NFL trade deadline instant analysis, Steelers land Mike Williams & Week 9 takeaways
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In this episode of Football 301, we look at the trade deadline, react to a bunch of the trades that happen across the league. There's a good ones to pick through for a trade deadline. Thank goodness. Love that content. Also, we are going to recap week nine through things that we liked and one thing that we didn't like. Matt Harmon joins me. Really fun show. Juicy show. XXL size show. See you guys in a sec.

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Visit uber.com slash uber one for terms. Hello and welcome back to football 301 special day on football 301 big day on football 301. It's trade deadline day. That's the only thing happening on November 5th while we record this, as far as I know, because of the bubble I'm in, but that's

We are going to be recapping some of the trades that the NFL decided to get in before we start recording this show. And also looking at things we liked and one thing we didn't like from the Week 9 NFL slate. To help me do that, as always on Tuesday, is my guy, Mr. Matt Harmon. How are you doing today, Matt? Nate, I'm doing great. Nothing more exciting. And I know this is such bad football bro jokes here to start the show. But look...

Give it to me. Give it to me. If you're in this, I mean, if you're listening to this podcast, you're watching this on YouTube, you are just like us, hopefully. Yeah, I mean, biggest news out of the nation's capital today. The commanders go all in on the 2024 NFL season and trade for Marshawn Lattimore. Yeah, biggest news today. Again, I get it. It's lame. But hey, what are we if we're not ourselves?

I know, right? That is the biggest news that came out of the day. The biggest new face that's dropping in the near the Capitol, near the White House today. But no, it's I know that was a terrible transition. But anyways, I actually really have enjoyed the trade deadline picking up every week. Maybe it was that Rams all in year. And it really just like now it's like actually work. Hey, actually, stuff might happen. Like relevant things might happen. There's no.

Oh, again, I don't know. How about your NBA references here? I was going to say, you know, there's no she to the Hawks and into the Detroit Pistons happening. But there are some stuff, some interesting moves, some teams that are like, oh, we're kind of quasi doing this. We're kind of quasi pushing it. So we're going to go over a couple of those trades, not a couple of them. I felt like 20 of them happened, but a few of them that we think are the most interesting. We're going to start.

with a team that is really anointing themselves at the top. I don't want to spoil some of the things I like, but as Zedarius Smith getting traded to the Lions from the Cleveland Browns, going for a 2025 fifth round pick and a 2026 sixth rounder. Zedarius Smith to the Lions. We're going to say, do we like it? Do we not like it? Maybe a thought on all of it. Is this a thumbs up or thumbs down for you, Matt?

Yeah. Thumbs up for me. I think this, what this tells us is that the Detroit lions obviously view themselves as the favorites in their conference. They should. I think there's actually a pretty like Nate, who we're going to re-rack our top tens, I think next week or in a couple of shows next week, next week, hopefully week 10.

10 provides us some clarity here because I'm not even sure who the second best team in the NFC is right now, but I think clearly the Detroit Lions are at the top. They should be. They were my Super Bowl pick. They were my or well, their best defensive players no longer in the mix. Got to remind. I'm going to say it every show. Find a way to say it every show because it was going so, so well. The Aiden Hutchinson defensive player of the year. Obviously, Zedaria Smith's not about to come in here and produce that type of production, but

I think he's still a good player, maybe not in his prime anymore, but certainly probably the best edge rusher they could have gotten right now. So this, again, just shows us that they are they view themselves as a top tier contender and they should.

Yeah, this is a serious move and a move that, you know, it's not serious in an investment they make. This is totally worthwhile, but also just the type of players. Z'Darrius Smith is going to generate pressure. That's what he does. He is a very nice complimentary piece, like not an ace pass rusher. No ace pass rushers are ever going to like truly be out there, but a secondary pass rusher. And I mean, that's a huge compliment for a defense player.

That really is what it is right now. As far as a lean McNeil can get some heat, some different guys can step up at different moments. Now they just got another guy when you don't have maybe that ace out there. Let's just get a bunch of guys that generate pressure and something good will happen and how aggressive they play on defense, all the man coverage. I'm going to talk about it a little bit, but yeah,

I love this for them. It makes total sense. Player fit, even his, his play style. He's so, you know, he goes hard and plays tough, you know, so Dan Campbell is going to love that. Like there's no softies on that team. And so I just love this. I think, like you said, the Lions are the class of the NFC right now. There are some other interesting teams in their division and some other teams kind of, you know, coming up the ranks, but it's them at one. And then I feel like a drop off to everybody else. And, you know, along with the Chiefs, probably the Chiefs.

Probably two of the best teams I feel about. So it makes total sense. Like the player, like all this. And really, this is what you kind of need to do if you're going to make a push. So yeah, good move by the Lions here. Going on to one that's a little more curious. Maybe this team was... This team's been shopping around for a receiver, what feels like, for about five months now. I feel like every receiver... I mean...

Remember Brandon Ayuk saga? I'm trying to forget. I wrote a whole article about his fit with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who managed to trade for Mike Williams for a fifth rounder. The Steelers also made another trade for Preston Smith, outside linebacker, defensive end, edge player from the Packers for a seventh rounder. But I'll start with the Mike Williams thing. We know who Mike Williams is. Ball winner. Kind of got squeezed out with the Jets. He didn't run the red line, as Aaron Rodgers made sure that all of us knew.

Didn't run the red line, made a mistake there. And I think that was kind of his exit door was being built. But Matt, when you look at this trade, we'll start with the Williams trade. Thumbs up, thumbs down. What are your thoughts about it?

Yeah, thumbs up for sure. Just because they needed a body, man. I don't know how much of a needle mover Mike Williams is at this point in his career. I don't think the film on Mike Williams has been particularly inspiring this year, which is to be expected. The guy is coming back from a torn ACL and he's deep into his career now at this point. And he wasn't a guy that was necessarily...

A plus separator to begin with. So he's a certain type of wide receiver. I don't think that type of wide receiver was really ever going to. It's interesting because when he was acquired, when he's acquired by the Jets, I thought the best thing that he could do was line up at X receiver and allow Garrett Wilson to move around the formation. And he did actually do that. But the problem is that he just wasn't offering anything at that X receiver position. I don't really think that type of wide receiver is,

fits with the Aaron Rodgers like timing based offense what it does fit with though I think is what the Russell Wilson Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be I mean this there it is this this what this tells us Nate this trade tells us that the Steelers are going to lean all

all in on the just bombs away offense with Russell Wilson. I tweeted this as soon as this came out, like just four verse, baby, the George Pickens, Mike Williams on each side of the field to just vertical ball winning X receivers. Like I, I know the, like the real hardcore George Pickens people actually have hated this comparison, but I've always kind of compared George Pickens to Mike Williams and yeah, same play style. I think,

Pickens is a little bit more flexible and bendy and freakier. But, you know, I think Williams is also a bit more of a consistent contested catcher of the football. But again, we're talking same zip codes of wide receivers here. Again, both of them just going to line up on the line of scrimmage. You can mix and match other dudes in the slot and you're just going to you're just going to drop bombs if you're Russell Wilson. Hey, before the bye, that was working out for the Steelers. So I understand why they want to, again, just double down on that identity.

I always use the term at you run game. This is an at you pass game. There is no over you pass game. Yeah, over you, on top of you. Like this is, there's no mistake of how they're going to come at you. This is going to be a lot of bully ball runs and a lot of bully ball passes like that. That's what this team is built. I mean, it's fine. I, if Mike Williams is not for everybody, like he actually like a team that,

Maybe you should have been interested in him as the Cowboys with how they play and they needed outside guy. We'll get to that, but we'll talk about that in a second. But really Williams with Arthur Smith, what you said with Russell Wilson or even Justin Fields, either of those guys, this is the exact type of receiver that fits in this offense and how traditional they are in the sense of personnel where it's not a lot of slot reps. It's an X, it's a Z.

and they're vertical. That's what this offense is going to be. You have an X and a Z that can both win on the outside. Williams' health, he's 75%, 78% of what he used to be, but he can still contribute. There's still moments there, and this offense could be conducive for him in a low-usage role. Makes sense. Fifth is a... I know this is splitting hairs, but fifth was a little crazier than I thought he would get. I thought this was going to be like a seventh rounder. So, yeah, but still, it makes sense for where the Steelers are at, what the Jets are doing.

It's Devonta Adams and Garrett Wilson all the way there. So that makes total sense as well. And it's kind of just, yeah, there's a role to be squeezed. And that got squeezed out. The Preston Smith thing was...

I guess, you know, Steelers, they did have some injuries up front. So I could see why they maybe need another body. Packers want to get more out of Van Ness. Lucas Van Ness, their first rounder from last year, who's had a couple moments, but he's been kind of a little way inconsistent. So, but they're trying to get an answer on him. So that leads to kind of the Preston Smith move, which Steelers are,

They're stocking up like Steelers are pushing. I mean, they have a formula that works for them and makes it tough on other teams. And that's why they kind of just regrouped with a couple contributing players. I would say not total needle movers, huge needle movers, but guys that can contribute is what they need right now. But yeah, going on to a little bit down south to the NFC, though, Marshall Lattimore to the commanders. This was interesting. The New Orleans who need it.

Yeah, Dennis Allen firing, all this stuff. We'll pick through this. We have notes section. Stone, our producer, does a really nice job putting together an outline for us. And this one had like five bullet points on it because so much is happening with New Orleans right now. But the Saints get a third rounder, a fourth rounder, a sixth rounder back from the John Ridgeway trade. The Commanders get Marshawn Lattimore in the Saints' fifth round pick. What'd you think about this one, Matt? Thumbs up, thumbs down, I guess, for both sides. What do you think?

Yeah, I mean, New Orleans is obviously, we got to start thinking about the future. Marshall and Lattimore, they don't get a ton of cap relief from this move. And I know, look, dude, we could do a whole damn show on it. I've seen enough tweets about Saints cap stuff. I'm full. I'm full. Brother, you could have said that, and it would have made sense for like three years straight now. I've seen about enough of the Saints cap situation. I don't particularly care. I am interested in how they're going to,

How they're going to approach the future, you know, and how attractive this job is going to be. And I think because of that, you know, that's why you promote a guy like Rizzi. You know, is he going to be maybe I think they even said actually in his intro press conference or one of the press conferences this week, we've been doing the same thing in this building for a long time. And, you know, is that is that good or is that bad? Like, we need to kind of consider that. Yeah.

but at the same time, like, I don't know if he's your answer, but you need to start finding out about guys on the roster, both from a coaching staff perspective and also on the depth chart. Lattimore probably not going to be that. And you can get a third round pick from, you're going to need that cheap labor at some point here. All right. So the getting a third round pick and somebody that maybe can start for you in the future there makes sense for new Orleans for Washington.

I love it. They should smell blood in the water in the NFC East right now. The Cowboys, again, we're going to get to the Cowboys. It's over. It's over for Dallas. And for Philadelphia, I think I could kind of go both ways with the Eagles. You could talk me in or out. And again, I think we'll talk about them at one point in the show here. With Washington, they're a good team. I'm kind of...

I'm feeling more and more what Washington is putting down here from a defensive standpoint. You know, Washington, of course, because it's Dan Quinn, they play man coverage at the sixth highest rate this year. That is classic Dan Quinn stuff. You get a one-on-one ISO man coverage corner here in Marshawn Lattermore makes all the sense in the world. And again, they should feel pretty good about their odds to win this division. And because we just talked about with the NFC and how kind of murky it is behind Detroit, I,

Why can they not win a playoff game with what the offense is doing right now? I could not be more thrilled about what's going on with Terry McLaurin and Jaden Daniels because this is my corner. This is my world with wide receivers. So few guys truly ever get to get out of the quarterback wilderness. And a guy like McLaurin has been in the quarterback wilderness maybe harder than

any receiver I can remember. He's been on the Allen Robinson trajectory. We saw what happened. Robinson finally got the quality quarterback and it was too late. So this has not happened with Terry McLaurin here, who career best touchdown rate, career best EPA per target, career best yards per outrun, career best catch rate. He's averaging 17.8 average depth of target against single high coverage this year because the plan is they're going to account for our run game. We're

We're going to drop bombs to Terry on the outside because that's what Jaden Daniels did at college. That's what Terry McLaurin has done for years. So I love the synergy of this team and this just makes sense. It was a weak spot for the entire depth chart. Why not add a guy who's been a proven top level man corner for a long time? This

This isn't just a rental with Lattimore. They still have him under contract, I believe, for two more years after this. So that's another thing, too. It's like where this Commander's team is, no matter what picking in the back half of the first round it looks like. Most likely in the 20s somewhere. Sorry, I'm not going to give you 32 or 31 Commander's fans, but I'll give you the 20s. But I know what we're going to talk about, so I do have some notes on it. But as far as the Lattimore thing, it's like this guy is...

Is he the elite corner? No, but he is a good starting corner still. And a guy, I always use the term, but moves the needle. They don't have that on their roster. Those are hard to get. And he's proven like where they're picking in the 20s. They have other holes on this roster. So now they can give up these middle round picks to get a valuable starter and a position they really need. And now they got a lot more.

a lot less holes to fill in next year's draft class. So not even just for this year where I totally understand why you're pushing. I look across the NFC and I'm like,

Not even just how many teams I feel good about. How many units do I feel good about? A half dozen? Like, you know, as far as not even just teams. Teams, it's like three. So, yeah, why not? Why not? Maybe you get hot. Maybe Jaden, you know, and again, I don't want to spoil my notes because I did just watch the game. But no, just watching that offense and stuff like they make it hard on a lot of teams. So why not push it? Who's going to slow down this offense and the defense that's playing a lot better? So totally understood this one. Thumbs up, all that stuff.

As far as the Saints, yeah, you got to rip the Band-Aid off. Not just the Band-Aid, freaking...

gauze off. Uh, it's just let it bleed out, baby. Oh my God, man. Yeah. Just eat it. Just take it. Just take one for the team. Um, you know, Mickey Loomis isn't going anywhere. I believe he's on the fricking will, uh, of the, of the Benson's. Um, so Loomis, the GM is not going anywhere, but Dennis Allen did get fired. And like, for me, it was just like, well, that's what you get for trying to do kind of Sean Payton continuation with no new ideas. And like, just, um,

keep kicking the can down. If he had to say in the car signing, it's like, I don't know. That kind of played out exactly how we thought it would play out. And just you see vets quitting, vets are tweeting left and right, Cam Jordan stuff. It's just a mess. And the Saints have, you know, the Bounty Gate stuff and all that, but the Saints are always known with

with a lot of their vets. It's just like, it was a good locker room under Peyton, like a lot of good vets, like got a lot of good guys that worked hard. A lot of like, just good people, like just good guys that knew how to grind and everything. So seeing it just turn into what it is right now, Cam Jordan apologizing, uh,

Saunders saying jokes, Chris Alave's brother coming out there. It's like, holy crap. So it's going to be one of the more fascinating subplots to watch, not just the next three, four months, but the next three, four years to see what the Saints are going to do. So this is just one step into one drop in the bucket and into a huge empty bucket that the Saints are in right now. Sorry, New Orleans. But yeah, again, we're going to talk about Washington a little bit more in a little bit. Going to another team that feels like an empty void, the

The Cowboys traded for Jonathan Mingo for a fourth rounder. You start here. I want to hear you. I want to hear you on this one because I know I have some opinions on this, but you go. I'm going to give you the floor. Well, let me throw your question. Let me answer your question with a question. Would you like me to start positive or would you like me to start negative? Go positive because I actually want to hear a spin on that. All right. Well, number one, maybe the best.

transaction the panther the trade the panthers have made in the last three years hey hey yeah maybe

Maybe. I know they did acquire the most important offseason acquisition in Deontay Johnson, but they ended up trading. And also, I mean, they got more draft pick compensation for freaking Jonathan Mingo than Deontay Johnson. That one, trying to make that... They traded away their wide receiver one and got less draft pick compensation for the guy that had fallen, obviously, behind Johnson. Their first round pick this year, Adam Thielen and Jalen Coker.

uh holy cross udfa so he was like the fifth receiver on the end was playing behind david moore even this week so again i mean make that math work in your head so good on the panthers good move all right so that's a good start that's a good start contracts do matter i get contracts what's here the other side of this yeah well okay so but to keep it like a little bit of a

Not positive picture on Mingo, but silver lining is I would say that I know Mingo's efficiency metrics are horrible. He has not been a positive impact player in the NFL at all at this point. I would also argue that he was...

completely misused by the Panther staff last year. You know, we've talked about Mingo previously on, on other shows, Nate, that was a guy that I thought when you watched him in college, like he was definitely a candidate to move into the slot and be like a power slot player. And at the very least, if you're going to use them on the outside, have him run, he'd be off the line of scrimmage and have him run, run right. Well, it's over the middle of the field, you know, yards after catch opportunities, things like that.

I just said there, the Panthers last season basically did the opposite. They wanted to be like a vertical wide receiver, which there was no evidence on his college film that he could do that. And it's crazy because they drafted him with such conviction, like a project receiver high in the second round, and then just kind of threw him into the deep end. It's a little bit similar, but

it's a little bit similar to what the Chargers did with Quentin Johnston in his rookie year, where again, no evidence would, yeah, very, very similar. But again, I mean, I don't think that he's a guy that on film ever was like, well, the film was not good. So it just, what are you going to do there? Are you going to like roll cater for a guy that's not performing well, but maybe, okay. He goes to a new team.

They like to do 50-50 stuff with CeeDee Lamb. Maybe he gets more slot reps. He moves around a lot of stuff. At the same time, though, a fourth-round pick, what Dallas needed was a guy that is going to be more of a true outside man coverage beater, and Mingo's not that. My first instinct when I saw this was because we just talked about Dallas last week on the fantasy show, Nate, and all of the outside stop routes that they run. That's about the worst thing I could imagine Jonathan Mingo doing.

As soon as I saw that trade happen, I was like,

Really? The glorified gadget guy. It's a, yeah. It's Mingo's college tape was him lining up at tight end and running across the field. You're running, you're running up at the slot. So that's where I agree with you on the power slot stuff. Mingo's usage looked like Elijah Moore's usage at Ole Miss because they were the, you know, uh, Lane Kiffin was like, I know where my bread is buttered, but like, you know, I'm more showed more from the outside than Mingo ever did despite being way smaller and all that. Um,

Yeah, I don't. This one is thumbs down for me. Not for the Panther side. Good for you guys. But not for the Cowboy side, because this is just this isn't the role. This is I see a size. I see the height, weight, speed and all that. But it's like his actual how he plays is not an X. It's not a traditional Z. It's a move around runway route guy like you were just describing. And he lined up. He's lined up in the slot 42 percent of the time this year, I think, according to NextGenStats.

All right. So why are you doing that? Why are we training for this guy that needs to be loosened up and move around? As like C.D. Lamb also works really well when you move him around. So I don't know. Just another once you're moving them to F tight end, you know, like I run 12 personnel. Ferguson's your inline guy and Mingo's your offline scrimmage kind of tight end. I don't know about that. I mean, it's just it's crazy, too, because.

in a world where Dak Prescott was going to be healthy, I guess you could say, cause you and I've talked about this before too. Like, Hey, Oh, broken. We got to fix it. Let's put CD lamb at X receiver and open up other people and see what happens. Well, now you've got Cooper rush under center. They're even talking about like, maybe we'll get taste some hit. I mean, I just called him taste some hill Freudian slip. Uh, maybe we'll get, uh, maybe we'll get Trey Lance, some reps, you know, uh,

Let's do that. Well, you know what? If you've got your backup quarterback in and maybe you've got your third string Taysom Hill adjacent quarterback, you're getting some packages and things like that. You're not putting your best receiver, who's also dealing with an injury now, at the farthest position on the boundary on the line of scrimmage and you're going to make him play the hardest role. No, you're going to probably want to move him closer to the offensive line. You're going to want to move him closer to the line of scrimmage and have him do more slot stuff because we're going to be trying to get layups for these backup quarterbacks.

But now if you bring Mingo into the mix...

Yeah, putting CeeDee Lamb at X, I guess, because he can win there and Mingo can't. But now you're role catering to a guy we just traded. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. It's a lot of investment for a guy that needs a lot of help just to be a tangible player. Functional. Even functional. That's the thing. Could he be functional as a power slot? After the rookie year, same thing with Quentin Johnson in LA. We're not shooting for superstar. We're shooting for functional. And he's doing that because they've catered to him a little bit.

I don't see how that's going to happen with Mingo and Dallas. Man, you just saying the same to Trey Lance stuff. It's like, so the same interview, Jerry Jones says, oh yeah, we're putting Dak on IR for at least four weeks. And then we're also trading for a receiver. And he's like, do you hear yourself? Do you like, as soon as you say the first part, that should make the second part never happen. That should be, oh, we're putting Dak on IR. Trey Lance, get out there. Let's see what you got.

And that should be the rest of your season. They're playing the Eagles this week, then the Texans Monday night, then the Commanders, who are no joke. And then they got the Giants. Giants defense is no joke. I know there's patches with it, but it's not a joke. Then they got Bengals. It's like they're not playing easy teams. I know the Bengals defense is terrible, but their offense isn't.

So it's not like they're like, oh yeah, we can really just ease this in. Like, yeah, we can keep, we can keep it up. Like if they go 500 over that stretch, that's fantastic for them. And that's still like, that's going to be tough. I mean, I know it's a wide open NFC, but it's like, do you guys know what you are? The answer is no, but they, it's just a, it's,

frustrating team that it's this how I felt about them in July and I'm even more frustrated about them now that we start in November so yeah I didn't understand this at all for the Cowboys but like I said good for the Panthers forget something but when you need the biggest compliment I can give a player especially receivers that they're scheme proof but as soon like that means doesn't matter who the play caller is what their role is they're going to contribute to the game

You get this guy, like you just said, who needs so much help just to be functional. That's not a guy you trade for. That just, to me, is, and they're not outstanding enough in the one role. Why are you doing so much work just to make a guy be okay? Yeah, that's just bad team building to me. Just, I don't care what he ends up becoming. I'm going to one that actually made me a little happier. This is the Bengals trading for Khalil Herbert from the Bears. Bears get a seventh rounder. Herbert kind of got squeezed out.

DeAndre Swift. More on him later. And also with Roshan Johnson, who I actually do like for some parts of his game. But this trade with Khalil Herbert to the Bengals. Thumbs up, thumbs down. What are your thoughts about it, Matt?

I want to give it kind of like a thumbs middle. Yeah. Yeah. That's only right here. So what is that? Two o'clock. I'll go two o'clock. Yeah. That sounds right. Yeah. Two o'clock thumbs this year. And the only reason I'm, I'm not all thought, cause like you trade a seventh rounder for a backup running back and like, well,

Who cares? And a guy that I think has been good at times, and you just put Zach Moss on IR, and he might miss the rest of the regular season with a neck injury. So it made all the sense in the world. They've started to give Chase Brown – and that's where the thumbs middle comes up here because –

Khalil Herbert, like in some sicko fantasy leagues where you have a billion roster spots, you got to start a bunch of players all the way over where there's garbage. I just put him on the end of a couple benches because I'm like, well, maybe he gets dealt at the deadline. This is the one spot where like, oh man, we were just kind of getting the Chase Brown experience. But at the same time, we were here. We were here with Chase Brown. So that's where I'm kind of like mixed on it. But I will say that even if

Chase Brown's a weird player because I think he gets typecasted as kind of a passing down back because he's explosive and he had a couple of those screen plays as a rookie, but they've never really trusted him on passing downs. I think that was the whole point of the Zach Moss acquisition, who is a guy that is rock solid in pass protection. You can use him at the two-minute drill, all that stuff. That's not really who Khalil Herbert is either, though. He was kind of phased out on passing downs for Roshon Johnson, who's really good in that area of the field. So,

I'm kind of curious how this split ends up working. The one part that makes me excited about it, though, is that the Bengals have, I think, really tried to find...

like a explosive but also a consistent element in their run game especially in their zone run concepts and in 2023 Herbert had 4.9 yards per carry on zone runs thank you 5.73 yards per carry on zone runs in 2022 which actually didn't really square my head because I vision him more as like that at you type of runner because he runs with a lot of pop and power but

statistically he's been good on these zone runs. So we'll see. I, I maybe, maybe he actually ends up at times like being more of a closer for them when, when in the rare moments that their defense ever does allow them to have leads. So I'm, I'm really fascinated to see how this one plays out because I think Herbert's a pretty good back.

Yeah, I'm so glad he brought the zone stuff. Those are his best runs since Virginia Tech, early Bears days. Chris Morgan, their offensive line coach, who's under a lot of fire right now, but he's a Shanahan offensive line coach. So zone stuff was always kind of a staple and Herbert was great in it. I'm glad he brought the explosive play element too, because that's what actually he does bring. But that's also, you already nailed it, but it is the...

Double argument here, argument for both sides. All right. So you got more explosive play element. All right. Who's protecting Joe Burrow? All right. The part of this offense has been just jabbing defenses in the face because they get so many light boxes. So that's why you have Zach Moss, because he can be bully. That's why Samadji Piran was fine in this offense to get the four or five simple, simple yards.

All right. So maybe they're going to become more boom busting the run game, which I'm not I'm not totally opposed about. You know, maybe this is how they get an explosive play on it. But I just want to see it unfold. Great call, though, that the zone stuff is literally that's all my notes on it. It's like he's good at zone. They've gotten away from zone, but they used to be a zone team. So are they going to get back to that? Like.

Very, very fascinated to see how this works. But I liked it. I'm with you about two o'clock. Thumbs up. I liked it. I just want to see maybe how it fits perfectly in Cincinnati. But do not do not not like it. Great double negative. That's why I'm the host. All right. Going on to the next one. One, actually, because I think they're my mascot team this year. I'm the mascot for this team this year. The Cardinals acquired Baron Browning for a six rounder.

I, you know, any thoughts on this one? I think it was just some interesting juice for a defense that needs some pass rush juice. That's how I look at it. Yeah. I mean, maybe he can be the 17th player to get a pressure against the bear.

It is pretty rough. Yeah, we'll get to Chicago. But yeah, I mean, with Baron Browning makes sense. Just add somebody who can maybe give you another body against the against the in the rush game here because they're coming off this great pass rush performance against Chicago. I think that says more about Chicago than it does Arizona. The Cardinals are just a funny defense because

They throw out some weird, funky stuff, but a lot of times it doesn't work. But then when it works, like it did against Chicago, it's so cool to watch. I mean, our guy Shane Waldron was swimming. We talk about young rookie receivers or quarterbacks. We're like, oh, man, you can see their heads swimming. You can see just the entire Bears team.

off like definitely in shane waldron like what am i what do i do against this like all this no plan against pressure uh so yeah you get another guy in browning here to get into the mix i think that's interesting and again kind of similar to with washington here the cardinals should feel a little bit of why not us i mean washington i think is definitely a better team uh and they're in a better easier division i think to win but at the same time i think arizona has a

clear identity even if everybody wants to obsess about their passing game every single week they have a clear identity as a run first team why not try to push a little bit here at the deadline it's just a six round pick for baron browning it's not like the marshall latimore move but they should fear they should fancy themselves as a team that has a shot in the nfc this year yeah their schedule's letting up they they go from one of the toughest schedules to one of the easier schedules and they're playing good ball like you said it's a run first team

Low usage pass game, but they're controlling a lot of games. It's fun to watch this team kind of cook when they are rolling. And yeah, they need some juice on the defensive front. They can't be all smoke and mirrors like they are. They are getting some reinforcements and a lot of guys playing well for them, but it's still like you said, it's just...

It's as boom bust as you can get on a defense. It's like, and like you said, they can get hot like they did against the Bears or even at times against like the 49ers, the second half of that game, the Dolphins game. Like they can make it really tough. But this is a guy to, okay, our design isn't great. Can you at least win a one-on-one? Can you at least win instantly? And so some of this funky stuff doesn't get gashed and everything. So I like this for them. They don't need more young players. Like Browning's young, still in his rookie deal. Last year, I think it was rookie deal. But it's, they need

Like they don't need more dart throws. They've had enough day three picks. They need guys that are at least, you know, above replacement level players. And so Browning's one of those last one, wrap it up. Tredavious white to the Ravens for a couple of seventh round picks. Sure. He's he's I'm sorry. Tredavious white. It's just, you know, he's had injuries guy just on the doubts of his career. Ravens need bodies. I guess that that's really all I got for this one. Yeah.

yeah sucks because he was such a great player obviously this time that's just been totally derailed by injuries I can't get out of I mean the last image from from his Rams tenure if we want to call it that I can't get out of my head is him getting you know cooked by Jamison Williams in week one he bites so hard on the double move he has to like tackle him and for the interference on that play so yeah I mean it

great player in his prime. I don't, I don't know that he's going to do anything for Ravens team that, that does certainly need help in the secondary. Yeah. And for the Ravens, it makes sense. Just get another body out there. And it's not that big of an investment that we see somebody, you know? And so that's how I kind of look at it. Yeah. And the Rams is just like, they're going with the full youth movement. I'll talk about them in a little bit. So they're probably like, eh, we're not getting this out of bed. Might as well just trot out another young guy and just see how it works on the back end there. But yeah, trade deadline. Thank you.

Thank you for some stuff to talk about for a good half hour. That's nice. Sometimes it's just like a couple of things. So we're going to take a quick break and then we're going to get back to some things that we liked from week nine.

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Just a friendly reminder that right now, get any size iced coffee before 11 a.m. for just 99 cents. And a satisfying sausage McMuffin with egg is just $2.79. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer or combo meal. All right, we are back with some things that we liked from Week 9. I remember the assignment this time. All right, Matt, what was the first thing that you liked from Week 9?

Yeah, kind of tough because this guy's team lost the game in week nine. Good start. Good start. Don't like that.

That being said, Liam Cohen is one of the things I like coming out of week nine. I don't think it's his fault that they lost that game on Monday night. We'll come back to that in just a second. But I love an offensive coordinator. For one, I've liked what Liam Cohen has put on film all year. I love the way this team is designed. I love the way they – I really like the sequencing of plays. There's very few times where I'm like –

We're running this right now. Any of that stuff? It just feels very connected. This is a team that also obviously has run the ball a lot better than expected this year. Not against Kansas City last night on Monday Night Football, but generally their run game has been better. But I really think that, look, it was worth asking the question after Mike Evans and Chris Godwin go down against Baltimore.

What are we going to get now? Because when I've thought about this offense, I've thought the thing that they do best is we've got one of the best wide receiver do is in the NFL who have. And these two guys have, I would say, very different and also very singular skill sets. There's not a lot of dudes in the NFL like Mike Evans. There's not a lot of dudes, even if the power slot archetype is one of our favorite wide receiver archetypes. And there's more and more of them proliferating around the league right now.

I would still say that Chris Godwin is even unique in that archetype just because of what he does from a run game perspective, what he does after the catch. He's so explosive. And he also beats man coverage, too. He's not just one of these zone beating slots. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. So very singular wide receiver types that are also great players. It was worth asking. All right. Those guys go down like, what do you got? Yeah.

Over the last two weeks, again, I know they've lost both games, but at the same time, I think that the offense has still flowed really well. And it's the way that Liam Cohen has approached replacing Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. For one, there's no replacing Mike Evans. And there's really no replacing Chris Godwin with one of the wide receivers on the roster. But if you just look at the target distributions...

in the last two games for Tampa Bay. Cade Otten leads this team with 21 targets. Number two. Great call by you. You nailed it. You're like, hey, so just everyone else, we're trying to figure out where all the targets are going to. Jalen McMillan? Dre Baum?

we're all this and matt at the end just finally goes what about kate otten that's exactly what's been happening in this passing game but go on yes well yeah and i mean i think it when he leads the team with 21 targets bucky irving's 10 he's second place here our guy sterling shepherd is nine targets rashad white nine targets yeah out routes to sterling shepherd that was just it was so great that uh sam schwartstein text or tweeted that to us last night and then just

It was just all over the game last night. Great, great timing. But that's kind of thing here. I think Sterling Shepard, I said this when we talked about it, is their best wide receiver. And that's really like not. I love Sterling Shepard. He's he's one of my longtime pet players. But

yo, dude, it's 2024. And if he's your best wide receiver after injuries, that means the rest of the room is problematic. When we're talking about like got Ryan Miller and Trey Palmer and Jalen McMillan, all these guys. And yeah, the back to the Kate Otten thing, what really clicked with me. And I think it was, it was mostly looking at that even before like the Godwin injury, he was their number two player on screen targets in terms of the wide receivers and tight ends. And you just think about it. Like, I don't give a shit.

How often Jalen McMillan lined up in the slot like in college, there are probably zero reps of him doing Chris Godwin power slot things back in Washington. So I think a lesser coordinator looks at this and says, all right, well, we've been getting so much production from the slot. We got to find a way to get another slot guy in here and we're going to try to do that.

I love the way Liam Cohen has basically taken Kate Otten and turned him into a little bit like not saying this to be disrespectful just because we're talking about wide receiver versus tight end, but a little bit of like a poor man's Chris Godwin. You're still getting the same output in the run game from a blocking perspective. You're getting some after catch ability, and a lot of the routes, if you look what he's run in the last –

two weeks. It's a lot of these underneath routes. It's a lot of crossing routes over the middle of the field stuff where we're trying to make Baker a little more comfortable, even though he loves to throw the out routes and everything like that. So yeah, I just think it's an inspired usage for a guy who is not a star player, but is one of the most productive tight ends in the league right now. And again, I don't know that it's

the Bucs are going to turn their season around or anything like that, but I'm very high on what Liam Cohen has done. So I want to hear what you have to say about this and then I'll give you my Liam Cohen hot take before we move on. No, no, you nailed it because even statistically, it's not just eye testing. You talk about sequencing and you feel the game flow with the Bucs. I'm never watching them going like,

here comes another three and out because they suck. You know, here comes another crappy receiver screen. It's like, it's almost like receiver screens are the canary in the coal mine. Like it's like,

Oh, if they're good at receiver screens, it's a good offense. It's kind of like, cause you flow it well, you know when to call them, like all those things. Maybe it's just cause you're, if you hang around McVay, all of a sudden you learn how to do receiver screens. But I mean, shoot the, the stats I look at, you know, success rate, explosive play rate, this is a top five offense and it's been all year. It doesn't matter. The injuries have cropped up. They just still move the ball. He has had no, Oh,

Oh, I got to do this because this is what we did in LA with Baker. It's just like, Oh no, Baker's good at this. So let's just keep doing it. Like, even if he's not perfect, let's keep at the things that we're good at. A lot of bunch routes, a lot of stuff going to the outside that the Sterling Shepard thing turned in from a,

like a half sentence joke into like, Oh my God, this actually turned into a thing. And it's like, you know, that's just knowing your personnel, like knowing when it becomes real life. Love it. Oh my God. I still can't believe that one. Just an offhand comment from us has turned like, Oh, remember those Oklahoma teams? Like all of a sudden it's an actual thing.

But no, the key to hot stuff. All right. He's a steady Eddie tight end. All right. Let's use him. I trust him over what we're getting out of the receivers and everything. You're not just going, hey, it's one-to-one replaces. You kind of nailed it. But just how the usage is going. So no, Liam Cohen has been.

I liked him as like some of the things he did Kentucky and everything. It wasn't always like, you know, with Will Levis back there and one of the worst offensive lines you'll ever see in college. And they're trying to do some traditional pass stuff. And it's like, okay, but I understand why you're doing it. It's really nice to see him trust what his personnel is and figure it out. And God, it's good to see like Graham Barton out there when he's healthy and, and some of the, and just the offensive line improvement, the run game improvement. It's not,

There's just not a bad place in this offense. And I think that's a really good compliment. You can give them eye test, stat test. So I'm with you on this one all the way. I want to hear that hot take though. Okay. And again, this is a little bit of like take shopping. Should the Bucks just fire Todd Bowles and hire Liam Cohen to be their head coach? Because here...

There's precedent for this, by the way. I was going to say, the Bucs have done this before. And it didn't really work out. It didn't really work out either way. But they fired Levy Smith. I would blame Colin a little bit better in Dirt Cutter right now. Yeah, for sure. But again, I'm not here to advocate for anybody losing their job or something like that. But I just feel like...

Todd Bowles coaches this team like he doesn't understand what this team is, which is this is a... You just mentioned it. They're a top five offense almost any way you slice it, and they're like a bottom five defense any way you slice it. And I just think that Bowles is probably too conservative to be the head coach of this team going forward because...

I think you could be... Look, the Bucs are probably just screwed because of the injury situation, especially. I mean, and they were screwed on defense a little bit. They're definitely screwed on offense with... You know, we'll see when Mike Evans comes back. They're not getting Chris Goddard back, all that stuff. And this team... But I really think they could have gone somewhere had they not had these wide receiver injuries. So...

Next year, you could potentially come back and just – if you bring Godwin back, you're ready to rock again. Baker's under contract. I think he could really be something if you lean into that identity. I just think Bowles is probably too conservative to be the guy to run that type of operation. But maybe Cohen's not cut out to be a head coach. But if this offense keeps going like this and he's got the –

pals with Sean McVay sort of glow on him. And again, we've got this offense cooking. Somebody's going to want to find out if he's a head coach or not. So might as well be Tampa.

There might be a lot of empty seats for coaching spots up to zero. See how many two-win teams there are right now? No, I'm bullish on them too. I'm curious if they would do something like that. Not going for two against Mahomes is going to be a tough one to wash that out of your mouth. That's kind of a nice little snapshot of everything you're talking about right there. All right, moving on to one of mine.

This is a thing I liked, and this isn't outlandish or anything. I'm just liking the Lions juggernaut-ness that they're showing right now. We know what the offense is. This offense is outstanding. This offense has answers for every single thing. I don't believe in the golf MVP talk at all. The MVP should be going to about

The offense align and then and then maybe, you know, the run game and then he's like third and that. But he's a great operator in this offense doing it in the rain. It doesn't matter what you're throwing at this offense. They have answers. That's the best run game in the NFL by success rate. They're explosive. They have a better rushing success rate than 21 NFL teams have a passing success rate.

which including the Bills, the Eagles, the Falcons, the Packers. Yeah, and that's rushing. Gibbs, if you're just looking at running backs, qualifying running backs, he's first in running success rate. David Montgomery is second in rushing success rate. Gibbs is the most explosive running back in terms of yards of 10 or more on runs. He also has the lowest stuffed rate of any running back with 100 or more carries.

So it's not boom bust. It's just boom. It's boom with Montgomery and then more boom. Boomier with Gibbs in there. They don't need a QB run element. Some offenses need that just to open things up. They do not need that. You know the run is coming and they're going to pop you in the face anyways. They run every type of run concept. The passing game is hyper efficient. The passing game is explosive. I think their second explosive pass rate right now.

They can pass protect. So if you want to Brian Flores it, they have answers and they'll gas you. So that's just the offense. And then you look and I looked at DVOA because now DVOA, I feel like is a lot better as now we're adjusting and everything like that. No offense to the guys. I just, I like to look until we're way into the season at it. They're first in DVOA overall, their third in offense, their third in defense and their first in special teams. And they just added Z'Darrius Smith.

man this this team is awesome and they're every little question i had i've totally given up i kind of go like well you could poke at this with them like oh they run a lot of base defense against sub guess what they freaking torture you um like they're finding answers you can catch them sometimes on defense but what they make you do is make you do hard things over and over beat man coverage

beat a physical run game, run defense, I should say, with a bunch of big bodies in there. Okay, we can catch you a couple times. The Packers caught him a couple times. All right, can you keep up with our offense? Hey, our special team is going to put you in a lot of bad spots. Can you keep up with that? Hey, we're going to have a good return game. They make you be good in every phase. And this is what everyone talks about. Oh, all three phases. If you're a Bears fan, it's all four phases. But for the Lions, it's like they actually do it. Like there's no talk.

They actually answer. So stats, eye tests, just scheme-wise, just everything I'm looking at with them, it's like, yeah, this team's freaking awesome. I know I'm not going crazy here. It's either one or two on everybody's power rankings right now. But man, it's just like, this is so real to me. And all the questions I kind of had are kind of getting answered by them. I still have some things like how they can hold up maybe against some of the more elite, elite offenses, but

All right, who's going to challenge them? Because they have answers for the teams that could challenge them in the NFC. And that's really cool. So the thing I like is the Lions being a juggernaut. Because in a league that has a lot of bad teams, it's really cool to see a team not truly have a glaring weakness. There's things you can poke at, but a true like, oh my God, this is the Achilles heel of this team. It's not like...

the Chiefs were in the early spags here. It's like, all right, they can't stop the run. Like, so just run it on. Like, they can stop the run. All right, well, they give up explosive passes. Well, not really. They create turnovers. They can do that. They can get after the passer. Now they just add Z'Darrius Smith. And then you get on offense and they can just hold the ball or they can gash you with some designer play with,

Ben Johnson doing his resume building every week. It's just, it's unbelievable. I just, I'm loving this team right now. And again, I'm not saying anything new, but man, we got to appreciate how complete this team is playing right now.

I love the way you said about their defense that they make you do hard things over and over and over again, especially from a run game perspective. But yeah, the passing game is such a good point too, because sure. You're when you go up against Houston this week, if Nico Collins is back, like maybe Nico's going to get you a couple of times, you know, eventually when you get, you face Buffalo in week 15 or San Francisco week 17, some of those guys are, they're going to get you every now and again, because you play so much man coverage and you're so aggressive, but yeah,

How often are they going to get you? And like you said, on the other side of it, I wrote about them in my recap column this week on Sunday. They're just such a clean operation. They don't beat themselves, and everything kind of flows together from what the defense does versus what the offense does. The perfect way to say this is that on the fantasy show, we do the panic meter every week.

Monday and you know someone wrote it about Amon Ross St. Brown because he's scoring touchdowns at an insane clip but he's averaging 58 yards per game this year and he was at 94.7 last year and you know kind of the question was well what's up with that also can he keep scoring touchdowns and you know what's up with that if you look at his usage like

Target share, area share, all that stuff. It's all the same. They just haven't really had to open it up to beat some of these teams lately because their run game is so good and the defense has caught up to the offense. But at the same time, you're telling me that at some point they're not going to open this thing up and absolutely smash a team in the passing game? Of course they will. So that's the thing about a great team is when you have a great player like Amon Ross St. Brown who's not

as productive, but nobody really like you shouldn't really care about it. Like it doesn't matter. Number one, because all these guys are bought into what Dan Campbell is selling. And number two, like you, you have full faith at some point because you've seen the off the passing offense operate that they can open it up at some point, like maybe one of these games against Buffalo or San Francisco or something like that.

Do you want Jared Goff dropping straight back 20 times? No. But it's like, the thing is, they have sound designs and they can do it. So like you said, it's just, can you get to that answer? Can you pivot to this? That's what playoff football is. It's because teams just become so hyper-specific on what you do well, so they just take it away. So now you have to do the other things. And are you competent enough in the other things? And it's like...

every little question I have, like the only little question I have is what the bucks did to them early in the year where they, they brought some simulated stuff. No team has done it to them since because they adjusted and they learned from it. And that's like, this is what the great teams do. We'll get guys like Tim Patrick. Again,

getting dropped into his offense. And it's just like, he looks solid. This guy's been facing the worst injuries and was left for dead. And it's like, now he looks like, okay, it actually does some tangible things. But yeah, they don't beat themselves up. I mean, they average the fourth highest field position or fourth best field position. That means because they have

a complete game. It's not because the defense is just kind of doing bad things. They barely have to get the no huddle, but I know they can get the no huddle if they have to because they just are so calm and do all these nice things. And it's just, yeah, it's just a really, really, and they don't get penalized. So like you said, there's not a lot of mistakes and it's just a lot of good football. All right. Getting on to your next thing.

that you liked from week nine. And this was, you, you want, you went back to the start of the week at this one, the start of the technical NFL week with this one, which, what do you got that you liked from last week? A couple of things here. Yeah. New York jets passing game. And yes, I did. I do feel Thursday night sometimes gets forgotten about, especially because now Tuesday and the next week also, yeah,

You know, you and I basically said, like, we aren't going to talk about the Jets anymore because they're so frustrating and all this stuff. And I know I probably said, how the hell are the Jets going to score points against the Texans defense that plays a lot of man coverage and heats you up from a pass rush perspective? And about two quarters into the game.

Felt really good about that take. Felt really, really good about that take. Then the second half started buying the clip. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, let's get that out there. Let's get that out there at the same time. And man, I, I will say I'm,

I'm not like a Rogers guy or anything like that. I'm not here to stick, stick up for Rogers. I was like, people were talking about smelling blood in the water. There Twitter was a flame with the anti Rogers propaganda on Thursday night last week. But man, then at the same time, and I know Houston obviously has its issues offensively. They probably can't hang in a shootout type of game, but man,

We'll get to know him at a later date. We'll have to discuss that at some point. I feel pretty ridiculous for having them as like a top four team in the NFL. Last time we did top tens. But Thursday was a reminder in the second half that when this offense works, you know, when you like ISO routes, the whole deal, Rogers picking his spots and the whole thing, when you, when it works, it's really fun to watch. Okay. Like I, and maybe more on,

and it is going back and reviewing it on film because it's like, oh, well, what are they doing? They're just lining up and playing ball, man. But when you've got guys like Rodgers, when he's playing like that, and you've got Garrett Wilson and you've got Devontae Adams and those guys are cooking at the same time. Yeah, just line up and play football, man. So it's not too dissimilar to a little bit like the Eagles are right now from an offensive perspective where it's just,

They're not doing anything fun schematically. They're kind of in late stage Russell Wilson. Here we are. Stop it. Stop it. And the Eagles, I think, probably have, if we were to combine, like cooler players than the Jets right now. But yeah.

You know, there's been like some people about a Devante Adams washed. Watch him get off the line of scrimmage against Houston. I mean, that guy, that guy is still a press coverage maestro. He was cooking Wilson. Oh, man. Garrett Wilson, I just think has looked so fantastic on film all season this year. And I'm glad it's sort of like talk about a guy that deserved a.

a moment like that you know the the catch of potentially the season guys such i know he's a hard worker and he's been trying to get on the same page with rogers and um trying to turn all of that separation into strong route running and being where rogers wants him to be so to have a moment like that and a win i just thought that was so cool so yeah just a reminder that hey when when this offense i don't know where they're gonna go i'm i'm not really buying into the they're gonna run the table and go to the playoffs and all this stuff but

when this offense is cooking when these two guys uh garrett wilson and davante adams and when they're doing their thing and rogers is protected it can look pretty damn cool at least there's some highs now like if i'm gonna have to watch this team on freaking national tv 20 times like at least there's like some stuff that's like oh okay that's cool oh that's oh cruel okay your running backs are actually getting going because now the boxes are a little lighter you

you know, not so much as relying on the offensive line being competent. They can just be what they are. And because these good players are making good plays. So no, I'm with you. And it was good to see, you can see Garrett Wilson swimming a little bit mentally this year. I think they kind of put more on his plate and it's kind of like you said, it's, you need the reward sometimes. Like you can have great practices and then you have some couple errors in a game and you see guys kind of just go into a shell. Look at Jalen Polk right

Right now, like, you know, as soon as he does something right, a penalty happens or he drops it or so. A.D. Mitchell is finally kind of coming out of that. Garrett Wilson's a couple of years in, but young guys, man, it's like when, especially when you're not just winning games and it's easy, it's so hard to just lose yourself no matter how talented you are. So like you said, it's really cool to kind of see it now in this new era.

new look Jets offense that looks like the old Packers offense. So it is nice to say, like you said, people get their pot shots in, but it's really nice to see when Aaron Rodgers reminds us going like, oh yeah, you can do that. That's really, really fun. All right, we're going to do one last thing I liked from week nine. And it just, before we go to the break, and that's just B. John Robinson. I just got to talk. I just want to talk about B. John Robinson. I know he is ninth, I believe, in total rushing guards.

He's third in rushing success rate. He's first non-line, you know, Gibbs, Montgomery, and then Bichotte. So he's first in the non-line category. Fifth in stuffed run rate, which is, you know, zero yards or TFLs. First in runs where he reached 15 or more miles per hour. I love this stat from NextGenStats. I'm addicted to it. But he's first in those runs, 26% of his runs, he's reached 15 miles an hour or more.

Shout out to their offensive line, who's playing really competently. You just don't have a lot of holes with the offensive line. It's a safer attack because it's such a zone-heavy attack and the McVay-Shanahan-ness with it. But Bijan, I knew he was a special man, but watching him is a joy. Just a grace and power and his vision and just...

the plays he, that are available that he gets, but also the ones that he creates, what should be a two yard gain turns into six. And it's the coolest six yard gain you'll ever see. Uh, but he is, he is just playing at a phenomenal level level right now. Tower of gear. When he gets in there, it does some really nice things as well. But man, Bijan, I just got to reiterate, like this guy's special to watch. And then just one of the most fun players to watch weekend week out. Like honestly, he's become appointment viewing for me. It's like,

Oh, there's another zone run. Oh, look at number seven. Go. Oh, there's another zone run. Oh, look at number seven. Go. It's just, that's what he does. Every throw to the flat turns into an adventure for the defense because he's going to make the first guy. You can see defenders are terrified that he catches the ball in the flat and they just go, Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Okay. There he is. And then B. John's run to the sideline, get another five yards. Uh, that reminds me of, uh, so my, my uncle played for the saints for 10 years.

He was on special teams too. And they played Deion Sanders when he was with the Falcons. And I think both were in the NFC West back then. So I figured that one out. But it was a punt and it was Deion's rookie year. And he said, he goes, I'm one-on-one. He's like the right guard, right tackle on the punt team. He runs down, he goes, no one gets me. So there's Deion. I see Deion's eyes going up. And he goes, I know he's about to get the punt. And he goes, the only thoughts that went through my mind are, he's going to juke me.

he's going to juke me. And he said, Dion caught it, started, put his foot in and it tripped over his feet and then like fell down. And my uncle just jumped on top of him. He goes, I caught, you know, X amount of touchdowns. He goes, I celebrated harder about that to quote unquote tackle that did anything with that. And that's what I feel like when I'm watching Bijan. It's just like every defender is like,

He's going to get me. He's going to get me. But yeah, shout out to my uncle John because that's exactly what it looks like. But yeah, I don't know if you have B. John thoughts other than he's cool because I just took five minutes to just say he's fun. That's all I want to say. What else is there to say? He's a great football player. He's obnoxiously productive on these zone runs at this point. He's wild.

really taken uh like taking it to heart too and taking um taking a leap there i think as a rusher from like a decision making perspective because he's a guy that was a great prospect but last year he had some head swimming moments there uh in arthur smith's offense that's very zone heavy he made some mistakes you know not being where he's supposed to be as a receiver uh at times and i i talked to him about this at the super bowl and he's just like yeah it's a

it's just different. Like you get into the league and you know, more is put on your plate from a decision-making perspective at the running back position. And this ends up happening. And now you see, it's just so cool to see a talented player. It's all clicking at the same time. And it,

Yeah, I mean, this offense has played a cupcake schedule the last five weeks. I mean, just it's an unbelievably good offense the last five weeks. Third in offensive success rate, sixth in dropback EPA, number one in rushing success rate. And Kirk Cousins is fifth in adjusted net yards per attempt just since week five. Like I said, I know they've played the damn Bucs twice. They played the Panthers. They played a cupcake schedule. Those games are going to get tougher. But everything I've seen from a process standpoint with the players, the system, the play calling, everything,

leads me to a lot of faith that I think this team can still be very good.

eighth overall and combined rushing and explosive play rate, sex rate, just overall in the whole season. No caveats with that. So they're trending in the right direction. This, this is, this is what you hope for. If you're a Falcons fan, it looks, it looks really good right now. All right. We're going to take one last break. One thing we like, one thing we didn't like, and we'll wrap it on up. Save on Uber one this fall with Verizon for a limited time. Get three free months of Uber one, get $0 delivery on eligible food, groceries, and more.

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All right, we are back. And I just realized what your last thing that you like is, and I'm very excited for you to talk about it. So Matt, what was the last thing that you liked from week nine?

Yeah, talked about the Chargers offense last week. Let's close the loop and talk about the Chargers defense, baby. What's he doing? Jesse Minter, baby. Yeah, Jesse Minter. Not going to be the Chargers defensive coordinator too long, I don't think. And this defense is really fun. I really especially enjoyed watching them against Cleveland because...

trying to find like the right way to say what it felt like, but it just, it is read them like a book. Basically. I think the charges from a past game standpoint, you know, this team plays a lot of cover six, a lot of cover four. And they're really, they play a lot of zone. They play a lot of too high and they,

That was just perfect against Jameis. They knew right where they needed to be. And obviously, Jameis is Jameis. He's going to give it. He's going to take it. He was doing a lot of giving against the Chargers. But to me, it wasn't just like, oh, Jameis is doing Jameis stuff. No, this defense had a great plan for that particular offense. They were on the routes. They were consistently...

They had that offense stopped up all day from a pass game perspective, and it has felt like that all year long. I think this is a well-designed and well-concepted offense, if that's a word, even if obviously Jameis is your quarterback. So to me, that's a pretty good checkbox for this Chargers pass defense. I also thought this note from NextGenStats was insane about their run game. L.A. Chargers have allowed on Sunday against the Chargers,

Obviously, Cleveland Browns run game with Nick Chubb coming back allowed just 38 yards on 15 design rushes when lined up in light boxes in week nine on the season. They have utilized light boxes against the run at the highest rate in the NFL, 66.2%, which makes a ton of sense because obviously they play so much coverage on the back end.

Despite that, though, the fact that they line up in light boxes, they were still number two in rushing EPA allowed going into last week's game. Like, that's nuts, man. The fact they're using all that light boxes, that's hard to do. And they're still smashing it up in the run game in that way. And again, so it's just a defense that communicates really well. It's...

It's funny because I watch them play. I'm not... At some points, I'm not like... You know, you watch some defenses and it's like, all right, well, they've got this superstar and that superstar and all that. They're just a sound, sound...

sound defense where everything is communicated really well there's not a ton of like busted coverages or something like that uh you know xavier worthy's got him on like a long play at one point but wait what are you gonna do uh that's gonna happen that was just a speed play like it wasn't like a botch in coverage yeah right that yeah and it's like xavier worthy's one good receiving play all season long so like i was wondering if we would get to him today

Did you know in college that not only the hashes are wider, but the field's wider too? Can't believe the NFL let the Chiefs – can't believe the Bills let the Chiefs get – well, give me a freaking break. But anyways, positive here. Positive. The Chargers defense, I'm in. I think this is going to be the year where the national media hops off the Chargers bandwagon.

because the roster's not talented. And I actually think they're going to be... I just think they're a good football team this year. Like, no, no, like, they're good for this, they're good for that. No, they're good on offense. Jim Harbaugh is capital L in love with Justin Herbert based on everything he's saying, and he should be, because Justin Herbert's crushing it, like I talked about last week. And this defense is good. So... And they run the ball really well. Like, you can...

You can't really poke a lot of holes in what this team does. They need to get better on the interior offensive line. But beyond that, you can't poke a lot of holes in what's going on with the Chargers right now. I just think they're a damn good football team.

A good defense and a good quarterback is a good formula, especially when a wide open AFC, or at least in the middle. I say the middle tier of the AFC is wide open. I know this is great. I want to study the Chargers defense more. I've kind of been watching them a lot, but never kind of going like, oh, they're doing this or doing this. I'm just like, yeah, they make it a slog on everybody. And that's what you said. It's sound like if you got, I'm trying to think the coach was Bronco Mendenhall.

Right. Long time college coach. Really good defense mind. He I don't want to butcher it's him, but I think it was. But Paul Crystal story that they were at some clinic and someone asked him what the goal of his defensive call was. And he said, I want the offense. Yeah, it was Bronco Minnelli. I want the offense to throw it to where the weakness in the coverage is.

And that always stuck with me. And it was just kind of one of those things. What he's saying is, yeah, they shouldn't be throwing to what should be the, the, the like covered spot. That means we messed up, but if they're throwing, if we play cover two and they run, throw it to the, you know, the hook right there, or they throw it to the whole shot. It's like, well, we can either make it tough on the whole shot or we can rally and tackle. If we were on quarters and they throw it to the flat, if we rally tackle, it's a four yard gain. That's fine. We won where they threw it to the weak spot. We didn't let up an explosive. And,

And that's how, when I watch this defense, that's what I'm thinking. It's like, they just don't botch stuff. Like you said, they don't make mistakes. And that is usually a sign of a really well-coached team. And it's kind of how I felt about maybe, you're going to roll your eyes, but the Cardinals offense the last year and a half, where I'm just like, well, this isn't always perfect, but it's sound.

And like, yeah, I wish they did this with Marvin Harrison Jr. Now I'm saying that. But like none of their designs where I was like, oh, this is a bad design. It's like, are all the players perfect? No, but all the players know where they're supposed to be. When there's a bunch formation or there's a motion, it's good when you see guys communicating because they recognize what's going on. That means they were coached and they were scouted to watch this opposing team and see what they're all doing there.

So that's what I watch as defense. It's just like, they just do not make mistakes and they do good things. So I'm with you. I mean, they're first in like success rate, they're first in combined success rate and explosive play rate. And I know some of it is the offenses they face, but guess what? They just keep doing it. They made a slog on the chiefs. And so, yeah, now we're going to get, um, the schedule picks up a little bit for them. I think next week they play the bangles week 11, I should say. Um,

And that's going to be really fun because then you got a really juicy offense versus a defense that makes it a slog, right? Who blinks? So yeah, that one I'm looking forward to. They got the Ravens. They got the Falcons. They got the Chiefs again. Yeah, they have the Titans this week. We won't notice it there. I skipped that one. That's why I kind of moved on there.

Eventually picks up. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy that Chargers allow 6.2 average depth of target lowest in the league while also having a 14% pressure rate, which is third lowest in the league. So it's not as if like, oh, we're getting it out quick because we're getting heat or anything like that. No, it's just it's so funky on the back end. And so it's funky, but it's just it's well covered on the back end. Yeah, it's just it's it's tough.

They make it tight. They make it real tight. Yeah. I got to study my guy, T.R. Tartt, a little bit too. I know he's helping out against that run game too. T.R. Tartt bouncing for some team to team for some reasons, but it's good to see him in a landing spot and playing well. All right. Last one here. Last one we like. I just want to say the new faces. I was going to start with the Rams.

And then I also want to talk about the Eagles defense because I've been talking about some of the offensive stuff and some of the defensive stuff last week when I was saying the things I liked from Week 8 and other things. But starting with the Rams, the defensive line, all the young guys, it's just Jared Versus is starting to get some defensive rookie of the year talk. He's kind of winning it by default. I'm writing about midseason awards and I might just give it to him by default right now. He has the pressure stats. It's more he's a cog in this whole group.

And, and he plays hard. Don't get me wrong. He's good against the run. And he does like, but that's the thing is like, these guys take turns. They do so much twisting and knifing and moving guys around. They got Kobe Turner, Byron Young. And then now they got a Fisk. God, I just, I always want to say Walton Fisk, but Fisk. But these guys, they all play hard. They're also aggressive and they can slice across and make everybody really edgy.

on the interior that it's like, this is really fun. And all these guys are first and second year guys, first and second year players. Just wanted to give them a shout out that it's just, they take turns on who's standing out. And I think that's really cool because it makes it really tough on offenses. Like, well, we can't just game plan against this guy because they're going to do so much movement. It's not, the back end isn't the greatest unit ever. Like you can get after them, but they do make it hard up front. They play really hard. So I just wanted to give them a shout out. The other thing too is,

Well, you also get the Seahawks offensive line bump. Don't get me wrong. I'm not. Charles Cross is good, but the rest is... But also, I mentioned this a little bit last week, but the Eagles defensive improvement is very real, very tangible. Player-wise, scheme-wise, I attest, numbers, everything you want to talk about. Since week three, their first and combined success rate and explosive play rate and sex rate allowed. Their fifth in EPA per play allowed.

Jags got after him a little bit in the second half of the last game. But man, all these new faces stepping up for them. Not just new faces, guys with more of a role this year, an increased role and the new faces, I should say. So you got Zach Bond at linebacker, who at first I was like, oh, he's good in my kind of limited sense.

He's playing really well in coverage. He fits the run. He plays smart. He plays with his hair on fire. It's a perfect defense for him because he gets to stay clean. You know, he's not the biggest body. He might be their most important defender right now because of what he does on the interior. If this other guy wasn't there, which is Cooper Dejean, who started playing, you know, after a few weeks, now playing in the slot. He's really standing out some big moments on fourth down. He's good in coverage and others, you know, athletic, smart player. Milton Williams up front.

Oh, my goodness. Like this guy, I kind of gave him a little shout out before the season, but he's doing a really good job along the interior, along with the guys that get the – Jalen Carter is playing well. Jordan Davis is playing better. I would say he's actually not just Snorlax out there. He's actually doing something. But Milton – he looks like Snorlax, man. Good comp. Yeah.

Bumps inside, you know, on passing downs. And he's disruptive. And when you have the other guys they can get after, you know, some of the older bats. But they just, you know, they built this defensive line to actually get some pressure. They're not going to blitz a ton. You know, Josh Swett's doing some good stuff when he has to rush the passer. Then you got just on, like I said, the back end. Quinion Mitchell, Cooper Dejean, N'Kobe Dean, who's limited but had a great interception. The Jaguars openly admitted that they targeted him on that play. Because I totally get it.

It's one of these things where it's like Doug Peterson almost says the truth too much in his interviews where it's like, I knew, I knew what he was saying. He was like, well, we took that matchup because look who was covering them. But also it's like first down, you guys got to had a lot of time. Like you're taking balls to your right. Dearness Johnson. It's like, Oh, it's like, I understand the argument, but I don't at the same time. It's like one of these things like don't admit it. Yeah. Jags band, Jags band, Jags band. I know. Yeah.

Trevor's looked good last month. I don't care what anyone says, but I'm watching that defense and it's tangible. This is a good unit. I feel safe saying that. They just have guys playing at all three levels doing a lot of the sound things. That's what that defense thrives in. But then when they get singled up and they have to come show up on third down as a pass rusher or a coverage guy.

They're showing up well, and that's where the talent kind of comes in. So this is a nice mix of Fangio figuring it out. He always does. Dolphins defense last year in the second half before everyone got hurt went from awful the first month to extremely good for six weeks, and then they fell off a cliff. Fangio needs time to implement his stuff, and man, it's pain. I know he's focused a lot on offense, but this defense is really stepping up, and it's been a lot of fun to watch, and they got a really fun one next week.

them against the commanders so that like that's one that one i'm really excited to watch and then they got the cowboys this week but you know whatever with that one so yeah eagles defense wanted to give them a shout out we'll see how they can stop the trey lance uh wildcat package no but uh seriously i was i was actually just watching and charting brian thomas jr in that eagles game right before we hopped on here so definitely came away with a really high opinion of quinion mitchell and cooper dejean there was at least one play where uh dejean was just

in coverage on Brian Thomas Jr. in the red zone or in the end zone. And I think Thomas is probably supposed to be the read on that play or he's supposed to be one of the first two options there. And Dajin just has him blanketed. And, you know, that's like a – that's an obvious athletic advantage. Even if Dajin's a good player and obviously not like a –

slouch athlete himself. It's still like a pretty big advantage for the 6'3 freak show wide receiver against Cooper DeGene. Yeah, in the slot and running an out route. And DeGene, again, just there's no chance you're throwing that ball because he is not open. And Brian Thomas DeGene is a good receiver. I think he's gotten a little bit like we were talking about rookie receivers and jumping the shark and like getting a little overrated. I think at times he's gotten it.

a little bit overrated this year because he's never been just like a true deal number one, but he's a big play threat. And especially Quinn Young Mitchell, man, he, a couple of reps, like, I mean, Brian Thomas got him because he's a good player a couple of times, not didn't get the ball. I

I don't know how involved he was supposed to be in the game plan because he came in, you know, obviously a good game time decision and stuff, but definitely created separation on routes. But then there's other plays, again, just press man coverage, which Thomas has dominated press man coverage all year where Queen Yann Mitchell got the better of him. So definitely two rookies that I think they hit on those picks.

Yeah, I do too. And it's good. Like it's good for me or not good for me. It's fun for me when I see like a guy like Milton Williams, cause I was like, Oh, you had some flashes. Oh, that's cool. Or so, but when, when you get the full-time role, it's always different. And then now it's like, Oh wow. Okay. You're still maintaining that play. And it's, that's nice when you just got youth and new and increased roles and everyone's playing positively. But yeah, Eagles, Eagles are just, they're,

They look like the Eagles. It's like, this is a good team. It's nice. I actually need some of those. All right. Real quick to wrap this up. What's your least, one of your only least favorite thing I should say from a week nine or just anything on your mind.

Well, the one I chose was one of many. So actually, we probably could have done a much longer show on things I didn't like. I shared more what I didn't like than what I liked. I'm glad you went with yours because I have some thoughts on yours. But the thing I didn't like the most from week nine, it's got to be Jermaine Burton saga. I mean, come on, bro. I don't know how much you've seen of this or you follow this whole thing. Especially Nate. We just talked about this last week. We just talked. We just talked about how. Substitution.

Well, yeah, that and I was saying they're clearly going to need more of him because without T. Higgins, they have to do the thing where they bump everybody up a slot and it doesn't work. And they had just given him a bump in playing time last week where he ran over 40% of the routes for the first time all year. And all the reporting like Paul Diener Jr. from The Athletic and a bunch of Bengals people have indicated that the plan going into this game was for that to happen, that they had built a game plan already.

around Jermaine Burton to get him on the field and all this stuff. And then he's a...

game day inactive because he didn't show up to practice on saturday um there are pictures and look this is internet stuff there are pictures on the internet of him like at a slot machine uh because obviously the game was in vegas uh same sweatshirt that he wore wearing the same sweatshirt to the game and then and then a little bit this is let me open up the the the wall of vulnerability here uh

I have always been... Someone I used to do shows with here at Yahoo once called me the oldest millennial because I have very strong feelings about certain...

stupid. I once went on a long rant about TaskRabbit, the app. I'm like, you're hiring people to do your chores for you? Grow up, America. What are we talking about here? But pre-COVID, pre-pandemic, I had very, very strong feelings about what you should and should not wear into the office. Wear real pants. Don't be wearing shorts into the office. None of that nonsense. Come in dressed for work. We're here to work.

dress like you're going to work. So for Jermaine Burton to miss practice on Saturday, being called out at times for sleeping through meetings to show up to the game on Sunday, wearing pajama pants, not the best, not the best. Okay. Like we're, we're here to work. You're already on the, on the list of the coach, you know, burrow maybe is yelling at him on the sideline. I get up. Don't be sitting on the bench. Cause you're not even playing. Uh,

Maybe don't show up in the damn pajama pants to work. I mean, come on. What are we doing here? So, like, I know I shouldn't be frustrated by this because when somebody when somebody tells you who they are, believe them the first time. Yeah. And we know the deal with Jermaine Burton. But he's such a talented player and they really could use him right now. So I'm frustrated by it. I'm sure the Bengals are frustrated by it. Hated seeing this in week nine.

It was, uh, well, and the thing was, if that was him at the slot machine, which looked a lot like them. And also the same exact bangles. That's the thing was team gear too. It was the military awareness sweatshirt that they were, uh, uh, military, military appreciation. Um, but the, I think we're aware of what the military is, but what Burton is that, well, like if he's wearing the same sweatshirt, he probably reeked like cigarettes.

Like that's the other thing too. You're talking about being cleaned up for work. You probably just reeked. And he's wearing that same sweatshirt on the sideline, the locker room. I mean, you didn't change into anything. Yeah. That was just,

Like you said, they tell you what they are. Actually, I have a joke about this on my next segment. But they tell you what you are. You got to listen to them because, I mean, Dan Brugler, who I worked with at The Athletic, gets amazing character reports on guys. And that's all we talk about with Burton is everybody freaking hates him at Georgia and Alabama. And you know some of the dudes that played at Georgia and Alabama? Dudes meaning not only just great players, but personalities that have come through those schools. And they said, yeah, this is too much for us.

Like that, that's a, because it's obvious how talented he was. Obvious. Like you watch him at Bama. It's like, oh my God. Oh, it's a film. And there was a reason why no one was like, oh yeah, take him like this. Everyone's like, well, you know, you got to wait till day three for him. And it was like universal. So yeah.

I was even shocked he went in the third round. I was even shocked he went in the third round. I thought he was going to go, you know, day three, whatever. But yeah, I mean, he has first round ability. But yeah, who knows? I misspoke. The game was in Cincinnati. I don't think it was in Vegas. But still, I mean, and again, who knows if the slot machine picture is real? Maybe I'm getting punked by the internet, whatever. But regardless, who knows?

show up to work denying it that's the show don't wear freaking pajama pants when you're in the crosshairs of the coaching staff put put it put a pair i mean for god's sakes put a pair of joggers on at the very least just something don't wear team gear out either when are you a freshman that's your that's what you just call that the freshman tuxedo because all the freshman football players and athletes you get your first team gear and then they just wear it constantly every single day so yeah that was the freshman tuxedo

All right. My last, my least favorite thing, and this will wrap this up. Love you, Stone. Thanks for staying with us, bud. This is DeAndre Swift and the Bears offensive attack. You talked about

This is not me being a Caleb Williams defender because I wrote a huge gushing article about him two weeks ago because I watched that tape back and I would say he had a misthrow over the middle on the second drive where he probably should have pulled the trigger earlier. And probably one other misthrow. But other than that, I'm kind of looking through it going like, what else do you want him to do? He's trying to operate this offense. And a lot of times he can't. If the offensive line doesn't mess up, there's a running back not picking up a protection. DeAndre Swift being that running back.

If we look at the receiver with a cool little design, two guys run into each other. And then the timing's off, and then he has to get into creation mode. There's a disconnect right now, how much people are saying he gets into creation mode. And I'm like, he should do it more because of what's going on with the actual structure of this attack. But the line you said, you should listen to what people tell you. You ever heard the story of the scorpion and the frog?

No, it's an old, okay. It's an old, old story. Old, old, old tale. Or really the synopsis of it is scorpion asked the frog to carry him across the water.

And he's like, oh, but you're going to sting me. And Scorpion's like, I'm not going to sting you. Like, I need to get across the water. If I sting you, you'll get sunk. And then halfway across, Scorpion stings him. He's like, why would you ever do that? And he's like, because I'm a Scorpion. That's what I do. That's Shane Waldron. Yeah. It's just like, I started giving him props about him chopping stuff from his offense. Then he's handing the freaking ball off to an offensive lineman at fullback. I know.

He's running all his gas. I know it was like, you guys, you gotta be kidding me, dude. And you had a bi-week to like trim even more fat and you're just adding more. Um, but watching this, this offense, and then this is really the issue. It's team structure, team building reps that they're giving, um, Deandre Swift. And this is a known fact since it's been the week. He is a boom bus running back. His vision is poor. I would even say not even below average poor. Um,

Um, he's explosive, but he doesn't take the easy runs. He's not getting past protection. He goes to the wrong guy a lot. Um, so he's a limited player and now he's on several teams. Um, now he's getting paid. He's taking reps from other guys and I'm watching it and not just to put it all on Deandre Swift, but when you sign a guy to be a vet running back,

He shouldn't need handholding and mean handholding from a rookie quarterback. And there's protection busts where this should be a simple play. And I'm watching him. He's not even like looking at the right guy. And there's some Bears fans arguing with me about it. I'm just like, all right, I'm not going to like trying to break down six man protections to like,

bears lover 69 69 and i'm like just like you know i'm like why am i doing this right now but it's it's really it's more just that is just the snapshot of what the issue is with this team why is the rookie quarterback correcting the vets like why is the rookie quarterback having to point the offensive line in the right direction why is the rookie quarterback having to

put the veteran running back that got paid a lot. If you get paid, you should not need this stuff. They're the ones that are supposed to be leading those rooms. And you got a second year running back at Roshon Johnson that's better at the little things than the vets that got brought in. Travis Homer earlier this year, same thing. Another Shane Waldron special. But it's just that I watch his team and watch the lack of details. It's like, man, this is just, you know, and then you got the end of half gaffes, you know, the Hail Mary, the run at the end of the half against the Cardinals.

So it's not just the offense. It's just like those moments. I like what the defense does, but just overall, this team is just not well coached, especially the juxtaposition of them going against the Cardinals, who I think are very well coached. Even if the defense is funky there, I get what they're trying to do.

And, and, and, but the offense, the special teams, the little moments of the special teams that they had, I tweeted it where everyone's given the fair catch signal. Seven guys are doing it. And I don't, I couldn't name half the guys on that special teams unit. You're telling me these guys can understand those things, but then the bears starting defense can't understand end of game stuff or end of half stuff. That, that there's just the entire team and that the vets are kind of just like,

These guys are like, want to be leaders and want to talk up. And it's like, you know, Cole commit wants to be a leader. I'm seeing him botch stuff too. It's just, I see Keenan Allen dropping passes and doing, uh, you know, misaligning on stuff. I'm seeing DJ more walk off the field, you know, being frustrated and stuff. It's like, what the hell are you guys doing, man? They have the same, they had a bad record. Then the Cardinals going into that game. And you would say, you would think they haven't won a game yet. And then like, that's how it just felt from as soon as one thing went wrong. But yeah,

Yeah. Just using Deandre Swift as one example of like, just like, what are you guys doing? Like, what are you teaching over there? Just the lack of detail on that whole team is very frustrating because I'm watching a quarterback trying to do the right things and then just kind of being let down by everybody around him. And that's not just me making excuses. That's just what, that's a fact.

when I watch this team, when I'm watching the Bears offense and just the general team. So I just kind of want to, yeah, I didn't use this as a Cardinals launching point for once, but I'm just using that as more of a like, wow, Bears, this is, what are you doing, man? What are you guys doing? It's just so bad sometimes. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I don't often say this, but like that was pathetic. Uh, that, that game was pathetic and it's like, you're so right to point out the coaching difference between Arizona and Chicago. Like you can feel when there's a coaching gap and it should not feel that wide. Um,

with a team like Chicago where they're at versus a team like Arizona where they're at. And yeah, look, Caleb Williams has not been perfect this year. He has struggled with downfield accuracy for whatever reason. I don't really know how to pinpoint that because I think that was what he's really good at at USC. Too many go balls. Well, another real quick offensive structure thing. They're doing what we complained about with the Cardinals originally, Marvin Harrison Jr.,

but it's the he's taking the one-on-ones to the x and it's just straight go balls but it's like not dj moore running them it's like you know dunes a or keenan allen and stuff and it's just kind of like i get what you technically it's the right read but sometimes just read it out like just don't give that to him let him make him read out the zone concept so sorry to cut you off no no i totally feel you on that and that's a really good explanation for it and also like i would say that

It just even just the way I won't get into too much of this. But yeah, the whole idea of just their receiver room is way too crowded. I think they've got too many egos there and the whole thing like it's it's a lot on Williams's plate. So I'm with you. Pretty, pretty frustrating team to watch right now.

All right. We got through it. Thank you, Trade Deadline Day, for adding another half hour of this. You're welcome, Stone. But we're closing it out today. Charles is joining me on Thursday to preview Week 10. We're in double digits now. I think we'll all be back next week, next Tuesday, for a three-man weave to do with some power rankings, maybe some other stuff on there. But who knows? We'll give it another...

100 minute podcast for stoned at it. But I am Nate Tice. You can find me at Nate underscore Tice. Matt, where can they find you? What are you working on this week? Yeah, Matt Harmon podcast. Yeah, I was going to say the same same as ever. Just a lot of talking and somehow can't stop talking. Yeah. On Twitter, Matt Harmon underscore BYB. You'll be in the fantasy film room tomorrow and we'll see. Again, we don't know what we're going to talk about, but we'll get there. Hey, those props will keep hitting, though.

Yeah, that's right. Flash fry props from us on Thursday night, man. That's why you want to listen to that show. We're cooking. But also, we'll try and get to a mailback. Not try. We will get to a mailback question at the end of every show. So on Thursday, I should say. But send in those questions. We're going to answer one of those a week. Football301mailback at YahooSports.com. Emails are great. If you want to send a voice note or video, that's even better. We'll get that up there.

Subscribe to us. Follow us. Rate us. Five stars. Pretty please. Also can watch us on YouTube on the Yahoo Sports YouTube channel. You can also follow Yahoo Sports on Snapchat if you're into that. Thanks to Brent Stone. Behind the scenes. Thank you all for listening. See you guys next time.

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