Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag is a podcast aiming at bringing you Wisconsin sports news and opinions everyday! Follow the podcast and check out the Facebook and instagram page!
Wisconsin Sports on the go with Trag
Packers' vs Titans recap, Great weekend of College Football and more! – Wisconsin Sports on the Go with Trag
Who really stole the show in the Nebraska vs. Illinois game? Was it Illinois' formidable prowess or Nebraska's glaring weaknesses? Join us as we unpack this enthralling matchup, alongside Indiana's unexpected offensive surge that could see them catapult to the top of the Big Ten. We'll discuss the depth and unpredictability of Big Ten football, making it a thrilling spectacle week after week.
Exciting news in the broader college football landscape features Arch Manning's commitment to Texas and the resilience that makes football such a compelling sport. Special guest Kyle from the "Chomping on the Bit" podcast joins us to analyze Tennessee's surprising defensive showing against Oklahoma and Bowling Green's unexpected competitive streak. We also highlight Michigan's gritty win over USC and discuss the implications for USC as they navigate the Big Ten.
Our NFL segment shines a spotlight on the Green Bay Packers' resurgence, focusing on their young wide receivers and Jordan Love's contributions. We dissect the Packers vs. Titans game, paying close attention to Malik Willis' notable improvement under Matt LaFleur's guidance. Wrapping up with NFL surprises, we review standout performances and unexpected victories, and reflect on Justin Fields' surprising success with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Don't miss out on this action-packed discussion filled with insights and bold predictions for the upcoming games.
how we doing everybody and welcome into wisconsin sports time to go with trage. I'm your host, trage, we are back. It's a sunday night, a great sunday. Lots of good things happened today. Brewers won, packers won, you know just a great sunday. Right, you can't beat it. The badgers weren't in action over the weekend, so I can't complain about the badgers. So that's a good day. But I got Kyle from Chomping on the Bit podcast. He's with me today here, kyle, how are we doing Sunday night? It's a fantastic Sunday. How are we doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm good, you know, I can't complain at all. It was an interesting day of football, I mean kind of a weekend, because I did catch some college football as well. So yeah, I mean I'm just happy, happy to have some competitive, great games that, like you know, came on and I got a chance to check out oh yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:It was an interesting day. It was an interesting weekend with some games out there. We want to touch into just about everything today, while also talking wisconsin sports, because that's what we're here for at the end of the day. So right away I want to look at the college football slate from this last weekend. We saw a lot of interesting matchups right Nebraska and Illinois. That happened on Friday night there. Did that game, did that show you how good Illinois is or did that show you something about Nebraska? In that one, I thought it was a great game. That one I thought it was. I thought it was a great game.
Speaker 2:I honestly thought it was a great game.
Speaker 1:Royola just got a little bit outed by Altmire. I thought Altmire played a great game for Illinois. Illinois put a great game plan together and I mean it was a good game all the way around. What'd you think of that match up there between Nebraska and Illinois? Does it make you think anything less of Nebraska or more about Illinois?
Speaker 2:Probably more about Illinois. I mean, I know Nebraska had the win over Colorado but then that kind of depends on how you view Colorado, whether or not you put a lot into that. I feel like Nebraska looks like they have something with Raiola. I feel like he's going to be alright but it might just speak to the depth of the Big Ten of sorts in that Illinois is not a team that you necessarily think of when you think Big Ten and them being a powerhouse or anything like that. I mean, nebraska was kind of a big deal back in the 90s but I just feel like it just shows how week in and week out within that conference you have to be ready to play because any one of these teams can knock you off, maybe unless you're Ohio State and one of the top tier teams.
Speaker 2:I think the whole Raiola stuff is maybe he was getting a little bit more shine, a little too early. I know every time I see Nebraska plays a lot of the comparisons with Mahomes because of the look and everything like that. Maybe they were feeling themselves a little bit after the Colorado thing, which a lot of people you know gave them a spotlight to the team. So maybe this humbles them a little bit and they can kind of regain and continue on with their season. But I will say, like you asked, you know, I will say that it's more about Illinois showing than necessarily Nebraska.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I would agree with that. Illinois I said right away both teams played a great game. Altmyer played great Royola. I mean both had their mistakes throughout that ballgame. There a couple turnovers here and there it happens. It was a great all-around Big Ten football game. You got to love it, the team in the Big Ten. I'm going to throw a random one at you. Game. You gotta love it. The team in the big 10. I'm gonna throw a random one at you. And this is a surprising team of the big 10 for me so far. Indiana nobody's talking about indiana.
Speaker 1:They haven't played anybody great yet I mean they played florida international, western illinois, ucla and then charlotte. But I'm looking at these final scores and I'm watching this team. Final score against florida international 31 to 7, 77 to three. They beat Western Illinois, then they beat UCLA 42 to 13 and then they beat Charlotte 52 to 14. Now I'm not saying that Indiana is going to go. I mean you look at their schedule. They have Michigan and Ohio State on there. The rest of the schedule kind of works out for them. I mean Nebraska on the docket there, but Maryland, maryland, northwestern Washington, michigan State, purdue.
Speaker 1:This Indiana team could end up near the top of the Big Ten just because their schedule is a little bit weaker. They got out of the eastern side of the Big Ten so they don't have to play all those. I mean they don't see Penn State right. Indiana to me right now you know it speaks volumes what your offense can do, not just against bad teams, because it's easy to score against bad teams. That's what they say right, it's easy to score against bad teams when you're good. But the way that they're scoring, the way that they're scoring right now, I mean you're talking 77 points, now I get Western Illinois is not a great team, but putting up 77 points in a ballgame is still impressive, I don't care who you are who you're playing.
Speaker 1:That's impressive, ucla putting up 42. I mean Florida State, who just played UCLA over this last week and I believe, oh no, florida State beat Cal, ucla played LSU and LSU put up 34 against them. 34-17 was the final score there. If you're playing like that kind of game, right there, right you're, you're the. If this team beat this team and I beat that team, that kind of thing. There indiana looks pretty good in comparison to what lsu just did to ucla. So I mean, looking at that indiana team, looking at what they've been able to do so far this season, is indiana team that you're looking at? You're saying this team could possibly find their way to the top of the big 10 at some point I mean, I guess it's, you know, definitely possible.
Speaker 2:Uh, I mean, as you did, read out their next two games will say a lot about them. I know michigan's been kind of up and down this season.
Speaker 1:Michigan ohio state, or towards the end of the schedule.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, I thought you were saying that. But I mean, if they can beat the teams that they're supposed to beat, you get towards the end of the year Remember, you have the expanded playoff. If they can impress enough and get into the rankings and make it interesting, you know, maybe they sneak in as like a bottom playoff team. It would be kind of odd, cause, obviously, when you think top 12 teams in the country, indiana is not the first one to pop up, pop out to you. I mean, indiana hasn't really had much juice since, like Pennix left, and even when Pennix was there, he had like some injuries that he dealt with. But I mean, look, the big thing for Indiana is they play in the right conference. Big 10 teams will always be looked at in a favorable light, so even if they are able to mount wins on top of each other, they're going to get noticed.
Speaker 2:Now, with schools like indiana that mainly are like mid-tier big 10 teams, that brings pressure upon themselves, though, and it's whether or not they can handle that, because it's one thing to be michigan, ohio state and teams like that where, weekend, week out, week out, season after season, people are expecting you to do great things and you have to deal with that. You kind of get used to it, a lot of these lower-name, lesser-named schools. That's why you see them kind of pop maybe one year and then kind of disappears, just because it's a different level when you reach, you know, like a top 15 type ranking. And now other teams are now looking at you differently and they play you a lot differently. So I mean it's a good start.
Speaker 2:For Indiana. They obviously need to do a little bit more before I could probably say that they, you know, might finish top half or top five or so in the Big Ten. Top half or top five or so in the Big Ten. I don't know if I can say that yet, but they had an impressive start to the season. Like I said, they haven't beaten anybody of note but you still got to win the games because we've seen Northern Illinois win it to Notre Dame beat them. So there's not really many guarantees, especially when you have, you know, nil and all that stuff. That's kind of leveling up the playing field a little bit more than it used to.
Speaker 1:Some of these smaller schools have big game talent you know, and the worst part is, you mentioned northern illinois. There they lost this last weekend too. They dropped themselves. They got into the rankings. They they dropped right out. That sucked to see that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I mean, I agree, you got to win the games, it's got to win right. And that's the same for Indiana. You know you're going to have the back-to-back with Michigan and Ohio State there, but the schedule is favorable so you could have two losses at the end of the season there. You got to down the stretch. Here it is going to be impressive. You know, you don't think indiana with football, you think indiana with basketball. You don't think football and you think indiana. So to see a team like that get back to the forefront, that would be something I wish my badgers would be right with them. There they've been struggling. We'll see how that all transpires as we go on here. But other games throughout this last weekend I just want to check out some of the other big matchups. Texas routed UL Monroe. It didn't matter if it was Arch Manning or Quinn Ewers at quarterback, they were going to route them.
Speaker 1:I mean that's that's what we saw. A great performance by Arch Manning, though. I mean I am happy. It makes me happy to hear a guy like Arch Manning who has the talent. He's not just bailing out of Texas because they're going with Quinn Ewers. He's sitting there, he's waiting for his turn to lead Texas. Is that something you know? We listen. I think Tom Brady said something along those lines about quarterbacks not being ready and not waiting their turn. Is that something that you look for in a quarterback too? Because to me I like the quarterback that you can build. You know you build behind a guy. He gets a couple years to get experience within the offense, not being, you know, tossed out there right away. Is that something you wish you would see more in college football? We're kind of getting away from that right now. Is that something you wish you'd see a little bit more here? Are you okay with the way that college football is trending right now?
Speaker 2:how bad it's. Definitely an interesting part of it is because with so many colleges and so many opportunities out there, yeah, you don't want to necessarily sit behind guys for two, three years and then you get one year to try to prove yourself when you're trying to get into the draft. So I understand if you know you go to like al Alabama but you find yourself behind a former Heisman, behind a four-star, and you're another four-star but you're third on the depth chart and you're looking at them and trying to time it up and it's like you may not start until three years down the line. I don't have an issue if you move on necessarily from that. I mean the ones I do have an issue with is if you go into a school thinking you're the number one guy, somebody comes in after you and takes a job from you and then you kind of run from that situation.
Speaker 2:Those I don't know, because that could speak to kind of the competitive nature in some of these guys and once they get to the NFL level we'll see them kind of struggle and they'll kind of point back to yeah, remember they were at so-and-so school and left because they didn't want the competition.
Speaker 2:That competition and fighting for your starting job can pay dividends once you get into the NFL, because your starting spot isn't guaranteed in the NFL either and if you can't show teams or you know your teammates that you're willing to fight for it, it may not work out for you in the locker room. So, like I said, it kind of depends on the instance in which a prospect moves from a school. But I feel like perfect world, you pick your school, you kind of stay there and you either sink or swim, based on your own ability, and don't try to make excuses for why you're not playing or anything like that. So I can definitely commend Arch Manning, especially with the name and everything that's gone with it. He could have very easily have gone somewhere else. Starred did his own thing, but clearly he just wants to be at texas and and be a texas quarterback. So I I gotta give him props for that.
Speaker 1:I really do yeah, you know, and you you hit the nail on the head there. I mean talking about nfl teams. You know you want to see a guy with that competitive spirit who is going to fight for that job. If he loses the job, he doesn't just bail out right away. I know that was Nick Saban.
Speaker 1:Had problems with the NIL and with the transfer portal, same with Tom Izzo, some of the older coaches, because Tom Izzo said it perfectly these guys aren't learning how to fail and keep trying, they're just learning to fail and then fail. Right, you don't want guys like that, pro teams don't want. Well, I shouldn't say they don't want guys like that, because they still draft those guys, but at the end of the day, those guys don't get along with teammates, cause problems in the NFL. They end up with a quick career. They're done right. The guys who sit around, those are your durable guys, the guys who are willing to fight for a spot and you love those guys. Those are the. Those are the guys that fans love at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:so yeah, I I agree, I love, I love with the name, everything like that. Arch manning's like I'm okay being a backup, quinn, yours time is now, my time is going to be next year. Now it's turning out to be a little bit sooner because quinn's out right now. They expect he's day-to-day, so probably back next week I would assume. But if not, arch manning continues to start at quarterback and we hope for good things for him there. So texas big win. Ohio state big win. Nothing to talk. I mean, oh miss, I, I could rattle these off all day long. Tennessee, oklahoma what surprised you more? I guess the fact that tennessee's offense didn't look as good as what I thought it was going to, because because Tennessee was just, I mean, this offensive juggernaut all season long their defense better in this game than what I expected. I honestly went into this one and I thought Oklahoma had a good enough defense to slow down Tennessee proportions.
Speaker 1:But at the same time I'm going into this thinking if Oklahoma's got a shot, it's going to be a, it's going to be a gunslinging match right here. I mean it's going to be. Whoever messes up first right is going to lose this ball game, and it ended up 25 to 15. So to me, I mean I'm looking at this game saying I'm surprised how well Tennessee's defense actually stood toe-to-toe with Oklahoma in this game, forced some turnovers in this one and played all around complimentary football on both sides of the ball there. I mean looking at this one. Was there any surprise in this one to you?
Speaker 2:uh, probably not really. I mean, like, when you look at the numbers from that game, you know tennessee dominated the time of possession and usually when you do that, obviously you're controlling the pace. You're controlling a lot of the aspects of the game. So pulling the game out the way that they did wasn't surprising once you dive into the numbers. Like I said, for me with Tennessee it seems like it's kind of a continuation of who was it? Like Hendon Hooker his time in Tennessee, a little bit of Joe Milton there.
Speaker 2:Like Tennessee's had a few seasons where they've started off well, have been highly ranked, and then later in the year there's a loss or two that kind of derails their season. So I want to see if Tennessee is truly legit this year, because I know a lot of people are looking at them as a team that could factor in to a playoff situation. I feel like the talent is there for them. Like I said, I want to see later in the season, where there is that pressure, do they step up and capitalize on it? This is definitely a very good win for them. Like I said, nothing to sneeze at beating an Oklahoma team new to the SEC, but they're a storied program and everything like that. So it's a big win for Tennessee, but I want to see later in the year if they're still playing kind of at this level or not, because, like I said, they've teased this before.
Speaker 1:Every year. It seems like that was. My biggest question leading up into the weekend was is Tennessee truly back? Like this game is going to tell us a lot about Tennessee comingessee coming into this matchup here. So getting off of that one there, I mean just enough. There was a couple more big, big matchups, I guess. Uh, first off, bowling green seems to be hanging with everybody. I don't know what it is, but bowling green they hung with, I believe, penn state. They hung with penn state. There they lost 34 to 27. Now they just lost the Texas A&M 26 to 20. Gotta love what the Bowling Green Falcons are doing right now. Wish they would have won one of those games, because then I mean college ball playoffs expanded. Maybe, just maybe we're talking about a team like that at the end of the season here.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to get into one here. Oklahoma State lost to Utah, but the game I wanted to talk about, michigan usc. Michigan's defense is stellar, like michigan's defense. They got some dogs on that defense, but offensively I think usc finally got introduced to big 10 old big 10 football, that new big 10 football they got. They got introduced to old big 10 football, not new big 10 football. They got. They got into the old big 10 football. We're gonna ground and pound and we're gonna keep doing it and doing it until you're tired. And that's what happened. That is I mean. That's all I took away from this game. Watching it, looking at the box, everything like I mean alex orgy. He goes 7 for 12 on the game, 32 yards through the air, nothing through the air for michigan. How did they win this game? Well, they had two touchdowns from mullings there. His long was 63 on that big breakout run he had. And then you also look at donovan edwards, the returner there are well returning, uh, running back there for him. He had one touchdown 41 yard carry there for a touchdown. I mean, the big place right, this big.
Speaker 1:We were wondering about the Pac-12 and their defenses coming to the Big Ten. Were they going to be able to adjust to a different style of football? Because this isn't Pac-12 football, where it's like we're going to air it out. You know USC likes to air it out. This isn't Pac-12 football, this is Big Ten football. We're going to try to beat you with the ground game. That's what I took away from.
Speaker 1:This is Michigan. Though they don't have a quarterback, they found a way the offensive line started to play better. They found a way to win this game, usc. It makes them question a little bit what do we have to do to get better? Because my Badgers are going to have a game coming up against USC? The Badgers don't have the most dynamic passing game right now, but they're going to try to run the football. They just watched this game and they're saying to themselves okay, we got the run game. We think we have the run game. We're going to have to exploit what their weakness is in this one. So what surprised you in this game, usc and Michigan?
Speaker 2:I think you kind of alluded to it a little earlier where for USC you know, texas, oklahoma, these, these big programs that left one conference and went to another one the first thing you want to see is how do they adapt? And for USC, first chance to face a you know, you know big name, big 10 school in Michigan on the road as well. I thought they handled themselves really well. I think it's going to be obviously good exposure for them, because when you switch philosophies because, like I said, pac-12 was spread them out, aired all over the field, high scoring games and all that, whereas Big Ten it's trenches If you win in the trenches you win in the Big Ten. So this is something that Lincoln Riley and the coaching staff there now it's going to kind of change the way that they recruit now that they're in the Big Ten.
Speaker 2:But with this current group that they have, I came away watching that like I think USC might be okay this year. I mean I didn't think they were going to be, like you know, bottom of the conference and everybody's just beating up on them. But there has to be a bit of an adjustment period. I mean on Michigan's side you know, the coach that's there is from Harbaugh's coaching staff, you know last year it's. It's the same Michigan football defense run the ball, real physical. I mean orgy probably throws it less than McCarthy did.
Speaker 2:But our Michigan is not necessarily going to blow teams out. They're just going to try to out execute you and force you into certain mistakes, whether it's trying to do something that you're not capable of, and they with their defense can stop you and give their offense short field, all that kind of stuff. Both teams, I feel like, played the way. I thought I might have been a little bit more impressed with USC, only because I know this Michigan story. This is what they've been for a while. They're going to stay true to who they are, time of possession and everything pretty much even speaks to a 27-24 scoreline. I'm intrigued with how USC navigates a Big Ten schedule yeah, I mean they, they played well.
Speaker 1:I I honestly thought you know, defensively, besides the big plays, they played well in that one a lot of people came out of that one saying miller moss just sucks.
Speaker 1:I, I don't think he sucks, I think he tried to throw the ball too much. I think usc has got to find a way to play complimentary football, just like a lot of these other big 10 teams will do it. Yeah, ohio state, oregon, the other, you know, top in there. So definitely some big games over the weekend there. But I got a list here, the craziest things that happened over the weekend. Okay, I got a list of four and I want you to take your vote on which one was the craziest thing. So we saw a 64-yard field goal by Temple. That's impressive, 64-yarder banged the right off the crossbar and in. You gotta count it, though the joint went right this time. Don't get you know, there's certain fans out there who get upset with the double doink talk. We don't want to talk about it here. We're just talking about a doink that went in this time the 93 yard punt return touchdown by byu.
Speaker 1:That ball, I mean it. He dropped it. It went rolling back to the goal line. He turned around, took off with it. It was impressive. My next one, florida State, actually won a football game. They actually won a football game. I mean I had to throw it in there.
Speaker 1:I had to take some shots because I think I think they're still like upset because of last season, yet not making it into the college football playoff. Now they're like it's utter chaos. They won 14 to 9 over cal, but florida state wins a football game or michigan beats usc. A lot of people didn't see that one coming. I mean, if you were a bet man you probably didn't go to the bank thinking michigan was going to pull off that win. So out of those four, which one was the craziest thing to come out of the weekend?
Speaker 2:I mean just first reaction. I feel like the BYU return, because I remember watching that play and it's very easy to panic once you drop it and your back is towards the rush coming at you while you go pick up the football. But that that dude picked it up, he turned, he took the long way because he then went cross field, where that's also the biggest problem with that, as well as once you kind of muff your kick, all of the pursuit is coming at you. If you're able to get around, like the first or second guy, you usually have nothing but open field and that's kind of what happened.
Speaker 2:The first guy tripped him up a little bit. He stayed on his feet. The second guy, he was able to outrun and get outside of him and once he got to the sideline there was like one, he had like maybe three blockers ahead of him and there was like one defender left. You're going to win that battle every time, but that takes a lot out of you. Take her one side of the field to the other, run down the sideline and you know obviously it was a big, big play in the game. I would probably go with that one. Like I said, initial reaction Only because of, like I said, the excitement of the kick return as well, you gotta throw that in there too, like that's always an exciting play to watch the longest field college football field goal was 69 yards in 1976.
Speaker 1:64 is impressive. Like there. There aren't many nfl guys who can hit from 64. Like that's, that's impressive. Now he did doink it in. So it was. It was. It was literally 64 on the dot is what his leg gave him on that one Cause he doinked it in.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That punt return was impressive, but Florida state actually winning a football game was also impressive because I mean, come on, they avoided disastrous start. There you went 93 yard punt return. I'm gonna go with the field goal because I have not seen somebody hit from 64 in a while. Not even I mean justin tucker, I believe hit what he hit from. That time was it 65 yeah, that was the.
Speaker 2:Was that like the lions game or something?
Speaker 1:I think so. And then the Cowboys. They just had their kicker go for 64, I believe he was one off the record. I thought, he hit from 64 not too long ago, 64.
Speaker 2:Those are the two probably best kickers in the league, so yeah, I think I'm going to have to go with it.
Speaker 1:I think I'm going to have to go with the 64 yard field goal by that temple kicker that was. That was a heck of a kick, that was a heck of a boot right there. So let's switch gears. Let's switch gears here. Let's get to the nfl I want to talk a little bit of packers.
Speaker 1:We were talking about the packer game as it was happening. You have the titans as a playoff team, so you're really invested into that team right now. And well, the Packers were on, so I was watching. 30-14 was the final in that one and I guess my biggest takeaway from that game and we're going to have a lot to talk about here but my biggest takeaway from that game was the Packers played some of the best complimentary football on both sides of the ball that I have seen out of the Green Bay Packers in a very long time.
Speaker 1:I mean you look at the box score in this one and just about everybody got involved in this one. And then you look at the sack total eight sacks on the game, eight sacks on this ball game. Jair with the pick six and McKinney had an interception in this one. I mean crazy. It was crazy to see this defense just completely. Like you know, I was listening to a good friend of the show on Integrity Sports Network there, jory. She was talking about her Titans the other day and how they improved the offensive line and they did. I mean they went out, they got pieces, they drafted, trying to build up this offensive line but the defensive line for green Bay. I mean how often will?
Speaker 1:Levis was just under pressure or I mean he didn't even have time to move. There was times where guys came through unblocked. I mean Halfley. I loved what Halfley did because at one point he sent six guys. Not many NFL teams are going to be ballsy enough to send a house and he sent a house on a no, it was going to be a pass play and he sends the house Like you got to love it. I mean initial takeaway. Before we get into this game as a total, I mean initial takeaway from this one is what?
Speaker 2:I mean, look, there's a big difference in like for Malik Willis going into a week of preparation knowing you are the starter, as opposed to filling in for the starter through injury. So that speaks to Matt LaFleur and his coaching staff and their preparation. You're 100% correct about Tennessee in this, in that their offensive line did not show up well against a Packer defense. That's pretty good, and Halfley, who I know really well with him coaching at BC, watched him a lot. There's one thing that you knew about his BC teams was that defensively they were going to be tough and he's brought that to Green Bay. So I obviously root for him to do well. I mean, that's where it was won.
Speaker 2:You know Malik Willis was given time to make throws. He pushed the ball down the field. I kind of thought they were going to try maybe Jacobs a little bit more, but you know they were able to make enough plays with Willis in the passing game and defensively they got a couple of turnovers which really helped. So I mean impressive from them. I mean I know you brought up me picking Tennessee as a playoff team.
Speaker 2:Sitting at 0-3 is not looking good right now, but I don't know, it's a weird year. It might be one of those years that a team can start 0-2, 0-3, and still find their way in who knows. I'm still there with the pick. I'm not going to change it, obviously, because it's out there, but I'm not going to completely give up on it yet. I think even in that loss, like Will Levis made throws that make you go see there's a good quarterback in there and then he makes some decisions whether it's holding the ball too long or whatever where you're like that's the kind of thing that has to be coached out of him still. So you're still going to be up and down with him, but it was an impressive win from from green Bay, for sure you know.
Speaker 1:and part of the Levis thing too was we allude back to the offensive line when he was moving the football.
Speaker 1:I mean, he had time. He was standing in there and I know I heard some of the announcers there saying well, you got to know when backside pressure is coming. You do, but he was getting leveled by. There was nobody blocking cooper coming around the edge or whoever it was. There was nobody blocking him coming around before he got smacked. So there's a little bit of a difference in that too. I mean you, you pointed out the main guy, malik.
Speaker 1:Willis coming out of this game 13 for 19, 202 yards, one touchdown. Okay, so Tennessee has Malik Willis. They give up on Malik Willis Like this isn't our guy, we can't do anything with this guy, let's get rid of him. So they send him up to Green Bay. Matt LaFleur gets him Now. He probably wouldn't see the field. We know he wouldn't see the field if Jordan Love was out there. But Jordan Love gets hurt. Now we see Malik Willis.
Speaker 1:We're starting to see some of the things that Malik Willis can do and what he can do in the run of the RPOs. What he can do in the RPOs is absolutely beautiful. It is absolutely beautiful. Well, that's what I took out of this game.
Speaker 1:My biggest thing with Willis was his decision-making early on. He doesn't you know, like you were talking about Levis there, where he's sitting in that pocket and he's waiting too long. You know there's a fine line, but I thought in this one Willis showed poise. He showed when the rush was there, he stepped up. He noticed the field was open in front of him, he tucked it, he ran and he bust out some big ones. That's the biggest thing that I took away from Malik Willis' performance, and also that he could throw the ball to him. All that I heard from Tennessee fans leading up to this one was good luck with him throwing the football. You guys are going to have to run the football he can't throw. I saw some impressive throws in this game by Malik Willis. He had the one to Watson, he had the one coming across the middle to Dobbs in this one. I saw some impressive throws out of him today.
Speaker 1:And talking about decision-making, his decision to you know, there's nothing open deep. Let's just dump it off the craft or let's just dump it to my running back. You know, take the short little game or, like I said, tuck it and run. Just those little things in Willis's decision-making that I was impressed by and you know everybody was kind of joking about it. They're like oh, the Packers, they ran for 50, sometimes against the Colts. They didn't open up the playbook for Willis. Lafleur is not going to do that for him. He's not good enough to open up a playbook.
Speaker 1:I tell you what that playbook was wide open against the Tennessee Titans. He showed about everything that you could show outside of just constant airing it out, and I love that. I love that out of him. So I guess my question is to you. I mean you you've watched Titans a little bit more than I have, but and you also talk to Jory all the time about her Titans there. Um, with this Titans team, does it speak volumes to Matt LaFleur as a head coach for what he's been able to do with Malik Willis, or does it kind of point negatively towards the Titans, who had this guy in the room but they couldn't figure out how to utilize his talents in the right way? Which one do you think it actually points more towards in this one? Is it LaFleur as a head coach or the Titans organization as a whole not putting him in the best spot to succeed?
Speaker 2:I mean I would give all the credit to probably Malik Willis maturation as well as Matt LaFleur's game plan. Matt LaFleur's game plan the biggest issue that he had when he was in Tennessee was well one. Most of the times that he went in is because, you know, the starter was ineffective and or got hurt and he was kind of just thrown out there. And when he did that a lot of times you could see the game was like speeding up to him. He dropped back, he'd get real jittery in the pocket. He would just start dancing around, darting around and then he would take a hit. Like he said what I've seen from him today last week when he drops back, he's very calm in the pocket. He's going through progressions, picking on a guy and throwing it. He wasn't doing that in Tennessee. So because of that I can't necessarily blame Tennessee for moving on from him, going after Will Levis and deciding that Malik Willis was on the outs. They brought in a veteran backup in Mason, rudolph, to back up Will Levis. I completely get that Rudolph can show Levis some things that Rudolph has been around for a few years that he's seen. Malik Willis can't necessarily do that because Malik Willis was learning the same things. Will Levis was at the same time.
Speaker 2:I would give all credit to Green Bay and maybe another part of it is Tennessee. You had Mike Rabel, defensive-minded coach. You had Derrick Henry, the very run-centric offense. Now he's in Green Bay where Matt LaFleur is an offensive mind, so the preparation is probably a little bit different. So, yeah, I would give it all to Matt LaFleur preparation with him, the game plan around, his skill set. Yeah, I give the Packers all the credit for that one and I don't fault Tennessee for their decision in any way. Like I said, he wasn't this quarterback there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sometimes it's right place. I mean right place, right coach, we've talked about it. I know a good friend of the show, aaron there. He's always on on Fridays there for the, the weekend preview. He always says you know, brock purdy is his big guy and he always says without kyle shanahan, brock purdy wouldn't be who he is. You could look at the same with tula down with the dolphins. I mean you have those guys and malik willis. For some reason matt lafleur has found the best in him and you just hope it continues for him. I mean, maybe he ends up somewhere else finding a job and that'd be awesome. That'd be awesome because that guy's a great guy. I mean, end of the day, Malik Willis is a stand-up guy Like that's a dude that if you asked me to go to dinner I'd be all over it. He's paying. I mean, of course he's paying. I'd go to dinner with the guy. That is for darn sure there. So I loved what I saw out of Malik Willis in this game.
Speaker 1:Looking at other pieces in this one, I don't know if it's, if it's just me, and I want to get your opinion on that but the ability of the Packers wide receivers, wicks, watson, dobbs doesn't matter who it is Tucker, kraft coming out from the tight end spot. The ability for them to block downfield is just impressive. I don't know what else to say besides. It's a thing of like beauty Watching them guys. And what makes it even better is you can have guys going downfield to block but sustaining a block, having a good block, and also not getting penalized when you're going down the field and blocking. That's what I saw in this game from the Packers was opening up holes. I mean you look at that Emanuel Wilson. It was a little screen play out to Emanuel Wilson and yeah, he had the offensive lineman pulling out there for him too.
Speaker 1:I believe Myers ended up out there. There was a couple other guys I can't remember off the top of my head who ended up out there, but you had Kraft out there lead blocking. You had one of your receivers setting the edge. Just watching this Packers wide receiver core is it something to see that? Or I mean that I'm seeing, and I wonder if you're seeing the same thing watching this Packers team is they don't just they're not pass catchers. It's not like these guys are just pass catchers. They're some of the best blockers on this team too. I mean they go out there, they're holding blocks, they're lead blocking for Jacobs or whoever it is, or Jaden Reed on some of his ender rounds. I mean, are you impressed watching this group for the Green Bay Packers? Just their poise and their ability to block down the field.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, look, when you're dealing with wide receivers and and tight ends out on an island and having a block, that speaks to effort, speaks to dedication, speaks to commitment to doing whatever you can on each and every play you know to play, winning football. Those are all aspects that go into that. When you're asking a wide receiver who is skilled enough on their own running routes, making catches and everything like that, to now, in a play that they know they're not involved with, stay locked in to finding their guy blocking, blocking correctly, you know none of these holding penalties or anything like that. So yeah, I'm definitely impressed by him and I do think it speaks to kind of the reputation that some of these guys got with Rodgers last year, where a lot of people felt like Rodgers didn't have the best year because these group of guys I know they've added on since then. But Watson was one who overlapped both of these quarterbacks and he was seen as almost a failure a little bit because he couldn't connect with Aaron Rodgers and I think now what we're seeing from him and these other wide receivers maybe it's more about Rodgers and his inability to maybe want to bring along young wide receivers at this point in his career, whereas when you got Jordan Love, who's another young guy, it's easier for those guys to connect. Matt LaFleur all of a sudden looks like a good coach because he's not overshadowed by Rodgers.
Speaker 2:Now, with this group, he's able to just be him, install his game plan and these guys are executing it really well. So I'm not necessarily going to say that I'm surprised that they are this good at just blocking in little things like that. I just think it speaks to an organization that's very confident in their talent right now. I think that, off of last year, what they did, obviously Jordan Love has to come back Because, yes, malik Willis has played well these past two weeks, but you'd rather have Jordan Love back there that, if all things are clicking, they're all healthy. This is a team that could make some noise in an NFC playoff run, and I feel like these guys know that there's an opportunity for them to potentially be a make a Super Bowl appearance or anything like that, and I feel like this is them dedicated to doing whatever they can to win games right now, because they know it come january.
Speaker 1:The little things you do now mean a lot more than you know, and part of the thing with the receivers and this whole team as a whole that I love the most is it's the unselfish play, right, it's the technique and it's the unselfish play. You know, you don't have that glorified number one, right? He gets the fine digs in there. He wants his catches and you get, uh, even a guy like davante adams, he wants his catches. You know these guys want the ball and I get that. You want the ball in your hands. You're a playmaker. But this receiver, core for green bay, they asked kristen watson, after he had no catches in that game against the colts or I think he might have had one catch against the Colts here asked about his usage and he's like I don't care, like I'm just here to help the team. Whatever helps us, us win at the end of day. And you look at these stats while Willis has been in there. I mean you don't have receivers that are cracking off. You know 10 catch games for 100 plus yards, you don't have that. But they don't care, they're winning football games right now. That is all. All that matters to them and that's what I think I love the most is the unselfish play, the team football that's really being played by the Green Bay Packers right now. I mean they set a lot of not records, but milestones in that game against the Titans. They had the most sacks in a game since 2005 when they played the Chicago Bears. 2005 when they played the Chicago Bears. And then also Xavier McKinney became the first packer packer with an interception in each of the team's first three games, uh, of the season since 1978. That was John Anderson back in 1978. So just some all-around I mean impressive stats. And then you look at their interception total on the year. I mean right now this packers team, I believe they have eight interceptions, seven interceptions. They might have seven interceptions there on the season. Last season they had seven in total. Right, they had seven in total. They were tied. That was tied for the fewest in green bay packer history. Last season when they had seven in total. They they already met that mark this season. That just speaks volumes to what Halfley's doing on the defense, putting these guys in the right position, also getting a guy like Xavier McKinney into the room.
Speaker 1:I felt like he was very underrated. Not a lot of people talked about him coming out of the Giants there because, well, he's on the Giants. Nobody really knows about him that much. But man, well, he's on the Giants. Nobody really knows about him that much. But man, oh man, this guy's a star. This guy is a definite star and he's showing it right now for the Packers and everybody's favorite guy, jair Alexander I mean, he had a pick six. You got to love that there, jumping her out and taking it to the house there. But looking at this defense Devontae Wyatt, up the middle there he is a game wrecker. Like it doesn't even have to show up in the box score for me sometimes I'm going to ask you this, okay, because I said this last week on the show and you know, I don't know. I want to get your opinion At the end of the day. Kenny Clark, devontae Wyatt I want him to have tackles for losses.
Speaker 1:I want him to have sacks. I want him to have sacks. I want them to have some impressive stats when I look back on the 2024 season. But when I think of a defensive tackle, I want them to be game wreckers. I don't care if they have a sack in a game, I don't care if they have a tackle for a loss. I want them constantly pushing back, whether it's a guard, whether it's a center, whoever it is that's blocking them. I want them to push, push them back. I want them to put that quarterback in duress. I want him to have to try and make a throw, like Levis did where he's rushing things. I want my D tackles to put guys in positions like that. And when I watch Devontae Wyatt right now even a guy like Kenny Clark coming up the middle those guys are game wreckers and Devontae to me right now is taking a huge step forward. He had five tackles in this game. He had four tackles in this game. He had two sacks in the game.
Speaker 1:He had two tackles for a loss in this game and he had three quarterback hits. If that isn't speaking to a guy that's taking leaps and bounds over what we saw last year, I don't know what is. When you look at a defensive tackle, are you looking for the stats in that D tackle or are you looking for a combo of stats and also a guy who just disrupts plays? You don't maybe see him in the stat book all the time, but he's constantly in that backfield, constantly making some kind of noise and making a quarterback have to flush or move to a side or step up, whatever it is. Are you looking for both ends of that deal?
Speaker 2:I mean, I feel like when you're evaluating how well a guy's doing it's eye test, I feel like, because if you're a corner and you're a lockdown corner and quarterbacks don't throw your way, obviously you're not going to put a lot of numbers on the box score. But if you watch the game you're like, hey, they're not, they're staying away from that side because of his ability, that's impact. If you have a linebacker that you know runs over the field and and gets tackles and everything doesn't necessarily mean that they're great at their position, just means that they get into the right position to make a tackle. A lot of times for your linebackers to do, well, the guys up front have to do their job. So when you're talking about D-tackles, obviously it depends on scheme and everything. You could dominate as a D-tackle just by forcing double teams from the opposing offensive line, because if they double you, you that leaves maybe guys on the end one-on-one. And if they beat their matchup, yes, they get the, the stat of a sack or hurry or anything like that. But coaches will look at that and say the job from the d tackle made it easier on them. So kudosudos to the D-tackle. So yeah, d-tackle it's more than numbers for me.
Speaker 2:You know you said like Wyatt had a few quarterback hits. Yeah, those aren't sacks, but they're effective because now you may speed up the quarterback's process because they know that this guy who's right here closest to me, give it a couple of seconds, he's going to be right in my face and you're talking about 300-plus guys. Quarterbacks don't want to get hit by that play after play. And it's like you said. There were a couple of throws that Levis made today where he might have gone in like a half snap sooner than he wanted to. But in the NFL that's the difference between a completion, incompletion or a turnover.
Speaker 2:So I mean, on a whole, I thought the Green Bay defense not just the deep tackles they played well. They took advantage of an old line that struggled blocking. I mean it was bad enough that Tennessee had to replace the right tackle mid-game. That kind of tells you all you need to know about how it was going up front for them. But it's not like they were blocking against air, like they were dealing with the scheme that was brought forth by Green Bay that they gave up 14 points. In 2024 NFL you give up anything less than like 23. You had a pretty elite day, so 14 is nothing to sneeze at Like. That's a really, really good performance from them.
Speaker 2:So I, like I said, I know what Halfley does on defense, so it doesn't surprise me necessarily. It's definitely good to see, because Green Bay is a team that I just like the direction they're going in and if they can continue this later on in the year, the wins will be there for them. You know they, they, they should be a playoff team. They should be a factor come January and possibly February, but especially January, like I expect to see this team deep into the season playing like this, because they have the pieces to do it, obviously, and the coaching's there. So now it's just going to be game in and game out, executing the same way you know, staying away from the unnecessary errors and all that. You know, penalties that you don't need to extend, drives out for offenses that don't need that kind of help. They should be fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and you know it speaks volumes, because we knew what the Packers had to do to beat the Colts or the Titans. Will or not Will Malik Willis had to play good enough football.
Speaker 1:One game was going to have to get going. The offensive line was going to have to play well, but on the flip side of that, the defense was going to have to be stout. They were going to have to do their thing. Halfway was going to have to draw up some great games, try to put pressure on the opposing team to try and beat him. Colts scored 10, titans 14. That's impressive. That is two weeks of impressive defensive football. You gotta love it. End of the day. You gotta love it. And last but not least, I gotta give a special shout out to my boy, daniel Whelan, the punter for the Packers. Average punt of 49 yards wow, I mean wow like I don't love.
Speaker 1:You know it's. It's so hard to hype up a punter. It's so hard to hype up a punter like you're talking about that stat and people out there right now they're probably like who cares? Like he's a punter, like he didn't do that much to contribute to this win. I tell you what you got a good punter who can pin teams back and can do what daniel whelan's been able to do this season. Hats off to you. I mean six punts for 49 yard average wow, that's awesome. That's awesome end of the day. And Brayden Narveson three for three. He got lucky. The one miss that he technically had wasn't counted as a miss because there was a penalty on the play. That was awesome. That's okay. You didn't ruin. You didn't tarnish the record on that one. You didn't tarnish your daily stats on that one, so that's okay. You didn't ruin. You didn't tarnish the record on that one. You didn't tarnish your daily stats on that one, so that's okay. It helped on my fantasy team too. So I got Brayden Narveson on there, didn't count against him. So great stuff there. Great stuff there.
Speaker 1:So getting out of the Packers we're going to get more into the Packers in the midweek report there. But getting out of the Packers for now. Let's get to the rest of the NFL here. Right now we're seeing the Atlanta Falcons lead the Kansas City Chiefs 14-13 at the half. Interesting, kirk Cousins has found out how to play in prime time and it's scary. You don't want that guy to figure out how to play in prime time there. But let's get to the rest of the slate here. So the Browns somehow lose to the Giants. I don't know. I I didn't think that Daniel Jones could make another quarterback look worse than he is or what he's been playing, as at least he made Deshaun Watson look like he was worse than what he is. So, browns, take the L to the Giants. Uh, bears, take the loss to the Colts Vikings completely. Wow, I mean 34-7, they just mopped the Texans.
Speaker 1:That one had to be my surprise of the day, but I want to get to that in a minute. Here the surprises out of this slate Eagles-Saints Eagles get the win 15-12. In a barn burner of a game, I turned that one on. Oh no, I flipped to it after the Packer game. I flipped to it automatically and they said it's really picked up here in the fourth quarter and I'm like it's 12 to like seven. At that point I'm like when did it pick up? Like right now. Like his team's driving Chargers, take the loss to the Steelers. Justin Fields, he's doing his thing with the Steelers. That's interesting news, right there.
Speaker 1:Broncos this is another one. Broncos 26-7 over the Buccaneers. Did not see that one coming. Andy Dalton lights the world on fire for the Panthers, I mean 36-22 over the Raiders. Now it is the Raiders, but Andy Dalton lighting it up. You got to love it. If you're an Andy Dalton fan, I don't know how many of them are left out there. Seahawks beat the Dolphins 24-3. Not surprising, no Tua Dolphins kind of reeling right now, but maybe they'll figure something out. Ravens get their win. Beat the Cowboys 28-25. Cowboys lose two straight at home. After I think it was like a 16-game win streak at home, they snapped it. Now they've lost two in a row.
Speaker 1:Not good things going on in Jerry world down there. The Rams they beat the 49ers. I did not see that one coming. To be honest with you Now, the 49ers are banged up, doesn't help, but did not see that one coming. And then the Lions they outlast the Cardinals. This is a pesky cardinals team. I wouldn't want to face them. If it comes down to a playoff game, that's for darn sure. But 20 to 13 the lions get the win there. So looking at that nfl slate kyle any surprises? What was your biggest surprise or surprise in these games coming out of the weekend here? Because there's a couple of them in there where it's like whoa. I did not see that coming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, as surprising as the Carolina score is, I actually predicted the Panthers to cover in that game and said that there's an opportunity for them to get a win. Because I've been on a show where the question was with the Giants and Carolina would they win a game or not? And I said they will both win a game. And my thought was for Carolina their best chance to win would be the first game with Andy Dalton. Because I feel like every time you make that quarterback switch there's always a boost in morale from the team, not to say that Bryce Young was the end-all, be-all with all their issues. If you're Bryce Young and you watch Andy Dalton put up 36 in the same offense that you struggled with doesn't help the confidence. But I would probably say the Pittsburgh Chargers one was probably the biggest surprise to me. I thought the Chargers were going to win that game. Now I did think that because of the physicality of both teams and both coaches like when you think hardball, you think Tomlin, you think smash mouth football. So I'm not necessarily surprised that neither team you know got over 20 points in that game. But for a guy in Justin Fields that the Bears like to have us think was kind of a broken quarterback. Funny. He's gotten to Pittsburgh, a more stable organization, and all he's done is lead them to a 3-0 record right now. And he played really well 25-32 for 245, a touchdown and an interception. He puts up numbers like that. I mean I think Tomlin would love to not have the interception, but if he is an efficient passer, doesn't turn the ball over with Pittsburgh's defense, they'll win some games. I mean I'm surprised they're 3-0, but I got to give them all the credit.
Speaker 2:I mean I was one who thought Fields needed to get out of Chicago to thrive, but I didn't think I would see this. I assume Russell Wilson was going to be the starter. I mean, the biggest thing that might have happened to Fields' career is that Russell Wilson had a tweaked calf or hammy and has been out and Fields got the opportunity. It's like you can't really take the ball away from him now because he's winning games. So I'm intrigued by them because they obviously look like the best team in that division right now.
Speaker 2:Only three games in and we'll see what they do when they go up against Cincinnati or Baltimore or Cleveland. We'll see if the Fields honeymoon extends out past these three games. But I think the biggest surprise was Pittsburgh winning that one and Fields doing it, making plays with his arm, because the games before they won, with running the ball kind of simple short passes, getting in the field goal range, kicking field goals and relying on that defense this game the offense showed up and made plays. So that was the one for me and, like I I said, there were plenty of surprises.
Speaker 1:This has been a weird sunday in the nfl I just found out about a minute ago that I was watching sunday or this sunday night football game in spanish. I did not know there was a spanish channel for it, but all of a sudden it came to the halftime show and I'm like who is this? Like there's some, some spanish guy on there. I'm like who is this? And all of a sudden it came to the halftime show and I'm like who is this? Like there's some, some spanish guy on there. I'm like who is this? And all of a sudden I'm like, looking at this, I have the subtitles on, because I don't have the volume on in the background there, you know, but at subtitles I'm like this is all in spanish. I'm like what is going on right now? I just found out today there's a spanish nbc channel. I just got that now um I agree.
Speaker 1:I mean, that was justin fields. I said it too. I did not think the bears were putting them in the best spot to win. And now you know what, honestly, that's gonna be my surprise game is the bears do it again. I don't understand. The bears watched. They had to have seen the final between the packers and the colts. They had to have seen the packers ran all over the colts.
Speaker 1:So why, when you go into a game against the indianapolis colts, are you having caleb williams throw the football 52 times? 52 times, there's a lot of time, right, that's a lot of times even for patrick mahomes to throw a football in a game. Two touchdowns, two interceptions. He hasn't cleaned up that problem yet. He's trying to force balls. But when you're in an offense and you're calling an offense right now, if you are the Bears, that puts him in those situations where he's making bad decisions. You want to feel bad for the guy, but it's also the Bears. I don't care. Right, the Bears are the Bears. They can find a way to screw up things. They might screw up Caleb Williams. Yet I'll be honest with you. They might screw up their shot with Caleb Williams to actually do something with this team because they cannot play call. They don't have a clue what's going on in Chicago right now. This team is they should be 0-3.
Speaker 2:They should be 0-3.
Speaker 1:That Titans game. If Will Levis doesn't, I mean I don't even know what he was thinking when he threw that pick six that gave the Bears the lead late.
Speaker 1:I don't know what he was thinking, but when he flipped that ball out there, you know what? Honestly, when I saw that replay I was like, oh, the Titans must have been losing and that must have been late in the game. No, no, no, they were winning and there was no reason to throw that football. Now, that was a young quarterback making a not so good decision. But I mean you should be on three right now if you're the chicago bears.
Speaker 1:This offense not impressive, the defense impressive. The colts did to you what they want to do to the packers. They could not run the ball against packers. They found a way to run it against you. Anthony richardson did just enough in this game to not screw it up completely Threw two picks. That's still a problem, but outside of that, 10 for 20 for 167 yards. Thank God I benched him on my fantasy team because I could not handle that anymore. I mean, that would be one of my surprises. Is this Bears team and how awful it is of a start for him. I thought maybe they would ease them in. Do some short little routes for them try to utilize. You brought in deandre swift. What was the purpose of bringing in deandre swift and upgrading?
Speaker 1:the offensive line if all we're doing is trying to air it out. It doesn't make sense. You could have put some joe blow running back back there and just let them try to run. What nine yards? I mean? How many carries did deandre swift have?
Speaker 1:I just exited out of that too fast there he had 13 13 carries for a guy that you brought in specifically for upgrading the run game doesn't make sense. Doesn't make sense at all. So that is. I wouldn't say it's a surprise finish because the bears can find a way to screw up a game. I would say I'm just surprised on how awfully coached I shouldn't say that how awfully coached bears are, how awful of a start they've had because of the coaching. Like it's just bad. It is bad football all the way around.
Speaker 1:But this is going to lead into my next question and it's a grueling question for me because, as a packer fan, I don't want this to be true. Are the Vikings for real? Like I, I honestly thought I'm watching this Texans team. They're coming to town and I'm like CJ Stroud, this Texans defense. They got playmakers on the offensive side. Now no, joe Mixon. That doesn't help. Joe Mixon out there does change the offense for the Texans, but he gave up 34 points to the Minnesota Vikings. Sam Darno goes 17 for 28 for 181 yards and four touchdowns. Aaron Jones runs all over you. I miss Aaron Jones in Green Bay. I like Josh Jacobs don't get me wrong out there Packer fan but I love me some, aaron Jones.
Speaker 1:Is this Vikings team for real, because this Texans team, I think, is for real. I think they're a definite playoff contender, a team that, if they got hot, could maybe compete with the Kansas City Chiefs. Now that's a stretch. That's a stretch, I know, but they're a team that offensively, has playmakers that could do it. But I look at this game and I'm like, okay, maybe it's just one of those games. Right, the Texans weren't feeling it today. The Vikings found some big holes, they made things happen.
Speaker 1:But this is week after week with the Vikings right now. This is week after week with Sam Darnold leading this Vikings team. I mean, on the season he's got 657 yards, eight touchdowns, two interceptions. His QBR is sitting at 73. He's ranked fifth in all of football for all quarterbacks in QBR right now. I mean had 73. He's ranked fifth in all of football for all quarterbacks and qbr right now. I mean we're talking about a league right now where andy dalton and sam darnold both just had fantastic days yesterday.
Speaker 1:Who would have thought, like a year ago, if I would have told you sam darnold is going to lead the vikings to a 3-0 start and the carolina panthers are going to be in such just? I don't. That is a terribly ran organization too. So don't get me wrong. The Bryce Young is not the issue. There is more issues there, but now it looks worse because Andy Dalton steps in and leads them to a win when Bryce Young couldn't do it. So it looks even worse for Bryce Young out there now. But if I would have told you a year ago Andy Dalton and Sam Darnold would be two quarterbacks that we're going to be talking about in week three with impressive starts, would you have believed me? Like this is just different right now. This is different. But getting off topic getting off topic there, you can answer that question. And do you think the Vikings are for real.
Speaker 2:I mean, no, I did not have the Dalton-Darnold experience in week three being a storyline in the NFL. I did not think that One. I completely forgot that Dalton was sitting on somebody's roster as a backup. So that's the first surprise Darnold.
Speaker 2:I think Darnold speaks to not necessarily the team that drafts you has the best plan in mind for you, like he's in with the Jets. The Jets are an organization that's historically been, you know, run defense. He gets their struggles, especially against the Patriots. The one game that the announcer said he was seeing ghosts, that seemed like that, was it for him in New York. It could be that for a guy in Darnold, playing in a big market like New York isn't for him. You know he went to Carolina but, like we said, carolina is a mess. He didn't necessarily play well there but that kind of speaks more to Carolina.
Speaker 2:Now he's in Minnesota with offensive coach in O'Connell with playmakers around him Aaron Jones, justin Jefferson, jordan Addison, I don't know man. I think they are legit and I'll say that my reasoning for it is brian flores and what he's doing with the defense. I feel like that is something that can continue on all season and if your defense plays well enough that takes less pressure off of sam darnold at the quarterback position. I mean, look, houston, it Houston, decent offense. Houston has playmakers of their own Tank Dell, nico Collins, guys like that, stefan Diggs Minnesota held them to 4 of 14 on third downs. If you're not efficient on third downs, you're not winning a lot in the NFL. They also. There's another number that I saw that I liked from them oh, 200 touchdowns.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yep.
Speaker 2:So that right there you're keeping them inefficient on third down and you turn the ball over twice. You're going to win a lot of games and Flores, we all know, is a really good defensive mind and I feel like with that, I think Minnesota is legit. Now I still think, even after three games if you want to maybe doubt what you're seeing with Sam Darnold, I think that's valid because of what we've seen in the years prior as teams get more and more tape on him, can he still put up numbers like this? Because still early on in the season, you know, he might be still surprising some teams, but as we get into like the next five, six weeks, you know, is he still playing as efficient as he is right now? You know, is he still playing as efficient as he is right now?
Speaker 2:If I was going to sit here and guess, I'll say Minnesota's going to hang around through the season and, like I said, I'm giving a lot of that credit to Flores with this defense and what he's done. And this is a defense minus Daniil Hunter, who actually went to Houston in the offseason and that was their big pass rusher up front. You took them out of the equation and the defense is still playing really well, so I'll say they're legit, while still holding out concern about Darnold and Darnold got hurt today, missed a couple of plays and I know a lot of Vikings fans are probably gasping at that because they lost mccarthy in the offseason. Darnell took a hit like behind his leg, you know, bent back kind of funny, got up limping. So their season could have derailed if he couldn't, you know, get back into this game because I I don't know who the third string quarterback is on that team. I can't say that I. Is it Mullins or Brett?
Speaker 1:Ripon and who did Ripon? Who is Ripon?
Speaker 2:I think it was Mullins, because Mullins I thought Mullins took a snap or two when Darnold was getting looked at.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, where the heck was Brett Ripon? I remember that name from somewhere. Was he always with Minnesota?
Speaker 2:No, denver, somewhere was he always with minnesota. No, he and her. He was with denver, he was with denver.
Speaker 1:I think he's with the jets too, for a little bit oh man he, yeah, that would have been that would have been that would have been rough to have to so their, their, their hopes are on the right shoulder of Sam Darnold and him staying healthy all year, so I think they're legit.
Speaker 2:I'll say that they are legit right now.
Speaker 1:So Minnesota's legit Now question to wrap up the NFL here, staying in the NFC North, we know the Lions are going to be the Lions They'll be fine. The Vikings we're thinking they're a solid team. That's scary, my Packers got them. Next. Lions They'll be fine. The Vikings we're thinking they're a solid team. That's scary. My Packers got them next week. But one last game we talked about them a little bit before the Bears. Will the Bears get right? Will the Bears get right? Just real quick? Will they get right and right the ship at some point this season?
Speaker 2:Well, they have to find balance in their offense. Until they do, I think these struggles are going to continue. Like you said, caleb Williams has no business throwing 53 times in a game, unless you're down big and you're just airing it out late, because if you told me Caleb Williams threw 53 times, they probably lost like 40 to 10 or something and he was just forced to throw it just because, whatever this game against the Colts, it was like 7-0 up until like midway through the third quarter, so you had no reason to become one-dimensional. I know you mentioned DeAndre Swift. You also have Roshon Johnson, who you drafted like two years ago, and you have Khalil Herbert, who's been there for a few years and is a quality backup.
Speaker 2:I don't understand their offensive game plan. I don't know if they're trying to prove something with Caleb Williams, but they need to look themselves in the mirror and be concerned with the direction of this offense. Ease Caleb Williams into these games, establish the run, get some play action, get him on some boot, you know, get him comfortable and then we'll see like. If they continue this way, I don't think they have any shot of getting right, because Caleb Williams just isn't that good of a passer right now no, no, I agree.
Speaker 1:Bad decision making right now. Bad decision making by him. He's trying to force balls in there and he's being forced to throw the ball a lot right now. So bad combo right now in Chicago. For me I'm okay with it. For Bears fans out there I'm sorry that you got to deal with Eberflus in company for now. Hopefully management will get rid of those guys. Get you some new coaches, coordinators, whatever you need whatever you need.
Speaker 1:Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully. They figure that out down there, so get out of the nfl. One last thing before we wrap up, a little bit of a random sport that we didn't know was a thing roof ball. Kyle, you ever heard of roof ball before?
Speaker 2:no, not at all no, me, neither I.
Speaker 1:I saw it. It was on esp, espn News. Apparently it's a sport. It is a sport Now. Imagine it when you were a kid and you were throwing the ball up on the roof of your garage or whatever it was, and you let it roll back down and catch it right, and you keep doing that. That's what this sport is. So in the one that I watched was the vent. There's a vent, so you're throwing the ball on the roof and you're attempting to hit a target on the roof, which is a vent or a pipe or whatever it is, and to catch the ball when it rolls back down. So you find a target. Whatever that target is, that's what you're aiming at on the roof. Find a safe place to catch the ball. Make sure that you're not playing next to a parked car in a moving street or anything like that, next to a chainsaw that's running, I don't know. Make sure you're safe right make sure you're safe, score points.
Speaker 1:So the most basic way to score a point is to throw the ball on the roof and catch it on the way down. Another way to score is they hit the target, which is worth five points. The most points are earned by throwing the ball around the pole. So you gotta throw it around, the get it to bounce around that thing and come back down. That's worth 10 points. If you catch it on the way back down, that's worth one point. The first roof ball tournament was held in January of 1999. That tells you how long this sport's been around and we had had no idea. I'm out there like little little me's, out there in the front yard throwing a ball up on the roof, and I was probably the best in the nation at one point and I didn't even know. I didn't even know that I was the best one out there. I mean, is this one of the most odd sports that you've heard of? Is this one of the most odd sports that you've heard of?
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably.
Speaker 2:I mean it sounds like a sport that you know would have been in dodgeball when I can't remember the character's name but he was reading like obscure sports quarterly and he was like an aficionado on these random sports that popped up on ESPN.
Speaker 2:The old show, like this, sounds like a sport that would have been in that magazine. I just think it's interesting that now, all of a sudden, a lot of these sports that, like you said, when you were a kid and you were just outside, you had like a tennis ball or something in your hand, you would throw it up on the roof just to be like, oh, let's see if I can catch it, and the fact that these are turning into like legit games and sports and leagues out there speaks to the, I guess, the creativity that's going on right now, the recreation that people are out there making competitive. I definitely respect it because I've seen some other interesting games myself. I can't remember what they call it, but there's a form of soccer where it's three teams playing at the same time, three goals and three rosters of teams out on the field. I have no idea what they call it?
Speaker 1:Was that the one in the Olympics? Was that handball? Was that the handball game?
Speaker 2:No, this is like a smaller, smaller field. They have three goals set up, so three teams each have a goalie in front of their goal. So basically, when you have the ball at your feet, you have two different options of where you want to go to score, because as long as you don't score on your own goalkeeper, you can get a goal that way and it's just constantly moving because the goal gets scored, the goalie takes out of the net, gets to one of his guys and you just keep going. It's I don't know. I don't know what era this is, that this is right now, but these are the kind of sports that out there.
Speaker 2:I've seen kickball on tv and in the competitive league. I've seen wiffle ball. I've seen it all. So it's like games you played as a kid just because you needed to waste time doing something are now legit and you and you could be on tv for it. If you could go back and go back as a kid and be like, yeah, I probably would have taken wiffle ball seriously because I could have been on espn in the future that wiffle ball game is intense.
Speaker 1:Some of those pitches that they throw it nowadays it is nuts.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like man, oh man and the kickball. There is nothing that beats ESPN. The Ocho at 2 am. When you're watching kickball, like that is some of the best kickball games too.
Speaker 1:I mean I used to get intense when I was a little guy, too, playing kickball, but these are grown adults taking it to a new level there. I mean man, man, oh man. So that's about all we got. That's about all we got for today, kyle. I mean I mentioned it at the start of the show, but let everybody out there know where they can find you across, you know, facebook, wherever it is. Let people know where they could find you out there, because you got great stuff out there and people need to hear you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you can find me chopping at the bit, uh, you can find me chomping at the bit. You can find me on Facebook, twitch, twitter, youtube, I think also the audio version on, like Spotify, google Podcasts. I think Google Podcasts is not like YouTube music or something, I don't know. There's something that they've changed in there. I can't keep up with it. It's available. Something that they've changed in there, I I can't keep up with it. It's available. Uh, apple podcast as well. So I'm definitely out there, you know.
Speaker 1:check me out for sure make sure you find this guy. He's got great stuff, always keeping you in the loop about anything major that is happening in the nfl, nba, everything in between. This guy is all over it. That's where I go for my information. You just got to find that guy. That's where I go for my information there.
Speaker 1:So with that, that's about all we have for today. It was a great show. Like I always tell you guys like, subscribe, follow. Make sure you tell your friends, let them know where to find us here. Kyle, he'll definitely be back on the show, coming up soon. We'll get him back on the show sometime. Aaron will be back on the show sometime. So we'll definitely have more great sports. Talk for you guys and make sure, if you're in there, if you're in the live, you're checking out the live make sure you comment in, let us know what you're thinking. Anything crazy, ridiculous sports takes that you want to give it to us, you let us know in the comments down there. But with that, for Kyle and myself, we hope you guys have a great night and I will talk to you guys again on Tuesday night, but until then, deuces.