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Eric Davis
Now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to dive into the top five headlines coming out of week 12 of the NFL Sunday slate. We said we want to do something each week that maybe has a little bit of reason, a little bit of rhyme, a little bit of structure. What are they doing football games with that? Oh, that's called the first 15. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our first 15. Driven by Ram truck. Whenever you hit the gas, that thing sounds like obviously incredibly smooth, powerful and durable. But it's also perfect for the first 15 because that's what we're trying to be. Put the clock, please, in the lower left corner. Bang. Let's get started. Top five headlines coming out of week 12 Sunday slate. Number five. Whose league? It's looking like Rams league. Heard that a lot last night. Whose house? Rams house. Whose house? Rams house. Felt loud. Felt like the Rams faithful have kindly. I don't want to say finally, but the Rams faithful taking over that entire building now whenever they go out to Los Angeles, you have no idea what's going to happen. How's this going to go? Is the franchise going to be able to be exciting enough and electrifying enough to steal the attention of the people that live in la? And with the Rams, are they going to be good enough? Then they win the Super bowl in SoFi in their own stadium, in their own city, and then they go all in, basically for that team. They sent a bunch of draft picks out there, you know, and GM actually quoted saying, fuck them picks. You know, that's kind of everywhere. We need to win right now in a brand new city. And somehow from that era to what they're doing right now, they've been able to continue to turn over the dominance. They got a young defense that's everywhere, and they got a quarterback who was drafted in the same class as me and D Bus. He was pick number one. I was picked 222. He was picked number one. Darius J. Butler was picked 41. Oh, yeah, that's old CBA for Matthew Stafford and for Darius J. Butler. But what this guy is doing this year is outrageous. He's the MVP odds on favorite. And every time he's on primetime, he's doing the shit that he's doing, especially with Devonte, which D Butt's going to get into here in a matter of moments. But every time he gets out on TV and showcases what he's able to do at this current stage of his career with dudes like Puka Nkua, who Devonte Adams said, he's like, this is the greatest vibe of all time. Puka Nku are always positive, always energetic. Also impossible to tackle. An incredible, incredibly tough. Kind of sets a tone for everybody in the building. And oh yeah, you got an OG Devonte Adams in that building. And oh yeah, Matthew Stafford's playing better football than he's ever played. Devontae Adams just passed Jimmy Graham for the most one yard touchdowns in the history of the NFL. Congratulations, Devonte.
Tyler Johnson
Let's go.
Devontae Butler
Is that real?
Eric Davis
Congrats. Fifteen of them. You know, Jerome Bettis is on that list. You know Jerome Bettis had that run with the Pittsburgh Steelers where basically they would walk it all the way down the field to get to the one instead of the tush bush. It was the bus hush, you know, and he just kind of ran it in for a touchdown. I think it was fast. Willie Parker. Parker got all the yards and had like no touchdowns. Why? Why don't you have any touchdowns? Well, anytime we get inside Busy's territory. Yeah, he had like three touchdowns, two yards in a couple different games. You're talking about one yard touchdowns. Gronk had this situation obviously whenever they were down on the goal line with Tom Brady, they would just flank Gronk out there one on one. And if you sent one person out there, okay, well that's, that's a two way go for Gromp right now. If you send two people out there, what happens to the box? Well, obviously we're able to hammer it. It's an unstoppable offensive weapon if you have it. Devontae's get off. They say he's better than anybody. So not only do you have the best get off, you also have a quarterback that never misses. This dude never misses. And then on defensive side, they're only giving up 16.3 points a game or something like that. That's the fewest in the NFL. This is the first time ever the odds on favorite of the MVP has had a defense this dominant ever. So whenever you talk about who's league, it's starting to feel like we might be talking Ramsley. Is that how you're seeing it, D Bucks?
Devontae Butler
Absolutely. You talk about it offensively, it always starts with the quarterback. A lot of questions about Matt and his health coming into this season. So for him to be playing like this now is unbelievable. And then everyone around him, obviously we know his head coach, the play caller, Sean McVay, he's great. They got a good running game. The O line has been keeping him clean. Whenever you have a quarterback, you know that's up in Age we mentioned being drafted. 09. You want to keep him clean, you want to keep it more upright. They've been doing a great job of that. And it's Devonte Adams. Once you get into that area, like his release game, even out here, like his release game, off the ball, I mean, Chad Ochocinco, Stevie Johnson and devonte Adams. Devonte Adams will be at the top of that list. Like he's so smooth out in the field. When you get into that area, low red area, slants, faze, all of it. And then Puka, he's everywhere. He does everything. It's unbelievable.
Eric Davis
Do you think because Sean McVay was a wide receiver, he has seen himself and he said, if I had Devonte's release, I would just on the goal line, we just flank him out there. You got Puka on the other side, you got Parkinson, you got all these other weapons that obviously the Rams have in abundance. But if they one on one out here, Sean McVay's thinking in his head, if I had Devontae's release, that's a two way. Do you think that is an advantage for wide receiver relationships when the head coach play caller is a wide receiver?
Devontae Butler
I think that always helps. And it's part of, I mean, even when, like he's always going to get the most out of it, out of his weapons. Even when Odell Beckham came over that year that you mentioned they went and won the super bowl, he would just isolate Beckham on that side of the field. And that was while, you know, Cooper cup was winning the triple crown. But he would get the best out of both guys, putting them in their situation to be productive. And on the opposite side of Devontae is Puka. And Puka's moving everywhere. He dominates in the interior of the field. He'll insert through a B or C gap and run a route down the field. He's tough. He came on the show and said, hey, look, I'll never be the guy that's going to run out of bounds or turn down contact. You talk about his vibes on and off the field, but you put the ball in number 12's hand, he's going to make something special happen damn near every time. And then defensively, you mentioned it. Rarely do we see an offense like this paired up with the championship level defense. But Chris Shuler has the boys rolling. The front four is the best in the league in my opinion. And then guys on the back end really making a name for themselves this year. Kenchins, who had two Picks last week. Kobe Durant had a pick last week. Now he has a pick six this week. And Emmanuel Forbes Jr. I think he was targeted seven times and didn't give up a catch. Which he was a washout in the commanders.
Eric Davis
What happened to him like commanders? He's super skinny, right?
Andy Smith
Yeah.
Eric Davis
Legs like.
Devontae Butler
I mean he's still a slim guy and I don't think he'll always be a slim guy. But the reason you rarely see a guy that small get drafted in the first round, the reason he did was because of his skill set and how dominant he was at Mississippi State. And now you just see confidence. Confidence is everything at any position when you're a cornerback. Having that in life, when you have that confidence, you're in the system. You have a coach that believes in you, have players around you that are great. This is what you see when you go to a new place. And we always say, hey, maybe this guy just need a fresh start. That's a great example of this right.
Eric Davis
Here to your point. D Butt is from next gen stats. Emmanuel Forbes faced seven targets and did not allow a single reception against the Buccaneers. And remember this Buccaneers offense, really good. What. What's going on? He. So he. It seemed early. He was reaching for his arm but they let him play so it felt like it was happening early. If he had a broken anything up there, like collarbone, I don't know if they let him play. I don't want to diagnose anything, but it feels like something with the AC joint. I'm not sure. Just the way he was reaching for it. Incredibly painful. I mean like one of the most painful things.
Devontae Butler
How many times he sacked before this. Like he was under. Under duress. Like we saw in primetime when Josh Allen was for his life against that Houston Texans defense. It kind of seemed very similar against this Rams front. So whatever he came into the season dealing with, it definitely didn't help. Facing. Facing a.
Eric Davis
What would they call him? Jace? Jeez, what an incredible. I mean that was good. That was really good. I appreciate that. But like what we're trying to say is he was reaching immediately to here. Feels like that's probably a very real thing he was playing through last night. So obviously is Baker playing his best football? Is the offense playing their best football? Is anybody going to be able to play their best football against this Rams defense? I think that is the big question. And Shula was getting a lot of facetime last night. Chris Shula, as he should because how dominant they were. This Buccaneers offense is good.
Tyler Johnson
Oh yeah.
Eric Davis
This is a very good Buccaneers offense that they did that to.
Tyler Johnson
We're like four weeks away from or, sorry, we're four weeks removed from basically saying Tampa Bay was going to the Super Bowl. I mean, they had everything in the Bucks or. Sorry, the Rams made them look basically incompetent on offense. And you're talking about. Godwin was back. They weren't as hurt. One thing, and I'm hoping this doesn't happen just because I would like my team to have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Aaron Donald needs to come back and just play 10 snaps a game with this D line. And I don't care if he is even just on the sideline in pass, just hyping the guys up, kind of telling them, hey, that's great dance move. Maybe you can do this to make it a little better. But he was. He was on game day last week, two weeks ago, whatever. And he looks just as jacked as he did when he was playing. Now he probably needs a little time to get into game shape. Maybe even.
Eric Davis
I doubt it, A couple pounds.
Tyler Johnson
I don't think so. He might be able to play middle linebacker.
Eric Davis
That's right. Just like jage. Yes, like J.J. watt. We kind of experienced his first year of retirement with him, if you do recall. Weekly we were joining him and that dude just didn't understand, like, hey, you're not still in the NFL. He was still getting under the squat rack every single morning, running sprints. You remember he was running sprints and doing cardio and everything. And I don't know if Aaron Donald's doing all of that stuff. I'd assume. Yes, I would assume that he would be doing those things. And then we saw him at pit. I mean, that guy threw me with a pinky. Yeah, the guy threw me with a pinky.
Tyler Johnson
Insane.
Eric Davis
Still got those. He trained with knives. And whenever you talk about that front, you drop Aaron Donald in it. And once again, we have no inside information on whether or not Aaron Donald wants to go back. Aaron Donald's enjoying the hell out of his life, I think, and he's earned it. And he goes 10 years, eight All Pros, 10 Pro Bowls, won a Super bowl, three defensive MVPs. I feel like I did pretty. I feel like I had a pretty good career. You certainly did, Eric. You certainly did. You worked your ass off for all those things. But he was in the building last night. And I'm assuming he gets excited watching the way that defense plays.
Devontae Butler
I think get out there and play right now if you wanted to. I'm not sure if you guys heard them talking about. They've said it few times with Jared Verse when he went and worked out with them and he was like, you know what, Aaron, don't call me. I, I, I'll call you. Say it was the hardest he ever experienced. And that's him post NFL career. So I'm sure 99 can still get in there and dominate.
Eric Davis
Congrats to the Rams fans.
Devontae Butler
Yeah, legit.
Tyler Johnson
It's a good life right now.
Eric Davis
Right now. It's very good. And how long is Matthew Stafford going to play? Especially if he's hopping into that tube of live foreverness.
Tyler Johnson
Yeah, the immortal chamber.
Eric Davis
Yeah. What was that, what was that thing called? Mortal cryo chamber of life.
Tyler Johnson
It's ammortal instead Immoral. So I don'. What the difference is.
Eric Davis
No.
Mike Harris
Well, because he's an alpha.
Eric Davis
It's amoral. Maybe, maybe it's a hard A on that.
Tyler Johnson
Yeah.
Eric Davis
Whatever the case, he looks good.
Tyler Johnson
They also have the number 11 pick still.
Eric Davis
So who was calling the game there it is. Amoral. Amoral. Amoral advertised itself as a wellness device that aims to optimize human performance and promote holistic health through a combination of non invasive technologies. It worked. Yeah, it did. Yeah. This guy's fucking unbelievable.
Mike Harris
Yeah, it did.
Eric Davis
We saw him walk into this thing, then we saw him walk out of that thing and now we're getting the season we're getting right now.
Mike Harris
That's a good question.
Tyler Johnson
Don't do this.
Eric Davis
We talked to him about this, didn't we?
Mike Harris
Oh yeah, we talked to someone about it.
Eric Davis
He said my clothing's doing pretty good this year. And it's like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Whoa, whoa, whoa. Mr. White Teeth Right there. Yeah, a clone would say admit that he looks good too.
Tyler Johnson
Oh yeah, great.
Eric Davis
Looks young even with the beard. And he's the arm.
Andy Smith
He's not getting hit either. He could, he could play another.
Mike Harris
It's like the body.
Andy Smith
Seven years like the body that's playing.
Mike Harris
Out there has actually never been hippie for this year.
Eric Davis
I mean, doesn't it, I mean he.
Tyler Johnson
Is a little too.
Eric Davis
The touchdown to Parkinson obviously every week.
Mike Harris
I also never, never saw those Cavs until this year, so.
Eric Davis
Well, he was hiding him maybe because he's a humble man.
Tyler Johnson
Did he get new legs?
Eric Davis
Well, it does appear maybe from knees Don cuz those calves. But once again we don't really know because he, he's, we never really heard from him other than miked up situations with NFL films when he was in Detroit just getting murdered and then throwing awesome passes.
Devontae Butler
Detroit was so stinky. So stinky.
Eric Davis
But they had Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford, so you were kind of forced to pay attention to him. You know, like we're all forced to pay attention because they were doing records and I mean, devonte's on his. He's on a record breaking pace right now. Already did last night. Jumped top 10, top 9, top 8, whatever the number is in touchdowns. Congratulations.
Devontae Butler
Already only has one less touchdown as a Ram one behind Puka. Puka has 13. He has 12.
Eric Davis
Yeah. It's been a hell of a year. And I'll tell you what, whenever you find the cheat code on goal line offense and you don't need everybody on your team to get accordioned, you know, like the Tush push does, that's a really nice thing. The offensive line loves that. Devonte Adams has a one on one on the outside. You know who else loves that? Running back too. Well, running back may want the touchdown. Everybody else loves it that it's happening out there. And all Matthew Stafford has to do is what just the thing that he's the best in the world at. Just put it into a bucket.
Mike Harris
Okay, no problem.
Eric Davis
And Devonte's like, wait till you guys see the shit I worked on in the summer. It's actually a triple fucking. That's all. He's just crossing dudes up.
Devontae Butler
Yeah.
Eric Davis
Is that the heart? So what's the hardest? You don't know where he's going because he doesn't use his hands either.
Tyler Johnson
Yeah, they're just down.
Eric Davis
His hands are like down. Yeah, it's like very interesting. What is the hardest part about his get? Everybody talks about his get off his get off his get off it just. To me it looks like he just shakes the shit out of somebody.
Devontae Butler
Honestly on that one, that, that one, that was inexcusable. Bob McCullum, because you have help inside there at Winfield and he's so close and he has. Yeah, I'm sure they go at point like, hey, we're talking about it. 17, we're down here. You, you got to guard half a minute. It's like DEZ Bryant used to be automatic down there at Romo. When they got there, he was going to throw the back shorter fade regardless of what was happening. But if you're a corner, you got to be able to guard half a man at least. So you take away half. But if you're one on one, just on an island and he has a two way goal on you, you want to initially take away leverage. But a veteran like him, even if he sees out inside leverage, he'll probably set you up and still try to take it away. So when you have that two way goal and you've done it as much as he has done it, and then you have a quarterback that can actually be on the same page and hit you, it's damn near unstoppable.
Eric Davis
Yeah, because Stafford's not missing.
Devontae Butler
Exactly.
Eric Davis
Like we'll see sometimes those opportunities where a ball will be a little too far, land out of bounds, be a little short, will get batted off to somebody's back or something like that. I think there was a situation last night with Dak and cd. Obviously we will talk about that here in a matter of moments about where CD thought the ball was going versus where it actually went. Now granted, went right through his arms so he thought I was going back corner. It's like Stafford seemingly always puts it right to the place that everybody wants.
Devontae Butler
Exactly.
Eric Davis
That's why when we're talking about ball spinners, bro. Got it. Absolutely got it. Could do it forever. Let's go to the top four headline. Now we're talking about the bear necessities. The stinking bear necessities. Hey, the Bears, the kings of the North. This is real big. Hey, just a top team coming in. Well, Pittsburgh Steelers, when Mason Rudolph, who by Steelers fans own emissions, was fresh off a hot fourth quarter with this Steelers team. Maybe the guy who needs to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to the promised land they were hoping to go to this season because Aaron Rodgers fractured his left wrist. Now the story going in was is Aaron Rodgers going to play against a team that he's the landlord of? Is Aaron Rodgers going to play against Chicago Bears maybe one final time in Chicago? He's got a fracture on his left wrist. Okay. He's obviously throws right handed. He was trying to get in the game last week. He was allegedly trying to play this week for a number of reasons. Not only because he's super competitive and he loves his Pittsburgh Steelers team, but also because he will like do one more, one more of these. On Chicago, we found out that he was a fan of the Chicago sports team because he watched WB growing up. It was one of his six channels. So he saw the Bulls and who wasn't a fan of the Bulls, especially if a Michael Jordan fan like I was. He loved the Cubs and he loved playing against Chicago obviously with the packers because it's a rivalry that he held in high regards. So we caught Aaron Rodgers going. There wasn't Aaron Rodgers, it was Mason Rudolph. And guess what? It didn't matter because what the Chicago Bears team is now. Let me talk to you about what I like about Caleb Williams. Ben Johnson, what he was able to do at the Detroit Lions with Jared Goff. He turned Jared Goff, who is a robot, into a very, very, very, very, very efficient robot. Hey, this is what we need to do. These exact steps, this exact play fig the ball needs to be at this exact pinpoint. So we wondered, is Caleb Williams ever going to be able to buy into the Ben Johnson system? Well, for all that to happen, you need a lot of things. You need a great offensive line. They invest in the offense a little bit.
Tyler Johnson
Oh, yeah.
Eric Davis
Need a great run game. Okay. Need a great run game. Okay, we're going to have a run game.
Tyler Johnson
This is.
Eric Davis
If you look at what the Detroit Lions had with Ben Johnson. Best offensive line. Need a great run game. Then what do you need a quarterback that's able to do? Well, he needs to be able to hand that ball off to the running back and then he needs to be able to play action the shit out of that defense. Because if you have a good play action and you have your back to the defense, back to the defense like this. Taylor Williams spent his entire life shotgun, looking at everybody, hey, Caleb Williams, you're the best athlete on the field. You need to have eyes on everybody. And if something doesn't work, make it work. That's what you need to do. Now they're asking Caleb for the success of this offense, for this offense to be as good. You have to take the ball, commit completely, turn your back to the defense. T.J. watts on that defense, turn your back completely to the defense. Sell this thing so that the linebackers can't move, okay? These linebackers can't move. They can't do anything. They have no idea. And then bang. As soon as you turn, you need to know that the ball is going to go right to there, right to the seam. That's where it needs to go. We don't need you thinking, okay, we just need you to turn your back. Don't be scared to get hit in the face. Could happen. And as soon as you turn around, you need to just spin that thing. You will catch the defense in a land that they don't want to be in. You will have wide open guys everywhere. And I'll tell you what, yesterday against this Pittsburgh Steelers defense, wide open guys everywhere, the rhythm, the timing, the execution of an offense by Caleb Williams was very much on display. 50 couldn't do shit right there. 50 couldn't do a damn thing. Right there. Because he had no idea what Caleb was going to do. Back to the defense turns around, Boom, on a button. See you later. He has to know what the defense is doing pre snap. So Caleb has to know what the defense is kind of doing pre snap because then he now he has to decide where he's going once he turns his back back around. But he's making the right decisions. He's committed completely to the play action and their team's built to have success. And then on defensive side, they just get turnovers everywhere. They get turnovers everywhere here. Now there's a couple stats that Hembo sent over to me about this Chicago Bears team. Last year in games that were decided by five points or less, 20, 24, they were one in six. Okay. This year they're six one in those games. Chicago has a plus 12 turnover margin in those games. So whenever you talk about not only are they winning the close games because they're seemingly a culture, a moxie, an aura. Good, better, best, never let wrestle. Good, better and better is best. They have that defense getting the ball back. For an offense that is going to become much, much better. This is the first step now. I guess this would be the second step. First step was like buying into the offense, being good by Caleb. Second step, starting to understand pre snap what the defense is doing. Fully committing to play action. There's so much more. If you remember what Ben Johnson and Jared Goff were able to do in Detroit. This is the fundamental basis of this offense is being able to do this off of play action. Then all the other shit comes in. So whenever you talk about up and to the right, it's like Caleb and Ben Johnson, if they were able to work, we're going to be maybe unstoppable. Seems like they're getting to the point where they are going to work where we can confidently say that it's just how quickly do they become that absolute juggernaut that Detroit was? It might be soon. It is fun to watch what they're doing.
Devontae Butler
Yeah, I think they're just scratching the surface. They're only 11 games in and you're sitting at 8 and 3. I don't think many people expected this. And Caleb Williams, he like when it's a high leverage situation, I feel like that's when he's playing his best ball and that's, that's really. You rarely hear that for a young quarterback like him. So I think they're just scratching the surface with his offense. And yeah, it is a belief and a trust in Something that you really haven't done your whole life. I would assume he ran a similar offense in high school in the gun up tempo, went to college, moved around the colleges, but did similar things. So to get to the National Football League and now you're in a huddle, you got to command the huddle, you got to call plays, you got to be under center, you got to do play action. And he's handling it great. He has young guys around him as well. I think Burden will continue to come along. Who's their first round pick this year? Another first round pick, Loveland. Obviously a lot of people made a lot of noise because we ended up with Tyler Warren, but I think he'll be, he'll be just as good. Like, he's unbelievable. You got to be a good blocker to play at Michigan, win the national championship, but you never saw his receiving skills when he was in college. And I think we're just kind of getting to the surface of that as well. And then we know who DJ Moore is. You know, a couple more touchdowns for him yesterday. But Caleb Williams, I couldn't be more impressed in what he's doing. And then defensive side of the ball, Dennis Allen and I got to give a shout out to Al Harris too because everywhere he goes, that secondary plays better and better. And Deshaun Wright, this guy was on Minnesota's practice squad last year. Now he's tied with his teammate Kevin Byard leading the National Football League. That's an unbelievable interception right there. He said he has some wide receiver and his background actually gave Antonio Brown, Tony Toe Tap a shout out for this play. But unbelievable play. And you mentioned it. It's not just the offense or just the defense. We always talk about teams taking on the identity of their coach and kind of playing complimentary football and winning these close ball games. And they've been doing it all year long, man. Caleb Williams already has the franchise record with fourth quarter comebacks. Like, I can't say enough about the Chicago Bears.
Eric Davis
I think they had a lot of injuries as well. This isn't like the full Chicago Bears team. And I have a chance to talk to obviously multiple Chicago Bears fans. Zito's living a high life. I assume they are very excited. He's getting stakes every Sunday because the Chicago Bears are getting big time wins. We also have another friend who lives in Los Angeles but is a die hard Chicago Bears fan. Just the amount of we're only getting better. We're, we're getting guys back healthy. We don't even have any Linebackers in the moment, we're only getting better at this time. They feel like, hey, we've been waiting a long, long time. And once you start to see those little sparks, little sparks of that offense looking like Jared Goff and Caleb looking like Jared Goff, it's like, man, what Ben and Jared were able to do first, adding what Caleb can do into that, with Ben Johnson knowing what Caleb can do. So now you got this type of shit happening and he's the head coach of the team, so he's not leaving. So you can't. You don't have to be, like, scared that we're going to have massive success here with a young quarterback and he's going to be gone. Because that's what happens with good offensive coordinators. They end up leaving. Ben Johnson leaves Detroit, goes to Chicago. So they could potentially only grow and grow and grow. Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes type. And I don't want to, like, get cart before horse, but that's very real, I think at this point.
Mike Harris
No, their offense with their weapons is awesome. You guys talked about it and you talked about DJ Moore. Everybody knows DJ Moore except for the Steelers defense that just let him run straight down the seam uncovered. But like, it. They have guys at literally every single position. You talk about Loveland, like, Cole Comet's still there, too. And the wide receivers that they have. And now with Manangai, they have two backs. Backs. And the O line is incredible. But yeah, the. The defense, all their linebackers were out. And then what. Jaylen Johnson's been out for a while.
Eric Davis
They.
Mike Harris
They have another starting guy in the secondary who's been out for a while. When they get all those guys back, they're only going to get better. And they're winning games right now and learning how to win games right now. So that's. That is really, really a good thing for them.
Eric Davis
Yeah, I. Hey, good for Chicago.
Tyler Johnson
Yeah, unbelievable.
Eric Davis
Good for Chicago. And Caleb is going to be a guy, right? We're all on that boat.
Tyler Johnson
Absolutely.
Devontae Butler
Now, I was always, never left.
Eric Davis
You were.
Mike Harris
He was.
Eric Davis
You were. You were very much worth. I was. I was on boat. Like, hey, Caleb's. Caleb's a guy. Caleb's a guy. Caleb's a guy. And then I saw Ben Johnson and heard stories about Ben Johnson and then I saw the way it started and I was like, oh, this might not. This might not work out here for Caleb in Chicago. It might be another one of those stories of a guy having to find another home and then finding the right spot and doing his thing and then. And the thought of Caleb just completely being able to transform how he thinks in a season and then it being very much on display, like you can literally just kind of watch it unfold in front of us. It's like, oh no, they're only going to get better in this entire thing. I think it's a big look at from the Chicago Bears to everybody. Now we're just talking about the Rams. The Rams and McVay, Stafford and McVeigh are on like year what eight of this now?
Tyler Johnson
Seven, seven, like that.
Eric Davis
Seven and eight of this offense being what it is, you know, and they add Devonte. It's like that's what you're thinking here with the Bears. It's like they're only if Ben and Caleb are together, the other pieces around it are like, okay, this is sustainable. This is like kind of sustainable.
Devontae Butler
And people are going to want to go there. You know what I mean? People are going to want to go to Chicago. Like the first thing you look at, you know, free agency obviously after money is like, okay, how's the quarterback? Do I have a chance to win? How's the head coach? Do I like the culture? And everything we're seeing has been great. And we all heard a lot of things from Caleb Williams and saw a lot of things or people around his camp. You hear different things and it's like, okay, Ben Johnson. Because we all know how the personalities have to mesh. So I think that was a big question for a lot of people. And I don't know, maybe it's more I see like behind the scenes or like mic'd up where it's like, okay, I didn't expect certain things from Caleb Williams that I'm seeing now. We all know he had the talent, but it's so much more than talent that goes into it. And he feels like he has all those things as well.
Mike Harris
And yet yesterday everything was on script. Like we know him for his off script stuff. He didn't do any of that yesterday. Now that could have been because people were running wide open but like everything.
Eric Davis
Was so what's going on with you guys? Buddy Steelers. How they stink. What they stink N they're six and five.
Mike Harris
That's a fugaz.
Eric Davis
What?
Mike Harris
That's Fool's Gold.
Eric Davis
How about easy, don't get into Fool's Gold. Please don't be doing that.
Mike Harris
It's one of my favorite movies. Matthew Buchanak, Shout out that's not what.
Eric Davis
We'Re talking about though. We are talking about 2 max on a line babe. Pittsburgh Steelers, though 6 and 5, there's been multiple years now where the Pittsburgh Steelers have had successful records, good records, and Steelers fans have openly said into microphones that people are listening to and amongst the entire city and Steeler fan base itself, this team ain't good enough to win anything. This is fake. This is fake. That's how Steelers fans feel. If it doesn't look like it can win a Super Bowl, Steelers fans immediately know and they're looking for a reason to talk shit about you. And that is kind of where we've been with the Steelers team for a few weeks. Certainly after the way yesterday looks, it sounds. Yeah.
Mike Harris
And. And the defense, like the we talked about there was a month ago, it's like, oh, the defense is the worst. And then there was three or four weeks where they were getting. Getting better, and then they regressed. Yesterday, everybody was riding running wide open to those Steelers fans that said Mason should be the starting quarterback. You guys are idiots.
Devontae Butler
Okay.
Mike Harris
I just want to say that out there, I think Aaron probably would have won the football game yesterday. But no, it's just everything's disjointed. We just showed Caleb throwing all those seam routes and everything over the middle. They don't throw over the middle because there's a chance an interception happens. And then third and five, they just let wide receivers run wide open at five yards because they're afraid of getting beat for something worse. Like, it's like you play the safest brand of football imaginable because that's how you try to. You try to win football games. That's not how you win football games these days.
Eric Davis
And it's also tough to watch as a fan. If you told. I had a coach tell me we're just trying to get one point more than the other team.
Mike Harris
Exactly. Yes.
Eric Davis
Can we try to get 30 more than 2? That'd be a lot better. It'd be a lot better life for all of us if we were trying to do that. But that is a mindset. Hey, we play winning football. We play winning football. It should. Should work out. While the Bears are playing winning football.
Devontae Butler
They'Re above 500 ex wices.
Eric Davis
Six and five could be worse.
Andy Smith
Division still tied for the lead.
Eric Davis
Got it. Got it. The Ravens. Yeah, they didn't play their best game, get a win, but you guys got it going to the playoffs.
Mike Harris
The bucks were like 6 and 5 when they won the Super Bowl.
Eric Davis
Right.
Mike Harris
With Brady in that first year.
Tyler Johnson
That's right.
Mike Harris
So we can still do it.
Eric Davis
That's right.
Andy Smith
Good point.
Devontae Butler
There we go.
Eric Davis
Think about the Giants story back in the day. Whenever they're going to Fire 97 and they won the Super Bowl.
Andy Smith
Hope I hate it.
Eric Davis
Especially when you're watching this team, it looks like. Yeah. Because he hasn't had it for a few weeks. Hasn't he?
Andy Smith
No, no.
Eric Davis
And the fan that he was talking about being an idiot was himself.
Tyler Johnson
Yeah.
Eric Davis
That's the thing that just happened. Right. That's good accountability.
Tyler Johnson
And even when they had it, the Ravens were still favored to win the division. Remember, we're all like, what the hell is going on?
Eric Davis
Yeah. Four game lead or something. Yeah. Sportsbooks are like full gates.
Andy Smith
Yeah. This team stinks.
Eric Davis
That's really what they're saying. All right, let's move on to the next headline, shall we? Ladies and gentlemen, number three, coming out of the Week 12 NFL Sunday slate. Although not all these teams won. Okay. There were some super duper special teams, wasn't there? Oh, yeah, there's some magical things that happened around. How about Evan McPherson, Money Mac of the Cincinnati Bengals? They would go on to lose to the Patriots by six, but McPherson would hit a 63 yarder in Cincinnati in November. A lot of long sleeves on, obviously out and around there. Cold time. Cincinnati, obviously very windy. 63, just becoming like a casual day in the NFL these days. Congrats to him. Let's continue with the long balls. Will Rikert here from the Vikings out of Alabama, as we all recall, he has four kicks of 59 yards or plus this season. That's the most ever. And that was one in Lambeau. That thing hooked at the end. He played the wind beautifully, this kid. Seemingly money from everywhere. The Vikings would go on to lose to the Green Bay packers, but it was still great kick.
Andy Smith
He scored all their points, points. And that was kind of, you know, like. I mean, it's massive when you have a struggling offense like that. When you can confidently put a guy out there and say, like, hey, this guy, he will be good from 59 to 60. So, yeah, I mean, he was there. He was the best player on the field for them yesterday.
Eric Davis
And they have a dome. So him doing that in Lambo, obviously good for him. And nine struggling. Nine struggling.
Andy Smith
He stinks. Unfortunately. He needs a little bit of help, obviously, and I don't think it's right to put it all on him, but boy, they just. We talked about it from what they were last year to what they look like this year. I kind of. I almost feel bad for nine because they just. They have no chance to win when he's playing really. And I know he won a couple weeks ago, but when he plays like he did yesterday, they'd have a tough time beating Michigan this year, so.
Eric Davis
Well, Michigan's getting good. Obviously. Ohio State this weekend. Can't wait to be up in Ann Arbor. Hembo sent us some stats here. Justin Jefferson, whenever he's being targeted under Kirk cousins had a 109.8. Sam Donald 108.1. J.J. mcCarthy 47.4. I think I was rude. There was other quarterbacks too. Hambo decided not to leave out like the pastronaut. Yeah.
Andy Smith
Joe Webb, Carson Wentz, that form context as well.
Eric Davis
Yeah, there's a lot of context. He's saying. Yeah, Hembo's got stats and ideas and there's a lot of people saying that about nine. But Will Rikert, absolute dog. Let's go to a big time return in a losing effort once again. It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. We shouldn't talk about it. Chimare DK takes one 88 yards against the Seahawks. Now there's not a lot to celebrate with the Tennessee Titans. Okay. Their brand kind of stinks right now. Nobody really trusts ownership to make the right decisions. They don't have a coach. But they have a special moment here with Jamari taking it to the crib in my cause. Mike Cleats, one of his friends who passed away from cardiac arrest, had a foundation starter here, Kai Lermer Memorial fund and raising money in that front. So him running with his friend literally on his feet I think was a very cool moment. That's a sweet moment. Obviously Dixon doesn't love it. The punter for Seattle, he hits a monster ball, comes back. But that was a cool moment. Like as I learned the story, I almost got like pretty emotional about it because there's not a lot going right for Tennessee that going right felt like it was a little bit of a thing. Congrats to him. That's big time return. Let's go to another big ball. How about Jake Bates in a winning effort from the Detroit Football Lions, the brand new Lions. Look at this kick from the back here. The old Lions, this ball would not be going in. New Lions, the brand new Lions, this ball goes in. Look at the snap. Great hold. Phenomenal by Fox. Slice. Come back home. 59 yarder. Now that is the perfect depiction of the old Lions versus the new Lions.
Tyler Johnson
Amen.
Eric Davis
Old Lions, that thing hits the upright at least and doesn't go in so loud. New Lions, that thing kind of sneaks in doesn't even and touch the uprights because they don't want to celebrate or ruin the moment. 59 yards here from the greatest UXFL Super Duper Football league alum in the history of the league.
Devontae Butler
Yep, without a doubt.
Eric Davis
What a stud there he's former super duper Detroit, Michigan Panther. There it is in the uxfl. They're doing good over there. Hey, come on. More balls. Better.
Devontae Butler
Where are they cranking up?
Eric Davis
I think there's, you know, there's a new league coming.
Tyler Johnson
They pay their QBs, maybe that the.
Eric Davis
Michigan Panthers no longer exist. What? Yeah, I'm sorry to say that.
Mike Harris
Didn't they fire all the GMs?
Andy Smith
They did. There will be one man who oversees all of the football ops essentially for the league.
Eric Davis
So they're kind of going back to what the original X was, correct? Yeah. They need to put the X back into football. And this guy's got it figured out, I'm sure of it. Let's go to the last. Actually, let's go to the highlight of all the highlights, A special teams highlight that needs to be watched for all of time. Five minutes left, left. Tie game, fourth quarter, gotta come out. And punt returner catches it on his one. Thank you, sir, for doing that. Now we have a chance to coverage. Oh, Fumbo. Longstapper on the ball. First and goal from the six. They were once down 21 points. Now in the fourth quarter on a special teams play, a special play happens. Look into Elijah Clark now. It's been shown a thousand times. We feel obligated to show it once again because there is a point that I have versus other people. As I was watching this highlight take place, they were showing a lot. Elijah Clark's effort here as Sidney Brown pushes him around. Great effort by Sidney Brown, too. Anytime you get a body on the floor on a return, that's good news. Elijah Clark refused to be denied. Continued to chase, continue to follow. Helmet to the ball. Fumble. Go ahead and try to get some points. Now. That type of effort cannot be taught. That type of effort only comes from the soul of an absolute dog. Elijah Clark is everything that is great with football, with special teams football. As I'm watching it, as a former punter, I'm thinking to myself, yes, this is the man or ten of the dudes that we need. And I appreciate the fact that the entire NFL world, even the folks that weren't a part of special teams were like, hey, the reason why you should be respecting what's going on. This guy was the best football player everywhere. He's ever been. Elijah Clark walks onto the field. Holy hell, Elijah Clark's here. I assume since he's like 8th grade, I assume since like 8th. 7th. 8th grade, he's been the best player on the field. Then it gets to the NFL. Hey, the way you're going to make this team is by playing something you've never played before. You're going to have to run blindly down the field and try to cover somebody. How far is the run? Well, Anger's got a huge leg, so maybe 60, 70 yard run. And then also you're going to have to go across the field. And then what else is going to happen? Well, you're going to get blindsided, pushed, and then there's going to be people trying to get you out of there. Yeah, but. So what's the end game? Well, maybe you might possibly make the tackle. Only one person can make the tackle, but hopefully you'll be able to do it. So for him, superstar, to buy into that and all the other guys that buy into special teams, it's the backbone of what football is, which is why we try to save special teams at every single turn. There's a lot of guys that only have jobs because of special teams. There's a lot of football plays that get made that are so special to football that if they were to not exist anymore, it would hurt the game. This is one of them. Elijah Clark, absolute dog. Give me that guy. Like, give me. Could you imagine this guy was your gunner and you were a punter? It would be amazing. And D butt, I think we were talking about this earlier. This is being shown by everybody.
Devontae Butler
This will be shown in every special team, probably team meeting rooms, because you mentioned a large chunk of, of the roster. This is how you make teams. This is how you stay in the league. And for me, honestly, I wasn't cut out for this shit. I was not made for special teams. And I realized that very early on in my NFL career. Fortunately, I was drafted high enough to where I, where I could sabotage some of these special teams drills early and kind of get buried on all the bottom of the gunner depth chart. So I did do what Sidney Brown's doing and I did do some returning early on. But this shit right here, like there's football games, you could play 50 snaps on defense, one special teams rep, like a punt rep or a kickoff rep. Old kickoff rep, old kickoff rep. Those reps probably like 12 to 14 defensive snaps. As far as the physical and mental tolls it takes on you, because it is every guy out There it feels like they're battling for their job in their NFL and their professional life. And it's just a different breed. And this is a perfect example of that. And this was a winning play. I know it was very, very nice of you to show all those great efforts from those losing teams, but this is an unbelievable play and a winning effort for a winning team.
Eric Davis
It was a winning effort, but obviously they don't do anything. Whether they go for four, four times. They don't get a turnover on down it. But it was a unbelievable, unbelievable.
Mike Harris
Yes.
Eric Davis
Which goes to number two headline, ladies and gentlemen, the Cowboys Comeback Corrals the Eagles. A lot of different ways to use the C words in this particular title. We landed on this one. The Cowboys comeback corrals the Eagles. Strictly because it was Philadelphia Eagles night. It was their night. Jalen Hurts is bopping around scoring touchdowns. AJ Shoes and cleats look so awesome out there. There. Devonte's making big time plays. Sirianni's living the high life down in Jerry world. Hello, and welcome to the show. We are your super bowl champions. That's what it felt like. There were shots of Dak on the sideline taking his helmet off. And I actually thought to myself, maybe Dak isn't the guy that we've been talking about. Remember just a week ago, we're talking about the Dallas Cowboys holding Dak back?
Andy Smith
Yeah.
Eric Davis
You know, the conversation was always, is Dakota back to Cowboys? How come nobody's ever talked about the Cowboys holding Dak back? That's where we were. And I watched the beginning of this game. I'm like, what an idiot. I was this guy. That is not what it is at all. Boom. Fast forward to right before the half. Dak Prescott, George Pickens. What a trade this was by Jerry Jones. Now, whenever DK Metcalf goes to Pittsburgh, we wondered if GP And DK were going to be able to eat on the same offense. They were not. George Pickens goes to Dallas, changes up his entire trajectory of his entire career on a contract year. Not only that, touchdown. Let's go 20 want 14 in the fourth. George Pickens, spectacular catch, which is kind of what he does. This is literally what he does. He'll go up and get it. He's fast, he has great football iq and he feels like he's at home with the Dallas Cowboys. And Jerry Jones is at the stage of life where he just calls him George. You know, we're very happy about George now. You know who else is happy about George? Dak Prescott. Fourth quarter, 2114. John Elwood. Let me land on my neck and go absolutely ape shit here at Jerry World. 21, 21. Eagles can answer. There are super bowl champs. Jalen hurts. Make something happen. Saquon Barkley, mvp. Oh, no. Fumble.
Devontae Butler
No.
Eric Davis
Dallas Cowboys recover now. What are they going to do with it? Nothing. Now they punt, send it down. We just watched this. Elijah Clark says, don't worry about it, dude. Jack. Don't worry about it, boys. He'll catch the punt at the 1. Xavier Gibson, who is a very talented returner. Bad decision here leads to a worse outcome. Dallas Cowboys get it. First and goal on the seven in the fourth quarter. Five minutes left in the four. Oh, my God, they were down 21. All we need is Dak to just do something. Fourth and goal. Dak Prescott at shotgun from the one and a half. Scanning, throwing short. Not gonna do it. It turnover on dimes. Holy hell. How do you not get something done? Well, don't worry about it. Eagles won't either. 3rd and 2 sacked by Osa Odigi Zua. Friend of the program got paid. Absolute beast. Huge play. The Cowboys get the ball back. Dak Prescott hits a couple. Then he finds George Pickens once again to get into field goal range in Brandon Aubrey. Is he from the uxfl?
Tyler Johnson
I think he's just from the streets, actually.
Eric Davis
I think he's from the football gods. Brandon Arbery. He missed a kick earlier in the game. We were all very confused. He's gotten to that point where if he misses, we have no idea what the hell is going on. We all assumed he was going to make the game winner. He did. Congrats to the Cowboys getting a huge win after seemingly a historic collapse by the Philadelphia Eagles. D butt your talking point from this game. Dak in Dallas, very durable and tough. Or Philadelphia Eagles. This is exactly who we thought they were.
Devontae Butler
A little bit of both. I still have the utmost faith in the Philadelphia Eagles to figure it out. But for the Cowboys to come out there, be down. You know, shoddy said it after the game. Yeah, we might have spotted him 21. You can't win in the game any other quarter but the fourth quarter, and that's what the Cowboys did. Dak Prescott has been dominant, especially at home against his divisional opponents. He's been unbelievable. And to go out. We talked about championship defense coming to this game. This is what we felt about the Eagles, and I still think they'll figure it out. But George Pickens, man, him coming over here and the way that they use him in this offense, compared to what they used, how they used him in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. He was basically just a shot guy at the X. Now he's running across the middle. He's getting matched up on slot defenders. He's on the outside, he's on the inside. And right now he's wide receiver one in Dallas. And I think after this season looks like he's probably the highest paid wide receiver in the National Football League. I don't know if it'll be in Dallas because of what they paid the cd, but he is that type of talent. He's just unbelievable. Go to guy that you can throw the ball anywhere around and three is going to come down with it.
Eric Davis
Yeah, you talk about three need money. Well, Jerry will figure that out, won't he, Ty?
Andy Smith
Yeah, I think it's time we maybe give Jerry a little bit of credit. You know, people have been killing him all year, but I think this is one of the rare instances where you look at the Micah Parsons trades and like, both teams won that trade. Packers got what they needed. Cowboys early on this year, maybe not so much, but it enabled Jerry to kind of go and get, get Quinn and Williams and their, their defense. I mean, we knew what their offense was very early on this year. It was, hey, Cowboys are going to score 50 points a game to win. And you know, now after the trade deadline they have some of those pieces in place. And I think Jerry knew all along, like, hey, there, there is a way that I can kind of remake this team during the, you know, during the season. And people can keep talking about Micah, you know, and how, how big of a mistake that he's good, he's unbelievable. He is. But I think you could also argue that the Cowboys probably are better off, off, you know, without him with the guys they brought in. So, yeah, I mean, if, if you're looking at everything right now, I, I, I think the Cowboys are one of those teams where like, you don't want to play them right now with how their defense is playing. We know what their offense can do and we'll see what happens on Thursday. That's a massive game.
Eric Davis
Hair looks amazing. Con man. Oh, thank you very much. You know, I saw it there. It was shining, it was glistening. It looks unbelievable. Cowboys might be for real. And I know that sports media fans don't love that. And we might fall into sports media World Road 21 point comeback. The way they do it. Shoddy's wearing a backward visor in the thing afterwards and George Pickens making these plays week in and week out. It's like not for nine.
Devontae Butler
Nine targets, nine catches.
Tyler Johnson
Filthy.
Eric Davis
Stafford started what, 11 for 11?
Devontae Butler
12.
Tyler Johnson
Yeah.
Eric Davis
Outrageous. All right, number one, go ahead.
Andy Smith
I was just gonna say I think there's also something very real about like playing for something bigger than everything with like after Marshawn Nealon passed away, like you saw late in the game, they're waving his flag. We saw what happened happened against the Raiders. Like that can galvanize an entire state almost, you know, and like Cowboys nation. And I think that's exactly what's happened.
Tyler Johnson
Yeah.
Eric Davis
And you can also, I mean obviously that certainly perspective. And we're in this thing together for our guy here. But also whenever Micah gets traded away, they're told they're trash.
Andy Smith
Yeah, exactly.
Eric Davis
Basically told the camera mentality. There could be a lot of bunker mentality down there in Dallas in the number one headline. I don't like it because we know what this is supposed to be.
Andy Smith
Okay.
Eric Davis
Every time we've done this after a Colts win, number one has been the Colts are going to win a Super Bowl. Well, turns out maybe not. Chiefs is still the Chiefs. And a lot of flags in this game. You know, we got a lot of them, a lot of good calls. I put out a tweet. Lot of flags. A lot of flags is what I said. And I got a lot of people saying, but who's getting the calls? He's like, we were actually getting the calls in Kansas City against Kansas City. I think that is something. Something that should be talked about. But then we weren't too at times. Tough to watch this game. Tough to watch this game especially early if you're a Colts fan. It looks easy. Michael Pittman Jr. Takes a couple hits. Daniel Jones learns some dimes. How you doing? We're having a good time. 7 3. Let's go ahead and get it back. Well, Ashton Doolin, actually, guy you probably never heard of, stud for us. Great on special teams. Oh, yeah. And a weapon with his speed. Yeah, he's gonna go for about 30, 40, 50, and then we're gonna throw it to 6 foot 5, 265 pound ogle truck. Who has the sweet feet. It's 143 in Kansas City. Got Tony Romo telling me this is DEFCON 10.
Andy Smith
Yeah.
Eric Davis
For the Kansas City Chiefs. Let's go to 20 to nine. Fourth quarter, you're up 11 against the Chiefs. Oh, Kareem Hunt, he's going to score a touchdown. Sorry. They're going to do that. A two point conversion on to make it a three point game. Just got to get a stop oh, he's wide enough now. Listen, they weren't even able to do their play. They were doing against us the entire game, which is just crossing, right? These dudes were just running crossing routes. We couldn't keep up with them. Rasheed Rice going one way. Xavier Worthy going the other way. Rasheed Rice going one way, Xavier Worthy going. This is all they did the whole game. The whole game. Mooney Sauce, we got him. We got two corners. Well, they're in track meets because they're trying to keep up with some of the fastest guys in the league. Running across the field. And Patrick Mahomes and the boys get a field goal to tie. We get the ball first. Zaire Franklin wins the toss, takes the ball first. Tony Romo immediately points out why he wouldn't do that. But I think I'm a ball first type guy. We go three and out. What does Patrick Mahomes do? Well, just like he did at the end of the fourth quarter, Worthy crossing round. I mean, it's just every time, every time, that's all. And here's Rasheed Rice. Guess what's going to happen.
Devontae Butler
What?
Eric Davis
Again? From the other side of the fucking field. That's all they did the whole time. They just did it the whole time. It was very obvious, like early, like, oh, shit, we're not going to be able to keep up with these guys. They have track stars running across the field and it's like this is what Patrick Mahomes and this Chiefs team can be whenever they have healthy and explosive weapons. I think that's what they've shown in the past. Feels like the Colts ran into that Harrison Bucker not only hits the game tire that the game tire that he kicked. Kicked. At the end of the fourth quarter, they got the ball like their four yard line.
Andy Smith
Yep.
Eric Davis
And they drove that thing for four minutes and 30 seconds right down the field against us. And then they kicked that game tire and then obviously we knew once they got the ball in overtime. Up here we go again. It's Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are still the Chief.
Episode Date: November 24, 2025
Main Cast: Pat McAfee, AJ Hawk, the Toxic Table, Tone Digs
Focus: In “The First 15,” the team delivers a rapid-fire breakdown of the top five headlines from NFL Week 12 with insider expertise and signature comedic flair.
In this "First 15" segment, Pat McAfee and crew dissect Week 12 in the NFL, spotlighting emerging contenders, record-breaking performances, coaching mastermind, and dramatic team arcs. The crew blends sharp analysis—especially on headline-grabbing squads like the Rams, Bears, and Cowboys—with punchy banter and personal anecdotes.
[00:00–14:05]
[14:05–24:29]
[27:30–35:53]
[36:04–42:33]
[42:54–45:32]
This high-energy “First 15” captured the pivot points in NFL Week 12 with Pat McAfee’s trademark wit, behind-the-scenes insights, and the camaraderie that defines the show. The segment blends deep football IQ with “relatable ridiculousness” for a compelling listen (or read) for any fan wanting to stay plugged in to the NFL’s shifting power dynamics.