in the book eight more to go whatever that book is by
the way Tony Dungy Drew Brees Mike Florio with us I'm going to
start with hummus Dungy we started our
season in the barbershop in Tampa and it was coming off
a bye week in a loss they are going to take off and
Washington just flat-out beat them on Sunday so what are we
reading the books now yeah we we thought well New Orleans
they've got
a formula they know how to plan but Washington basically did
the same thing they took away the Deep passing game stopped
at the Run kind of forced Tom Brady into a lot of difficult
throws and then offensive Lee they they just
possess the football and we're not used to seeing that against
Tampa Tampa's got to get back to that form they get some
plays explosive plays up the field and then defensively Drew
they just haven't put any pressure on anybody know they
haven't been able to get
pressure with their form in front as we know Todd Bowles
likes 25-man six-man pressure a lot but on the back in their
missing three of their top corner so from a coverage
perspective those are really good matchups for them so
they're giving up more placed other
teams were able to stay on the field they're not generating
turnovers or pass rush and the result is what you see which is
it's making a really tough a lot tougher for their offense
and they're staying on the field longer than I think you
are right
about that one thing Todd Bowles probably hesitant to
Blitz as much as he would like not feeling like I've got those
healthy Corners let's split this to the Washington side 20
we did this playoff game the wild-card game last year Taylor
heinicke played well and we
didn't think you'd play well at all he played really well kept
them in the game and he Washington defensively does
a good job I bring my kitchen floor because Mike you spoke to
Ron Rivera after the game and then imagine this is the high
point of
the Washington season that had not been going is forecast to
this point he told me that the game tape from that playoff
loss to Tampa Bay because really when you look at
the four playoff games Washington gave them a surprising and
you're able to say we
can play with this team has had two weeks to get ready and and
Washington spent the first week focusing on themselves Rivera
told me the second we focusing on the Buccaneers but huge win
for Washington and what seems to be a pretty wide-open race
for that
last playoff spot in the NFC in for the Buccaneers you just
have to wonder two straight losses and this is when they
found the gas pedal last year coming out of the bye week and
they're still searching for the gas pedal and Washington
the Giants and
Philadelphia all have six losses five losses right now is
good enough in life by that's Rivera's old team Carolina and
it come back to you on that bike in just a minute with
suspended over to Seattle and Green Bay I thought you made
a great point the finger we saw the video of the rehab and
the return and all that and Aaron
Rodgers out because of covid-19 look like Aaron Rodgers and
Russell Wilson do the thing these guys are Hall of Famers
are there great quarterback they're going to come in and
light things up it doesn't work that way she doesn't hear you
play you go a week
without practicing it all you go for weeks like Russell
Wilson you're not going to just come back and just be lights
out right away I had consecutive Seasons my last two
seasons where I missed time with my thumb and then miss
time with my ribs and
in so certainly come back in a little bit Rusty and the timing
isn't all there and I think it's specially for 4 for Aaron
Rodgers though when you look at the way his defense of playing
that's so encouraging because you feel like that coupled with
his
Run game and obviously Davante Adams and and there are just
a tough team to beat anywhere Green Bay if I'm a Green Bay
fan because that defense is showing signs of Benadryl One
games even when they all offences and red what are you
defense defense was much maligned another coordinator
change trying to find the right answer third different
coordinator in four years are you seeing a difference in this
defense now you have to remember his roots Tampa Bay
Rod Marinelli Tony Dungy maybe so
they're playing hard that they're they're making you go
the long route and it's fundamentally sound Mike bring
you in here on what is a very interesting puzzle that is
developing in the NFC wearegreenbay now finds itself
at the very top after all the conversation last week
a little bit of a tumultuous week Aaron Rodgers emotional
when he leaves the field today talk about that his press
conference right now if it all ended you have to go through
Lambo to get to the Superbowl in the NFC
yeah and that as we can tell from the weather today too and
a half months before the good luck in Green Bay on January
13th important issue to keep in mind in Rogers was asked about
this after the game it was
his first press conference since his positive test back on
November 3
how badly will you feel if you can't play in the Super Bowl
because you test positive again or you have a close contact and
he said he didn't want to get into what if but the reality is
he doesn't get past it isn't subject to close
contact disqualification until two days after the NFC
Championship well that leaves twelve days until the Super
Bowl where he would be tested again he would be subject to
get knocked out again we've already seen it happen once so
it could line up just like that were
Packers fans have to sweat out 12 days between when he's
tested again and when the Super Bowl happen if you left for
everybody a little bit after you test positive there's
a window where you come out so now if you are among
the players who are
not vaccinated there's a certain time. Where none of
that testing or will apply to you and you're almost like we
talked about earlier with covid-19 in a test free zone
yeah they call to testing holiday 90 days from the date
on which you tested positive not only are you not tested but
you also are not automatically gone for 5 days if you're in
close contact with someone who's infected for unvaccinated
players generally you're gone for
5 days if that happens so he's set through the NFC
Championship two days after he goes back to where he was on
November 3rd so true you play the game or two against Cam
Newton in the NFC South right and so Cam Newton he's with the
Patriots he doesn't make it Dad interviews them right we we see
that's why I didn't think we'd see you again this year right
and he goes back to of all places Carolina and he runs out
there PJ Walker starting because Sam darnold out likely
for the
rest of the season and are in the Red Zone Here Comes Cam and
he runs it in and it really felt like it was 2013 14 and
I was going to say the irony of that was the place that he was
in today for the Panthers
were exactly mirror images of what you would have remembered
from him for 5 years ago when they were really making their
run and so if they can continue to build on that and you're Joe
Brady will do a great job in building that offense around
him
if he ends up being the starter now for the rest of the season
but again the way that defense is playing and having Christian
McCaffrey next to him if he can just have some semblance of
a passing game where he's taken care of the football he's
Distributing the ball to all the Playmates got a bunch of
Playmakers receiver then this could be a dangerous to let me
go back in the Red Zone that's a really great job code 0 and
think about when cam was playing and
they went to the Superbowl in 2016
very good running game heads Jonathan Stewart then but then
a lot of stuff that came off that run game excellent defense
and that's what they have now and in Carolina so if Cam can
deliver just you know what percentage of what he was they
can be
dangerous here old school football league grit spits out
Magic Mike Florio the magic of the grid is just so happens
cams back and Ron Rivera and Washington next week is there
any possibility that
camp start S I'm told there's a strong chance you'll be
the starter he'll be the guy and Rivera had never and has never
faced Cam Newton on the opposite side of the field and
I just kind of joking around when I said Rivera today cuz I
saw the schedule hey dude do you have that little file that
you carry around of this plays out use on defense if I ever
face and he said yes I do
Intelligence on Cam Newton is ready to use against incredible
a couple weeks of week 11 leaving the New England
Patriots after what you saw today against Cleveland in
Foxboro yes and even before that Bill Belichick he
builds things they don't beat themselves they know how to tag
people on the question was was Mac Jones going to be able to
play a winning football at this level right away and he's
showing that he can they've got a lot of other elements in
place
they can Pound The Run they've got a defense of gives you
different looks all the time they play well on special teams
and McDonald's is playing X-Men football for them he is early
in this season they we're still trying to kind of find
themselves on defense
they were not running the football they're putting a lot
of that pressure on Mack Jones but these last four weeks this
is been old school Patriot football the defense is playing
lights out there getting turnovers are being very
opportunistic the run football over 150 yards per
game and Matt Jones that allows him to just throw 23 to 25
passes and game is complete and 17 or 18 I'm sorry 70-plus
percent completion he's Distributing the ball very well
you can tell he's mature Beyond his years but now if you take
the pressure
off of him having to carry the offense I mean you're seeing
him mature before your eyes even more but but they've got
everything it takes we left Foxboro 7 weeks ago week for
the Brady return game right and say nice things that don't feel
get better
5 or 7 games they played since then go to wasser's of that
game and the Dallas game in overtime they really tremendous
football can they beat buffalo in the MCS that they can and
the the thing about the AFC there is not a great team in
the AFC right now there's no dominant team so you you look
at them and they they'll adjust to whoever they play weekend
and week out there going to have a great game plan to go
against them they're going to give themselves
every game and that's what I love about them probably more
so than any team is she talked about being so game plans
specific on both sides of the ball offense and defense some
teams just go out there and what we run but truly each and
every
week offense and defense they're going to have something
specific to win that game and you've watched it this way
these last four weeks and we when we used to go against them
and we did a lot back there right now and you could most
times you
watch their last four games and that's what you're going to get
me to try to find like us to look at it may have been six
games of goat before but that's what you had to do because you
weren't going to see what you might have
seen last week if that's him done resume be very specific to
you if you want you do they Pittsburgh a few weeks ago and
Pittsburgh win that game and then we watch Cleveland play
Cincinnati's out here with the Bangles on your Cleveland's
really on a roll
now Odell's not there they've got their group and then Cleveland
Shuffle in this game and Baker gets hurt again can you figure
Cleveland out right now
what are the defense was not good Myles Garrett told
reporters after the game they weren't really making
adjustments during the game which is not the most strong
endorsement you can make a defensive coordinator Joe Woods
on the offensive side of the ball. I'll come down at
Baker Mayfield he's he's kind of
you know hovering around a level that's acceptable but
it's not high-level franchise stuff that they they hoping it
back to second half of last season he had that that uptick
did carry them in the postseason I got the movie
Victory I feel like they're waiting for
that and they're waiting for that and part of the problem is
he's so banged up you can see the harness on the left
shoulder now he has the knee contusion he's just having
a heck of a time getting a hundred percent and it's going
to be
hard for him to become a franchise guy if he's
constantly chasing the the effort to try to get himself
fully healthy think of my friends in Cincinnati this
weekend good weekend for Cincinnati right hosted
the u.s. national soccer team got a dose I said a win
over Mexico in the World Cup in the World Cup qualifying group
the Bearcats one they're still rolling go to into a perfect
season Baltimore on Thursday night
AFC North for this week and gentlemen New Orleans Tennessee
Titans keep it Rollin by beating beating the Saints in
the Titans it's not impressive but they just keep finding ways
to win you have to credit Mike Vrabel for that New Orleans had
their opportunities I guess
their fourth kicker Drew this is going to hurt him a little
bit of extra points it really that game came down to probably
three plays you know the past are the a truck in the past
Tennessee
they're not playing on on offense but they're not beating
themselves either without Derrick Henry we wondered what
the Run game would look like if it's okay it's functional and
they're making some plays in the passing game but really
there winds have been about defense and special
teams taking the ball away and just plain really sound in that
regard
and they'd fallen into this Rhythm where they take each
game 1 of the time we hear that cliche all the time but they
have hit that strive where they're never going to look
past and never going to look back going to focus on the here
or
nothing losing the Jets helped jar them into that sense of
let's just focus on one game at a time take everybody seriously
don't look past anybody and just take our games one after
another and it's work six straight it's the one positive
for the Jets today
by the way I start ugly
ugly an opportunity to date it to the top of the vision got
a big big big test coming up next week and and in the rest of
their their divisional schedule so that was a missed
opportunity missed opportunity is correct and you can blame
hey Ben
Roethlisberger's out you know and what Chase Claypool and we
don't have this guy and I had that guy but you still can't
catch balls go 40 hours and then fumble you can't have
penalties when you get interceptions
those are the things that I know Mike Tomlin is going to be
very upset about it Mike and it's not like anyone is going
to say what a surprise Mason Rudolph wasn't able to come in
and get the job done meeting with kind of seen that
the past few years that's what's so stunning about
the Steelers right now they're content to have a significant
drop-off between starting quarterback and back up and
they really didn't do anything to address it in the offseason
and this is one of those occasions where you pay
for it and now they may not have Ben Roethlisberger next
Sunday night but he's got to have the two negative tests at
least 24 hours apart and a minimum he's probably gonna
miss most of the practice week even if he does make it back so
it
could be Mason Rudolph again
Ben was vaccinated vaccinated I should say he reported symptoms
right away and the covid test was positive that's why I was
a real last 24 hours 24 hour before the game situation last
I will come to you on the Vikings know Timmy watch
closely that did
win against Delhi how about Mike Zimmer walking off
the field as so far leaving the school for the Vikings fan
California port charges to Port charges that was funny when
they was playing at the 30 thousand seats Stadium it was
overrun by visiting Fair every week
it'll be better when we have a bigger Stadium now the dream is
alive guys or eight and nine
maybe the Seven Seas quick eggs in the postseason and do it all
over again next year but the Vikings really might be
the fifth or sixth grade had so many games that they could have
one with a Kik or something here I had a
feeling they would beat the Chargers today but they can
play just as bad next weekend and lose I was going to say
there's not a team that's more battle-tested we can say that's
a good one but they're going to win something that they
shouldn't and they're
going to lose him if they shouldn't but regardless to be
closed and it's going to be a 14-2 they came down to it
so we'll say goodbye roll the Applebee's credit enjoy your
meal