You ever stumbled upon something, something that is so ridiculous, that it doesn't make
any sense, that it just irritates your soul?
Well, that's exactly what happened when I stumbled upon the entire interview of Earl
Thomas saying that he is better than Ed Reid and Troy Palamalo.
Yes, we are going to talk about it.
We have to talk about it simply because you are not going to just disregard two of the
greatest safeties of all time.
You're just not going to do it.
Okay, but guess what?
Who cares about that guy?
We got to talk about the commanders and eagles game.
We got to talk about the Steelers and the Ratbirds.
If you don't know who the Ratbirds are, they are the Ravens.
That's right.
The first matchup between these two historical franchises, okay?
The Chiefs and the Bills preview, the Packers and the Bills, and the Seahawks and the 49ers,
okay?
This is the 49th episode.
That's right.
One episode away from 50 episodes, folks, 50 episodes.
I cannot wait for that 50th episode, okay?
But don't you worry about that because guess what?
This is the 49th episode of the Football Junkies podcast, okay?
I am your host with the most, okay?
Your Chief Bagrodomist, your Chief Head of the Table person who is in charge of all things
related to the draft.
I don't know it, but guess what?
I have a hand in it.
And guess what?
I already have three mock drafts, three different versions, three different scenarios already
planned out.
You guys don't even know it yet.
I may even drop it.
Who knows?
But guess what?
I'm all these things and more, but most importantly, the most important title that you must remember
is I am a GM who currently is not on the team right now.
But don't you worry about it because guess what?
I am your host, Kale.
You already know what I'm getting ready on three, one, two, three.
Let's lock in.
All right, folks, let's just get into the meats and potatoes of everything that is going on
in the league right now.
You know what?
Before we get into that, I think we need to do a little bit of a rant.
Just a really small one, something light, nothing serious.
Earl Thomas, four Hawks and Ravens, a member of the Legion of Boom, decided that he wanted
to say that he is better than Troy Palamalu and Ed Reid.
Now, normally I would just let it be, let it go or whatnot, but you know, that is a
very sore, sensitive subject here at the Football Junkies podcast because we over here are very
big fans of both of those players and revere them very highly, not only in their position,
but what they did, then Troy Palamalu and Ed Reid is a disgrace to the game.
You think that you are better than Ed Reid and Troy Palamalu, two safeties who changed
the game of football.
Earl Thomas, you have never changed the game of football, dear sir.
Now, granted, you were really good during your time.
You was not going to take that away from you.
You were phenomenal when you were with the Seahawks, when the Legion of Boom was one
of the most dominant secondaries, defenses, whatever, and NFL history, okay?
We'll give that to you, but what you will not do on this day is say that you are better
than two players who both have won defensive player of the year awards, who are regarded,
universally regarded as two of the best safeties of all time.
You are not better than Ronnie Lough, you are not better than Ken Houston, you are not
better than Paul Krauss.
I can keep on going down this list if you really want to, but the simple fact that you
said that you are better than the both of them, no, you are not.
Your skill set can't even hold a candle to what Ed Reid did, and I know for damn sure
I can't even hold a candle to what Troy Palamalu did.
And Troy is my guy, that is my man 50 grand, and the fact that you did this is an atrocity,
sir.
You, sir, drinking from the cup of delusion right now to really think that you are the
equal or better than those two.
If it wasn't for injuries that caught up to them later into their career, oh, best believe
they would have shattered multiple records, multiple records.
You really, that you are better than those two.
Let me tell you something.
I'm just going to be really, really 100% honest with you.
If you put Ed Reid in this era of football right now, 100% guaranteed he will be close
to breaking Paul Krauss' interception record without question, because now they pass the
ball ball.
And Troy, on the other hand, you can make a case that he probably could thrive in this
league as well.
But the simple fact for you to say that, nah, brother, nah, nah, brother, your CTE is acting
up real bad and it shows.
Do you think that you're a first ballot holofamera?
No, you are not a first ballot holofamera.
No, you are not.
Now, let's just get into this Commerians and Eagles game because I'm already flustered
and whatnot.
So it started off really good, started off really slow and whatnot.
You probably nodded off in everything.
Probably put a load of clothes in and probably cleaned up the kitchen and whatnot or whatever.
And then the second half, fireworks.
That's the best way to describe it, fireworks.
The Eagles did their thing.
They started to run the ball ball with Saquon and then the rest is history.
But let's get into these stats.
So Jaden Daniels was 22 for 32, 191 passing yards, one touchdown, one interception, six
yards per attempt and a 68.8 completion percentage.
Okay?
Brian Robinson, 16 attempts for 63 rushing yards, 3.9 rushing yards per carry, one touchdown
and one rush of 10 plus yards or more.
Austin Eckler, nine target for eight receptions, 89 receiving yards and 11.1 receiving yards
per reception.
Jaylen Hertz, 18 for 28, 221 passing yards, 7.9 yards per attempt and a 64.3 Cleveland
Quad yard.
Barkley, 26 attempts for 146 rushing yards, 5.6 rushing yards per carry, two touchdowns
and two rushes of 10 plus yards or more.
AJ Brown, eight targets for five receptions, 65 receiving yards and 13 receiving yards
per reception.
Now here is a junky nugget that we also have to put in there before we do our little bit
of analysis over this game.
Okay?
Quin Yard Mitchell when lined up against Terry McClory, which he did, no targets, no receptions
and no, I will say Quin Yard Mitchell is going to be a problem moving forward.
He is going to be a dominant corner, definitely one of the best corners in the league if he
is not already in that conversation right now.
But this is what I will say.
I think the flaws of the commander's game is starting to show and you're now seeing a
team who, you know, they're a little bit limited to the way that the roster is constructed.
Because in the beginning, they were creating a lot of pressure on Jaylen Hertz.
They were going after Jaylen Hertz.
They were.
Frankie Louvue was, you know, moving everywhere.
He was creating plays and whatnot.
The defense was holding their own.
But then out of the woodworks, Jaylen Hertz and the Eagles offense just woke up and to
say, you know what, let me scoot up a little bit.
Let me let me get up out of my chair a little bit.
Let me let me tilt forward a little bit.
Let me let me play a little bit serious right now.
And that's exactly what they did.
Now I will say this.
I do believe Jaden Daniels, you know, rib injury.
I think it is a little bit more serious than what people are saying, because you can tell
that he is very limited with his throwing.
You can tell that it's really impacting him.
You know, if I'm Jaden Daniels, well, not even Jaden Daniels, but if I'm the command,
I am probably thinking about maybe just letting Jaden Daniels just miss maybe one or two games.
It's not going to hurt you guys.
It really isn't like you.
The commanders have exceeded all expectations as of right now, they have.
And you know, right now you still want to protect your rookie quarterback because again,
you don't want him to fall into the same traps that RG3 did.
If it means that you have to keep him out for maybe a game or two, then that's what
you have to do.
But right now you can definitely tell that the commander's defense definitely me of March
on Lattimore to play because if March on Lattimore played last night, I do believe that they
probably would have had a better chance of actually winning the game.
I do because March on Lattimore is still a really good corner and he can still hold his
own against some of the best receivers in the league.
This just shows you that, hey, the commanders, they did everything that they could.
But when you're going up against a loaded offense like the Eagles that has AJ Brown and
Devontae Smith and Seguin Barkley, there's only so much that you can do at some point.
Something is going to happen in the game and somebody's going to go walk.
And that's exactly what happened.
Seguin went off.
He did his thing and he continues to show the Giants and everybody else that listen,
they thought, oh, there is no point in in paying Seguin.
Well, guess what?
Seguin right now, you can make a strong case between him and Derek Henry are both runners
for MVP and it could also be runners for offensive player of the year.
I truly believe that because those two alone have been the best running backs in the league
right now and they're doing phenomenal things.
You have Derek Henry, who is scoring, you know, a touchdown every single game.
You have Seguin Barkley doing, you know, things that you will only see in Madden.
This is going to be a really good team moving forward.
Do I still believe that that the commanders can, you know, definitely make it into the
playoffs?
Oh, for sure.
Now, do I think they're going to make it far in the playoffs?
Probably not.
But the mere fact of them making it to the playoffs and Jaden Daniels, you know, first
year is definitely significant.
Best believe the holes that you see now in the commander's team on both sides of the
ball will 100% be patched up come next season.
Now let's get into some of these games that everyone's going to be talking about and everyone's
going to be watching on Sunday.
So let's start off with the greatest rivalry in sports history, and that is the Steelers
versus the Ravens.
So these are just a few things that, you know, I just decided to jot down.
I'm definitely going to be paying attention to.
And I think to start things off is how will the Steelers limit Derek Henry?
Because right now, no team really hasn't been able to really stop Derek Henry outside of
Cam and Keanu Benson and Larry Ogren-Joby, we don't have another body that, you know,
was going to be standing tall standing firm against Derek Henry.
We just don't.
Derek Henry is playing out of his mind this season, and he has literally scored a touchdown
every single game.
Are we going to be the ones that are going to be able to do it?
Yes.
How are we going to do it?
I don't know.
Now, my assumption is they're probably going to call up Brandon Fajoco from the practice
squad and that they'll probably, you know, have him play with, you know, Keanu Benson
and probably maybe stack the box, maybe not stack the box.
I don't know.
But all I know is this, the problem with this Ravens offense is when you cut off one head,
guess what?
There's another one.
And even though you may limit Derek Henry, you still have to worry about Lamar as well.
Because guess what?
He can go for 10 or 15 yards untouched.
No problem.
That's definitely something that I think is the number one priority for the Steelers right
now.
Next point is how can the Ravens try to minimize or maybe even eliminate the deep passing game
for the Steelers?
Because right now, Russell Wilson has been able to unlock the deep passing game for the
Steelers.
We all know that the Raven secondary has definitely been struggling lately.
So top of that, I think another question that definitely needs to be asked is who is going
to be covering George Pickens?
Because if it's Brandon Stephens, oh, that's barbecue chicken alert.
Barbecue chicken alert.
Barbecue chicken alert folks.
Okay.
That's exactly what's going to happen if George Pickens is lined up with Brandon Stephens.
Now, Mike Williams, I do think that's going to be a matchup nightmare as well.
I just think personally, this is going to be a back and forth game.
This is going to be a traditional Ravens and Steelers matchup.
It's going to be back and forth.
You don't know who's going to win and it's going to be a spectacular game.
Now, another thing that we definitely need to talk about is how effective will the passing
game be for the Ravens?
Because again, they have their own trio of monsters as well.
Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Zay Flowers, Rashad Bateman and Company.
And you also have Deontay Johnson, which speaking of that, before we go any further, I know
there was a lot of people saying, well, Mike Tomlin was throwing jabs at him, which we
probably was in a real respectful way.
But the fact of the matter is, there isn't a whole lot of footage to really review and
to go over for Deontay since he's been traded to the Ravens.
Because why?
We drafted Deontay.
So Mike Tomlin has seen way more film than everybody else has.
So he knows exactly how to limit someone like a Deontay Johnson.
So that's not necessarily him just being flat out disrespectful.
That's just him being honest.
Listen, y'all may have to look at him.
I don't because I drafted him.
I've seen him up until this point.
So I already know how to counter and how to limit his ability on the field.
So what it is.
Now, these are two junky junky nuggets that definitely need to be mentioned before we
move on to the other games.
By the way, this is going to be a fairly short episode.
I've been trying to keep things short for you guys as well.
Just have to put that in there.
But the Steelers have have won seven of the eight matchups against the Ravens.
All have been decided by seven points or less.
Now I will say this.
I'm not, you know, I'm not necessarily super big into betting and whatnot.
But if you are a betting person and if you think you're going to be putting a whole lot
of money on this game, I would take it out of far view because this game is going to
be a very close game.
It's going to come down to the wire.
It really is.
So if you think, oh, this person's going to, you know, have a breakout game or that person
going to have a breakout game.
Hey, I would think twice about that, sir.
Ma'am, whomever.
I would really think about it.
Now I'm not a stat that definitely needs to be talked about as well as over the last
four starts against the Steelers.
Lamar has the worst passer rating at 66.3%.
Now am I saying that the Steelers are the Ravens kryptonite?
No.
But what I am saying is this.
We play Lamar fairly well.
I would say we play him the best out of all the other teams in the NFL.
And it's not only because we are division rivals.
It's just simple.
We have the Ravens number.
That's it.
That is simple.
We have the Ravens number.
Okay.
So for all that smack and talking all that trash about the Steelers, just know we are
not going to just lay down and allow you guys to get a W. It is going to be a fight.
It is going to be a brawl.
This will dictate who will be winning the North because you know why I'm going to have
to talk my talk.
I really am.
I know it's been a while since I've done it.
I've been trying to be real humble this season, but I have to.
Okay.
So all the Browns and Bagels fans that think, oh, it's our division.
The division is up for the grabs.
No, it's not.
It never has and it never will be.
Okay.
The division will always be won by one or two teams.
It's either going to be the Ravens or it's going to be us, the Steelers, the Sixth.
Nope.
I'm not going to do it.
I'm a wait.
I'm a wait till after the game.
Then I'm a really go off.
Okay.
But let's get into another game that we have to talk about.
So the bills in the chiefs.
I think the number one question that I have is how effective will this chiefs passing
game be against the bills?
Because the bills have been playing fairly well, especially that defense.
And we all know that Josh Allen is three and one against my homes in the regular season.
And if we're being real year and I'm, I'm just, I just have to say this.
I really do.
I'm completely honest here.
The chiefs are probably going to go down in history as one of the worst undefeated teams
in NFL history.
When you think of, you know, previous undefeated teams, they are teams that are dominant.
They are blowing teams out of the water, every single opponent.
The chiefs, the chiefs are barely getting by with a lot of these games.
They barely won against the Broncos.
They barely won against the 49ers.
They barely won against the Ravens.
Let's be real year.
This team is not super dominant.
Here the defense does, you know, is doing their part, but there's offense.
And I'll just leave it there.
But for the bills, I want to see exactly what are they going to do moving forward because
I do know that Amari Cooper is, is banged up as well as Dalton Kincaid, which actually
speaking of him, he was actually declared out for that game.
So are the bills going to rely more on the run game?
Are they going to try to see if they can feed him more to Keon Cole?
What exactly is this bills team going to do against the chiefs?
Because again, everybody knows the players, the playoffs are going to run through Kansas
City.
We all know that blah, blah, blah.
Nobody cares.
But I do believe that this is going to be a traditional, you know, back and forth game
between the bills and the chiefs.
I think Josh Allen definitely has a lot to prove.
And I think, you know, the bills realize that if they continue to, you know, stack these
wins up against their AFC opponents, it puts them in a real comfortable position for the
playoffs, which, you know, that's what they want.
Moving on to the Packers and Bears game.
I think the number one question that we all need to ask is how will this Bears offense
create plays and how would it look like with the recent firing of Shane Waldron?
Because again, this offense has been underachieving with the amount of talent that they have.
You have an entire receiving core, Kenan Allen, Roma Dunze, DJ Moore, Dolton Kincaid, Deandre
Swift and company, you have it.
So for them not to be able to, you know, be a little bit more competitive, definitely
says a lot and granted, you can't put all of this on Kenan Williams' shoulders.
You can't because he's a rookie.
So he's still trying to find his footing while dealing with dysfunction all around.
It's a dysfunction.
You have a coach right now that I would not be surprised that if they get blown out against
the Packers on Sunday, that he will probably get fired, most likely.
And you know, you just have a whole lot of just turmoil that has happened with this Bears
team and granted, this was a team that I was thinking, Oh, this team is going to be super
competitive in their division.
And right now they are falling off a cliff.
And I'm talking about the steepest cliff that you can think of in your mind and just imagine
the Bears just falling free fall.
That's how bad it is.
Now, since 2019, the Bears have lost 10 straight games to the Packers.
10 straight.
This is not good, folks.
This is not good.
On top of that, the Bears have gone 23 consecutive drives without scoring a touchdown.
Caleb Williams has been sacked 38 times of the season.
That is the most in the National Football League right now.
I think what needs to be talked about a lot more is the inability for the Bears to not
move off of Matt Iberfluss this offseason this year and just trying to bring in a new
head coach prior to the season starting simply because he doesn't know what he's doing.
Matt Iberfluss does not know what he's doing.
He is not an NFL head coach.
Sure he can be a coordinator.
Sure he can be an assistant to a coordinator.
But to say that he is a head coach, no he is not.
We continue to see the cycle of the Bears once again messing things up with their rookie
quarterback by having a bad head coach.
We saw with Mitchell Trebisky.
We saw with Justin Fields.
And now we sort of are seeing it with Caleb Williams.
And mind you, all the moves that they made for Caleb Williams was sort of showing that
okay they learned from their mistakes with Justin Fields and Mitchell Trebisky and that
they're ready to move forward and to go in a different direction.
But clearly that's not the case.
And now they have fallen back into that same broken cycle and now Caleb Williams is suffering
for it.
And so now you're about to go through somewhat of bend the wheel for the next head coach
because again, Ben Johnson most likely he's not going to stay in the division.
If he does, he'll probably stay with the Lions.
Who else right now could you say would be a great pickup for the Bears for Caleb Williams?
Because as of right now, they need an offensive head coach.
They need to stop with this defensive head coach crap.
Go and get you an offensive minded head coach so that they can work on Caleb Williams and
to make him one of the best quarterbacks that he can be his skill set says it.
So you have to be able to make sure that you make this right.
Because again, the Bears realized that they messed up on Mitchell Trebisky and Justin
Fields.
They did when it comes to the coaching.
They waited too long to make those necessary changes.
And now look, Mitchell Trebisky is now back up and Justin Fields is, you know, was trying
to fight for a starting role, a starting quarterback job.
Like, come on now.
But you know, for the Packers, this is, you know, just another game.
That's it.
It's just another game for the Packers.
I will continue to say it.
The Packers are a dark horse team that not a lot of people are talking about that will
definitely sneak up and be the team that nobody would ever expect when it comes to the playoffs.
You heard it here first on the football junkies podcast.
Now onto the final game that I think we definitely need to talk about.
Seahawks of 49ers.
This is an old school traditional matchup that, you know, during the Legion of Boom era, man,
man, oh man, you would see some serious highlights, some serious hits, some serious throws passes,
you name it.
It would be great.
But now it's, it's a little bit watered down.
But who cares about that?
But I think the number one question for the 49ers is, can their special teams unit improve?
Because again, they have been hitting somewhat of a little, a little bit of a bump in the
road, you know, sort of, sort of say when it comes to the special teams, it has not
been good.
And you know, we saw that viral clip of Dbo basically telling the special teams like,
Hey, you got to lock in, bro.
You got to lock in.
You know, rightfully so, because again, you guys are just as important as we are.
And if you, if you can do your job, then guess what, that puts more pressure on us to try
to, you know, mitigate or fill in that gap or whatever the case may be.
This team, they're holding on, they're holding on by for dear life.
And I'm talking about not even a little rafter.
I'm talking about that small little baby pool tube that you, that you put little kids
in that, you know, that keeps them afloat and whatnot.
That's what the 49ers are holding on to.
One more thing that we do need to mention though is the 49ers do average 5.6 yards per
carry when George Kittle is on the field and 3.4 yards per carry when George Kittle is
not on the field.
So, you know, when with brand IU being out for the season and other people, you know,
being nagging injuries and whatnot, they've definitely been leaning on George Kittle not
only for the running game, but as well as, you know, in the passing game as well.
And it's working.
So, you know, let's see what happens moving forward because I don't even think the Seahawks
really have anybody that could, you know, be a good matchup against George Kittle.
And on top of that, I forgot to mention this as well.
This 2022, the 49ers have won six consecutive games against the Seahawks, including playoffs.
Now for the Seahawks on the other hand, winning this game is one step closer for you to be
able to compete with the Cardinals to win this division.
Because as of right now, this division is still up in the air.
Now granted, you still have three really good teams.
You still have the Seahawks, the 49ers and the Cardinals.
So somebody got to, somebody got to win this thing.
Somebody.
Now, do I think the Seahawks will be able to, you know, break this streak and actually
win against the 49ers?
Yes, I do for sure.
Because as of right now, neither team, you know, has a real clear cut advantage over
the other.
Sure, Chris McCaffrey has, has come back, but he still has to go through somewhat of
the bumps and bruises and knock the rust off, you know, per se when it comes to playing
football, because again, he's been out for almost half of the season.
So he has to get back into, you know, back into the swing of things.
So for the Seahawks defense, man, you guys got a tall task.
Now that Chris McCaffrey is back, you got to worry about him.
You got to worry about Debo, George Kittle and company.
But you know, I still do believe in the Seahawks defense.
I still think they are ultra competitive and I do believe that they do have playmakers
on this team that can be able to make the big play if need be.
But I want to end this episode here short episode.
I know, I know, I know, but guess what?
If you guys like what you are listening, please, please, please, please, please like, share,
subscribe, turn that notification bell on, leave a comment down below, download the episodes,
leave a five star review.
Okay.
Now for my YouTube people, football junkies pod, okay, football junkies pod.
You go on the YouTube, you go into the description and there'll be a few links.
There'll be the link to the link tree, which has the links for all the other places that
we have football junkies content that you can interact with as well as links to our Spotify,
Apple podcast, RSS feed.
If you want to just directly click on those links and go directly there without having
to go through the link tree.
Now for my TikTok people, football junkies pod, okay, football junkies pod.
I know the clips, the clips have been doing numbers and I know I got another round of
clips that I have to put out.
Hey, I put out some clips once this episode comes out today.
Who knows?
Stay tuned.
Now for my Instagram people, football underscore junkies pod, okay, football underscore junkies
pod.
Junkies pod is not what?
It is together, not spaced.
Okay.
I gave you guys the fix that you guys need.
I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys so much.
We're almost there to 50 episodes.
I appreciate you guys so much for rocking with me on this journey.
Best known next year is going to be even a bigger and better year for the football junkies
podcast.
But as always, I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys so much.
Do something great this weekend.
Drink some water.
I don't know.
Talk to a friend.
Peace and love.
I'm out.
And another thing.
Go Steelers.