EP 14 Tuck Came

In this episode of Gentleman's Agreement, the hosts discuss college football. They recap the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game, noting the low scoring and strong defense on both sides. They also talk about Florida State's win against Clemson and the struggles of both Clemson and Alabama this season. The hosts mention that Florida State, despite some flaws, should not be underestimated. They also express their dislike for Colorado and their behavior on the field. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Gentleman's Agreement, this is episode 14, Fuck the Game. We got a great episode for you guys this week, as always we got the boys, yes sir, they keep letting me join this podcast and today we're going to talk about college football. It's been about a couple of weeks since we've been on the airwaves, but never fear, we are back and we'll recap this last weekend of college football, it was a great slate, a lot of good games, and we'll give our thoughts on Michigan, Michigan State, then we'll transition to the NFL and kind of give our thoughts and everything that's been going on with that, lots of news to talk about between college and NFL, and then lastly we wrap it up with a talk about our fantasy teams and the Tigers with Miggie's last games coming up here, pretty big stuff, so stick around, it's going to be a great episode. Alright, so first order of business, we are doing the college football kind of review here, right gentlemen? Yes sir. Obviously we'll hit the biggest game first, Ohio State, Notre Dame, it was an interesting, you don't see much defense in college football these days, so it was interesting to see a low scoring, I think it was 3-0 at half, Ohio State was up. Yeah, both teams kind of refused to score. Yeah, was it better defense or just sucky offense? Probably a little combination of both, but I think both defenses are pretty darn good, and it's far enough into the year where it's not like, it's not the first game of the year where the offense is still figuring out their timing and things like that, I would have to lean towards, I think both defenses are pretty darn good. I mean, if you've got a guy like Marvin Harrison on your wide receiver court, I mean, it's got to be a defensive game at that point, when you have that many weapons on the field, especially with, shoot, what's Notre Dame's quarterback's name? Sam Hartman. Yeah, I mean, he's a, does Ohio State still have that white dude, what's his name? Cade Stover? Yeah, is he still on? Oh, they're tight end, Kyle McCord is their quarterback, and Cade Stover is that massive tight end. Yeah, he has not impressed me this year, I'll be honest. McCord? I know, even on that final drive for the Buckeyes, it wasn't like he did anything crazy, he did put the one right on the money to Ibuka to convert on the, what was it, fourth and 19 or whatever? Yeah. Right to the goal line? Yeah, but besides that, I mean, there wasn't really anything. I mean, that's just a mess up on the defense part, is not playing the ball in here. Same thing, like, same thing as a couple years ago when the Bills beat the, or when the Chiefs beat the Bills, and they just threw the ball to Kelsey in the middle of the field to get that game-time field goal, it's like, guard people, not space, when there's no time. I just think Ohio State is not, I don't think they're nearly as good as they were last year, by a long shot, people have them at six. On the same foot, Notre Dame impresses me to some extent, and I think they 100% should have won this game. I think so. It's just blunders, like, literally on the two final plays, on the goal line stand, you have ten guys. Yeah, it was terrible. Literally, so on the final play, when they scored one second left, it was, I was actually talking with Jared this weekend about it, it was not like a, he strolls into the end zone, it is, he is falling down, I'm a half yard, yep, and the ball is on the white, on the goal line. They got, where they ran him was right where that missing defensive end was, the defensive tackle, and I mean, it's just little things like that, so in my humble opinion, Ohio State should have lost this game, but I do like it that Notre Dame is now kind of back in the mix of talks. I feel like they've been MIA from the top 25 for a few years now, they could know it. Yeah, it was, I was really impressed with Notre Dame's first four games of the year, they played week zero, and they took care of business against all the bad teams they played, and then they went on the road to NC State and handled, handled a, you know, a Power 5 team pretty well down there, so I was really expecting Notre Dame to win this game, so big picture kind of coming out of it, you know, it is an impressive win for Ohio State, but I would agree that Ohio State didn't get Notre Dame's best performance. I mean, it's the best one in the country right now, so, as much as we hate them, they do have that, which, obviously, it's early in the season, so other teams can get better wins, but that kind of transitions us into another really good win, Florida State-Clemson, that's a really good win at Clemson, nobody really wins in, they call it Death Valley as well, don't they, there's two Death Valleys, did either of you watch that game? I didn't get to watch a whole lot of it, but the line, I kind of want to talk about the line on that game, coming into it, it was Florida State favored by two, which was really odd, catches your eye, you know, Florida State's a top five team, they've looked really good, whooped up on LSU's first game of the season, and Clemson's just been stumbling their way through the year, so it was kind of weird, but as the game plays out, you realize, yeah, this is kind of a legacy game for Clemson here, this is do or die, if you lose this game, your program kind of becomes irrelevant for a whole nother year, and the dabble-sweeney-riz is kind of over, and they fought like heck, and honestly outplayed Florida State for most of the game, up until that strip sack, you know, and it was Clemson really shooting themselves in the foot. Even then, they were tied, and then had a chance at like a 30-yard field goal with a minute left, and the kid just shanked it. Yeah. You're like, what are you supposed to do with your dabble? You know? And the same thing goes with their loss against Duke, they fumbled on the inside of the 10 like three times. Like, they moved the ball against Duke, they just didn't finish. Yeah. I think the takeaway from this game is Clemson's not actually a bad team. Yeah, which is why it's a good win for Florida State. Yeah. But at the same point in time, if you watched it, Florida State's offense just consists of go balls, which is going to burn them very soon, because on the final couple drives, they just kept throwing it up to Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman, hoping they could do it, and as you saw in overtime, Keon Coleman was able to high-point it and get the cud, but besides that, that's not going to win you against really good, really, really good teams. Yeah. I mean, in terms of Florida State being ranked 5th, I would say that there are glimmers of a team that I would, in fact, think that, yes, they should be where the ranks that they are at, but I would say that those players make up 25% of their game. I would say the other three quarters, they kind of scream like a team that's maybe, and I would say they're in the top 10, but probably not in a 5 spot, if I had to be honest. I just think that they're kind of broken in certain places, but again, Florida State, another one of those teams that I feel like has been in the dark for a few years now, but Clemson has taken not like a harsh, harsh nosedive off, but by no means do I think they're a bad team, it's just, I think Clemson was one of those teams that have fallen victim to NIL, transfer portal, conference realignment, just fiascos, but I definitely think that, I mean, for God's sake, if Colorado's ranked, I mean, I think Clemson should definitely be ranked if that's the case. Yeah, it's kind of crazy to see the two, I guess, dynasties in college football kind of the last, I don't know, there was a stretch there where Clemson and Alabama were just duking it out every year, and they were the top dogs, and obviously Clemson already has two losses this year, Alabama has one, and just barely eked out a win at South Florida, so it's just really weird to see a couple giants really struggling. Yeah, it's just how it works, though, it's not like a team will always be dominant. You look at, you know, the U, Florida kind of took over in the early 2000s, stuff like that, and then for most of 2010s, when we were really invested in college, it was Bama and Clemson, so it, like you said, it is weird seeing not being the top five for every week of the season except for the last two, maybe, but I don't know, it's good to see new teams up there. Florida State's weird, though, like they've been, they'll be really good for a year, take five years off, and then be really good for a year. Yeah, mark this down, Florida State, as bad as they've looked at points this year, mark them down as a team. I don't want Michigan playing in the first round of the playoff come December. If Michigan makes the playoff, mark that down as a team, I would not want to play at, like, the 2-3 matchup. Yeah, which is so far away, too, because Florida State could very easily lose a couple ACC games. ACC's pretty stacked, along with the Pac-12 this year, and I'm not saying the Pac-12's stacked because of Colorado, but everybody else in the Pac-12. Yeah, let's talk about that Colorado-Oregon game just because a lot of people viewed it, and I'm glad they did because it was time for those clowns to lose. I don't really have a lot of respect for guys that keep, you know, prodding at people and then claim victim cards and say everything's personal for no reason because they're acting like no one else has ever played football before. It's kind of dumb. It's the aggrieved routine. It got old. It was kind of cool and kind of fun. Early on, like, the TCU game, they went and, you know, shocked the world. Screw TCU, right? Yeah, we have resentment against them, but, you know, it was cool week one, and then it just kind of became, okay, Colorado State, they pissed us off. Okay, now Oregon irritated. You know, it was just a new story every week. It's one of those things where it's like, it was funny the first time, not the 17th time. Yeah. Gets old. Well, it's like they're entitled to win. Like, that's how they feel when they really haven't... And how dare you assume that they'll lose? Yeah, they haven't done anything, and guess what? When it comes to playing big boy football and not Colorado State, where you go into double overtime with them, I mean, this is what happens when you play a big-time program. Yeah, Oregon's going to make a big splash in the Pac-12 this year. Yeah. I honestly have no idea who's coming out of the Pac-12, but Oregon's going to give a lot of people a run for their money. Yeah, especially if that's at home. Bo Nix at home is very difficult to handle. He just plays really well in Oregon. Honestly, so what was the score? Like 42-3 or something? I don't know. I think it was a touchdown. Was it 42-7? Something like that. 48-6 maybe. Either way, I think USC will beat them in a much different fashion because obviously USC's offense, offense, offense, zero defense. So we'll see, but that O-line was so bad, USC probably beats them by 30. Oh, yeah. 30-plus. Yeah, I mean, what Coach Prime has done there, I will give him credit. It is impressive. Like we were talking before the season, I didn't think they would have a win until Colorado State. I thought they would be 1-3 at this point in the season, and they're 3-1. So he is doing something there. He is a good coach, I'm not going to deny that, and he motivates his players and everything like that. It just gets old. It's not his fault per se. He does like the attention, but it's not his fault per se that everyone and their brother is talking about him and constantly reporting about him because that just annoys the common football fan, the common consumer like us. I mean, it's just one of those things where it's like, I'm in complete agreement with you. Pass off to Deion Sanders. Nice job taking one of the worst programs in college football, doing a complete 180 and bringing it back to life and creating a culture. However, when you, day in and day out, as a person who is a big-time name, who has a big-time platform, is constantly feeding into this victim mentality of us versus them and we're the best team on planet Earth and nobody knows it. I'm almost thinking it's, in a way, sometimes bad that Deion is the coach because you have teams like Oregon that sees that and is sick of it and is like, not only are we going to beat you, but we are going to literally curb-stop you, out of spite and out of anger. And the media has done Deion Sanders and that program zero favors. It boils me to the core every time I click on ESPN or I'm scrolling on Instagram and he's like the new LeBron James. Even the smallest thing that happens gets blown way out of proportion. Well, thankfully, we got something new to focus on. I know. Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift, they've taken ESPN over. Right, yeah, that's all you can see. My feed is Coach Prime, Travis Kelsey, Taylor Swift, and the Dolphins. Yeah, but in all seriousness, Coach Prime, that's the good and the bad, though. Everybody's going to give you the best shot because you have big mouth, but you also know how to get the best out of your players and he knows how to change a program. Like, who knows, maybe in a couple years they will be a legit threat. What conference is Colorado moving to? I don't know, I think the Big 12. Maybe they'll be a legit threat in the Big 12 because there's not going to be a good team in the Big 12, but let's move to more personal stuff. What are your thoughts on Michigan First there, gentlemen? I'll give you mine since I have them. Yeah, you go. I think Jim studied the ship this week. I was getting pretty sick of the coaching carousel amongst our own program. I think he did fine. We dominated except for one play, and I know, like, if you lose a game you can't say we dominated except for one play, but when you win by 30, you can say that. We probably are going to win by 20 or more in Lincoln. Nebraska is not good whatsoever, but my question to you was, oh, and I would also like all the defensive starters together. Like, they need to just play together, and then my question is, are we okay with Edwards not being great because he's been pretty mediocre this year? It has been hard to watch. When he gets the ball in the backfield for a normal run, you kind of cringe because he just looks slow out there for whatever reason. He probably bulked up, put on muscle over the offseason, and I don't know, he just looks slow, and you would think that that first tackler that touches him or breathes on him, he's down, and that's what that extra muscle is supposed to help you power through that. Exactly, and it's just been tough to watch him on run. You know he's got so much potential, and he's so much better than what he's showing, but... Well, it is tough because he compared himself to Barry before the season, and this is the result we're getting. Yeah. I think we are still used to his performance last year and taking over the role of quorum when he was injured. I still think that when it comes to a run past threat, he's great to have out there on the field. I love having him out there making plays like that, like him leaking out of the backfield like that 30-yard carry. Just overall thoughts on Michigan though. I love that we've been dominating these teams. Now, granted, I mean, they're cupcakes. Let's be honest. I do not like how in every game, I feel like we don't play full four quarters. I feel like we play three quarters of a full and complete game, and one of them is just riddled with mistakes. That's just the mantra of a hardball team though, because even last year, we only played in the second half of every single game and still found a way to make our way to the playoff. But I agree. If we want to legit be a national title contender, we got to put four real quarters together. Yeah, so that's just been something that's been kind of ticking me off as I've been watching them. Again, Michigan's through and through, but it's just little things like that where it's like, they just rub you the wrong way. I know during big games, that's not going to work. No. I'm sorry, you can't go toe-to-toe with Bowling Green for a full quarter and then decide to turn on the Jets. Something else needs to be there, and you need to start out of the gate running. Especially with the new rules this year with the running clock, I guess a team like Penn State on the road, we're going to have to make the most of every drive because we do take up long drives, so you can't get down to the goal line and stall, taking up half a quarter. Or miss a field goal. My thoughts so far on the season, they've looked pretty darn good. The Bowling Green game obviously was a little rough, but in all honesty, the players kind of get bored when you do the same thing week in, week out, and you're 35-point favorites. There sets in a sense of comfortability, and that is not good. You got to keep players on their toes and ready to fire on all cylinders, so I think it's going to be good. Rutgers was a good first test. That's a quality football team, Rutgers. Yeah, I think so. They're going to be better than people expect this year, and overall it's been good, and the best part about these first four games, no injuries. The only real one that got injured was Mason Graham, and it sounds like he's out a week or two, but you didn't get that devastating torn ACL to Roman Wilson or something crazy like that that would alter the course of the season, and that's the biggest part about the first four games is, did you stay healthy? And check. Yeah. Yeah, but going into the season, I think one of your concerns is the special teams unit. Our kickers missed a couple field goals already this year, and a PAT, so I don't know about that box, if it's checked or not right now. No, that box is still very much up for grabs. Could cost us in a game like at Penn State, missing a field goal, something like that. Yeah, we're rolling right along. Let's talk about the former head coach of the MSU Spartans, Mr. Tucker. That program's definitely on fire, and you just hate to see it, don't you? You do. You know how many years we've had to sit through just, once again, the majority of us actually carrying in football has been tragedies in which we've lost to Michigan State? I love every second of this. Not what he did, but just the fact of who it's happening to at Michigan State, it's just so funny. Yeah. It really is. Yeah, watching them get blown off by Maryland was quite, quite lovely. Oh, yeah. Baby Tua. Dan Antonio doesn't even have a headset on, correct? No, he was just down on the field, unleashed against. Unleashed against. Quite quick side note, we're watching the Miami-Denver game back right now. Did I just see Coach McDaniel wearing, like, sweats? Yeah, like capris. Capris pretty much. Get a look at this real quick, Jake. I know we're sidetracking. The most casual coach in football might be on the Miami Dolphins. You know he was the ball boy? Yeah, I saw the clip. Yeah. Look at him. Homeboy's got joggers on. He might as well wear, maybe shorts are illegal. Probably. Yeah. Or he would wear, it is Miami though. That is hilarious. That's hot. And he was like the ball boy and he had like a big gay hearing in his left ear. And it's like, homeboy just put up 70 on, could it actually hit the record again? Somebody decided. Yeah, said that wasn't worth it. 73's pouring it on, 70 completely fine. The funny thing is, like, they were pouring it on without even. Their backups were. Yeah, their backups were pouring it on. But, yeah, A-chain. Where did he play at college? I don't know. He was a late round draft pick this year though. He fits the Dolphin mold perfectly. Yeah. Just a quick dude. But anyway, back to Michigan State. Yeah, the program's kind of in a free fall right now, but there is kind of a silver lining if you're a state fan because this guy was the biggest fraud in history. Yes. And now you don't have to, one sec, you don't have to deal with him for another year, year and a half because he was going to get fired. It was just a matter of time. Like, how long was he going to run the program into the ground? Now you get to kind of just rip the band-aid off really quick and be done with it. You can afford a new coach now. You can try, yeah, and the whole thing about firing with cause, they don't have to pay him that ginormous salary. So, in a sense, they kind of dodged a bullet. Obviously, it's a lot of bad publicity and bad, you know, bad dark cloud hanging over the university, but there is a small silver lining. Yeah, for the second time. The funny thing is, I wouldn't even say that he was a fraud. I wouldn't even say, I wouldn't go as far as saying, like, he wasn't that great even when he was at Colorado. Like, he literally just did the same exact thing that Deion Sanders is doing where he took a dumpster fire of an organization that was Colorado once before and brought up like a ball 500 to like seven wins and Michigan State was like, oh, he can do that. He'll be able to right the shift here and then. I think what he means by fraud is. That first or second year that he was there. Yeah, with Kenneth Walker. Yeah, once again, that was just wild because they weren't better than Michigan. We joked again. They actually, beating us, they should have just handled their business the rest of the year and it would have been a three-way tie between Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State because we all beat each other that year, but they just choked. Signed of Purdue. Yeah, they just choked, which who would have gone with that three-way tie to the Big Ten Championship? I have no clue. It would have gone down to like record within conference or record against common opponents, I think like that. Played differential or something? The Buckeyes blew them out of the water. Yeah, but yeah, Kenneth Walker, one of the greatest college football players ever to match for a year. He carried Mel Tucker and Jay Johnson and Scotty Hazleton to an 11-win season and a bowl win, which is nuts. Yeah, and he did get injured in that Ohio State game, I forgot. It's true. But yeah, obviously a disappointing season so far for State. You know, they took care of business the first two games and then all that Mel Tucker stuff breaks and you're like, is this going to galvanize the players or is this going to break their spirit and they're going to get killed and, you know, probably a little mixture of both, but it didn't matter. Washington was, Washington wiped the floor with them. So here's your question. Do they win against the Hawkeyes this week? Yes, that's another gross game. It's a night game in Iowa. It was bad. Iowa's a very bad football team. They're one of the teams that I thought, you know, you're looking at the West at the beginning of the year and like, oh, they got Cade and Eric All, you know, and they're motivated to score points because their OC's job depends on it. Maybe they'll be good this year. And no, they're bad. They're a very bad football team, but I think since it's home and it's a night game and it's impossible to win there at night, I think they'll beat State, but I think it'll actually be a pretty close game. Do you think it'll hit his average this week? No, no, absolutely not. He'll score like 17. They'll win like 17-13 or something. It would be very funny though if it just, he was Michigan State and they, oh, this is the don't pass on the inside, I would say. Yeah, the shovel. Yeah, the shovel. But yeah, I don't know what to think about that game. It's kind of like the NFL's version of Bears versus Broncos. IMO. Really? Yeah. So we got two disgusting matchups, but speaking of Bears-Broncos, I think we can officially hop into a little review of the NFL this past weekend. Let's start with the home team, Lions-Falcons. Dominant win. I think we proved a lot of doubters wrong. Oh, is this team actually legit? No, I think Seattle's a good team. I think the Lions didn't have the best game plan against them and good teams bounce back and they did. The Falcons, I know the score was 26, kind of like Michigan record was only 31-7. There was never any doubt either of the teams were going to win the game. It's not often you get a cruise control, no stress Sunday from the Lions. And that was a 2-0 team. The Falcons are a good team. I saw the Packers play them the week before in Atlanta and they ran the ball over, all over a pretty competent, like the Packers defense isn't amazing, but it's not bad by any means. There's some dudes on that defense and Bijon and Algier and even Ritter looked semi-decent. And so I was like, man, this is going to be a really good game in Detroit. I'm curious how the Falcons will come in and look. Because the Lions had injuries too. Exactly. And the Lions shut them down, made them look awful. Yeah, we were waiting for the Lions defense to show up. Now it's just a question of consistency. But before we talk about next week, Craig's breakdown on the Packers-Saints game. I just wrote they missed a field goal at the end. Yeah, it was a very weird game watching it. The Packers, well to tell you about the game, we get the ball at midfield and it's like fourth and one and we decided to go for it. We're on their side of the field early. I'm like, fine, yeah, cool. We try this like trick play where we pitch it to the running back and then the running back throws it back to Jordan Love and then Love is supposed to throw it to a receiver for a conversion. And the play worked perfect. It was a great play call. But on the throwback to Love, he was slipping all over the place, fumbling the ball. He looked like a fawn learning how to walk. Like he had these long gangly legs. Love again? Split out. This is two weeks in a row Love has just looked like a derp to derp. Shout out to the QB sneak in Atlanta last week. That was awesome. But yeah, he looked like a fawn out there with his legs kicking out from under him and then he failed the pass and the dude was wide open. It would have been a nice play. So that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game and really the game kind of flipped on the Derrick Carr injury. He went out for the game and the ball just kind of started bouncing our way and I was very impressed with Love in the second half. He hung in there and made some big plays. It was a 17 point comeback win so you don't see that too often. No matter who's that quarterback, it's a good win. You got to protect the home turf which is what they'll try to do. Jake, break down the New England Jets game. Division rival, the Jets can't ever beat New England. Yeah, it's gross. We just even saw the stat before this that in the last 14 games, New England has won all 14 matchups against them. I mean, Patriots got their number no matter how bad the Patriots can be in a season. And it's like, I don't know what to think of this team. They play the Eagles like they had two difficult opponents before this. They didn't give up 70 against the Dolphins. Yeah, they play them tough and it's like, you'd think that if they played the same exact way they would against teams like the Eagles, it's like the Jets should be nothing to them. I feel like the Patriots are just a few key pieces away and that piece is Matt Jones. Like, Matt Jones is not getting the job done. Excuse me. And it's like, replace him and things change. The whole atmosphere changes. Matt Jones is an immature quarterback that has shown himself that he cannot go out there and be a quality leader. I mean... Well, your first problem is Matt Jones is the dirtiest player in the NFL. Yeah, he's trying to grab Sauce Gardner's nuts and get the sauce. But it's like, I don't know, it's like just stupid antics like that. Like, I look at Matt Jones no differently like I do Zach Wilson. Like, I look at them as equally the same. And I think the score shows you that. Yeah, there's zero leadership qualities of either of them. And they're just, I mean, they're just dorks. Like, get them out of there. I would rather have a veteran backup quarterback because I feel like he would legitimately do a better job. Then, I don't know if it's a maturity thing for Matt Jones, but it looks like a deer in a headlight sometimes. And it's just like, I feel like we're a solid running back and a solid quarterback away from getting it done. Because our defense is solid. Judon coming off the edge rush, I mean, he's a beast. He actually stacked Wilson for a safety in that game at the very end of the staggering. What was the final? 22 something? No, I thought it was like 1510 or something like that. Gotcha. That's a disgusting score. Yeah, it really is. And it's like, I don't know, there's just a few things where it's like, just fix it. Like, how is, this is where I'm at, it's like, how has Bill Belichick not been able to figure this piece of the puzzle out when Tom Brady has been gone, what, three, four years? Like, how have we not been able to figure this out? I think you kind of answered the question yourself. I think a huge part of that, his coaching legacy has been Tom Brady. True. I think the big part is, you already said it, Matt Jones isn't self-motivated. Tom Brady was very self-motivated. Yeah. Matt Jones is, I mean, not that I can tell. I mean, if you're just being a dirty player and you kind of go ho-hum and you have really good weeks and really bad weeks, that means you're not preparing every single week the proper way, at least to me. I know it's easy to say sitting on a couch, just talking about football, but from what I can tell in the NFL, he's not even a top 15 quarterback. The way he, you can tell by the elite quarterbacks, with how they act and how they speak and how they hold themselves and command the team. Matt Jones shows zero qualities of that. Yeah. Interesting. Give us the spin on the Colts. That was an interesting one. Yeah, so Richardson was out. Yeah. Richardson was out with a concussion. Sad because I want to see Richardson play. Like this game, I know the Colts aren't doing anything this season, so this game kind of meant nothing because Minshew isn't our QB of the future. So while it's cool at the time, yeah, Minshew mania, it's cool at the time because now the Colts are relevant for at least three more weeks. They're technically top of the division right now. So that's fun. But we won because Tucker came up short on a 62-yard field goal. I don't know if you guys knew this. We were down by one. Like you said, he pulled in a loss. He stepped out of the back with like 207 left and one timeout. And we got the ball. And so we had to punt it down by three. We got the ball back with 140 left. They like the Ravens throw the ball. And mind you, there was 202 left before the punt or the the yeah, the punt for the safety. And the dude could have caught it in bounds and ran. And he chose the fair catch it. So time didn't go off on the punt. And we kicked it deep. Time didn't go off on the punt. Then they ran a play two-minute warning. Then we call the timeout. Then they got a holding penalty on the third play. So then they had to punt with a minute 40 left. We got the ball back, kicked the field goal, tied the game. And then they still had time. Tucker came up short on a 62-yarder and then overtime hit. And both teams just kind of went back and forth. And the Colts finally won. And of course, you'd think if there's any kickers breaking a record in a game, it'd be Tucker. But Matt Gay broke the record for four 50-plus-yard field goals made in a game, which is pretty cool. Matt Gay was the better kicker that day. Yes, he was. So it was a very weird game. It's good to see the Colts. The best part was the Colts defense looked pretty dominant again, which is cool when they're healthy. Right now Colts have one of the weirdest line backers in the league. Through three games, guess how many tackles he has. He plays every single snap. 30? 45. He's leading the NFL in tackles. He's on pace to break records, which I get. It's a small sample. I mean, your defense here, even the line is slow. Yeah, they're getting through. But the Colts run a lot of the zone, so he just lets guys get in front and then tackles them. Colts are kind of like Michigan in the way they do the bend-but-don't-break defense. Let guys march all the way down the field and don't give up tuds, even though Lamar got a couple tuds. But yeah, not much to take from it. The Colts, you could say the Colts are a surprise team so far. A little two-and-one. Yeah, I'd say so. Other surprise teams, the Bucs, until their only loss is the Eagles. Their only wins are the Vikings. Their only two wins are the Bears and the Vikings, who are awful. Combined, oh, by the way, quick sidetrack. You know who the Vikings are playing this week? The Bears. The Panthers. No, wait, yeah, Bears and Broncos, yeah. Two winless teams are going at it again. Yikes. So we're going to get some wins. Teams are going to have wins in the win column, unless they tie. But yeah, the Bucs are surprising. They didn't look like they belonged. I know we didn't watch the game against the Eagles. They didn't look like they belonged on the field necessarily. Yeah, you would think they would have been a little more hyped into it after all Monday Night Football 2-0. But yeah, if you would have told me the Bucs, Saints, and Falcons would all be two-and-one. And Colts. And Colts. And Packers. And Packers. You know, yeah, you could even say the Packers are a little bit of a surprise team. I figured they'd probably be one and two at this point. But that's the NFL. It's fun. And it's just early. So now people are overreacting. Everybody thinks their team's going to win the division now. And it'll level itself out. The Chiefs, they lost week one, immediately came back, took care of business. Now they're back to two-and-one. A real threat. The Chargers will turn the ship around. Yeah, how about the Vikings? The law of averages has really kicked back in on them from their season last year where they won all those close games. Rightfully so. That last year ticked me off with the Vikings. It was like the Spielers a couple years ago. You know how bad they were, but everybody just kept telling you they were great. And then you said wait till the playoffs. And they both got bounced in like the first round. Yeah, and then you say why is their point differential for the season negative? Like, Kirk Cousins just looks rattled on every single play now. I just don't get it. Maybe he's taking too many shots or the fame from quarterback on Netflix went to his head. But like, he just looks shaken on everything that he's doing. Like, he just does not look like he did last year. And like, the definition of mediocre would say Minnesota Vikings this year. Oh yeah. Like, there is nothing special about them. I just don't understand. When you have Justin Jefferson, why are you not utilizing him more as a weapon in the threat downfield? It's been the same exact thing. I mean, we'll talk about it, but it's like, it's almost like, I get Burroughs 100 percent, but it's like, if you have weapons, you probably should use them. And why does it take you three to four games to even remotely start to figure this out? Like, you're talking to the fantasy chat. It's like, I mean, Jefferson is going to be dead by week six. If things aren't, they're not able to spread things out and get things cooking. Yeah, speaking of the NFC North, the division is kind of shaking itself out here in three weeks. You know, the Bears and the Vikings are dead. They're not going to pose a threat to the division, and it sets up a really, really important matchup tomorrow. We're recording on Wednesday. Tomorrow, on Thursday night football, when the Lions travel to Lambeau. That's going to be a fun game, and sadly, you and I are going to miss it. Yes, unfortunately. We joined his mother-in-law's soccer league, and guess what time the game is tomorrow night, Jake? Right at kickoff? 945. That's disgusting. We'll see about half of it. I've got, whatever it is, I've got... You've got a game Thursday, right? Yeah, we've got a game tomorrow, but ours is earlier. It's at like 6. We play Corona, who is good this year. Don't they have famous twins or something? That's on their varsity. They have famous twins. Apparently, there are people just going to the games and following these people that are not from the Corona area and are just following these guys. I've seen posts on Facebook. They both have long hair. They're like twins, and they're going to go to D1. One of them is, yeah, one of them is Bowers, is their last name. Yeah. One of them is a quarterback, and one of them is the wide receiver, and literally they've been doing this since kindergarten. One of them chucks it up, nine ball, and the other one, it's like he'll throw it like 30 yards out in front of him. The kid sees it, locates it, and then just like kicks it in the second gear, and it's like a bullet. It's kind of crazy, yeah. Yeah, I have not seen them. Yeah, this Friday, it's going to be like the clash of the titans with Goodrich and Corona, because you have Goodrich, who's 4-0, already beaten Frankenmuth, was runner-up to the state championship last year. Corona was like in second place behind them. It's also like both teams are undefeated. It's Corona's homecoming this weekend. Is it going to be Corona? Oh yeah, it's going to be an absolute lights out of the game. You going to that? No, I'm actually going to a wedding this weekend. I'm leaving actually Friday night. R.I.P. I'm almost kind of hoping that it's like, I'm going to be on the positive side of things, despite JV's record. I'm going to say we are going to run the score up so quickly that we're going to have a running clock, so I can be home by the time this game kicks off on Thursday night. Yeah, I think it'll be a really good game. I've kind of talked about it briefly, but we can talk about the injuries real quick. Yes, the news came out, I know you put it in here, the Packers are going to be without my most frustrating person on the team as of now, David Bakhtiari, left tackle, Elton Jenkins, the guy right next to him at left guard, and our best linebacker Devondre Campbell. So, some pretty big people that are out. You know, that whole left side of the offensive line is kind of, you know, that blind side is going to be weak, and I can already see Hutch just kind of lining up over there clapping his hands with his white gloves, and trucking whoever, whatever, whatever side is going to be back to throw out there at left tackle. I still think it's important, the three questionable guys though, Jones, Watson, Alexander, you just need star players on your team to actually play, and two of those being Jones and Alexander, kind of, I don't know, maybe the leaders of each unit, the defense and the offense, at least with their play, they're leaders, because they're two of the best, so. 100%. Yeah, I heard they're going to play Jones, I'm pretty sure. Jones and Watson sound like they're going to play. I don't know what Jair Alexander's injury even is, to be honest with you. He was just out for the Saints game, and I was like, oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So, hopefully they can play. Watson's been out all year. I'm excited to, you know, towards the end of last year, he was going off, and I really want to see if he can keep that momentum going into this year, but definitely some injuries taking center stage there on Thursday Night Football, which they always do, because it's a short week. I feel like Bakhtiari is injured every, like... Ever since he toured as ACL back in, like, 2020, I think it was, 2021, I don't know, but it's been, like, two plus years. Was that the year with the Buccaneers? He's like a walking stretcher. Who is, okay, so I know that they played, Green Bay has played the Bears, the Saints, and... The Falcons. Falcons. Yep. Bears are awful. Saints and Falcons are two quality teams, especially when you're playing at Atlanta. Well, the thing is, is I would say that the Atlanta Falcons are just above average. Saints... Who, is it Jimmy G? No, it's Derek Clark. And he was out, wasn't he? Half the game. Half the game. I don't know if I'm 100% sold that the Packers are, like, super contenders. No. I would say that they are probably in the boat that Atlanta Falcons is finding themselves in right now, around that type of caliber team. But, like, Lions by one and a half, I might bump that a little bit. I don't know why, but I'm not 100%. I think Lions win this outright. The Lions are a better team, but you also gotta take into factor... Yeah. The Lions did ruin their year last year. It was your conference. It's your conference. You never know. Green Bay, every bit as hungry to beat the Lions. I kind of wrote this, if the Lions want to be legit playoff contenders, you win this game at Green Bay. Get rid of the storylines. Get rid of the injury reports. You need to win this game at Green Bay if you want to actually win a playoff game, because you have a better team than the Packers right now. And that's the thing, too. It's like, I get that the Lions, like, the Green Bay is sick and tired of hearing it. Lions fans have heard how bad they've sucked for who knows how long, and they know the weight that this season is having. Specifically, probably this game. So I think Lions are going to come out and match that energy with Green Bay. If not, maybe even step it up just one decibel, just purely because they've sucked for so long, and they've actually got something to prove this year. Yeah, that's true. And for all the Lions fans that don't want to put an asterisk on their win against Kansas City, well, then you can't put an asterisk on Ls against teams because you're injured. So there's zero excuse to lose to Green Bay. Everybody's injured. Like, if you can beat the Chiefs and Kansas and Arrowhead, you need to beat the Green Bay Packers. Yeah. The Packers are a very mid-team. But the thing is, if the Packers find a way to win this game, if the Lions slip up, now you're in a dogfight for the next five, six weeks with the Packers. And you got to hear about who's the best team in the NFC North, Packers, Lions. You know, that conversation will go back and forth. And both teams will kind of be about even for four or five more weeks. And you don't really want that. You want to put your stranglehold on the division right away. Yeah, really, really. They are, the Lions are the better team. I will acknowledge that with no doubt in my mind. The roster is better. But it's a lot different when you're the hunted rather than the hunter. Last season, the Lions were the hunters. Now, they are the hunted. They're expected to win. And that's a whole different ballgame and mindset. Yeah, it's one thing for your locker room to be hungry, like you said. But you don't know if every guy in the locker room is hungry. You knew that team last year was. This is a whole new team. I know a lot of the players stay the same in the NFL. But it's a new team. And that's the joy of the NFL, a brand new season. And we get to just enjoy it tomorrow night. It'll be, I think it'll be an awesome game. I think so too. It will be on at the soccer stadium. So we'll have to keep peeking over. Yeah, they have a TV kind of over in the bleacher area. So we're going to have to pop in. Or maybe I'll just sit the bench a lot. Just fake an injury in the first place. Yeah, exactly. Go over to the bleachers and watch it. First 10 minutes in the game. Ouch. I know. Yeah, pull those legs. Um, were there any other big games that we wanted to talk about in football coming up this week? Build dolphins. Yeah, that's a fun one. Which, well, I'll segue us into fantasy football real quick. We've all started pretty dang well. I think we're one, two, three in the league right now. Clearly, this is why you need to listen to the pod. We know what we're talking about. We're top three. So we're one, two, three? Yep. Nice. So we clearly know what we're talking about 100% of the time. But yeah, Krejci is undefeated. He has much better wins than I do. He's beaten Jake, who's number three. Cliff, who's number four. And Ben, who's 10th. But he's the arch nemesis. Um, oh yeah, sorry. And, uh, I'm undefeated, but I've beaten Jeff, Ben, and... Brandon? Brandon. Yes, so guys that are one and two, one and two, and one and three. But that's the, uh, that's fantasy football. To be fair, half of the unit is one and two. Exactly, yeah. I had big games this week. I played D here, the one-two matchup. And Jake, you had Cliff, correct? The three-four matchup. Which I'm coming to realize, Jared has guys on bye week next week. You have, you have... Who? Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen are on bye next week. Against Noah. You get Noah. Noah's sneaky good. I don't know what you're talking about. He's testing our power ranking. He's one and two, and he's still below the guy who's oh and three in my power ranking. But yeah, so in the matchup, I have Tyreek Hill. Do you have anyone on bye next week? Uh, Kenneth Walker. That's crazy that bye week starts already. But regarding the matchup, I have Tyreek Hill, Josh Allen, Gabe Davis. Jake has Tua, I know. Jared, do you have anybody on either of those teams? I don't think I have any Dolphins or Bills. Um, he was down, by the way, on this play. He made a whole like... I was freaking out. I was like, I have 40-yard reception. Um, so my week's really going to hinge on this Dolphins-Bills game. Hopefully, it can be a shootout. And hopefully, someone can actually play defense on the chargers. Yeah, my best player has been, surprisingly, Keenan Allen. Who would have thought? He put up 45 last week, had a touchdown pass to his teammate on a trick play. He had 29 the other week, and the other week was just like, he got it that rich. He's been absolutely electric. And I also have Herbert, as you mentioned. So that Herbert-Allen combination has been really good so far this year. Yep. Who would have seen that coming? Yeah. There's so many weapons on the chargers. Keenan Allen usually gets lost in the sauce. But... What about you? What about you? What's the big key matchup? Obviously, Dolphins-Bills is big for you, Jake, because two up. So I've got... I've got a couple of weapons. Um, so personally, Zeke. Oh, yeah, you've got a lot of Niners. So whoever the Niners play is always a key matchup. Guess who we play? Who? Arizona Cardinals. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they just beat the Cowboys. Watch out. They've got... Yeah, so I have a couple Niners who play Arizona. And then on top of that, I have Pacheco, who's also going against the Jets. Nico Collins going against Pittsburgh. Oh, isn't that Jets game Sunday night? Yeah. I hope that can get flexed. Oh. It's a brutal game. Yeah, Nico Collins has kind of been popping off for the Texans. Yeah, they play Pitt. Um, Amari Cooper versus Baltimore. Olave versus Tampa Bay. Uh, Prescott versus New England. And Tua against Buffalo. This is probably a get-right game for Dallas, so that might work. I'm trying to understand what the heck's going on here. Brandon Aiyu goes from out to in to out to in. And I just don't know what the heck even... Who's the... Well, you don't... We've got Packers, Lions on Thursday. I don't understand who's playing here today. I need to switch my... You have Goff going, Dee, and the Lions defense, Charette. Yeah, so I got, uh... Do you have any other players coming tomorrow? I have, um... So we play two quarterback league. I have Josh Allen as my one quarterback. But, uh, my backups are Jared Goff and Jordan Love. So I'm in a predicament. I think the Lions win, but who needs to throw the ball more kind of deal tomorrow. So I have the choice to play Goff or Love. So far, as of, uh, let's see... 9-0-2 on a Wednesday night. I have Goff in, but that could change before the game tomorrow, so... It's a big decision. But yeah, I picked up the Lions, Dee. I think they'll handle it. They've actually scored a lot of points in their first couple games. They're not projecting a lot. Well, with the left side of the whole line being out, I can see some sacks happening, which is big time. We reward sacks like no other in our fantasy league. Yeah. So they're game long. They got 15 against Kansas City. Seattle, they got nothing. And then Atlanta, they got 32. So I think they're just going to build on that. Sure hope not. Um, but yeah, fantasy's been fun so far. It's, uh, I've never been, uh, you know, top dog in a league. I know it's really, really early, but, uh, it's kind of uncharted territory. I'm liking it. The three of us, barring major injuries. Hitting 3-0 and there's dudes 0-3 and 1-2. Do you kind of feel like you're somewhat safe from the punishment already? I hope. A little bit, a little bit. There is a, there is a, you think about the punishment from time to time on a Sunday, and it's good when your team's winning. Yeah. One step closer to not doing that. Yeah. So, uh, who's projected to win right now? I know projections mean nothing, Jake, but who, has he projected a lot of points as well? Um, Cliff? Yeah, so he's, so is Anthony Richardson playing this week? As we were sitting here, Jake just literally made a move. He added a defense and dropped the wide receiver. I do not trust Buffalo going against Miami offense. I was like, that's just the bad news waiting to happen. And Indianapolis defense has scored 62 points in the first couple of weeks. And they get a pretty, pretty slow Rams offense this week. Yeah, they go against LA. Pucca, Pucca, not Pucca. I'll, I'll get a few. Um, but, Saquon's back already. Yeah. Yeah, he avoided a major injury, so you get to deal with Saquon. Cliff's got a very solid roster. I think, I know it's early, but I think these top four teams might be the top four at the end of the season. I think so too. Because the rosters are pretty dang good. The rosters are good, and the other guys have kind of suffered the injury. But let's be honest, Kyle Pitts ain't getting nothing. Be real here. No. Cliff likes getting hurt by Kyle Pitts. But honestly, no tight ends are doing anything. Um, besides, besides the big three. But, yeah. I am concerned. They're already talking about training Devontae this year. Potentially. You see that, that, you sent it. That, uh, photo edit of him in a Colts jersey. It was the worst edit I've ever seen. It was just Devontae in like, a nasty Colts jersey with a 17, like a child drew it. It was a Photoshop, or whatever. Who posted it? Uh, some random guy. I didn't even know who it was. But, with Devontae, if he leaves the team, you have to build chemistry with that team's quarterback, you know? Yeah. And the only other quarterback in the league he has chemistry with is Derek Carr. So I kinda want him to go to the Saints, but they don't need a wide receiver. Yeah. So, um, that is, that is another thing. Speaking of the Saints, you got Kamara. Are you gonna play him this week? Kamara is a free man this week. Um, that's kinda interesting you ask that. I'm debating. I drove forward. I picked him up off waivers for the Browns. And he popped up as questionable. I got a notification that he's been downgraded to questionable for this week. So, I don't know if he got injured in practice today. I'm waiting on more news to come out. But, if he's banged up, I will probably throw Kamara in there as his replacement. I need a healthy guy. That's why I'm sitting Kam Akers. Because after he got traded to the, uh, who has Madison? The Vikings. I know that, but who has him in the league? Oh, I want to say Luke does. Because that's brutal. Because Kam Akers just got traded and was like, no, now I get all the carries. Yeah. You take a deep little one. So, it'll be, yeah, it'll definitely be interesting to say the least. Um, I'm kinda hoping that he pops off because he was one of my top drafted running backs. I've been relying on Pacheco, who I did like having in a flex spot. Um, right now I have that with Pickens on Pittsburgh, so. He's kind of been boom or bust himself. Yeah. He has like games where it's like he either kills it. But again, that's the same thing with like, can Kenny Pickett use his brain enough to realize he's got weapons downfield and utilize them? I don't know what it is. Najee looks slower than Dirk. I saw a tweet the other day and it was so good. It said, Najee looks like he is playing football and every time he runs it looks like he's running in jeans. Yeah. I thought that was so accurate. I have to look at that. Because he does just look goofy out there. He looks slow and I hate to say it, I think Dirk Henry hit the cliff. Yeah, it was a good run. It was a really good run, but. No pun intended. Yeah. I love, he still has a nasty stiff arm at the beginning of the year. All I care about is just throw him in during, against teams like the Cardinals, just so he can throw the smallest defensive back at least once on like a three yard run as he extended out to the end zone for six yards. I'll call it a day. I know he'll get winded after that. That'll all we get, but. Yeah. Because time is not permitting, we will, I do promise. All the listeners, we will get in Ahsoka show talks because we actually have very different opinions on the show and I think it would be great for the pod, but tonight I think we should close. I think the show to do, we can't be a sports show if we're not giving Miggie justice for. Better run. A good career. We don't have to talk too much about the Tigers, they're out of the playoff run. They did hit their over in the wind tunnel. So we did win our bet. It was easy. They actually didn't make us sweat this year. Miggie is officially on his, on his homestand, the final couple games. Yep. Kind of sad to see. It's been, yeah, I know. It's like, we've known it's coming all year and even last year you knew he had one more year in him and that was going to be it. And now that it's finally here, it's almost like not ready for it. You know, it's kind of, kind of crazy, but it'll be good. Detroit will do them right. I've heard the stadium is packed and there's barely any tickets left for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday series against the Guardians. So it's going to be a packed house. They've got his jersey number mowed into center field. You know, which is good. They'll get him a $60 bottle of wine. It is cool that he was able to win a World Series. Obviously that's the crowning jewel for a player. But he won a World Series with the Marlins, but he got to win the Triple Crown with us. And I think that's super special. Yeah, 100%. It was so cool getting to watch him, you know, literally growing up my whole life. Just watching one of the best hitters ever. And he played for your team. Yep. And he was, you know, from what I remember, all Detroit. I know he was with the Marlins early on and won the World Series. But he's been a Tiger for life as far as I'm considered. And it's kind of cool to see that dedication to the city and everything. Oh yeah, he'll be put in Hall of Fame as a Tiger. Yeah. So yeah, I can't wait to go to the stadium in a couple, you know, a couple years and have Miggy's name up on there. And I'm sure they'll have a statue for him. I love that. Are they going to do the cast iron statue of him or the bronze statue in left field? Yep, he deserves it. He actually is funny. They were playing the Royals tonight before we recorded. He had a home run in the second inning. Yeah, he went oppo. His fourth home run of the season. Yeah, and then the next at bat followed it up with a single. So he might just hit for the cycle tonight, you know, just flex on him. How legendary would that be? Miggy getting a triple, that would be something. But, you know, briefly about the Tigers. Riley Green got hurt too much. Our starting pitchers are known for getting hurt. Year in and year out. If we want to be a legit team next year, you just got to be a little more healthy, I think. And guys showed consistency. I think we know what we have in our team now. It's just a matter of going out there and playing for months on end without having like a nine game losing streak and beating the teams you should beat. I mean, we probably went negative in our series against the Oakland A's. We did. We did. They beat us four out of seven. And yet we beat every team in the division we had a winning record against. Yep. We actually dominated the division. You come out of this year feeling way different than the past like three or four years. You've got a core there. You've got Green, Tork, Carpenter. Yeah, there's not as many question marks. Yep. You've kind of got your young core. You've got Scooble, who's a beast. Reese Olsen has kind of looked like an MOV pitcher the last two months of the season, which is awesome. So there's pieces there. It makes you wonder, do we try to get Erod back? I still hate that guy. I don't know if I can root for him the way he screwed us out of that deal. But he likes the Tigers. I'll see how much he likes the Tigers in a few weeks when the season's over and people are offering him. What if the Dodgers offer him? If he goes to the Dodgers, I will never watch a Tigers game again. No, but there's a core there. You can see they're doing something. They're moving in the right direction. I need to see management spend some money this offseason. Get me a league average third baseman. Well, we just hired a new GM, so we actually have an official GM now, not just a president of baseball operations. We'll see what he can do in the offseason. Yeah, we'll hit you at the beginning of the year after March Madness on whether we think we're going to hit the wind tunnel next year. Overall, though, the Tigers did the job this year. They're going to finish this year probably like seven games under 500, seven, eight. And they kept it interesting, honestly, all summer, which is all you can ask for. Yeah, they got us the football season. Yep. Here we are. Any final thoughts there, gentlemen? I think I'm good. That's all I got. So go Pack. Yeah, go Lions. Actually, I'm pretty neutral on this one, so it's going to be fun to watch. Um, but yeah, have a good rest of your weekend, folks, and enjoy the football coming up. But, uh, with that said, I'm going to say commish out for my fancy video. I'll just say D out. Have a good one. Bye.