Anthony Richardson benched, Diontae Johnson to the Ravens; 8 favorite things we saw in Week 8
01:14:00 Share

In this episode of Football 301, Matt Harmon joins me as always as we break down some news items that happened right before we hit record. Anthony Richardson getting benched, Deontay Johnson getting traded again, and more Russell Wilson thoughts. Also, we talked about some things that we like, that we really like from week eight and from the first half of the season because I don't know my own assignments. Really fun show. See you guys in a second.

Walmart Plus. It's Walmart plus free delivery, which saves members time plus money. Yep. Plus an included Paramount Plus subscription to stream movies, shows, sports, and that can't miss documentary. Plus Burger King savings. That's right. Members get 25% off Burger King digital orders every day of the week. Walmart Plus. It's Walmart Plus. Become a member at WalmartPlus.com. $35 order minimum. Paramount Plus essential plan only. Separate registration required. Valid at participating USVKs in the VK app or VK.com for members only. 25% off.

♪♪♪

Hello and welcome to Football 301. I'm your host, Nate Tice. We are going to be talking about things we like. Not things we like and we don't like. I'm sure we'll hit on a couple of things we don't like, but just things we like through the lens of week eight recap and maybe some full season stuff. Maybe because I ruined my own assignment and I wanted to talk about some full season stuff, but to help me go over things we like and

And to go over a whole bunch of breaking news that seemed to happen the 15 minutes before we hit record, as always, on Tuesdays, my guy, Mr. Matt Harmon. How you doing today, Mr. Matt Harmon?

I'm doing great, Mr. Nate Tice. Yeah, the NFL was kind to us today. Three things, three pretty big storylines broke before the podcast we hit record here. So that is always so nice. Yes, I know. I think we're picking the right recording time. This happened a couple of weeks in a row now. So maybe this is great. There's a little recording time on Tuesdays. We don't do it right before it. But like I said, some of those news items that came up.

Right as we were about to hit record, Anthony Richardson, starting quarterback of the Colts, someone I've been high on, is now benched officially for non-injury reasons. Not because maybe tapping the helmet didn't help, but is now benched for the elite Joe Flacco.

Matt, we've covered this. We talked about it a little bit last week, talking about Anthony Richardson, where we stand on him. I kind of gave my thoughts. I'll continue some of those thoughts in a minute. But what's your first takeaway when you see this? Like really how you just gauge this kind of team decision of benching Anthony Richardson right now?

Well, first of all, let me say that as a non-former NFL player, non-former football player at any major level, I am never going to come in here and say like, actually, all the former players that I see talking about, you know, tap out gate are overreacting. I'm never going to do that stuff because it's just like, it's not my place. Like if you played in the league and you think that's a big deal, like,

I'm going to go ahead and default to you. You know, I'm going to I'm going to stay out of that because, again, I have I have no like lived experience in that particular realm. Now, what I'll say here about actually like Richardson being benched for Flacco, because my the reason I wanted to say that first is that I think that that is part of.

like the calculus here. It clearly didn't sit well in the locker room. You know, Ryan Kelly, who's the longest tenured Colt. He is one of the veterans on that team. He was asked about it in a press conference and, you know, he wasn't,

you know, like throw Richardson under the bus. But he obviously said like, that's not the standard. He obviously said that that was something they had to talk about privately. Yep. And then of course, when you read in between the lines there, yeah, you hear that. And then you hear in conjunction, like Shane Stike and the next day come out and say that we are evaluating things. When they say the E word, it means they're going to make a change. That is pretty much always what's going to happen. So I'm,

I do think that's part of the calculus of what's happening here. It's also pretty much been reported by anybody that he is being benched for Sunday night against the Minnesota Vikings. This is not as if, oh, we are turning to Joe Flacco for the rest of the season, because in my mind, it doesn't make sense to do that. OK, you're going to and I know NFL teams can be short sighted, especially this particular owner has done some short sighted things.

Not too long ago, remember, there's a guy on ESPN who coached the team for half of a year in Jeff Saturday. So it's not as if we haven't seen Jim Irsay make some impulsive decisions and maybe emotional decisions. I'm sure that he is a part of this calculus, too. But at the same time, what is the point of...

benching Anthony Richardson and squeaking into the playoffs, maybe with Joe Flacco and getting probably smoked in the first two rounds like the Cleveland Browns did last year, you know, by a better team. So I think that this is probably my initial gut instinct is this is probably a temporary move. But again, if Flacco plays well, it is going to be hard to take him off the field.

We've talked about several times with the Colts. It's like, oh, I wish I had an earlier bye week. It just felt like a team that needed a bye week. It felt like a quarterback that needed a bye week.

To me, it's... And a lot has been made about the completion percentage. And I'm one of probably 50 people that had a Twitter thread about like, look at all... You got to look at all the context with it. And I still won't maintain that is a part of that. That's a part of maybe why you got benched, but not all the reasons that maybe people are throwing out there. Everyone, we got to evolve from completion percentage, by the way, and using more context with these things. I thought we had. I thought we had too. But when you get...

Some elder statesmen now in the media ranks, they still have to latch on and throw that around. It's an easy number to look at when it looks that comically low.

And looking at this offense, which I still like and I like the downfield of attack because I think it's such an old school NFL attack that I believe in. Run the ball to attack underneath a few RPOs and then launch that ball. And does it sometimes have some lows? Yeah, because you're leaving yourself with a lot of meat on the bone or leaving. Hey, it's all or nothing at times.

You have Michael Pittman running the wrong route, Michael Pittman dropping a ball and contested catch, A.D. Mitchell not getting his feet in. It looks bad. It just looks bad. I get it. You're not nickel and diming and get those easy gains. But I always thought that does need context. His expected completion percentage on non-screens, him being Anthony Richardson, is 57%. So even if he was neutral, his completion percentage would be 57%. So still, that needs context about what it is. The thing that's disappointed me most with Richardson is

And we talked about a little last week is just the,

excitability that he plays with. And I don't mean that in a good sense. I mean that he gets, and I'm not, it's not skittish. It's more excited that he's making the right read excited that he's about to do this play. And he, he rushes and it's, he bounces too much or he knocks the ball on Jonathan Taylor's leg on a, on a QB design run on third down. That would have gone out the gate. It would have been a touchdown. I could guarantee you that. Or last week against the dolphins botching the snap in the red zone after they just have a nice drive and,

Now, those are the mistakes that I'm sure the coaches are just like, oh, God, this is going too fast for him. Like he's getting too excited about this. Those are the plays that I think are more catastrophic than missing another 40 year old 40, 40 yard launch ball that he's trying to throw. And so the it just to me, it was a.

This guy's going to always need time. It's a year three projection for him. He still has under one full season of starts. He still has under 1,000 dropbacks. As a pro and college player, he's going to need time. Like you said, bringing up this might be a temporary fix, sitting him against Brian Flores. I understand that a little bit. You don't really want an antsy quarterback going against that defense. You want, yeah, Matthew Stafford going against that defense, Jared Goff going against that defense, even Jordan Love going against that defense. Yeah, they're going to be good against it because they're a lot more calm. They have more...

Maybe not Jordan Love, but they have more snaps and more time and a better offensive ecosystem that they can rely on. And then I think that's maybe why they're like, well, let's not throw them into the deep fire on Sunday night football against Brian Flores. I understand that narrative and defending against that narrative, I should say. But still, you know, this team was projected to win eight and a half games. I felt outlandish for saying that they might make the playoffs this year. And then that's why if they go with Flacco the rest of the year, which I don't think they will.

That seems way short-sighted than getting Anthony Richardson game refs. If this is just a bandaid on a bullet hole for a couple of weeks, okay, I understand that. But that's why it's just hard. I want to see this whole thing play out before I just go like fire everybody. Because like you said, the helmet tap thing is just, at first I was like, oh, he's tired and doing all that. But then that was my first reaction. And sometimes I do side with players and go, oh, you know, like I have some coach background with me going like, oh, you know, you got to help out your player and do that.

But the thing is, you can't do that. You're the quarterback. You don't think like a tackle being gassed or a running back that maybe just had to take three carries in a row. Yeah, they might tap out, but sometimes you need them on the field. You're the quarterback. It's just...

It's just different. The rules are different. It's not fair. Like, trust me, I, as a former quarterback and a backup at that, it's not fair all the time, but that's why you get the most money. That's why you get picked top five. That's why you get all the praise. That's why you get everything because everything comes down on you. So that's where I went back to like, yeah, that's not going to sit right with me, sit right with coaches, sit right with a lot of players, especially if you're making mistakes. Like I said, with the fumbles and everything, if you're playing perfect and you tap off that one play,

Yeah, deal with it, guys. But if you're throwing 38% completion percentages around, yeah, it's easier for those guys to point at that and go like, well, what the hell?

So, yeah, it's naughty. It's very naughty. Yeah, I still have hopes for Richardson. I'm not losing that because I do see a lot of positive play. I really do. Not just me kind of just like, oh, hold on, guys. It's just that this is going to be another whole year until we have even somewhat of an answer about him because it's going to be up and down because of the type of player he is. But,

This kind of ties into one of your favorite things, which is the Texans perimeter coverage and their pass rush versus Indy, because I think Richardson was pressured on like 60% of his dropbacks on Sunday. And Strauss numbers aren't even better. I think he was pressured on like 59% of his dropbacks. It was just both of these guys running for their lives.

It was a pressure fest, that's for sure. Yeah, next-gen stats had it at a 60% pressure rate, which is tied for the highest pressure rate by a defense in a game this season. He was pressured 24 times, five sacks. And usually, like we think of Anthony Richardson, his best trade is sack avoidance. Typically when people talk about, okay, yeah, he leaves plays on the field, turnovers, the completion percentage, of course, like, yeah, but he avoids sacks. Not against Houston Texans, baby. He was getting brought down to the ground. And, you know, part...

As the whole football world seemingly is reacting to this Anthony Richardson box score, which I did get a small laugh of. And look, I like Dan Orlovsky, so I'm not picking on him by saying this, but when he tweeted out like,

the tape on Anthony Richardson is much better, like significantly better than the box score. I did get a laugh out of that. I'm like, yeah, it better be. It can't get any worse than that. See, I didn't do that. I Trojan horsed it. I started with all the negatives and then I was like, hey, these are some of the positives in my Twitter thread. It better be better than the box score because the box score can't look worse. So true though. I know. Yeah.

But he is right about that. And part of my reaction to it is,

Like, guys, the defensive players get paid, too. And there's another quarterback that has faced this defense with problematic outside wide receiver play this year and had, like, a 30% completion percentage. And that guy's Josh Allen, who we all agree is, like, a top three. Might be an MVP for a runner. Might be an MVP this year. Anthony Richardson on the season when throwing to wide receivers lined up out wide. Of course, he has a 49% completion percentage, which is laughably bad. But he was 5 of 14 in Week 8. And when I watched this game...

Like on the inside, Josh Downs is cooking against man coverage. I mean, Downs is great. And that is also part of, I think maybe the calculus here for, for sitting Richardson for a bit is that he's definitely, I think probably frustrating other players on this roster, you know?

The linemen, for sure, after the tap-out stuff, I do think some of these receivers are like, what? I mean, like Josh Downs is a guy that is open consistently. He's smoking the Texas in man coverage, and he's just not getting the ball consistently all the time or it's placed poorly, things like that. He did his job. I would say the outside wide receiver play on the hole this year for Indy has been a little up and down. You mentioned Michael Pittman. It kind of just got glossed over that at one point we were talking about Pittman potentially going on IR with a back injury.

And one of my philosophies in life is ain't nobody used to have a bad back. Once you get a bad back, you've got a bad back, especially in the middle of an NFL season. And we kind of glossed over it because it seemed like he was going to go on iron and he's playing on Sunday one week. Well, that was only like, what, three weeks ago? I don't think he looks the same. I also think that.

Because you mentioned they've tried to attack vertically. And now I know I'm talking about the Colts and I'm not talking about the Texans. I'll get back to Texans in a second. But with the Colts, a lot happened in that game. The Colts have, I think, almost tried to attack vertically too much where they're putting a guy like Pittman in.

on these big vertical routes when that's not the strength of his game. I wanted to see a lot of the concepts and the designs that we saw with Gardner Minshew last year, but a guy that can also push it downfield to Alec Pierce when the moment is right. But I just don't think we've seen Pittman running those type of routes. I think even Josh Downs has run some vertical routes, which is great because he can do that. We saw it on the slot fade route that I thought was a touchdown but ended up getting called down at the one. Yeah.

Curious stuff. But again, the overall point here is that the Texans were really able to blanket those outside wide receivers. They're able to rush the passer extremely well, which is kind of harkening back to a couple episodes ago when we were ranking top 10 teams. I was still really high on the Texans, even though all of those issues offensively are still...

maybe getting worse. You know, now we're going to talk another storyline here in a little bit. This offense might be getting worse and worse as we go here. The protection issues on that side are problematic, but they still have a defense that they can play complimentary football. Like, okay, our offense...

which we thought was probably going to be an elite unit, is definitely not. It's like down here. Well, the defense, I think, can make up for that, both because of the pass rush and the way they play physical outside coverage with Derek Stingley, Kamari Lassiter when he's healthy. So, yeah, I overall just, again, I think it's easy to panic about the Texans' offense and where they're at, but I do come away from that game thinking, yeah, Colts obviously have issues on offense, but those defensive players get paid too, and they deserve some credit for how they performed in Week 8.

Yeah. Man, great call with Pittman in the back. Now I kind of feel bad for calling him out so much, you know, because he was bad on Sunday. And no, that's a great call. Backs stink and you play on field turf. That ain't going to feel good. That's going to really hurt. It's basically playing on a basketball court. And we know and we like Pierce, but Pierce is a role player. You know, Pierce is a downfield threat.

almost had one again but uh richardson i understand why he did it again i'm it sounds like i'm making excuses for him he tried to throw a post and really should have thrown it to pile on uh but like that's what pierce is for and then ad mitchell is just a box of chocolates right now uh you just never know what you're gonna get snapped oh sometimes he looks he's like this he's he's this close to being a great player but like there's a bit that this close is a pretty big gap it's like

I don't know, like being great. This sounds mean, but I like Katie Mitchell, but being great, like doesn't seem natural to him. If that makes sense. Like, he's like, this is like being correct. It's not natural. It sounds so bad. I was on winning teams, big plays in college. I still, I still have hopes for him. I, I trust. I like the receiver coach, Reggie Wayne. That's a great influence on him. You know, I was hoping that he would develop a rapport with Anthony or interested. So, yeah,

We'll see there. But again, those guys, like you said, those are outside receivers and there's just been inconsistent play there. And it must be mentioned. And no. And then also Stefan Diggs now out. This is another news item talking about just talking about the Texans. Stefan Diggs is now out for the for the season with a torn ACL. Nico Collins is hopefully coming back week 10, I believe, is when his four week slot is over.

I mean, this receiver, you had a nice tweet about it. We were so excited to see this trio of receivers, including Tank Dell. And now it's just like, we can never get them all on the field at the same time, or we can just, it just, it's just as soon as one thing happens, another leak opens. So we have the trade deadline next week. See if they make a move. Do they just wait for the reinforcements of Nico? I guess we'll see. Do you have any thoughts? Anyone's that can maybe get traded to the Texans? I'm just even trying to think rack my brain because I, well, I don't want to get spoiled the last news item, but trying to wreck my brain.

No, I don't know that there's like an obvious candidate. I will say at least that they do have a little bit of intriguing young depth in addition to the fact that Robert Woods is still on this roster. And, you know, I don't know that Robert Woods is a needle mover anymore, but here's to me.

Yeah, he can give you some rest. He's in my heart. He moves the needle in my heart. Well, see, but that's what I'm saying. Like, there's room. They actually were rumored as a potential seller at the deadline early in the season because they have Mechie. They have Hutchinson. And Mechie's a former second round pick. So, like, he's a name. Robert Woods is a veteran. So they do have some depth. I don't think they'll make a move here because they have some depth. And the thing that just

it like breaks my heart when things like this happen, like, like man, we could, we're going to get something really unique here with Nico and tank Dell and Steph digs. And you,

and Joe Mixon in the backfield too, they were going to be a really interesting group, but they were never all healthy together because Tank Dell has been on the field. He's missed a game, but he's been on the field, but he's just clearly not the same guy as last year. I think as the season rolls on, I think they could probably start to count on him more. I will say his touchdown catch was just like picture perfect, tight coverage execution. Watch Tank Dell operate at the back of the end zone

And then watch George Pickens on Monday night. And you see like the different, like there's levels to this thing here. My brain started rattling through, like cycling through which receiver you were going to bring up. And at first I was like, all right, was it a Colts receiver? No. Is it, is it a Jags receiver? No. Like you went George Pickens. Oh yeah, there we go. One foot down twice does not equal two feet. That's not how it works. So yeah, I mean, I think overall that if Tank Dell can get better,

back to like we start to see more rookie year explosive tank Dell. I think they can be okay, especially because it sounds like Nico is progressing well and he's obviously a difference maker. But yeah, losing digs does think it also stinks for digs to who I have a lot of affection for digs. I think he's a really good player.

Still, I think was having a nice year And he's a free agent after the end of the year Because part of the deal to get him traded to the Texans Was they wiped out the last few years of his contract So another, we talk about Chris Godwin Like a potential free agent at the end of the year Coming off a big injury now Same thing with Steph Diggs at this point Every time I'm thinking about Godwin, man I just get sad

I just never want to see him hurt because it's just so much fun to watch. Yeah, no. And another thing, too, I want to just tie this together, what you said, your original point, the Texans pass rush. That's the great equalizer on this team. It's the quarterback and the pass rush. And it's like that's why they're still the favorites in AFC South. Even though all these other teams want to kind of go with what they're going through right now. That's kind of it. That's why we liked them before the season. And kind of like that hasn't changed. They have Stroud in this pass rush.

Hopefully other pieces fall in for them. But I still, you know, still not out on the Texans because of that. Even if their offensive line is garbage. I love that D'Amico Rines has just been like, we're going to just press this s**t.

out of you and we're gonna play a lot of coverage really fun development you know what you're getting this year yeah it's so funny because i watch offenses do like man's own tells me you know what they're running just try to beat it yeah like come on man like yeah there's like the packers did a good job with some leverage stuff but i've seen other teams like just doing classic man's own motions and i'm like yeah the guy's gonna travel like he's gonna i can tell you that before i even like know what the play is so uh but getting to one receiver that did get traded

who has become a side character of football 301, Deontay Johnson, now on his third team, third team in three months, now being traded to the Baltimore Ravens. Luckily, he hasn't had moved that much, like Pittsburgh to Carolina to Charlotte, now to Baltimore. That's not bad at all. That's like going from one city to another on the West Coast, how much he's had to travel. So Carolina gets a fifth rounder, Baltimore gets Deontay Johnson in a sixth, so basically a pick swap there.

What do you feel about your most important player of the NFL season, Deontay Johnson, now a Baltimore Raven, which you're not wrong. You're still not wrong on this. Nate, see what I meant was all those months ago. Was that July we had this conversation about how Deontay Johnson was the most important player acquisition because actually he was, look,

look i i live in uh virginia beach i got almost all my if i travel if i fly to la i fly anywhere i got a layover in charlotte that's what deontay johnson did he was just this was all just about getting a little layover in charlotte so that he could go to an afc contender that's it was all part of the master plan here remember when the steelers were trading him the chiefs wanted to trade for him they're like we are not trading him we are not trading him to you we are going to send him to play with

the Carolina Panthers. Well, Deontay Johnson got one on you, Pittsburgh, because now he's actually playing in your division with the Baltimore Ravens, who they play the Steelers twice to end the year. They haven't even played him once this year, so he will get a couple revenge games in there. Well, Deontay Johnson or the Sears will get revenge on him. We'll see how the math works out on that one. But on a serious note, yeah, look, I mean, Deontay just made no sense for him to play out the year in Carolina because they're not going anywhere. Although

They're going to be right back in the same spot when they have another new young quarterback next year. Who is that guy throwing to? Although they have some interesting young players. Jalen Coker, that guy can play. He can play. He can. I know. I watched him this morning. Yeah. I watched him in the pre-draft process, and he was kind of like a day three guy. Interesting to me. But yeah, no, he's legit. He might be our next favorite power slot, Nate Tice. Let's watch out for that. Don't tempt me with a good time, Madden.

buddy. I'm ready to tempt you on some Jalen Coker big slot propaganda. But so they'll figure that out in Carolina. It just made no sense. They probably weren't going to resign him. Whatever he did probably didn't want to resign there. Anyways, Baltimore, they do need more receiving options because as

As much as I appreciate Rashad Bateman, I got to laugh about how he points up to the sun after that drop. Like, you know, the sun, the sun has existed on human, human time span here for quite some time. The sun has been around longer than pro football, but I thought he still, he still is. I think he's having a nice season. Zay Flowers is not the, he's a good separator, but he's like kind of a,

goofy route runner at times sometimes on these downfield outside oh you don't say the the what it was the assignment quadruple it might have been more than that quintuple move that they put on zay zay flowers out there running routes like it was senior bowl practice and a one-on-one drill and so of course it's like man lamar overthrew him on a on a pathway he didn't know where the hell he was gonna be he runs routes he runs routes in cursive

And everyone else is just block letters, all caps. He runs routes in cursive. And Deontay's not a perfect player, too. Obviously, you want to talk about drop issues. Like he'll have his drop issues every now and again, too. But he is a reliable route runner who can separate against press man coverage on the outside. So definitely something that they didn't have in this room right now. So, yeah, I mean, look, Baltimore is loading up as they should. They're a very good football team. Even if they lost this game against Cleveland, this is the type of move they should be making.

Yeah, absolutely. This is a team totally makes sense to go just like DeAndre Hopkins to the Chiefs. Like this just makes sense to me. Player fit need the looks that they get. They get so much single high because everyone's scared of Derrick Henry in the run game. So, all right, let's get some man beaters. Let's get some guys that go in one on one. And then when you have all those guys, you already have your dirty work guy in Aguilar. So you can get the other guys to do the flashy fun things.

Johnson can do that. And when he doesn't have to be the guy, he can just be a secondary option. Yeah. Yes. It's kind of like they have a whole bunch of secondary options, but to me that works because they all can beat man. They're not going to get any, you know, too much of like, Oh, we need this zone beater. They all have some decent feel in there, but like, yeah, that's where the tight ends come in. That's where Isaiah likely comes in and Mark Andrews. So yeah, just adding to their weapon pile and Baltimore, uh,

Good team. All their offensive numbers are ridiculous right now, too. I know we're not talking about them today, but they are ridiculous. We, though, are going to take a quick break, and then we're going to come back with some favorite things from Week 8 slash maybe the first half of the season.

Walmart Plus. It's Walmart plus free delivery, which saves members time plus money. Yep. Plus an included Paramount Plus subscription to stream movies, shows, sports, and that can't miss documentary. Plus Burger King savings. That's right. Members get 25% off Burger King digital orders every day of the week. Walmart Plus. It's Walmart Plus. Become a member at WalmartPlus.com. $35 order minimum. Paramount Plus essential plan only. Separate registration required. Valid at participating USBKs in the BK app or BK.com for members only. $25.

All right, we are back with some of our favorite things.

Yeah, cool. People get that. But Matt, what are some of your favorite things from week eight slash the first half of the season? Yeah, this is actually just more recently, but

God help me, Nate Tice. I kind of just unironically like the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not any, you know, and we talk about it sometimes, like Mike Tomlin, what's he doing? Like black magic, whatever's going on with him. I just think this is a good football team. Like kind of period, end of story. I know they don't have the quarterback situation. They don't have necessarily the most modern, interesting pass game and all that stuff. But, you know, it occurred to me

watching Monday Night Football last night against just absolutely... I don't need to see the Giants on primetime again. I'm sure they're on the primetime schedule again very soon. I don't know who wants the Giants on primetime less, me or Brian Dayball. That's a guy that does not want to be there anymore, and you can't convince me otherwise. But put the Giants aside. When late in this game, they are...

punting on their on their own side of the field or in enemy territory the Steelers are punting across the 50 yard line in a situation where I'm sure most analytic models probably want you to go for that in a short fourth and short type situation it it dawns on me they're like you know what yeah the idea would be trust your offense like have faith in your offense go for this it's a fourth and two or whatever late in the game put the game away I'm like

Nah, not in your Pittsburgh, man. If you're going to have faith in anything, have faith in your defense to go call game against Daniel Jones with Jermaine Illuminor and single blocking situations on TJ Watt. And you know what happened?

And that's just a good football team that I think understands what it is. I also really like... Look, I've enjoyed Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback here. His two deep shots, the 143-yarder to George Pickens in the previous game...

against the jets it was a lot of like underthrown balls that pickens made a play on or they got pass interference on man that 43 yarder george pickens russ couldn't have walked it down and handed him to him any better um the back shoulder sideline to van jefferson of all people that was a great throw uh the you know calvin austin touchdown thinks it right over it's beautiful and

And the run game, we talked about this with Najee Harris on the Fantasy Film Room and saying the quiet part out loud that he's looked good. Over the last three weeks, 14.3 explosive rushing rate for Najee Harris. Only Sean Tucker ranks higher among backs with 20-plus rushes. That's exactly who I would have guessed. Yeah, right. You don't normally expect, like, oh, explosive rushes, Najee Harris, but that's what we're getting. And I know that you and I are Arthur Smith appreciators, but I do think that Smith, a guy that everyone thinks is –

Yes.

We don't have a back like Derrick Henry in Tennessee or Bijan Robinson or even Tyler Algier, like these explosive downhill, like explosive outside zone runners. We have Najee Harris, like get him in man gap and let him plow down the field. And I think he we talked about he's running extremely well. Good job by an offensive coordinator who's often under fire, understanding what type of players he has and how we can execute with those guys. As much of play calling is about, you know, highlighting strengths. It's also mitigating weaknesses.

And it's just, he's one of the best at it. Him being Arthur Smith. I'm like, this is Requiem for Arthur. Like it really like this is, he hasn't died. So I shouldn't say that, but it's the no, but I I'm with you. I enjoyed, I've enjoyed watching the offense more than my, like, Oh, that's a cool play. And then it's like three plays a bad or five plays a bad. And really the Russell Wilson argument, when we kind of talked about the switch over, um,

is that, okay, I wanted to bet on the younger guy that might be bigger and faster because they have the same weaknesses. Russell can run the offense. And what I mean by saying that, it's not just throwing the ball. It's just getting the play out on time, not having an operation issue, getting the snap.

And that's been a thing with fields. It's been a thing throughout his professional career. Now it's sometimes I think goes too fast where he's just like, okay, I got to do this. I got to do this. And he always wants to be perfect. I could tell Justin always wants to be perfect. Russell just has reps, his snaps that an offense that kind of needs more of a caretaker. And that's what Russell Wilson is in his career.

That works for this. It's complimentary football. Again, it's not going to be the sexiest thing. There's going to be some run game things that are cool. But I had one big woe with this offense was, are they going to attack over the middle? Because neither...

actually when you have balls like that when you can throw the deep ball like that you're still attacking downfield even if it's not exactly what we've seen from a smith offense before again mitigate the weaknesses and highlight what they're good at that's a good play calling so yeah i'm kind of with you kind of digging the the stealer's offense when he threw that first touchdown that touchdown to calvin austin i was like oh that looks familiar i i know those layered throws dropping it right in that's those

Those are his best throws and you got clean pockets with heavy play action and

Russ can do that. Russ can still spin it if he has some confidence, what's being called. So yeah, I'm just avoiding any empty plays with him. Just don't listen to him. No, yeah, exactly. Don't listen to him. He wants to do it, but Arthur's like, nah, I formation. Nah, three tight ends. He needed a hard-headed coach like that. You know, like Arthur Smith's like, thanks for the input, but we're still going to do what I want to do. Oh, yeah, that is the right call. It's a Ringo Starr that wrote a song. We're going to put it right on the fridge, Ringo. Yeah, that's...

Right there, right next to that. I'm glad you brought it up because it was kind of like, do I have to talk about the Steelers and Arthur Smith? No, you do. I got you on that one. But I'm going to go with one thing I'm liking, and this is more of the last couple weeks. And this is just the Eagles improvement on both sides of the ball. Now, I will say the offense improvement really is, do we have A.J. Brown on the field?

Or do we have him on the field? There's some scheme stuff I'm going to get into. Others have highlighted this, but I do want to say that they're tweaking some of their offensive attack. But the with and without stats of A.J. Brown are hysterical. Explosive pass rate, 20.4%, easily first when they have A.J. Brown on the field. Not on the field, 10%. 27th between the Saints and the Panthers.

Those aren't offensive attacks you want to be in between. And that's just explosive pass rate. And you can feel that with the Eagles. Yeah, I know. 20% is ridiculous. And it's a pretty healthy snap count, too. Their third in combined success rate and explosive play rate after the Ravens and Lions. Without A.J. Brown, their 25th. So every stat you look at, rushing, passing, explosiveness, success rate,

AJ Brown, one of the best non-quarterbacks in the entire NFL helps having him on the field. I, it's not a revolutionary thought, but it's nice to see when it's out there. But some of the offensive attack change there, they're going more under center going pistol. Stuff's kind of garbage, but they're under center stuff. It has been good. The pistol stuff stinks. I know it's like, Oh, look at the pistol. And everyone gets excited about pistol. Cause we recognize that their pistol stuff stinks. I'll just openly say that. Yeah. No, thanks. Yeah. Trash. No under center though. Good. Uh,

And this is with a left tackle that's giving up the highest pressure rate in the NFL right now. And Fred Johnson, you know, Jordan Milad is out. Fred Johnson literally gives up the highest pressure percentage. That's 17.6. You never want to be in Nicholas Petit Ferrer range. And that's exactly what he's in. But they're going they're pounding the rock. It's more of a run first attack, which is what I wanted to see. And then launch the stuff on the outside to A.J. Brown and Devante Smith made a great adjustment to the catch.

But they've gone over from weeks one through four, they're under center only 10% of the time, 10.9%. Week seven, 17%. Or I'm sorry, week six, 17%. Week seven, 21%. Week eight, 35%. So they went from one out of 10 snaps from under center to now one out of three. And...

That is really just their run game because they are running the ball at 93% of the time when they're on center. So you kind of know what you're doing there, but you got to stop it. You know, you still have to stop it. And I like that. They're just streamlining the tech. They've taken out the QB read element when they are designed running with Jalen Hurts. It's just QB drops. He doesn't have to read anything. It's bubble or he's running. There's no him reading the end.

And I've thought that that's been something they need to take out, take it off his plate. You can see those have been unsuccessful plays for them for now two years running. And now we get to see more of a streamlined attack. It's not all perfect. There's still some stuff I want to look at. But when you see Ben Van Sumeren, number 50-something at fullback, you know, there's changes happening in Philadelphia. And their defense, too. I just want to just talk about the offense. Their defense since week three,

First in explosive plays allowed. Tied for first in yards per play allowed at 4.4. Seventh in EPR per play. And this is just personnel. Cooper Dejean out there has been fantastic. Such a good player. Oh, I'm so glad. And they have him in the slot. Great tackler. Great in coverage. Yeah.

one of the first people outside of, I mean, maybe the second guy I've seen that can tackle Jamar chase in space. And he did it on a huge fourth down, you know, just the him out there, Quinnian Mitchell, Nikobe Dean's played good ball, but they, they've learned how to use Nikobe Dean. Okay. You're just run first hammerhead.

So that's good. Jalen Carter looks unblockable at times. So, you know, they they they're they're young guys are playing well. They're playing a sound scheme. And really, the last month or so, this has been a top eight ish defense with an offense that can be as good as anybody. So just want to give a shout out to the Eagles because we haven't talked about it much. And now they're really come together where it feels like, oh, OK, here we go. This is your formula for this season. Yeah, I feel like they know who they are offensively.

some people have joked, I think Charles has joked on this show that they run kind of like a military or maybe that was you that said that they run like a military academy type of offense. It was Charles. Yeah, it was Charles. I wish I could take that. But I know army Navy games have happened at the link and that's why that's why it's happening there. It's steeped in there. Yeah, but but they know who they are. And like, why would you not? You were the one of the first ones to talk about this after week one that

you know, people, and I know I was one of them. People were kind of like, what are we going to see from a motion perspective, from a past game perspective? And I think there was some interesting stuff there in week one, the wrinkles that we got. And yeah, having AJ Brown makes a load of difference. Like when we're talking about what's wrong with the Texans offense,

Well, Nico Collins is kind of in that AJ Brown tier, baby. And like when you don't have that dude out there, you see it's problematic for an offense. But they've just from week one, you were the first one to point this out to me. Like they've used so much cool stuff in the run game, man. And like, why would you not want to lean into that? Because it's so, so good. And then defensively.

I mean, yeah, the last three weeks they played the Browns and the Giants are in there. The Deshaun Watson Browns and the New York Giants are in there. But the Bengals this last week, I thought that was going to turn into like a points back and forth shootout type affair. And we did not get that. I thought that defense really did step up. Some of those young players are coming along. So, yeah, I do feel like the Eagles are on the rise.

On the rise. Yeah, they look more like a real, not saying contender, but like this isn't just like, oh, you back into the playoffs team. It's like, no, you're a good team right now. And that I felt like I couldn't say that for the first few weeks. Again, having A.J. Brown helps a lot, but the defensive improvement must be stated and they're tweaking stuff on offense. So it's good. All right. Going on to your next one. This is one we've

We've kind of, you know, dropped in some hints about how much we like it. So bring us home on this one, Matt Harmon. Yeah, man. I mean, it's Justin Herbert to Ladd McConkie. What I said last week about how, you know, Justin Herbert sometimes feels like he's

playing football and it can like he's trying to run upstream in a canoe he's rowing and somebody shot a hole in the boat well when you get number 15 is your little plug in there to pop plug up that bullet hole that look quirky yeah right that boat looks pretty good going down the stream here uh i'm obsessed with this boat analogy for whatever reason justin herbert a guy that's probably way too big to be in a canoe by the way that would look pretty uh pretty humorous but anyways

watching that game back against New Orleans. I don't know if you've gotten a chance to watch the film on this one yet, but I mean, number one, lad is just a sick player. All the traits that made him a good prospect were fully on display. I think they've been on display all year, but they're really on display in this particular game because you see the route running.

The separation against man coverage particularly is there. You see the yards after catch ability, which I think was always an underrated aspect of his game, obviously on his big catch and run touchdown. You saw it there. You'll see the ball tracking in tight coverage. He's not the biggest dude, but he knows when to get his hands up. He can track that ball in the air. You saw that was on display. You also saw, and this is something I know you as a former quarterback probably appreciate, but Ladd always stems...

his routes at the correct depth and especially... I was going to say, I know who I'm talking about. He's weird. I'm excited because that's exactly what he does and it's great. Right where he's supposed to be. You see these guys sometimes, especially against zone coverage, over the middle of the field, running, crossing routes, dig routes, whatever. They'll be like...

open in the window but god almighty that's a small window that you're dealing with here if you're running behind those defenders lad is almost always in front to really give like justin herbert a real deal target working over the middle of the field the thing that stood out to me too is and again this is something you and i have talked about you can see a connection with some wide receivers is how much the quarterback values and trusts that player his first touchdown lad mcconkey's touchdown i don't know if the play is

designed to him because he's probably not the quote first read on that play because Herbert drops back and he's kind of reading the dig route with Semih Fahoko as the isolated receiver on the left side. And I think that's right. Like, yeah, read that out. See if it's there. But he comes back so fast and takes the slot fade to Ladd McConkie. Like I'm talking about there is a split second of he turns it this way and just lets it rip. And that's ultimate confidence. One that I know my guy on this like

exaggerated slow release off the line of scrimmage is going to beat the defender. It's actually not even that much separation that he's got from the guy covering him, but he still uncorks that thing does Justin Herbert to Ladd McConkie. So that was the first touchdown. The second touchdown is just an off script play where he's again, not the first read the second reaction guy there and he's looking for number 15. He's looking for the rookie receiver is Justin Herbert and a throw that maybe five dudes could make.

on that play when he lets it rip off platform. So their connection is really cool, man. And

They needed a player like this. I mean, for another, we'll talk about Deontay Johnson. Forget that take. The one take I'm happy with is that I thought this team and this offense would be better than maybe people thought. Yes. I actually think they're the team that should have traded for Deontay Johnson because for all the stuff that's going on good with Ladd in the slot, not a lot of cool stuff to talk about with the outside receivers. But specifically, they needed a guy like this to hit if that take was going to come to fruition, and he definitely has hit.

Yeah, you were the Chargers and Steelers optimist. And look at you right now. What a freak. Just rolling around. Rolling around. Like Scrooge McDuck in the coins. That's you with those teams right now. No, it's Ladd felt plug-and-play-ish because his route tree was very real in college, even if the stats weren't always there. And, you know, some injury stuff and all that. But...

I mean, my comparison for him was Emmanuel Sanders because it was like, all right, this guy can win inside. He went outside. He's got juice. He's got route running. Like he kind of does a lot. And I'm glad he brought up the red zone stuff or at least kind of his feel about down there. He's like a red zone stuff is feel and ball skills like that. That's as much as anything like Julio Jones was always disappointing in the red zone because he like Julio. If you ever watch Julio shoot a basketball, you're like, oh,

You know, like it's like it's like grabbing a rebound. Some guys just have fuel down there like in lad has it lad understands how to get open and stay friendly. You mentioned that those are the little things. And for a quarterback that, you know, you see who else he's throwing to.

He's going to go to the guy that you can rely on. That's why I make such a big deal about landmarks and all this stuff. And sometimes it hurts me a little bit with receiver evaluations, like as prospects, because I maybe value that a little too much and overlook some maybe traits. You know, this is the Ndunze neighbor's argument a little bit where I was like, I kind of just like Ndunze a little more because I can rely on him more, even though if neighbors can do some crazier things.

And, you know, it's sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't. But with Ladd, it's like, well, he's got juice and he's reliable. That's kind of ideal. That's what you want. It is. And the broken play stuff, that's, it was the Panthers game is when I felt that kind of switch happened where I could see it was a, even an interception Herbert had.

he was looking at Ladd the whole way trying to find him on a broken play. That means he was like, all right, where's my safety net? And that was a rookie in his first month of the season. So that's significant. So I'm glad you brought this up. And also, Herbert's playing like a top five guy right now. He's been unbelievable the last few weeks. So yeah, they're not perfect offense. They still have some Greg Romanis in the pass game. But I don't know. I'm with you. I kind of just, I'm digging the Chargers. I just am. I like pissed off Herbert. I like pissed off Herbert. I do too.

And he's probably pissed off at Greg Roman. So it's like, it's great. Yeah. So it's kind of fun. Great hire. You've unlocked like pissed off. So good offensive coordinator hire. Sometimes guys need that. Sometimes, you know, some of the guys don't need nice. Yeah. I don't know. I, I, I'm digging the charges. I like watching them every week. They play hard. They play sound. The defense plays above what they should be. Yeah. Another team. This is one of mine.

that not just last week, but really the entire season has really come together, especially the last few. It was like first few weeks, they took a little drop off for two weeks, and now the last kind of three or four weeks. And that's the Bills, the Buffalo Bills offense.

Digging everything about it right now, especially post-Amari Cooper trade. I've talked about the spread bully attack, how much I like it. Here's some numbers to kind of back up why I like this. Well, first off, they're third in EPA per play. They're second in EPA per drive over the last three weeks after you've mentioned that Texans game where Josh Allen went nine for 30.

Second half of that game, things clicked even more run game wise. And then really since then, they just kind of spotlight a little bit and really just been honing in this attack. They get Amari Cooper as a whole nother element that I'm really liking. But run game wise, I mean, they have three run concepts that they can get to from so many formations and personnel groupings and just dress it up a little bit different. That's inside zone, which is I tweeted this against the Seahawks.

but inside zone, open side zone, difference really between inside zone, outside zone to the tight end or away from the tight end. So zone away from the tight end. They are just crushing teams with this. And it's because earlier in the season, they were crushing teams with duo, which is at the tight end power attack, you know, power without the puller. If you can run both of those,

And that's so hard for a defense to key in on. And now they got James Cook, who's playing the best ball of his career, who's running hard, running between the tackles. He's becoming a little more patient. Ray Davis is a great changeup. He's a great duo runner and pretty good on inside zone. And then they got the tackle trap play, which they they're the best team at it. Other teams have sprinkled that in. But tackle pull, I should say, dart play.

But that play is they can throw that in. So they got three main pitches and then they got the changeups off of that. And then they got all the personnel groupings they can throw at you. So they have, so hold on your hats here. So these are all the personnel groupings that they have five or more snaps out of. So they have 11 personnel, which is three receivers, 43% success rate. Good. 12 personnel with two tight ends.

52% success rate. Very good. 12 jumbo with a six offense alignment there. 54% success rate. Very good. 13 jumbo with three tight ends, one of them being a six offense alignment. 40% success rate. They've run 21 pony. They've run O2 personnel with zero running backs, two tight ends, and three receivers. They've run O1 personnel with zero running backs, one tight end, and four receivers. They've run 22 personnel. They've run 22 jumbo. All of these...

different personnel groupings, they've run multiple times, five or more times. Most of them like 15 or more times. I just want to, you know, keep dropping the list even further and further. Most teams, if you look at the Rams, they've been in two personnel groupings this whole year. You look at other teams that have been successful. This is not their thing. And they're not just doing it just to do it. They like, it's not the Kellen Moore with the chargers or the Cowboys running two offensive linemen out there. And it's like, okay, cool. Like that's funny. But then why you keep doing it? This is like useful, efficient stuff.

And then they got, I haven't even mentioned the quarterback, who's phenomenal, Josh Allen, who, and they have some bounces going their way. Don't get me wrong. He had a kicked fumble that went for a first down against the Seahawks. But you know what?

Some other stuff has gone wrong for them before and so now seeing this all this stuff kind of straight now go right for them you just see an attack an offensive attack that to me is a top five offense and like they can attack anyone the offensive lines playing well Khalil Shakir is our guy and probably one of the most consistent players in the NFL any position and

And I mean, just all the guys are slotting in rightly. Keon Coleman's coming along. Mack Hollins, his role is making more sense. Got the tight ends, Duncan Cage and Dawson Knox. So it's a very good offense that this is kind of what I'm envisioning. And now Mark Cooper dropped in. It's like just bringing even more of an element that I really like. So yeah, Bill's offense, just general offense. I'm really liking right now.

I like seeing Keon Coleman get that 21-yard catch out of the slot, too. So, I mean, even now with Cooper there, they don't have to just have Keon Coleman be their boundary X receiver all the time. You know, Cooper didn't even have a big impact on this game. He's a guy they just traded for all this fanfare, and they still blew out the Seahawks. So, yeah, I love the point about all the personnel group because that's a lot on a quarterback to handle. You know, at times, talking about the Bears putting so much, like we've got all these packing

We got all these guys on the field and like we have a rookie quarterback that we're making handle all that. And it was their offense did not play well in this most recent game. And still, I kind of think they've got too much going on, even though they've narrowed down the personnel grouping here. That's just something you could do when you have Josh Allen out there. So I've been really impressed with this offense as well.

Yeah, it's been one of my more favorites to watch and watching it kind of just every week at a little later and actually being efficient, not just ideas. It's been good. It's streamlined and they just do some nice window tracing with it. All right, we are going to take our last break and then we're going to come back with a few more things that we like in the NFL right now.

Walmart Plus. It's Walmart plus free delivery, which saves members time plus money. Yep. Plus an included Paramount Plus subscription to stream movies, shows, sports, and that can't miss documentary. Plus Burger King savings. That's right. Members get 25% off Burger King digital orders every day of the week. Walmart Plus. It's Walmart Plus. Become a member at WalmartPlus.com. $35 order minimum. Paramount Plus essential plan only. Separate registration required. Valid at participating USBKs in the BK app or BK.com for members only. 25%.

If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat, literally. But don't sweat it. Grainger has you covered. Grainger offers over a million industrial-grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery, so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool.

Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. All right, we are back with a few more of our favorite things from week eight in the first half of the season. All right, Matt, I'll kick it over to you. What's the next thing that you are liking in the NFL right now?

Yeah, look, this is more of a pure week eight thing. And I know we talk about it too much. Everybody talks about it too much. But when the assignment was things that we like from week eight, I cannot come on this podcast and not talk about the fact that I...

maybe didn't even like, maybe just adored all of the in vertical in breakers to Marvin Harrison jr. I, we wanted, I know, I know the football 301 faithful are like, we've heard enough about Marvin Harrison jr's, uh, route tree, but, uh,

Look, I wrote this in my Sunday recap of my care don't care column. If obsessing over minor details about why does he route trees is wrong, then I don't want to be right. Also, if that was wrong, then I don't think I would be here having this conversation on his podcast right now. It's kind of it's kind of a bit.

folks. It's kind of the whole thing. Kind of my thing. So with Marvin Harrison, again, we talked about this a lot on the previous podcast. He was basically playing that sacrificial X receiver role. It's this town. I actually found after the podcast from fantasy points data, they group routes into different buckets. Two of them are like vertically breaking routes or static routes. So think about like your goes, your comebacks, your curls, things like that. Those very vertical or, or static breaking routes. And,

these are the top 10 receivers in terms of percentage of,

Of those routes on the season, minimum 150 routes. This is weeks one to seven. Jahan Dotson, number one. I mean, my God, that is heartbreaking, but separate conversation. Number two, DK Metcalf. Number three, Tyler Lockett. Number four, Alec Pierce. Demarcus Robinson, Jalen Polk, Marvin Harrison Jr., Roma Dunzey. Put a pin in that. Tyree Kill and Michael Wilson. So we got two Cardinals on this list. And think about the receivers who are like high volume guys from this group.

from this group. It's DK Metcalf. It's AJ Brown, or excuse me, like DK Metcalf. And it's like Tyree kill the true, like freaks of the freaks. It's a high degree of difficulty role. And as we talked about Marvin Harrison's just like, he's not that guy. I don't want to slam the Cardinals too hard for this. Cause I think they've been slammed enough for this whole, like Marvin, Marvin Harrison, junior usage thing. But I do feel like it,

at different points, the coaching staff just didn't understand this player. They looked at like fourth overall pick. I hate the word. I despise the word generational, but generational prospect who's this massive hulking outside receiver. Yeah, let's put him in the hardest degree of difficulty role here. And it just didn't, it's just, again, it's not his skill set. He's not the vertical dunk on you receiver. He wasn't that. He was a route runner. He was a guy who ran these like big over routes, crossing routes, slant routes off the line of scrimmage.

And what do you know, in week eight,

His go route rate drops from 23 to 15%. Still a lot of those deep curl routes, but I also think, by the way, they did a better job working Trey McBride off those. And from a combination standpoint, McBride had a big game in week eight. And so again, Harrison, you saw it. The routes that he was running in this game, a lot of these over routes. It wasn't even just like he was running more of them necessarily. Well, a little bit more, but he's actually getting the ball thrown to him on those plays. I think that's where Kyler's best.

working that area of the field, not necessarily like ball placement on the outside, these big go routes and stuff like that. Let's have this be more of the basis of the offense going forward. Cause I think it's better for both players. And I just have faith that, look, this is a,

We talked about old school coaching staff. It's a lot of new players. It's Murray's not even had like a full year in the system yet. They just got Harrison in the building. Even like Michael Wilson, their number two receiver is a young player. Trey McBride's a young player. Maybe it's just going to take some time for all this to come together. So I'm hoping that this is the sign of things to come for Harrison because it was definitely one of my favorite things to see in week eight.

Yeah, I'm top five offense Cardinals. That's where they sit. Go Nate Tice. Just keep the faith, you know, you know, this is the top five, by the way, and combined success and explosive play rate, sex rate. So Ravens, Lions, Bucks, like we all predicted, Commanders, like we all predicted, and

Cardinals number five there. And then another team I'm talking about after that. But I I'm with you at this the week before against the chargers rewatching it. It felt like every time they try to expand that route tree, something happened. Like they ran like a digging up at one point, Kyler gets pressured. They try to run another double move. I think on the outside, Kyler gets pressured. Like every time, like they did try to expand it. Yeah. It's just so close.

And I actually thought like this Dolphins defense was going to give them some issues. I was like, all right, this is a good test for you guys. And they look good. Like this is kind of what I pictured out of the Cardinals offense. Yeah, it helps to go. See, there's Marvin Harrison Jr. But Trey McBride, Michael Wilson's usage in that game made a lot of sense. And then you get like the one Greg Dortch target on a third down. Like and then James Conner, James Conner, James Conner, which came alive in the second half. Like this team in the second half. And I tweeted this is like, hold on to your hats for Cardinals Dolphins.

Cardinals are one of, if not the best team adjusting in the second half. And that, and so they're good in the opening script. They always hit a lull and then they look good in the second half. And so I think that's where I have faith in this team. And I'm just, it's a lot easier to say it now when you see it. And like you said, crossing routes that are involved in progression, not,

even having said that, Kyler finally got to a backside dig that this traditional offense that runs a lot of trip sets, there's going to be a lot of backside digs and backside digs are usually not the number one read unless you get covered too. Yeah, I can get a little progression thing there. But he's got a lot of

He got to one. It was a great throw. And I was like, oh, even that's happening now. So, yeah, I'm with you. Good player. A follower on Twitter said he kind of moves like a big Devontae Smith. And I'm like, now I can't get that out of my head. Just a smooth mover. Yeah, good hands. And it's like, yeah, that's how you got to use him. He's Marvin Harrison Jr. He's not, you know.

Deandre Hopkins jr. Right. He's not just going to dunk on guys. He's a finesse guy in a big body. And I don't mean that as a disc. It's just, that's what I was placed out with. So I'm with you. I'm going to talk about a different NFC West team because I have to see West is juicy right now. Uh, foreigners are figuring it out, but want to talk about the Rams fully operational death star. And that's something that I like. I have talked about this stat before, but now I got to expand it to include this season because it's, it's noteworthy. Uh,

When the Rams have their guys, meaning Matthew Stafford, Kyron Williams, Cooper Cup, Puka Nakua, when those four are on the field, this isn't just one of the best offenses that we see this year. It's one of the best offenses that you'll ever see. And we saw a little bit, a lot of it, of it last on Thursday. But since the start of 2023, so including last year, this is 426 plays that these guys have been on the field together. So about a decent sample size.

They are averaging, I can go on all these success rate stats, but 0.21 EPA per play. Okay. For context, 0.21 is just insane. That's like a Mahomes MVP throwing season, but this is the entire, this is EPA per play. This is run game and pass game. If this were a single season offense in terms of EPA per play. So since 2002, when the NFL expanded 32 teams and eight divisions, this would tie for fourth.

The fourth best offense that we have seen since 2002. Number one, 2004 Colts at 0.26. Number two, 2007 Patriots at 0.25. Number three, 2011 Packers at 0.23. Then tied is this Rams units, Schmory or whatever. I know I'm merging some stuff here, but just stick with me. This is the 2018 Chiefs. So this turns into the Mahomes' first year starting when these four are on the field together.

And it looks like that. It feels like that. It feels like it's really hard to answer against this team because they can run it on you. They can do play action. They can drop back. They can run screens. They can do every type of attack. They can go for shot plays. They can go for underneath stuff. It's watching it on Thursday. I was just like, oh my God, why didn't I like get more excited about this? Because, oh yeah, this is why I was so excited about this offense before. And, and, and just statistically it just holds up. So like,

These guys are on the field together. You're looking at a top five offense that we've seen in the instance, the new millennium and up there with some of the name offenses. 2004 Colts is the Manning year. That's the Manning MVP year. That's when he set all the records. The 2007 Patriots record breaking season from Brady Moss. Those guys, Wes Welker, 2011 Patriots or Packers. That was Aaron Rodgers's big year. 2018 Chiefs. That's my home's his big year. And then this team.

So, yeah, I just want to like just give them a shout out because, again, seeing on Thursday from week eight, seeing how they've looked the last year and a half when they are to get on the field together. And that's the thing, too, is that it's not just them. They also like by them. I mean, 11 personnel when they also use 12 personnel a bunch last Thursday. And that's just another thing that this offense has added. So, yeah.

Fully operational Rams death star on offense with a pretty fun young defensive line. You know, we'll talk about the DBs on another day, but at least they have some, you know, some pass rush that they can get after other teams too. So yeah, I'm really just digging the Rams right now and just this offense and just how good it is.

I'm glad that you brought this up because, I mean, for one, Pukunuku is like a life affirming player. Like he just exudes football joy. Yeah. Generally just great, great guy. Yeah. I've got to change. I got that interview. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's so great. Like to talk ball with and stuff like that. I know him and Richard Sherman were like geeking out about it in the postgame interview and things like that. But Pukunuku. Yeah.

in week eight was targeted on 40.9% of his routes run among guys that had more than five targets. The only other player who had a higher target per route run rate was CD lamb at 47% because he had an obnoxious 17 targets thrown his way. Um, because what else are you going to do? Like we've said about the Mike McCarthy Cowboys offense, you can tell when they get into problem solving folks, it's like, Oh,

All right. How can we just throw the ball to CD lamb a billion times and from different alignments and things like that. But it just goes to show that. Yeah. I mean, and the could even play a full compliment of snaps only ran a route on like about 65% of the drop back. So it was just immediate. Like, oh, right. That's what this year was supposed to be. It wasn't just like we were supposed to piddle our way through this season with like backup offensive linemen and

Tyler Johnson and I mean, albeit interesting shot plays to Tutu Atwell, but that's not supposed to be what we were doing here. We weren't supposed to be like finding the next Puka Nakua and Jordan Whittington or anything like that. No, we were supposed to like have season two of Puka Nakua. Yeah, yeah. Doing all of those various things. So yeah, it was just great to see him back out there and great to one of those takes where it's like, oh yeah, right. We're not stupid. Like we weren't stupid to be excited about this Rams season this year. Just yeah,

for factors beyond anyone's control. We just didn't get to see it because of injuries. And sometimes when you have those early season injuries, you get to work on depth like Jordan Wigton, you know, Pooka Natua. Yeah.

uh and then and also the offensive line is getting healthier and they're figuring it out so yeah again like you said it's like oh yeah i thought this offense might be top five before the season it's like yeah i think this is why because it looks this good so yeah and the two tight end stuff is real uh this is what yeah the stat i want to share they had 27 snaps out 12 percentile this last last game compared to and that's the most snaps they've had of 12 personnel the entire year and that's as their 11 personnel was cooking guys so

That's another one. At some point this year, he might be back off. Yeah. So that's something. I mean, once you get the playoff time, that's huge because it's all about match. I'm not saying to make the playoffs, who knows, but just saying like once you get into that, you need more matchups that you can win that that matters. Nice little card that they have in their back pocket. All right. Last one here. I'll kick it over to you for your last one.

What's the last thing that you like from week eight slash the first half of the season? This is more week eight, though. I can guess this is just week eight, though. 100%. The Browns passing game. Yeah, only in week eight. Look, I mean, this is another take very similar to what we just said with the Rams, where it's like, we weren't crazy, right? Like, if you at any point over the course of the last two years have thought like, what

the Browns should not be this bad as a passing attack. Like they have too many good players. They have too many young, interesting players that you probably liked as draft prospects or as in rookie seasons or whatever. And it's like, yeah, they just,

didn't have a functional quarterback. They didn't have a guy who could play the sport and low replacement level, which is deeply below replacement level. And look, I mean, it just, you could do all this kind of stuff with Deshaun Watson where it's like, well, yeah, but the past protection, well, yeah, but this and well, yeah, but that. And then you see another dude behind center. They're not even a perfect player in Jameis Winston, just a

guy who can play NFL quarterback. A guy who probably sticks to. Oh yeah. Yeah. He said after, by the way, the, the Jameis Winston, like transition to a mega church,

preacher is oh my god that's got to be his next career pivot at some point because i mean that guy is is he's on one with that stuff but yeah he was saying in the postgame interview yeah like they i think they asked him what is what did you think when uh kyle hamilton dropped that you know interception that probably would have ended the game he was like i just immediately started praying and like yeah that's kind of the james winston experience like we're all praying pal like when when he's behind center because it is not a smooth ride but still you just start to see so many guys get activated

You know, you see a guy like in Cedric Tillman who I don't know what you thought about Tillman as a prospect. I kind of compared him to like Cortland Sutton, which apparently I have to say pre ACL Cortland Sutton because I guess everybody hates Cortland Sutton now. Good player. Yeah. People hate Cortland Sutton. People hate Cortland Sutton apparently because any time I say this, like

No one likes this comparison, but he kind of reminded me of like a quote and sudden X receiver type where he's really good in tight coverage, but he also can run these in breaking routes. And he's not quite like in the Nico Collins here, which is this absurd separation, but he can get open. He can beat man coverage. He can beat zone coverage, especially on these in breaking routes. He's being activated. You could tell it's a guy they've wanted to play for a while because he's

They wanted to get him on the field, but you're not going to play him at X receiver over Amari Cooper when he's there. Well, Cooper's gone. You're throwing him on the field basically for every single snap. You know, Jerry Judy is a guy I've always been below consensus on, but he's a functional NFL player. Like he shouldn't just be getting, you know, no production out there. And Elijah Moore, like I know,

I know. I've died on the Elijah Moore Hill a lot over the years. But I've seen with my eyes that that guy can get open and be a good player. Again, he shouldn't be just catching swing passes and little Mickey Mouse stuff and whatever stupid spread offense they want to do with Deshaun Watson. I also thought it was notable that they go from number one in the NFL in pass rate over expectation in the first seven weeks of the season. In this game, in Jameis Winston, they dropped down to 16th. They're just...

running a little more and I know Ken Dorsey's called the plays now, which I do think is interesting, but they're running just more of a normal offense instead of this. Well, we got to do what Deshaun wants to do because we got to make him comfortable and all this stuff and it none of it was working. None of it was good. Now we just we have guys who can actually be like real contributing NFL players and that's what all these guys were. It was never a talent issue is simply just a quarterback issue. Yeah, and that's what I mean just watching it. I mean watching them

When they played the commanders, I think that was the game that everyone kind of was like, oh, he's really bad now. Right. But that's, that's how it was every week, guys. It was just him not even trying to get the ball off, misreading things. That's where I, I pulled the plug halfway through last year, even before he got hurt, because I was like, he's not even looking at the right spot. And that's not me. I like, I didn't even have to know the play call. I could just tell. It's like, no, you never go to that spot against that coverage, yada, yada. But again, Jameis, again, who's not perfect.

But at least it gives them a chance. And now they got, you know, Chubb kind of back there. They got some run game back there. It's like that helps. And you got talent at receiver. Hopefully, you know, I didn't sell Cedric Tillman. Someone in the Dynasty League offered me Cedric, or I had Cedric Tillman, and I traded him. And I took A.D. Mitchell on a pick. And now just like immediately kind of going like...

We'll see. I know. We'll see. I still trust him. It's dynasty, not redraft. So, but yeah, this is, this is the thing. And I know we don't have to break down Anthony Richardson again, but like what I'm saying about that is like, maybe the Colts get back to it at some point, but this is kind of the thing when you're having this conversation, because look at all of these Browns players. Like it sucks. It sucks. If you're out there, like,

like busting your ass every single rep like you're a wide and look wide receivers can be divas I do understand that that that's sort of the notion of the whole position and it gets stereotyped as up with the Patriots receivers like they totally deserve to talk and complain about knocking the ball and then they case on booty alligator arms one Taequann Thornton gets hit in the chest I think he has a bruise on his chest from the one Drake may hit him with but yeah I will not

be here doing pro Patriots wide receiver propaganda. But like these guys are out there and, you know, I think Brady has talked about this. Like these guys are out there running, you know, miles and miles and miles during the game. And if you're just out there not activating those players and you're just like it's it sucks and it sucks when talented players like look, I mean, Elijah Moore definitely blew his opportunity with the Jets, but like he got a fresh start in Cleveland and at no point has it ever been like, yeah, he's going to get back on track here because he's just

It's been a miserable opportunity. Cedric Tillman, a guy that got drafted in the third round, like he's a talented player, but if he has to play his entire rookie contract with Deshaun Watson, we might never know that. And then, well, he gets on some teams like practice squad after that, like, you know, like Jerry Judy got paid. So that's kind of a different conversation, but it just, when, when guys like this are just going to rot, just going to waste, it's, it's brutal because this is,

especially wide receiver. It's a crowded position. There's so many good players in the league that you can easily just fall to the wayside. And it just is a shame when guys never end up getting that opportunity to produce because everybody's judged by their production at the end of the day. Like even if my whole bit is, yeah, it goes beyond the stat sheet. You got to watch. I know how the business works. And that is unfortunate for these guys. And now all of these dudes have an opportunity to kind of get out there and prove themselves, even if it again is with Jameis Winston, not like Sondheim.

some superhero quarterback but simply functional is a lot better than what we were getting done above replacement level i want to i mean i have one last one sorry stone but i just have to drop the stat because it's my last one here and that's something we've talked about in fantasy film room something we've talked about football 301 it's the broncos and their complimentary football and i just just gotta hype up their defense one more time because caveat caveat here they have played

The Seahawks, the Steelers, the Bucks, the Jets, the Raiders, Chargers, Raiders, Saints, and Panthers, 27th ranked schedule in terms of DVOA. Having said that, I've been dropping some historical stats on this show.

Strap in for the Broncos historical stats. Okay. They've allowed an explosive play on 7.5% of their play so far this year. First in the NFL. Fifth best since 2002 amongst all defenses. Yes, that's a year long. This is just, you know, eight weeks, but stay with me. Six best and combined success rate and explosive play rate. Tied for seventh in EPA per play allowed since 2002. Just slightly better than last year's Browns defense that we were all going gaga over. Maybe that was just me, but that we're going gaga over.

This is the stat, though, I had to bring up. They've allowed 4.4 yards per play, tied for eighth best since 2002. Best by any defense in the NFL since the 2015 Broncos, a.k.a. the no-fly zone team. They're tied with them. Also, they're tied with the Legion of Boom Seahawks in 2013. All the other teams in the top 20 played before the new CBA, other than that 2015 Broncos team. So new CBA being in 2012, the whole practice change and all those things.

2011, I'm sorry. But that is so important because this defense is amazing. And now they got Sertan back. And even if they drop off a little bit, this defense, I think, no matter what, it's going to be top three, top four once it's all said and done. Maybe not historical, right? But who knows? Maybe this is just a sign. They held the Bucs to seven points. They really got after the Seahawks early on in the season.

who had some offensive woes, but still. But then, I mean, the teams that they're up there with in 4.4 yards per play are like 2008 Steelers, 2002 Bucks, 2003 Ravens, 2009 Jets, 2005 Bears, like all-time defenses. And that's where this team is stacking up in this offensive, you know, offensively.

pro offensive system or situation ecosystem, we should say in the NFL right now. So I just got to just give them a shout out how good this defense is. I do want to write about them and hopefully maybe in a few weeks, but also the run game we've talked about in fantasy film room, the run game is really improving their eighth and rushing success rate. If you include QB runs, they're using bone nexus legs, um,

You know, that's the Taysom Hill joke as opposed to the Drew Brees joke, you know, but he had a couple of nice throws, I will say. But it's a complimentary football team. It's a this is how you build around a rookie quarterback that has some struggles. Have an all time defense and have a good run game. That'll work. That's how you get Trent Dill for a Super Bowl.

You know, that's how you get Brad Johnson a Super Bowl ring. You know, this is what you do when you have, you know, average or below offensive play. So I just got to give the Broncos a shout out because I've enjoyed watching this defense every week. All three levels, they play fast. They're so sticky in coverage, especially when Sertan's out there. Xavier Leguette, they get them though. I do want to say that. So I do have to say the Panthers did get them once, but...

It's a really, really good defense and a good run game that's really finding their way. And so I just want to give the Broncos a shout out that they're not easy out now. I thought they just kind of be a whatever team this year. And now they're a team that's like, oh, God, we got the Broncos. And that's how I'm looking at them, you know, as teams are going to play on the rest of the year. So just want to give them one last shout out before we wrap this up.

I dig it. I wish all that run game goodness had got me some more Javante Williams fantasy points last week. But, hey, well, no, actually, I was with you on that one. I had several segments on Fantasy Football Live about like, oh, yeah, Javante Williams in the run. Watch. Bo Nix stole them all. I know. Hey, Bo Nix. Bo Nix is going to play him better.

Ravens secondary that's already problematic and dealing with personnel issues in week nine. We'll see. We'll see. I know we talked off air before the show, like fan bases that are most are down.

are good, but pissed off. Like I think Broncos fans on my radar, because it's, it doesn't seem like anybody really want like national media wise, really wants to believe in Bo Nix. But, um, you know, I know you've had your questions about Bo Nix, but if they win and you do, you still do. And I, by the way, I'm with you. I think those questions are overall warranted, but if they continue to win games and Bo Nix, isn't like throwing three picks a game. I, my prediction is that the Broncos fans are going to become some of the like

angry people on the internet. And you know what? Hey, talk to your folks. Yeah. Hey, smoke them if you got them. I've seen some graphics. I've seen some graphics get made already about how he's having a better year than Jane Daniels and Caleb Williams. But we got Broncos. Yeah, they got the Ravens. Then they got the Chiefs. And then they got the Falcons. That's three awesome offense versus defense matchups coming up. Falcons almost got a shout out because I'm digging their offense too. But yeah, I'll give them a shout out now.

We're closing it out today. Sorry, Stone, had to sneak that one in there. I love you. Thank you for staying with us, everybody. But closing it out, Charles will be back on Thursday as we preview week nine.

wow week nine hurry wow we're getting there i almost get to that halfway point but i am the tice you can find me at nate underscore tice matt where can they find you what are you working on this week yeah you can find me matt harman underscore byb a lot of rookies uh in terms of charting right now but uh yeah you and i have fantasy film room tomorrow so people can subscribe to the ahu fantasy forecast uh to hear that no as usual no idea what we're going to talk about but i know it's going to be good that's a

That's great. I love it. I love coming up with ideas, right? First thing in the morning, just get right into it. It's great. It's flash fry. No, but also send in your mailbag questions. We have been answering those on our Thursday show. Some good ones in there. Send your questions to football301mailbag at yahoosports.com. Trying to answer one every single week. No, we are answering one every single week. I'm also doing my updated big board this week. So check that out on Yahoo.

Comes out Thursday, and I think we'll talk about it on the Thursday show as well. Some fun ones, you know, it's a weird class. I'll just say that, especially for someone that's fantasy-oriented like yourself and me. It's not the best for Dynasty League, so I'll just drop a hint there.

Just cool. Hey, start selling off your 2025 first. If you're a contender this year, start. Yeah. Maybe, you know, push that 2026 class. There's some juice there, too. But yeah, subscribe to us. Follow us. Rate us five stars. Hopefully, if you don't like us, just yell at me on Twitter. I'm fine with that.

I'm cool with that. I won't quote tweet you. You'll be good. You also watch us on YouTube on the Yahoo Sports YouTube channel. You also follow Yahoo Sports on Snapchat as well. Thanks to Brett and Stone behind the scenes for everything they do. And thank you all for listening. See you guys on Thursday.

Walmart Plus. It's Walmart plus free delivery, which saves members time plus money. Yep. Plus an included Paramount Plus subscription to stream movies, shows, sports, and that can't miss documentary. Plus Burger King savings. That's right. Members get 25% off Burger King digital orders every day of the week. Walmart Plus. It's Walmart Plus. Become a member at WalmartPlus.com. $35 order minimum. Paramount Plus essential plan only. Separate registration required. Valid at participating USVKs in the VK app or VK.com for members only. 25%.

See Walmart plus terms and conditions.

Your dining room is the heart of your home, where meals are shared and memories are made. At Ashley, you'll find affordable dining furniture in a range of classic and modern styles. Ashley's small space sets and extendable tables are designed to fit beautifully into any space, from cozy breakfast nooks and kitchens to formal dining areas fit for a feast. And with mix-and-match seating options, everyone at your table gets the perfect seat. At Ashley, style is served.

Shop in-store or online today.