When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points, so you can get big flavors and big savings, Kroger, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. Before we start our new hour, Jeff Saturday, what are we seeing here? Oh! Oh! What exactly is this? Oh, this was just showing a light, man, a little sunset. You shredding up on some wake surf and one of my favorite things. That's the one I was waiting for. Had to say goodbye to Summer, right there. Jeff, I want to come back and work. Yeah, I never even said I never gave Jeff Instagram. Man. My wife put that one together, care what that one together, she, I could never put more than one picture at one time. She put more than one, I was like, wait a minute, we can do one. I'm chatting at the bottom of the water, though. Jeff has leaped boldly into 2012. Like the cowboys running back room, yes, like the cowboys running back field. Me and the cowboys running back field. We got a good morning working here, people. We are live from the C-Plut, we're brought to you by Chase, our number two begins with the week four. Watch the biggest matchups from the biggest games, Kmart, Vikings, Packers. What are you watching for in this showdown in the division? One name, Jordan Love, he was warming up pregame last week, he wants to play shopping at the bit. Here's the thing, I want to see if he plays, how was he able to move around, how was he able to protect himself, the fact that he's even in line to potentially play this week is remarkable given the nature that is. And look, the malecolas thing has been the story of the year so far in the NFL. Eagles box this weekend, Dominique Fatzworth, what are you watching? The defensive line, that was a big question mark for the Eagles coming into last week's game and they utterly dominated. Jalen Carter was in the backfield for two TFLs, a couple of batted passes and just giving cause and havoc along that front. If they can keep playing like that up front, this defense will be good and the team I think will be a lot better. So we'll see if they can put together back-to-back weeks of dominance up front for that deep. I think the Sunday night game is fascinating. Bills, Ravens, Hawk, what are you watching? I'm looking for Josh Allen 2.0 and what he does against probably the best defense that he's played against to this year. Now look, it doesn't look the same for this Raven secondary that did a year ago under McDonald and the Nard Wilson, but Josh Allen kind of caught a shot in the post game when he talked about how freeing it is to have players who don't demand the ball, but now we're going to see a real test for us to rave in. And then finally, Jeff, the weekend kicks off tomorrow night at MetLife Stadium. Cowboys, Giants, what are you watching for? That's starting fast. We can beat the defense all we want. When we beat them up all we want, the reality is Dallas' offense hasn't lived up to its billing either. And that has to start fast to put that defense in a position to pin your ears back and play the style of football they want to play. But their offense has sputtered out of the gate, they got to pick this up and get on the board. Before I get to the sound bites, can we come out to the... I want to just ask the question of the group, because I have a lot of people acting like this game is a foregone conclusion. The Cowboys are a five and a half point favorite on the road. Just if they lose this game, if the Giants addressed a kicker two weeks ago, they would be two and one right now. They looked a lot better last week. That loss against the commanders, Sully doesn't look so bad. Does everyone here convinced Dallas just wins this game easily this weekend? I'm convinced, but here's the thing. If they lose... So tomorrow night at... It is chaos. They are. They are. Because there is no way in week four, the Cowboys should be in a situation where there is a must win game against a Giants team where we wonder is this their quarterback of the future? What does their offense look like? So many questions about the Giants. If they lose to them, it's bad. Listen, after this, they've got the Steelers, they've got the Lions, they've got the 49ers, they've got the Falcons who are pretty good, the Eagles, the Texans, they got a murderer's row coming up on their schedule. If they don't win, I don't think it's overstating it to say if they don't win tomorrow night, they're done. Their season is over. It feels that way. I think the reason why this game feels like a foregone conclusion is because we understand the problem with this Cowboys team is stopping the run. That's right. The running game for the Giants, as we understood it, is now in Philadelphia. And so if the Giants run the ball on them, and they're going to score some points at some point, but they're not going to get out to a fast start against the Cowboys and the Cowboys will score enough points to get in an advantageous game script. If they don't, then they could lose. Yeah. Everybody in NFL is good. If Zimmer and Mike McCarthy haven't circled neighbors, and that's it. And keep circling. They said, don't let him eat us. Just keep circling it. Just keep doing it. Just keep doing it. Make Daniel Jones with his legs and their run game my word. Like that's the only, my whole, I mean. It's a game they absolutely need to have it. Now let me get back to where we were going a moment ago. And that is this poll they did in Dallas. So they pulled a bunch of Cowboys fans and the result was the fans believe that Jerry Jones is the biggest reason the team is struggling. That of course came up on Jerry Jones radio show yesterday. Here's what he said. That's very fair. Now, how could you think otherwise, it's well known that no decision is ultimately made there. But what I either have it, acquis or approve it. That's the way it is. I'm not trying to say this, but if you look at who's won the games over the last four or five years, Kansas City has of course, but we're not far right, we're right in that back. That's the problem. What's the problem? Because he started off on the right track of it is fair, the bus stops here. And like Zomik, you said earlier, if he had just put a period on that, but this is the issue with the Cowboys, Jerry always seems to think our roster is good. We're right there. We're right there, y'all. We are right there. And because of that, he doesn't make the necessary roster maneuvers, whether it be Derek Henry, which we belabored, but Derek Henry last year at the trade deadline, Derek Henry, the soft season, he doesn't make those moves where he prays how he roseman for saying this is a team that two years ago was in the Super Bowl, but they're trying to reload. They're trying to add Saquon Barkley. They will do whatever it takes because the goal for the Eagles or this team is the Super Bowl. And with the Cowboys, they just want to have a good regular season record and that's not good enough. Yeah. And I think for Jerry Jones, it is his fault because when we're looking at the Dallas Cowboys, we know what the issues are and we've known what the issues are since last season. When you go in a free agency and it's less about Derek Henry and more about who in free agency can make this aspect of our game better, there was only two running backs that could do that. Saquon Barkley and Derek Henry in a real way. The other part was, can you stop the run? And here we are in week four, debating whether or not they're going to beat the Giants because they cannot stop the run and they can't run the football, right? And then also you have your number one receiver and your quarterback going through contract negotiations when they should be building the chemistry necessary to get you off to a fast start because they have such a hard schedule at the front of the season. It feels like most coaches and general managers and owners are looking for ways to avoid distractions while it feels like Jerry Jones is always trying to program a reality show. There are obvious decisions that we all know needed to be made ever the couple of times that Dak has come up for contracts rather than quietly saying, all right, we know we're going to make you the highest pick shortly back in the league because that's what always happened. That's what Trevor Lawrence is opposite. That's what I rather than doing that, he puts out quotes that suggest that they're thinking about it. They go after a trade Lance, they go do all these things that make it so we have a conversation all off season and I don't, I mean I don't have any inside information but I don't think the night before the game they were on the phone with Dak negotiating contract, that feels like something that was already done and Jerry wanted to own the off season conversation increases franchise value rather than sign the quarterback which frees up cap space to make the maneuvers that you need to win and that's why the fans are voting that Jerry Jones is the pro. There's a great scene in football to players. What have you done to get better this off season? The owner didn't do anything to get better this off season. The general manager didn't do anything to get better this off season. So what you ask your players and the accountability, you ask players and the standard to play to, they're not playing to it. That's the problem. Brett Veach from the Kansas City Chiefs gets his team better. Rosevin gets his team better. You can, you can go across the league and litter it with little pieces and parts. It's not massive movements, it's little pieces and parts that actually make an impact on Sundays, Mondays and Thursday nights. He didn't do enough and he knew the issues but was afraid to address them and what happens in a locker room is when you know you're all in but he ain't all in, the message does it, there's not a continuum in a thread and that's where the Cowboys are right now and that's the problem. That's culture. The Kansas City Chiefs, it's delusional to compare yourself to the Chiefs. Completely, right? Because they have a culture that it doesn't matter what the pieces. They have the main, they have the main pieces and then anybody else that comes in, there is still success. Does this fly in the face of what we are saying? The Chiefs have won 40 games in the regular season going back over the last three years in chain. This right here. Why is this in here? Because Barry keeps highlighting this, this graphic, it's like, it's almost like he walks around with this graphic in his pocket and as the evidence of like, hey y'all, again we are right there. Look the Chiefs are the measuring sticks, they're the standard and look, we have almost just as many wins as them. The problem is the championships, 1995, the last time the Cowboys have made the divisional like, excuse me, the NFC Championship game. That is a long time and when you can point the finger at Dak, you can point the finger at Mike McCarthy or Zimmer, who's the constant from that entire time period? That predates Dak. Winning a Super Bowl is somewhat random and lucky. So I think over a short period of time, you can say that they were unlucky, they were unlucky but over an extended period of time of winning that much but not getting to the final game, then you have to say that there's something wrong in the organization. When I play devil's advocate, for the record I tend to agree with what we were saying here, if one wanted to argue the other side, one could say Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes have ruined this for everybody else, you're not supposed to win that consistently in this league. So who would be the other teams who've won the most games? Buffalo, Baltimore, those teams haven't won championships in this stretch either, yes they've won more playoff games than the Cowboys have but they also haven't won champions. That's all fine but we all consider them legitimate, like there's a thin line between these levels of teams and no one considers the Cowboys the same way we do the Bills or the Ravens. And here they were, were they the two seed, and they were right there, if you are the Ravens and the Ravens would never talk like this but if you wanted to be them, you could say well we lost to the eventual Super Bowl champs, same for the Bills. The Cowboys lost to the Packers last year, the Cowboys didn't lose to the eventual Super Bowl champs and that's the hard part about the conversation for them. And the Baltimore Ravens have been hanging Super Bowl banners, to make this the bar, that is the issue because you're not hanging any regular season win banners, to Nick's point like it's like everybody. I'm never gonna say we have much wins this day, hey? Exactly, the culture for those teams that are contenders is that they understand their standard is winning the Super Bowl, where to your point the Cowboys that feels like are making it a reality show and I get the irony as someone who is sitting here by a product of a Jerry Jones reality show, quite literally. But you understand the point that I'm making, Jerry wins in a stay and pull, other teams win the Super Bowl, that's the bottom layer, that's all he cares about putting people in the stands, that's what he gets and that's his excitement, he saves that cash. There's a conversation to be had here and I would like to have it with you because when you get together with all your analytics friends, I don't think I'm not paying attention you and me and all of it, you're all getting together there, you're putting a bunch of things in a computer, would they not suggest that when a team wins this many games in the regular season, over the course of time, that is the formula to winning a championship and eventually the ball is going to bounce your way here or there or otherwise. It can't be meaningless, but they have won all these regular season games. That's absolutely true, but then when you go watch the actual games and see how they end, they end in folly. They don't end, last year they got destroyed, they had a clock management issue the time before that. These are losses that they have blown and go back to Romo dropping the extra point, it's just all those are Jerry Jones's fault though, Jerry Jones didn't miss time, the spiking of the ball, Jerry Jones didn't drop the snap by Jerry extra point, he had his starting quarterback doing that job, he hired the coach who mismanaged the clock throughout the course of the year and then did it again right there, he hired the coaches and the players who got run through last year, like you can't say the buck stops with me unless the buck actually stops with you. But no, I get it, I mean he's got a lot of bucks and I guess they stopped right there, coming up. Much more on what is an enormous game for the Cowboys, if this thing goes sideways, is Jerry going to have to pay the bill, we'll explain what that means, although he's just giving it away in the pocket of the class. We hand out rookie report cards, we ask the question, is Caleb Williams failing or is his team failing him, plus we got pancakes out of the way and it always starts with the break, Jeffrey, we got that Lacret is being served, my man Big Ray Roberts sent me this when I appreciate you sending this, shout out right here, Lake and Thomas and watch this on the little dump off, hit somebody else, this is what I want to know, the linebacker runs up and it stops and freezes, don't make it easier for us, come on, knuckle ahead, you just did it, like Thomas is running you over, oh I guess you did, my man Thomas and he's setting you down, Lacret served early, we've got college big times, oh, we don't commercial, so Smucker's not, oh man. Passion, drive and patience, the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive, eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance, superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights and more, whether you're into speed, power or style, eBay Motors has you covered, with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for, and with eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back, because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash, with all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins, keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com, eligible items only, exclusion supply. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals, and no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week, and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points, so you can get big flavors and big savings, Kroger fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. We are back on Get Up, it's time to give out rookie report cards, they've played three games, it's time to judge these people, here we go, Dominique, what grade are you giving Jaden Daniels? I give him a B, he's been really, like last game was incredible, he's been really impressive, what? What? A B? A B? A B? A B? A B? A B? A B? A B? A B? A B? A B? I mean that game was an A, we all watched the other games also, those were not A's, since we won, I know, he took five sacks and they were all because he was holding on to the ball too long. So we give him an A, after these three weeks, then where can he go from there? He wasn't Josh Allen from week one so now, he was Josh Allen on Monday night, so all I'm saying is, the other two weeks matter, all right, well here's my thing, we're not all, we're not all Harvard educated, some of us are public school from Decaturo, I was going to give both nicks a B minus, don't put mine up, that's great goodness, if Jaden has got a B, I got to go to an F plus, we got a K, I got a K, I got a second, I got a second, you understand, hold on, rookie grade reporter, what do you do, it's like kindergarten, okay, it's not scale, this is like, you color what you like, you're good, this is, this, he's a rookie, but he's an NFL quarterback, I'm grading him as an NFL quarterback, his game last week was an A, the previous games were C's, he is a B, so I think that's A, A is Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, that's A, they're seniors, he's in fifth grade, he's not in fifth grade, he's under center for an NFL team, he's a prodigy, okay, he's 12 years old, that's a senior in high school, if you're 12 years old in high school and you get a B, then we're going to celebrate, congratulations, he's playing up, all right, the Jeff had bone X, no, go ahead, I'm not doing it, F, my mind said B, but don't put mine up next to Daniel, everybody's be like, what, what is Saturday, don't even put mine up there, I mean listen, they, they won a huge game, I was excited for them, I'm feeling it for them, above, on the road, I mean excited, but godly, so it's just, we don't, we don't, we don't, one game grades now, how about yours, how are you giving, or what grade are you giving Caleb Williams? I give him a D on any scale, especially, especially with Fox is great for, for Jayden Daniels, look he hasn't played well, and yeah there's some, there's coaching things, there's, there's, there's other issues on the offensive line, they haven't gotten into a rhythm, but if you just watch the tape, the thing that Ruth said makes Caleb Williams special, we all agree this is arm talent, he routinely is missing open guy down the field because his mechanics aren't there, he is not going through the system and he is not letting the game come to him so far, I give him a D, yes, you are correct, but why are those things happening, he asks questioningly because, because the bears forgot to build an offensive line, they're general manager, if anything happened to him on the way to the hall of fame, after he got all these receivers and they have all these weapons and they spent a bunch of money on a running back, can we show the fourth down play please, this one play in a nutshell, sums up Caleb Williams, look at their offensive line, look at the offensive line, this is fourth in goal for the one, when I show it to you again, watch where they all wind up, on the ground, that's Caleb Williams problem, that's why his feet don't look right, that's why his mechanics are falling apart, that's why he doesn't look in command to use that word advise, I'm not going to let you just crush the offensive line right here, go back, don't play the tape, just freeze it at the beginning, the left, you know how we say throw it if you just throw it, that left tackle, the center left, everybody should be there, no, no, no, snap it, abort, abort, go the other way, somebody on that offensive line, somebody understands, we are outleverage a gap over per man, we are, this play is dead before they see the snap, I mean that's a product of having a quarterback, a rookie quarterback, it's like he doesn't have the experience of understanding to get out of a play with that, I don't play quarterback but when you're outleverage like that, you know what you're not going to do is try to get on the edge, an option against nine in the box is insane, an option in the NFL is insane, against nine people in the box, you're done, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, you're running the wrong direction, the play is not a gap run, blue check, the Caleb Williams and the Bears are being failed by their coaching now first and foremost, that is the biggest problem more than anything, why are you making that face? Because you were singing a different tune, this last season everybody was praising the Bears for oh the Caleb Williams is walking into the greatest situation of any rookie quarterback of all time and now we're like oh guess what, they forgot to adjust the offensive line. Right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, why are you like mad at us for taking in the evidence and changing our opinion, when did that become a wrong thing to do, when did it not be okay to say what you said, hey guys, I was wrong, my bad, I'm gonna have to hold off on pancakes, I can't leave this here, I promise we will get to them as the hour continues, this has to be said, the Bears are doing unto Caleb Williams as they have done unto Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields before, they kept a lame duck coach for reasons known only to them because it absolutely bit them you know where with the previous two quarterbacks they drafted high, this kid is more talented than the other two guys combined and they are through three games showing evidence of doing exactly the same thing, they couldn't get one of these great offense, they had Cliff Kingsberry and Clint Kuviak in the building during the off season, those guys aren't going to a place where a head coach has one year left on his deal, it's gonna get fired, they don't tell you how much time he has left on his deal but he's clearly hanging by a thread, in the meantime he can't figure out whether to go for it on fourth down, he's challenging plays that make no sense, they're badly coached and people are gonna say Caleb Williams gets a D for the way that he's playing, he must have said that, you know what, I'm like great, I just said that, what great do you give his coaches, I give them an F, there we go, they're bad coaches but he is also playing bad football because again we talked about this last week with Bryce Young, you still have to show the thing that makes you great and he has not done that, I get it, it's great to be off script, it's great to be unorthodox but in NFL football that is hard, they're way faster in the preseason, we said the same thing, when everybody was electrified by him tearing up preseason defenses which are closer to college football than in our actual NFL regular season, that was my criticism, like hey, this looks unnecessary, this is gonna be scary when the bullets are really far out. So are you suggesting that maybe he wasn't ready to play immediately, so maybe having a bridge quarterback rather than anointing him your starter in January of last year might have been an interesting... I would say they had known it even before that, but they didn't have nowhere is up for the bears, if he is the prospect that we expect him to be, he has to start showing something in his toolbox that gives us hope to say okay, coaches, they have done a terrible job, but at least we know we have the right guy, with Justin Fields in Pittsburgh, look at Justin Fields in Pittsburgh. Yeah, we're five weeks in and he's not lightening it up, he's just not turning the ball over, which I'm a Justin Fields fan and that is coaching, but the scale we're judging Kayla Williams on is not on the Justin Fields scale, that is not what they signed up for. I feel like the goal post, the goal post are moving, they're just swaying in the breeze because everybody agreed, well not everybody, but a lot of people felt like Kayla Williams, clear cut choice, the bears can not go wrong with that, and then, you know, I understand, for me, Matt Iberflu is saying that he's ruined the kid, or saying that he needs to be let go, it's been three games, like let's pause, let's take a deep breath. I don't want him let go, I want his contract extended so that they don't wind up changing coaches on this kid after his first year like they did with the previous guys. I will get the pancakes in, I promise, that just needed to be said, we'll also say this, oh, oh, remember the former bears quarterback, we couldn't play at all, then you send him an organization that has some idea of what they're doing, and look at the difference it makes, we'll talk about that next. When it comes to towing, seeing is believing, that's why Chevy Trucks Advance Camera Technology offers up to eight available cameras for 14 unique views, so you can focus on the view that really matters. Chevrolet, together let's drive, learn more about Chevy Trucks at Chevy.com, save to your driver assistance features or no substitute for the driver's responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. We the vehicle owner's manual for important feature limitations and information. This episode is brought to you by Microsoft Azure. Turn your ideas into reality with an Azure-free account. Get everything you need to develop apps across cloud and hybrid environments, scale workloads, create cloud-connected mobile experiences, and so much more. Whatever what you can create with popular services, free for 12 months, learn more at azure.com, that's azure.com, and sign up for a free account to start building in the cloud today. Bottom of the hour, we're back on get up, our next game is called Contender or Pretender. What are the Eagles Super Bowl contenders or pretenders? The Eagles are contenders, I feel like, because they have this talent necessary to make the run. The question becomes, can coaching put them in the right situation, right, and that's my issue with Jalen Hurts in the way he's played, he's turned the football over, and that's become the coaching thing. They look better than a year ago, but to get back to 2022, some things need to change. You can't help but notice there's no graphic on the screen, that's because you told them pretenders. I feel like, I feel like, I feel, Jeff, I feel presented, right, fighting, Super Bowl contender or pretender? A contender. When you look at this Brian Flores, he's done with this defense, as has been miraculous, he's got these guys playing great ball, Sam Darno's playing well, they got Aaron Jones, he's about, and then Justin Jefferson, who is just an explosive machine, they have all the, and a good offensive line, they have all the makings of a true contender. They're doing it already injured a little bit, and fighting through all of that to be unbeaten, speaking of unbeaten, hey Kim Hart, Steelers, contender or pretender? How are you doing like this, Mimi? I got to say pretenders because the question is Super Bowl, you said AFC North, I'd say, I'm with you, contenders, but they're averaging 17 points a game, I cannot get behind that. They got to get, the offense has to cook a little bit more. Yeah, I think they've scored two touchdowns on the season, three games, but the defense is absolutely elite, and as far as the quarterback situation is concerned, Bill Belichick was on McAfee yesterday, and he had this fascinating perspective on the Pittsburgh quarterback room. Everybody's worried about the Pittsburgh quarterback situation, they might have the best one in the league. You know, you have an experience, got to come in behind fields if you need them, but playing well as a team. What? Why is that funny? Maybe we have a different definition of situation or best, I don't know, we got some words next time. Yeah. I like Kansas City. Yeah. Like Baltimore. Yeah. This is when you know Bill has gone full media. Full press can media. He is in all the way. What are you saying? Full Chris Canty's saying wild things on the airway. Here's the thing. This is why once again, Bill is playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers. He's not talking about the individuals. He's saying you've got a young developing quarterback who is playing better and being well coached, and if that goes sideways, you have a future Hall of Famer veteran sitting behind him ready to step in. The situation is a very good situation. Okay, this here, do you know what that even looks like? I don't know what looks like. The future Hall of Famer, you're talking about, you don't know what Russell will look like. I don't know what he looks like. Pretty, pretty. What? If anyone else said this, you would call it what it is, foolishness. Foolishness. This is the, this is the, this is the lead. This is called the pretty girl effect. This is the, this is where he gets away with it because he has this, this credibility and he can say whatever he wants and someone will be like, oh one of Bill's said it. Let's be right. You know what? I'm holding up. Yeah. I'm holding up nine fingers. I'm going to teach his teams too. Yeah. Okay. He coaches teams to nine Super Bowls and one six. I think he has some idea what he's talking about. Well, it's a pretty decent quarterback room that didn't include Russell Wilson nor Justin Fields. Okay. I appreciate you right, right on that one. How many fingers am I holding up with? Is this Tom Brady's, is that Tom Brady's number? Yeah. I'm going to hold those up too. He won seven. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do, let's do that as well. Let's just make sure we keep all the numbers together. Bill, I tried. All right, so we'll see. Do the Steelers have the best quarterback situation in the NFL? No. It's a funny topic, but people turning and I'd be like, what the hell is going on? Okay, here's the one thing that is for sure. The showdown of the season so far is coming up on Saturday night. It's Georgia at Bama Saturday night, prime time on ABC. The Bulldogs have been dominant over the last few seasons. They're 49 and two in their last 51 games, however, both of the two came against Alabama. The Crimson Tide have had Kirby Smart's number since heading to Georgia. He is just one in five against Alabama by far. The worst record he has against anybody. And Bama fans now can count on Kaylin DeBore to get the job done Saturday against the number two team in the country. DeBore has a 12 and two record against ranked opponents in his coaching career. And what's it's taking this game? Well, everything, according to the Allstate playoff predictor, the winner will have at least a 90% chance to make the playoff loser still a 60% chance. Alabama is 106 and 6 at home since 2008 and some of those games were started by our buddy Greg McElroy, who gets up with us early this morning here. Greg, great to see you and Paul Feynbaum back with us here. So let's dive into this, obviously. We talked a little bit earlier about stakes and all that kind of stuff. Let's go on the field with a former quarterback. These teams feel fairly evenly matched up. What will be the one thing in your opinion that will decide who wins Saturday night? In a game that's expected to be highly emotional, Grini, it's big plays and you can look at red zone efficiency and turnovers and pressure and sack rate. To me, it's big plays. That's always the most important thing when you look at the game like this and you look at both teams, questionable secondaries. Alabama has 12 guys listed on their 2D or 3D. In their secondary, nine of those 12 are either freshmen or transfers. So they have never played in a game like this for the Crimson Titan. On the other side, George is replacing three NFL draft picks in the back end. So they're a little bit untested and both these offenses have big play potential. So I look at it, which team can manufacture the most and which team who might have a question in the secondary plays up to the level of the opposing competition. So it's going to be a fascinating matchup and one that I think is going to be determined by maybe 50 yard touchdown passes, which is always exciting for us as the consumer. Absolutely. Yeah. So big explosive plays. Paul, how about you? What do you think is you analyze? What do you think this game comes down to? I think it comes down to how Georgia begins the game. This is a program that has struggled in the first half. Even against Clemson, a game they dominated Grini, they were ineffective in the first half with barely a lead. They had the same problem a couple weeks later against Kentucky and Carson Beck just seemed a little off, more than a little off in the game against Kentucky and some of the problems are up front. He lost one of his top offensive linemen in Rutledge. On the other side, Greg mentioned big plays and that's exactly what we're talking about with Jalen Miller. He is so elusive, he's capable of changing the game in a split second. So Greg, we mentioned, you were there for the Saban era. He casts probably the greatest shadow that we've seen in coaching in a very long time. So far so good, obviously, for Jalen DeBore. But this is an entirely new experience for him and for everybody. How would you describe having lived through this, the pressure that is on him in particular in this game? Well, it's immense. There's no denying that. I mean, what you do as the head coach of Alabama, you're defined by championships and I'm not talking like SEC West Division titles. I'm talking national championships where they only give out one a year or in the weird year when they give UCF one tenth of one, that's fine too. I look at it and it's really to me kind of an amazing thing though, for Jalen DeBore. He's already built up a ton of good will amongst the fan base. The narrative has been that Kirby Smart couldn't get past the Nick Saban hurdle. Nick Saban was the guy that had his number, he's one in five against Nick Saban. So I honestly think that Jalen DeBore has a little bit less pressure on him because more of the emphasis is going to be on Kirby Smart because in the event in which he loses to Jalen DeBore, then you could say, hang on a second, I thought it was a Saban problem. Maybe it's an Alabama problem. So I honestly think in a weird way, more pressure is on the guy that's lost only 16 games in nine years as a head coach and won two national titles. What do you think of that, Paul? I think Greg is writing and Kirby Smart did everything right at Georgia for the last couple of years, but he couldn't get by Alabama. Remember, he lost in that championship game a couple of years ago. He made up for it, but last year was really probably the most painful loss of Kirby Smart's career other than losing to Tuah on that walkoff in 2017. He was working toward a three-peat greenie. This program has not lost a regular season game since 2020, and those two post-season games have been against obviously Nick Saban. So I think Jalen DeBore doesn't get a pass with a loss. He will shatter the psyche of Alabama fans who think they own Georgia as crazy as that sounds, but Kirby Smart can ill afford it. And not only that, Kirby Smart then has to go to Texas in three weeks in Ole Miss in November, and his playoff hopes could be hanging by a threat if he doesn't get by this game. That really, I guess I knew it, but when you really hear it that way, they haven't lost a regular season game since 2020. It's incredible. Georgia, by the way, is now a two-point favorite. They were a one-and-a-half point favorite when we talked about this game an hour ago, and you see the picks? Everybody is riding with Bama here. We will see. I don't know. The fact that everyone sees it that way makes me feel like I should change mine, but we'll talk about it as we go. Guys, you're the best. Thank you, Paul. Greg, we'll talk to you guys soon. Let me show you WNBA playoff action from last night. These are closed-out games, ACEs, Storm, ACEs looking to end it. Really fourth. ACEs are down by one. That's Asia Wilson. They're 24 and 13, now they're up one, next possession. Still up one. Kelsey Plumb. How does this go in? 29 points, 11 and 15 from the floor for her. Now we're five minutes to go in the fourth, ACEs up one, Chelsea Gray no, Jackie Young is open, chose the range, gets the change, ACEs win, and it's over. They advance to round two where they will face the New York Liberty. The playoffs continue tonight on ESPN in the app. Caitlin Clark in the fever, trying to avoid elimination against the sun, then the link's looking to bounce. The mercury coverage begins with WNBA countdown at seven Eastern, coming up much more on a suddenly huge game for the Cowboys. If this goes sideways, is Jerry going to end up having to pay the bill? We will explain what that means. Plus, we have pancakes still to come, plus we have this, sneaky himbo for the two of you. We're going to talk about Jerry. Since he bought the Cowboys in 1989. The franchise has drafted the most players who are currently in the Hall of Fame. Great question, answers now. The studio is a buzz with people trying to guess. This is a great question. This is a tough one. Since Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989, he's talking about himself as the owner and everything else. What a great job he has done. Which franchise has drafted the most Hall of Fame players dating back to that year? Raft is the key word. Raft is the key word. Raft is the key word. Guys, that play form. And the Ravens come to mind because I know they're first draft, they drafted two Hall of Famers with their very first draft, and then Reed later on, but I can only think of those three. Right. And it's got his, someone has to have more than that. We got, we got, so the Cowboys, we got eight men, Newton, you got Emmett, you got Irvin. We think we're missing somebody in there. That's, yeah, that's pretty good. I think we got you. All right. Let's go. That was your bills. Cowboys. We'll go, we'll go Dallas. We'll go Dallas. Go on Dallas. Chef, what team did you play for? No! No! No! No! No! No! I named the three. So who? Marshall Falk? Oh. No. I forgot about Falk. Marvin Harrison? Yeah. I named them. Fell about the name of Peyton Man. I knew them. And Dwight Freeman? I forgot. I forgot Marshall Falk. The Cowboys. The Cowboys had four. Yeah. Aikman, Emmett, Larry Allen, Larry Allen, it's a Marcus Ware. Yeah. Marvin was before that. Oh. When we get this guy in, it's like, it's an all pro center. Make it happen. And he knows you got some full. That's it. That was well played. Well played. Well played. They will soon be six. Yeah. Well played. Well played. Yeah. Well played. Jeff Saturday absolutely belongs in the Hall of Fame. In the meantime, Bill Belichick also belongs in the Hall of Fame. The Dallas Cowboys suggested maybe Belichick could be their answer. You're going to have to go and get yourself Bill Belichick. You got an owner who wants to, who's the president, who's the GM, he's everything, right? He wants to be in front of the camera. What's the one thing coach Bill Belichick absolutely, positively uphores doing, talking to the media, let Jerry get all the shine, let him coach the team. And let me tell you something right now, you're going to have a whole bunch of brothers far more focused and prepared than they are right now. You do that. The Dallas Cowboys are challenging for the Super Bowl championship next year. He's not the first person I've heard suggested. I think it is a fascinating concept. Do you like it? I do not like it. I said this earlier in the show, but if you put a king in a circus, the circus doesn't look like a palace, the king looks like a clown. Now, look, I think that Bill Belichick is the greatest coach in NFL history, and there's no question that if he came to Dallas, this would be a much better coach football team just by the mere fact that he has better coaching talent than anybody else. But the reality is he's not going to be able to coach an interior defensive line that can't stop the run if the players aren't there. He's not going to be able to, all of a sudden, create a run game if you don't have the necessary offensive line and/or running back to give you that option and threat, and that's more the issue with the Dallas Cowboys personnel and the way that they've made their front office decisions. I'm fascinated by the use of circus. I know that you don't mean that literally. No, of course not. But do you think that all of the stuff that goes on around the Cowboys, that Jerry Jones seems to at least on some level like, does it actually impact their winning? It absolutely does. It feels like the culture of the Cowboys is thriving off of a reality that hasn't been the case for almost 30 years. They won a Superboy very long time ago. Jerry Jones himself is a Super Bowl winning owner, but the players and everybody within the building now, they kind of have this, you know, like they walk around like that's inherited and they also get that judgment. To put themselves on the path or the bar with the Kansas City Chiefs is delusional because we know what the Kansas City Chiefs are as an organization. I guess it depends on what you think the problem is there. Right now, it feels like we assessed the goal. Oh, wait a minute. Something interesting is about to happen. Ladies and gentlemen, oh, he's back from Miami. Ladies and gentlemen, Steven, how are you? How are you? How you doing? You're done. We thought you forgot where we were up here in New York and it's so good to have you back. Bill Belichick to the Cowboys. I'll always be in and out. Don't worry about it. I'll be away, but I'm never far away and I'll always be back, ever, ever worry about that. Did you ask me about Bill Belichick? Yes. We just played your soundbite. Bill Belichick to the Cowboys. It's very, very simple. Ladies and gentlemen. I said it was a great idea. Excuse me. I said it was a great idea. Well, thank you very much. Very smart. Very smart. You're doing a great job. Here's the deal. Jerry Jones loves to talk and wants to be in front of the camera when Bill Belichick is coaching. That's the last thing he wants to do. He'll lock in on the players. He'll get them focused because it's a lot to deal with in Big D and everybody ain't fit for it. Bill Belichick could take all of that pressure away. Let Jerry Jones do the talking. He does the coaching boom. That's the best shot you got at a championship for the Dallas Cowboys. I love it. I was the one who stood on this and I'll say this. Here's the improvement. And you made this point. You said, here's what Bill Belichick does do. He gets the most out of his personnel. I play to get some defensive lineman that you would never know who they were who understand how to play fundamental defense. That changes when Bill Belichick walks in the room. You've already got the quarterback. You've already got the star wide receiver. You've got a good opportunity to find who's young. You've got to get running back. He does a good job. He does a good job. See what old blue eyes that's where we're at. It's like, I didn't come here for a segment. All you had to do was say, I agree with Steve. It's really knocked out. It's not home. It's not home. We're going to do dumb. Steve and A and company eight and a half minutes away. First take is on the way. But right now, Jeff is going to do what only he can do better. Oh. Pancakes is one of our favorite games. Let me show you how we're going to get this thing going. All right. We're back, baby. Bam, bam, bam. We're about to break this up. Let's go. That's how we start this off. Get some of this. It's the thing of beauty. You can't stop a fight. You can't stop a fight. You can't stop a fight. You can't stop a fight. You can't stop a fight. You can't stop a fight. You can't stop a fight. You've got to be a false word. You're just spanking cake. We're going to be there. Can we do one more? Hey. You got to see me. Come on. We got shot. We got shot. Yeah. We got shot. Hey. We got to see how it's really done right here. Dylan Bray cranking it up. Watch how we start them on sat him down. You want to see a man out and over. Get some of that. No. You see it. You see him pulling him in. He hit back. He did it all around. Don't even worry about it. Not bad. But the only thing I want to see from Dylan Ray, get up and gour him after that. Now all I would like to see is that's a nice play by Ray pulling out the skipper going to get something. I'm going to take you right now. If you're a linebacker and in, hit down and protect yourself. Going on to number two, Hayden Lour, how good of an offensive lineman is this? Lour, go and drop him and come in. Oh. Grab those legs and go dunk him as he hits him. Keep all the legs going, finish him in the yard. You got to like neck roll. And that's it. And not just knock him down. Jump. You got to full finish. You got to finish him. You got to finish him more. Body him up. Two pancakes. Go to pancake. Finishing this. Miles hitting the son of the great Chris Hinton. Look at this pull. Watch the violence. Get some. Oh my word. Hey, here's something to do. Receive it. Because that's what that little man did. Hit him. Can't look. Receive that 14. Oh my word. And he's looking for more. That's three pancakes. Hit him. Again. Nasty. Look at that. Yeah. He knew. You bit like that. Now that's one quick question. Yes, sir. Yes. What the hell was 14 thinking about? He stood straight up. His skittiest Snoop Dogg. They're going up against this big pound of beef. Why are you standing straight up against that man? No. Nick, why is he doing that? We need a rule change. This is him to go loud. They got weight classes in body. Yeah. Oh. Oh. It's only what? Game hidden and large? I knew what was going on. I got to go. That fellas. That's a big time thing. That's a big time thing. That's six minute. I love that segment right there. That's what's coming up. Do the Cowboys have a giant problem and if it goes sideways, their big change is coming. It's Molly. It's Mad Dogg. It's Steve and A and Company. It's first take. It's six minutes away. Right here on ESPN. All right and before we hand it off to Steve and A and Company for first take which is coming up at the top of the hour, I'm fascinated by the stakes of tomorrow night's game. Very rarely can we legitimately say a week four game is a must win. But if you look at the murderous role of a schedule, the Cowboys have coming up. They're coming here in a game Dominique, they absolutely have to win. Will they do it easily? Yeah, I think they should have this under control. Their biggest concern is their ability to stop the run. I think they do that as long as they can protect Dak which is a tall task with that front on the Giants. I think they'll be fine. Giants played really good against the Cleveland Browns. I got it. The Cleveland Browns. I will give you that. The offensive line for the Browns has not been great but the Cowboys should win this game. It's a must win but it will not be easy for them. I don't think it's easy either and I just want to make sure everyone is aware of what they have coming up after this. After this game the Cowboys go to Pittsburgh, then they get the Lions, then they go to San Francisco, then Atlanta, then they get the Eagles, then they get the Texans. So I mean they have a brutal stretch coming up. This is a game they, I don't think it's overstating it to say if they're going to make the playoffs, they have to win this game. I think they'll be fortunate to split the rest of those games so they can pass up these games right now. I think the end of the season, the schedule gets a little easier. They're going to get some opportunities against some of their divisional opponents which will put them in good shape. That's the fortunate thing is the Eagles are in their division who looked good last week but haven't been great. Now the other two teams in their division, I don't think are playoff contenders. The, if you were going to point to the bright spot of the Cowboys, it's probably our offense at times whenever they're not so behind it. They got decked. Not that bright. But they can't look at that goal. That was a great time. We'll see you tomorrow. First take starts now. (whistles)
