PFT Live with Mike Florio

Colts reverse course, make Anthony Richardson starting QB (11/14 Hour 1)

Hour 1: Mike Florio (@ProFootballTalk) and Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) discuss latest news in NFL including Colts reverse course, make Anthony Richardson their starting QB, Matt Eberflus “very excited” for Interim OC Thomas Brown and previewing Commanders vs Eagles on TNF.

Duration:: 53m
Broadcast on:: 14 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

(00:00) Colts reverse course, make Anthony Richardson their starting QB

(21:00) Matt Eberflus “very excited” for Interim OC Thomas Brown

(32:00) Previewing Commanders vs Eagles on TNF

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So, yeah, that was just a catch from that was needed at the time. That's what the ball was called at and we won. I didn't say the picture of his touchdown last week of Pittsburgh any hashtag in redline. So, what appeared to be trolling you there, but what's your reaction? I don't know. I like Mike. I'm happy for Mike. Hello, good nature back and forth between Mike Williams and Aaron Rodgers. Now, look, I love Mike Williams. I like the fact very much that he's gone from the Jets to the Steelers and his new quarterback has shown him trust right out of the gate, something that Aaron Rodgers is very reluctant to give because we don't want to jeopardize the completion percentage or the touchdown and interception ratio. I will say this. I reject the Mike Williams explanation about the red line. It's okay to come out and say you were just having some fun with it because I look at it this way. The red line thing really isn't commonly known. A lot of people when they heard Aaron Rodgers saying that Mike Williams needed to run his route down the red line. That's the line that's five yards from the sideline. It's on practice field, it's not on the game field. When they heard that, they were like, what the hell's the red line? This isn't something that is widely known in football following circles. So for him to use that, for Williams to use that in the post celebrating the touchdown, he scored to win the game in his first stint with the Steelers. I made my career on the red line, then why haven't we seen hashtag red line in prior post? Why haven't we seen or heard Mike red line Williams? So it's all a good fun for us, but I feel like there's got to be something a little deeper because again, Aaron Rodgers crossed the red line, not the one on the field, but the one in the locker room in reality by calling out a teammate publicly. Because that doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. Let's not normalize that and it won't be because the rest of the quarterbacks won't do it and the one that's least likely to do it is Russell Wilson. I made the point last night, you know, he could have called out Jermaine curse for not fighting through to make the pick a Malcolm Butler that would have sprung Ricardo Locket for a game winning touchdown catch in Super Bowl 49. Russell Wilson's never breathed a word of that. You go back and watch that Brandon Browner was the unsung hero of that Super Bowl because he kept curse from getting through to make the pick slash rub still curse failed. And in all the talk that happened in the aftermath of that game, at some point, Russell Wilson could have said, well, curse was supposed to fight off his guy and cross the face or whatever jargon you want to use, make the rub, make the pick whatever of Malcolm Butler and he didn't. And if he does it, we score. I'm just answering your question. I'm not criticizing anybody. I'm just answering your question. He can have done that. He's never done it. Say what you will about Russell Wilson. He will never do that. So it's all working. All right, it's a Miles Garrett edition of PFT live, not featuring Miles Garrett. There is no Miles Garrett in this Miles Garrett edition of PFT live. It's Miles Simmons and Jason Garrett. I've given up trying to say both words quickly enough, both names quickly enough that Miles and Garrett are episodes. I tried to do that a couple of weeks ago and it didn't go well. Let's just call it a Miles Garrett, Miles slash Garrett edition of PFT live, not featuring Miles Garrett. Miles Simmons will be joining me in about a half hour or so to talk about a pretty, if you haven't noticed, pretty significant Thursday night game. This is one of those games where when the schedule comes out, you shrug and it ends up becoming a pretty damn good game. There's a lot of games that when the schedule comes out, you circle it and then by the time you get to November, you're erasing the circle and scratching through the game and finding something else to watch. Then there's the game that becomes the unexpected gift. It's finding $20 in a pair of pants that you haven't worn in a year. It's something just beautifully unexpected that makes your day. So hopefully tonight's game will live up to the billing. Hopefully it'll live up to the game we watched last Thursday night between the Ravens and the Bengals. I think that's why there's some subtle genius in skewing Thursday night toward division rivalries, toward teams that play each other twice a year, toward this possibility that you're going to get the two teams that are rising up to the top of the division that are competing for postseason births this late in the year and if one's good and one's bad, it doesn't matter because they still always play each other kind of tough. I'm selling in advance next week Steelers Browns Thursday night game because the Browns is the Browns all over again, but do you think they're going to show up in Pittsburgh and just roll over or do you think they're going to try their damnedest to beat their division rivals? So we'll get you ready for Thursday night. We'll get ready for everything else. And oh, by the way, since I still have to do this, oh, and Sasquatch is coming. We're going to see more than Sasquatch sightings in the very near future. Once we get to the other side of Thanksgiving, Sasquatch's Saturday responsibilities for college football and he'll be back on his prior in season schedule of three days a week because, you know, we don't want to work in four days a week. We don't want to wear him out. We'll be back to three days a week starting after Thanksgiving. We're going to have to reconfigure the variety pack schedule of the show and it's not easy to say the least because I'm very happy with what we've been doing. Basically, days like today will end. Enjoy them while you can. But Sasquatch is coming and I can't call him Sasquatch anymore if he's on three days a week. By the way, Sasquatch and I will be doing the, I'm sure he hates that. It just kind of, and it all started because we only see him once a week. It's a rare sighting. It's like seeing Sasquatch. It's not because he's a giant, freakishly large human with a head the size of a car battery, nay, a truck battery. It's not because of that, but hey, if the Sasquatch shoe fits, wear it. As long as I'm going to be doing this by myself, I am going to take this opportunity before I move on to football to point out that there are three of my books that you can purchase on Amazon. And it is the holiday season. And one of the biggest stressors for me in the holiday season is what do I get the people that I feel compelled to get things for? It didn't sound very good, but that's okay. What do I get for the people I feel compelled to get things for? If you have people like that on your list, this is simple. If you know they like this show, if they come to PFT, if they don't hate me, and there is a cluster of people out there that don't hate me, you would be shocked to learn how many fall into that group. I give you Father of Mine, the first book in the Father of Mine series, more on that in a second. It's $14.99 on Amazon, and if you want the e-book for yourself, I think it's only $3.99 currently. Son of mine, the sequel, actually better. This is good. This is better. You got to read this first though, although this is standalone. This is standalone, but if you read it, it spoils the first one. Read the first one, then the second one. That's usually how numbers work. And then this is the holiday offering, all proceeds going to the Michael Phelps Foundation and, and write public schools, splitting it right down the middle, $9.99, $9.99. You can buy 10 of these for less than a hundred bucks. You have gifts for 10 people that you feel compelled to buy things for. Great message, great story, even though I wrote it. Great reviews, even though I wrote it, $9.99, $9.99 and $2.99. I slashed the price to $2.99 for the e-book so you can read it yourself on your cell phone device. And last note, as I filibuster my way through the opening segment, there is a third book in the father of mine series. I finished part one and I rarely outline. I just kind of go. It's kind of fun. It's like a Ouija board that works. Remember when we hit, I've said this several times and I just need to say it again. What in the hell was Milton Bradley thinking if it was even a Milton Bradley game? Let's bring the occult into the home of the kids all across the country. Let's have them do a seance. Let's have them open a door to the demonic underworld into their own living rooms and dens. So anyway, you'd play that and you'd like to try to make it move. The pleasure for me of writing is to just sit down and it just goes. It actually goes. I love that. So I've gotten through 40 short chapters, I like short chapters, 40 chapters of the third book in the series and last night I sat down and I never do this and I'll probably deviate from it in many ways, but I outlined the next 40, part two. I'll figure out part three later, but I did part two last night and I'm very excited about it and I'm at the point where this time of year, there isn't a whole lot of time to write. I do some of my best writing, waiting to take off both at Pittsburgh and LaGuardia airports on Saturday and Monday, thumbing into my phone. The goal is to write a chapter while sitting there waiting for the plane to take off. So we've got a few more of those trips, more than a few more of those trips coming up over the course of the year, plenty more opportunities to finish the third book in the father of mine series. So go out and buy and I'm sorry to take your time, but number one, I'm going to do it because nobody can interrupt me and number two, it works. Studies have shown that this works. All right, let's get to it. PFT Live presented by Accenture, see, advertising works, Accenture, major sponsor of the program. Still don't know why, still waiting to hear an explanation as to what dart was thrown at the board by Accenture and it lands on me, but I'll take it, PFT Live presented by Accenture. The Colts doing what I thought the Colts needed to do, but I thought the Colts weren't going to do. They told us they weren't going to do it. It's the old flip flop by Shane Steichen. Here he is yesterday, head coach of the team explaining that there has been a change, even though a change wasn't supposed to be coming. Joe Flacco, benched Anthony Richardson, fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft back in. Here's Steichen explaining the decision. All right, I'll start off, I want to address, you know, Anthony's situation. You know, I've said the process, the process for a long time. And what I mean by that, it's the attention to detail in everything he does. From the classrooms, to the walkthroughs, to practice, to the way room, all those little things, right? It just got to be at a higher standard. And over the last two weeks, he's made strides in those areas, big time strides, becoming a pros pro. And is he a finished product? No, he's not. And it's my job to help him get there along with the rest of the coaching staff, but he's a hell of a talent. And I've said, we've never lost faith or belief in him and his abilities. And he's shown strides. He really has. And with that being said, he will be our starter again. He's going to start this week. He's going to start the rest of the season, all right? And we're going to go from there. Yeah, I never thought that he would never not play again, you know what I mean? So when I made the decision two weeks ago, that was why I made the decision. Hey, Anthony, these are the areas that we need to work on and see growth and improvement. And he's made great strides in those areas. Yeah, I think it's just the little things, the details. When I talk about the details, I mean, it's the constant grind in the meetings with the note-taking. It's the walkthrough, laser focus all the time, just being consistent, right? It's consistent in the process to being the best version of yourself. Was he showing a blade that was not in the building? No, like I said, it's all the little details about walkthroughs, meetings, all those things need to pick up to another level. We're still trying to win every game. That's our goal. I think that Anthony gives you the best chance to win. Yeah. I think whoever is out there gives us the best chance to win. I'm going to give strength to every player on our football team that whoever is out there is going to give us the best chance to win. Mr. Jim? Ballboard? Yes. I talked to Chris. I talked to Jim. I talked to everybody. But ultimately, it was my decision. Yeah. Look, we've heard that song and danced many times before. It's ultimately my decision, but I tend to make the decisions that are in the interest of my short-term and long-term employment interest. I get the impression from talking to the people who are higher than me on the food chain what I should do if I want to keep getting money from them for my food. It's that simple. And in the aftermath of their latest loss, when they fell to 0 and 2 with Joe Flacco as the full-time starter, it was a pretty simple analysis as far as I was concerned. You put Joe Flacco on the field when you were 4 and 4 because the thinking was let's win some football games. Let's try to get to the playoffs. If you're not going to win with Joe Flacco, then let's get Anthony Richardson the reps he needs to reach his ceiling because we've seen brilliance in flashes. If we can draw that out of him and the bench, you might be part of a broader process to draw it out of him and they're not going to come out and tell us. They're not going to say, "All right, look, hey. We need you." Just between us, just us folks talking. This guy needed to be humbled a little bit if he was ever going to grow into the quarterback we need him to be. So for a variety of reasons, we thought the maturity wasn't where it needed to be. The tapping out during the Texans game, that wasn't really the problem. It was the symptom of the deeper problem. There were a lot of reasons why we thought he needed to take a step back. We thought he needed to be smacked down a little bit and we thought that that would cause him to come back and unlock and unleash a higher level of Anthony Richardson. They're not going to tell it to us that way. They're not going to be that candid. So a lot of coach speak gets woven into those comments from Shane Steichen, but I think we're smart enough to look at this and say they had a guy who wasn't doing what he needed to do. They had a guy who did something we've never seen a quarterback do. Pull himself out of a game. Quarterbacks usually will do anything and everything in their power to stay on the field, including ignoring the clear symptoms of a concussion to stay on the field. They don't want that backup to go in there and play and he opened the door for the backup to play and he's lucky that the backup didn't play as well as the cult study would and they lost both games because now Anthony Richardson back on the field. Here he is from yesterday. After the decision was announced that he will be starting again, Anthony Richardson discussing this development in his young NFL career. You know, just so that I'm willing to be a pro, you know, I'm willing to sacrifice anything that I need to do for the team, you know, I'm going to fly these past two weeks. It's definitely opened my eyes and allowed me to have the opportunity to do that and just take a deeper dive and look into myself and see what I'm really, you know, made of. So I'm thankful for these past two weeks and I'm lucky, glad they hope that happened. When it comes to being a professional, you know, you feel like you're doing a lot of things right. But, you know, when it comes to sacrifice, there's always more things to sacrifice like time and stuff like that. So just being a pro and just learning more about that, you know, I'm glad I shouldn't give you the opportunity to do so. You know, he told me I was going to be the starter, you know, from here on out. But it's up to me to, you know, keep my job, you know, I got to make sure I'm doing the right thing and keep showcasing to the saying that I can be the guy and that I am a guy for this team. So it's not really up to him. I feel like the past couple of weeks is up to me as well. You know, I just got to showcase the work and just keep showing them that I'm willing to be the quarterback for this friend so. So comment that caught my attention was talking about the sacrifice of time. How much time are you going to put into your professional life? And I think everyone goes through that at some point and it really is a product of maturity. But when I was in college, I was really stupid, like I refuse to do anything on the weekends. Friday afternoon to Sunday night, I wasn't doing anything no matter what I had going on the following week, I'll worry about it then. Present Mike is going to, not to be confused with prison, Mike, present Mike is going to be young and have fun and do the things that 18, 19, 20 year olds do Sunday night. I'll pay the price by, you know, not having as much time, not as much of an opportunity to do what I need to do to get ready for the week to come. And it was stupid, but I was young and I wasn't willing to make the sacrifice. I wasn't ready to do it. And the light bulb finally went off for me at some point between 18 and 21, 22. When I was in law school, it was very business like approach, no TV in the building. The first year of law school, it was all focus, it was all nose to the grindstone and get it all done. By then I had matured. And then when you start working, the question is at night, when you're done after you put in your whole day at the law office, are you going to keep working at night? Are you going to find things to do at home? I remember I was at a meeting at the firm I was working at and one of the partners said, if you want to get ahead, basically you got to take your briefcase home every night, take some work home every night, find some time to get something done. And that morphed into eventually this life where all I ever do is work. So at some point, when do you unlock the attitude that you're not going to be protective of your time? You're going to put in the time necessary with Anthony Richardson needs to realize and maybe somebody finally told it to him or the benching is what got it through to him. You've got to be willing to work as hard as the guys you're competing with because they're all working that hard. As Tom Brady said, if you want to compete with me, you got to sign your life over to the sport and it can have consequences on your personal life. You have to be willing, if you want to be great, do you want to be great? Do you want to be great? Are you willing to spend all the time necessary to be as good as you can be? Because if you're not spending all the time that you have available, you're not as great as you can be. Here it and we'll see if that commitment is going to flow and who knows whether or not we'll be privy to it, there'll be rumors, there'll be discussions, there'll be comments, maybe compliments. If it's going well, we'll probably hear it from teammates about how committed he is and how hard he's working. He's the first one to show up. He's the last one to leave. That's what a quarterback does. That's part of what you're paid for. You're paid for your leadership. Yes, you're paid to go out and throw the ball and do great things on the field, but you're paid for preparation. You're paid for leadership. You're paid for what you do to inspire the rest of the guys to show up almost as early as you and to stay almost as late as you. The other big story this week, the Chicago Bears firing offensive coordinator Shane Waldron nine games into the season. Tuesday is when it happened Wednesday is the typical. If you're playing on a Sunday day that people meet with the media. Players both head coach Matt Eberfluis and quarterback Kayla Williams on the ascension of Thomas Brown to be the offensive coordinator. Now that Waldron is gone. I'm very excited about him being the play call and the offensive coordinator, our leader of our offense, going forward for the rest of the season and brings passion, energy, tenacity, toughness, collaboration. You can certainly see that yesterday during the game planning phase of using all the minds and everybody there. I thought that was excellent to see with those guys working together. I think we'll do a good job of marrying everything up together, making everything look the same. And then from there, you'll get a few easier passes, a few extra layups. I think it'll help us in a run game. I think it'll help us in a pass game. You know, what I'm looking for in the offense is creativity, working the guys into open positions on the field, and that takes creativity, but it takes everybody, you know, working with everybody to be able to get that done. If it's Chris, if it's, you know, the running back coach, whoever it might be, using everybody to really do a good job to create that openness, you know, in space to get our athletes in that area. I don't know about you, but the way that Eberfluis was addressing the promotion of Thomas Brown, the offensive coordinator, I'm sitting here thinking, why didn't you just hire him to be the offensive coordinator in the first place? Like, this guy's so great. How did he end up being the passing game coordinator and not the offensive coordinator? Regardless, Shane Waldron wasn't getting it done. And is this just a desperation play by Eberfluis to save his job? Or is this Waldron, for whatever reason, wasn't working? It was bad. It was a mistake. We never should have hired him. We should have hired Thomas Brown to be the coordinator right out of the gates. Time will tell whether it makes a difference. Maddy Befluis also was asked this simple question yesterday as it relates to the flip from Waldron to Brown. Was this all your decision? My decision, of course, I use counsel, you know, with, you know, Ryan, of course, I always have a meeting on Monday with Ryan, George, you know, and Kevin. I've always used those guys for counsel. But my decision. When you met with Ryan, George, Kevin, did you receive assurances about your job security through all of this? You know what? We were not talking about that. We were talking about answers going forward and that's what the conversation was about. Yeah, they had the conversation about whether you get fired after you left the room. I mean, he mentioned meeting with Ryan polls, the GM, George McCasky, the chairman of the team and Kevin Warren, the president of the team. So it's my decision, but I got counsel from the people I work for. I really wish and I understand that the coach needs to project a certain amount of leadership and command. But unless you are the owner of the team or at least the general manager, maybe the president as well, unless they give you all the titles, you work for somebody. We all work for somebody. We all have limits to the decisions we can make when we work for somebody. They don't counsel you. They're not your consigliaries. You're theirs. They make the decisions. And if you're smart, you do the things that you sense they want you to do. They don't have to tell you to do it. Billionaires privilege at that point, many times in many settings over the years, whether it's at PFT, whether it's here, whether it's in playmakers, Jimmy Haslam, he didn't walk around telling people what to do. You don't have to. When you get enough zeros in the account, when you're the guy that has the pink slip to the franchise, the people who want to continue to work for you are smart enough to take their cues without you having to give them orders. They're not counseling that. They're letting him know what he needs to do to have a chance to not be the next one who gets fired. And I still feel like this is a stopover to Hebrew flu is being gone and an offensive coach being hired to be fused together with Caleb Williams over the course of the next 10 years or longer. And on that point, well, before we get to that point, because there was some reporting out of Chicago that players went to Maddie Bufluis and Ryan Polls looking to get rid of Shane Waldron to have him removed his offensive coordinator. Here's both DJ Moore and Maddie Bufluis on this notion that players were frustrated with the performance of the former first year offensive coordinator. They let go of Shane, you know, that was shocking. I don't think anybody really asked for him to be gone. He expressed our frustration, but never to have some high livelihood taken away. And I mean, it's hard, but onto Thomas and we got to back Thomas. Nothing about change, asking for a change, but frustration, of course, you know, we've struggled for three weeks and hadn't scored the way we wanted to, but certainly frustration for sure. The frustrations they shared, what did you hear from them in terms of what wasn't meeting their own? They just want to do more. They just want to do more. More productive, more effective, you know, score points for our football team. Just do more as a group and then more individually in terms of helping the group. It was always in a winning way, a respectful way. It was always in that light. And to me, it was really, really good to see that they really wanted to get better. And it just didn't happen in a timely fashion. It's just another reason why I love covering this sport. And I'm sure it's true of any sport and it's true of any organization, any institution. What do you think is going to happen? If you express frustration about someone in the workplace, when I saw DJ Moore's comments yesterday, I wanted to call him up. I don't have his number. But if I did, I would have called him up and I would have said DJ. What do you and your colleagues, your teammates expect the range of potential outcomes would be when you express frustration openly to the boss of the guy you're frustrated about? What might occur? What are the possibilities? Surely, the guy about whom you're frustrated, no longer having the job, is one of the possibilities. How can you be surprised if he gets fired? What were their frustrations? This guy sucks. I don't know that they said that. But you're talking about a very physical and emotional game. Frustrations don't get reduced to writing in a memorandum that's put in a three ring binder and presented at a formal meeting. Frustration is guys coming off the sideline, guys going into the locker room, guys hanging around after the meetings, making their frustrations known. In the football setting, frustrations lead to extreme decisions if and when those frustrations hit the mark. So that whole thing was kind of odd. We're not looking for the guy to lose his livelihood. We just don't want him to be our coach anymore. We don't care what happens beyond that. Pay him to go home, which they'll do. He still has his livelihood because he still has his contract. So when you express frustration in a sport like football, what you're asking for is the guy who is the source of the frustration to be gone, especially because nine weeks in, this goes back to week three. Mercedes Lewis on the record to Jay Glazer, he and Colcomette and Caleb Williams went to Shane Walden directly and said, coaches, this isn't Bob Warner. So it sounds like they did things the right way. Let's work directly with Waldron and try to rectify the situation. That didn't work. So off we go to expressing frustrations above Waldron, but when you start doing that, you have to understand one of the potential outcomes is the guy's going to be fired. Now moving forward, Caleb Williams, and there was a report earlier in the week that some players wanted Williams to be benched for Tyson Beige. And here's both Williams and DJ Moore on the internal support for their first year, first overall pick quarterback. Do you feel like you have full support of those guys? Is there kind of a tug of war that goes on with you and maybe the veteran receivers in terms of exactly how you want things to be done on the field? No, I think those guys are good, easy. We talk about it. I think they got full support from them. I've gotten texts or calls or people coming up to me with this situation just happened. Coming up to me and saying we got your back, we're with you. Things like that. Yeah, you got to have support for him no matter what. He's going out there busting his butt, trying to learn everything at once, and the defense is throwing a lot at him. So you can't really be mad at him, just got to still back him, whatever he's doing, he's going to get better at it, and we would him. Well, DJ Moore says some things. You can't be mad at him. Why would you want to be mad at him? Is there something to be mad at him about? You can't be mad at him. And that implies that he's not performing at the level that they want him to, but you can't be mad at him. Defense is throwing a lot at him. We got his back. Can't be mad at him. That means he's giving him a reason to be mad. They were mad at Shane Waldron. So I think there's some credence to the idea that some of these veterans who aren't going to be there for the next seven years, or seven months as the case may be, they want to win football games. They want to compete for the playoffs, and they see what's gone on at practice, and they see what went on last year when Beijing played in place of Justin Fields. When things aren't working, the blame gets attached to everyone who's part of what's not working. Justin Waldron not getting it done, express frustration. Caleb Williams not getting it done, express frustration. At some point, he's got to take it on himself to fix things. He's got to maybe defy the call that's been made. Do something else. Do something else on the fly. Use those skills that we saw in the preseason. It looked my home's in. We haven't seen much of that, especially the last three weeks. All right. When we return, the miles component of the Miles Garrett, Miles/Garet edition of the PFT Live, not featuring any Miles Garrett, Miles Simmons, joins me to get you ready for Thursday night football and more right here on PFT Live. Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's enough to stress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and off your body odor with Dove Men Plus care whole-body deodorant. Available at Walmart, Dove Men Whole Body Deal provides all-day odor protection from your pits, privates to feed. From pre-game analysis to halftime insights to unexpected over times, Dove Men Whole Body Deal gives you confidence that lasts all day. Pick it up at your local Walmart. Football season is in full swing, hockey and basketball just getting started. This is the best time of the year for sports, and sling is the best place to watch. Slings got you covered with access to hundreds of games and the biggest networks. Take your love of sports to the next level with sling. It's a no-brainer. Streaming games and saving on them, too. Oh, and it's not just sports. Sling has the news and entertainment channels you love, and less of the ones you don't. So you save hundreds of dollars on live TV. Sling lets you choose and customize your channel lineup so you can select the channels that you actually want to watch, and Sling's Cloud DVR lets you record your shows to watch on your schedule. There's no complex technology, no long-term contracts, and no hidden rigmarole. Get rewarded for watching sports. Sling lets you do that. Visit sling.com/play to learn more and get started at sling.com/play. Sling.com/play. So in a Thursday game, it happens quickly, but I do think it favors a group like ours. This is a really tough-minded group. And so if you told me it was going to be on a Wednesday, they'd be down for it. And so I do think short weeks, it's hard, but it also favors guys. They're like, "Hey, man, I'm down for the fight, and I'll be ready," and whatever it takes kind of attitude. And we got a lot of those kind of guys with a big, giant size chip on their shoulder. So Thursday short, they would have done that Wednesday if they had to. Dan Quinn talking about his commanders as they try to run their record to eight and three. I think separate apart Miles Simmons, and good morning Miles Simmons, separate apart from the burden of playing on Thursday after playing on Sunday, is putting what happened on Sunday behind you. Don't let one loss become two. You had the game one. You're up by ten points in the second half. And you blew it. And now you've got to get up and get going, and some would say that's great. We get a chance to get this bad taste out of our mouths. Some would have a hard time getting over what happened. Bottom line is the train's already here. It's Thursday night. It happens at least once a year for most teams, twice a year for others. The Eagles and the commanders getting together tonight and the commanders have no choice. Ready or not? Here it comes. Yeah. Well, not only that, but I mean, you got Dan Quinn saying twice. You play on Wednesday if we had to, and don't give the NFL any ideas, Dan Quinn. Christmas isn't going to be on a Wednesday next year, but I don't know, man. You know, you keep saying things like that. They'll probably make you start playing on Wednesdays. Boy, did I get that W up there? Yeah. That's what it's going to stand for. Washington Wednesday. You know, I have thought of that, but the NFL will use anything it can to support whatever it wants to do. And I look forward to the press conference where they announce Wednesday night football after playing on Sunday. And exhibit A is Dan Quinn said it twice. Here it is. November 13 20 or whatever day it was November 12, 2024. He said it twice. We'll play on Wednesday. They've said it. They'll play on Wednesday. Let's play on Wednesday. And it is a matter of time before we see, I think Tuesday and Wednesday, we're going to see Wednesday this year on Christmas after they said, oh, we'll never play on Christmas when it's on a Tuesday or Wednesday. No, we will. We do. We are. Two games this year. Yeah. Too much money to be made. So anyway, speaking of this game, though, I said this earlier, this is one of those games that when the schedule was released in May, you don't notice it. By the time we get to the middle of November, you notice it. This is a hell of a game. High stakes. First place on the line as clearly those two teams have separated from the Giants and the Cowboys. It's commander's Eagles and the winner of this game is going to be in pretty good position to nail down the division. Yeah, it's really interesting because certainly I don't think anybody could have anticipated how good Washington would be offensively. I mean, yeah, you thought by Jane Daniels, you know, Heisman Trophy winner, somebody who obviously has ability, but I mean, coming into the season and you were just talking about him, you know, Caleb Williams and the Bears were thought to be, oh, man, you know, that's the team with a rookie quarterback that's going to be able to really make some noise. And you know, it's fallen apart a little bit for the Bears, obviously when you fire offensive coordinator. And then when you have Cliff Kingsbury over here with Washington, I mean, this is the one I just, I didn't anticipate it, man. I mean, you know, when we're talking about Cliff Kingsbury every week, a couple of years ago before he got fired with Arizona, I mean, that was not a guy that I thought could come back in the league, even as an offensive coordinator and with a rookie quarterback and have the success that they've had. And I give Cliff Kingsbury a lot of credit for what they've done, especially what they've done with the run game. It's one of the best in football. We're getting toward the part of the season where there are no more tricks. There are no surprises. There's enough film out there that shows what Cliff Kingsbury is doing. One of the criticisms of him in the past when he was head coach of the Cardinals, the offense doesn't change. It doesn't evolve. It's very simple. It's very basic. I mean, our guys are faster than your guys. We're going to get them the ball and let them go do their thing. That eventually gets blown up at the NFL level. So that's going to be part of the challenge as we get into the second half of the schedule for a commander's team. We didn't expect to be this good. Can they stay a step ahead of the opposing defense? And it's a heck of a test tonight because the Eagles have the ability to shut you down. They've got the talent and they're living up to it after starting two and two. They won five in a row. Now, they haven't really been tested in that five game winning streak, but they are playing NFL teams. They aren't playing college teams, CFL teams, UFL teams, any FL teams other than NFL in the winning. Well, you said it. Which Browns, the Ravens Browns or the Browns Browns? Well, the Ravens Browns are good. The Browns are good. Why don't you do that? Why'd you have to? I mean, I just, I was, I was making a joke at my own expense and then you already and you had to go and then add the other thing in there. Why, why are we going to just left it at the Browns, you know? I was talking to a driver recently about that dynamic that the Ravens are the Browns and Ravens fans get upset when you pointed out and Browns fans get upset too. So it's a great two for one. You piss off two fan bases with one comment. There you go. Yeah. I'm sure you love doing things like that. Yeah. We get to, we get to watch the Browns next Thursday night. I can't wait to have you on bright and early Pacific coast time next Thursday to talk of Brad York Cleveland Browns facing the Pittsburgh Steelers after the Steelers face on Sunday, the real Cleveland Browns in the Baltimore Ravens. Okay. Yeah. Good news for the Eagles, Jordan Mylada is back. He missed four games with a hamstring injury. They were very circumspect about it yesterday when Nick Sirioni was talking to reporters and then lo and behold, he's back. That will help the offense. And by the way, the stat for Jalen hurts five straight games with a passer rating of 115 plus. If he does it again, he becomes only the third guy with six straight games of 115 plus passer rating. Aaron Rodgers did it. Patrick Mahomes did it. Jalen hurts becomes the third to do it. If he can get that 115 passer rating tonight, yeah, but I mean, look at that murderers row of teams that they face. I mean, we're just trying to reference it right, Browns, Giants, bangles, Jaguars, Cowboys. I mean, bangles. Yeah, it's a competitive team. You know, let's give them at least that much credit, even though there are four and six right now and we'll see him this Sunday night and so we'll get a better look at him, I guess. But that's not necessarily the, okay, you know, the, the account like New York Times pitch bot, you know, where they start talking about the stuff. This is this, but why does it feel like that? Like, that's kind of how I feel about the Eagles right now. You know, like they've been playing well, they've done the things that they needed to do. Right. You beat the teams who are on your schedule. And so even though they are seven and two and they have done a good job of the last five weeks, it doesn't necessarily feel like they are one of the top upper echelon teams in a lot of ways. I don't know if that's because like Nick Siriani was kind of fighting with fans after that Browns game and then brought his kids to the press conference or maybe we just don't feel as good about it because they're not converting on the tush push or brotherly shove, whatever you want to call it, play as much as they used to when Jason Kelsey was there. Jordan, my lot of mayor may not help that obviously he's on the outside, but it's just, it doesn't feel like the Eagles are an elite team yet. And if they go out and they beat the brakes off the commanders tonight, then I think that narrative is going to change. Well, you know, last year as they were fattening up their record to 10 and one, they were kind of winning the same way. They weren't blowing people out. They were beating the teams. They should. They were barely winning against the teams that were relatively equal to them. And then you wake up one day and you're 10 and one and the 49ers roll into town and they kick your butts. Great green law and big Dom get into it, big Dom gets banned from the sidelines for the rest of the regular season and it all falls apart for the Eagles after that and they make a one game exit from the playoffs, 32 to nine loss to the Buccaneers that made people wonder for a couple of days whether or not Nick Sirioni would even survive. And I think that's why folks are reluctant. Two reasons. Two reasons. Number one, we haven't seen the Eagles in prime time since week two against the Falcons and and we we have that memory of what happened in December last year and it's coming up. So tonight will be an interesting pivot one way or the other for the Eagles. It's a chance for them to show no, we're different than we were last year. We can take on a team that is in our weight class and we can do well. Now the problem is the commanders aren't really as established. This would be a more meaningful win for the Eagles tonight if the commanders had beaten the Steelers on Sunday. This would elevate, I think the estimation and appreciation of the Eagles and everyone's eyes. If they win this one, we're going to say, well, they were they were supposed to get back to us when they beat a truly elite team because it'll prove the commanders weren't. It's, you know, chicken in the egg are the commanders elite? Well, they can't beat an elite team. So they're not elite and they lost the Eagles. So they're not elite. So the Eagles haven't beaten all the team, right, you know, one of the ways that I think that the Eagles should be able to separate themselves from Washington tonight is the run game. I mean, both of these teams run it very, very well and say Juan Barkley, obviously, has been a home run, you know, free agent signing for them, you know, congrats giants on that. But what you look at it, I think is going to be really interesting. That was unnecessary. That was an amazing spirit. It was, it was a stray, but you know, it was also kind of a direct hit. So, but when you look at Washington's defense, they are allowing 4.9 yards per carry and the Eagles offense is averaging 4.9 yards per carry. So when you have that, right, it's, it's the totally movable force against, you know, the, the object that always moves. I totally messed that up, but you understand what I'm saying. It should be advantage Eagles here. And if they can run the ball, if they can average five or six yards a carry tonight, then that's going to negate all the good things that Jaden Daniels can come on the field and do because the Eagles can just play keep away, right? You go up seven, oh, we get a quick, quick three and out and stop the run. Okay, great. Let's go down the field and score again with the seven minute drive and it's 14 to nothing and then you look up and that you're into the first half. Like that to me is where the Eagles could make this a bit of a boring game, but with their dominance in the run game. And we will see them Sunday night, week 12 at the Los Angeles Rams. So we're going to get another look at the Eagles against the team that's kind of middle of the pack and who knows which way it's going to skew. And then after that, after that, late afternoon window, Sunday, December one, happy December, this kind of is the, if they keep winning, this is the corollary to the 49ers game last year, Eagles at the Brown, I mean, the Ravens on December one, late afternoon. So that'll be a test. There are a lot of winnable games still on the schedule for the Eagles, but there are some games that will let us know who they really are. Steelers December 15 rematch with the commanders, but yeah, there's still a game against the Cowboys. There's a game, a two game, no, one game against the Cowboys still to come and another game against the Giants. So and the Panthers, so they've got some, but the playoffs seem to be a given for the Eagles at this point. How else can they be, win the division, get home field advantage, you know, at some point they're going to have to play the Lions. It feels like, you know, it's Lions are 49ers and, and I think what we're watching for tonight, if they win, if they win, we're looking for signs that this is a team that can compete with the Lions and the 49ers. It's that simple. Yes. Yes. Well, yeah, and I mean, I don't, unless Jared Goff is throwing, you know, five interceptions for consequence, you know, it's hard to say that any team in the NFC right now is going to compete with the Lions. And, you know, the 49ers, they've got their injury issues. There's coming back from guys and da, da, da, da, but I don't think that the 49ers right now are in the same class as Detroit. I don't know that really any team is in the same class as Detroit. I mean, the Rams might have been able to, they, they sort of look like they were starting to get there and then they go out and they pee down their leg against the Miami Dolphins on Monday night, you know. So I, I just, it's hard for me to look around the NFC and think, oh yeah, that, that's a team that I, I feel really good. I mean, look at the NFC South, right? You had the Buccaneers go to that, that place and they beat the Lions, but then the Buccaneers have not been great for the rest of the season. Right. I mean, you know, I got the Falcons. They're good one week or good two weeks and then they pee down their leg too. I mean, going to New Orleans and doing what they did last. So I, I think it's the Lions and kind of everybody else in the NFC. It's a lot of incontinence, apparently in the NFC, the same weekend that the Lions lost the Buccaneers at home. That was when we saw the Eagles in prime time when the Falcons stole that game from them. And you're right. You have been inconsistent and I think that's the difference between great and good right now in the NFL. You don't see lapses from the great teams. The great teams don't step on a rake against the Saints when they just fired their head coach like the Falcons did. The great teams don't slip into this mode where they just can't win a game like the Buccaneers have lost five out of six after starting three and one. The great teams, the Lions, and maybe the Eagles because of this five game winning streak, because they're checking the box every week, they're showing up and winning every week. And we know that that's not easy to do because so many of the teams that we think are destined for something more than going home after the wildcard round are tripping up against teams they should beat. And we see it almost every week where, hey, that team should have easily won and they lost. And the Eagles keep winning and in some cases easily in some cases they play with their food a little bit like they did with the Jaguars. They're up 22 to nothing all of a sudden it's 2016 and all of a sudden the Kobe Deans got to make a play at the end of the game to save the victory. But still, they're showing up and they're winning and there's there's something to be said for that. We just are waiting. I'm waiting for more. I'm waiting for this year is different than last year and when I put that out, Eagles fans get mad, which tells me I'm right and that's one of the things I've learned. If something I say makes the fan base instantly upset, I'm right because that's the thing that they're worried about that they don't want us to talk about. It's the insecurity. I mean, yeah, the thing that I guess I would say about the Eagles in the way that they've been winning and when you have a guy like Saequan Barkley who is averaging about 110 yards a game on the ground, like that is something that usually does translate to postseason football. Like, if we're going to like, I don't know if I want to say Pollyanna about it or rose colored glasses or whatever, but if we're going to use that pot, if we're going to spend what they've been doing positively as opposed to just saying, well, they've beaten the teams on their schedule. Well, the way that they've been doing it a lot of the time is with the run game. And if, you know, we talked about playoff football, pack your run game, pack your defense and they certainly should have a very effective run game come January, you know, and that late playoff push, whatever they need to do. So that's the, that's the thing that I guess gives me some confidence with the Eagles as opposed to, you know, oh, we saw them collapse last year, we have to see if they're going to do it again. Well, one of the reasons why they won't is because they have one of the game's best running backs, you know, in the backfield now with Jalen hurts. You know, you mentioned Pollyanna and I'd never really wondered where the hell does that come from? Apparently it comes from a book that became a film, 1913 novel. It became a film in 1960, about an 11 year old orphan who goes to live in a fictional town in Vermont. And with her sunny personality and sincere sympathetic soul, she brings so much gladness to her aunt's dispirited New England town that she transforms it into a pleasant place to live. Now you know who Pollyanna, because when I hear Pollyanna, I think, is it, is that Pippi long-stocking? What's the difference between Pippi long-stocking and Pollyanna? They both start with P, that's all I know. Okay. Okay. That probably means it's time to break. This break sponsored by Pollyanna, actually PFT Live presented by Accenture will do a little what's more likely when PFT Live continues right after this. Between bad calls and intense rivalries, there's enough distress about on game day. Keep your mind on the field and off your body odor with Dove Men Plus Care Whole Body Deodorant, available at Walmart. Dove Men Whole Body Deo provides all-day odor protection from your pits, privates to feed. From pre-game analysis to halftime insights to unexpected over times, Dove Men Whole Body Deo gives you confidence that lasts all day. Pick it up at your local Walmart. When it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. With Indeed, don't search, match. 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