Fantasy Football Week 9 Reactions - Upsets Everywhere!

On Sunday, a 13-point underdog won outright, and a 9-point underdog won straight up. Week nine was totally, and I mean totally unpredictable in this fake football world, and on any given week, we say is unpredictable. So that means some shocking fantasy stars and duds in all of your lineups.

Uh, Hayden, though, we have to start off with potentially an AFC Championship preview as the Buffalo Bills at home improved to 6-2 over the now 5-4 Kansas City Chiefs, 28-21. What life lessons and football lessons should we take away from this one?

It was another fantastic game. Uh, Josh Allen was superb, but I think just zooming out real quick for standings purposes, there are four teams that have only lost two games in the AFC. Right now, it's the playoffs. Uh, started today, the Chiefs would not be in, now that they're five and four. So, this one had huge implications just for tiebreakers, uh, eventually for the first seat, who's going to get the buy. But now the Chiefs have a lot of work cut out for them. Uh, Buffalo Bills, it just comes down to when Josh Allen is three for three down the field, the ground game's working, and then you're getting some yards after the catch plays. It's a really difficult team to beat. So, no turnovers here. The, I think the standout player, Jo, we're so used to Josh Allen being excellent. It's just the emergence of Dalton Kincaid, who was fantastic throughout the entire game. Uh, easily paced the team in recept, or in receiving yards at 101. Tons of big plays, some nice yards after the catch plays, beating players to the sticks as well. So, he's not a full-time player, but on a per-route basis, he is now the most efficient tight end in the NFL. I haven't updated that for Brock Bowers, uh, but he's been, uh, fantastic. So, big game ball to him. Khalil Shakir was utilized underneath as well, and then James Cook was dominant on the ground. So, it was a lot of like the dink and dunk stuff, and then three downfield passes, and that was it.

You kind of answered my question, but I'll ask it anyways. We've seen the Bills obviously be good this year. They were five and two entering this one, now six and two.

Many of those games that they've really one-handedly have been through James Cook. He's been one of the best runners, pure runners in the NFL. Um, in situations where they have to press, where they have to expand their passing offense, which is like you said, kind of underneath passes.

Is the key to everything Dalton Kincaid? Like, is that the answer that we were arriving to here in 2025?

Yeah, there were some nice man coverage wins underneath, and then a couple zone ones as well. But yeah, Khalil Shakir is kind of like the, like, all right, let's get in the rhythm of the offense. Dink and dunk. Let's see if he has the yards after the catch. And once again, he had 53 yards after the catch. That's Khalil Shakir. But Dalton Kincaid, it's more of the layered throws. You can kind of hit him more up the seam. Uh, did some, some, uh, downfield routes near the sideline, too. But there was just a really nice man coverage win, uh, up the middle. So, still was at about half the snaps, but was extremely effective on them. And I do like in our preview with this, I felt the spines of each one of these defenses was just a lot weaker, uh, going into this game than in previous iterations of this matchup. That was true for the Chiefs. I thought that their safeties and just in general their pass rush, I also think was pretty lackluster in this one. Uh, and then the Bills spine of their defense, Cole Bishop was making a ton of plays at the safety position, and then they got a nice interception from Maxwell Hasting. So, I think the spines of the defense, I thought both of them were weaknesses.

And the Buffalo Bills, their spine of the defense just made more plays than Kansas City. Well, let's talk about that Bills defense because when you keep this Chiefs offense to 21 points, now that they're back to full strength, a Bills defense that had been questioned at different points this year. They were out.

Ed Oliver, who's arguably their best pass rusher up front, defensive tackle up front. We've talked about their linebackers, they're getting a bit healthier there, and their safeties had been picked on. You know, it's not the Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde days of it all. So, was this almost a perfect storm of everyone playing to their highest level? Because anytime I did catch this game out of the corner of my eye, Joey Bosa was doing something to Jawaan Taylor or Moore on the left tackle.

Yeah, Bosa made a really nice play towards the end of the game, forced the pressure, and that Mahomes on like a third and 10 kind of just like arm punted it, and that's where Maxwell, Maxwell Hasting, the rookie corner. So, like those two guys stepping up in a big, uh, moment, that was the only turnover of the game. Uh, but like you said, yeah, it was just Cole Bishop making some plays, and then Patrick Mahomes was just never, like, throwing the ball on time. Like, they, they drove the ball, uh, early. Rashee Rice had a nice wildcat touchdown. Kareem Hunt got his, uh, signature goal-line touchdown. Kelsey had some yards after the catch moments. Uh, each, uh, wide receiver had like one intermediate to downfield moment, but for throughout the entire game, it felt like Patrick Mahomes was just like, not working in rhythm as much as he typically does. I don't think that he played poorly, uh, but he was holding on to the ball for a lot of this. So, I want to go back and watch what the Buffalo Bills were doing in the secondary, just schematically, uh, on this, but we did not see, like, a crazy amount of Patrick Mahomes scrambling in this one. Uh, he only had, it looks like, uh, yeah, just five yards on the ground here as well. And it was the, the lowest completion percentage of Patrick Mahomes' career. So, the Buffalo Bills scheme was doing something right on the secondary. It's kind of hard to tell exactly what that is on, on the broadcast view, but on Saturday versus film, we'll both go back and watch that. But he just did not feel like he was in rhythm, and there was just, like, not as many back-breaking, uh, downfield plays, um, as we're used to.

Just to run through the stats there, Mahomes, like you said, 15 of 34, 250, one interception. I was expecting more rushing from him here as well. Just one carry for five yards when he's been.

Rushing more this season than he ever has before in big games or even small games.

Uh, Kareem Hunt, let's talk about this backfield because it's without Isaiah Pacheco. He gets 11 carries, 49 yards, and a one-yard touchdown run. Uh, and then Boston Smith, just three carries for seven yards and an over in the receiving department. Did that play out how you thought it would?

Um, they got Boston Smith one screen in the final quarter, and like, I think it might have even been their, like, second to final drive there, and it just went off the alignment's helmet, but he only played 12 snaps. So, Kareem Hunt played 47, uh, of 60 snaps. Boston Smith was just not trusted. Maybe wasn't expecting it to be that extreme, but the reality is, like, this was a playoff environment. Are you really going to use the seventh-round rookie versus Kareem Hunt, who they rode, uh, for the entire, you know, like, season basically last year. So, we'll see. I thought Kareem Hunt, like, played all right ball. Uh, nothing too crazy, but he did have a couple nice runs and finished one off at the goal line. So, I'm expecting, uh, Pacheco to miss another week or so, and I will be ranking Kareem Hunt, uh, as an RB2.

Okay. I do have a question because for weeks you have believed that the Kansas City Chiefs are the best team in the NFL. Now at five and four, and like you're saying, if the playoff started today, they would not be in it. They're third in the AFC West. Uh, coming up on their schedule next, it's the Broncos, the Colts, the Cowboys, and the Texans over their next four games. Uh, your current state of mind here on the Kansas City Chiefs?

Yeah, well, I mean, the two teams that they're facing next, the Broncos and Colts, have only lost two games the entire season. These are huge wins. Like, they're now, the Chiefs are going to have to win games on the road instead of in Arrowhead for the playoffs, most likely. So, the schedule's not easy for them down the stretch. Uh, like you mentioned, they're still an extremely good team, but the Bills, they were making some plays on defense, and they were not doing that in previous iterations. So, right now, the Buffalo Bills, uh, they keep getting them in the regular season, and then Patrick Mahomes goes into the playoffs and beats them. These two teams felt extremely even, and I think that Buffalo getting, like, Maxwell Hasting, like, I think that could be like a big player for them, just, uh, getting some juice. Uh, if Bosa was playing as well as he did at times here, that would be really nice as well, and then hopefully they get some defensive tackles back for the playoffs. So, I think, like, Ed Oliver's out for the regular season, that he's going to be due back. The Chiefs, they're still missing, like, a true edge rusher. And then I just think in general, their, like, secondary is not as good as it was. Like, when you had, like, McDuffie and Sneed, and they had quality safety plays, that's when, like, they were, like, a top three defense. I think this defense is, like, closer to maybe like 10th in the NFL, and that's largely driven around McDuffie and Chris Jones, who, who's still playing well, but maybe is not as lethal as he was a couple years ago. So, I think that's where, like, the Chiefs have come down a little bit of a step. Uh, but yeah, I mean, Josh was 23 of 26. I believe that was the highest completion percentage of his career, and Mahomes, that was the lowest of his career. So, I think you're just summarizing this game, what happened. Those kind of two offenses felt at a little bit more in rhythm versus less in rhythm.

This really is significant though for the Bills. Again, we talked about them on a weekly basis. We know the comeback victory they had in Baltimore, or I should say against Baltimore in week one, 41 to 40. Other than that, though, they, like, really hadn't played anyone that they'd beaten, right? They beat the Jets, the Dolphins, the Saints, and the Panthers after that. Then lost to the Patriots and the Falcons. So, the Chiefs are really the first one up there in terms of their next big victory after that Ravens game in week one. And then they play the Dolphins next week. So, like, if they can continue this trajectory, it is. Look, this Bills passing attack certainly is not perfect, but I do like that Joe Brady has altered what he even did last season with these three tight end sets. And you know, both, uh, Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid getting 30-plus snaps, then Dalton Kincaid popping in there as the receiver. Like, it really is James Cook, then Josh Allen making magic, and then utilizing this, like, trio of tight ends and weaponizing them in different ways that I guess that is the new wrinkle for what this team is in 2025.

And those two other tight ends are worth mentioning. Uh, Dawson Knox on a little play-action play, more of a designed play, gets him downfield for a 30-yard gain. And then Dalton Kincaid, that was more out of structure because of Josh Allen. He has an 18-yard gain. So, those are those only two receptions for those two other tight ends, but two explosives there. And then Dalton Kincaid catching six for six for 101 and one. So, yeah, it's really Khalil Shakir and the tight ends. Like, looking at Keon Coleman, two for 17. I can't even tell you what two receptions he had. He was like, largely quiet in this one once again. So, it's, it's a really unique, highly efficient offense that is winning with some explosives, but it's not like the huge aerial attack that Josh Allen could play with. This team, like, really does remind me of the Chiefs from, like, the last couple seasons where they were kind of like, is it a perfect offense? It's not, but it's a very tough offense to stop ultimately.

Now, I, I guess my point there is, who was their get-off-the-field player, you know, on defense? Can it be Joey Bosa? Because in previous years for the Chiefs, it has been Chris Jones to be that for them. So, uh, maybe someone from the Bills needs to step up and claim that role.

Last note, Jess, it was wild to see, and this is, I think, a hat tip to what the Buffalo Bills offense was. It was fourth and 17 with 14 minutes left in the game, and the Chiefs decided to go for it and of course just immediately converted it. So, it was not the greatest game for Patrick Mahomes, but that was him buying some time, running that Wasp play for a chunk gain there. So, that I think that aggressiveness, which is pretty much like, not, I don't remember seeing a team being that aggressive with that much time remaining. That's how nervous the Chiefs were that they were not going to be able to stop the Buffalo Bills. And I do not blame them whatsoever.

Well, we mentioned the Denver Broncos. Let's go there next because they are 7-2 now as they go into Houston and beat the Texans 18 to 15, which drops Houston to three and five on the season. Overall, this was an incredibly ugly game. Uh, let's open with C.J. Stroud. Early on, he had conversions of third and six, third and eight, a fourth and two before stumbling on a third and five. As a whole, on offense, they set up for, you know, a mid-range field goal and it misses. And in fact, Deno Autry has his 14th blocked kick of his career. 14 blocked kicks in Deno Autry's career. [laughter] That might be the craziest stat. Unfortunately, later on, uh, C.J. Stroud slides on a third-down scramble, gets hit legally in the chest, but as he's doing that, his head, his head smacks the turf, uh, and he exits with a concussion after being down on the ground. He doesn't even go in the blue tent. He just goes straight to the locker room and he misses for the entire game. Um, Bo Nix on the opposite end of that was absolutely dreadful for three quarters plus. I mean, at halftime, he was six of 17 for 76 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. I mean, the interception was absolutely horrible. Uh, Courtland Sutton looked like he was open down the field, but Bullock, a second-year player, almost looked like he baited Bo Nix's eyes and then cut in front of him for an easy interception. The touchdown also was quite easy. It was Courtland Sutton versus Derek Stingley in the first half, and Stingley just allows a free release. I think he's expecting help over the top. No help comes, and so it's just a lob touchdown over top of the cornerback. Um, I mean, even on third and 10, you could tell that Sean Payton wasn't feeling himself. Some Bo Nix today. He was calling these screen passes. They were getting batted down before even getting to the wide receiver. Then they were getting to the wide receiver, the wide receiver knew where to go.

Uh, yeah, I mean, even at halftime, Davis Mills had more yardage than Bo Nix. He was 10 of 14 for 87 yards. But then two key second-half drives told the entire story because the Texans couldn't score touchdowns. They had five field goals in this game. Five field goals. So, the first critical drive here for the Broncos. Third and seven conversion. I think his only catch of the game, our guy Pat Bryant, to start the fourth quarter when they were down 15 to 7. A couple plays later, a 29-yard downfield touchdown to R.J. Harvey. Looked like almost a choice route that he then kind of bended around the sideline. And now that makes R.J. Harvey, someone posted this, I'm going to just take their word for it. This is true, Hayden. R.J. Harvey is the first rookie running back with a receiving touchdown in three straight games since at least 1970. Okay, not bad. And then Troy Franklin gets in for the two-point conversion. So, the game is tied 15-15. You would think, oh, that's a launching pad here for this Broncos offense. No, it's not. Broncos then punt three more times and just over a minute to go. Uh, I think this one's headed to overtime unless the Texans can do something with it. But then Davis Mills and this Texans offense go three and out in just 24 seconds. So, with how bad Bo Nix had been throwing the football that day, Bo Nix just decided to scramble on this final drive with 50 seconds to go. He had a 25-yard, a nine-yard, and the Broncos walk it off with a 34-yard score. Just, I mean, a game to go, move on and take a win on the road here is impressive for the Broncos. We knew this one was going to be ugly. 18 to 15 kind of summarizes what I thought this was going to be. Just two defenses and struggling offenses in general. So, very curious about the Bo Nix stuff because I'm, I'm looking at it on throws of 20-plus more or 30-plus airs. They attempted seven of them. The Texans caught one. The Broncos caught none. So, they were trying to take some deep shots. That's just like, you know, the safety play, the edge rushers, and then having those corners out there. Did those feel like prayers, like kind of like how it was like as like a rookie when he was just like, just air mail it, or were these just like weird disconnections for the whole offense?

Well, you know, Marvin Mims was out for this game, so we didn't get those designed, you know, long passes, chunk gains to Marvin Mims, which is either that or screens. That's his entire role. Uh, I think Bo Nix after the game mentioned, "Hey, our entire goal was to move the pocket so the edge rushers couldn't get a beat on us."

Uh, yeah.

Like that seems to be the gameplay in every single game.

Y.

And there were numerous occasions where, once again, he can just set his feet and throw a normal quarterback pass, and instead, he wants to throw it off balance, and that just ruins the placement and the accuracy of these things. And then what the Texans were doing was, yeah, there were some open cavities here or there, and the screen at times, if you watch it from a broadcast angle, a wide receiver would look like they were open, and then a safety would just come in, and Derek Stingley even dropped another interception that was gifted to him on one of those downfield passes. So, it was just all around an 18 of 37 day here for Bo Nix for 173 yards, and the two scores, obviously, when the Texans can't put it in the end zone, changes the entire thing. I was stunned that J.K. Dobbins didn't get more work in this game. I mean, in the first half, he got eight snaps, R.J. Harvey got eight snaps, and then Tyler Badie got eight snaps, but at the time, J.K. Dobbins was averaging near like five yards per carry. He finishes 15 for 61, obviously no touchdowns on that. R.J. Harvey, we mentioned, he's actually the team's leading receiver with five catches for 51 yards and a score. Uh, I just think Sean Payton was quivering thinking about what Bo Nix was going to do against his pass rush all week, and they kind of played scared heading into it, and then how he played as the game opened kind of leaned into that concern that the coach had.

It is weird, man. Just because, like, you're describing an offense that you would think would be extremely run-heavy, and that they don't trust their quarterback, but that's just like not been the case for Denver this year. So, I don't know what their, like, identity of the offense is. It feels like it's just Sean Payton like trying to find mismatches on the whiteboard over and over and over again.

But then, like, the more he leans into that stuff, the better it works. And then when it doesn't work, then you're just losing downs on that stuff. And then you're also then not giving your quarterback an opportunity to maybe like get in the groove, as we've seen in other weeks where, like, in the first half has been terrible, and the second half he's, he's kind of gotten better. They do get the Raiders next week. So, you would like to think that's like an 8-2 record here for the Broncos. Zack Allen left in this game with what looked like an ankle or a knee issue. Hopefully, he is okay on top of that.

And then for the Texans here, uh, you had almost a 50-50 split between Nick Chubb and Woody Marks. 11 carries for one guy, 10 for the other. Chubb started the game. Woody Marks was in there quite a bit. He got three targets, zero receptions on them, too. Uh, Dalton Schultz had a nice 47-yard gain from C.J. Stroud before Stroud left. It was basically looked like Hank, but then he continued his stick into like this void that was created in zone coverage and then just kept running. And then Nico Collins certainly looked like he did more than the seven for 75 on 11 targets. But the end of the day, that's what happens again when you only score 15 points off of five field goals. Yeah, when I was watching this game early on, Nico Collins getting peppered. It just seemed like it just completely dried up once Davis Mills was in the game. So, we need C.J. Stroud back. How did the offensive line look? Obviously, you're facing Nick Bosa on these guys. Did it look like a complete train wreck, or did they seem like they're making a little bit of progress since, like, the beginning of September?

No, I, I don't think it was a complete train wreck at all. I mean, if I'm looking at the sacks, uh, C.J. Stroud was sacked two times. Davis Mills was sacked two times. They did use six offensive linemen on 12 plays today, but it kind of shows you.

I can't pinpoint a single one that worked in a massively successful way like I could have last week. Uh, their longest gain out of it was eight yards, and I think four or five of those plays equaled zero yards gained.

So, it just wasn't as successful in the whole conversation of that. If, if we also want, like, Christian Kirk had some early third-down conversions. If we want to say, which of the Iowa State wide receivers are sticking in these three wide receiver sets here for the Houston Texans, it's the one that no one wants to play in, Xavier Hutchinson, because I think Jaylen Null played like seven snaps in this game. Jaylen Higgins got one target, one reception for four yards. And then, yeah, Xavier Hutchinson is the one that once again gets five targets, three receptions, and 30 yards. For the last couple weeks, it's been Woody Marks and Nick Chubb like almost identically at 50-50, and then on the box score, once again, it's 11 carries versus 10 carries, and neither one really popping up as a receiver. So, it's just going to be a frustrating team for fantasy, where I think week to week, the only starter is Nico Collins, and then for if you're desperate, it's everybody else, and that's assuming C.J. Stroud's going to get back from concussion protocol. I thought he got hit in the elbow pretty good there, too. So, we'll be paying attention to the injury report. It's about like 50-50 if you return the following week with concussions right now.

Yeah. As a team, they were four of 18 on third and fourth down conversions today, the Houston Texans. Uh, and again, they are three and five at this moment. It was really cool that last week against the 49ers, they look back against the Ravens, they look back, but then like when they're facing these Seahawks teams and the Broncos, now they have the Jaguars coming up, too. So, uh, they need to start stringing some wins together if they're going to make the playoffs somehow.

But all the teams right here are the teams that are the wild cards in the AFC. The Bills, Chargers, Jaguars, then it goes the Chiefs, and then the Ravens are also in the mix. So, we're not talking about like scrub teams. They're not going to catch the Colts here. So, like, for them to make the playoffs, that means one of the teams that we also assumed was going to make it is not going to make it. So, right now, if you're looking at it, the Texans definitely an uphill battle right now, which is a complete waste of, was probably what the number two or three defense in the NFL.

All right, let's go to the big upsets of the weekend. The first one, a 9-point Minnesota Vikings team, underdogs on the road against the Detroit Lions, winning straight up 27-24. That brings this Vikings team to four-win. The Lions now five and three. But the headline that we have to discuss is J.J. McCarthy once again in the starting lineup. The first time since week two. Stat sheet reads 14 of 25, 143, two touchdowns, one interception, five sacks taken, nine carries, 12 yards, and a touchdown there. That seems a bit all over the place. Yeah. So, I'm excited for you to put this all into context because I'm sure on the screen it probably looked better than that.

Well, there were some clear pros and some clear cons. Number one, health-wise, he looked completely mobile. He, uh, was able to beat a guy to the edge and score a touchdown there. That was maybe one of his more, um, impressive plays. They were definitely trying to get him, uh, out of structure. They were doing some bootlegs and big play-action plays. Unfortunately, when he was throwing the ball out of structure, there was inaccuracies everywhere. He admitted after the game, this was not a perfect game by him by any means. Inside the pocket, when the plays seemed like a little bit more scripted, he was very, very efficient on them. That he was lucky to have Justin Jefferson making one-handed touchdown grabs. Uh, there were some nice sliding grabs from the team. T.J. Hockenson kind of sat, found a nice zone spot, uh, near the, near the goal line on a bootleg. So, that was the one play out of structure or out of outside the pocket where it was a conversion. But there was definitely kind of what they've been hinting at where the feet and then the accuracy, those two things are kind of tied together where there were some clear flaws here. And then on top of that, you take five sacks only on 14 pressures, too. So, that's a, that's a too high of a pressure to sack ratio in general. Just him getting a win here, like, this was by no means an easy win. Like, the, the Vikings defense stepped up. You had some nice starting field position for Minnesota here. Uh, you punched out a ball from David Montgomery. J.J. McCarthy, this was a win, so you got to give him a B. Was it a clean B? It wasn't. There were some pros, some cons here. Uh, I don't think that he put the team on his back, but he did enough. Uh, kind of a gutsy win. Um, and one that keeps him in, in the race for a wild card birth.

All right, let's talk it through. Um, first, let's go, I guess, to the wide receivers. I know Justin Jefferson on the opening drive had a sick one-handed touchdown. Yeah.

Did you see anything different from Jordan Addison here? I mean, his customary 30-plus yard gain on top of it.

Yeah. No, it was more of the Justin Jefferson stuff, and there were a couple throws where, just a more well-placed ball, Justin Jefferson picks up a couple more first downs. Uh, but did have that nice back-shoulder ball to Justin Jefferson, and then, uh, later in the game, on like the last drive of the game, Jalen Naylor, man coverage, kind of a big wheel route to the side, back-shoulder conversion. So, a couple of his completions were nice back-shoulder throws where his wide receivers were coming down with it. With Jordan, nothing really there. Um, only four targets on a team that I think is going to try to be balanced. I think is a little bit worrisome. And J.J. McCarthy is definitely going to use his legs, um, a little bit more than we've seen with the Vikings offense over the last couple years with Kevin O'Connell. And then hopefully J.J. McCarthy kind of settles in here, um, if they can find some other ways to win. So, anything in structure, I would say was solid for J.J. McCarthy. He had a nice scramble drill touchdown, which was nice for him, and then everything else was kind of mediocre.

Final question on the Vikings, then I'll ask questions here about the Lions. The backfield when Aaron Jones missed, Jordan Mason was a spot start for us in fantasy football. They got basically an equal amount of carries in this game and touches overall, but Aaron Jones took nine of his carries for 78 yards. Jordan Mason took his 10 carries for 36 yards. Is this one pulling even more in Aaron Jones's favor despite being banged up here?

Well, that's the problem. It was very clear. It was Aaron Jones in the first half, 24 snaps to Jordan Mason's eight, and Aaron Jones was looking good, and then later in the game, lands on his shoulder, has an AC joint sprain. So, it's one of those where it's deemed minor. I think that this is an injury that a lot of players do play through as long as the severity is not too crazy. Um, so I don't know. Like, he looked more explosive in this one, but you're also dealing with an older guy who's been dealing with a bunch of injuries, and in his second game back, picks up a new one. So, they desperately need him. Like, I, I feel like they're going to look at the J.J. McCarthy stuff and be realistic. They're going to want a nice balanced offense, get some nice easy completions. Now, when you have like those three pass catchers out there, like, you, that's already a good foundation there. Uh, but getting a good balance up front is going to be pretty key to that.

Okay, let's talk about the Lions because there was a lot to discuss heading into this one. Okay, first, Jared Goff had torched Brian Flores in previous seasons. Like, just for example, against the blitz, over his last couple games, Goff had completed 80% of his passes for nine yards per attempt versus Brian Flores. In this game, Jared Goff, when pressured by the Vikings, was six of 15, 71 yards, 4.7 yards per attempt, and was sacked five times. What was the difference? So, they did blitz him a lot. He completed a lot of them underneath, just did not get like the crazy explosive out of it. They had one nice pass to Jameson Williams, who caught the ball and then turned upfield and reached for the pylon. Uh, but this was one where, like, Amon-Ra St. Brown was making a lot of plays, was also kind of like getting off the turf a little bit slow. Was finished with nine for 97 because they were chasing points there. Uh, but you did not have, like, the crazy explosiveness except for the first drive, which we need to talk about this. Sam LaPorta was one of the best plays you'll see from a tight end, just working over the middle, catching it, and just absolutely dragged a couple defenders into the end zone. So, he started off completely hot. I think he had three receptions on that drive, including one of the best plays you'll see from them.

I thought Goff was like, all right. It just seemed like the pressure was actually getting home. The Lions had one of their interior offensive linemen leave on a cart, Mahogany. So, we'll have to pay attention to that one. Did not look good there. Uh, but yeah, the Vikings were doing something to slow down this offense. Like, the real big play, though, was David Montgomery out in space gets the ball, punched out, and that's just the turnover of the game, and that really did swing things a lot. And then the special teams were big here. The Vikings blocked a kick, um, that went back all the way for good field position. So, it was just one where, like, turnovers, penalties, and then special teams. You add all that up, and all of a sudden, it's now 27 to 24.

I wonder if Mahogany misses a while if they try to make a move for Zeitler in Tennessee to bring him back into this lineup to make a playoff push here. I'm looking at Jahmyr Gibbs, Hayden. Nine carries for 25 yards.

Yeah.

Three catches for three yards.

That is a total dud versus a Vikings run defense that had kind of been miserable this season.

Yeah. I can't explain that one. Like, there was just nothing about that I could explain. So.

Yeah, and the Jameson Williams touchdown at the end was quite nice. I understand some Vikings fans might argue that it was a push-off. Me, as someone that likes Jameson Williams, it's nice to see him, you know, catch a 37-yarder down the sideline.

There were some plays underneath there. He caught a screenplay that got blown up. There were a couple plays just underneath. Um, so the squeaky wheel, you know, was kind of in play.

But then they lose.

I know. [laughter] I know. I know. Yeah. It's one of those games. This is where the NFL is so hard because the Lions to me are still could easily win the Super Bowl, just like the Chiefs. These teams are also going to lose some games. And it just feels like one of these seasons where there's like, what, seven teams that we feel pretty good about, but all of them have some warts and can get upset by by a variety of different teams. So, the playoffs are going to be very difficult to predict this year. We are recording this during the Seahawks-Commanders matchup tonight, but that's who the Lions have next is the Commanders, then the Eagles, then the Giants, then the Packers, then the Cowboys, then the Rams. So,

Yeah.

You know, they're going to win a bunch of those games. They'll probably lose a couple on top of it, but it's an interesting one. Certainly was not expecting the Lions to lose in this outing.

Yep. All right. Agree.

Let's talk about the other massive upset. I mean, 13-4 to 15-point underdog. The Carolina Panthers were going into Lambeau Field, and now the Panthers are just the second team in the NFL since 1970 to have a winning record through nine games. Hayden, despite being an underdog in every game that they've played.

Wow.

Wow.

Shout out to Jordan Deen for that tweet on top of it. I mean, the Panthers 16-13. Uh, I mean, Packers entered this game seventh in red zone touchdown success rate, scoring a touchdown on 70% of their red zone drives. In this one, they opened 0 for four and finished one for five. What added up? Savon Williams fumbled on a wide receiver screen trying to fight for a few extra yards. Jordan Love interception on first and 10. This was deeper in his own half. Just for some reason threw it deep down the field with really swirling winds that affected both quarterbacks. And you go back and watch this, you'll see it.

Uh, it was triple coverage, and Trevon Moehrig basically catches it like a fair catch punt. Uh, then another turnover on downs in the fourth quarter as Jordan Love runs from one sideline to another and then lobs it up. This should have been a second interception that Mike Jackson could have returned for quite a while. And then again, their only touchdown was on the final drive of the game. Maybe even bigger news here for the 5-2 Green Bay Packers. Tucker Kraft almost certainly gone with a knee injury for the rest of the season. He was peeling out to block. Uh, the Panthers defensive lineman, some submarine an offensive lineman, and that offensive lineman then runs in, or I should say Tucker Kraft runs into the offensive lineman. His knee goes in the opposite direction. Matthew Golden also exited with a shoulder injury. Christian Watson missed a few series with a concussion test. So, while this Packers team has played a whole bunch of these names, they got to real crunch time, and it was Malik Heath and a bunch of random guys out there that they didn't know what positions to be in or what spots to be in when the pass was thrown. Um, and then on the Panthers end, hand up. Did not expect them to have a chance in this one. The sports folks were on my side, too. Did not think that it was going to be a tie enough game script for Rico Dowdle to once again carry this team for 25 opportunities, 130 yards, and two shortish-yard touchdowns. He dominated the work, and this is exactly what we wanted to see and exactly what everyone pleaded Dave Canales to do. He started the game, then got the second series. He got 25 carries in comparison to Chuba Hubbard's five. And that's while Hayden, Rico Dowdle was dealing with like a left groin thigh injury that he was trying to stun gun on the side over and over and over again. So, the Panthers have their formula, man. I mean, Bryce Young, 102 passing yards. They didn't want to, you know, try to pass protect this Packers pass-rushing unit and instead rely on the running game, defense, and also special teams on top of it to win this one on the road. I mean, yeah, this one is just so unpredictable. What a win for the Panthers who are, they got a winning record. They're five and four. That is crazy. Um, and could you just point to, like, coaching being a big difference here? Like the fact that Canales has like an identity, stuck with it against all odds, and then I think that we should have like some level of the floor conversation because it feels like they're doing a lot of maybe too many things at once, and it feels like their commitment to the ground game is a little bit unfair. And then Jordan Love's kind of the quarterback who is obviously very good, but sometimes you need to rein him in, and at like some point, are you just kind of like running the ball on second downs too much, throwing the ball downfield on short plays, and then all of a sudden you let a Panthers team who had like a, what, 10-20% chance of winning this game actually upset you.

Lots of good things to hit on there. Uh, the first one, let's talk about the Packers into this because actually, like, they were nine of 16 on third and fourth down conversions. So, in that regard, that is still successful, efficient football.

But I don't think that they have a running game that they can rely on between the 20s to effectively and efficiently move the football. I mean, Josh Jacobs was 17 of 87, but then they just kind of like go away from him in long stretches. I'm not sure if that's because, just zoomed out view, they believe their offensive line is more of a pass-blocking unit than a run-blocking unit, and they were getting a ton of holding penalties and just could not handle just the beef that is up front here on the Panthers defensive line with, you know, Derrick Brown and Turk Wharton and all these dudes. Uh, I mean, they had three or four holding penalties on top of that. And yeah, I mean, Jordan Love, you can't throw an arm punt on first and 10 when there are other times when you drift and drift and hold and hold and then perfectly lob a pass to Romeo Doubs over top of Trayvon Morg underneath and then ahead of other safeties over top. He makes just some fantastic throws, but then in other occasions, it's just nothing open, or I'm going to be too ambitious with this, and there's no like clear checkdown to, uh, that he wants to take and, and you know, have a gimme get out of jail free card.

But it's like, Savon Williams, I'm looking at that fumble, like, I assume that was because of the injuries. No, that was just like the first, their first drive.

Yeah, but they've been doing that, and they've been getting him like wide receiver or manufactured touch things. I think that's part of it too, is we've seen in previous seasons LaFleur have these sweet drawn-up plays. You know, it's been J'Mon Moore in the past. There was some Matthew Golden to it, and then I think they drafted Savon Williams to be that.

Um, you know, they tried to trade for Chase Claypool a couple years ago when the Bears actually offered a second-round pick, and maybe they view him in a similar light. I don't know, man. I just would hand the football off to Josh Jacobs a bit more often or throw him swing passes and those types of things. I will say they did try some of those swings, and then the Panthers are blowing them up on the edge at the same time. So, it, it's just an odd one. I, it, it's the Packers this season, um, have really played down to their opponent constantly, and I felt like, oh, this one's just inevitable. They're just keeping the Panthers into it, even though, like, this is one of the matchups like Sam White, who's a great follow on Twitter, pointed this out. Week three against the Browns, which, by the way, they ended up losing that one. The Packers scored just three first-half points. Week seven against the Cardinals, six first-half points. Week eight against the Steelers, seven first-half points. Week nine against the Panthers, six first-half points.

On many of those teams, you score a lot more in the first half.

And to me, they are one of the really good teams in the NFL, but now we're through nine weeks, and it's kind of a consistent theme where they really start at about 40% of what they can be.

Next game, they get the Eagles on Monday Night Football. That's just going to be a good test for the Packers because they're like, they're like the worst really good team in the NFL is maybe a way to put this. Like, they're just so inconsistent. I still really like them, but man, like, you, you can't lose to the Panthers and Browns in one season, um, and put up, and not like that there are some fluky plays here and there. It's like, no, you put up 23 collective points in those two games.

Right? And the other part of it is, you know, when you only drop back 20 times and only one sack for zero yards, like the ball's getting out so quickly, and that's the plan for the Panthers that Michael Parsons can't like have one of those game-changing moments of a sack fumble or whatever. Micah Parsons can't do that either.

Um, Dave Canales is kind of doing like the first season Brian Daboll stuff a little bit with the New York Giants. We're kind of winning on the fringes. I, I mentioned that by.

To to say.

They actually wanted the football. They won the toss and they wanted the football to open this game. They result in zero points because of an end zone interception. But he did that. He said after the game, it's easier to say this after the game when the game is close because he knew that the Packers were going to start in the first quarter with the wind at their back. So, you can score more points in the first. So, that in the fourth quarter would have given the Panthers wind at their back, which turned out to be pivotal here because they missed like a 43-yard extra point attempt because the kick was short, and then they win it with a 40-plus yard field goal with no time left with the wind in the opposite direction. So, it worked out in the end. Uh, it's just this is how the Panthers want to play. Like, when you have a better defense this year versus previous ones. Like, historically bad in previous seasons versus now, I would say average. You know, the pass.

The rushing unit isn't great. This is average to above average in any given game. That gives you the opportunity to win these close contests in fourth quarters. Like he did very little to win this one, but now on nine of his 11 career wins, Bryce Young has a fourth quarter or overtime game-winning drive in them. And this just extended in this one on the road, which the Panthers are terrible on the road against the Packers. I mean, it just blows my mind.

This one's nuts. Yeah. All right. Fantasy fallout for Tucker Kraft. What should we expect? Is it more Romeo Doubs? Is there any path to Christian Watson, Matthew Slater? It feels like we're still like a month away maybe for for Jayden Reed. So, somebody's got to step up. This offense is too good on average here for it just to be one guy.

I think a lot of people might immediately jump to Luke Musgrave. I think you and I have come to the conclusion that Luke Musgrave and Tyler Tucker Kraft are just totally different tight ends where Tucker Kraft has use of all of his limbs and like has functional movement whereas Luke Musgrave is almost too long for his own good and he's almost lanky and they just move differently, right? So yeah, to me Musgrave is more of a downfield type pass catcher and Tucker Kraft was a YAC type player. They're just running out of bodies here.

Matthew Slater had a really huge vertical target that I think he had both hands on and he falls on it and the ball goes flying and so it's incomplete. Christian Watson had now his 52-yard reception but then is in and out of the lineup too. And so it's Romeo Doubs just like everyone else. So I really don't have the answer to you. It just is going to remain Romeo Doubs and then if Christian Watson plays 80% of snaps, if they even want to play someone else, 80% of snaps, the football finds him when he's on the field.

Yeah, I think maybe the answer is we can't overlook Romeo Doubs anymore. Like this entire season he's been like pretty damn solid throughout and this is another one where you get 91 yards and easily pace the team in targets. So maybe it's like the answer is hey like Romeo Doubs is like a wide receiver two. Like we have to just like fully admit that.

And then final point here on the Panthers, um, Enrico Dattolo, hand up, was very nervous he wasn't going to get home here for multiple reasons. I mean, a 13-point underdog. And then at the same time, Taylor Moton basically being inactive from this game. Also, in the second series, they lose their backup to the backup to the backup starting right guard and Chandler Zavala. Uh, and yet he still does it. Uh, and then next week, it is the New Orleans Saints who just got run over by the LA Rams in their ground game today. So yeah, I think the Saints game and the Falcons game over the next two weeks could be even better than what we saw against the Green Bay Packers today. And it's just great that this is the first time with Chuba Hubbard active that it is so clear it is what Rico Dattolo did against the Dolphins and the Cowboys and that's where it's going to be moving forward.

Speaking of that Falcons team, let's go there because they kept it super close on the road in New England, but the Patriots win 24-23 and improved to 7-2 on the season. Hayden, where do you want to start? With Drake May, with the wide receivers, or is the entire focus going to be on the running back room here?

I mean, the story of the game was Drake London on the other side, but let's start with the winners. Let's start with the winners. The Patriots are now seven and two. So, we do need to start there. I thought that Drake May, for the most part, was playing really well. It was kind of everything, too. You had some out-of-structure plays, you had some downfield plays. He would also hit the checkdown. Um, but at the same time, he made a couple critical errors. He had a fumble that set up the Falcons to the five-yard line. There was an interception. So, there's a little bit more growing pains with Drake May here, but you still saw the explosiveness. Uh, early in the game, Kahan Booty leaves with a hamstring injury. They bring in Kyle Hamilton as the one-for-one replacement. Demario Douglas is still kind of in that slot role, but he makes the most out of it. So, in a part-time role, Pop Douglas on a couple different ways to get downfield and there's there's been more shot plays to Pop Douglas this year. So, you like think of like an undersized slot wide receiver. You're still getting some downfield looks to him. So you had like a wheel route touchdown, you had like an incomplete bootleg crossing route, and then there's like this other play where he just like caught the ball and then he was running out of after the catch for like six seconds just kind of weaving in and out of traffic. So he was the guy that stepped up the most. Stefon Diggs did have a nice zone yards-after-catch touchdown, which showed some speed there as well, uh, as Cardi B was sitting next to Robert Kraft, uh, up up in the booth. Um, nothing really crazy for the tight ends. Uh, and honestly, nothing too crazy from the running backs either.

So, to go to the running back corner, Trayvon Henderson was the lead back. Terrell Jennings did play some. Terrell Jennings did score a touchdown from the four-yard line. He also, I thought, showed some explosiveness on an 11-yard carry. Trayvon had, I think, an all-right game. They got him to the perimeter for a couple receptions early on in the game. Uh, forced a couple missed tackles, picked up a couple first downs there. Gave them the ball up the middle. Nothing like really going there. And that's just kind of been the story of the Patriots season. So, he finished with 18 touches in this one for over 80 yards. I thought he played fine. There's one pass protection issue in this, but largely Trayvon was was all right. I thought they got him to the perimeter a couple times. Uh, and one of them got completely blown up for like a negative eight-yard rush. So, I thought the game plan in general was strong for the Patriots. Another nice win for the Falcons. And really, they had no answer for Drake London. Did not matter who was who was defending him. So, I think it was like a nice quality win for the Patriots, but one that probably felt maybe a little bit closer than we expected.

Just quickly on the running backs since that was such a discussion heading into it. Trevon did play on 51 of 68 offensive snaps, which then kind of leads me to a point of Terrell Jennings getting 11 touches on 17 snaps is pretty outrageous.

He's a hammer. He's a hammer. Like, that's just kind of how he was. He was up the middle and then obviously I mean he's 225 pounds and Trayvon's like maybe 200 pounds. So there's there's a size difference there. Um, yeah, it's just kind of there's like no like good comparison. Like this was not how the Patriots have been using the running backs at all. Trayvon was still like the lead back, but you'd get him more to the perimeter than like a typical guy.

To me, that's really good and smart for this team because from guard to guard, this is one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL. Then last week, what he rushes for 70-plus yards, mostly on the edge, and then here he goes 55 yards, probably mostly on the edge. And like you said, this is the most receiving chops he's had in a single game with four catches for 32 yards. So, I didn't get to see any of it. Uh, I just wonder now that that becomes quite predictable and we'll see, you know, how long, if he is at all, Stevenson's out with his toe injury. I'm assuming it's turf toe, but we'll see. Yeah.

Um, so at least they know where the quality and explosive runs can be, but at the same time, you can't just do that over and over and over again against every single opponent.

Yeah, but it's one of these things where it's I think part partially falls on Trayvon, but also something we talked about. It's just the run blocking is not good enough. So you're just like trying to get these guys in space. Do you see like a lot more like lead blockers where Trayvon's like staying patient, getting the permission, stay patient, and then finally burst upfield once he finally feels space. And then the one that went for negative yards, that was Will Campbell and M. Hollands, they both kind of just missed their guy and all of a sudden now those perimeter runs are also could be negative eights. So you have to live with all that stuff. So I think the best plays was quick catches out in the flats, make the first guy miss, get a first down. And I think those are that's what you want to see. Like that's needs to be the absolute baseline for Tayvon and he at least hit that today.

Yeah, I think maybe in like seven of nine games this season the Patriots have had the same offensive line and so you would like to think that they could gel a bit more, um, because there are some talented players up there. It just hasn't gelled as run blockers and even as pass protectors, obviously you get Miles Garrett five sacks last week and then Hayden in this one, it's six sacks. So Drake May is just kind of unfazed when it comes to these sacks and they can still win, but, you know, that's 11 sacks in two games combined here.

Yeah, remember their center is the guy that the Vikings, I mean, completely changed their entire offseason because he was their center and that's who the Patriots have.

All right, let's talk about a heroic Falcons performance from Drake London. Nine receptions, 118 yards, three touchdowns. Uh, especially in comparison to once again Bijan Robinson getting totally stuffed in the running game. Back-to-back, if not more than that, weeks just 12 carries for 46 yards. Does add 50 yards and eight catches in the air, but this was the Drake London show. And you know, Darnell Mooney pops up for one catch for 15 yards.

Who cares about Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts and everybody else? This Drake London game will go down as one of the best wide receiver games of the season. It was not just like receptions like, oh, there's he is again, zone and another reception. No, it's like dunking on Christian Gonzalez down the field who left the game because of the physicality of Drake London. Jump ball touchdowns. You had two of them there. Out route with a one-handed catch. You had sliding catches on the sideline. It was just I knew where the ball was going every single time. So did the Patriots. And they couldn't do anything about it despite investing in so much, like just dollars this offseason with their defense. So Bijan, luckily he played 54 of 56 snaps like as like the 98% snaps, but they could not run the ball. They were using some like kind of pony personnel. He handled all of the carries for the most part. They didn't go anywhere. But Bijan was a total handful in the receiving game as well. He had a crazy one-handed catch like in traffic. That was a contested catch with one hand, just comes down with it. Like some stop routes. You get some wheel route stuff. Um, so Bijan was way more effective through the air. Had 10 targets in this one. Kind of like a Christian McCaffrey game from earlier on this season, but it was all Drake London physicality-wise. Michael Penix, he still feels off to me. Like whenever I just watch him, it just, maybe it's just I can't get over his release and like how how it looks, but outside of this the pocket, the ball is just kind of not pinpoint. Even when he completes some of these passes, it's just maybe another more accurate quarterback, there would be more yards after the catch ability. So Darnell Mooney is a full-time player, the ball doesn't go to him. Kyle Pitts for the last couple weeks has been like semi-involved in the offense, but just not getting those like big yardage catch opportunities. Uh, but by far the best player in this game, period, was Drake London. He was a total handful.

I can't wait to watch that one tomorrow. Okay, we don't need to do this every single week, but just a quick state of the union here for the Patriots. I mean, seven and two, first place in the AFC East. One, do you think there's a chance for them to hold on? Because this schedule that they have is unreal good this season, right? And it makes sense. You finished last in your division last year, plus the divisions you get to face this year. It's cake. But you can only play the teams that are in front of you. And really the only team that's in front of them coming up in the next four is the Buccaneers this week on the road. If they win that one, Hayden, then it's the Jets, the Bengals, and the Giants after that. So some really fun stuff here in the next four weeks for the Patriots.

On December 14th, they host the Buffalo Bills that I think will largely decide the division and tiebreakers and all that. As a reminder, they've already beat the Buffalo Bills. So it's like more pressure on the Buffalo Bills. Um, because if the Patriots sweep, then not only did they pick up another game in the division, now they like for sure have the tiebreaker as well. So that's going to largely decide it. They are a playoff team. The defense is very good. Like we always talk about it. You can't run on them like immediately. You can't run on them and then now you're dictating that you're going to have to pass the ball and Christian Gonzalez and Vrabel and stuff, you have like enough pieces back there. So they're still trying to figure out a linebacker and safety. Um, but they got like one high-end corner and a run defense that stops everybody. So, like that's a recipe that you can kind of work with.

All right, let's quickly go over to the LA Rams who are 6-2 as they totally demolish the New Orleans Saints 34-10 in Tyler Shuck's debut. I guess we can quickly start with the Saints since that's I guess somewhat of a storyline with Shuck. Uh, they open with three three-and-outs in the first quarter. They had a total of 12 yards in the first quarter. Three plays, nine yards. Three plays, negative six yards. Three plays, nine yards. In fact, their first scoring drive was because Taysom Hill had the opening three snaps of that drive and three straight Wildcat plays. Um, now that's not to say that Tyler Shuck didn't make some throws throughout the entire game. He had two nice over routes outside the numbers in rhythm, 20-plus yards. One to Chris Olave, one to Rashid Shaheed. He actually, his first touchdown pass in the NFL was to Juwan Johnson, and they were actually teammates at the University of Oregon. One guy is what, in his sixth year, and one guy is in his rookie year. Um, but yeah, they were down 34-10 on those nice over routes. And then, you know, this game was really over when Taysom Hill bounces a pass or a run, I should say, to the edge and Emmanuel Forbes, who is what, 150 pounds, form tackles him to the ground one-on-one.

Oh boy. And then that same drive, a fourth and one, after Tyler Shuck had made these passes, Taysom Hill comes in and just gets totally stuffed. And then on a fourth and four to close it out, guess who has the interception? Former first-round pick, drafted ahead of Christian Gonzalez, Emmanuel Forbes on top of it. So the Rams were all over Tyler Shuck. What a disastrous first performance to try to have. Only sacked one time, but you saw some skittishness out there and he finished 15 of 24, 176, one touchdown, one interception. And I'll add that yes, Alvin Kamara, six of 14, and a fumble on.

Oh boy. Yeah. Okay, so a couple things for the Saints just looking at the box score. You hit me with some good stuff there. First of all, looking at the rushing box, wanted to check, they had a seven percentile success rate running the ball. That is the zero zeroth percentile across all offenses dating back the last 20 years. Like you cannot, you cannot pick up a successful run on one of 14 attempts. And that was with Taysom Hill, which I'm assuming was some Wildcat. You cannot run the ball under center with your running backs right now.

So Eric McCoy, we knew was out. Yeah. Fuaga left this game too, and we'll see if he's out for a week or more. And then I think Cesar Ruiz was also kind of in and out of this game. I mean, you could literally see the Rams defensive lineman just like, yeah, feasting on this. Byron Young even had a sack on on the touchdown. Byron Young had an ideal sack that would have forced them into like a second and 16, but it was too clean of a hit and too clean of a run where it goes helmet-to-helmet and they get a personal foul penalty and that ends in a touchdown. Okay, second note for looking at the box score. Rashid Shaheed, who's probably going to get traded in the next day or two, correct? Finishes with nine targets, a team high, is the leading receiver in all categories. Now you're going to remove him from the offense. So now we're down to like one starting lineman, and now you're going to probably trade Rashid Shaheed. Tyler Shuck, I'm sorry, dog. You have no chance. You're throwing this is a preseason offense.

It's really that simple. And I will add that Rashid Shaheed once again missed on a 30-plus yard touchdown pass in this game too.

He's praying he goes to Buffalo. Yeah, I mean, Tyler Shuck is starting the rest of the way. Apparently, uh, they had, I think, turned the football over seven times over the previous two games. So, I understand Spencer Rattler, but at the same time, on a series-by-series stuff, Spencer Rattler to me would have done a better job in this game than Tyler Shuck. But that doesn't matter at this point. Like one guy gets seven games started, the other guy's going to get nine, 10 games started, and then that's just what the NFL season is going to be for this Saints team.

Okay, on the Rams end, there's a lot to discuss here. First of all, Puka Nacua had an incredible touchdown catch where he basically motions almost into the backfield in his half-speed, then gets up to full speed immediately. Runs basically an out-and-up, beautifully thrown pass by Matthew Stafford, catches it and in leaping to the front pylon and somehow someway is inbounds on that catch. Demarcus Robinson has five catches, six yards, and two touchdowns. Hayden, he, I believe, if I'm reading this tweet correctly from PFF, seven catches this season inside the red zone, seven touchdowns.

That's his role in this offense. The first one was on just a quick slant, probably on a run play, easy money. The second one almost like a fake slant turning into a fade, and then the corner is not even within two yards from him, and it's a goal-line play. So, this is just an awesome duo. The only hold-up here is Puka Nacua did leave with a chest injury. He landed on the football very awkwardly over the middle of the field. I think it actually might have been a running play. Anyways, um, I think Sean McVay postgame said that Puka could have come back if the game was tighter, but that is not what you want to see from someone who was just coming back from an injury entering this game and already looked awesome.

Yep. Players that get the ball a lot over the middle get injured a lot, but he's a tough son of a gun. I'm expecting him to be out there when they play the 49ers next week. You've been on this one early. No one really mentions the Rams as the best team in the NFL. They certainly have their case. We're talking about chemistry, an elite play caller. Matthew Stafford's playing like a top-five quarterback. He's like on pace for a million yards. I saw a no-look dig route that he completed over the middle, which is insane stuff. I mean,

28 yards. He's playing, he's playing the game differently than the other quarterbacks. He can't move, but he's so lethal through the air. You got multiple pass rushers. It's not just Jared Verse. You, me, we keep mentioning Byron Young for right reasons. And they're adding secondary pieces, too. Like, I don't know. This team feels extremely spicy.

They're very good. And, you know, Matthew Stafford is more fantasy relevant this year, it feels, than previous years because of Demarcus Robinson and these red zone touchdowns.

I mean, he has four touchdowns today. We mentioned the ones to Puka, the two to Demarcus, and then he had another one to Tyler Higbee when he was wide open off of a third-and-one play-action pass. The backfield I think is worth talking about here, too. Again, they combine Kyren Williams and Blake Corum for 38 carries for 172 yards. They both look awesome. Kyren Williams, 25 carries, 114 yards, a goal-line touchdown. But Blake Corum opened the second half of this game with the first six touches. Um, I think that was just his series, but it's very cool that they didn't even just reset and they trusted him. And Blake Corum, you know, had a run of 21 yards, had another one of like 12 yards. Really good backfield here. And the offensive line keeps getting like a bit healthier with Rob Havenstein back and all this type of stuff. So this is a really, really complete offense that they have. And, uh, they're even utilizing these three tight ends like other teams are too with Terrance Ferguson, Davis Allen, and Tyler Higbee all having 37-plus yards and/or a touchdown.

Then even Colby Parkinson, two catches for 10 yards. I mean, that's.

Four tight ends, multi-four tight ends with multiple catches in a game. That's hard to do.

Uh, good team. Really, really good team. Okay. Yeah.

Let's do a save then for the Rams because they're six and two. I mean, it's coming up here for them in the NFC West. It's the 49ers and the Seahawks over the next two weeks. So that will define a lot heading into, I don't know about week 11, week 12 for the Rams. The Cincinnati Bengals made records in week nine, but not the way that they wanted to. In fact, they are the first team to score 38-plus points in back-to-back games and lose both since the 1966 New York Giants. Bentley Wiseman, let's talk about it because against the Bears today, they lose 47-42. After after taking the lead with just a little bit to go and then in heartbreaking fashion, some might say quitting fashion, the defense allows a 50-yard touchdown pass to Cole Kmet up the middle. Two broken tackles and the first-round pick tight end makes his mark on this Bears team as they improve to five and three on the season.

Yeah, it was one of the more wild games I've ever watched. I mean, anybody who played defense today on that game should not be getting a paycheck. It was it was an embarrassing performance, but you know, offensively though, a lot of exciting things from a Bears standpoint. You know, guys, this is why you hire Ben Johnson. I think it was a masterclass by Ben Johnson today. His run game stuff was outstanding. And then he he was just in his bag, you know, Caleb Williams, they had him out catching passes from DJ Moore. They had a reverse to DJ Moore. I think he scored a touchdown. They had a double quarterback pass where they lined up Tyson Bagent out wide. Caleb threw it to him. They threw it back to Caleb and Caleb looked like a running back. I mean, Ben Johnson was just having fun out there. I think he knew the Bengals defense wasn't going to put up much of a fight and he just wanted to show off and it was a really fun performance by the Bears offense.

Okay, we'll take this one at a time because going through a series by series stuff when there are 89 points scored would be pointless here. So, okay, let's first go through the running department because this was a breakout performance for Khonai, a player I've been really excited to see despite him being, you know, a seventh-round rookie. You could just see it, Brentley, from the preseason as the weeks went along. He got more and more comfortable, not just as a runner, but also as a pass protector. And in this game that he was given the entire responsibility, he responds for 26 carries, 176 yards to go along with three catches for 22 yards. From your eyes, how did he look?

He looked outstanding. Like straight up outstanding. So I remember he first kind of got some action in the Patriots game a few weeks back and we were talking, hey, like he looked pretty good. Like he might get some more carries. And obviously today with Swift being out, we saw what he could do. I mean, he is a bruising, physical, explosive downhill runner. Has some more wiggle to him than than you'd think. He makes a couple guys miss. Was able to get to the edge and beat the linebackers with just pure speed. Hayden, you know, he reminds me of a Melvin Gordon. Like, that's kind of the way he runs.

Just physical, kind of north-south, upright, but has some explosiveness. Like, I think he's going to be a part of this offense no matter if Swift's healthy or not. I mean, like today was no fluke. He looked really, really good.

Hayden, I guess the question is, did he get Wally Pipp'd in terms of Jan who had looked really good over the last couple weeks since the bye week? They figured out as we talked about the left tackle blocking in Benard, the right tackle when Darnell Wright was moving people more and more of these edge runs and DeAndre Swift where we had not previously been fans of, we have been in these past two weeks, but I know it's against the Bengals, but this is one of those performances for Khonai that raises some eyebrows.

It's possible. He was already at about 50% of the snaps the last couple weeks, but that was with Swift kind of playing through these injuries. Here's a prediction for you. I can guarantee Swift plays next week. He's not going to watch this performance and stay on the sideline for much longer here. So, I think it'll be back. They'll probably give Swift, you know, kind of what we saw with the Panthers and let's see who can win out. Did it is a good caveat. The Bengals have been the worst rushing defense in the NFL by a million miles. And once again, that proved it here. But McNung is a real player. Like, he's a real physical kind of bruiser. More David Montgomery than Gibbs. We're going to get there. But the Bears have been successful enough on offense where they can get some positive game scripts and they're pretty balanced in general and you start getting more of the Ben Johnson like here we go kind of plays as the offense kind of filters out the bad stuff that they don't want to do. And I I can see both guys being relevant. And look, I I was giving Ryan Poles when he didn't really draft a running back until the seventh round where they had all this money and didn't spend it on Rico Dattolo or anyone else with this goal of Ben Johnson to have a running game of a Gibbs-Montgomery style thing. And it has kind of taken, I guess, really until week seven for it to work out. And then here in week nine, we probably seen the best of what DeAndre Swift is in this offense and now the best of what Khonai. And they get the New York Giants for the next game, too. Another defense that has been run on this season. So, that's a really nice tandem.

Okay. Yeah. Brenley, now we have to talk about the passing game here from the Bears because four different people threw passes. Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, DJ Moore, and Kmet all threw a pass. But Caleb on the day, 20 of 34, 280, three touchdowns, only sacked twice. He had five for 53.

How did he look overall? And then I'll go into the pass on top.

So, I thought Caleb, at least in the first half, was a little spotty. He had some throws he could want back. He had the bad delay of game at the goal line. And then just a kind of consistent erraticness in the pocket, you know, spinning around when he feels the rush for no reason instead of stepping up. Just kind of that normal stuff, right? But then as the game went on, you saw him really get comfortable. Just started delivering really good balls down the field. He made some ridiculous throws on the run. I mean, you really kind of saw the talent that makes him so, you know, highly regarded as a prospect. He really put it on show today. Um, so I thought overall he played really well. Again, there was some things he'd want back, but I thought today was one of the better games he's had as a pro. I thought today was really impressive again defense, but I thought overall very, very impressive game by Caleb Williams. I'm looking at his pressure numbers and when he was pressured, his time to throw was at 5.8 seconds. So that is a man running for his absolute life. But when he was not pressured was completely dicing him up. So I haven't watched this game in its entirety, but that's kind of like what you want from a first-rounder is like you're kept clean. We're running the offense. When shit's going down, well guess what? I'm creating some outside the pocket as well. And, um, it was cool that it was going to all the other guys. I'm looking at the Roma stuff completely left left away. But that's kind of a good sign that everything else in the offense is kind of clicking that you can go put up 47 points when your wide receiver one throws up a dud.

So let's talk about those pass catchers because Cole Kmet finally, six for 118 for two scores. I was a huge Cole Kmet guy. I know Hayden was by the reaction, I'm assuming you were as well. Yeah. Um, and I think Kmet missed last week and then left this game about midway through. So maybe this Cole Kmet stuff is here to stay, not to this degree, but you guys know what we mean. Then DJ Moore, who has been incredibly erratic this season, four for 72. Alimontez Jackson, 6 for 58 and one. Caleb Williams, two catches, 22 yards and a touchdown.

A second one. And then you have to go all the way down to a top 15 scoring wide receiver this year and Darnell Mooney, three targets, zero receptions, zero yards. Brenley, yeah, you can only watch what was on broadcast. We can't go back and watch, you know, the all-22 here. How the heck does that happen?

Yeah, you know, it's it's odd. Um, obviously Darnell Mooney and and Caleb have shown great chemistry, you know, throughout the season, but he just wasn't a part of the offense. And then obviously when Cole Kmet went out with a concussion late in the first half, it was Cole Kmet's show, you know, and they they were featuring him. He and Caleb had a really good chemistry. He was working the middle of the field, which is the Bengals weakness, and he was just eating, you know, Cole was just eating. And, you know, DJ Moore is also a big piece of the offense as well today. And so I think it speaks more to Caleb's willingness to spread the ball around rather than try to force feed to Darnell Mooney. Again, without seeing the all-22, I don't really know if he was getting logged up by DJ Turner. I know Hayden, you posted about him this week. I'm not sure if that was the case necessarily. Um, but but yeah, I I think it should be a positive in terms of the Bears overall offense that they can have this big of a passing game explosion without doing it because I mean he's he's one of their if not their best receivers. So, um, very, very strange indeed though, I'd say. Yeah, this just goes into the what the Bengals splits have been the entire year where they've been by far the worst defense against running backs and tight ends. Like they've been giving up more like it's like 18 fantasy points to tight ends before this game. Now Cole Kmet hit him with another about 20. But against wide receiver ones in the offense, they've actually been like pretty stable. And the DJ Turner stuff, I do think is like a big part of that.

So that's too big of a simplification here. But those do kind of follow the trends of what the Bengals have been so bad. And you mentioned it, throwing the ball over the middle. Their linebackers and safety group right now is so horrific over the middle. And that's where I mean the last play, the Cole Kmet stuff. I mean, there was three guys that could have made a play there and none of them.

Jordan Battle was pathetic. He was so bad today. Yeah, maybe we should look out for the sacrificial X stuff here against this Bengals defense with DJ Turner. Let's talk about the Bengals offense.

Joe Flacco with a hurt throwing shoulder, 31 of 47, 470, four touchdowns, two interceptions, three sacks. Uh, we talked about heading into this one where, you know, the Bears were allowing downfield passes and T. Higgins definitely took advantage of that. 17.3 yards per average per catch. Seven receptions, 121 and two scores. And I know he just totally ripped away an interception turned into a touchdown turned into a cornerback ending up on the bench as T.J. Higgins is trotting into the end zone.

Yeah, I mean, Tee's a freak. That catch on the sideline where he completely mossed that defender was unbelievable. I mean, I think he, he got, he ended up getting hurt on one of the last plays when the Bengals were had the ball. So, that's a bummer. So, you got to monitor that. But, he was balling today. But, but Joe Flacco, you know, like I know everyone's going to talk about the Bears and them winning the game, but we, I don't want this to get lost. Like Joe Flacco was freaking outstanding today outside of one bad pick in the goal line, which man, Edwards made a great play, and then he had one fumble. Flacco did. He was phenomenal. I mean, just standing in the pocket, delivering strikes down the field. Like none of this was fluky. It was like legitly just standing tall, surveying the field, and throwing darts. Like it was unbelievable to see. Um, so he's just a fountain of youth, continuing to ball out. And yeah, the Bengals offense just explosive. You know, Jamar Chase had a good game. Andre Young had a good game. Chase Brown was eating underneath as a check as a checkdown running back. Just overall, I mean, they they were doing whatever they wanted through the air all game.

Yeah. I mean, it's been a month now. Like, this is what we should be used to. It's like a very, very similar offense to the Joe Burrow stuff. Like, it sounds crazy saying that, but the numbers are like right there. And because Tee Higgins and Jamar Chase are both fully healthy. Did want to just like quickly hit on the Bengals and like they have some decision points. They're now three and six. The trade deadline's looming. They have players like Trey Hendrickson that they can move.

Like, what's even the point? Like Joe Burrow, there was like a report that maybe he can come back in December. Honestly, for what? Like why? Like this team's given up 31, 39, 47 points in the last three games. It's been 48s and others, 37s and others. Like, like what exactly are we are we doing here with Cincinnati? Like for fantasy, we can have our fun. They're going to beat some decent teams down the stretch, but like for Trey Hendrickson, the Joe Burrow stuff, they have some actual decisions to make. And like my my kind of thought is just what, what's the point? Like this is a fantasy football offense.

Yeah, I'm not sure if you guys saw, but Underdog NFL reposted this from Mike Petralia, who works for ESPN 15:30 in Cincinnati. Quote, "Several Bengals defensive linemen's laughed, caught you on Monday or declined to speak when asked about the defensive performance in Sunday's loss in the locker room that included and he called them out. Samara Stewart, Jordan Battle, TJ Slayton, Chris Jenkins, Myles Murphy were among players mentioned. Chase Brown did talk to the media and he was basically like, what the f was going on with the defense in that performance." I mean, like you said, hey, did points are fun to me. I would rather watch like a 18 to 24 good defense contest versus like, oh, tackling is questionable here. And every single series ends with a touchdown. But that's just me.

Yeah, Jamar Chase had some words, too. He's like, I don't want my defensive teammates to yell at me, but I'll leave it at that. It's like, oh my god. I mean,

It's justified. It's justified. If I was, I'd be pissed too. It was pathetic. Because it's it's one thing just to be bad like when you're just like not tackling, you know, like the game's on the line. Your offense has put up 42 points and then Cole Kmet just works over.

Stop. You got to tackle him. Just tackle with one guy. Like I would get it. There's like effort. There's a culture issue going on in in Cleveland or in Cincy. It's it's bad.

And you know, they fired Lou Anarumo, brought in Al Golden. Lou has, you know, made a Super Bowl with his defense and overperformed his schemes. Al Golden has been part of really good defenses at the college level and has coached in the NFL for a long time as a position coach. It's probably just the players, you know.

Yeah, it is. I will say though, depending on how many points or how many more wins they get here. Are we going to make a change like head coach? Like this is like getting close to like losing the locker room. This is like a lot of statements and stuff. Obviously, Zac Taylor deserves like a pretty long leash. He actually was at the Super Bowl. Talk about the Bengals here. But you start losing the locker room and it's like the same problem for your entire tenure. Like at some point, like something needs to give.

Yeah, it's just the way they're losing, you know, and we can move on, but yeah, it's just the way they're they're losing. It's you don't want to lose Zac Taylor because I think he's a really good offensive coach and clearly look, look how they're that unit's playing. But when they're losing the game on defense, and again, it's it's missed tackles, it's broken assignments, it's mental errors, like that's a reflection on the coach. So, there's going to be some tough conversations.

Speaking of losing, this would have been a disastrous loss for the Jacksonville Jaguars out of a bye. But in overtime, they beat the Las Vegas Raiders 30-29 and improved to 5-3 as the Raiders go for two after the Jaguars scored a touchdown in OT and the pass is batted down at the goal line to a wide-open Tyler Lockett from Geno Smith. There's a number of areas we can go in for this, Brenley. I think number one, yeah, we probably do need to start on the Raiders end as Brock Bowers finally returned to the field without a knee brace.

And in the fourth quarter of this game, just totally took over. And in overtime, 13 targets, 12 receptions, 127 yards, and three scores. Brenley, you watched it. So did I. He was just ripping the football on these off-target, pinpoint passes from Geno Smith. His hip, his one-handed touchdown, just stronger than everyone and winning after the catch.

Just an unreal performance from the second-year tight end that we have just kind of been robbed of six or seven games so far this year.

I mean, yeah, he changes this whole offense. I mean, one, like we know how good he is as an individual player, like his talent, his run-after-catch ability, like his balls, his hand skills, like all of that is outstanding. However, like the way they play offense when he's on the field, this is the best they can be. They want to live in 12 personnel, have Trey Tucker and Kobe Meyers, and then run the ball with Ashton Gentry. Like, this is the offense that we all thought we were going to get in the offseason. Obviously, with Brock Bowers' injury, it's been a sluggish start, but if they can be this moving forward, like this is a real potentially good unit. Like, I thought I was I was really impressed today. Michael Mayer with what they were able to do with him was I thought was really impressive. I think he had the second most targets on the team. And so with Brock Bowers now in the fold, like this unit itself is actually pretty respectable in my opinion. But yes, ultimately monster, monster game by Brock Bowers. I mean, my goodness.

He was running away from everybody, which was like super refreshing to see. We just didn't know exactly with that PCL bone bruise injury. Like those things linger like we've seen, but he's completely over it. And what you said about the offense, the entire offense did change. They were in two tight end sets for the entire game. Both rookie wide receivers, that's Thornton and Bess, did not play a single snap the entire game. So they lived in 12 personnel and then Tyler Lockett was the third. And it's just like, all right, who do we trust? And I'm sure that the, you know, Chip Kelly and Pete Carroll were like, "All right, I don't trust all these other guys too much. Trey Tucker and these rookies. We're going to feature Tyler Lockett and our former first-rounder and that's what we're going to do." And it did feel pretty refreshing.

We'll get into the positives of the Jaguars in a second, but Brenley, this also felt like the terrible pre-snap bowl between these two teams where the operation for both of them all season long has been miserable. They seem kind of unprepared in a lot of situations. And also just some individually dumb moments on top of it. Yeah, where Travon Walker gets kicked out of this game for punching, um, I think Stone Forsythe or someone on a field goal, which for absolutely no reason. And then with 6 and 12 minutes to go as the Las Vegas Raiders are up 16-13, it should be like second and 14 at the Las Vegas Raiders' 41-yard line and Devin White just shoves a Jaguar in the face, I think at Hunter Long or someone for absolutely no reason. And so that gives them a 15-yard penalty and automatic first down and they go in to score a touchdown and take the lead on that drive where it would have been, with how the Jaguars offense was playing to that point, a field goal or a difficult touchdown drive on top of it. So like the coaching issues have been there and like some of the individual performances look good like Geno Smith finally scoring four touchdowns, but watching it up close, Brenley, it still seemed like it was a mess on multiple fronts here.

Yeah, it was a mess. I I don't have it in front of me, but I'm pretty sure the Jags are like one of, if not the leading teams in penalties. Like, they're just completely undisiplined, and I think that's really a reflection of Lee and Cohen. And then, yeah, on the Raiders front, I mean, just the untimely penalties were so backbreaking throughout the game. I think they were on the goal line and then they had a false start. It's like, what are we doing here, you know? Um.

But yeah, very sloppy game. I I think if ever a game should have ended in a tie, it probably was this one. Neither of these teams actually deserve to win. I was rooting for a tie, but u very sloppy.

Oh, you got it. I have to I have something different. Uh and I was just going to close out here with Ashen Genty. 13 carries, 42 yards. Really nowhere for him to go. He did have like a long run of 13. If you eliminate that one, Brenley, he's just getting stuffed over and over and over again by this Jaguars front unit. But he does add finally. I mean, imagine this ship, Kelly. You could have been doing this from week one. Five catches for 47 yards and a touchdown instead of throwing the ball to Dylan Lowby in the first couple games of the season.

Okay, the Jaguars endly. We know Travis Hunter was getting a bunch of coach speak that he was going to be this team's new wide receiver. One, pass his phone in his direction. We know now unfortunately he's out for at least four weeks if not more. Then Brian Thomas Jr. just three catches for 55 yards. His final catch though of 34 yards is some of his best work. Making people miss, catch over the middle of the field, then he goes down with an ankle injury and basically doesn't play for the rest of of the game. And so you win, but I guess at what cost here because this Jaguar team in the end was throwing to the likes of Parker Washington, Tim Jones, and Hunter Long.

Yeah, they were decimated today. I think Deami Brown uh was being evaluated for a concussion like in the in the early part of the second half. So, he was out. Brian Thomas and Trevor Lawrence are just very clearly not on the same page. I don't know what's going on with them, but Lawrence wasn't even looking his way throughout the whole game. I mean, he was really just keying in on Parker Washington. He was essentially wide receiver one for the Jags today. And you know, without Hunter, you would expect BTJ to get the targets, you know, have some production, and it just wasn't there. And then, of course, when he does have the long catch, he gets hurt, tried coming back. He played a few plays, but then he really just couldn't plan on his ankle. Um, so then he was out for overtime. But, but yeah, just overall very disappointing from the Jags passing offense. I mean, they're just they just got decimated. You know, there's not enough of guys. Trevor Lawrence threw it horrible goal line interception on his first series.

I don't think he played like that poorly throughout the entire rest of the game. He was still dealing with drops like Deami Brown dropped one over the middle of the field. Then he left with another injury. He should have had a walk-in touchdown catch for long and he just flat out dropped it. So this team is missing Brenton Strange. It's missing Travis Hunter and now it's missing Hayden Brian Thomas Jr. And yet we don't really know what the future holds for kind of any of those guys at this point. Yeah, looking at it looked like a kind of a hip drop tackleish. Kind of reminded me of what happened with CD Lamb who missed like three to four weeks. So, I'm assuming it's a high ankle sprain and it's like, all right, do you go on IR or not? So, I mean, they're just throwing the ball to guys that can't catch the ball. You know, that's just been the story for Dy Brown and Tim Jones and all these guys and Hunter Long. So, they need Brenton Strange back. They need Brian Thomas to escape. Hopefully, it's not too bad or otherwise they're going to be kind of just thrown to guys they don't really trust. So, Parker Washington's kind of the guy they trust the most. Uh, and he's been eating whenever Travis Hunter hasn't been out there. So, I do think that Parker Washington's going to be somebody once again we'll have to talk about in the Waverwire show, assuming Brian Thompson's going to be week to week here. I'm also burying the lead Cam Little who has been very up and down hit [laughter] or miss all season long. Barries a 68 yard kick, which is now an NFL record, and he had a couple yards to spare on top of it. So, he made all his kicks today uh when he's definitely hasn't done that so far this season.

And then Brenley, I don't know if you saw what I did here with the rushing stuff with Travis ETN and Bashel Tutin. Obviously, ETN dominates the workload with 22 carries, 84 yards, then gets five catches for 31. But there were multiple occasions where they got down to like the one yard line after Travis ETN kind of got stuffed on first and second down. They put in Bashel Tutin there on third down. That led to some quarterback sneaks, but he also did have a short yardage touchdown run on that. So, it wasn't as simple as, oh, we get inside the five, here's Bashel Tutin. Um, instead it was almost like how Laquent Allen comes in in pure pass protection stuff. Basel Tutin popped in for true goal line, third down stuff and he got one of the scores because of it.

Uh, Travis ETN like I thought he played really good all game today, but at the goal line he was struggling and they clearly were definitely trusting Tumin more in that area of the field. So I know we're all waiting for Tuin to have a bigger role in this offense. I think after today we could see a path to where maybe he's going to be the team's goal line running back which would at least provide some fantasy value, but you know I I I still think this is overall Travis ETN's offense. And I did I did think big picture he he played well. I thought he was their kind of workhorse and most reliable player today on offense.

Looking at the advanced numbers, both running backs had negative yards before contact. So, the fact that ETN even had 80 rushing yards is probably a good sign, but also just kind of a bad sign if we have some pass game struggles, some penalty problems, and now like the yards before contact numbers are disappearing. And that's not just this game. Like the what the last three games for Jacksonville ETN has not been able to do a whole lot. And like the Liam Cohen offense with Tampa Bay, they were so used to just being like number one, number two, and yards before contact. And they're just not going to have that with Jacksonville year one. you start removing their two best players on the perimeter. It's like, okay, what should like the actual realistic expectations be for Jacksonville the next couple weeks? I I think it's a a below average offense.

Yep.

All right, we'll close out your segment here, Brently, with the San Francisco 49ers going on the road being the New York Giants 34-24. This was again a Max Jones start and he goes 19 of 24 for two scores. They're six and three now. I guess the number one talking point here is Christian McCaffrey. 28 carries, 106 yards, one touchdown on the ground, five receptions, 67 yards, one touchdown in the air. Both a leading rusher and leading receiver on the week.

Yeah, I mean the 49ers offense was clicking on all cylinders today. I mean they they really could just do whatever they wanted and it really it was led by Christian McAffrey. He was just a man amongst boys. I And I think like the Giants heading into the game were the worst run defense in the league. So this is probably to be expected. But McCaffrey was just making guys miss, breaking tackles. He was outstanding in the passing game. As you mentioned, Josh led the team in in pass in receiving. Had a really cool uh just leak out touchdown in the flat. No one was even close to him. And then he just looked really explosive, you know, just looked fast, explosive. Um just an overall outstanding performance from him. And then M. Jones just what can we say, you know? I mean, the toughness he's displayed, he's not he's not healthy. He was really grimacing a lot throughout the game with his toe, but we I think he was 14 of 14 uh started out the game. His first incompletion, guys, didn't come until 12 minutes uh in the third quarter. Like, it was just flawless performance today from the entire 49ers offense. And then Kyle Shanahan, like he had the Giants second level linebackers in a blender today. Like Jess, they had no idea where the ball was the entire game. And if your linebackers don't know where the ball is, if they if they can't read and react against the Niners, you have no shot cuz Shanahan will just exploit exploit exploit your weakness until the Cows come home. So good job of the Niners, but definitely tough day for the Giants defense.

We did get an update from Shanahan after the game that Brock Party like was honestly not that close to playing and that it's an injury that he's just going to have to play through. So like that's something that's just like kind of lingering. makes me feel like a little bit awkward about how to view this team like as we get to the playoffs because like I M Jones is definitely holding down the line, but like you said, he's clearly battling through a bunch of uh injuries too. I guess for fantasy purposes, we know CMC is just going to keep getting it at home. Uh Jawan Jennings versus George KD, like let's assume Ricky Paw and I still need a couple extra weeks here. Like what should we think about with Jawan Jennings and George K. Like George KD is always efficient when he gets the ball and then Jawan Jennings was pretty bad early but now might be a little bit healthier. Like did Jawan look healthier? Did George KD look all the way back?

I think both players did look healthy. I thought Jawan this was definitely his best game of the year I felt like in terms of movement skills. He had a really sick route on his touchdown like a little kind of comeback hitch where he just made the defender uh kind of just um stutter step you know at at this top of the stem of the route. Like that was really impressive. He had another one the next drive. Caught like a kind of deep uh slant, broke a few tackles, you know, something he's always been known to do. So, I thought he had a really good game. George KD um wasn't too involved. I think he was targeted four times, called four of his passes, broke some tackles, didn't do anything too crazy, but also just looked like normal George KD. You know, he he looked he looked explosive, moved well. Um both weren't super, you know, productive today, but they didn't need to be. you know, the offense is really a fish on the ground, so they weren't asked to do much through the air, but I think moving forward, I think both players can probably be trusted and and both players are healthy. Um, so that's at least encouraging.

All right, let's talk about the New York Giants. Uh, Jackson Dart 2433, 191, two scores in the air. Jackson Dart the leading rusher, eight carries, 56, one touchdown. My brain instantly obviously wants to jump to this running back split because it's definitely a split and definitely something we need to discuss with Cam Scaboo out for the season. But before we do that, let's talk about Jackson Dart Brenley. How did he look?

I thought all things considered, he played well. You know, he he had a few things he would want back. I thought he I think he holds the ball too long in the pocket. He doesn't feel pressure well and he doesn't know when it's coming. I mean, there was one where I think it was Cleveland Ferrell like just destroyed from the back, drilled him like he's holding the ball for like 10 seconds. Like, bro, like get throw get rid of it, you know, throw it away. So, I think hopefully that will come. But again, like there's so much to like with him. The athleticism, the playmaking, like it's all there. The competitive toughness, like I feel really good that the Giants have something here with Jackson Dart now. He needs to slide. I mean, it it's actually absurd the volume of hits he just just just kind of goes into, you know, he'll literally lower his shoulder like he's Cam Scataboo against a linebacker and he got rocked today and then you saw him on the sideline and he's like bending over in pain. So, like if he continues to play like that, he's going to get hurt. I mean, like 100%. So, he needs to protect himself because I think he's talented, but he's just a reckless rookie right now. So, he needs to kind of rein it in a little bit. All that was there on Old Miss too. Like there was like the famous clip from Gruden yelling at him like you got to slide. It's just how he plays. It's like

this is not new with him which is makes me nervous because he does not he's a little bit thick but he's not as big as Josh All and the other guys that he's trying to emulate. I saw the same things though on tape though like his out of structure playmaking is like the big thing about his game. And he's thrown the ball downfield very accurate. Like yeah freaking Sllayton we got to come down with one of these. Johnson had a key drop as well. It's like he's making some plays that are not showing up on the box score and it's because he's thrown to absolute scrubs on the most part. Too many drops. They keep bringing the next wide receiver doesn't catch another pass. So no matter what, Jackson Dart has a wide receiver that's on the field who is not going to catch a pass the entire game. We've got to fix these problems. Yeah, but he's shown some competitive toughness. But I agree, it's too it's too risky just the play style. just a slide here and there and you can feel really good about the the function of what this offense could be.

Yeah. Yeah. Look, I'm not a coach. I'm also not Jackson Dart. So, I don't know if that changes, when it changes, and how it changes because like you said, there's that clip of John Grun telling him, "Hey, you have to change this. I'm sure Lane Keifin told him to change it. I'm sure Brian Dball has told him to change it." And especially after the Cam Scataboo, hey, Stuff, you you got to change this. And it just hasn't yet. So, I don't know if it's an offseason thing, something you drill. It's definitely a part of his game.

Um, yeah, you you you can't do that if you're a quarterback. No, it's it's kind of that simple.

I know.

Yeah, I know.

Um, okay, let's talk about this backfield because this was totally unexpected for us in the fantasy community because

last season when Tyrone Tracy took over for an injured Devin Singleary, he took over for the rest of the year and performed really extremely well.

Yeah.

When Cam Scatteroo goes down, Tyrone Tracy then owns the backfield for the rest of that game. So, we just assume, oh, it's going to be exactly since it's Mike Kfka and Brian Daval going to produce itself once again in 2025. Brenley, that's not even close to the case. Deon Singleary, eight carries, 43 yards. Tyrone Tracy, five carries, 18 yards. And then Tracy adds three catches for 19 yards and Singleary two for eight. This is air out of a balloon to the maximum here for Tyrone Tracy rest of season for me.

Yeah, I mean, I was pretty I was pretty surprised. I mean, I was a big Tyron Tracy fan last year. I thought I thought he played really well. But yeah, today, I mean, it was pretty much a 50-50 split, you know, and again, like, it wasn't game script dependent. It didn't matter kind of where they were on the field, what where where they was on the clock. Like, they just kind of rotated them, you know, and I feel like there was kind of no rhyme or reason into how they were views. Um, I thought Single Terry looked good actually on his carries. I think he he had a couple explosives, made a made a guy miss on one of his runs. I thought was really impressive. Uh, but neither did much of anything, as you mentioned, Jackson Dart led the team in rushing. Um, but in a game where you would expect Tyron Trace to be the guy, he very much wasn't the guy. And this is looking like of a committee, which to me doesn't really make sense. Tyron Trace is a younger player. He's more explosive player. Like, feed him. Let's just let's just write him out. But I I mean, if today's, you know, going to going to be the story of the season, they're both going to be very tough to trust in fantasy.

And the schedule's doing him no favors. So, like, we go into next week, we have to assume it's going to be a near 50/50 split. Unfortunately, that's the game against the Bears where we'd want to start them. And then after we get some answers there, then you get the Packers, the Lions, and the Patriots. And no team has been able to run on any of those uh defense except for Rico Davo today with the Packers. So, it's just one of these situations where like I don't know how you would have been able to predict this one. Like he was being used before Cam Scott of his injury. He was clear bellcow last season. All of a sudden things just kind of changed. So hopefully this is just kind of one game blimp. But this is very terrifying stuff when you combined uh the schedule and then this will always be in the back of my mind even if we get Tyrone Tracy with a better game the following week. We we literally can't suggest starting Tyron Tracy until he goes and owns 75% of the work in one of these games. And like

who knows if that's next week, who knows if that's three weeks from now. Who knows if that's at all this season. It's just

it sucks

from a fantasy lens.

Um other I had for this real quick,

Michael Williams torn ACL. We're talking about top 12 draft pick. I mean that's their now what their top four edge rushers who are either out for the season or are out week to week right now. That's brutal.

Yeah. and he really needs to improve in terms of his pure pass rushing stuff too. Obviously as a runer super young

great so far this season but he was a bit raw when it came to that. So yeah I mean that's Nick Bosa obviously Gross Mados has missed time Mike Williams and then uh most importantly Bryce Huff should be back here in a couple weeks. They're definitely missing him at this point.

Metife turf another victim.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were threepoint home underdogs and they end up beating the unbeatable Indianapolis Colts 27-20. I didn't watch a single play of this. Uh, this is going to be a whole bunch of what the heck, how did that work?

Uh, but man, Aaron Rogers just 203 passes and one touchdown. Jaylen Warren does have two scores, but on 31 rushing yards. I guess it goes to Daniel Jones looking like every other year Daniel Jones with five total turnovers in this game. Two loss fumbles and three interceptions. He had not looked anything like that in the previous eight games, but in the ninth game, uh, he popped up here. happens in the NFL. And I think on the flip side, the Steelers defense hasn't been able to stop anybody, and then this is the game where they beat the team that's, you know, like on pace with the Patriots of 2007 on a per drive basis. So, this will be the first game I'm going to go back and watch on all 22 on Monday. Uh, you don't win in the NFL losing the turnover battle uh, six to one. So, that's the reason why they lost this game. It's actually pretty impressive that despite the turnover battle being that way that they only lost by seven points there. But yes, getting down to the bottom of this on how uh the turnovers happened because for the most part, I mean, I'm looking at the box score, we had two 115 yard receivers on the Colts side of this. So, they were moving the ball. It was just coming down. You can't turn the football over.

I mean, when you're down 17-7 at half and then also don't score in the third quarter. Uh to me that's how Jonathan Taylor can get limited to 14 carries or 45 yards and then that makes you drop back 55 times with Daniel Jones. That is certainly not what Chain Syen wants to do. Uh this again I'll go back and watch it. Haven't yet.

Highly doubt we'll get another five turnover performance here from Daniel Jones in the future. Even if you know some people had held out for nine weeks and said, "Oh, here here see this is what I expected of him all season long." He's been great week to week. Um, I mean the Colts th this is like this is the in the armor I think that some people may might have been waiting for because look their wins this season have been against the Dolphins, the Broncos, the Titans, the Raiders, the Cardinals, the Chargers and the Titans. Uh, they do get the Chiefs and the Texans and the Jaguars and the Seahawks coming up here, but I don't know. I want to watch this one, that's for sure. Uh, we did get Alec Pierce. Go ahead,

Jess. on that side, they're beating bad teams, but they beat him by a million. I think the hard part for this team is when the game script is not so favorable, how does Daniel Jones react? And that I think that's maybe the concern here. It's like, okay, we're not winning with RPOS's and when you're not getting like crazy blitzes and stuff. Uh, but when you're out of that structure, what does it look like? And there's obviously some more things to kind of sort out here.

When I'm confused, I speak in run-on sentences. So we'll just close it with Alec Pierce getting six for 115. Michael Pitman nine for 115 and Josh down six for 57 and one. And then yeah, Tyler Warren is the one who's left behind on seven targets, five receptions and 26 yards. I mean DK Mechaf only two catches for six yards and you win 27 to 20.

Crazy incredible stuff. Next game, Chargers eek out a win on the road in Tennessee 27-20. Uh, I think the big talking point here, while Justin Herbert is obviously the leading passer, he's also the leading rusher with nine carries, 57 yards, and one touchdown. I think like all eight or seven of his opening carries were 100% successful. Uh, just crazy stuff. Or Gadson, the leading receiver. But most of all, moving forward for this Chargers team, Joe Alt goes down again with a high ankle sprain, and it's already being reported that he will have to have surgery to fix this one, and that will sideline him indefinitely. Yeah, I'm guessing that means until the playoffs start and if we're lucky, we get him back for that. Um, yeah, pretty wild game. This was this game was pretty close at halftime all the way throughout. Once again though, just looking at the box score, Aronda Gatson leads the team in and snaps uh among all the guys that we care about in the offense. It was good to see Quentyn Johnson get home on an absolute laser beam pass from Justin. We saw that in the corner of the end zone. One of the best passes of of the game. Uh and then Keenan, like we've talked about, he's the one that's been losing snaps in general at the expense of uh either a fullback who scored a touchdown here uh for Trey Harris who mixed in for another 30 snaps here. So, uh of all the guys, Keenan Allen's the one that's playing fewer snaps and he would be the guy that I'm going to trust the least out of this uh top four um targets. But just in general, they're not going to be as efficient if they don't have Joe Walt there. And again, uh, it's totally unpredictable fantasy football is when against a Titans run defense that has really really struggled without, you know, Jeffrey Simmons that Kamani Vid Doll only gets 30 yards on 12 carries.

That's not fun.

Yeah, Keen Allen, like you said, is the one who's losing snap. I mean, Trey Harris in single wide receiver stuff as more of a big body and blocker. Uh, it's kind of now the Gatsson, Manki, QJ, Keenan still, and then Trey Harris. like the fact that Keenan's just not playing as many snaps is a big big big deal.

Um and yeah, Mr. DK after being wide receiver what 16 and 14 over the last two weeks now catches one pass for five yards. I have nothing else to add here.

Yeah, I need to go back and watch this Titans offense eventually. It's pretty low on my priority list as usual. Um, yeah, nothing else to say. All right, let's go back to Thursday Night Football and close with this one. I mean, obviously everyone remembers the Ravens beating Dolphins 28-6. Lamar Jackson four touchdowns, Z Flowers 64 yards, Mark Andrews back in his red zone touchdown ways with two catches, 22 yards, and two scores. Rashad Baitman and Charlie Kar also get a score. But I think the main conversation here is one, the Ravens are on track after, you know, Tyler Huntley being the Bears last week and Lamar Jackson being the Dolphins this week at three and five. They still are definitely in the hunt, especially in the AFC North. But the Miami Dolphins big picture conversation. I know you've been reading up a lot on this one. So, uh, give us the lay of the land on it right now.

Dolphins fire their GM. That's been overdue. They say mutually parting ways. I'm sure that the GM wanted to give up his multi-million dollar uh job and this was not a a forced uh mutual partying. Um but yeah, they were so so overdue. There are going to be sellers at the deadline. I wouldn't be surprised if Jaylen Phillips or somebody else gets moved. Jaylen Wadd's been kind of thrown around there, but um they have made some commitments to Mike McDaniel. He's kind of going to be the surviving guy here. I think they'll eventually bench Tua. rap sheet already mentioned that they might give Quid Uers or Zach Wilson a look at the end of the season here, but that Mike McDaniels uh they believe in him now for next year and moving forward after that. So that was I think pretty bold of a report on November 2nd with many weeks to go. I think for the most part the Dolphins have like shown a lot of fight even though the record's been the way it is. They've been dealing with a lot of injuries everywhere. Um they're just not good. You know, I think it's a quarterback problem that's been an offensive line problem. But then the defensive pieces they've been brought in uh brought in over the last couple off seasonasons have really just not panned out. So they're kind of trending towards what I would do where I would keep my Mike McDaniel unless I find some other coach I would like really fall in love with. But what coach wants to go sign up with this roster? So I would run it out with Mike McDaniel, see if he can get a rookie quarterback and kind of do like the Michael Penn to Kurt Cousins thing. And I think that's ultimately what's what the Dolphins are going to do here. And I think that's generally the the right decision and the one that I would be rolling with. I think with Chris Greer being fired, it's been reported that they're more likely to be sellers now. Uh that should be their edge rushing unit in terms of Jaylen Phillips who seems to be the highest commodity out there among the edge rushers and most likely to be moved.

Bradley Chub has also been mentioned. Uh I think Chop Robinson left this game with a head injury which really sucks. And then the price tags are still quite high it sounds like with Jaylen Waddle. I think it was reported a first round plus would be needed. We'll see if that changes, but I don't think you can really move Jaylen Waddle as like because he's still a really solid piece for this team even if he's, you know,

very very highly paid.

Yeah, especially if you plan on bringing Mike McDaniel back where you're bring him back and have nobody else to build around. You're going to get rid of Tyreek Hill. I think the two a contract is like too big to move. So, I think there's a chance that he kind of like I I'm talking about with Kurt Cousins where he's a huge capit. he's your backup and they're gonna pick some rookie or a Kyler Murray or you name the guy that's gonna come into Miami, but you just can't win with Tua. Like he's just so bad out of structure and if you you don't have the right pieces around him. Or just the offense feels stagnant because you can only do so much with two. I think that's more of a rosterback conversation than a play calling one.

All right, that does it. Mondays, waiverss, Hayden and or Jacob will still be doing that show with you. Also, Tuesday, we are going to be recording Stats versus Film slightly later because of the trade deadline. So, as soon as the trade deadline hits, all the moves, just think on over to Stats versus Film and we'll have insight into what it means for the team that traded them and what it means for the player landing on that roster. That does it for us. Shout out to Weaves and Mosha behind the scenes. Hayden in front of the camera. And we are on to week 10 up the Bella. We'll talk to you'all soon. See you.