the Falcons are as good as they looked against Green Bay. The problem is Green Bay, even in the wind, didn't look good on Sunday. So I think I'm leaning with the Corn Chuckers there in New Orleans. I think I like the Saints in that one. Interesting.
00:37:29
Speaker 2: I will need. about 30 from Bijan Robinson to win. I'm down by like 14 and he has shuck and valet and he didn't even start another wide receiver, which is embarrassing as hell. I mean, my guys didn't deliver. I, I mean, I started Jordan love over golf and cousins. That was a net negative. Um, and then Josh downs, nothing. Don Tavian wicks, nothing. Jeez. That's, I guess it says something that I got to start those guys, but I got Henry and Robinson and a Bijan. Give me 30. My dad, my guy, All right, we'll see you on Tuesday.
