Breaking Down the Big Week 9 Games Pt. 1 | Move The Sticks

Breaking Down the Big Week 9 Games Pt. 1 | Move The Sticks

What’s up everybody? Welcome to Move the Six. DJ, Bucky, and Baldi. And uh Baldi, as we get started here, I you know, Bucky knows about this. It’s It was a tough weekend for me. It It just was. So, what’s so tough about So, let me just give you the backstory here, Baldi, real quick. So, my daughter who’s now married and lives in Fort Worth, but this is okay. Several Yeah, maybe maybe five years ago, she knew like I’m a lifelong Padre fan and like probably too much of a fan. So, she thought it would be funny for my Christmas gift one year. She goes, “You know what? I’m going to get dad a coffee mug and then see if he thinks it’s real funny.” So, this is the this is the coffee mug that she bought me. Now, since she bought me this coffee mug 5 years ago, this stinking team have won three World Series. Yeah. Including back to back. So, I’m drinking the coffee today. And then I’m going to throw this mug away and and hopefully that’s going to be the last time I have to watch the Dodgers. Not that you want to hear this, DJ, but I I’m I’m thankful it was daylight savings time this weekend because I stayed up for the 11 innings. Yeah, that was as good a baseball game as a great game. I mean, we if we’re talking about X’s and O’s and execution and all that stuff, I never seen more catches, more tags, more throws that got us to 11 innings than in that game. Yeah, I want I want to start here a little bit because we’re we got tons of football we’re going to get to, but I do think it’s something we’ve talked about, Buck, with uh with team building over the years. And you know, I I look, I tongue and cheek and I make fun of the Dodgers because of the checkbook and I joke around that our minor league teams in Lake Elsenor, theirs is the country of Japan. But nonetheless, um, at the end of the day, I feel like there was it was I even uh I enjoyed watching the Miguel Rojos type players, the the Andy Pah gets inserted, makes a play in center field, and I feel like every championship team, you know, and and we see it every year. Just watch the Super Bowl every year, you know, was it Cory Clement one year with the uh with the Eagles has a great game like it, man. And we’ve had guys I’ve talked to hockey hockey buddies and that are in personnel and they talk about hey at the trade deadline we want like we’re trying to get championship glue like that we’re not chasing star we got the we have the stars like we just need the glue to kind of hold all this stuff together and I thought it was another example whatever sport you’re in that you got to have those types of guys. I agree. I agree. and then like you know the to see where some of those guys started this year and where they finished you know celebrating and and uh you know the confetti falling and all the stuff that happened to the Dodgers and to Toronto as well. I mean yeah had similar type guys but it uh you know we’ll see what happens on by Tuesday trades are already being made but I mean you watch some of these guys that are coming out of nowhere. Kyle Manungai we’ll get to it. Oh yeah I’ve got I did him too. I’m looking forward to that conversation. Yeah. Uh 100%. Buck, did you give me a And Bucky, for those that don’t know, is the Dodger fan, adopted, but still a Dodger fan. But what adopted? What what what um give me a a move the sticks team building takeaway? Uh I would say outside of team building, man, can you have a team that can execute the fundamentals under pressure? Yeah. I think when I look at them and I think about the last two times they won when they beat the Yankees, whatever. We can talk about the talent, but really it was the execution of fundamentals in high pressurized environments. Can you turn to double play? Do you have the awareness to know where to go with the ball in those moments? Because we saw the Phillies the Phillies basically gifted the Dodgers a thing because the the pitcher had a brain fart in a critical moment. Yeah. That that pressure just tightened them up, man. And and and so uh it’s funny because MJD came and spoke to my high school team last week and he talked about can you do the routine things routinely, but when you get in pressure moments, can you do the simple things like make the throw the first? Can you get the cut off man? Can you do the things that you practice all the way from little league to the majors when the game is on the line? To me, that’s everything. And we see that in the National Football League. You know, I’m looking at the Patriots. The Patriots are winning because they’re just executing the fundamentals and playing complimentary football. Like if you ask me what has really changed in them is they’re playing complimentary football at a fundamental level that that’s why they’re winning. Yeah. I think there’s also, you know, last thing, we’ll get to the football here, but there’s also just kind of knowing your identity. And I I think that there’s when you get in those big moments, you have it’s a fight or flight. Like you get the guys who are in attack, we’re going to attack and aggressive. And again, I go back to the I mean, if shoot, you go back to the Philly special like that that Whoa. Okay. Like we’re we’re there is no there’s no such thing as playing on your heels. You were playing on your toes and you’re playing in attack mode and you you go for it and you know and the and the Blue Jays, I’m sure, will have a lot of, you know, these little regrets. You don’t get a good secondary lead off third base. Like that that play was this close. Like just if you’d have just executed that one little fundamental, you you won the World Series. Like and it’s like that in football all the time. Game of famous quote. But um let’s jump into these games, guys. Let’s start first of all uh Baldi. Let’s go KC Buffalo. Um I I took a look and uh and really did a little fun study on Josh Allen in this one, but I’d love to know what your takeaways were in this ball game. Well, you know, Aaron Chromemer, the offensive line coach, you know, um he he he he’s he’s got a great offensive line, but they get on a play, they will run that play over and over. They ran a counter tray with Jackson Haw, this rookie tight end, who’s really a great blocker, and Reggie Gilliam. They ran it literally three times in a row, but they ran it eight times before Kansas City finally shut it down. They got James Cook Owens first time in 28 games where the Chiefs surrendered a 100 yard rusher. And I thought that’s where it started. I thought on offense, like they really won the line of scrimmage. And you know what? Spag’s going to line up. Bolton and Tranquil and Chanel and you’re going to throw big linebackers and stack the box. and they got creases on that play a bunch. And then, you know, Josh, you know, did what he does, you know, just being able to extend plays and find open receivers and all that kind of stuff. So, I thought that was that side of the ball. And then on the other side, I thought Cole Bishop like really showed up. I mean, he defended four balls, two of them in the end zone, one at the very end of the game, and I thought Joey Bosa played the best game I’ve seen him play in probably a couple years. Like, he’s he’s been a factor. You know, it helps that Milano and Bernard are back in there. But uh those are some of the things I saw DJ that James Cook got busy and uh you know they stayed with the run. They they’re one of the teams in this league right now. The trend started last year. They run it more than they’ve thrown it. They’re a running team. We saw that when they changed the coordinators last year and that has not changed this year. Help me help me out, guys. Cole Bishop, is he 24? Yeah, 24. Okay, go. I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna look at his notes. So Cole Bishop really, you know, there was some question marks in the back end, especially with Mahomes and and all that speed they got Bucky. And I thought like he was everywhere. He was man-to-man on Xavier Worthy. He was on the back half. He was in center field. Like he he was everywhere in this game. 62, 206, 445. Uh uh three sacks, two picks. I wrote down Johnny on the spot. He directs traffic. He’s a communicator. He kills running backs as a blitzer. Um he’s plays some nickel backer. He can shed blocks. his physical versus the tight end. He’s very comfortable and effective in the robber role. Uh kind of playing in that in that spot of the field. So, um I I always like when uh if Baldi notices something on the NFL tape, it’s always fun to go back and look at the college notes and see if there’s a marriage there. Yeah. I mean, like there there’s certainly something there. And we’ve talked about the Buffalo Bills and we talked about like the sum of the parts and how they kind of put together and how uh they have a a clear blueprint for how they want to play on offense and defense and defense in particular, uh it is a championship puzzle. They don’t necessarily have stars, but they have a bunch of role players that collectively play at a high level. And when you get them to play offense the way they want to play, where they’re running the football, they’re dominating time of possession, they’re controlling the clock, their ability to play complimentary football at a high level gives them a chance to beat anybody. And in this game, what I love about Shawn McDermott and Josh Allen is they are the chameleon. They are the team that can that can engage in shootouts. They can play in grinded out affairs and they don’t mind doing either to win. Just a really good win for the Buffalo Bills. at a time when people were talking about, oh, here comes the Chiefs, they squashed that right away with a great performance on Sunday. You know, they they’re they’re largely a zone team. So, there’s a there’s a sequence of plays at the end of the first half where the Chiefs are down, they’re knocking on the door, they’re down on the two yard line, and they you you know, you see these teams break down in zone coverage all the time. Like, they don’t break down in zone coverage. Like, they know when that ball’s in the air, like there’s BB’s, Bishop was one of them, that are coming to to contact. They I thought I didn’t know if Kelsey was going to make it to the second half the way Bishop hit him in the end zone there just buckling him. Um and so they they held the Chiefs to a field goal there. It was one of the differences in a game right at the end of the first half. That’s great, man. I didn’t get a chance to watch the defensive tape yet. I did see in the just looking at the numbers I think Russo had like nine or 10 pressures in that game, too. So, he had it sounds like he had a pretty good game. On the defensive side of the ball, I did go and watch all Josh’s stuff and it was interesting how fast everything was happening for the first portion of this game. It was just quick decisions. I just wrote down in my notes like he does not turn down easy wins. Like if you’re going to give him a completion and an easy win, he’s going to take it right now. Some of it is in the screen game how it’s designed. But I mean, he’s reading it and he’s just taking it. And what he does I think about remember we were all growing up and we’re playing basketball and you you’d warm up doing the dribbling drills. So you’d start pounding the ball really really low and it’s just like that quick quick quick and then you start now you start bouncing higher like that, letting the ball bounce. So it’s like that’s his rhythm. He’s going to go out there. Buck always likes to talk about, hey, let’s just see the ball go through the hoop a couple times, find our rhythm, and then we can get a little bit more aggressive. So, he does that and then it’s like, man, he kind of found that little zone, and then now next thing you know, now we’ve got cover, too. I’m I’m playing with the corner. I’m pulling him up. I’m whipping a seven route right over his ear. Now I’m hitting these tight ends on these end cuts. Like, he kind of eases his way into the game. And then you look up at the end of the game and the guy’s 23 of 26 for two for 273. and including in that I think there was a drop. So they really had two incompletions. Um and then he and oh h they can go and quarterback sneak it and get two touchdowns out of him that way as well. So um I I I asked Harbaugh this question the other day Baldi and uh I thought it was he gave actually a great answer but uh I said you know I feel like in in football when we talk about rhythm we only talk about it in terms of like the passing game and a quarterback you know finds his rhythm. I said how about like in the run game like you know do you feel like that rhythm? and he gave this great answer about how all of sports, he said, I don’t care in football if you’re a corner. It’s just getting in a rhythm with your feet and your hands and you think about the run game. So, you know, basketball, he said all of sports is about rhythm. And I thought, man, like this this is the way like that was offensively for them running the ball, quick completions, like um I just thought there was a good rhythm and a flow to what they were doing. I feel like the way Joe Brady calls a call calls a game right now, like he feels that rhythm. There’s times when they will go up tempo, but when I tell you like the week before they ran the same play nine times in the game, same run. I mean, they don’t even try to like they don’t try to even window dress it, you know? They just line up in a formation and just go it. It looks like it’s uh you know, a summer non-7 drill. We’re just going to work on this counter tray today. We’re we’re going to perfect this play. This and like that’s what they they get in that rhythm in a game. Like they’ll just dial it up. Sometimes they doubled up because it’s supposed to work and sometimes because it did work. But either way, they stayed with it. Buck, those 90s Cowboys teams, you did you play against them at all? Oh, 100%. Yeah, we we lost because I always thought just as someone who was watching that casually that that was like a hey, there’s no secrets. This is our three running plays and here it comes. Stop it. One one day I’m going to ask Irv this because we swore that they didn’t believe in audles. Like they would line up and whatever you were in, it didn’t matter. Like you can play cover two and they’re still gonna throw the comeback. They’re still going to do whatever it is. They going to run sprint draw to Emtt Smith and come right downhill and they were so arrogant about it because they say when I’m better than you, why do I need to trick you? We’re better. So, they just line up and do their thing. And there is something to what Baldi saying with the Buffalo Bills about, hey, there’s no need for us to stop us. If this team can’t stop this play, we’re going to keep running it until they show that they can stop it. And then when they stop it, we’re gonna run it again to make sure that they found the answer. And it wasn’t luck that they stopped it. But that’s what great play callers do. And look, I I can say this and I learned it from watching Steve Spur when he was at Duke and I was a freshman. Steve Spur will run one play on one side, flip the formation, and run the exact same play. And I was like, I’ve never seen anybody do this. But he’s like, if you can’t stop it, I’m just gonna keep running it. And there is some ingenuity to being able to do that. And one of the things I think you were talking about going back to team building, DJ, um, you know, one of the reasons why the Bills have not been able to get past the Chiefs in the postseason is they haven’t affected Mahomes enough and yesterday they hit him 15 times. You know, Bosa hit him five times all by himself. And there was a lot of deep throws where Mahomes never saw the ball like he was like literally uh, you know, on the turf in Buffalo there. And so that’s the formula. And whether it was Rouso or Bosa, Epanessa, like they got to Mahomes yesterday. And honestly, for the first time this year, the tackles were terrible. Like Jaylen Moore, like all of a sudden you go, they need to get Simmons back. They got to get Simmons back. Jawan Taylor, you know, is going to he’s going to have a holding call. He’s he’s going to do something. He’s going to jump off sides like I thought yesterday. And then Wany Morris came in for him. And I thought they really beat the tackles up bad yesterday and they had been pretty good to this point. No doubt. Um, let’s get to another game here. Uh, I at this point in time as someone who’s has been uh been on the Darnold train, man. Like it’s the point now I don’t even have to argue anymore. I mean, I just kind of sit back and just say just enjoy the show. Perfection DJ. I mean, if you’re into if you’re into incompletions, he’s not your guy. I mean, I’ll just tell you that right now. But, I mean, uh, perfect first half for him. ended up. This is a ridiculous statline. I’ll uh I’ll jump in on something real quick because I you know, we can talk about Sam. We’ve talked about him a bunch, but uh Tory Horton when he was drafted, I I mean, he was it was such it was so ridiculous. Buck, it was like when you’re sitting there on the desk, you’re sitting there on the desk and it’s to the point where you start texting guys and calling guys and being like, “Dude, what am I missing? Am I taking crazy pills? How the heck is this guy still on the board?” Like, this is not this isn’t all that hard. I know he hadn’t been totally healthy, but this is not not tough. He has two touchdowns in this game. You can get it to him quick. I mean, it’s a boat race. He runs a corner route and it’s just like he’s open 10 yard. I mean, such a fast route that he wins. What What a Yeah, what a steal and a fine. Was he was he did he drop because of a knee problem? He didn’t play much. He didn’t play much as last year. Didn’t play as well. I I’ll pull up my uh I’ll pull up my notes on him right now. Uh excellent 23. Was hurt this year. inside, outside, smooth mover, can separate deep. Uh, e, excellent agility, change of direction, he can work back. He’s got a huge catch radius. He’s 6024, 196. He ran 441. So, he was my 73rd overall player. And I think they I think he was a fifth round pick. Maybe. Yeah. What the heck? I didn’t understand that one, but man, that he’s he was great. And then uh I got a text from Brock Huard this morning because I do that thing with him every week and he said uh he’s hey go watch the receivers block because I’ve been hammering I’ve been hammering this this same point all year which is my culture definition now for for teams is how how physical are your little guys and how and how do your big guys run. So if you got defensive linemen that are hustling and chasing and you’ve got corners that are tackling and you got receivers that are blocking, you got linemen who are efforting, straining to finish, like that’s a c that means you got your culture dialed in, Baldi. And I think the Seahawks team’s got it big time on both sides. Yeah. I mean, I thought Gray Ael was a perfect pick, you know, at left guard for him. Really solidified the line, but I honestly like I think sometimes you just put the quarterback and the coordinator together. like Sam and Clint they it’s it’s a symphony right now the way this thing is operating and I know we’ve talked about Smith and Jigba before but he I mean I know Jamar is probably going to lead the league with catches and all that stuff but I don’t know if there’s a more difficult guy to defend in this league right now than Jackson Smith and Jigba and what he does uh to separate like his subtle moves I always thought Bucky that you know to be a great route runner you got to be able to change direction without losing speed and his subtle movements to separate are as good as anybody right now. He’s terrific. Having had a chance to watch them a few weeks ago, early in the month when they came to Seattle, I mean, when they came to Jacksonville, that team is well constructed. Uh DJ, you talk about Sam Donn and their offense. Their offense is one that has a rhythm and a flow to it. You talk about Jim Harbaugh talks about getting into a rhythm. That’s what you feel. Jackson Smith and Jigba is the one though. He is the number one option. He is a smooth route runner. He has big playability. Um, I feel like each game he has even more confidence and more competitive arrogance that shows up. Like he kind of has this bounce in his step where he knows I’m the man and you can’t stop me. And I feel like great players have that and I’m seeing that in him. But then he’s surrounded by a bunch of guys that can get it done. You talked about Horton. I mean, you got Elijah Aoyo. You have other wide receivers that can come up and make big plays and they still can get to the running game when they want to. This is a really good team because that offense operates like that. And then defensively, I’m going to tell you man, you’re gonna be hardressed to find a more disruptive and athletic group of trench warriors than what they have in Seattle. Williams, Leonard Williams, Murphy, uh, Nuosu, you got Lawrence, I mean Jere, they are just rolling these guys in. And look, I would say this. If this was a dating app, they certainly have a type because all these guys look the same. They are all the same type. Big hands. They dominate. They are Look, man, this is is a team that is emerging as one of those dark horse contenders that we’re going to talk about in the end because they certainly have a team that can get it done. Can we We’ve talked about Big Cat Williams, you know, a lot this year, but honestly, I always thought DJ that for most defensive linemen, not all, but most, it takes a year to figure it out. And I feel like Byron Murphy has figured it out. Oh, yeah. Like he is now a real f not just in the run, that guy is a real factor. He’s he’s he looks like it’s a great John Schneider pick right there that he’s going to be like the middle of that defense with Don and and Big Cat, the whole group right now for a long time. I wish, you know, these teams haven’t played yet, but I’d be all for it if we could have the first ever double header and just say, uh, we’re going to have the the Rams and the Seahawks play at let’s let’s start the first game at 11. Let’s play that first game. Let’s get let’s get some orange slices in. Let’s get a little bit of a break and then we come back and play at 7:00 and let these two teams go at it again. Those games are going to be a war. All right, guys. Uh, next one. This one is the one that we’re going to talk about that I didn’t have a chance to get to the tape yet, so I’m going to have to defer to you guys. We had the man all this crazy stuff going on. So we were late getting in uh last night coming home from uh from Nashville with the Chargers. So this is the one I didn’t get. Indie Pit. Um so Baldi, why don’t you jump off here? Tell me what I what I missed in this game. Yeah, I was there. I was there from the beginning. I I talked to our boy Andy Wid before the game and honestly I went down just pregame. I was on the field. I was talking to TJ and Highmith and I met Jack Sawyer for the first time and I just I told those guys like you’re going to turn this thing around. They given up 68 points and losses to Cincinnati and Greenb. If you got to go, I just told TJ, if you’re going to turn this thing around here, it’s got to be with you guys. And honestly, the Colts had their way for the first quarter. They went up and down the field, and then TJ turned a corner on Braden Smith, got the sack, sack, fumble, recovery, and it it was all downhill from there. Like they dominated the front all game. And it was interesting, they had traded for Kyle Duggar this week. You know, I I I think he arrived on Tuesday or Wednesday. Um, and they, you know, they they had gotten, you know, Deshawn Elliott got hurt and Chuck Clark was was ineffective and they started Jaylen Ramsey and Duggar at safety. They played every play and nothing got over their head for the first time all year. Like nothing went over their head. And it started up front. Um they had they had some different looks defensively, some different they they came after uh Daniel Jones a lot and they turned it over six times in that game and they uh they you could see that this team could still be a problem because they’re taking care of the ball on offense. They’re not great. They’re not dynamic. But when the defense plays like that and you get as many extra bats as you get um because Jonathan Taylor was a non-factor in the game for maybe the first time all year. You know what’s interesting is whenever you dismiss the Pittsburgh Steelers or count them out, they find a way to always come back with force and they are a team and Mike Tomlin has a way of kind of like being able to keep this the season in perspective while building that back. What’s interesting you talk about Duggar and Ramsay safety and being able to keep the ball in front uh because I worried about they were playing so much man-to-man early. And I wondered, are they going to need to transition back to what the Steelers have always been, which is a zone team, a zone blitz team, a pressure team, or zone behind it, because that’s how they eliminate the big plays. And when they’re able to take the ball away and do that, it gives them time to kind of warm up that old jalapy of an offense that they’re playing with because it’s not sexy what they’re doing offensively, but it it can be effective because Aaron Rogers can get them in and out of plays. He can make a handful of throws to do it, but they’re going to need their defense to carry the water because their offense is incapable of being a highpowered offense just based on the personnel and what they have. Well, I’m looking forward to studying that game. I got the um the Steelers coming to SoFi this week, so get to see them against the Chargers. So, looking forward to seeing uh what you guys saw on that one. Interesting note here from Gavin in the chat here. Jaylen Ramsey to Baldi’s point, 83.6% 6% of his snaps uh the first time in his career were at safety. Uh the first time he’s been over 30% of snaps in the game. So he was 83.6%. And then Duggar who they just brought in 72 of 76 every snap. Yeah. So I mean he was out there 97.3%. Like they they rolled with those guys. Baldi. Well the guy that you will that will pop and I’m sure that you know uh when he was healthy at North Carolina State Pton Wilson was Oh yeah. I mean, I know when you, you know, when you see him, you’re like, you don’t see inside linebackers that are 6’4 with that kind of range and speed. And, you know, he had the interception. Daniel Jones never saw him. A little whip route to Josh Downs. He blocked the pass coming off a blitz that Jack Sawyer intercepted. He had 13 tackles. Um, he was all over the field. Um, and they’ve been rotating, you know, inside linebackers with Queen and Hulk coming, but like Pton Wilson is their guy. and uh he he was he was a real difference maker in that game. So I’m going through my notes on him. I mean he he’s in red on my list. So he was my 41st player. He would have been one of my grade-wise would have been one of my top 15 players in that draft. 6037. He was 233. He ran 443. He’s a wrestling champion. Uh had, you know, the knee and the shoulder injuries which is why he fell. A violent player. Can shed. He’s got excellent instinct, speed and range. Can cover in the flat. Uh he’s a physical high tra uh uh tackler. He’ll chest you up. He can run through you. You know who my comp was on him Baldi? Because uh this guy never put it together for an extended period of time. But he to me he was a better version of Kiko Alonzo. You remember back in the day early on Kiko was that long rangy lineback Miami than Buffalo couldn’t stay healthy. But yes, he had he had a couple really good years. Yeah. But, you know, I mean, it’s just to to Buckyy’s point about Pittsburgh, like they they celebrated the two the the 20 year anniversary of their Super Bowl team against Seattle and Detroit. So, you know, all the players were back and Cow was there and, you know, Ben and and you think like even even, you know, pick a guy from that era, you know, Joey Porter, whatever. Um, that’s the Steelers are built around their linebackers. And so, but you know, Kea Benton had a great game and Cam Hayward showed up and, you know, they they came alive. They they knew what was on the line. They they’d heard all the talk about it and um man that was that was an impressive performance against what the number one offense in football. Yeah, it’s the best offense I’ve seen all year uh in Indie. So that’s a big win. Let’s get to Minnesota Detroit. Uh I’ll start off on this one. Watched McCarthy’s stuff. I was curious to see uh what he looked like. The numbers pretty pedestrian. 14 of 25 a buck 43. Um but had two touchdowns, one pick, and also he he ran one in. But watching him, you know, I was really encouraged by it because there’s you can pull out eight plays in this game and you can see what you need to see. You can see the athleticism. You can see him drive a deep comeback. So if you had any concerns about does he have a big enough arm, he does. His arm strong enough to be able to do those things. I thought he saw the field pretty well. When he had a chance to get over the top, he took his shots to get down over the top. Now some touch stuff. I think that’s just rust. You know, you got to get through that. He missed some throws uh with some accuracy stuff, but I thought there was a toughness to way he played. He took some shots in the pocket. Thought he saw things pretty clearly. I thought you saw the athleticism. Uh you saw that on a scramble touchdown. Um and I thought you saw the arm strength. And man, they poor Amique Robertson, man. A Robertson’s he’s such a he’s he’s a tough little player, but I mean, you’re asking him to line up on the outside Jefferson just gonna pluck the ball off his head. Like there’s just you got no shot. But I loved I go back to watching him at Louisiana Tech. He was such a feisty little player. Uh I admire that. But boy, you bringing a knife to a gunfight when you’re out there with Justin Jefferson. Look, you can’t do it. I understand what they’re trying to do uh with him. And look, he he had outplayed because they had talked about he had earned the right to be on the field and I get that. But Justin Jefferson is a different animal. The Minnesota Vikings are interesting because you were hearing all these reports about the discord and oh are they falling apart. So, it’s good to see JJ McCarthy and this team get a win. And JJ McCarthy, I think he is whatever they need him to be. Well, he will eventually be whatever they need him to be on a given moment, much like he played at Michigan. He played in a managerial role in Michigan until they needed him to be a playmaker. I still believe he has that in him and that’s going to be the player that he is just because, man, I’ve never heard anybody swear by him as much as Jim Harbaugh swears by this dude being an alpha in a dude. I just think he has it was a great win for them because they were in danger of falling behind the pack because the Bears are going, the Packers at the time before that game they were going and then the Lions. So, it’s a great win. It brings that pack all the way back together and gives them a fighting chance to get back into the conversation and and their next two games are home against Baltimore and Chicago and they’re going to we’ll find out. I mean, they got to 500 here at the halfway point. uh you know it rescued their season for a week, but it’s they’re going to get tested by uh two two good teams right now. No question. Um Chicago Cincinnati, this game was bonker. This game almost caused me to miss the bus um leaving the stadium in Tennessee because I was up there in the press. I’m watching all of a sudden I was like, “Oh, I was up there with money. I’m like, whoa, we better get going, man.” Like we were sprinting down below the stadium to make sure we didn’t miss the bus. I but I couldn’t I couldn’t turn it off. It was like one wild turn after another with Oh, you have you saw an onside kick recover, you know? I mean, it’s crazy. Like, uh, you know, there’s so many things in this game. I mean, you remember, I probably date myself here, but they used to have this commercial, national commercial during NFL games. It was the New York Life commercial, and the defense would just like literally run into each other and fall down, and some like, you know, some joker would end up scoring as a result, right? And then they, you know, they had like a different theme every week about it. That looked like the Bengals at the end on that touchdown right there. Two safeties running into each other right there. They converge and Lovelin makes the biggest play he’s made so far. I mean, you couldn’t I mean, I I I felt for Jamar Chase when they cut to him on the sideline like you know. Did you see him after the game ball when they was walking through the tunnel and they caught the hot mic caught him saying one bleeping stop? Yeah. Yep. Just get Can you get one stop? I mean, goodness gracious. They’ve scored 80 points in these back-to-back games and lost both. 80 points. Anything like this? What do you think, Buck? Look, man. I think they should have known what it was going to be when they made the moves that they made when they committed all the money to the offense. They let a really good I feel like I say this every week. They let Lou an Romano go. They blamed him for the defensive failings, but they never changed what they were doing. um they’re just not good enough on defense and there’s no way to mask it. They can score a million points, but they gonna give up a million and one every week. They just can’t slow people down. Uh and it’s hard to win with a team that is so one-dimensional in terms of offense and defense. You you just can’t get it done. Uh on the other side, I’ll say give the Bears credit. Um Caleb Williams and those guys are continue to show growth. Ben Johnson being able to switch things up to make sure that they’re able to win games. uh and they’re in the conversations, which is what they want to be when it comes to the NFC North. But man, if I’m a Bengals fan, I’m pissed off because this is a team on offense in particular that is playoff caliber. They just don’t have a defense that can get him there. Um I’m I’m curious, uh DJ, your notes on Kyle Kyle Manungi. I already know where you’re going because like Okay, he goes he goes for 198 total yards, right? There’s no DeAndre Swift. It’s Kyle Manunga and it’s it’s Theo Benedict at left tackle. It’s Colston Lovelin at tight end. Cole Kit got back. It’s Azie Trapio as a third tight end. We’ve seen all these 13 tight end you know packages out there right now and there’s Manung guy and you go what doesn’t he have? Yeah. Like I mean I know it’s the Bengals and you know they’re just like slicing them like turkey but um man he was he was impressive. So Kyle Manungai, uh, you want to know who stylistically my comp was and I’ll get to my notes. Stylistically size first of all, DJ. So here’s his size. Yeah, he’s 5’8. So Kyle Manungai, he was 5082 211. He ran 460 in Indie. So he ran amongst the running backs in Indie, he ran the second slowest. Oh, no. So yeah, third slowest time, I believe. No, you know what’s funny? You know what’s interesting? This is a great point here. So, let me give you some of the slower running backs from Indie. Ali Ali Gordon. So, Cam Scataboo ran 465. Okay. Um, Ali Gordon ran 461. Yep. And, uh, well, yeah. Then there was one other guy from Arkansas, Jaquinnon Jackson. He ran 475, so that was a rough one. But then the other slowest one was Manungi ran 460. So, three of the four slowest guys Yeah. are, you know, playing and yeah, making things happen. So, throw throw the 40s out. We’ve talked about that with running backs before, but he reminded me the way he held the ball and the way he ran. He reminded me of Tiki Barber. Um he’s 5’8 kind of compact guy. Holds the ball high and tight. Um he uh let’s see my notes on him here. Uh no fumbles. Uh he can press, bounce, holds the ball high and tight. Reminds me of a little Tiki Barber. He runs with purpose. Um he’s got kind of a unique style where his off hand, like we used to talk, uh I remember we used to call it where he just swings his off hand. It’s like a meat grinder like with his off. He’s got kind of just a he’s a very unique looking runner, but I just like the fact that he ran with purpose. Trust his trust his eyes, trust his vision, hit it and go. Um but I went through and watched his explosives in this game. Yeah. And I’ll tell you what, um if if you looked at explosives as a crime against the defense, I’ll tell you right now, uh Darnell Wright and Roma Dunay are going to be character witnesses because they are at the scene of the crime every single time. Darnell Wright was mauling people at right tackle and Roma Dunes is blocking his tail off. So is Zakius. I’ll say this, Ben Johnson emptied the book on I mean you could draw I could draw up eight different runs. I don’t care if it was pin and pull toss crack. Uh I watching Tuni on an inside trap. Like they ran every run probably in their playbook at uh at Cincinnati. But you know they ran the ball a lot though. So, um, hey, by the way, Baldi, is there anything better than just just toss crack? Is there anything better on planet Earth? My favorite play, my favorite play in the NFL right now. If you get somebody that can pin it the way a Doom is a good blocker at the point, um, you need a guy that can that can handle that block. You get that and you get these guys. I I at one point it was like rookies on parade. It was Theo Benedict. It was Colston Lovelin. Here comes Manai. And I’m like, man, that’s that’s pretty good for your draft class right there. There’s three plays, Bucky, in this game. There’s three plays where if if you squint and you see Darnell Wright get to the third level, he looks like Pane Su. Like when he’s when he gets out and runs like that, like I can see Ben Johnson kind of looking at some things going, “Okay, if I got a right tackle that can kind of move like that, I got some I got some things I can have some fun with here.” Look, man, the offensive line has been the main thing when it came to the Bears. And some of that is, hey, let’s replace it by bringing people in. Another part is is get the guys to play better. Donnell Wright is one of those guys when you talk about coming out Tennessee, he had some nastiness to him. It was just a matter of directing it in the right way. What I like I feel like the light just came on. Like I I just remember thinking, am I crazy Baldi? I just remember thinking like he was kind of finding his way and struggling. I watched this game banged up a little bit and last year he was he was off. He was just off. But I feel like the way that they’re getting trained right now and the emphasis on the run and the toughness that they’re displaying like they can compete in this division right now. Now defensively they like it wasn’t good, you know, but I don’t know like why can’t why can’t they go go after it right now the way that they’re they can run the ball? They’ve done it with Swift, without Swift. Uh they’re doing it with three tight ends, two tight ends, extra tackles, rookies. I mean I don’t know. It’s pretty good looking coaching job right now. Penalties are way down offensively. But Buck, when you were with teams, when you had a coach come in that had been elsewhere, did you ever have guys that would were showing you tape from the old place and saying like, “Hey, you with your skill set, like this is you, like you can do what we did with this player.” Yeah. Because they’re trying to get you to picture yourself in their thing. And so they’ll show you someone who they believe has a similar skill set uh and they hey, if you just do this, this is how we could feature you in this system. And there has to be some carryover because one, the Chicago players saw what Detroit looked like when they were getting mollywalked by them. They understood what Detroit came with. So when Ben Johnson comes over and talks about, hey, we can do this same kind of transformation here. They believe it. And in being able to talk about that crossover, Darnell Wright and Pennul and look at this and look at that and you have similar traits and let’s get some of this done. Yeah, I believe it’s believable. It’s part of the sale job that every head coach has to do with this team. And you know to to that point, Buck, it’s a great point because you’re watching like if you think about Aman Ros St. Brown in Detroit and how he blocks, how he’s a part of it, you know, and you’re looking at Adun, you’re looking at Zakias, like these guys, it looks like they want to go block. They want to go get a piece of somebody. And it’s not like they’re just sealing somebody on the outside. like they’re digging guys out on these fold blocks coming up and you know taking on safeties and stuff like it’s it’s it’s all inclusive. Um when it comes to that it’s a freaky Friday vibe to it man and and the uh like switching places because I’m watching Coulson Lovelin and watched all his targets and I’m like well this looks Sam Laora the way he’s stretching the field and and hitting seams and bouncing off guys and run away from everybody. I’m like, well, yeah, they’ve got the blueprint. Like, they’ve already had this type of player. So, that’s why they’re finally starting to unleash him a little bit and he’s making some plays where you can win quick in the flat or you can wait. And Caleb, Caleb, there was u and I know there’s every week we can do this with Caleb, but every week there’s a couple gosh, you’d like to have that throwback or this throwback. Look, at the end of the game when they need to make a big throw that hit, that was a freaking seed that he threw on that touchdown. I mean, that thing was a missile. And I saw that show up. Yeah, it’s there. It’s It’s all in there. And I think you could be excited by watching him uh what he’s done there. Let’s get one more game and then we’ll let Baldi get running here. Uh Baldi, Carolina, Green Bay. I’d say the most shocking game to me for the weekend. Well, um my favorite my favorite thing to do every week here in the film room is to watch Derek Brown. Just take grown men and just throw them like like he’s taken Shawn Ryan and he’s taken these offensive linemen from the from the Packers and he’s literally just tossed him. the first play of the game. He makes a play, he rushes the pass or he he beats a double team, he doubles back and he makes a play on the other side of the field. Like he’s the first one to the ball. Um but I I would say if if you’re looking at uh what they’re doing now, they actually have Roseboom had an unbelievable game, 15 tackles front skit right now and the whole group Wharton like they are physical at the point they like they got after Jordan Love. There was a reason why they had six points on the board. They stopped him on fourth down. They they stopped the big play. They they busted, you know, Christian Watson over the middle a couple times. Like he didn’t look like he wanted to get up. Like they looked like a completely different defense than what we saw like the week before or some other games. But like they look well coached to me uh on defense right now. That was the difference in the game. No doubt. I I uh I watched Roseboom stuff because when I see somebody has 15 tackles, I’m like, “Okay, let me see what he’s got going on.” Uh just really good instincts, man. Like you don’t get that type of production unless your eyes work really, really well. Um I didn’t think there was anything where I, you know, they were physical up front. I didn’t think he was overwhelming anybody physically, like just coming down and thumping off guys. But if you can sift and sort and you can beat guys to spots, you can collect a lot of production. And uh and he did it in this game. And then the other thing that stood out when Dow goes 25, a buck 30, I went through and watched all his runs and this offensive line is built to run. And people are going to say, “Oh, you know, Bryce is only throwing for 100 yards or what have you.” Like, this is the formula. Every team, Buck, we talk about this all the time. Every team has their own formula to win games. It’s different for everybody. This is their formula. It’s not them chucking the ball over the place. It’s them with an offensive line built to run block and a good back and and Tremble blocks his tail off at tight end. He is a physical physical kid. Uh Lewis is turning I mean he’s a excellent run blocker. Um Auano is much better in the run game than he is in the pass game. He’s moving people. I had to look up a couple numbers because I didn’t realize that Corbett was playing center for him. He did a nice job getting up the second level. And Yash uh Nijman, am I saying that? Am I saying that right? He was he played well at right tackle in the run game. But they they I mean that was a cause of concern for me if I’m a fan of Green Bay and I’m watching this game and I’m going like tell you what man to get out of the NFC whereas in the AFC it was like you got to run the quarterback gauntlet in the NFC like you’re going to get punched in the face every round in the playoffs like you better be physical enough to handle it. And this watching this game I was like oh no man that that gave me a little concern for Green Bay Buck. Yeah. So here my frustration with Green Bay stems not only from the team being inconsistent playing up or down to levels of competition but also like Jordan Love and some of the decisions that he makes but the ball particularly in crunch today interception that he threw was ridiculous like that. I mean like I I don’t know what we’re doing like just those things Brown was hitting him in the mouth when he when he threw that ball you know you know get rid of the rock but I just like you should have thrown another one to Michael Jackson in the end zone. He dropped it. He was all by himself. It was horrible throw just scrambling, you know, fourth down. And and so the Packers are a title team on paper, but I don’t know if they have the maturity and the knowhow to be able to get it done because these games, the games against the Browns, like you can’t lose these games if you’re a title team because one, title teams take care of business. They secure that they’re going to play all the games at their home field and the Packers are letting these games slips. Credit to the Panthers, but this shouldn’t be a game where when you’re a 13-point favorite that you allow a team to knock you out. I don’t know if you uh watch this. I I didn’t see any contribution from Matthew Campbell in this game, DJ. I I just see like like he was any kind of a factor. I didn’t watch them on that side. Okay. I watched their defense look like they were in a looked like they were a middleweight that showed up to a heavyweight fight and got surprised. Um I mean, they just moving them. They were moving them at the line of scrimmage. So, yeah. Yeah, but Matthew Golden, I I mean, he was my top receiver. I was excited to see how, you know, they were going to use him and what they were going to do with him. That could be a project for me this week. Maybe I’ll pop that in and see what he looks like. But hey, hats off to Carolina, maybe the most surprising team this year. So, there was a meme going around with them and uh did you see that one, Buck? There was a funny thing on social media that was a picture of Tiger Woods and John Dailyaly and it had uh under under Tiger Woods, it had the Chiefs 5 and four and John Daly, it had the Panthers five and four. But hey, we’re both golfers, man. We’re the same. Just just us. It might look a little different. It might look a little different, but we both same guy. Same guy. Um, all right. Hey, this has been fun, Baldi. Enjoy it each and every week, man. We’ll see you next time. Appreciate you. All right, Buck. There he goes. Uh, always fun to have Baldi uh on the show as we rip through these games. We’ll uh we’ll catch up on the rest of these other games in the next episode and uh and keep this week rolling as we are headed into gosh, we are in week 10 of the NFL season. How how the heck did that get here so fast? Uh and hey, it’s been five minutes, so another I’m sure another college coach has been fired. Uh again, holy moly. Well, we’ll touch on that next time right here on Move the Sticks.

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