Texans Vault Colts, Panthers Upset Rams & Bills Battle Steelers | Chris Long Reactions

Texans Vault Colts, Panthers Upset Rams & Bills Battle Steelers | Chris Long Reactions

We’re live. Uh, welcome to the re Well, it’s not a recap show. What the What the hell is this show? Welcome to the reaction. Instant reaction. Instant reaction show. Thank you, sir. I I uh I wish I had more to react to. I I I didn’t think that was the best day of football. Um, Houston was probably the biggest, in my opinion, the biggest spot of the day. I mean, the Bills game was huge and everything, but that Houston game to me, there are there are some ripple effects to that game that I think people aren’t really thinking about too much. At least Tony Romo wasn’t at the end of the game where he kind of obviously next week. We have three games, I think, that are going to decide who’s who’s got the lead in their division. One being um Pittsburgh and Baltimore, which feels like two teams going nowhere. um respectfully um the Packers and the Bears who suddenly are the NFC number one seed right now. And then um the third one uh will be Jacksonville and Indie. And I can’t help but think that people are overlooking the prospect of the Texans getting back in this race and possibly winning it. you know, if you’re if you’re going to look at, you know, Indie plays Jacksonville twice down the stretch here, but pull up the schedules. I did a I did a blind poll earlier with the guys in the room and asked them, you know, whose schedule would you rather have? And obviously the other teams have a game up. Uh but Houston currently has the tie break with Indie where where they end to end up in that situation. At the end of the the year, they have uh the home game. So they just, you know, so I’m looking at this thing and I’m saying to myself, you know, you got at Chiefs, Cardinals, Raiders, at Chargers, those are all winnable games the way the Texans are playing right now. And when you have a defense like that, holy [ __ ] Cowboy Reed just fell in his chair. The chair broke. A pretty decent chair, too. Damn, that’s the broken one. Yeah. No, you’re good, player. I’m Is your ass okay? I shouldn’t Whoa. Dude fell out of his chair. I’m talking about. So anyways, um you look at everybody everybody’s concerned about Cowboy Reed. He’s fine. The chair is in bad shape though. Holy [ __ ] Um rip to that chair, dude. Yeah. Interesting looking chair. Uh somebody get the gator for that chair. H. Okay. So, Chiefs, Cards, Raiders, Chargers. That chair is [ __ ] Uh, Chiefs, Cards, Raiders, Chargers. That’s the Houston Texans schedule down the stretch. And then, you know, for instance, you look at Indianapolis, had Jags, had Hawks, Niners, Jags. Um, so you know, some tough games for them. I’m not saying the Texans are going to do it, but I’m not saying that at 2 a.m. I got back home from the bar last night and didn’t put in uh Houston to win the division um at like plus 700 odds or something like that. I don’t remember. It’s a little hazy. The guys saw my ticket here, so I’m not bullshitting you. I just had that intuition last night when I got home from Dirty Nelly’s celebrating a Virginia victory over Virginia Tech Commonwealth Cup. Yes, I was 0 and4. Uh, but I didn’t feel 0 and4 last night watching that game. We damn near shut those boys out. We have a quarterback that looks like an accountant and he sought contact at the pylon when he could have just trotted in the end zone to go up a couple scores in that game. Uh, we absolutely alpha those guys at home. It was awesome. So, I had to go out to the bar last night. Um, but anyways, yeah, put in Houston to win the division and and we’ll see what happens. I think what’s interesting about Houston is you get CJ Stra back and he looks fine. Like you know he missed some balls. He overthrew some balls. Um but he looked with the run game the way it’s developed through the year a little bit more in rhythm to me. The offense looked more in rhythm to me. I think you know uh it’s two sides of the story here with the Colts side of it being you know they don’t have pass rush and we talked about manufacturing pass rush but when sauce Gardner leaves a game like this you know you lose half of that coverage equation and you’re also kind of thrown off your game because of the fact that you have been running a ton of man uh since you acquired Sauce Gardner and now you’re down Sauce Gardner. So from a game plan standpoint you lose him right. You also have a quarterback with a with a fractured fibula. Um, which not for nothing is a funny thing to get out. You know, I know the agent has to get that out so that people know that Danny Dimes is playing hurt. And Danny Dimes threw some beautiful balls in this game. Like I honestly doing a good job toughing it out. Um, and in the second half he came out and threw some nice nice balls with touch. Um, I didn’t notice it so much when he was throwing the ball. I noticed it that they’re not going to move him off the spot. They can’t. And Demo Ryan’s there was a two-play sequence early in this game when Toto ran uh this the kind of this is the kind of speed bumping I don’t want to assign to the wrong guy, but Jonathan Taylor, I think, was the running back in protection and he just [ __ ] it was like he wasn’t there. And then the next play, Will Anderson’s big ass is standing there and he’s parking his F350 in um in the right right over the uh the center Bordellini and uh it it was just an ugly deal. And and that was indicative to me of hey, I’m a coach who knows that the the opposing quarterback has a fractured fibula. And you could also tell the way Shane Stiken called the game, right? But now this is a couple weeks on end for Indianapolis. like going back weeks now. They hit the six turnover game against Pittsburgh who’s not a very good team. I’ll get to them in a second. And um you know off of that they go to London and they don’t convert a third down for eons. Um and you end up in a game like this and and you know Houston’s defense just looks like looks like they kind of got your number. I mean, Jonathan Taylor’s held to a pretty modest uh day’s work. And I think more than anything for the Texans, you know, they come out and I think Indie in this game, if you’re Indie, you want to start fast, right? You want to get out to a lead. You know, the Texans probably not built to come from behind, although the passing game looked better and you can’t play plan for the Sauce Gardner injury. But, you know, Indie comes out and they fall flat on their face the first three possessions or whatever it is. Well, I think Houston has done a good job of this in a couple games this season where they get the ball early. One of them was Denver where they were just dominating time possession and getting into the red zone and not scoring. Um, but today they were actually able to punch in a couple of those opportunities in the second possession of the game for them, the first one for them personally. Um, they took the ball for like I want to say six, seven minutes and you know that sort of thing can stabilize an offense like that. So, um, I love the fact that they were always on schedule today. I don’t feel like they took a lot of negatives. That’s just a feeling I have watching them. Uh, that helps the passing game, that helps the run game, that helps everything. And so, you know, staying on schedule’s big. Um, also love the look getting Nick Chub out on the perimeter and and in the red zone. Um, you know, I like seeing Dalton Schultz blocking his ass off down in the red zone. Like, there were some good things going on for that team that’s customarily had a lot of trouble there. Now, you did have the fourth and one and I think the third and one before it where you quarterback sneak in into a pile of bodies and you can’t move anybody. Um, and that’s a problem. But you saw, you know, it was a bad day for quarterback sneaks generally. you saw Indiana Jones not being able to take quarterback sneak presumably because of his fibula and you’ve got somebody else taking the snap and you fumble it, you know, and and so there were some got to have it situations that early in the season when we talked about Indianapolis being very good in those in those moments, they were not today. Um, and do I worry about Indie? Yeah, I do worry about Indie at this point. If Daniel Jones is is compromised from mobility standpoint, um, you know, I I’ve always worried about the lack of pass rush there. If you have two all world corners, great. But if S Gardner’s calf lingers or whatever it is, um then that’s going to be a problem. Uh because they don’t have DeForest Buckner, who they missed dearly. I mean, they we were talking about today, not a worldbeating run defensive team before this stretch, but I always felt like with Defo on the field, they could create negatives on first down. With Defo and Stew on the field, now you’re down one of those guys. You don’t get people behind the sticks. You don’t have one of your great corners out on the field. those edge rushers that are pretty good. Um, it kind of becomes a glaring issue and so um I do have worries about them, but um I can tell you I don’t care much about this game if I’m if I’m think I’m like there’s people here that like why are you talking about the AFC South? It’s just an interesting race to me. Um the Jags absolutely curb stomped uh the the uh Titans today uh and they will meet next week again for the temporary first place um spot because Houston’s coming for it. They just are. I just have this feeling maybe they won’t maybe they’ll regress and become the team they were for most of the season. But can you can you imagine Texans fans and the offensive line did a really good job today? That’s another thing that like it’s nice nice to see and the young receivers are growing up. So, this is one of those things that you know maybe they can get better. Um, you were down like if you’re a Texans fan, you were down to the Jags like multiple scores and Demo Ryan and the owner ladies behind him and she’s staring a hole in the back of his head and they found a way to [ __ ] win that game and now here they are. Um, they were on life support. So, um, by the way, Aziz Alshier left for a moment. We feared concussion here, but then we quickly realized that I don’t think he can get a concussion. I don’t think Aziz Alshier gets concussions. He’s a hammer, not a nail, dude. Also, I imagine a scenario where they’re like, “All right, Aziz, you have a concussion.” And then he threatens the concussion uh evaluators and makes them put him back on the field. He’s just a [ __ ] dog, dude. and they absolutely need him out on the field. He is just an absolute run and hit tackling machine tone setter for that group. The tax men some dudes were paying taxes out there today. Bad drop by Josh Downs late in the game. Josh DS has some great moments. Had some really bad moments. They need the consistency. They just shipped a guy out of there who’s not consistent. ND Mitchell, they need Josh Downs to be the, you know, in a game like that. And I turned to the guys in third quarter when he was making play after play. I said, “You absolutely need a guy like Josh Towns in a game like this. You need him to make that catch at the end of the game.” So, um, what are the other deals with moving early to late? So, we’ll get to the, uh, the Steelers in a minute, but I the Panthers, man, I got to talk about the Panthers shocking uh, the LA Rams, who are juggernaut. They they looked like it last week. Most weeks they look like it. Matt Stafford’s on this MVP tear and this is the quintessential NFL football game. Double digit line, right? Rams just absolutely smoked the Bucks at home. I left at halftime. I was there. I left at halftime. I I just wanted to go home. I’d seen enough. You know, I said to somebody after that trip, I was like, “You have to see Matt Stafford play football in person.” and I played against them, but like to see it from a suite or see it from like the upper deck or something where you have a vantage point and you see the way they create space and spread the field, you’re like, man, I have a hard time imagining anybody beating them the way they’re playing. Okay. Uh just smoked the Bucks at home. Panthers looked off rhythm on Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers, who by the way are playing better defensively. Um Sal is a great coach. And then you had this today, quintessential NFL game, you know, sleepy moment, trap game, whatever you want to call it. Like you can get beat in this league by anybody pretty much. Um, and there’s always an oh [ __ ] moment for a team that’s favored heavily when they go on the road and they end up in a situation where like, you know, you end up in a in a trap game. you know, it kind of feels like somebody shut the door and uh you got to fight your way out of the bar like, you know, Sons of Anarchy type [ __ ] going on on the road for the Rams. And that moment for me was when Stafford threw that pick six. Um, you know, it’s it’s he threw that pick six. I think it was the possession after the pick in the end zone and before that pick in the end zone, which was preceded by a uh a Derek Brown tip, the the the down before that interception, he’s throwing um the ball to the pylon and I think it was the flat player just got good depth and it wasn’t there. He threw it anyways and it could have gone the other way. And you know, even the ball he threw to Devonte Adams down in the red zone for the touchdown on the RPO looked like it was a little shaky. There was a ball late in the game where um Puka Nakua is running it out. It’s a key third down and he puts the ball on his inside shoulder um not away from the defender in harm’s way. And you know, just one of those games and we’ve seen a couple of them this year. As good as Matt Stafford’s been, I I think about like half the much of the the the Eagles game I remember him missing balls. Like he was just a little bit off. It was one of those days he was a little bit off. The Panthers made him pay. Um my Mac battery is low. Um so Cowboy Reed, if you could u if you can still walk, come over here and make sure that’s plugged in so we don’t get a sudden power um issue here. Uh but I I just thought it was like one of those beehive situations where you you [ __ ] up once in the red zone. Okay, you [ __ ] up twice and you let the other team score on defense at home at Bank of America Stadium, which was loud. Dave Canales said it was wet and they were loud. That was the direct quote. Um, and watching on TV, I was blown away by not only how hard it was raining at times in this game, like I always talk about the movie The Fan, which is a cult classic. It’s a baseball movie. Um, I think it’s Robert Dairo. Yeah, Robert Dairo, Wesley Snipes. Is that that’s that’s the IMDb on that thing. But anyways, there’s a scene in the movie where they should be [ __ ] they shouldn’t be playing through this rainstorm in San Francisco and Snipes is up at bat and like you can’t even see a foot in front of your face. That’s what I felt like it was in the third quarter and you’re in a a dog fight with the Panthers. Um, and it’s raining cats and dogs and and Bryce Young is the prince is uh driving the ball down the field over and over again and and it felt like the Panthers to me were content getting to fourth and short all day long. They were content pushing the chips to the middle of the table and saying, “Fuck it. Let’s just do this thing on fourth down.” Well, you found yourself in a ball game with the Rams. You can do one of two things. You can play it safe or you can go for the jugular. They went for the jugular all day long. Bryce put his balls in the wheelbarrow and they threw the ball on fourth down. Dude, they they ran the ball on third and three, third and four all day. And you know, there was the drive in particular out of the half where it was it was coming down and they just found ways to make it happen. you the the the 24-21 the the touchdown that they go up 24-21 it’s a dime to Coker you know um and I think I think that’s that’s your moment in the second half where it’s like damn okay we we really have sometimes you assume your team’s so good you can just fight your way out of it when you’re on a team like this and this was a day they couldn’t because the other guys were they were playing ball man and uh you know even when Puka caught that ball with one hand before they go up um the final time 28 20 you know whatever it was I lost track there’s too too much scoring in this game but Puka had that incredible one-handed catch it was probably the the best one-handed catch all day I thought Brock Powers had an incredible catch in the end zone that wasn’t insane Kenny Gainwell had a great catch in that 4pm game but uh this was a [ __ ] catch and it’s the kind of thing where if you’re the Panthers and you don’t have good vibes on your team and that dude catches that ball on the sideline you kind of feel like ah it was fun, you know, it was fun Cinderella story tonight, but we’re going to lose this game because these guys are just that good. Well, they took the ball and scored. Bryce Young took the ball and scored and they did it again on fourth down. And Coker really helps. Getting him back really helps. Um, T McMillan’s a stud. Um, you know, I I think I think it’s funny with the Panthers, like they’ve been underdogs in pretty much every game they played in this year, and they found ways to beat teams like Dallas, Green Bay, the Rams. What do you do with this team? The quality wins that they have under their belt without the household names on this football team, with a quarterback that everybody said was a bust. Not me. I like the guy. I’ve been consistent on that. Every two weeks you hear me talk about it. Every two weeks. You hate to be the team that plays two weeks after the Panthers have a good football game because that’s kind of who they are right now. They’re just up and down and up and down. And that’s part of growing up as a team. When this team grows up, I really do believe in the quarterback. You have to you have to consider where they are, dude. I mean, just they’re not supposed to be in this thing. And they’re in this thing. Um underdogs in pretty much every game this year. And it was funny. you had this I saw a funny meme because I love Panthers Reddit because you know I like fans that are like happy to be here man you know like it it’s it’s not a doom and gloom thing they’re used to being Panthers fans right just like that stadium to me has probably been empty for you know the vast majority of the time since Cam Newton was there and uh today it was rockus man you could feel it so there’s got to be a lot of excitement but I always go to Panthers Reddit to get a good chuckle and uh there It was a a funny little meme and it was like a banner and it said uh NFC South 2025 division champs 3:45 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. because the Bucks the Bucks found a way to pull it out um against the Cardinals. So hey Panthers fans like I don’t know if this is your year um but you are building something and and I think you can see the vision with the big receivers outside. Now, it hasn’t hit it 100% clip, but like McMillan’s a big body. Xavier Legette, who hasn’t figured it out yet, is a big body. Koker’s a big body. Like, and Young talked about that. I trust my guys. There’s no big conversation, no big hurrah. Again, for me, I’m super grateful to have guys like that on the perimeter that I trust uh in in in in need to have situations and fourth downs. Trust them with oneon- ons. Trust them with 50/50 balls. Trust them if they’re more open, whatever it may be. Um, and he has trust for those guys and I think he he’s trusting those guys and I think he’s earning the trust of his teammates in the process. I mean, it was a it was a big game. They didn’t have JC Horn. They didn’t have Mo out there. They they they were missing guys and and to finish it with a Derek Brown strip sack like that, those are the plays you live for as a defensive lineman. Wanom picks the guard, Brown works off him, takes the ball off of Stafford. Do you know how [ __ ] good that feels? a home game, it’s raining outside, people are loud, dude. You you’re just you’re a picking [ __ ] and uh all you do when you put your hand in the dirt on a on a in a situation like that as a defensive lineman is like you’re playing the lotto every play. You’re like, “It could be me. If he just pats it one more time, I can be the hero in this game.” And over the course of your career, even if you have a really great career, like you don’t get a ton of walk-offs. And that wasn’t a walk-off cuz Bryce Young had to go hit a third and six to Coker. But um that’s that’s D lineman’s dream right there. I mean, you just feel like you’re in hero mode, dude. That Derek Brown, whatever he’s doing right now, he’s he’s he’s feeling good. Um and and you know, they had some guys down and they got it done. I see the vision. I do. I see the vision. And you know, this is the last thing I’ll talk. Niners and Browns, we’ll talk about this tomorrow. Um, you know, the reason I gave out the NerS is cuz they’re just an adult football team. Like in a situation we got 30 mph winds, the weather might might not be perfect. Although, chalk it up to the many games where you see the forecast on Friday, you’re like, they’re not going to be able to see each other. And then you, you know, you you see whoever it is down on the field doing the the whatever it is, and they’re like, uh, yeah, it’s pretty clear down here. Like, it’s not going to be a problem to throw the ball 12 yards today. um it’s not going to be a problem to throw swing screens and dump downs and and and you know work the ball down the field uh methodically. And so I just felt like, you know, the Niners, as bad as Brock Perie was on Monday night, again, this is the NFL. Uh that was like 6 days ago. It might as well be eons ago. U all we have to do is run our offense, keep Miles Garrett from killing us. I I said last week, Miles Garrett is going to break the sack record against Tennessee. I told you he’s going to have one or two, probably one against the uh the the Niners today. He had one. Um and I think next week he breaks it with a hat-tick and he might have four. He’s going to he’s going to have 26 sacks this year. 26 sacks. Do you know how hard it was for me to have 13? I still have my jersey. 13th sack. You know what I’m saying? And I was like, “Oh, it’s two and 14 team. Really hard to do.” This guy is playing in the Bermuda Triangle and he’s going to have a quarter of a hundo this year. And when you play the Cleveland Browns, not taking anything away from the other players, fly on the wall, I want a super cut of the first five minutes of every offensive coordinator’s prepar preparation, the first meeting of the week when they go to play the Browns. It’s quiet. The OC walks in the room. It’s probably some variation of a Miles Garrett play or a Miles Garrett picture. A picture will do up on the projector. And that’s the first [ __ ] thing we’re going to do is we’re going to try to keep this guy from wrecking the game. He wrecks him anyways. He’s that good. I I think I I think we’ve seen enough, right? I don’t care how bad this team is. He’s defensive player of the year. He’s going to break the [ __ ] uh he’s he’s going to break the record. So, um somebody said he’s not better than LT. I don’t want to take anything away from LT. You know, it’s different eras, but if you put Miles Garrett on an NFL field in the 80s, the National Guard would show up. I’m just telling you, there would be legislation. There was guys in the 80s that some of them look like, Yeah. So, Miles Garrett would would probably, and I know back in the day, they didn’t throw as much. And I saw Lawrence Taylor. He was unbelievable. But like just to definitively be like he ain’t Lawrence Taylor. It’s like the Aaron Donald thing. It’s like it’s all different eras, man. I saw Lawrence Taylor chase outside zone away down from left outside linebacker and he and he instead of chasing it down on the backside, he ran the front side and made a TFL. Dude, it was [ __ ] crazy. No question. Not taking anything away from LT, but I think he’s in the Numbers don’t lie, dude. This guy’s gonna have 26 sacks in the NFL this year. It’s wild. It’s a wild deal. Wild deal. And you know, the other thing I want to bring up about the Browns, it’s inevitable that we were going to talk about this is the Malachi Corly [ __ ] kickoff return. Dog, what are you doing? I have not seen that’s me high one in the morning playing Madden. Dude, he caught the ball and toetapped it like you know a smart player. He puts one foot out of bounds and one foot inbounds and catches the football. I just am a dumb DN and and I see that [ __ ] all the time on TV and I’m like do that thing. Do that thing. I know to do the thing. You got one job. Guy totaps a kickoff return and then they muff a punt return. It was awful. Um, so yeah, I mean, we’re going to talk a lot about, you know, Shador Sanders and the rookie quarterback and everything. I I’m going to treat that that situation like any other situation in the NFL, which is that there’s a backup quarterback in the in the game. And that’s not to be reductive or disrespectful. It really it it it’s his second start. And I thought he did some good things, and I thought he did some things that that confirmed suspicions. Um, but we will ride the wave with the week toe thing with Shidor Sanders and I will talk about it every time we break a Cleveland game down. But, you know, like I I just am not a fan of like blowing up the discourse to being the front page thing. It’s just we don’t do it with anything else. Um, it feels like Yeah, it just feels like and it feels like a trap. So, I just want to see the kid I I want to see the kid grow week to week. Um, I don’t think he I don’t think he was sabotaged today. I don’t think it was anything like that. I think he’s he’s playing quarterback in a [ __ ] up situation. Um, and that’s why there’s a long list of quarterbacks on uh on that list of Browns quarterbacks, you know, since 2000 where the guys have the, you know, the jersey with the with the 50 names duct tape on the back. Like, hopefully he’s not another one of those names, but it is really hard to play quarterback for that team. It just is. And it’s not personal. So, next week they get the the Titans and uh he may well end up getting a W again. Um so, we’ll see. We’ll see. Um anyways, I I think uh I think the last thing I want to talk about and damn, I missed my chance. It’s that game started Cowboy 819. The game started. Um Broncos country, let’s ride closing out some teasers. This is just not a great great day of football. But um I want to talk about the Steelers and the Bills. I I’m going to be very honest about this game. I know I’m supposed to come out of it and and I am going to come out of it and say like, “Hey, Josh is that was one man ban Josh, right?” Like they’re not going to ask him throw the ball 50 times. He ends up being the difference of the game with his legs, right? Like just being able to convert, just being able to churn for the extra yard or two. And this is one of those burn burn the ships games, right? Like usually in the Joe Brady era, you’re kind of like, “Okay, Josh, we we don’t we we don’t want to run them all game long. You know, this isn’t, you know, we need to pick our spots.” This is a game where you can’t lose another one. Um, and you’re down two tackles, you know, left and right tackle, you know, you’re down Dawkins, you’re down Spencer Brown, you’re down your number one pass catcher in Concaid. I I I’m going to be honest, like I did not see the path for them to win this game. You know, somebody asked me like, “Should I bet the Bills?” I’m like, “No, I wouldn’t bet the Bills.” I’m not saying I’m betting against them because they’re playing the Pittsburgh Steelers, but I would not bet the Bills today because I have no [ __ ] clue with those edges and with this defensive line how Josh is going to be able to pull this one out, right? Josh Palmer’s down, right? So, they got to throw the ball at Keon Coleman in key situations. You know, that’s been a whole thing. You know, Shakir’s the guy. You got to take him away. Um when Cook fumbled that football and Rogers they go in and score. They go down seven to three and and or seven nothing and they they drive all the way down the field. It’s fourth down and I’m like you got to go right cuz you had three timeouts. You got them backed up. If I was head coach Shawn Mcderman, I’m going I agree there. Um I wouldn’t use the timeout beforehand because I still want to you know 55 seconds to go. You don’t you don’t get it. The Pittsburgh Steelers are not going to do anything, you know, in the shadow of their own [ __ ] goal line. They’re they’re they’re they’re they thought they were playing a bunch of 2016 football games this year. What they were sorely mistaken. They’re not built for this. So, they’re backed up. You got three timeouts. Even if you don’t get it, you can force them to punt, you can still get a field goal before the end of the the half. Like, that’s the way I think. So, I’m glad that he went, but then the execution is off this pre- snap penalty. They got a kick. And I’m thinking to myself like, damn, if they go down 14 to three in a game like this, if the Steelers get the ball out of the half and drive down and score a touchdown, because the concern coming in this game for me was, you know, with the Bills linebacking core, the way it’s looked with Bernard out, for whatever that’s worth, um, this is going to be a game where they get peppered with play action with RPOS’s. You got people running around like mad dogs in meat house. It did not end up being that thing. And part of the reason it didn’t end up being that thing is because I thought the Steelers had to get really onedimensional as the game went on. Like and and the second half was just played in in the Bills kind of wheelhouse in this situation. I don’t know if the Bills have a defensive wheelhouse, but like doesn’t matter who you are. The Steelers are not built to come from behind. And Joey Bosa, the first play of the second half, I talk about like what what it means to be a mercenary pass rusher, you know, like that is absolutely why you bring him there to make a big play. Now, he’s made some big ones so far this year for them. Um, but that play is huge and it kind of encapsulates the whole day. You know, you force the fumble on the road, you pick the ball up, you run it in for a touchdown, you diminish greatly the Steelers chances of winning that football game mathematically by scoring on defense. you get a 7-3 lead. And not to mention, Rogers gets up and his face is bloody. And I’m not going to lie, when you’re a defensive lineman, I’m not saying hurt the guy. I’m not saying you root for anybody getting hurt, but like you you sack somebody and they get up and their face is bloody. Like that’s kind of [ __ ] cool. Did I say a bad thing there? I think it’s I mean like to me I’m like we just came in your house and took your [ __ ] and your quarterback is bloody bro. That to me that that’s that’s that’s a huge rush. That’s a rush that changes you know the Bills fortunes and um you end up in that game kind of cruising from there. It just the Steelers are too Here’s what I’ll say. The Bills half the league would have felt pretty good about beating the Bills in the current state they were in today. down all the guys they were down and the way they’re playing right now and I think half the league would have had a good shot of beating them. The Steelers, the reality is, and that’s why this breakdown is about the Bills and like Josh was was was gutsy and everything and it’s fun to watch the big man play football and run around and pump fake people out of their shoes and drag a pile and mix it up with Cam Hayward and that’s all cool. But I think the point of this game in talking about this game is the Steelers are not a good football team. They’re just not um they’re a 500 football team. They’re lucky to be 500. They’re not going to be a factor in the playoffs. If they get in the playoffs, they will not be a factor. I And if I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But but what evidence have they given us that they’re going to be a factor in January? And honestly, I feel for Aaron Rogers. I do. I did not feel for him last year in New York. Maybe it was because of like the McAfee show or maybe it was because of like, you know, I thought he was kind of I don’t know, mean to a guy about a red line. Like I I don’t know what it was, you know. But this year, I feel bad for him because if he was in Minnesota, he would be lighting it up. I believe that. I think he would be lighting it up. And uh I think the Steelers have vastly underperformed on defense. You talk about we haven’t even gotten to this. You give the Bills a lead, they’re going to grind you in a nub. They might not give the ball back. That’s one of the best things they do. Run the football. They ran for 250 plus yards, set a record at that stadium. I mean, that’s a bad deal. You talk about coming to your house, your quarterback’s bloody giving up a [ __ ] quarter mile on the ground. That’s a physical football win for them. And you know, Josh throws the ball 20 times. It’s kind of like when they go beat up Dallas or they beat up Dallas at home a couple years ago. They think he threw the ball 17, 18 times. Whatever the situation demands now, the Bills have been wildly inconsistent. They I still want them to show me a lot more than beating the Steelers. Just beating the Steelers is But they had to do it and they did it. Um, but the Steelers are not a good football team. And the worst thing about the Steelers is the Steelers are stuck here. Rogers is on a one-year deal. If I’m Rogers, I don’t want to come back there. I don’t want to come back there. When I’m not getting hit, the [ __ ] left tackle’s tackling me running off the field. I got no receivers really that that I I got a good rapport with, you know, every every time. and and the longer I’ve covered football since I played football as I’ve learned more about the passing game, right, where I I notice things where I’m like, you know what, that guy isn’t in the right place. It’s not all in the quarterback all the time. So, you know, I I I don’t think that Aaron Rodgers at this stage in his career um should be somewhere like Pittsburgh. And if he wants to play one more year, I would much rather see it be Minnesota. Um and I’m sorry to be having endofear conversations about Aaron Rogers or about the the Steelers, but like they’re not a good football team. And so I’m just I’m not going to be one of the ones that keeps saying, “Well, like, you know, if they do this, if they do that, they’re not a good football team right now.” And uh I don’t know, man. I I doubt Aaron Rogers would would argue with that sentiment, you know, like he he knows. Um I think the guys on defense know I don’t think they’re a particularly good football team. And uh sucks for football. And what sucks for football is I don’t know how they’re going to fight their way out of this because Aaron Rogers is playing them to eight wins for sure. Like they’re going to win eight wins. They’re going to win eight games this year and then, you know, they’re going to be sitting in the middle in purgatory and um they got a massive payroll on defense and you’re giving up 250 yards on the ground. I I don’t know. [ __ ] It’s ugly. What do you think Josh Allen and Hayward did? Well, I’ll tell you what I think happened. I This is a guess. Josh is riding a pile of bodies and falls down and Cam Hayward uses Josh Allen as like a like a stepping stone to get up. Not with his foot, but with his giant hand. Like I saw him like kind of push off Josh. And I think Josh might have gave him a little um a little kick to some area of his lower body. I’m not saying I’m not saying I saw that for sure, but like that’s the only thing I can deduce because I look back five, seven times and I almost thought Cam Hayward helped him up. Didn’t he help him up? Was that Cam Hayward helping him up? But the way Cam was mad, the only thing I can think of is a kick, bro. Only thing I can think of is a kick. Um, but I kind of like I like real beef on the football field, man. Like it was, you know, those guys aren’t going to like each other anymore. It’s kind of fun. It’s kind of the way it should be. Um John Daly and Tiger Woods met in Charlotte today and and uh and this the small prince took care of business. Man, what a day. What a day. I’m lying. That was a shitty day. I mean, even the Seahawks game where it’s like maybe a couple things will happen in this game. Here are the ways the Seahawks game could have been entertaining. One, it’s close. Two, Bromer is actually better than JJ McCarthy. He’s not. They don’t have any good quarterbacks. Three, Sam Darnold lights them up and it’s like a revenge game. He didn’t do that. Four, Brian Flores gets revenge on Sam Darnold. He didn’t. None of the things happened that could have made that game interesting. It was just a totally uninteresting game. There was some great defensive line play. There was some great defense being played by Seattle as always. And the game of the day, and I can’t wait to talk about it tomorrow, is going to be Jets in Atlanta. Free football up there. Did we forget any football games? I don’t want to short uh my listenership. Saints Dolphins. Saints Dolphins. Man, that was a drunk ass game if I’ve ever seen one. That thing was that was a why no football, dude. Seriously, that was like uh I turned it on and I saw a guy running a, you know, a football 100 yards and somebody’s like, “Yeah, it’s a two-point conversion.” And and then and then the the Saints get the onside kick and get stuffed on a fourth and one. Crazy [ __ ] man. Oh, you want me to talk about Bears versus Eagles? I’m going to talk about it tomorrow, but I’m going to tell [ __ ] Should we do this right now? I’ll give you 90 seconds on the Eagles. I get caught in a bad position sometimes because I played for the team and because I do like the Eagles and I do I do, you know, I’ve had friends on the team and that sort of thing. And I think as an alumni of the team sometimes you don’t want to you don’t want to appear to single anybody out. Um, and there’s plenty of blame to go around, but I look at the offensive coordinator. I think that’s a problem. And I look at the quarterback and I think the way he’s playing right now is a problem. And that’s not to say he’s not part of the solution or that he hasn’t been great in the past. Um, every time you hear me talk about Jaylen Herz, what do I say? I say he’s a winner cuz he’s a winner. I need to see him be a consistently great quarterback. Um, that’s what it’s going to demand down the stretch. And I I don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors with the scheme. I think it’s obvious that we’ve detailed a lot of the inefficiencies in their scheme, but the thing I never know is how much of it is, you know, and you you can point to other years where you say, well, it’s so variable. If you got a good offensive coordinator, it looks like this. If you don’t, it looks like that. Well, then he doesn’t get to be one of those guys, right? Because we never, you know, great quarterbacks have to play through their circumstance. And if the circumstance you have is two all world receivers outside and Saquon Barkley in the back field like the quarterback’s going to get the blame some of the time. And I didn’t think he played very well the other day. I didn’t. When you got a, you know, a hot in the red zone and Devonte Smith’s right there, you got to make that throw. And you know, like it would be one thing if you’re winning the game, we just keep talk about, oh, the team’s winning, the team’s winning, the team’s winning. I’ve heard that all year. I love the guys, man. I hope they figure it out. But uh when you lose a game like that, you know, and and and we’ll get to the defense. The defense is a new problem on Thursday. It’s not really like the reason I don’t lead with the defense, even though it was atrocious run defense, is we haven’t seen that every week. Now, that’s going to become a thing where there going to be certain concepts in that game. Sometimes you play a coordinator that finds your little button and he presses that little button and he presses it in front of the whole world and then other people are like, “Oh, that’s the button right there. I’m going to press that button.” And uh and that’s the thing I worry about coming out of this game is run concepts that show up and and and make it hard on that defense. I just I like listen, I got a lot of respect for the quarterback. I had a lot of respect for Jaylen Herz. You know, I just want to make that perfectly clear. I’ve called him a winner. He’s a Super Bowl champion. You can’t take that away from him. But this is what have you done for me lately league and he hasn’t played his best ball. And the offensive coordinator, you know, and Nick Fos made this point on his podcast I thought was was really interesting. He’s like, “It is so hard to replace a coordinator at this point in the season. You’re kind of stuck with what you got.” Now, the thing that I think that that they could do to help is uh is they could bring in a consultant. You know, who is that? You know, I thought at times that Mike McDaniel or some bright mind that gets fired might be the guy you bring in, but you know, I haven’t really seen that guy pop up on the radar, and I don’t know who that guy would be. Um, you look at a lot of these Eagles coordinators that have that have worked out for them, they’re not homegrown, and you know, now you’re seeing guys that that you know, that are homegrown and they’re just not working out. And so, uh, it’s it’s you got problems everywhere. The offensive line’s in trouble. You know, you go play Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Cowboys are supposed to not be a physical group, right? They are offensively, but defensive line play, that wasn’t the thing they were going to hang their hat on and they pressure you into the sun, man. Um, they win that battle and and that’s not the way it’s supposed to happen. And you you watch the run game, it there’s a lot left to be desired there. So, I just think, you know, from a Bears perspective, um, and somebody said Dayball, I’ve heard Dayball, like Dayball’s sitting around somewhere. Maybe they take a stab at Dayball. Um but but uh yeah, the the thing I never like is like in the beginning of the season they went on this wonderful run last year and it was amazing and I was like fanboying the whole time cuz my friends are on that team like some some guys I know and you know now it’s getting to the point where you know I only know a couple of those guys. So, in a year or two, it’s going to be a lot easier to like to look at this thing, right? But at the beginning of the season, you know, if somebody in the street came up to me in Philly and like held me at gunpoint was like, “Give me the top five quarterbacks in the USA.” And I went like, uh, I don’t know, like the usual suspects like Momes, Allen, Jackson, Alan Jackson, uh, Burrow, and like Matt Stafford or whoever, whoever would be the fifth, like I don’t know that rotates from you. I would have been bang dead, dude. Somebody would have killed me because we get out over our skis, man. And and I I don’t I’m cuz this game [ __ ] presumably sucks on TV right now. Reed, does this suck? Three nothing. Three nothing. Who? Oh, thank God. Oh, they are. I just figure we’ll have a little like talky time here. And part of it is because I I I have the cover to have this conversation because the quarterback has looked bad at times. I just think we get so hyperbolic about everything in in pro sports. And if we’d all just said, “Hey, listen. The quarterback’s not a perfect quarterback. You have to build around him.” Not just with the roster, obviously, because the roster was in pretty good shape when we rolled this thing out this year, and you said, “Hey, this [ __ ] roster is really good.” It’s got to be the scheme, too, right? And the scheme’s got to be dynamic. Um, I don’t see them doing the little things, you know, that are creative when I when I turn on other games from the route combinations to the spacing to like bunches and stacks to, you know, um, you know, the the predictability. You got CJ Gardner Johnson talking about predictability and then I don’t see the quarterback executing sometimes. And so I think it’s just fair to say like he has to be better and when he’s playing well, he can be the reason you win. He can be a part of the reason you win, but we can’t conflate what we see week to week from some of these other guys who just put their team on their back. Like, we don’t we shouldn’t put Jaylen in that situation. And uh and we shouldn’t expect him to win in that situation. And when the run game is swept out from under him and the scheme’s not great, it it just kind of looks like it looks like a methodical offense. He’s a methodical guy who I think plays safe to a fault at times. That’s not to say he’s not brave or courageous. Love the guy. [ __ ] winner. He doesn’t want to turn the ball over. And there are times in the middle of the field where I’m like, “Okay, he doesn’t want to throw that open or he doesn’t want to wait that extra tick, you know, to throw that deep crosser.” And and you know, people say, “Hey, I see things over the middle. It would be like a skinny post or something or a or a comeback.” Like, I want to see the throws in traffic in the middle of the field. I want to see mesh concepts. We We run as little mesh as anybody in the league, right? I mean, probably. So, there’s just a lot There’s just a lot I want to see that I’m not seeing offensively right now. And and the reason I’m kind of having two conversations, I think it’s also an interesting fan fan conversation and media conversation. I don’t want to be the guy from Philly who’s like, “Yeah, you know what? I don’t think they can do it.” But but I don’t like I need to see more evidence. Right. The Bears. I talked about the Eagles being in a situation. You watch the Bears offense. There’s people moving fast everywhere, dude. There’s people moving fast. There’s gap scheme [ __ ] going on. There’s [ __ ] tight ends whamming people. There’s there’s pre- snap motion. It’s it’s like a living organism. Our offense is on like Nyquil, dude. You know, it’s just kind of it kind of oozes and then there’s like suddenly a big play. you know, you hit something outside the numbers or you hit a screen to Squan, but but I I just the Bears, man, and any team like them that’s schemed up well, you just see a lot more going on. There’s a lot more that you you know, when you watch a play and you’re like, “Oh, I see the intent.” You know, in that game when the Eagles got a man indicator and opened up the middle of the field and then ran quarterback draw for like 30 yards. I thought that was a great sequence there and I thought that was a nice play call. There was some creativity to it. I watched Green Bay play on Thursday. They they had Jordan Love had the answers to the test almost every play now. He checked them into some very nice run plays. I’m not saying he’s got it on autopilot, but Matt Laflur in that game created motion, short motion shifts, pre- snap stuff where I’m like, “Okay, I know what they’re in. I know where the ball needs to go. Um, Eagles don’t really do that and the quarterback is a little bit conservative and the offensive line right now is very human. You talk about the Bears though, they ran the [ __ ] out of the football. You got some big tight end, you got some people moving people, dude. It was it was something to see. And that was my biggest concern coming into the football game is like if you wind up in a football game in bad weather, windy weather, what have you, Caleb really puts great I mean he puts a lot of zip on that football. He can kind of throw the ball through the wind at the intermediate level of the field. There’s a difference in the way the ball was coming off his hand, right? And then also the run game, dude. The run game was just too much. So, um, the the Bears find themselves in first place and the and they are way above ahead of schedule. And honestly, dude, I’m not going to do the thing where I say they can’t do something because after a while, you kind of got, you know, like it’s not just who you beat, it’s how you beat them. And the way they beat the Eagles, who are a good football team, still good football team. what we’re talking about when I speak directly to Eagles fans is like the standard that we know, right? Because I covered the team like north of of nationally. Like I I you know, I lean into that market a little bit. There’s a standard that’s been set there. They’re just not playing to that standard. Are they a tough out? Are they a good football team? Yeah, they’re streaky, but the Bears came in and they just they were businesslike and they took care of it. So, um I I’ll give you I’ll give you a little bit more tomorrow. Um so, I I don’t know. Since I don’t care about this game, I’ll give you guys You got any questions? You This is kind of a mailbag. Maybe a a question or two that I’ll hit tomorrow. Um make sure you hit our our line. We have a voicemail line. Um yeah, we have a voicemail line. Uh we want you to leave voicemails. We don’t just want you to leave voicemails where you you get on your soap box about this that and third. You can ask us questions too. The landline is is a local landline. 2029910723. Presented by zone. Presented by zone or else is going to hit me with that chair. Um it’s a two o’clock deal. It’s a two o’clock deal tomorrow. 2:00 East Coast. I heard Trevor Lawrence had a good game. Hard for me to watch them all. You’ll hear about it from Dr. Fax tomorrow. Somebody said, “Where where does Tomlin coach next year? We’re not ready for that whole thing.” There were fire chance in the stadium. Say what? There were fire. There were fire Tomlin in that stadium. That’s a wild deal. That’s a wild deal. Anyways y’all, we will see you tomorrow. Um, can Cowboy walk regular? That was a question tomorrow. You don’t walk regular. You kind of walk on your toes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He is. Yeah. Yeah. All right, y’all. Take care.

Chris Long reacts to the early Sunday NFL games in Week 13. The Houston Texans, in CJ Stroud’s return, hold Jonathan Taylor and Daniel Jones in check and knock off the Indianapolis Colts. The Jaguars, with their win over the Titans, and Texans now have made things interesting in the AFC South and closed the gap the Colts created in the first half of the season. In the biggest upset this week, Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers answered the LA Rams at every turn and knocked off the team many called the best in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks rolled the Minnesota Vikings, the Buffalo Bills bounced back and knocked off the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buccaneers got back to their winning ways as well.

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