00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL pro game picks week nine. Thank you for listening on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, be sure to follow and subscribe to the show. All right, it's time for game picks. We've got 10 games on the docket that we're picking today. Of course, with our confidence rankings that we do every single week, where we rank these games from one to 10 and assign one to 10 points based on how confident we are in our team winning. And as usual, If we miss on the 10-spot game, it's not just that we get zero points, we actually get negative 10 points. And I feel like for a month straight, one of us has missed on the 10-spot game, usually by picking the Cowboys, Trev. Have you learned your lesson?
00:00:46
Speaker 2: It's very kind of you to say over the last month, one of us has missed a lot with our 10-confidence game. It's basically just me and picking for the Cowboys. And the Cowboys are on the schedule again for these 10 games that we are picking, so.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: I feel like Jeremy's just doing it on purpose just to see if he'd do it.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: We'll see if there's that temptation for me to take the Cowboys at the 10 spot here.
00:01:06
Speaker 1: As usual, before we pick our first games, we've got to reveal our scores from last week. Trevor, even with your minus 10, how do you think you did?
00:01:15
Speaker 2: I think I did pretty good because I think I only missed like two or three games. Unfortunately, one of them was the 10 spot, but I think I did pretty good last week. So the score's going to be... In the double digits this week.
00:01:29
Speaker 1: Oh, more than that. You got 30. It was a pretty good week for you. Okay, not bad. Not bad. Man, if I would have got a 10 game. The 10 game is such a killer.
00:01:42
Speaker 2: It's such a killer for a 20 point swing. You did very well as well, my friend. You got 46. So you got 16 points on me.
00:01:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, you killed it last week. I thought I did bad.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: No, no, you did great last week. The new totals on the season, you have 233 points.
00:02:00
Speaker 1: I have 210.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: So you're up 23 on me. We've got to start chipping away. We've got to start chipping away. Before we get into the games, though. Gotta shout out the fans because you guys have been playing along with us every single week and we always shout out the people who have done the best. Well, Brett, we've got somebody who's truly done the best this year.
00:02:19
Speaker 1: Dieter got 54 points.
00:02:24
Speaker 2: The maximum you could get mathematically is 55.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Almost a perfect week. Oh, my God. It's unbelievable. Salute to you, D-Day. So the only game they missed on was the one spot. Was the one spot. Which is usually the game that everybody considers the toss-up, the hardest to pick. Yeah. So you hit on 2 through 10. Well done. It's amazing.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: Michelle and Thomas were next. They both tied at 49.
00:02:46
Speaker 1: And by the way, you know what?
00:02:47
Speaker 2: Shout out to you because your 46 is your best score ever. You beat 119 out of the 128 fan entries that we had. As not a surprise to me, Arizona and Dallas is the trap game. 100 of 128 fans picked the Dallas Cowboys and only 28 took the Cardinals. That game cost fans 893 total points combined. Roughly one out of every seven points our fans have lost this season overall. have come from the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas has cost fans 2,683 points this season, including 83 of the minus 10 penalties, which is 31% of all of the minus 10s.
00:03:34
Speaker 1: Well done, Cowboys.
00:03:36
Speaker 2: You are somehow, someway giving the Chargers a run for their money with the most disappointing team this season.
00:03:44
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. For our first pick, I do want to start with Dallas because I went into the week and I was like, surely we're not going to do this again and put Dallas at the 10th spot again. And then you saw who they're playing. And then I saw they're playing the Colts and I'm like, oh dear God, it's about to happen again. Please, Trev, please tell me you've learned a lesson.
00:04:09
Speaker 2: Look, the Cowboys have burned me so many times. You knew I couldn't go with him this week.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: Except I am. The Cowboys are in the 10 spot, and let me tell you why.
00:04:20
Speaker 2: When you're a baseball manager and your guy's in a slump, it's a mathematics game.
00:04:26
Speaker 1: You don't give up on them. They're due. That's all that means.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: If you're on a slump, it just means you're due. Cowboys over the Indianapolis Colts in the 10 spot.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Producer Jeremy, lock it in. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me four times, shame on Jeremy for continuing to put this game on the slate. He knows you can't lay off. Talk about baseball analogy. This is like a high inside two seamer.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: The Colts are in fire sale mode right now. If the Cowboys can't beat the Colts, Dallas might actually race Indianapolis in who can sell the most players at the deadline.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: I got to take the Cowboys. I got to take the Cowboys. I got to do it. I got to do it. Oh God, you're such a masochist.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: You're telling me Daniel Jones is going to outscore this Dallas Cowboys offense?
00:05:26
Speaker 1: It's not supposed to make sense. It's the Cowboys. Now, I say that. I also chose the Cowboys, but I'm smart enough to at least put it at the five spot.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: Okay. I thought you were going to say at the nine, as if you were so much better than me for putting it at the nine spot.
00:05:42
Speaker 1: They can't hurt me that bad.
00:05:46
Speaker 2: My five spot game is, I have a rule with the five spot game, so I couldn't put it at the five spot this week, but.
00:05:53
Speaker 1: What's your rule with the five spot? I'll tell you when we get to that game. Okay, okay.
00:06:00
Speaker 2: But, yeah, I mean, look, Dallas obviously has been massively disappointing in the end results. They had a 98% chance to beat the Arizona Cardinals with four minutes left in that game. Four minutes and 13 seconds to be exact. They had a 98% chance to win that game.
00:06:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:06:18
Speaker 2: Dallas was the better team for so much of the majority of that game, and I think that that's unfortunately for them, that's the frustration of what's been the story. So it is obviously, all jokes aside, a little bit of a process over results thing, although the results obviously matter most here, but I just don't see a world where this Colts offense outscores the Cowboys offense as frustrating as that team has been. So I'm going with Dallas, yes, in the 10.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: Spot this week. Has analytics gone too far?
00:06:47
Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
00:06:49
Speaker 1: Yes, they have. Yes, they have. How about San Francisco-Vegas? Where are you at on this one? So I got this in the two spot.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: I'm going to take the San Francisco 49ers, but I think to use a word that you've used many times here on this show, Raiders are plucky, you know? And I think they're just a group that always seems to play pretty well. Obviously, they started the season really hot, and they're in a slump to sort of getting towards the middle of the season here. So it's, it's evening out a little bit, but I got faith in Clint Kubiak. I think they put the right guys out there. I really do put, think that they put their best effort out there. And for all of the injuries that the 49ers have, that's what gives me a lot of unknown with the 49ers. But ultimately I do think that the Niners are just, um, They're playing too well right now with Brock Purdy specifically for me to take the Raiders in this one, but I think it's going to be closer than people anticipate. So give me the Niners, but I only have this in the two spot this week.
00:07:51
Speaker 1: I'm going to take the Niners as well. Maybe I'm crazy for this. I put it at the 10 spot. Oh boy. Okay. I really do believe they are the best team in football. Well, them or the Bears, I would say, especially coming off Monday and seeing what the Bears look like. But if you're looking at how Brock Purdy has played this year, not to spoil the midseason award show, but he is my pick for MVP right now, because if you look at what he's done, even with every receiver that wasn't supposed to be a starter, if you go back to the August depth chart and you take wide receiver four through nine at this point, And you're looking at just him targeting those guys. He's still a top 10 quarterback in the NFL as far as EPA per drop back this year. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's tied for eighth right now. So he's been incredible, whether he's throwing to Mike Evans or throwing to essentially wide receiver seven on this team. He has been one of the best quarterbacks in football to me. He has been the MVP considering the injuries. The defense is great. The coaching staff is awesome. Like even, even with them also being banged up on that side of the ball, on the defensive side of the ball. Like they are just a well-oiled machine. And when they don't turn it over four times in a game, they blow people out. So I like the Raiders as a team. I think they're a very solid football team this year, but you know, going back to the start of the season, I said they're a year away from being a year away. Well, the Niners are there right now. Like the Niners are what the Raiders eventually want to be, especially with Fernando Mendoza coming up. So, I think they're one of the best teams in football, and I'm putting them at my 10 spot until I get proven otherwise. All right, there we go. Okay, so we're both taking the Niners. Just very different sides of the scale here than what we have in the confidence rankings. What's the next game? Let's talk about Buffalo, Minnesota. Obviously, we previewed this game more in-depth this week as well, but we didn't do a pick until right now. Now, I have the Bills winning this game. Trevor, I assume you have Buffalo winning, too.
00:09:56
Speaker 2: I also have Buffalo winning. I actually have this one at the seventh spot. Um, and it feels a little disrespectful to Brian Flores, but I think that Josh.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: Allen's, I'm more disrespectful than you. I put it at eight.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:10:10
Speaker 1: All right.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: So, so I guess we're on the same thinking. And I think that that is that just, it's like, um, You know, it's like in the Marvel movie when he goes, oh, we have an army. And he goes, well, we have a Hulk.
00:10:21
Speaker 1: And the Hulk is Josh Allen.
00:10:22
Speaker 2: So it's kind of like that's sort of the great equalizer or overcomer, if you want to say it like that. Josh is playing at an incredibly high level this season, as he always does. I mean, he's right there in the MVP conversation. Ultimately, I just don't have a lot of faith in this Minnesota offense to keep up with what Buffalo has the potential to do. And I don't think the Buffalo is going to have the easiest day of the office as nobody does against Brian Flores, but I think they have a lot more potential answers. Specifically, a lot of times when you talk about how you go up against Brian Flores, it's about, okay, well, what guy can I get the ball to that's sort of my answer against Flores here? The guy who's the answer against Flores touches the ball every single play.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: It's just Josh Allen.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Now, obviously, it's how he distributes it and the decisions that he makes and everything. But if there's anybody who you want the ball to be in their hands, it's Allen. So I think this will be a decently close game, maybe more closer than I think this seven confidence spot warrants. But I just have a lot of faith in the Bills being able to, at the end of four quarters— score more points than what I'm watching with the Minnesota offense right now, especially with Kyler's status or even just the belief in Kyler being very up in the air.
00:11:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we've gone through this in detail in terms of how we're pretty sure Flores is going to try to hold this Bills offense down. And let's just say it works. The fewest amount of points the Bills have scored so far this year is 24. Let's say he exceeds that by four points, holds them to 20. easily their worst offensive output of the year. How much faith do we really have that the Vikings offense as it currently exists will put up 21. Right.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: Right.
00:12:08
Speaker 1: Even if you hold the bills down to their worst of the season, can you still beat that?
00:12:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: I don't think they can. I agree. Let's go across the pond now to Madrid. We've got Bengals, Falcons overseas in Spain, international game. Everybody make sure you're, You're setting your alarms accordingly so you don't miss it in the morning. I really wanted to give Atlanta a better shot in this one because we've seen what the Falcons could be when they're at their best. Very explosive offense. Bijon's a super weapon. Drake London's really productive. The defense, at least early in the year, hyper-aggressive, was getting after quarterbacks. But after seeing Michael Penix the last few weeks, and especially after seeing that compared to Joe Burrow last week against Tennessee, I just don't think it's close. I really don't think it's close. I think Michael Penix is far too erratic, far too inconsistent. You can blame the weather for the picks all you want. And we talked about this in the reaction show. Bad decisions are bad decisions. The rain did not make him throw that last pick where the DB was capped over the top of the rail route. He had a wide open touchdown of the divide route. He just had to turn his head to the left 15 degrees and he would have had a touchdown in this game. Rain did not make him throw that ball. It's a bad decision. The Anzalone pick, straight up didn't see him. There's one maybe interception you could blame on weather, and that's a stretch. That was just Michael Penix playing bad football. And when you compare that to Joe Burrow coming off six touchdowns and almost half a thousand yards in one game, the quarterback quality difference here, it's just too much to overcome. It really is. I hate to be reductionist about it. Sometimes that's what it's about. And I just, I don't see this game being that competitive so give me the Bengals I put it the.
00:14:00
Speaker 2: Sixth spot okay so this is my uh five spot rule that I just came up with in my head that I've acted like I've done the whole time but probably haven't um I'm always very skeptical about international games when I look at these two matchups and I just say like oh or these two teams in this matchup and I say oh this team should very clearly beat the Atlanta Falcons and then it's an international game and you go well a lot of things just sometimes get thrown out the window when it comes to international games I also took the Cincinnati Bengals to win the game because I have a lot more confidence in where they are going recently than the Falcons.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: But I did put this at the five spot.
00:14:33
Speaker 2: My rule is that I'm not so sure I'm going to put any international game above five just because of the unknown that comes with the travel and everything involved and all of that. But all signs point to the fact that the Bengals should be able to handle business in this game if there's any area where I feel like the Falcons could really exploit things in a way that goes in their favor.
00:14:56
Speaker 1: It's certainly B.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: John Robinson as a receiver versus these Bengals linebackers. And then also the secondary overall for the Bengals has been shaky this season. So can Michael Penix attack deep down the field in ways that we have seen him do when this team has had success? So there's a path for Atlanta to really show up and make this a game. Again, an international game, you never know what's going to happen. But man, Burrow's playing really good. And again, I think the theme of the day is can you really Tell me with confidence that the Falcons are going to outscore the Bengals because I can't given the way that the Bengals are playing right now.
00:15:30
Speaker 1: So that's why I'm taking Cincinnati. Let's hit Tampa, Chicago. Sure. Let's do it. Obviously, we both think the Bears are going to win. Right, Trev? Obviously? Brother, yes. Obviously. Okay. Okay. Yes. I was making sure. Hey, hey, hey, hey.
00:15:53
Speaker 2: Number one defense in a lot of categories, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I mean, don't put in the context the fact that it was a monsoon and literally nobody could move the football the other week, and that counts towards the defensive statistics.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: No need to be full context.
00:16:05
Speaker 2: I'll just say that the Buccaneers are top five, if not top three, if not number one in a lot of defensive categories.
00:16:11
Speaker 1: So far, eight weeks into the season. I think there are a lot of redeeming qualities with this Bucs team, to your point. They run the hell out of the ball. They're very good at running the ball. I mean, having two running backs with 25 carries and inflicting your will on somebody like that. You can't do that without being an effective run game, whether or not. I'm not sure how healthy Baker is because he hasn't really needed to be the last couple weeks, which I guess is the best way for him to recover is to not have to throw the ball. So that's great. But at the same time, even if Baker were fully healthy, seeing what Caleb Williams is playing like right now, he has been a super weapon in his own right. All of the mistakes of the past seemingly have just been corrected with each passing season. Whether it was accuracy in hitting the layups, that was a focus for one year. He's doing that this year. Whether it was going back to his rookie year, took a bunch of sacks, came out year two, stopped taking bad sacks. And all of the little things that people were nitpicking about him, whether it was turnovers, whether it was sacks, whether it was accuracy under 10 yards, all of those things just keep getting corrected season after season, almost like he chooses something to focus on each offseason, and he comes out the next year and he's great at it. So he's kind of running out of weaknesses at this point. He is supremely talented. He is playing at the peak of his powers right now. This might be the best I've ever seen Caleb play, and boy, that's a high bar. And at the same time, DeAndre Swift is having a great year. He's only four touchdowns away from setting the Bears' single-season rushing TD record, by the way. We're halfway through the year. That's how productive he's been. The offensive line is playing great. The defense, once they got Jeff Simmons, it's like it unlocked everybody else. Montez Sweat is thriving as a Robin rather than being shoehorned into being a Batman because they got a real Batman now in Jeff Simmons. Kyler Gordon, his return, he's been immediately impactful. I have very few complaints about this team overall. And while I like what Tampa's done the last couple weeks, they're going up against a juggernaut right now that's playing arguably the best team in the sport. I have to go Chicago here. Give me the seventh spot. Yeah, again, it's the theme of the day.
00:18:29
Speaker 2: I think that Tampa's a lot better team now than what they were to start the season, obviously, but I can't see the Bucs team outscoring the Bears. I just can't. And maybe Todd Bowles has something up his sleeve that's really, really going to frustrate Caleb Williams. But whether that's the spectacular plays or the in-structure, quote-unquote, boring plays, Caleb is doing it so well this season. Ben Johnson's been absolutely in his bag. He picks out the ways to really attack you. And for the Bucs, I think that's over the middle of the field against linebackers. I think that Alex Angeloni's really struggled outside of this past game against Atlanta. Josiah Trotter, excuse me, great run defender, but he's probably going to put him in conflicting coverage as well. So they're going to throw a lot of the Bucs and I just don't think the Bucs are ready offensively. I don't know if Mayfield's healthy enough for it, but certainly over the last couple of weeks, it's not like he's warmed up as a passer. He hasn't really had to do much at all. And look, I love the way that the Bucs are running the football and I think the offensive line's really kicking ass at this point in the year, but Jeff Simmons is a difference maker. And if this team didn't have Jeff Simmons, I'd be like, well, Tampa might be able.
00:19:38
Speaker 1: To control the ball and move the ball on the.
00:19:40
Speaker 2: Ground pretty well, but when you add Jeff Simmons into this equation, that gets a lot more difficult to do.
00:19:45
Speaker 1: So I got Chicago as well. Where did you have them? What spot did you have this? I put it at 7. spot okay I put.
00:19:51
Speaker 2: It at the eight so okay similar similar thinking that we have there as well.
00:19:56
Speaker 1: How about we go uh Kansas City versus the Jets Chiefs obviously have their issues well documented at this point you and I've talked about them incessantly and yet Even with those issues, if they just called a sneak on the one yard line, they're probably coming off sweeping the Broncos and heavily the favorite to win the division at that point and everything's hunky-dory. Even with all of their problems, they're one play away from a very impressive win. So I'm not really panicking that much. That being said, Geno Smith is coming off a ridiculous game and we know that you know, when the Jets passing game is firing on all cylinders, especially against a very bad Chiefs pass rush. They have weapons. They have Gino, who's not afraid to bomb it down the field. They have the offensive line. Braylon Allen apparently is incredible as well. I do think it might be a little bit of a fight, maybe a track meet, so to speak, in this game. I do think Kansas City wins, but maybe not by as much as people think, which is why I have it at the four spot. Either way, I expect a lot of points.
00:21:07
Speaker 2: I have Kansas City winning, and I have this at the 9th spot. And the reason why I have it at the 9th spot, I don't disagree with what you said when it comes to overall offensive potential of this Jets team, no matter who's out there. I think they've got a really good, not even just nucleus of players on offense for now and for the future. I think that they're setting themselves up to be.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: Complete seems like too much of a compliment, but they got a lot of pieces, man. It's not just like, oh, they got one or two good players that they can lean on. They got a lot of players that I feel like they can lean on in an explosive way in the offense. Brett, I just don't trust this Aaron Glenn team. Whether it's a shootout, whether it's a defensive slugfest, or anything in between, the Jets just find a way to lose. Timeout mismanagement, game clock mismanagement, situational decision-making mismanagement, something. There is something that happens every single week. And when you look at the Chiefs, the Chiefs and Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, they've been one of the best in the NFL over the last decade of making the decisions that you need to make in the margins to come away with close victories.
00:22:19
Speaker 1: And the Jets just absolutely have not been that team. So even though I do agree with you.
00:22:25
Speaker 2: I think there's a chance this game could be a lot closer than people maybe believe if they look at the team's Kansas City Chiefs versus New York Jets on paper. I don't trust the Jets to win this game. So whether they win it by one point or whether they win it by 44 points, I think they're going to win. So give me the Kansas City Chiefs and I get this at the ninth spot here.
00:22:46
Speaker 1: You just need the one. That's all you need. You just need one point. Right. And again, if they just sneak the ball... They'll probably get it. Andy, if you're listening.
00:22:57
Speaker 2: That one, obviously not so great of a decision. But I got to think they know that at this point.
00:23:02
Speaker 1: Just put Travis Kelsey under center. Just do literally anything else, Andy. Literally anything else. I'm not even a cheese fan. I'm bitter. I just don't like bad decision making. All right. Let's talk about Seattle, Arizona. We mentioned how impactful Jeff Simmons was for the Bears. Well, the flip side of that coin is this time. Seattle doesn't have to play against Jeff Simmons, which is a welcome sight for Gray Zabel, who was in hell last week. And it's not necessarily Zabel's fault. Like, he's switching sides. I don't even think... Like, he had played on left and right side in college, but I don't think he ever played specifically right guard, which is a different thing than right tackle entirely. And if you have to switch midseason, because you're bringing in Quentin Nelson, and then your first task is Jeff Simmons... arguably the best interior defensive, not even arguably, I think he is the best interior defensive lineman in the sport. That's a tall task. I would say an impossible task. Even if Zabel was playing in his comfortable left guard position, that's still an almost impossible task. So I think looking at this week's matchup, where Zabel is not going to have to deal with that kind of super weapon this year, I mean, Jeff Simmons shut down like four drives by himself. They don't have to deal with that. You still have the benefit of Quentin Nelson on the other side, who still is a great guard. You get your running backs back. JSN is still unguardable. You just hope that Darnold doesn't have a couple boneheaded turnovers again, which has been an issue so far this season. And the defense is still great. It's not like the Cardinals offense is going to put up as many points as the Bears offense. Right. Because the Bears offense is one of the four best in the sport as well. And this is no disrespect to Arizona. I mean, we had I had talked them up last week, talk about how they were a threat to the Cowboys. And even though I didn't have like a ton of gumption about it, I acknowledge like, hey, this is really solid team. They have a fun defense. You know, they've got some great pieces on offense with Wilson and McBride and, you know, I was trying to lay out the argument for why the Cardinals are not as bad as people think. And then of course they go out there and win the game. I still believe that. I still believe the Cardinals are a really fun team that just isn't complete yet, but they're going up against a team in Seattle that is just that much more talented than them.
00:25:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:31
Speaker 1: And so I, I can't, I could make the argument for Arizona over the Cowboys because the Cowboys have many well-documented issues at this point. I can't really make the same argument for them over Seattle. Seattle has had some turnover problems. They had some problems running the ball when their running backs were banged up. Other than that, it's nothing really that bad. Like, yeah, I wish they threw it to more of their receivers than weren't JSN. But if you have JSN, I don't really blame you for feeding JSN. So like all of their, it's like champagne problems, right? It's not that big of a deal. And while Arizona is fun, they're just not in the same tier to me. So I put this one at the nine spot. I acknowledge the Cardinals are plucky, but I just don't see them winning this game. I don't either. I have the Seahawks winning. I have this at the six spot.
00:26:19
Speaker 2: By the way, Seahawks got a very favorable schedule when it comes to the home games.
00:26:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, people look at the record now and it's like, God, they'll be fine.
00:26:30
Speaker 2: They'll be completely fine. So they hosted the Chiefs, obviously. They hosted the Bears this past week, obviously. So I thought to myself, oh, okay, they have.
00:26:39
Speaker 1: To be in Arizona. They already played Arizona in Arizona. This is, again, in Seattle.
00:26:43
Speaker 2: They're going three weeks in a row in Seattle here. Now they go to Las Vegas and then to San Francisco next. But this game being in Seattle is another one where I think that just goes towards the Seahawks advantage. And I think the defense is going to be too much. And I think the stat that really matters the most outside of everything that you said is the fact that Gardner Minshew is starting in this game, not coming in out.
00:27:04
Speaker 1: Of the bullpen. Very different.
00:27:06
Speaker 2: When he comes out of the bullpen, the man might as well be Tom Brady. When he starts, not exactly the same results. So obviously it's a little tongue in cheek there, but I do trust the Seattle defense to bounce back a lot more against a Cardinals offense that I agree deserves a lot of respect, but too much going the Seattle Seahawks way, so give me the Seahawks as well in this game.
00:27:32
Speaker 1: How about Broncos-Panthers? This one was really hard for me.
00:27:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I ended up going with the Denver Broncos. I think the Broncos beat the Panthers, and the reason why is because the Panthers have all sorts of run defense issues. And, you know, I was looking into it a little bit more. I actually think the defensive lines played okay for the Panthers. And I don't think the linebackers have been terrible, but when I've looked at some of their numbers specifically, it's, it's when the Panthers go into nickel, they've really struggled against the run. Um, And especially if teams use pre-snap motion against them to get the linebackers flowing one way. And then especially in that Bucks game, it just created a lot of cutback lanes because the linebackers were trying to fly towards where the motion was going. And okay, now the strong side has flipped or there's more blockers over here and they're trying to make a play because... Obviously, they're playing a little bit lighter of a box because they're in nickel. But then specifically when they were in nickel, they're staying in too high. So they're playing in nickel, but they still have split safeties. So a lot is on these linebackers to be as aggressive as possible to go attack these gaps. And it's just creating these cutback lanes for these teams to just be able to run behind. And I think that the big issue, Brett, is the fact that they're missing their starting corners. And they don't feel like they can get out of too high because they.
00:28:57
Speaker 1: Have to have cap coverage. They literally can't. Right.
00:29:00
Speaker 2: So when you look at the numbers, Carolina's actually pretty good. They're like right around league average, if not a little bit better when defending the run with seven or eight in the box. But when they go to nickel, when they're lighter, and when they have to play split safeties because their top corners are out, They're in a bad situation. So I think that they could still struggle in this game for a Denver offense that if they can be very controlled, especially on the ground, like I think Denver's going to want to be now that Jonah Coleman is their feature back. I think they're going to lean into that a lot. And I think Carolina is still going to struggle in that area. And then on the flip side, the Panthers offense is really good when it's balanced and when they're running is working. And I praised the Denver Broncos last week for what Vance Joseph is doing, and I know this is nothing new for Vance Joseph, but the 3-4 formation that they play with a three-down defensive lineman And then the two outside linebackers basically on the line of scrimmage, they just happen to not have their hand in the dirt. For all intents and purposes, they're running a 5-2 formation. And when you have five guys on the defensive line or on the line of scrimmage, I should say, it's easier to go body for body and you've got all the gaps accounted for and you really force the running backs to be great when it comes to making guys miss and forcing missed tackles and seeing the run lanes.
00:30:20
Speaker 1: At a very, very high level.
00:30:22
Speaker 2: So I just, you know, you throw in the fact that Pat Sertan's basically going to be going up one-on-one against Ted McMillan. And if he takes Ted McMillan away, I just think there's too much going the Broncos way at this point. So give me Denver, but for respecting what Bryce Young's been able to do in some of the previous games you've seen for Carolina, I just put this at the three spot with the Broncos winning.
00:30:44
Speaker 1: I had a similar placement. I put it at the two spot. I echo a lot of your concerns. I want to add another one. Rasheed Walker, he got torched against Green Bay last Thursday night. Gave up seven pressures in that game. Monroe Freeling also gave up four pressures in that game. So 11 pressures coming off the edge of Bryce Young. And while Bryce Young in the last two years has been pretty good under pressure, If there is a high enough volume of pressure on Bryce Young, there still are going to be bad plays. There still are going to be ruined drives. And I just don't have that much confidence in their pass protection right now against a Denver defense that is going to throw as many bodies as they have to to get pressure. And if they can win with four, they'll win with four. If they need five, they'll send five. If they need six, they'll send six. They don't care. Like Vance Joseph, his number one imperative is we will get to the quarterback. You don't get to be comfortable. And I just don't have confidence in their offensive line picking that up. Plus all of the DB issues with Carolina. Not that I think the Broncos offense is a juggernaut, but you're starting two rookies that you just drafted on day three, and they have really good skill position talent. And it just takes one play where you let them run by you or where you lose. And Bo Nix, he does have arm strength. He does have the ability to to throw it down the field. He doesn't like to do it that much, but if you give it to him, he'll take it. And so I just, I look at the potential explosive defensive plays by their pass rush and the potential explosive plays by the Broncos pass game against a team that I just don't know if on a drive to drive basis, they can really keep pace with that. So give me Denver here narrowly. I don't have them blowing them out. I put it at the two spot for a reason, but there's just fewer paths to victory for Carolina here. I agree. How about we do Rams-Washington? This one's intriguing. I also put this one at a fairly low spot. I put it at the three spot, and I have the Rams winning because I can't quite figure out what they are yet. Right, right. And part of that is because of injuries. We're all in the same boat. Yeah, I... I feel like I just need to see it for a couple more weeks. And as they get guys back, you know, they activated miles off IR, uh, as of recording this, it was yesterday. So like they are starting to get people back, but I, I just, I feel like I need a couple of weeks to really trust it because they've won games, but it hasn't looked still, even when they've been winning, like what we hope the Rams would this season, uh, So I think Washington is very gettable. They have their own issues, obviously, up front and defensively. I still do think the Rams have enough leftover talent post-injury plague to still win this game. But there's just something about them. There's something about the shakiness of Matt Stafford this year. There's something about... you know, the defense not playing nearly as much man coverage as I thought they would when they brought in a whole bunch of, you know, high price DBs that they gave up assets for. And then like, we're still going to play zone. Right. And it's like, then, then why do it? You know, why'd you do it? Yeah. It's just, it's a little off. It's a little off. If you're going to play.
00:34:10
Speaker 2: A sum of your parts defense, why did you pay a lot of money to get the parts?
00:34:14
Speaker 1: You know, why can't you just be good and just be better and rely on your talents? It sounds so stupid, but if you brought in guys to out-talent people, why don't you just out-talent people? You know? They're struggling with that. They're struggling.
00:34:29
Speaker 2: And I hear a lot of what you're saying. I put this at the four spot, and I have the Rams winning as well. That's a lot more about the lack of faith that I have in Washington and how when it doesn't look good for Washington with all the injuries that they've kind of been through and different lineups that they're throwing out there, whether it's offensive line, defensive lines, some of their secondary struggles, obviously the wide receiver in the pass-catching group as well. It's just a lot of, like, unknown for Washington.
00:34:57
Speaker 1: And I picked them to beat.
00:34:59
Speaker 2: The Eagles last week, and that one I felt pretty confident about just because I didn't trust what Philly had.
00:35:05
Speaker 1: Going at all whatsoever. And you were right. Yeah, and it was... I mean, Philly's going nowhere, man. But the....
00:35:15
Speaker 2: That doesn't make me feel better about the Commanders. Commanders beating the Eagles last week doesn't make me feel any better about the Commanders now going up against what, in theory, should be a good team.
00:35:25
Speaker 1: In the NFL.
00:35:26
Speaker 2: I think the Rams are starting to figure it out. I'll take them to win this game, but I'm with you. I'm not overly confident. Give me this at the four spot here for the Rams.
00:35:37
Speaker 1: Now, I will say after this game, they play against the Cardinals on the road. So they have a chance to redeem themselves from their loss earlier this season. And if they win this game convincingly and if they beat the Cardinals convincingly, after that, they get the Packers, the Chiefs, and the 49ers. If they just win, not even all three, if they win two out of those three, I think we're back in business. Yeah, for sure. But I think we're a month away from knowing what this team is. I agree, yeah. And speaking of the Packers, it's our last game. Mm-hmm. Of the week. We both only have the one spot open, right? Oh, this is my one spot game because it's dead even. Yeah, right, right. Same, same, same. I... Oh, boy. I'm still even going back and forth on it right now. I'm picking the Patriots. Okay. Cautiously. Very cautiously. Mm-hmm. Because I know what Jordan Love can do. I know what Christian Watson can do. I know what Matthew Golden can do. But at the same time, there's still just a bunch of weirdness with the Packers. Why can't they score if they're receiving a kickoff? Why does it have to be off of a turnover or off of good field position from a punt? Why is that when their offense is top 10, top 5 in the league? Gotta take advantage, baby. But it's so weird because they're so explosive and they're so talented and Jordan Love is so good. How come when you start in the 30, you're like one of the three worst offenses in football, and when you start 10 yards more upfield, you're amazing? It just doesn't make sense. It's a weird team in that way. I think Jonathan Gannon is coached really well this year. Obviously, I said the offensive players are playing really well this year. There's some storylines around this team that I never saw coming, but I'm super excited to see, like Lucas Van Ness. Somehow popping this late in his career. Like, they don't even have Micah back. They don't have Edge for the rest of the year. And it's still been a good defense. Like, there's so many things that excite me with this team. And yet, I just can't quite figure out why. Ah, three, two. And yet, I just... I can't quite fully invest yet. I see the theory, right? I see what they can be when they're at their best. They're not their best all the time. Meanwhile, the Patriots, it feels like they've just been kind of on cruise control for a month now. If you're looking at Drake May in the first three weeks versus Drake May now, and I understand part of that's the schedule. Patriots fans, earmuffs, I apologize for saying that word in front of you. I know it's a slur to you people. But if you're looking at when the schedule is, I want to use the word slur. I was going to say that was bold on my channel. I would keep it, but yeah. All right. Three, two. And then, you know, on the flip side, you look at the Patriots who just, they've just been kind of on cruise control the last month. And part of that's because they started playing lesser teams on their schedule. They started off against three. Are you saying that it's the schedule? Are you, I mean, I don't want Patriots to click off, but yeah, kind of, you know. But at the same time, your schedule is your schedule, and they're beating up on the teams they're supposed to beat up on, and Drake May looks like a completely different quarterback right now. Whether the schedule is softer or not, that's just the reality. They've been a very consistent team over the last four or five weeks, and the Packers, while their peaks, in my opinion, the Packers' peaks are way higher on a drive-to-drive basis, I just don't know what I'm going to get from them. And I think the Packers could win by 11. I think they could lose by 11. I just think they're a much more inconsistent team, whereas the Patriots, I kind of know what they're going to be, right? Like, the Packers play a bunch of quarters. Well, Drake May is arguably the best quarterback in football against quarters right now. Mm-hmm. In fact, Matt, you know, statistically he is since week four. So it's like, are they going to lean into a different style of defense than the one that served them really well for the entirety of the season so far, just because Drake may is good at beating it. Or are they going to trust that they have really good safeties and a really good pass rusher and, and that they're going to do what they're going to do and still win the game. Like I don't, it just makes me nervous. The matchup makes me nervous. So give me the Patriots. I put it to one spot. either team could blow each other out, but I, I just feel a little bit more confident in New England.
00:40:20
Speaker 2: Uh, I told our producers that I was also picking the Patriots, but I'm switching it up and I'm taking the Packers here. One, because I think, I think that this matchup deserves for us to be on opposite sides of the coin. And, you know, I, I do think that Drake may, I was obviously playing really good against your quarter.
00:40:36
Speaker 1: He's just playing really good against cover six.
00:40:38
Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect for how the safeties are playing for the Packers. And, uh, I kind of think, again, you know, not to Patriots fans earmuffs here, not, not to say that it's all the schedule, but I don't think Drake Mays played a secondary duo or trio, honestly, quite like the Packers are going to throw at him with McKinney and Bullard and Evan Williams. And so I think honestly, that's the chess match. Now the other chess matches, Hey, who does Christian Gonzalez guard? Does he shadow guard Matthew Golden? Does he shadow guard Christian Watson? You know what happens there? I think that that's going to be interesting to see, but To me, I think this Patriots secondary, specifically the safety group, might force Drake May into a couple of errant throws that we haven't seen from him in about a month and a half now. Because he had a bunch of them to start the season, but it feels like it's put it behind him. But I feel as though this safety group, I just got a ton of respect for. So give me the Packers in this one. I got to be a little bit different than you anyways, because I got to gain some points on you somehow.
00:41:41
Speaker 1: It's a good team. Give me this one. I put it at the one spot because I'm not confident at all. That's the nature of confidence rankings.
00:41:50
Speaker 2: Our producer just said in the chat that me picking Green Bay just saved us from picking the same 10 winners.
00:41:58
Speaker 1: Now I'm mad. Now I'm mad.
00:42:00
Speaker 2: The only ground I can gain on you is if you lose your 10 matchup or one point. Who do you have as your 10? Who do you have as your 10?
00:42:13
Speaker 1: It's San Francisco, Vegas. I've never been a bigger Raiders fan. I've never been a bigger Raiders fan. Here. Yeah. Yeah. I need the Raiders to come away with a huge dub here. Huge dub. Come on. Come on, Kirk.
00:42:29
Speaker 2: They're saying you're too old. They're saying you can't do it. They're saying the beginning of the season was a fluke and you're figured out.
00:42:36
Speaker 1: How will you respond? That's the question. So much copium. So much copium, too. I have to at this point.
00:42:48
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to our Week 9 Game Picks. Listen to NFL Pro on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL pro game picks week nine. Thank you for listening on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, be sure to follow and subscribe to the show. All right, it's time for game picks. We've got 10 games on the docket that we're picking today. Of course, with our confidence rankings that we do every single week, where we rank these games from one to 10 and assign one to 10 points based on how confident we are in our team winning. And as usual, If we miss on the 10-spot game, it's not just that we get zero points, we actually get negative 10 points. And I feel like for a month straight, one of us has missed on the 10-spot game, usually by picking the Cowboys, Trev. Have you learned your lesson?
00:00:46
Speaker 2: It's very kind of you to say over the last month, one of us has missed a lot with our 10-confidence game. It's basically just me and picking for the Cowboys. And the Cowboys are on the schedule again for these 10 games that we are picking, so.
00:00:58
Speaker 1: I feel like Jeremy's just doing it on purpose just to see if he'd do it.
00:01:00
Speaker 2: We'll see if there's that temptation for me to take the Cowboys at the 10 spot here.
00:01:06
Speaker 1: As usual, before we pick our first games, we've got to reveal our scores from last week. Trevor, even with your minus 10, how do you think you did?
00:01:15
Speaker 2: I think I did pretty good because I think I only missed like two or three games. Unfortunately, one of them was the 10 spot, but I think I did pretty good last week. So the score's going to be... In the double digits this week.
00:01:29
Speaker 1: Oh, more than that. You got 30. It was a pretty good week for you. Okay, not bad. Not bad. Man, if I would have got a 10 game. The 10 game is such a killer.
00:01:42
Speaker 2: It's such a killer for a 20 point swing. You did very well as well, my friend. You got 46. So you got 16 points on me.
00:01:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, you killed it last week. I thought I did bad.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: No, no, you did great last week. The new totals on the season, you have 233 points.
00:02:00
Speaker 1: I have 210.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: So you're up 23 on me. We've got to start chipping away. We've got to start chipping away. Before we get into the games, though. Gotta shout out the fans because you guys have been playing along with us every single week and we always shout out the people who have done the best. Well, Brett, we've got somebody who's truly done the best this year.
00:02:19
Speaker 1: Dieter got 54 points.
00:02:24
Speaker 2: The maximum you could get mathematically is 55.
00:02:28
Speaker 1: Almost a perfect week. Oh, my God. It's unbelievable. Salute to you, D-Day. So the only game they missed on was the one spot. Was the one spot. Which is usually the game that everybody considers the toss-up, the hardest to pick. Yeah. So you hit on 2 through 10. Well done. It's amazing.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: Michelle and Thomas were next. They both tied at 49.
00:02:46
Speaker 1: And by the way, you know what?
00:02:47
Speaker 2: Shout out to you because your 46 is your best score ever. You beat 119 out of the 128 fan entries that we had. As not a surprise to me, Arizona and Dallas is the trap game. 100 of 128 fans picked the Dallas Cowboys and only 28 took the Cardinals. That game cost fans 893 total points combined. Roughly one out of every seven points our fans have lost this season overall. have come from the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas has cost fans 2,683 points this season, including 83 of the minus 10 penalties, which is 31% of all of the minus 10s.
00:03:34
Speaker 1: Well done, Cowboys.
00:03:36
Speaker 2: You are somehow, someway giving the Chargers a run for their money with the most disappointing team this season.
00:03:44
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. For our first pick, I do want to start with Dallas because I went into the week and I was like, surely we're not going to do this again and put Dallas at the 10th spot again. And then you saw who they're playing. And then I saw they're playing the Colts and I'm like, oh dear God, it's about to happen again. Please, Trev, please tell me you've learned a lesson.
00:04:09
Speaker 2: Look, the Cowboys have burned me so many times. You knew I couldn't go with him this week.
00:04:15
Speaker 1: Except I am. The Cowboys are in the 10 spot, and let me tell you why.
00:04:20
Speaker 2: When you're a baseball manager and your guy's in a slump, it's a mathematics game.
00:04:26
Speaker 1: You don't give up on them. They're due. That's all that means.
00:04:30
Speaker 2: If you're on a slump, it just means you're due. Cowboys over the Indianapolis Colts in the 10 spot.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Producer Jeremy, lock it in. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me four times, shame on Jeremy for continuing to put this game on the slate. He knows you can't lay off. Talk about baseball analogy. This is like a high inside two seamer.
00:05:00
Speaker 2: The Colts are in fire sale mode right now. If the Cowboys can't beat the Colts, Dallas might actually race Indianapolis in who can sell the most players at the deadline.
00:05:14
Speaker 1: I got to take the Cowboys. I got to take the Cowboys. I got to do it. I got to do it. Oh God, you're such a masochist.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: You're telling me Daniel Jones is going to outscore this Dallas Cowboys offense?
00:05:26
Speaker 1: It's not supposed to make sense. It's the Cowboys. Now, I say that. I also chose the Cowboys, but I'm smart enough to at least put it at the five spot.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: Okay. I thought you were going to say at the nine, as if you were so much better than me for putting it at the nine spot.
00:05:42
Speaker 1: They can't hurt me that bad.
00:05:46
Speaker 2: My five spot game is, I have a rule with the five spot game, so I couldn't put it at the five spot this week, but.
00:05:53
Speaker 1: What's your rule with the five spot? I'll tell you when we get to that game. Okay, okay.
00:06:00
Speaker 2: But, yeah, I mean, look, Dallas obviously has been massively disappointing in the end results. They had a 98% chance to beat the Arizona Cardinals with four minutes left in that game. Four minutes and 13 seconds to be exact. They had a 98% chance to win that game.
00:06:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:06:18
Speaker 2: Dallas was the better team for so much of the majority of that game, and I think that that's unfortunately for them, that's the frustration of what's been the story. So it is obviously, all jokes aside, a little bit of a process over results thing, although the results obviously matter most here, but I just don't see a world where this Colts offense outscores the Cowboys offense as frustrating as that team has been. So I'm going with Dallas, yes, in the 10.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: Spot this week. Has analytics gone too far?
00:06:47
Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
00:06:49
Speaker 1: Yes, they have. Yes, they have. How about San Francisco-Vegas? Where are you at on this one? So I got this in the two spot.
00:06:57
Speaker 2: I'm going to take the San Francisco 49ers, but I think to use a word that you've used many times here on this show, Raiders are plucky, you know? And I think they're just a group that always seems to play pretty well. Obviously, they started the season really hot, and they're in a slump to sort of getting towards the middle of the season here. So it's, it's evening out a little bit, but I got faith in Clint Kubiak. I think they put the right guys out there. I really do put, think that they put their best effort out there. And for all of the injuries that the 49ers have, that's what gives me a lot of unknown with the 49ers. But ultimately I do think that the Niners are just, um, They're playing too well right now with Brock Purdy specifically for me to take the Raiders in this one, but I think it's going to be closer than people anticipate. So give me the Niners, but I only have this in the two spot this week.
00:07:51
Speaker 1: I'm going to take the Niners as well. Maybe I'm crazy for this. I put it at the 10 spot. Oh boy. Okay. I really do believe they are the best team in football. Well, them or the Bears, I would say, especially coming off Monday and seeing what the Bears look like. But if you're looking at how Brock Purdy has played this year, not to spoil the midseason award show, but he is my pick for MVP right now, because if you look at what he's done, even with every receiver that wasn't supposed to be a starter, if you go back to the August depth chart and you take wide receiver four through nine at this point, And you're looking at just him targeting those guys. He's still a top 10 quarterback in the NFL as far as EPA per drop back this year. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's tied for eighth right now. So he's been incredible, whether he's throwing to Mike Evans or throwing to essentially wide receiver seven on this team. He has been one of the best quarterbacks in football to me. He has been the MVP considering the injuries. The defense is great. The coaching staff is awesome. Like even, even with them also being banged up on that side of the ball, on the defensive side of the ball. Like they are just a well-oiled machine. And when they don't turn it over four times in a game, they blow people out. So I like the Raiders as a team. I think they're a very solid football team this year, but you know, going back to the start of the season, I said they're a year away from being a year away. Well, the Niners are there right now. Like the Niners are what the Raiders eventually want to be, especially with Fernando Mendoza coming up. So, I think they're one of the best teams in football, and I'm putting them at my 10 spot until I get proven otherwise. All right, there we go. Okay, so we're both taking the Niners. Just very different sides of the scale here than what we have in the confidence rankings. What's the next game? Let's talk about Buffalo, Minnesota. Obviously, we previewed this game more in-depth this week as well, but we didn't do a pick until right now. Now, I have the Bills winning this game. Trevor, I assume you have Buffalo winning, too.
00:09:56
Speaker 2: I also have Buffalo winning. I actually have this one at the seventh spot. Um, and it feels a little disrespectful to Brian Flores, but I think that Josh.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: Allen's, I'm more disrespectful than you. I put it at eight.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:10:10
Speaker 1: All right.
00:10:11
Speaker 2: So, so I guess we're on the same thinking. And I think that that is that just, it's like, um, You know, it's like in the Marvel movie when he goes, oh, we have an army. And he goes, well, we have a Hulk.
00:10:21
Speaker 1: And the Hulk is Josh Allen.
00:10:22
Speaker 2: So it's kind of like that's sort of the great equalizer or overcomer, if you want to say it like that. Josh is playing at an incredibly high level this season, as he always does. I mean, he's right there in the MVP conversation. Ultimately, I just don't have a lot of faith in this Minnesota offense to keep up with what Buffalo has the potential to do. And I don't think the Buffalo is going to have the easiest day of the office as nobody does against Brian Flores, but I think they have a lot more potential answers. Specifically, a lot of times when you talk about how you go up against Brian Flores, it's about, okay, well, what guy can I get the ball to that's sort of my answer against Flores here? The guy who's the answer against Flores touches the ball every single play.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: It's just Josh Allen.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: Now, obviously, it's how he distributes it and the decisions that he makes and everything. But if there's anybody who you want the ball to be in their hands, it's Allen. So I think this will be a decently close game, maybe more closer than I think this seven confidence spot warrants. But I just have a lot of faith in the Bills being able to, at the end of four quarters— score more points than what I'm watching with the Minnesota offense right now, especially with Kyler's status or even just the belief in Kyler being very up in the air.
00:11:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we've gone through this in detail in terms of how we're pretty sure Flores is going to try to hold this Bills offense down. And let's just say it works. The fewest amount of points the Bills have scored so far this year is 24. Let's say he exceeds that by four points, holds them to 20. easily their worst offensive output of the year. How much faith do we really have that the Vikings offense as it currently exists will put up 21. Right.
00:12:08
Speaker 2: Right.
00:12:08
Speaker 1: Even if you hold the bills down to their worst of the season, can you still beat that?
00:12:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: I don't think they can. I agree. Let's go across the pond now to Madrid. We've got Bengals, Falcons overseas in Spain, international game. Everybody make sure you're, You're setting your alarms accordingly so you don't miss it in the morning. I really wanted to give Atlanta a better shot in this one because we've seen what the Falcons could be when they're at their best. Very explosive offense. Bijon's a super weapon. Drake London's really productive. The defense, at least early in the year, hyper-aggressive, was getting after quarterbacks. But after seeing Michael Penix the last few weeks, and especially after seeing that compared to Joe Burrow last week against Tennessee, I just don't think it's close. I really don't think it's close. I think Michael Penix is far too erratic, far too inconsistent. You can blame the weather for the picks all you want. And we talked about this in the reaction show. Bad decisions are bad decisions. The rain did not make him throw that last pick where the DB was capped over the top of the rail route. He had a wide open touchdown of the divide route. He just had to turn his head to the left 15 degrees and he would have had a touchdown in this game. Rain did not make him throw that ball. It's a bad decision. The Anzalone pick, straight up didn't see him. There's one maybe interception you could blame on weather, and that's a stretch. That was just Michael Penix playing bad football. And when you compare that to Joe Burrow coming off six touchdowns and almost half a thousand yards in one game, the quarterback quality difference here, it's just too much to overcome. It really is. I hate to be reductionist about it. Sometimes that's what it's about. And I just, I don't see this game being that competitive so give me the Bengals I put it the.
00:14:00
Speaker 2: Sixth spot okay so this is my uh five spot rule that I just came up with in my head that I've acted like I've done the whole time but probably haven't um I'm always very skeptical about international games when I look at these two matchups and I just say like oh or these two teams in this matchup and I say oh this team should very clearly beat the Atlanta Falcons and then it's an international game and you go well a lot of things just sometimes get thrown out the window when it comes to international games I also took the Cincinnati Bengals to win the game because I have a lot more confidence in where they are going recently than the Falcons.
00:14:32
Speaker 1: But I did put this at the five spot.
00:14:33
Speaker 2: My rule is that I'm not so sure I'm going to put any international game above five just because of the unknown that comes with the travel and everything involved and all of that. But all signs point to the fact that the Bengals should be able to handle business in this game if there's any area where I feel like the Falcons could really exploit things in a way that goes in their favor.
00:14:56
Speaker 1: It's certainly B.
00:14:56
Speaker 2: John Robinson as a receiver versus these Bengals linebackers. And then also the secondary overall for the Bengals has been shaky this season. So can Michael Penix attack deep down the field in ways that we have seen him do when this team has had success? So there's a path for Atlanta to really show up and make this a game. Again, an international game, you never know what's going to happen. But man, Burrow's playing really good. And again, I think the theme of the day is can you really Tell me with confidence that the Falcons are going to outscore the Bengals because I can't given the way that the Bengals are playing right now.
00:15:30
Speaker 1: So that's why I'm taking Cincinnati. Let's hit Tampa, Chicago. Sure. Let's do it. Obviously, we both think the Bears are going to win. Right, Trev? Obviously? Brother, yes. Obviously. Okay. Okay. Yes. I was making sure. Hey, hey, hey, hey.
00:15:53
Speaker 2: Number one defense in a lot of categories, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I mean, don't put in the context the fact that it was a monsoon and literally nobody could move the football the other week, and that counts towards the defensive statistics.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: No need to be full context.
00:16:05
Speaker 2: I'll just say that the Buccaneers are top five, if not top three, if not number one in a lot of defensive categories.
00:16:11
Speaker 1: So far, eight weeks into the season. I think there are a lot of redeeming qualities with this Bucs team, to your point. They run the hell out of the ball. They're very good at running the ball. I mean, having two running backs with 25 carries and inflicting your will on somebody like that. You can't do that without being an effective run game, whether or not. I'm not sure how healthy Baker is because he hasn't really needed to be the last couple weeks, which I guess is the best way for him to recover is to not have to throw the ball. So that's great. But at the same time, even if Baker were fully healthy, seeing what Caleb Williams is playing like right now, he has been a super weapon in his own right. All of the mistakes of the past seemingly have just been corrected with each passing season. Whether it was accuracy in hitting the layups, that was a focus for one year. He's doing that this year. Whether it was going back to his rookie year, took a bunch of sacks, came out year two, stopped taking bad sacks. And all of the little things that people were nitpicking about him, whether it was turnovers, whether it was sacks, whether it was accuracy under 10 yards, all of those things just keep getting corrected season after season, almost like he chooses something to focus on each offseason, and he comes out the next year and he's great at it. So he's kind of running out of weaknesses at this point. He is supremely talented. He is playing at the peak of his powers right now. This might be the best I've ever seen Caleb play, and boy, that's a high bar. And at the same time, DeAndre Swift is having a great year. He's only four touchdowns away from setting the Bears' single-season rushing TD record, by the way. We're halfway through the year. That's how productive he's been. The offensive line is playing great. The defense, once they got Jeff Simmons, it's like it unlocked everybody else. Montez Sweat is thriving as a Robin rather than being shoehorned into being a Batman because they got a real Batman now in Jeff Simmons. Kyler Gordon, his return, he's been immediately impactful. I have very few complaints about this team overall. And while I like what Tampa's done the last couple weeks, they're going up against a juggernaut right now that's playing arguably the best team in the sport. I have to go Chicago here. Give me the seventh spot. Yeah, again, it's the theme of the day.
00:18:29
Speaker 2: I think that Tampa's a lot better team now than what they were to start the season, obviously, but I can't see the Bucs team outscoring the Bears. I just can't. And maybe Todd Bowles has something up his sleeve that's really, really going to frustrate Caleb Williams. But whether that's the spectacular plays or the in-structure, quote-unquote, boring plays, Caleb is doing it so well this season. Ben Johnson's been absolutely in his bag. He picks out the ways to really attack you. And for the Bucs, I think that's over the middle of the field against linebackers. I think that Alex Angeloni's really struggled outside of this past game against Atlanta. Josiah Trotter, excuse me, great run defender, but he's probably going to put him in conflicting coverage as well. So they're going to throw a lot of the Bucs and I just don't think the Bucs are ready offensively. I don't know if Mayfield's healthy enough for it, but certainly over the last couple of weeks, it's not like he's warmed up as a passer. He hasn't really had to do much at all. And look, I love the way that the Bucs are running the football and I think the offensive line's really kicking ass at this point in the year, but Jeff Simmons is a difference maker. And if this team didn't have Jeff Simmons, I'd be like, well, Tampa might be able.
00:19:38
Speaker 1: To control the ball and move the ball on the.
00:19:40
Speaker 2: Ground pretty well, but when you add Jeff Simmons into this equation, that gets a lot more difficult to do.
00:19:45
Speaker 1: So I got Chicago as well. Where did you have them? What spot did you have this? I put it at 7. spot okay I put.
00:19:51
Speaker 2: It at the eight so okay similar similar thinking that we have there as well.
00:19:56
Speaker 1: How about we go uh Kansas City versus the Jets Chiefs obviously have their issues well documented at this point you and I've talked about them incessantly and yet Even with those issues, if they just called a sneak on the one yard line, they're probably coming off sweeping the Broncos and heavily the favorite to win the division at that point and everything's hunky-dory. Even with all of their problems, they're one play away from a very impressive win. So I'm not really panicking that much. That being said, Geno Smith is coming off a ridiculous game and we know that you know, when the Jets passing game is firing on all cylinders, especially against a very bad Chiefs pass rush. They have weapons. They have Gino, who's not afraid to bomb it down the field. They have the offensive line. Braylon Allen apparently is incredible as well. I do think it might be a little bit of a fight, maybe a track meet, so to speak, in this game. I do think Kansas City wins, but maybe not by as much as people think, which is why I have it at the four spot. Either way, I expect a lot of points.
00:21:07
Speaker 2: I have Kansas City winning, and I have this at the 9th spot. And the reason why I have it at the 9th spot, I don't disagree with what you said when it comes to overall offensive potential of this Jets team, no matter who's out there. I think they've got a really good, not even just nucleus of players on offense for now and for the future. I think that they're setting themselves up to be.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: Complete seems like too much of a compliment, but they got a lot of pieces, man. It's not just like, oh, they got one or two good players that they can lean on. They got a lot of players that I feel like they can lean on in an explosive way in the offense. Brett, I just don't trust this Aaron Glenn team. Whether it's a shootout, whether it's a defensive slugfest, or anything in between, the Jets just find a way to lose. Timeout mismanagement, game clock mismanagement, situational decision-making mismanagement, something. There is something that happens every single week. And when you look at the Chiefs, the Chiefs and Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, they've been one of the best in the NFL over the last decade of making the decisions that you need to make in the margins to come away with close victories.
00:22:19
Speaker 1: And the Jets just absolutely have not been that team. So even though I do agree with you.
00:22:25
Speaker 2: I think there's a chance this game could be a lot closer than people maybe believe if they look at the team's Kansas City Chiefs versus New York Jets on paper. I don't trust the Jets to win this game. So whether they win it by one point or whether they win it by 44 points, I think they're going to win. So give me the Kansas City Chiefs and I get this at the ninth spot here.
00:22:46
Speaker 1: You just need the one. That's all you need. You just need one point. Right. And again, if they just sneak the ball... They'll probably get it. Andy, if you're listening.
00:22:57
Speaker 2: That one, obviously not so great of a decision. But I got to think they know that at this point.
00:23:02
Speaker 1: Just put Travis Kelsey under center. Just do literally anything else, Andy. Literally anything else. I'm not even a cheese fan. I'm bitter. I just don't like bad decision making. All right. Let's talk about Seattle, Arizona. We mentioned how impactful Jeff Simmons was for the Bears. Well, the flip side of that coin is this time. Seattle doesn't have to play against Jeff Simmons, which is a welcome sight for Gray Zabel, who was in hell last week. And it's not necessarily Zabel's fault. Like, he's switching sides. I don't even think... Like, he had played on left and right side in college, but I don't think he ever played specifically right guard, which is a different thing than right tackle entirely. And if you have to switch midseason, because you're bringing in Quentin Nelson, and then your first task is Jeff Simmons... arguably the best interior defensive, not even arguably, I think he is the best interior defensive lineman in the sport. That's a tall task. I would say an impossible task. Even if Zabel was playing in his comfortable left guard position, that's still an almost impossible task. So I think looking at this week's matchup, where Zabel is not going to have to deal with that kind of super weapon this year, I mean, Jeff Simmons shut down like four drives by himself. They don't have to deal with that. You still have the benefit of Quentin Nelson on the other side, who still is a great guard. You get your running backs back. JSN is still unguardable. You just hope that Darnold doesn't have a couple boneheaded turnovers again, which has been an issue so far this season. And the defense is still great. It's not like the Cardinals offense is going to put up as many points as the Bears offense. Right. Because the Bears offense is one of the four best in the sport as well. And this is no disrespect to Arizona. I mean, we had I had talked them up last week, talk about how they were a threat to the Cowboys. And even though I didn't have like a ton of gumption about it, I acknowledge like, hey, this is really solid team. They have a fun defense. You know, they've got some great pieces on offense with Wilson and McBride and, you know, I was trying to lay out the argument for why the Cardinals are not as bad as people think. And then of course they go out there and win the game. I still believe that. I still believe the Cardinals are a really fun team that just isn't complete yet, but they're going up against a team in Seattle that is just that much more talented than them.
00:25:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:25:31
Speaker 1: And so I, I can't, I could make the argument for Arizona over the Cowboys because the Cowboys have many well-documented issues at this point. I can't really make the same argument for them over Seattle. Seattle has had some turnover problems. They had some problems running the ball when their running backs were banged up. Other than that, it's nothing really that bad. Like, yeah, I wish they threw it to more of their receivers than weren't JSN. But if you have JSN, I don't really blame you for feeding JSN. So like all of their, it's like champagne problems, right? It's not that big of a deal. And while Arizona is fun, they're just not in the same tier to me. So I put this one at the nine spot. I acknowledge the Cardinals are plucky, but I just don't see them winning this game. I don't either. I have the Seahawks winning. I have this at the six spot.
00:26:19
Speaker 2: By the way, Seahawks got a very favorable schedule when it comes to the home games.
00:26:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, people look at the record now and it's like, God, they'll be fine.
00:26:30
Speaker 2: They'll be completely fine. So they hosted the Chiefs, obviously. They hosted the Bears this past week, obviously. So I thought to myself, oh, okay, they have.
00:26:39
Speaker 1: To be in Arizona. They already played Arizona in Arizona. This is, again, in Seattle.
00:26:43
Speaker 2: They're going three weeks in a row in Seattle here. Now they go to Las Vegas and then to San Francisco next. But this game being in Seattle is another one where I think that just goes towards the Seahawks advantage. And I think the defense is going to be too much. And I think the stat that really matters the most outside of everything that you said is the fact that Gardner Minshew is starting in this game, not coming in out.
00:27:04
Speaker 1: Of the bullpen. Very different.
00:27:06
Speaker 2: When he comes out of the bullpen, the man might as well be Tom Brady. When he starts, not exactly the same results. So obviously it's a little tongue in cheek there, but I do trust the Seattle defense to bounce back a lot more against a Cardinals offense that I agree deserves a lot of respect, but too much going the Seattle Seahawks way, so give me the Seahawks as well in this game.
00:27:32
Speaker 1: How about Broncos-Panthers? This one was really hard for me.
00:27:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I ended up going with the Denver Broncos. I think the Broncos beat the Panthers, and the reason why is because the Panthers have all sorts of run defense issues. And, you know, I was looking into it a little bit more. I actually think the defensive lines played okay for the Panthers. And I don't think the linebackers have been terrible, but when I've looked at some of their numbers specifically, it's, it's when the Panthers go into nickel, they've really struggled against the run. Um, And especially if teams use pre-snap motion against them to get the linebackers flowing one way. And then especially in that Bucks game, it just created a lot of cutback lanes because the linebackers were trying to fly towards where the motion was going. And okay, now the strong side has flipped or there's more blockers over here and they're trying to make a play because... Obviously, they're playing a little bit lighter of a box because they're in nickel. But then specifically when they were in nickel, they're staying in too high. So they're playing in nickel, but they still have split safeties. So a lot is on these linebackers to be as aggressive as possible to go attack these gaps. And it's just creating these cutback lanes for these teams to just be able to run behind. And I think that the big issue, Brett, is the fact that they're missing their starting corners. And they don't feel like they can get out of too high because they.
00:28:57
Speaker 1: Have to have cap coverage. They literally can't. Right.
00:29:00
Speaker 2: So when you look at the numbers, Carolina's actually pretty good. They're like right around league average, if not a little bit better when defending the run with seven or eight in the box. But when they go to nickel, when they're lighter, and when they have to play split safeties because their top corners are out, They're in a bad situation. So I think that they could still struggle in this game for a Denver offense that if they can be very controlled, especially on the ground, like I think Denver's going to want to be now that Jonah Coleman is their feature back. I think they're going to lean into that a lot. And I think Carolina is still going to struggle in that area. And then on the flip side, the Panthers offense is really good when it's balanced and when they're running is working. And I praised the Denver Broncos last week for what Vance Joseph is doing, and I know this is nothing new for Vance Joseph, but the 3-4 formation that they play with a three-down defensive lineman And then the two outside linebackers basically on the line of scrimmage, they just happen to not have their hand in the dirt. For all intents and purposes, they're running a 5-2 formation. And when you have five guys on the defensive line or on the line of scrimmage, I should say, it's easier to go body for body and you've got all the gaps accounted for and you really force the running backs to be great when it comes to making guys miss and forcing missed tackles and seeing the run lanes.
00:30:20
Speaker 1: At a very, very high level.
00:30:22
Speaker 2: So I just, you know, you throw in the fact that Pat Sertan's basically going to be going up one-on-one against Ted McMillan. And if he takes Ted McMillan away, I just think there's too much going the Broncos way at this point. So give me Denver, but for respecting what Bryce Young's been able to do in some of the previous games you've seen for Carolina, I just put this at the three spot with the Broncos winning.
00:30:44
Speaker 1: I had a similar placement. I put it at the two spot. I echo a lot of your concerns. I want to add another one. Rasheed Walker, he got torched against Green Bay last Thursday night. Gave up seven pressures in that game. Monroe Freeling also gave up four pressures in that game. So 11 pressures coming off the edge of Bryce Young. And while Bryce Young in the last two years has been pretty good under pressure, If there is a high enough volume of pressure on Bryce Young, there still are going to be bad plays. There still are going to be ruined drives. And I just don't have that much confidence in their pass protection right now against a Denver defense that is going to throw as many bodies as they have to to get pressure. And if they can win with four, they'll win with four. If they need five, they'll send five. If they need six, they'll send six. They don't care. Like Vance Joseph, his number one imperative is we will get to the quarterback. You don't get to be comfortable. And I just don't have confidence in their offensive line picking that up. Plus all of the DB issues with Carolina. Not that I think the Broncos offense is a juggernaut, but you're starting two rookies that you just drafted on day three, and they have really good skill position talent. And it just takes one play where you let them run by you or where you lose. And Bo Nix, he does have arm strength. He does have the ability to to throw it down the field. He doesn't like to do it that much, but if you give it to him, he'll take it. And so I just, I look at the potential explosive defensive plays by their pass rush and the potential explosive plays by the Broncos pass game against a team that I just don't know if on a drive to drive basis, they can really keep pace with that. So give me Denver here narrowly. I don't have them blowing them out. I put it at the two spot for a reason, but there's just fewer paths to victory for Carolina here. I agree. How about we do Rams-Washington? This one's intriguing. I also put this one at a fairly low spot. I put it at the three spot, and I have the Rams winning because I can't quite figure out what they are yet. Right, right. And part of that is because of injuries. We're all in the same boat. Yeah, I... I feel like I just need to see it for a couple more weeks. And as they get guys back, you know, they activated miles off IR, uh, as of recording this, it was yesterday. So like they are starting to get people back, but I, I just, I feel like I need a couple of weeks to really trust it because they've won games, but it hasn't looked still, even when they've been winning, like what we hope the Rams would this season, uh, So I think Washington is very gettable. They have their own issues, obviously, up front and defensively. I still do think the Rams have enough leftover talent post-injury plague to still win this game. But there's just something about them. There's something about the shakiness of Matt Stafford this year. There's something about... you know, the defense not playing nearly as much man coverage as I thought they would when they brought in a whole bunch of, you know, high price DBs that they gave up assets for. And then like, we're still going to play zone. Right. And it's like, then, then why do it? You know, why'd you do it? Yeah. It's just, it's a little off. It's a little off. If you're going to play.
00:34:10
Speaker 2: A sum of your parts defense, why did you pay a lot of money to get the parts?
00:34:14
Speaker 1: You know, why can't you just be good and just be better and rely on your talents? It sounds so stupid, but if you brought in guys to out-talent people, why don't you just out-talent people? You know? They're struggling with that. They're struggling.
00:34:29
Speaker 2: And I hear a lot of what you're saying. I put this at the four spot, and I have the Rams winning as well. That's a lot more about the lack of faith that I have in Washington and how when it doesn't look good for Washington with all the injuries that they've kind of been through and different lineups that they're throwing out there, whether it's offensive line, defensive lines, some of their secondary struggles, obviously the wide receiver in the pass-catching group as well. It's just a lot of, like, unknown for Washington.
00:34:57
Speaker 1: And I picked them to beat.
00:34:59
Speaker 2: The Eagles last week, and that one I felt pretty confident about just because I didn't trust what Philly had.
00:35:05
Speaker 1: Going at all whatsoever. And you were right. Yeah, and it was... I mean, Philly's going nowhere, man. But the....
00:35:15
Speaker 2: That doesn't make me feel better about the Commanders. Commanders beating the Eagles last week doesn't make me feel any better about the Commanders now going up against what, in theory, should be a good team.
00:35:25
Speaker 1: In the NFL.
00:35:26
Speaker 2: I think the Rams are starting to figure it out. I'll take them to win this game, but I'm with you. I'm not overly confident. Give me this at the four spot here for the Rams.
00:35:37
Speaker 1: Now, I will say after this game, they play against the Cardinals on the road. So they have a chance to redeem themselves from their loss earlier this season. And if they win this game convincingly and if they beat the Cardinals convincingly, after that, they get the Packers, the Chiefs, and the 49ers. If they just win, not even all three, if they win two out of those three, I think we're back in business. Yeah, for sure. But I think we're a month away from knowing what this team is. I agree, yeah. And speaking of the Packers, it's our last game. Mm-hmm. Of the week. We both only have the one spot open, right? Oh, this is my one spot game because it's dead even. Yeah, right, right. Same, same, same. I... Oh, boy. I'm still even going back and forth on it right now. I'm picking the Patriots. Okay. Cautiously. Very cautiously. Mm-hmm. Because I know what Jordan Love can do. I know what Christian Watson can do. I know what Matthew Golden can do. But at the same time, there's still just a bunch of weirdness with the Packers. Why can't they score if they're receiving a kickoff? Why does it have to be off of a turnover or off of good field position from a punt? Why is that when their offense is top 10, top 5 in the league? Gotta take advantage, baby. But it's so weird because they're so explosive and they're so talented and Jordan Love is so good. How come when you start in the 30, you're like one of the three worst offenses in football, and when you start 10 yards more upfield, you're amazing? It just doesn't make sense. It's a weird team in that way. I think Jonathan Gannon is coached really well this year. Obviously, I said the offensive players are playing really well this year. There's some storylines around this team that I never saw coming, but I'm super excited to see, like Lucas Van Ness. Somehow popping this late in his career. Like, they don't even have Micah back. They don't have Edge for the rest of the year. And it's still been a good defense. Like, there's so many things that excite me with this team. And yet, I just can't quite figure out why. Ah, three, two. And yet, I just... I can't quite fully invest yet. I see the theory, right? I see what they can be when they're at their best. They're not their best all the time. Meanwhile, the Patriots, it feels like they've just been kind of on cruise control for a month now. If you're looking at Drake May in the first three weeks versus Drake May now, and I understand part of that's the schedule. Patriots fans, earmuffs, I apologize for saying that word in front of you. I know it's a slur to you people. But if you're looking at when the schedule is, I want to use the word slur. I was going to say that was bold on my channel. I would keep it, but yeah. All right. Three, two. And then, you know, on the flip side, you look at the Patriots who just, they've just been kind of on cruise control the last month. And part of that's because they started playing lesser teams on their schedule. They started off against three. Are you saying that it's the schedule? Are you, I mean, I don't want Patriots to click off, but yeah, kind of, you know. But at the same time, your schedule is your schedule, and they're beating up on the teams they're supposed to beat up on, and Drake May looks like a completely different quarterback right now. Whether the schedule is softer or not, that's just the reality. They've been a very consistent team over the last four or five weeks, and the Packers, while their peaks, in my opinion, the Packers' peaks are way higher on a drive-to-drive basis, I just don't know what I'm going to get from them. And I think the Packers could win by 11. I think they could lose by 11. I just think they're a much more inconsistent team, whereas the Patriots, I kind of know what they're going to be, right? Like, the Packers play a bunch of quarters. Well, Drake May is arguably the best quarterback in football against quarters right now. Mm-hmm. In fact, Matt, you know, statistically he is since week four. So it's like, are they going to lean into a different style of defense than the one that served them really well for the entirety of the season so far, just because Drake may is good at beating it. Or are they going to trust that they have really good safeties and a really good pass rusher and, and that they're going to do what they're going to do and still win the game. Like I don't, it just makes me nervous. The matchup makes me nervous. So give me the Patriots. I put it to one spot. either team could blow each other out, but I, I just feel a little bit more confident in New England.
00:40:20
Speaker 2: Uh, I told our producers that I was also picking the Patriots, but I'm switching it up and I'm taking the Packers here. One, because I think, I think that this matchup deserves for us to be on opposite sides of the coin. And, you know, I, I do think that Drake may, I was obviously playing really good against your quarter.
00:40:36
Speaker 1: He's just playing really good against cover six.
00:40:38
Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect for how the safeties are playing for the Packers. And, uh, I kind of think, again, you know, not to Patriots fans earmuffs here, not, not to say that it's all the schedule, but I don't think Drake Mays played a secondary duo or trio, honestly, quite like the Packers are going to throw at him with McKinney and Bullard and Evan Williams. And so I think honestly, that's the chess match. Now the other chess matches, Hey, who does Christian Gonzalez guard? Does he shadow guard Matthew Golden? Does he shadow guard Christian Watson? You know what happens there? I think that that's going to be interesting to see, but To me, I think this Patriots secondary, specifically the safety group, might force Drake May into a couple of errant throws that we haven't seen from him in about a month and a half now. Because he had a bunch of them to start the season, but it feels like it's put it behind him. But I feel as though this safety group, I just got a ton of respect for. So give me the Packers in this one. I got to be a little bit different than you anyways, because I got to gain some points on you somehow.
00:41:41
Speaker 1: It's a good team. Give me this one. I put it at the one spot because I'm not confident at all. That's the nature of confidence rankings.
00:41:50
Speaker 2: Our producer just said in the chat that me picking Green Bay just saved us from picking the same 10 winners.
00:41:58
Speaker 1: Now I'm mad. Now I'm mad.
00:42:00
Speaker 2: The only ground I can gain on you is if you lose your 10 matchup or one point. Who do you have as your 10? Who do you have as your 10?
00:42:13
Speaker 1: It's San Francisco, Vegas. I've never been a bigger Raiders fan. I've never been a bigger Raiders fan. Here. Yeah. Yeah. I need the Raiders to come away with a huge dub here. Huge dub. Come on. Come on, Kirk.
00:42:29
Speaker 2: They're saying you're too old. They're saying you can't do it. They're saying the beginning of the season was a fluke and you're figured out.
00:42:36
Speaker 1: How will you respond? That's the question. So much copium. So much copium, too. I have to at this point.
00:42:48
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to our Week 9 Game Picks. Listen to NFL Pro on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
