Browns lead AFC North with win over Ravens

These are the nights that you don't ever want to end. Because you know tomorrow, it's on to the next game. And so I sit there, I know it sounds really goofy, but you sit there in bed, and you don't want the night to end. It's 10.30 and you're tired as hell, and you want to be up another 15, 20, 30 minutes to enjoy it. Because you know, tomorrow, I gotta look at the offensive tape. Todd Monk and after getting the signature win yesterday, the new Browns beat the old Browns. And look, I can definitely say this about Monk and because he's younger than me. One of the reasons you stay up as late as you can when you are age, you're not sure you're going to wake up the next morning. He's younger than you or older than you. So let me enjoy this. He's younger than me. He's younger than me. Todd Monk and he's younger than me. So I like to stay up. I love to stay up. I get into a good groove. I start working. I copy paste snarky comment. One of the reasons I keep staying up is you just never know when that last time's gonna be that you shut your eyes. I know this is all very morbid and dark today, but we're just dealing with the content that we have. And the content that we have is the Browns are four and two and they are tied with the Ravens atop the AFC North. They're technically in first place because they've beaten the Ravens and the Steelers. All three teams are four and two. And the Browns keep showing that these aren't flukes. Who is that? I don't know who that is. It's supposed to be Martin Scorsese. Oh, it's Andre Schmidt. Oh, okay. Get that off. All right, Andre. He's not good enough yet that we're gonna recognize him without his uniform on. So Andre Schmidt kicks the game-winning field goal after he misses the potential. He missed a big one, right, right. Go ahead, field goal. And he gets his shot at redemption because the Ravens just didn't want it. I mean, that's what that one felt like. The Ravens up 10 nothing. And that was the theme for a lot of the early games. Take your foot off the gas. F around and find out. But the Ravens were up 10 nothing. And then it just chip, chip, chip. And it's 10-10. And it's like, did the Ravens think that the game was over at halftime? Like, how many teams yesterday seemed to behave that way? Where they got comfortable and then they got complacent. Well, yeah, yeah, there was a lot of that yesterday. But I don't think the Ravens are capable much more of what you saw with Tyler Huntley's, the quarterback. We saw that last week in Atlanta when they won that game. It's tough sledding and Cleveland's tough. I mean, Cleveland, let's be serious. I mean, if it's not for a drop punt, they're sitting there at five and one. They outplayed the Jets. They should have won the week before. So this is no push over football team. And we're seeing Cleveland for the most part in a game like yesterday, especially. I mean, they're not making a lot of self-inflicted wounds. They're playing smart. Deshaun Watson doing some pretty smart things. He's kind of flushed that out. They have a defense that's a pain in the butt that can keep you in the football game. And he's found the sweet spot of like, hey, I'll make a play here and there when I need to. But he had a great feel, I think, overall for the game yesterday to just go, hey, it's a defensive football game. I'm not going to take any chances. I'm not going to do anything stupid that way. They played it the right way. They kind of just hung in there, hung in there, played clean football and let the Ravens kind of make the mistake at the end of the football game. You know, yes, we talked about Schmitt missing a field goal. He's been pretty clutch as we know throughout the year, but the Ravens missed a field goal late and then Derek Henry fumbles backed up and makes a big mistake late in the game. Tell me if you haven't heard that story before. Ravens making mistakes late in games. That's kind of been a thing the last few years and that opened the door for the Browns to come back and they took advantage of it. It's an unbelievable story because yeah, you don't watch them and go, oh wow, this is an awesome functioning team, but they got a little talent on offense and their defense is damn good. And they're capable of making an explosive play on that side of the ball from time to time and when they don't turn it over and do that, they're a tough out right now in Cleveland. And it is fun to watch it all unfold. It's amazing. We had a clip of jury. Judy had a big catch, a 33 yard gain in overtime that helped set up, not over time, at the end of the- The last drive of the game. Yeah. I'm looking down at Steelers bucks OT and it influenced my my adult brain. But there's been talk about Judy being traded. And Todd Monkin didn't address that. He just said, Hey, we got to get this guy more involved. Didn't it weird how the guy who had been their number one receiver, they draft two guys early this year in Denzel, Boston and Casey Concepcion. And all of a sudden like Judy gets just like the two new guys are the they're the guys and you're just kind of like the forgotten man. And they got to find a way to get him more involved because when it's time for him to do something, when they call his number, he's answering the bell. So I don't know how that came to be, but they sure better take another look at that because Judy's had some big plays this year. He's been reliable in the Steelers game, in the Ravens game. And oh, by the way, those are the important games. The Browns have now won four straight in the division for the first time since 1987, when the Ravens were the Browns. That makes people very upset. Facts make people upset. The last time the Browns won four games in a row in the division, they were the Ravens. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. Keep rubbing it into them. You're like a child. I'm just pointing out facts. I'm going to say it five more times because I got to just rub it in. And I keep saying it because they get upset because they're irrationally upset. But people, if I say something upsetting to you, you have a meltdown and you go crazy. I mean, you go crazy. So yes. All right. It's not fair that way. All right. That's what I'll say. Depends on what you say. But either way, yeah. Hey, listen, you'd love to have that third receiver like you're talking about. He's a great third option. He's not as good as the other two guys. That's why he's not out there. I mean, Denzel Boston is their star. That's their guy. And the Ravens held him in check yesterday. That's to our point of like we're talking about the Rams. You know, who else can contribute? And it can't just be one guy all the time. And that's the good thing with the Browns. And like you're talking about where when you got three, okay, you took one away. The other two should have some favorable matchups. And Judy is certainly damn good enough to take advantage of those opportunities and make some plays like we saw yesterday. Now, they are tough in the run game. They stay consistent that way. But the big thing is more than anything. Yeah, they're four and two. They beat the Ravens. I think they're better than the Ravens. No, I don't actually think that. We see how important Lamar Jackson is to Baltimore. That's the big thing. They are a team that the offense has to carry the squad a little bit. Their defense is good, but it's nothing great. It's middle of the road NFL. I don't know if it's ever going to really change. You sit there during the game at times and who's going to make a play for the Ravens? Who can do something? Oh, wait, I forgot Trey Hendrickson is even on the football team. I mean, that hasn't worked out necessarily in a big way. So they got to do it with their offense. And the offense was the letdown yesterday. They couldn't keep consistently moving the ball down the field. And their pass game just struggles without Lamar Jackson, as we've seen for two weeks in a row, really. So they need him back. They are Lamar Jackson centric football team, with David Blau calling those plays on the offensive side of the ball and everything there. They are explosive and they got to take advantage of that. Oh, I mean, I said the wrong name, didn't I? Yeah, Declan Doyle. Yeah, yeah, sorry. Browns... All right, all right, all right. That's okay, it happens. Browns safety grant, Delpitt, was asked last week the biggest difference between Tyler Huntley and Lamar Jackson, and he said one is Lamar Jackson. Yeah. So, to your point. And I thought he was flirting with disaster by doing that, but the Browns still able to beat the Ravens. But, hey, Deshaun Watson, not superstar level, but his career has resurrected. We talked last week about Shadur Sanders hiring an agent. I don't know whether that's now or later, but Shadur realizes his future is not in Cleveland. There was a report from Eric K. Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer not long ago that if they make the playoffs, they're going to try to keep Deshaun Watson. It really is amazing to see what this team has done. We knew they had a very good defense, and Todd Monken is coming in, and he's just piecing it together just right in here. They are at four and two. Also at four and two in the AFC North. Declan Doyle, my dad, by the way. I just want to make sure. I know, I don't know. I've had a hard time with some of these coordinators switching this year, where I don't know what it is. Him and the Washington guy, the D coordinator of the Cowboys and the D coordinator of the Commanders. I got them all mixed up in my head this year. It's been an issue for me on every show I talk about. I don't know what the hell is wrong. And D'Amico Ryan. Exactly right. I got a few that are just absolutely my kryptonite right now. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. The Pittsburgh Steelers go down to Tampa Bay, and the Bucs smothered them in the first half. It was 13-0. Totally. It just felt like one of those days where the Steelers were just going to lose. They just kept coming, and it finally clicked in the second half. Down 16-3 in the fourth quarter, they end up tying the game, forcing overtime, and ultimately winning the game with a first-drive touchdown that the Buccaneers couldn't match. But man, it... Look, I got to give the Steelers credit for digging deep. Now, it was... it was Acreshur Stadium South. Steelers fans completely took over Raymond James Stadium. We have a picture that we used for a story last night on PFT, and it looked like a Steelers home game with all of the terrible towels. Yeah, it sounded like it. It was amazing. Yeah. But they needed it. They needed everything they could get. And I'm torn because I want to give the Steelers their flowers. But man, the most intriguing bit of news out of all of this, what we've seen from the Buccaneers and Jalen Daniels, they got a problem at quarterback now. They've committed to Baker Mayfield, and they got to be thinking, shit, we should have waited to see what this undrafted rookie from Kansas can do, because that sure would have reshuffled the deck when it comes to contract negotiations, because I love watching Jalen Daniels. Well, we've seen, you know, again, this is where I'm a little bit like, hey, we got to protect the quarterbacks. We got to protect the quarterbacks. Let our fingernail touch them. First off, like just on that, we have a roughing the passer problem in the NFL and a pass interference problem. There's really an issue. Some of these roughing the pass are problems. It's been there. It's not new. It's been there. Well, it's gone to a point to where this is not why the rule wasn't like there just to go like, oh, he got hit in the shoulder. That was too aggressive. Hold on penalty. They've gone too far. It's again, it's ridiculous. They're not changing it. I mean, I agree with you completely, but it's a waste of time to even talk about it because they're not going to change it. We can't do it. The star players need to play. All these teams with the backups, they're doing great. They're winning games. What the hell are we talking about? What are we talking about? That's a conversation for another time, and we'll do that. Yeah, I hear what you're saying because we're a little bit in an era of that. We got to have the quarterback. We got to have them. We got to have a quarterback that makes a lot of money or we can't justify themselves regardless. The Dak Prescott one last night, the epitome of it is what happened. Dak Prescott got two hand touched to the ground and they threw roughing the pad. It just shows you how warped the thinking is. The wall between business and the integrity of the game has been obliterated and it happened multiple years ago. It's really concerning, honestly. When people want to go, man, the game just seemed crazier than ever, I want to go, yeah, because the refs are just throwing penalties over everything. Who knows what's going to happen? Like we talk about, a quarterback throws the ball into quintuple coverage and they go, pass interference on the five guys that were around the ball because the quarterback made a bad decision, but first down, more stats, fantasy, like it's an issue. But all right, get back to the subject here. I know, pass interference doesn't count towards fantasy. Some people wish it would. It gives you more opportunities than to keep going. It inflates the state stats. So now, oh, the drive's going. I'm still going. I'm gonna get a touchdown pass on this drive now because I'm supposed to punt and we're supposed to be out. But back to the Bucs, Jaylen Daniels is fun to watch. And to your point, and this is where I wanna go, when they play this style of football, the way they've been playing with Jayden Daniels, they're a better football team. That doesn't have to do with Baker Mayfield. It goes back to, again, what we talk about sometimes, like, hey, we have this bright, shiny object. We gotta play and we gotta do all this stuff. And you just go, no, play to your team. And then the way you play, the contract and the bright, shiny object will all justify itself in that way. But I feel like, yeah, before the Bucs were, hey, we got Baker Mayfield, he's making 50 million, let's throw it every play, throw, throw, throw. Now they got a rookie in there and they're like, hey, let's play defense and run the ball. And it's like, yeah, that's better for your team. You're not a superstar, the greatest show on turf offense. What have you been doing? So they've been playing the right way. But at the end of the day, his tomb interceptions cost them the game. I mean, that was huge, right? And especially- Still fun to watch. It was. But I agree. And that first one, I will say, I thought was very controversial. I mean, I don't know, I know the announcers, I was listening to this live. I know the announcers, I don't think they thought this was a catch. I was surprised by that, but either way, it got ruled an interception. This one was an egregious mistake right there, where fortunately for him, the Steelers didn't score a touchdown, even though they had first and goal. Great hustle by Jalen Daniels to save the game, at least to take it to overtime. And there's the last play of overtime. We had a sack by Jalen Rand. Exactly right. So, but it wasn't. Go back to that interception. I didn't see this live. That looked weird. It was weird. That looked like the player didn't have control of the ball until he was into the white strike. I don't, right? Yeah. Where does he have control? Is that control there? They call him that control? I mean, he's out of bounds by the time he has control of the ball. That's exactly what the announcers are saying. I can't remember who was on that game, but I was certainly saying the same thing too. He caught the ball, had one foot down, and then the hands came off the ball. There's another clip where you can see there's nothing on the ball as he's readjusting. Then he gets it, and only one foot gets in again after that. I was shocked by that. That was definitely controversial there. Regardless, it was a bad throw, a bad decision. The interception happened, but I certainly think that's one that needs to be dissected more. The second one was egregious, but a lot of credit to the Steelers for hanging in there, playing tough, and then making some big plays when they needed to get a victory down on the road in Tampa there. And they had to do their half-time adjustments without their head coach in the locker room because Mike McCarthy spent it in the blue tent. He got stepped on, he said after the game. So he just stayed in the blue tent while everybody else went to the locker room. And it's not like they're there for a long time, but it was kind of odd to see Mike McCarthy limping. He was limping noticeably and then in the blue tent. And look, one of the things about being a coach, you got to be able to be on your feet for multiple hours when George Hallis finally retired as coach of the Bears, it was because he couldn't run up and down the sidelines anymore to yell at the officials. That's what he said. And so, you know, keeping with today's theme of Father Tom's gonna get all of us at some point, that is a long day to stand up there. But at least it wasn't artificial turf, at least it was grass. And did you see what Aaron Rodgers had to say about the grass in Tampa? He, one of the worst surfaces in the league. You know, he's gotten hurt there in the past, and it's just not acceptable if we're concerned about player safety. So one thing to remember, even though the grass versus turf debate is the threshold question, we still assume that if we're going to have grass, it's going to be sufficient quality grass. This is another one of those stadiums where you've got pro team and college team playing sometimes on back to back days. That's the problem. Again, those are things that another professional sports teams and professional players wouldn't have to deal with. Nobody in soccer is going, hey, nobody in soccer is going, hey, our field is crappy because we had a big game here yesterday, but here in America, that's what we do to our athletes. Screw you, play. And yeah, I've been a part of that. That field, when it's left just to the Bucs, is like one of the best fields in football. But we've had years where you're, I mean, you said it, South Florida is there, they're playing. Oh, they've played a home game three weeks in a row, they're there. Oh, wait, there was a big playoff or a big high school football game they played there. I mean, we had one year, the year I played my playoff game, I mean, it was dirt, sprayed paint green. That's what it was. It was a lot of the field. And so that stinks that it's like that. But man, the Steelers finding a way to win though, yesterday, Rodgers, he got banged around. It wasn't easy on the offensive side of the ball. What they really did, because they couldn't run the ball as effectively as they wanted to, they found little short throws to be an extension of the run game. But Jeremy Bernard and DK Metcalf, and they had a lot of cool little neat completions that way. And that's really how they won the game. This might have been the play of the day right here. This move right there, that was like old Rodgers there. Weaving and bobbing through the pass rush and then making a big throw. But a lot of this year there to Jeremy Bernard. Little pick plays, little screen plays, little, let's stretch out the zone and just throw a four yard pass to one of these guys and let them make a play. And it was the right approach ultimately and help them win the football game. I know he's not an NFL offensive or defensive coordinator, but you know, it's Jeremy, not Jeremy. Yeah, Jeremy. Yes, I do. Like he's got germs. Yes, I got it. Yep. I wonder if that's his name or if it's a nickname, but no, I believe it's always been that since Alabama. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's like Jeremy. Yeah. And Rodgers was looking pretty good yesterday. He went down hard at one point to on that left wrist. And, you know, remember he broke it last year and you just you worry about any quarterback getting rolled around on the ground and thrown down, especially a guy who's going to be 43 in just a matter of weeks. You want to see him up right as long as possible. But he he managed to help them dig deep. There was a moment yesterday. I don't know if you saw it. It was McCarthy and Rodgers. Not quite like what we saw on the Thursday night game with the with the lip reading and the bombs. But you could see it was somewhat animated. You couldn't really see Rodgers face trying to tell by the way McCarthy was reacting that Rodgers wasn't real happy. Yeah. Well, they're trying not to put on a spectacle, which I don't like because I like the spectacle. It was fun to watch. I want some spectacle. Just to bring it back one time because I'd like you to watch it one more time. Again, this is one where, all right, in lieu of what happened last night where 345 got involved in the game and expedited and then saw another replay and went, oh, crap, our expedited thought was wrong. We have to expedite the expedition and go back to another call, right? This is one where I wonder if the same thing happened. Like, did we look at this clearly enough? So Gary did a great job here pulling this up once again. But I want you to kind of see some of this a little bit if you can watch it. So there's a foot down, hands totally come off the ball. And again, there's another even another shot from this on the real TV clip where it's from the other side, where there's one now, the hands off the ball, and then he re-gathers it. I'm surprised as well like you, but this was a big moment in the football game. Like we said, regardless, it was a bad decision, a bad throw, deserved to be intercepted, but I'm not sure he controlled that. That was one that was shocking to me. Yeah, that's not, that's not. And I think the only explanation for the mistake would be that they concluded he completed the act of making the catch before he lost possession, which is just false. You know, that's, we know it when we see it. See, that's the problem. So many of these rules, if you've watched football long enough, you know a completed catch when you see a completed catch and that is not a completed catch and thus not a completed interception. That's wild. That's wild that that happened. Well, I know something I'm gonna be writing today and they're not gonna be real happy with me at 345, not that they ever are, but that's when you have a replay process in place, it is supposed to fix and prevent mistakes like that. And that is something that I don't know, you know, the 50 drunks in a bar, 50 drunks in a bar would look at that and say that's not a catch. No, I would think so. And you know, it was surprising to me, like we talked about, it really was. But you know, other than that, it was a fun game to watch. Man, the Steelers were on the ropes. They were going, man, this Bucs team with Jalen Daniels, like you said, it's kind of fun to watch. The style of play, like I said, I think fits their team better. And Baker Mayfield can certainly do all that stuff too. So that's where they need to readjust. But the Steelers, that was gutsy by them right there. It really was. Defense made some plays when they had to. Rodgers and company hung in there and made some big plays on the offensive side of the ball in the clutch. Totally dominated the fourth quarter. That was shocking. Next up in our Tweedledum and Tweedledumass approach to Sunday football, the two pack. An NFC South versus NFC East combo of games. And the NFC South said, up your butt, Joe Boo, to the NFC East. That's next on PFT Live. PFT Live Monday edition, the Carolina Panthers who had been 0-2 after the bye week under Dave Canales. They go to Philadelphia and they got the Eagles at the perfect time. They got the Eagles who are in disarray that keeps becoming more and more pronounced with, like this is the Murphy's Law season for the Philadelphia Eagles because everything is going wrong. And everything can go wrong and they find new and exciting ways for things to go wrong. And it's just crazy and the, the Eagles didn't, they didn't give up. No, they definitely didn't. It was kind of close for a while, but the final score 25-14 and Philly has lost the fourth in a row for the first time in Nick Sirianni, Nick Sirianni, excuse me, his tenure with the team. They're 2-4 after they started 2-0 and I don't know where the bottom is for them. I feel far worse about them than I do about the 2-4 Rams just because who's left. Yeah, right. For the Philadelphia Eagles and where are they going to go from here? Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, of course with their, their leader and Jalen Hurts not being out there and you just go who's going to make some plays for them on the offensive side of the ball when they need it without him there because the run game as we've seen is just not a thing in Philadelphia this year. I mean, it's really it's few and far between. We saw that again yesterday. So that's a shame because, oh, and again, the game where it's the Carolina Panthers who have been pitiful on defense this year, you'd go, hey, it's a guy in Tanner McKee. He's new to the NFL and starting. You'd like him to be able to not have to, oh, wait, I got to drop back and throw the ball every play for us to win the football game. He had some moments, certainly. Like you said, they hung around. They played tight. They played tough. I mean, defense kept them in the game as Tanner McKee tried to find some rhythm and get going on the offensive side of the ball. But that was few and far between. But ultimately, again, where Carolina, who played it the right way and was pretty conservative and didn't make any major mistakes, but within that, yeah, they let Philly hang in there. And there, Philly was with the ball at the 40-yard line and the game is 19 to 14. And you're going, hey, they're okay. And I thought the punt got blocked, but I guess it didn't. I guess the guy just shanked it out of bounds for eight yards. And that was the end of it. That was the end of the competitive part where you went, hey, the Eagles are going to punt at the 40-yard line, and they're going to pin the Carolina Panthers back there. And if they can make a stop, they'll get the ball at good field position, and maybe they'll have a chance to win the game here late. But instead, you know, another just crazy thing with the Eagles special teams shanked out of bounds, eight-yard punt, you give the ball to the Panthers in the 48-yard line, a few plays later, boom, boom, boom, Bryce Young touchdown pass. That's all she wrote. Carolina wins the game. Chuba Hubbard had another big game. 28 carries, 120 yards. Bryce Young is very solid. He's earning that second contract. What a journey it's been for him in his second season. He got benched for Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton most recently with the Philadelphia Eagles, they cut him 10 days ago. And after Jalen Hurts develops the blood clot, they want to bring him back. We reported last night on Football Night in America, he said, no, thank you. And he's going to sign with someone else as soon as today. And I wasn't able to find out who the someone else is because I think the someone else has yet to tell whoever is getting the heave hoe that the red rifle is taking his place. So look for that news. We've got dueling pink slips coming today. We've got Mike McDaniel, keeping an eye on that. And we've got whoever is getting nudged out of the depth chart he's currently on for Andy Dalton. And then that guy's available to be signed by the Eagles. I mean, the Eagles right now have Tanner McKee, Cole Payton and Joe Milton, who they picked up off of the Cowboys practice squad. That's it. And I don't know when Jalen Hurts is coming back. Look, this whole thing has just been weird. The whole thing has been weird. And it all has unfolded over the last five days. He's got a blood clot in his leg. And I'm not going to call it a superficial blood clot because that implies that it's not serious. It is serious. It is a serious health condition. It is a blood clot. And if that thing starts moving in your veins, you have a potential issue. And that's why they shut him down, not because he had the blood clot. They let him play with a... I almost said the F word, blood clot in his leg. They let him play and the whole thing is just weird to me. And so I don't think... And the whole way it was set up on Saturday, ESPN had the report. They haven't even discussed the possibility of putting him on injured reserve. Well, that's just stupid then. How could you not at least have the conversation that a guy who's got to be on blood thinners is going to miss the next 22 days because that's when the next four games are going to be played and they have a bye. And then that same day, they put him on IR. The whole thing is weird. And I hope he recovers and I hope he feels no compulsion to come back and play this year in order to ensure that he recovers. I mean, the whole, hey, come on, we got to go. We got a game. That's got to take a backseat to a serious health condition. And I've yet to get that feeling that from the Eagles, they're separating their competitive desire from, and I know they say all the right things, but I just don't feel like they've separated the desire to win from the urgency and the importance of taking care of the human. Yeah. I mean, I hear you there. I mean, health is the most important thing here for Jalen Hurts. We want to see him be a healthy human being. That is a scary thing. I don't know what's going on behind the scenes. Maybe Jalen Hurts there for a little while was like, hey, I can play through it. I can do this. And they got lost and, hey, he thinks he can play, blah, blah, blah. And I'm sure some doctor stepped in at some point was like, hey, guys, he can freaking die. Let's get him straight first before he dies on the field because of this. So, yeah, big blow to the Eagles. Unbelievable year they're having right now. And certainly some bad luck that they've, of course, kind of inflicted on themselves as well. But there was a game yesterday there where, again, you look at it and you go, yeah, backup quarterback, man, it's going to be a struggle. Hopefully, the rest of the team can pick things up and the demons did a good job, like we talked about. But I can't tell you enough, Mike, it's really three bad punts that set the game up for Carolina. They lit up a big punt return that gave Carolina the first field goal. Carolina's first touchdown was a punt in their own end zone, where they barely got it to like the 35-yard line, a few plays later, boom, touchdown again, and then the punt I told you about in the fourth quarter. So it was a good win on the road for Carolina. But I still sit there with Carolina and go, I don't know how good they are. I'm not sure, right? You know, they're the kings of the NFC South, as we know by default a little bit, because nobody seems to be playing good football there. Carolina is definitely the best team in the NFC South. But how good are they? I think that's still debatable. And I'm still acquiring information before I feel like, hey, they're a team that can make some waves in the playoffs. I don't feel that way yet. And I'd like to see them be less petty, better winners. They put out a social media video last night, trolling you because, God forbid, you did your job and engaged in an honest analysis of the game and came to the conclusion that you thought the Eagles would win. It was one of those. When you win, just take your win, because when they lose, they're going to throw a drink on someone. So when they win, let's act like you've been there before. Maybe that's the reality, they haven't been there before, so they're enjoying it while they can. Well, they have some issue with me. That's the, I mean, this is probably the third time in the last year where, I don't know, I've obviously gotten underneath the skin of some people there. So I don't know what the deal is, but yeah, we'll see. They're doing a great job. Bryce Young, certainly really good there. Can they get that defense play into where we thought they could possibly be? They spent a lot of money on that side of the ball. They've been underwhelming. So yesterday was a good start, but again, like we said, it was Tanner McKee. How good was it that way? Offense certainly has had some really good moments, and they are capable of running the ball, and when their three receivers are healthy, they can be dangerous. That's where you look at. So good win for them off the buy. But yeah, that was one of those games where I went, hey, there's an upset that happens every week. Man, Carolina off the buy, Philadelphia is tougher than people think, and that was one of those I pick there. But yeah, Carolina took it a little personal. I picked the Eagles before I knew that Hurts was out. And then after it was done, it's like, you know what, am I gonna go back? This would be a great chance to do a mulligan. It's like, nope, sticking with the Eagles. I still think they can win the game. So come after me too, Panthers. You want to come after Chris, come after me. I'll throw a drink on you. The Giants gave us the full James Winston experience in one game, even though he didn't play the whole game. They were up, they were down, they were up, they were down, it was crazy. 10-0 lead becomes a 34-10 deficit, and then they come raging back, and it's down to the final drive. As JJ McCarthy replaces James Winston with 243 passing yards in the fourth quarter, the most passing yards in the fourth quarter, third most since 2020. The other two were Josh Allen and Dak Prescott. It was amazing. And look, on McCarthy's first drive, he threw an interception, but they had to do something. You know, and we talked about this last week. They were giving him a sprinkling of plays. I think they recognized that while the ceiling may be higher with James Winston when everything's going well, the floor is lower. Yeah, I think that's a fair way to say it. And the floor is higher with the new guy. The floor is higher with McCarthy. And based on what I saw yesterday, and I know that John Harbaugh is not going to come out after the game and say, yes, I'm sticking with McCarthy. They got no choice. They got to stick with McCarthy. It's a no-brainer after what we saw yesterday. McCarthy's got to be the guy. And I know there's concern, the Texans and they got to be a Hunter and Will Anderson and big pass rush. But that's okay. Somebody's got to be back there playing. You got to trust your blockers and you got to let your quarterback go out there and make decisions and try to move when he has to move and protect himself as best he can. But how can you not go with JJ McCarthy at this point? Yeah, I think that that's probably going to be the way they go there. I think you kind of said it right. Maybe the ceiling is a little bit higher with James Swinson, but the floor, of course, can be dangerously low. JJ McCarthy, I do probably think can do some things a little bit more like Jackson Dart and maybe they could play that way. Again, a little bit more of the movement, the bootlegs and the play action that way, where he'll fit their style of play, where you feel like with James Swinson, it's got to be a little bit more straight drop back. The Giants got to be able to run the football a little bit. That's a big issue with their team right now. I don't care who's playing quarterback. The fact that they basically have to drop back to throw at every play to move the ball, that's an issue. But we again once saw Malik Nevers go off, Isaiah Likley's phenomenal that way. This was the ultimate though, like one play changed the game more than any other play in the NFL yesterday, any other play. The first half of the football game, the Giants were controlling the flow of play, right on cue. The Saints had a short field, field goal drive. It's you're going, man, the Giants are controlling. This is great. You're going to go into half time. It's 10 to 3. Maybe we can get a field goal before the half and make it 13 to 3. This fumble completely flipped the game on its head. The Saints score on the last play of the half to make it 10-10. They get the ball to start the third quarter. They go right down in the field and score a touchdown. Then the Giants start to drive. Jamis throws in interception. They capitalize again and you go, wait, it was 10-3 Giants. I mean, it was 10-0 Giants and you felt like the Saints couldn't do anything. Then all of a sudden you're like, what? They're down 27 to 10? How the hell did that happen? That was a monumental momentum swing right there with the kick return fumble. When they put McCarthy in and you saw 34-10, did you think they were waving the white towel, as some would say, or did you think they thought there was a chance to come back? No, I thought it was like, okay, let's get this guy some reps. We might have to have him play sooner rather than later. Let's get him used to the offense, let's do some of that stuff. Then it became like, oh, there's a big pass. Well, the ball bounced up in the air, oh, we got a little lucky. Then it was like that just all went from there on out. It's like the pressure was off, he had a few good things happened to him. Drew Brees doing the game going, hey, look at JJ McCarthy. These are the kind of throws we want to see. This is the kind of throws we didn't see in Minnesota. There was some growth there as far as some of the different trajectories we saw in the football that way. But yeah, I thought they were waving the white flag. Then it became, oh my gosh, this might be unbelievable, come back. This is awesome. It was a lot of fun to watch down the stretch there. There's quite a story to be told about what really happened in Minnesota, and I don't know that we're ever going to get the full story. I have a feeling it's more mutual blame than all on JJ McCarthy. I had a vision yesterday of a Vikings Giants playoff game this year with McCarthy against Kyler Murray. Wouldn't that be something if that ultimately happens? I don't know that I would survive those three hours, especially if McCarthy would stick it to the Vikings. I have a feeling that if it came to it, he would. Camp Scadaboo is clearly in the dog house, even though John Harbaugh was like, what? What? No, that wasn't the plan. Scadaboo knows he was being punished for something. In the way he couched it, it's almost like, was he doing other stuff too? Like, is he missed meeting? I wonder. Like, I've made mistakes. Like, yeah, did you catch the same thing? I've made mistakes. I wondered. Yeah, I mean, you fumbled in overtime. What else? What is this? Is this like a cumulative punishment? You know, so, we saw it back in the preseason, though, when Scadaboo was chirping at Harbaugh. Remember that clip? Scadaboo's chirping at Harbaugh about something, like they want to score more points in a preseason game, and Jackson Dart's laughing, and then when Harbaugh says whatever he says, Dart's like, Yep, yep, yeah, I should. He's like, play time is over. So, who knows if Scadaboo is temporary or longer term, but they didn't have anything yesterday. JJ. McCarthy was the leading rusher. Yeah, that's crazy. Darnel Mooney was number two. Right. Tyrone Tracy had 18 yards on six carries, and they still didn't give the ball to Scadaboo. They were sending a message to him, and they made him go out and play full back while they handed the ball off to others. That's how strong the message was. I mean, I was surprised by it. I really was. I understand maybe cutting a few carries away, but gosh, he's clearly the most talented running back as far as running the ball between the tackles, and they can't survive playing that way, I know, where they got to drop back and pass and throw the ball every play. That's certainly not a winning formula, but good win by the Saints hanging in there. A lot of pressure on them this week. Tyler Shuck made some big throws when they had to, and once they got a little momentum going, they really took advantage of it. We see teams like that a lot of the times, get a little momentum and settle for field goals and let the other team hang around. They did not do that, and they put the Giants behind the eight ball in a big way, even though they made a valiant comeback there. Hey, maybe Gail Benson needs to give them the red hot poker a little more often. She picked the right moment, and now they'll go to Paris at two and four instead of one and five, assuming the game is going to be played in Paris. Although the NFL says it is, the riots, the unrest, the protests got bad over the weekend, but the NFL says on Sunday, it will still be Steelers Saints in Paris. All right, we take a break. When we return, Caleb Williams is back, and he looked as good as ever, although the Bears also played with their food against the Falcons and tried to blow it. That's next on PFT Live. The Atlanta Falcons are the NFL's vampires. They play great at night, and in the daytime, they burst into flames, and that's that. Although they fell behind 31 to 7, they did not give up. They made it interesting. We were just talking about a 24-point lead. It's a three-score game. It's actually three possessions, and you have to score twice per possession. You have to score two touchdowns per possession to make it a tie game, but the Falcons kept coming. But the reason they were in that hole was Caleb Williams' back four weeks after the hamstring injury completed his first 12 passes. He had a career high 83.3 completion percentage, and you see the difference. 30 for 36, 305 yards and a touchdown. After Tyson Bajent, after Case Keenum, you see what it means to have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL back on the field. Yeah, well, he could just make plays and throws very few people in the NFL can't. And then I think the encouraging thing was he really played the position the right way in the pocket yesterday. And I really think there's something to be said about him watching Case Keenum and his operation and realizing like, hey, wait, I can be a little bit more clean maybe in my approach and do that. He was a machine early on. I mean, it was 11 for 11 at one point. I mean, they were just going up and down the field on the Atlanta Falcons. And then of course his great ability to move to get out of the pocket, to get the mail, to get out of jail free card every now and then when the offense doesn't deliver, it's just such a special thing they have. I thought this was really one of the shocking games of the day. Not that I'm shocked that the Bears won, but the fact that they dominated the way they did for such a long period of time. And then I did think of you because when it was 31 to 7, I was just going, well, it's like Florio says, it's only three scores. That's the ads of the craziness in the NFL. These two point conversions, the teams never out of it. And the old days, we'd go, hey, this game's over. They need four possessions. They're not going to be able to do it. Nowadays, no, not at all. And you're right. A few mistakes by the Bears, a few big plays by the Falcons, and they made it kind of fun and competitive down the stretch. Came down to a strip sack fumble recovered by the Bears to slam the door on a potential comeback. I mean, games that were over came down to the last drive. The Giants game did and the Falcons game did as well. So the Falcons are now two and four. They need to play as many games as possible at night. The Bears moved to four and two. They're trying to keep pace with the Vikings atop the NFC North. Vikings are five and oh. The Packers also moved to four and two. We'll be talking about that game, I think, at some point. That was the Sunday night game. Maybe we'll talk about it next. I don't know. We're going to peek ahead onto the outline. We're going to take a break and we'll continue with this Monday edition of PFT Live right after this. Sunday began for the third straight week with a game in London. The Jaguars, the home team, air quotes home team for the second straight week as the Texans came to town. And this was a huge game. And the ratings for the pregame shows last week were not great. I can't imagine they're going to be better this week. The game went until 1248 p.m. Eastern. Hey, here you go Fox, CBS, ESPN, you get 12 minutes, go. So the Texans, and they're actually in better shape now than they were last year, Chris, because last year, even though they started 0 and 3, after they got their first win, they lost, and then they won again to get to 2 and 4. Yeah. So they're 2 and 4, just like they were last year, and the difference is they're 2 and 0 in the division this year. Last year, they were 1 and 1, so they're technically in better shape this year than last year. Now, all they have to do is win 11 in a row. Yeah. Well, let's see if they can go on a run. They do have the type of talent and still the defense that I do think can do that. But yesterday was a must-win game, awesome game. That's got to be one of the best games that the UK has had in their time. There was a lot of big plays on both sides of the ball. We saw the quarterbacks both make a lot of awesome throws in the game. So that was fun to watch, like you said. CJ Stroud and the Texans offense, that was as good as they've looked the whole year. They ran the ball a little bit, and then they made a lot of plays in the pass game. We've seen all year that you can make plays against the Jaguars. The problem when you play the Jaguars is you can make plays and get yards, you can't score touchdowns. That wasn't the problem for the Houston Texans offense yesterday. You give them opportunities to throw the ball down the field, like Jacksonville does because they can play a little overaggressive in my opinion at times. CJ Stroud and company, when their receivers are healthy, Niko especially, he is definitely capable of striking down the field if you give them those opportunities, and he did that yesterday in a big way. Now Travis Hunter did not have a great game defensively, but because he had an interception, the perception will be that he did have a good game defensively. He became the first player since Brian Dawkins in 2002 to have both a touchdown and an interception in the same game. So it was his best game overall, but it was not a great defensive game start to finish for Travis Hunter. You saw him get beaten by Niko Collins earlier in the segment. Had a bad pass interference call or maybe two bad ones. I thought that were pretty tough on him there. But man, he's having moments. I think that's at least the encouraging thing. He looks good. I mean, some of the receptions he had with the ball in his hands, even playing DB, I like the look. So at least we're on the right track there with Jacksonville. Jacksonville is a really good football team. We know that and they showed the ability to make some big plays and Parker Washington continues his march as, I'm one of the best receivers in football. But yeah, this was an even game. And you felt like it was a season ender if the Texans lost it. They keep hopes alive by staying two and four, like you said, and we'll see where it goes. But I will say, I'm still, their defense, the amount of big plays being made against it, it's still an issue. I know D'Amico Ryan took over the play calling, but he didn't take over the play calling to go, hey, I'm letting up 400 yards to Jacksonville. That certainly wasn't its best look. D'Amico Ryan didn't take over the play calling. The defensive side of the ball? D'Amico Ryan's did. Oh, damn, I still said it. I still said it. All right, let's take a break. Sunday Night Football, when PFT Live continues right after this. Well, you know, it looked good. The uniforms, the location, everything was set up to have a great Sunday night in Lambeau. The only problem is the Cowboys didn't live up to their end of it. The offense was not good. The defense, not a whole lot better. And the Packers just kind of suffocated the Dallas Cowboys 23 to 13. And even then, you look at the NFC East, and if the Cowboys can get their act together, they can still win the division. But, you know, Chris, it's just, it's hard to watch the Cowboys right now. It's just hard to watch them. They can't sustain anything. They've got no consistency, and it just feels like they're just a shell, especially offensively. Greatest offensive is that was a kiss of death to give themselves that nickname, because that did not look like even functional offense most of the game last night. No, well, I mean, that's the problem with the team right now. I mean, we know they're an offensive football team, like we've talked about. They're the unit that's got to carry the squad. Oddly enough, the defense has been okay the last two weeks. I mean, yesterday, like you said, I mean, it wasn't great, but you weren't like, oh gosh, they're getting blown off the field here. Holy cow. No, their defense gave them a fighting chance. You know, hey, the offense has to produce. Jack Prescott can't throw two interceptions in the red zone or one was in the fringe red zone, but those are huge moments of the football game. For a team that has this kind of defense, like that can't happen. Now he gets unlucky there, Cassidy Lam slips when he's running the slant route. So you don't want to put that on him all the way there, but just the mistakes in general can't happen with them on that side of the ball. They're not good enough to overcome that. So yeah, that's a big issue. And I heard at the end of the game, like Collins Earth, he was a little bit like, it's hard to put my hand on or hand on why they don't operate or haven't been playing great. They're not real creative. That's what I would tell you. I watch Dallas a lot on film. You watch it. Guys are stagnant. They don't motion. They don't shift. I don't sit there and go, oh wow. And if they can't run the ball, if the pass game has to live by itself, I don't think it's going to be able to beat the better teams in football that way. So that's what I would worry about if I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan. Yeah, the only good thing is one of the four teams in the NFC East is going to win the division and host a playoff game, no matter how bad they each are. All right, let's take a break. Little Josh Allen, classic Josh Allen. When PFT Live wraps up right after this. Successful West Coast swing for the Buffalo Bills. And look at this. That's insanity. Josh, look at unbelievable. It doesn't look real. Like I would think that was AI. It's incredible. I mean, he's got one of the greatest highlight films in the history of quarterbacking anyways. Well, the only thing I'll challenge is, was he definitely throwing to him or was he trying to throw to 13? That's what I don't know. But either way, it looked amazing. Okay. It really was. I mean, he never ceased to amaze. And this was, yeah, of course, a big moment. Nobody open and to make that play, to give them a 10 point lead there was pretty unbelievable. Yeah, it really was unbelievable. Yeah. And credit to the Raiders. They're definitely better. I know they've lost three in a row, but they are definitely better. Definitely. I like what Clint Kubiak's doing for them. Kirk Cousins, he had a piss missile yesterday. Yeah. And it's fun to watch. They need to win. They need this game against the Rams next week badly. Yeah, they're not super talented, but they're playing tough as hell. They're well coached on both sides of the ball. They need another playmaker or two on the defensive side of the ball. I feel like we've been saying that for a few years now. Max Crosby was damn good. But the one thing you worry about with Buffalo, you see, saw it last week, you can kind of surgically destroy their defense. And that's what Kirk Cousins did yesterday to them. Well, especially if CJ. Gardner Johnson, who was ejected for all of the second half, ends up being suspended. He spit on Brock Bowers yesterday, or he was spitting at Brock Bowers in a hit titled Enderbomb. Either way, suspension watch today for CJ. Gardner Johnson will have updates at PFT if and when that occurs and on everything else in the NFL. Thanks for some of your time. Have a great day. See you tomorrow.