Predicting the Outcomes of Week 6: Expert Analysis

But today we're going to go and give our predictions for week six and tell the results of week five.

Who's in the lead?

Who's going to win this weekend?

You're going to find it all out in just a moment when Ed Cleese.

Joins us here in the Pig Pen.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darren Hay is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal deposit of football history.

And welcome to week six.

And as we've done all every Wednesday this season so far, we're joined by Ed Cleese for our big, bold prediction show.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hi, Darren, how are you today?

I am doing great and hopefully my picks did good compared to yours, but we'll find that out in a little bit here.

Yes, well, it was actually the strongest combined week we've had together, so.

Wow.

We're getting better every week.

We're both kind of rolling.

Yeah, that's like.

I think that's like the third week in a row you've said those.

Yeah, we're on the upper.

Yes, we're figuring it out.

Yeah, I guess.

So we're all over that NFL, right?

Yeah, Like Jimmy the Greek over here.

Right.

Old school fans will know who that is.

Yeah, well, I can remember, definitely.

So, speaking of Jimmy the Greek, what do you think about what happened last week?

What are your thoughts?

So the theme for this week was.

So I really think that week five.

Not to say obviously every game matters equal importance.

Right.

Where the a game in week one counts just as much as a game in week nine or week 18.

But I do think the, especially with the.

The length of the season now, the extra game, it being so long and also the extra playoff team is that I don't think the very beginning of the season carries the same level of importance that it used to.

And I really think the first quarter of games kind of like as long as you survive them.

It's almost like the new preseason with nobody that plays in those games, preseason games anymore.

You Only have three.

They don't take them nearly as seriously as they used to.

They don't really use them for anything other than evaluating the very back end of your roster.

So I think the very beginning of the season is often kind of a feeling out process for teams.

And I think what teams are trying to do is they're trying to avoid anything terrible happening.

You don't want an 04 start or get a bunch of injuries or whatever, which some teams are dealing with.

You know, The Eagles started 2 and 2 last year and then lost one more game the whole rest of the season.

So I really thought that this was the first week of games where we had some results that when we look back at the end of the year, it'll be, remember that game, all right?

And there is.

And doesn't.

And it doesn't necessarily, if it doesn't necessarily need to involve both teams in the same game because some games are more important to other teams than they are to, you know, both teams in the games.

Let me say that again.

Some games are more important to certain teams than others.

Okay, so for example, we started last Thursday night and as much as I really don't like the 49ers, I've always rooted against them.

But I thought that was a as gutsy and tough and sort of interesting of a game as we've seen in the NFL so far this year.

The 49ers going in as big underdogs on a short week with almost nobody.

You know, they are literally without QB1, they are without tight end one, they are without wide receiver one, they are without wide receiver two.

And then they have some various other injuries throughout the roster.

They are beat up.

They were already three and one.

So, you know, a short week.

Losing that game to the Rams would not have been a season ender or that big of a deal.

But they went in there that night and they gutted that thing out like no other team so far this year.

I found it super impressive.

Mac Jones was making me laugh because at one point, you know, he had the patellar injury and at one point he's on the bench.

It's like, it's like, it's like, it was like Rocky in the cut, me mixing.

He's, he's on the bench.

He has one trainer rubbing his knee.

He has another trainer doing something to his arm.

Like they're rubbing it, they're looking at it.

He has another guy walk over while this is happening and he takes a bite of a banana.

Then they are also feeding him sour patch Kids.

And as he's walking off the field in between series, he's dry heaving.

It's like, this guy, is he going to literally survive to the.

What is going on with Mac Jones in this game?

I was, I was calling my kids over and like, look at them.

What's happening I don't think I've ever seen.

I don't know if he's being dramatic or what, but it was like Rocky and it was, it was crazy.

And you know, the Rams come back, they tie it, it's.

And then you're like, okay, the look's going to run out.

The Niners are.

They've gone as far as they can.

They gut it out again.

They get the crazy fumble on the goal line.

That was kind of fortunate, but it was also a nice punch out.

And I think when it's very possible that that game as a decider in the NFC west later in the year.

Yeah, you could be very well.

Right.

And those are the kind of games, like you said, you, you reflect back on.

You might not remember it next week, but you get to week, you know, 16, 17, and your team is like on the bubble.

You go back and look at those losses like that and say, oh gosh, if only we had enough fumble at the 1 yard line with, with Chiron or, you know, or whoever did it.

You know, there's a bunch.

But we had a bunch of games like that the last few weeks and.

It would have been what I would say, quote, unquote, acceptable loss.

You know, a road game on a short week anyway.

You can, you already won, you're 3 and 1.

You're already off to good starts.

It's just not that big of a deal if you lose.

But to go in there and win it like that really flips things.

It gives the 49ers a lot of margin for error.

Now, you know, to get some guys healthy.

They're in a great position.

They have the one win over the Rams.

They're going to play them again later in the year in San Francisco where they could then earn the tiebreaker over the them.

So that was a real big one.

The other one that's really obvious, I would say would be the Broncos.

You know, because they were a team.

Myself, I think you and many others were very high on them through the first four games.

Fine.

But then they kind of.

They put the display on the field in Philly of the team that I think a lot of us think they can be a defensive led team that is capable of making big plays on offense.

And that was a really impressive comeback against the Eagles who have issues.

We'll get to that later.

But that was, that was another one.

That was like a turning point, I think for the Broncos season.

Yeah, what Was it like seven, eight minutes left in the game?

They're down 10.

They look like they're left for dead.

And boy, they really came to life there.

And I think they, the Denver coach Peyton out coached Suriani and the Eagles there.

Well, it's not hard.

Yeah, the guy's a great coach.

He's been in Super Bowls and he's a young.

I'm going to, I'm going to take the Nick Sirianni is not that good of a coach thing to my grave.

And then many Eagles fans will probably come and stack their Lombardi trophies on top of my grave to, to show me.

But, but think about it.

As a head coach, Sirianni's been to more Super Bowls than Sean Payton has.

Yes, yes, yes.

So that's saying something.

It's a fact.

No doubt.

So that was a huge win for the Broncos.

The Patriots were another one.

That's, you know, to go into Buffalo like that.

I think that now announced it.

Especially with the way the AFC is looking in the playoff picture early.

The Patriots are very much in it by winning that game.

There's a big difference between three and two and two and three for them.

Probably a lot of confidence there as well.

So I, I had them on the list.

The Jags are on the list to beat Kansas City like that.

And then I do have one on the other way and there is the end of the Cardinals Titans game was pure and utter comedy.

You.

That is ridiculous.

What.

What happened?

So here's the thing.

I'm 48 years old and I've been talking about the NFL with various people non stop for pretty much at least 45 of those years.

And I don't think.

I don't know.

I've never met a Cardinals fan.

Okay.

I don't.

Do they exist?

I don't know.

I've never met one.

If there's a Cardinals fan that's in the world, they're new to.

I've been to a game in Arizona, still haven't met a Cardinals fan.

So I don't know if any of Cardinals fans are out there feeling this right now, but if there is a Cardinals fan out there, I can't imagine what that felt like on Sunday.

Your third straight walk off field goal loss and the second two of those three, they were winning the game.

So you know, they, they Was that close to winning.

The other one was tied at the time.

But the secession of events there with the Kyler Murray that, that snap that hit him in the, the face mask that he fumbled, that looked like he was in a car wreck with, with like whiplash.

I think the snap was.

He's the first player to ever get CTE from his own center snap.

I mean that was.

His head snapped back like two feet and then he was like stunned and just stood there and watched the ball.

It's, it's like what is happening here?

So it's still 21 to 6.

Then of course, Mercado, nobody needs me to explain what happens there.

The inexplicable dropping of the ball.

I do think it's important because you know, everybody says that it happened the week before to Adani Mitchell.

You know, it's very important to get the facts straight.

Adani Mitchell didn't drop the ball on purpose.

The ball slipped out of his hands as he was attempting to kind of start his celebration.

His intent wasn't to drop the ball.

He was just being a little over celebratory and it slipped out of his hands early.

Mercado literally purposely dropped the football like that was.

His stated intent was to drop the football and he just dropped it too early, which is just.

I have no idea how it keeps happening, why it keeps happening.

It happened two or three times on Saturday in the college games.

I think Arizona or Arizona State.

Somebody lost the game because of that.

Very similar way.

It's baffling.

I don't understand.

I'm sure every coach in America on every level.

I mentioned this to my 5th grade team when we, when I would coach them about making sure you get into the end zone with the ball.

So I imagine that every coach on every level tells us to the thing to probably, I bet every team in the NFL is going to get a video of Mercado doing that and just be like guys, just again to reinforce why we don't do this.

But it keeps happening.

It must be some sort of mind blocker.

Maybe they had a TikTok video on it.

And so everybody wants to do it just maybe, maybe.

But it's, it's, it's nuts.

And, and then the crazy thing is that that wasn't the most crazy thing that happened in that game because then after that it's now 21 to 12, so they're still in control.

And then you had the Cam Ward interception which then becomes a fumble, which then the Cardinals kick back into the end zone, which the Titans then recover for a touchdown.

And then the Titans drive the field.

The Cardinals can't get a stop.

And in the flash, you go from.

With 12 minutes in the game, you should be up 28 to 6.

If your running back simply carries the ball into the end zone and you lose 22 to 21, like 10 and a half minutes later.

And that is a loss.

I'm sorry you're not coming back from that.

Not to the Titans.

The NFL is hard.

The NFC west is really tough.

They've got to get their wins when they have them in their lap like that.

And talk about giving a game away that you'll never get back.

Yeah, that was definitely one of the most odd fourth quarters, oddest games I think I've witnessed in a long time.

And definitely a lot of freaky moments in there.

And the score is like a bizarro world score.

You would never would have expected if you watch that game, that the Titans would have won that game.

But I'm sure they're happy about it in Nashville.

Yeah.

So maybe, you know, if there were any Cardinals fans before Sunday, maybe there aren't now, so.

So there you go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those are my big.

My, like, initial observations from.

From last week.

The games are starting to matter.

Yeah, they definitely are.

All right.

Well, this is an interesting segment I think we're going to get into because the last couple weeks you've been cutting teams from being.

You considering not being playoff contenders, I guess, for.

For lack of a better word.

But this is going to be an interesting one because we had a lot of upsets.

We have, I believe now we have no undefeated teams and we have no winless teams in the National Football League.

So be interesting to hear if you're going to cut anybody this week.

Yeah, I've come.

I'm cutting three.

I'm still cutting three.

Yeah, I'm still cutting three.

So, you know, we had the Titans, the Saints and the jets, and we just as an aside, we maybe need to stop calling them the jets because that is just too.

For.

There has to be a better vehicle or aviation term for them than jets.

Maybe like the.

The propellers or like the golf carts or something.

Something like that.

Because they do not deserve to be called the Jets.

I stand corrected.

The jets do not have a win.

So there's.

There you go.

I'm sorry.

And it might be a while.

It might be a while.

The highlight of their season was Aaron Glenn doing the Disco Inferno in the Tampa game that went kind of viral there with everything.

And that.

That really Wind up.

They may wind up being their, their highlight of the season.

Just kind of keep playing that one a loop.

Remember that one time we blocked a field goal and the coach dance that, that's going to be, that's going to be the highlight video.

Just that over and over again.

So this week we are going to add the Browns.

I told, I said I would give them at least one week with their rookie quarterback.

It's going to be rough.

It's going to be rough.

Gabriel, I wasn't really big on him coming into the league and he's not ready.

He's.

He's not ready now.

Now they have no veteran quarterbacks.

They traded Flacco today, so now it's, they have Sanders and the kid from Oregon.

Yeah, it's Gabriel.

It's Gabriel and Shador and Shador is doing his weird mime thing.

Gabriel's like, you know, barely five feet tall.

The offense is terrible.

It's, it's a shame because their defense really is quite good.

It really is.

It'.

It's a legitimately good NFL defense.

But the offense is so bad and now I think kind of hopeless because, you know, in a way the rookies, I guess maybe you would say provide some hope because there's some unknown there and I guess maybe you could spin it that way.

But really I cannot see Gabriel or Sanders putting together a full 60 minute game at this, at this juncture of their careers or anywhere close.

And there's not like there's a lot of extra help on the offense for them either.

So the Browns at 1 and 4 with the two rookies now, they are going nowhere.

It's probably going to cost Stefanski his job sooner than later.

So I think we're just kind of waiting at this point.

So the Browns are done.

The, the Raiders are going to join them and I'm a little surprised because before the year I kind of thought the Raiders might be one of those like, frisky teams.

You know, one of those teams that goes, you know, 7 and 10 and is kind of tough, a tough out week in and week out and sort of hangs in that.

I always talk about the, in the hunt, you know, the little graphic.

Oh, the Raiders are still there in the corner.

I don't think they will be the.

Gino.

Gino looks done.

It's.

It's going very poorly there.

They're not good on either side of the ball.

They can't block anybody.

Their offensive line's a mess.

They can't stop anybody on defense.

They're.

They're bad and they're gonna.

And they're gonna remain bad and then the last team is gonna.

I said I promise this so I will follow through.

The Dolphins are getting cut.

They had a one week reprieve by beating the propellers and then they, they get a reprieve and then they, they go to the panthers have a 17 to nothing lead in that game and still manage to lose.

And I don't know if you happen to see Mike McDaniel after the game, but he was walking through the tunnel and Sweet Caroline is playing in the background and he just looks distraught like it was dead man walking.

It was.

It wasn't.

We lost the game.

It was a look on his face of this is over, we're done.

Obviously he doesn't say that.

He kind of stumbles and stammers through his, his kind of weird delivery in his press conference the next day.

His, you know, all that kind of weird stuff he does that was kind of funny and cute when they were doing well and now seems the opposite.

So the Dolphins are done now.

Do you think you've mentioned a couple coaches that are that are on the hot seat?

Do you think we'll see anybody get fired before the midway point of the the NFL season?

Darren, sit tight because we might find that out in one of my five bold predictions from this week.

Okay.

All right.

Quite the segue.

All right.

Yeah, quite the segue.

And I think we're at that point of our program this week.

We're, we're making the picks or I guess.

Oh, I guess we got to see the results from last week.

Yeah, this will be faster because like we talked about last week, in a very strange and odd aligning of the stars, we picked the exact same five games when we really picked sort of three and a half of the exact same picks.

So we'll kind of go through them quickly.

The we both had the Broncos beating the Eagles.

Nailed it.

Can couldn't have gotten any better.

Two and oh, there are two points there for each of us.

We both had the Saints beating the Giants.

Another two points for us.

We that was not as easy as it look.

That was a two score win for the Saints.

The Giants turned the ball over on five straight possessions in that game.

They were.

The Giants were actually out playing for most of that game.

They were.

They were really kind of better, but they just couldn't get out of their own way.

Kept giving the ball up.

That ended the game there.

But we both get those two points.

We didn't specify how it was going to happen in.

We both are going to get zero because we both really swung and missed on that Colts Raiders game.

Yeah, we thought that was going to be kind of a shootout.

I said both teams would score 24 or more.

I think you gave some really nice statistics for both Geno and Jones.

I'm not going to give us a half right on that because I think we were both thinking that it would be a really fun kind of shootout game, and it wasn't at all.

The Colts dominated, so we're both going to get zero.

There we are in Los Angeles.

Pat myself on the back and my team on the back for getting off to a lousy start in Los Angeles against the Chargers.

The commanders had a big turnover there on a fumble that shifted that game, and it's almost like it woke up Jaden Daniels and our defense all at once.

And it's almost like our season started midway through the second quarter of game number five.

This is the first time the Commanders, I thought, really started to look like the commanders from last year, maybe even a little bit better.

That rookie running back Bill, he's.

He's got a lot of talent.

That's a.

That's a very exciting addition for the Commanders.

And so I'm going to get two points there and you're going to get zero because we just had opposite picks there.

Yeah.

You are going to make up one point on me for this week.

For the.

For this week, at least, in that we both nailed that Drake May was going to have a big day in Buffalo.

I said they were going to keep it close and lose.

You said he was going to have a big day and they were going to win.

So I'm going to give myself one point for getting that half right.

And you get two, of course, because you nailed it perfectly.

Which then ends with me getting seven points for the week and you getting six.

And now I'm very close, Darren, because You now have 23 points for the season and I'm right behind you at 22.

That gap has been narrow two weeks in a row.

You hit the seven point total, right?

I think so.

Yes.

I am.

Good for you.

I am wrong.

You are on fire.

All right.

I'll have to try to put a bucket on that.

That fire here and put it out here this week.

Awesome.

Let's do it.

All right, So I forget who has first pick this week.

I think you know, I don't remember.

It's me.

I think it's you.

Okay.

It's me.

Okay.

So we're going to start On Thursday night.

Again, I really waffled on this because part of my instinct, whenever a team like Philly suffers a loss like that and then plays an inferior opponent like they're going to play on Thursday night with the Giants, my instinct is to always say, ah, this is probably a bounce back spot for the Eagles and no win, kind of win easily.

I actually think there's some problems in Philly.

I think there are things that go beyond maybe just like hunkering down and focus.

There's some issues with the offense there that are sort of difficult to decipher.

I don't know if it's a line, I don't know, it's, you know, the change in coordinator, but something looks off and I think that's going to keep up on Thursday night.

This is a little bit of a arbitrary prediction, but I'm going to say the, the Eagles offense continues to struggle on Thursday night and it'll be sort of that objective.

He was right or he was wrong.

And so it could be a number of things.

Obviously, I'm not predicting they'll score very many points.

I think it'll be another sort of low yardage.

I think, you know, midway through the second quarter, as we're approaching halftime, there's going to be some chatter of, you know, what is going on with this Eagles offense.

Now their defense is really good still and the Giants may not be able to take much advantage.

So maybe it's, you know, 10 to nothing @ the half Eagles, but their offense won't be the reason why.

So I'm going to say that the, the Eagles offense has a tough night in on Thursday against the Giants and these questions persist.

Okay, well, this is going to be six games in a row we're picking the same game because I'm starting off my week taking that game too.

But I'm a little bit different than you because I think the Philadelphia Eagles are angry that they lost their first game.

As a matter of fact, they're pissed.

And they're going to come into.

I think they're in Philly this week, right?

No, they're in New York.

They're in New York.

Okay.

They're going to, they're going to walk into the Met Stadium there and be so mad they're going to take it out on the hapless Giants and they're going to win by 17 or more on Thursday night.

Okay, well, yeah, that's definitely different than what I'm saying normally.

Like I said, we actually have the same general mindset because that's Kind of where my instinct takes me, but sometimes I think you get to a point where it's beyond just being able to turn the switch on and off, and I'm curious to see if maybe the Eagles are at that point.

Yeah, I think they're gonna change up their play calling a little bit more, you know, not rely so much on the legs of of Hertz and Saquon, and I think they're going to air the ball out a little bit more and use those talented wide receivers and tight ends that they have and really beat up on the Giants defense.

All right, well, we shall see.

My.

My second pick for the week.

We're going to go to your neck of the woods and I'm going to pick make a pick on that Steelers Browns game that kind of, kind of hinted at it earlier.

The Steelers are going to destroy the Browns on Sunday.

At least the Browns offense is going to get destroyed.

The Steelers are going to punish Dylan Gabriel.

We might even see Sanders in the game because it might get to that point where they have to make it switch.

The Steelers are going to win that game by two or more scores and they're going to do it on the strength of a dominating defensive performance.

Well, I did not pick that game.

I would love to see what you're saying, but I have a different feeling on that.

If I was going to pick that game because this is a divisional game and I know how the Steelers play.

The Steelers never make their fans comfortable in the fourth quarter.

It's always an uncomfortable feeling.

Either you're down and you're coming back or you're up and you're giving up points.

And the other teams coming back, as we've seen already happen this year, that's the way it's always gone.

And the Browns, you generally play them close.

No matter if the Browns are when they were 0 16, they played the Steelers, who were much better record them close.

So I don't think that that's going to happen.

I'd love to see it happen.

And so I could sleep easier that night, but got to get the heart pumping and I think it'll be a close game.

Hopefully the Steelers win it.

Well, also, you got to talk about.

We kind of talked about it last week.

You've got the crazy travel, too.

Steelers off a buy at home.

Browns coming back from London having just traded Flacco.

A lot of rumors about Stefanski maybe not surviving much longer.

A lot of distractions.

Sanders going to get in the game.

I think it's a bad, bad spot for The Browns this week.

Yeah, it probably is.

But to tell your buddy that's the Cleveland conspiracy.

Joe.

I heard you tell Joe this that the Vikings, the Steelers and the Browns and everybody else that has has the overseas games this year, which I think there's 14 teams they were all giving had some kind of a poll or some kind of questionnaire asked of them how they wanted to do it.

The Steelers said they would prefer to have.

They knew they're having their buy early.

They prefer to have it the week before their buy.

The Browns did wanted their buy later in the year and didn't care if they had their buy after it.

And the Vikings chose to stay their two games back to back.

They actually I even heard they requested it.

So those were by choice, I guess all three council we talked about last week.

Leave it to the Browns to even screw up a questionnaire.

Yeah.

All right, so we go to my second pick and I'm going to stay in the AFC north, but I'm going to go to the Ravens.

Now the Ravens are.

They've had, if anybody's had some hard luck this year of getting injuries at key positions.

You lose your left tackle, you're losing your quarterback, your star defensive lineman is out for the season.

He's gone.

They just traded away one of their pass rushers this morning to the other Harbaugh brother.

They're hurting.

They're hurting in the secondary.

They're hurting everywhere.

But they still have Derek Henry and I think that they are going to rebound this week at home and beat the Rams and Derek Henry is going to go over 100 yards and have two touchdowns.

They're going to refine their running game with Derek Henry.

Wow.

I can't say that I agree on that.

It's a little bit going back to what we were talking about with the Eagles and that I don't.

I think the Ravens are past the point of just being angry and being able to say, hey guys, it's time to, you know, I think they're past the point of the players only meeting and you know, time to get, get it together.

Now.

I wouldn't be shocked if they put a fourth a much better effort than they did last week at home.

And I actually would expect that.

I don't think it's going to be 44 to 10 Rams, but the Rams are also coming off of a discouraging loss.

They've got the extra time, you know, coming off the Thursday game and you know, just looking at the Ravens and like everything you mentioned, they're just Their players aren't there, so I just, I just in good conscience couldn't pick them to win the game.

I think it's a seven point spread, something like that, which is shocking to see this, the Ravens as seven point underdogs at home early in the season.

Yeah, I just, I can't get with that, Darren.

I think if you're right on that one, you'll.

That is bold and that is.

It'll be very surprising to me.

I just have a gut feeling that they are.

They are.

I don't like the Ravens.

They're the arch enemy of my team, but they are too good of a team.

They have too much talent and they're too well coached to go 1 and 5 this early in the season.

And that's a tough competitor.

You know, the competition this week.

The Rams are a very good team, but I think their backs are against the wall and they're going to come out fighting and swinging, scratch and crawling and anything they can do to win this game, and they're going to win it.

Gotcha.

All right, well, we'll move on to my third pick.

We're going to go down to what might be the game of the week.

Really.

Probably wouldn't have said that before the year, but that 49ers Bucks game in Tampa is pretty, pretty appealing.

First of all, how beautiful was the aesthetic in Seattle last week with the two teams celebrating their 50th anniversary and both of them wearing their OG uniforms.

Man, that looked awesome.

Yeah, it was cool.

Yeah, those creamsicles are just.

And you just can't beat them.

They're, they're, they're fabulous.

They really are just fabulous.

And, and those, those original Seahawk uniforms with that, you know, the, I guess the lighter blue and the silver.

That, that was great to see as a, as a.

As an old man.

It was kind of fun to see.

That when they were an AFC team.

Right.

When they were an AFC team.

Exactly.

So this week, the, the 49ers are traveling to Tampa and my man Baker, first of all, it's OU Texas week.

That's why I'm wearing the hat.

And Baker is absolutely an MVP candidate.

As a matter of fact, I think he would be my vote right now for MVP of the league, which is amazing to say.

He's going to run into some trouble this week, though.

There are some things I really saw from the 49ers that I mentioned earlier that I like.

The 49ers are going to win that game in Tampa and Their defense is going to hold Baker and the Bucks to 21 or fewer points in that game.

It's going to be a good game.

I don't think the 49ers are capable right now of blowing anybody out.

I think they've got to kind of ugly the game up, keep it close and sort of pound pound pound and I think they're going to do it again.

This.

I am assuming that Mac Jones is going to play, and it's not going to be the, the rookie, the Martinez kid.

So I'm kind of assuming that Mac Jones will play.

My mind would change if he doesn't.

But the 49ers defense is going to give Baker some, some issues, and it's not going to be very smooth sailing.

And the 49ers are going to find a way to win the game and they're going to hold the Bucks down a little bit.

You know, I thought about this game.

I looked long and hard at it, but I did not choose this game to go in this game either.

But I have a little bit different feel for it because that's why I was a little bit uncomfortable about it.

But I don't.

I don't know that I believe in the 49ers.

I know they're 3 and 1 or 4 and 1 or whatever they are, and I know they just had a nice win and they're.

They're.

They're gutting it out, but I think that's what they're doing is they're gutting it out.

I think they're putting way too much on Christian McCaffrey.

He's injury prone.

He had something like 38 touches or something the other day.

I think that's too much for a guy his size and the talent he has and what his skill set is.

And I think they're going to either wear him down or he's going to get injured again.

That's what I fear for him.

And I love watching the guy, and I'm not a believer that they're better than the Bucs.

I think the Bucks are a solid team.

They're solid all the way around from the quarterback to the defensive backfield and everything in between.

And I think they're a little bit too much for the Niners, but I'll be watching that game closely because you picked it.

All right, sounds good.

All right.

I'm going to go to another team that's hot, and that's the Jacksonville Jaguars, and they're playing the Seahawks this week.

They're.

Matter of fact, they're hosting the Seahawks and that game, from all appearances looks like, you know, Jacksonville is going to run away with it.

Jacksonville looked, you know, great against the Chiefs on Monday night this past week.

But again, I don't believe that they're that good.

And I think the Seahawks are.

I've been strong on the Seahawks all year long.

I think the Seahawks travel into Jayville and they knock off the high flying Jags in a close one.

Seahawks come out the winners.

Okay, that's that.

That was actually the one game that I cut that had, I had six.

And it was also going to be Seattle goes into Jacksonville and wins.

I just pulled it at the last minute because there's still, there's the small part of me that wonders if maybe Jacksonville's got a little bit of a special something cooking.

I kind of tend to agree with you though.

I think go to my head, I would pick Seattle on Sunday as well.

Yeah, Yeah.

I was going with the good, the strong defense.

I mean they both have good defenses, but I believe in Seattle's defense a little bit more.

Gotcha.

So I'm going to stay in the state of Florida and we're going to answer the question you asked earlier because the Los Angeles Chargers are going to go into Miami.

They're going to bounce back.

They are going as banged up as the Chargers are and they are very banged up.

I don't think the Miami defense is going to be able to take advantage of those injuries on the Chargers offense.

I think Miami is sort of a dead team walking.

As I, as I mentioned, the Chargers are going to win that game by seven or more points.

And on Monday or maybe even Sunday night, we're going to get word that Mike McDaniel has been let go.

This is going to be the game that costs Mike McDaniel his job.

Interesting.

I, you know, I did not pick that game and I for one, I don't think, I don't believe in either team.

So I wouldn't trust either team to enough to pick them right now at this point because the Chargers, you know, you talk about John Harbaugh and Ravens being hurt.

Like you said, the Chargers, they have neither of their starting tackles from the beginning of the season.

There's two stud running backs are both gone, I think both shelved.

I'm not sure if Hampton's coming back this year or not.

We know Najee is not coming back.

They just had to trade because Khalil Max out.

They had to trade to the Ravens to get a pass rusher to try to have Some kind of a pressure on the quarterback and then you have the dumpster fire in Miami and yeah, that's going to be an interesting game, but I don't think it's going to be a pretty one to watch.

It probably won't be.

Everything you just mentioned about the Chargers is true, which is why Miami is just what the doctor ordered.

Okay.

And seeing that you cut them, I probably really put them down in the dump system.

Yeah, that probably.

That's probably why McDaniel was walking out.

He's probably like, you know what, that guy on Pigston pigskin dispatch pod is going to cut us tomorrow, isn't he?

Yeah, he's going to apply for the offense coordinator at ou.

Yeah.

There you go.

He's a great.

He's a great play caller.

He won't.

He will be out of work at some point, but he won't be out of work long.

I. I'm just joking.

I don't even know who it is or much about him.

No, he.

His name is.

His last name is Arbuckle.

He's got a really great story and the offense looks a lot better.

It helps when you get the quarterback right, too, but.

Yes.

Yeah, you'll be hearing from our office coordinator at OU at some point.

He's likely going to work his way up to be a head coach in college in the next.

Nice.

We always like to hear that.

Yep.

I like that.

Well, I'm going to go from the dumpster fire game that you picked.

I'm going to go to one might be even worse and.

But I like this game.

I'm going to the Titans and the Raiders.

These are two teams that you abolished from contention in the National Football League.

And I don't think I disagree with you there, but I think it's going to make for an interesting matchup because the Raiders, and I'm surprised you mentioned it earlier, you talked along about it, but a Pete Carroll team that sort of has no excitement in them and no fire like Carroll does, and I think that's pretty very disappointing to Coach Carroll.

But I think you have a Titans team that just had a bunch of miracles happen that we just talked about.

You know, all the stars align for them to do it.

I think that might just be enough to make them believe that they can win and I think that will put them over the Raiders this weekend.

And the Titans get win number two over the Raiders in Vegas.

Bet on it.

Okay.

Well, you said you like that game and I just.

I just don't know why.

I just don't know why that, you know, we're gonna have.

We're gonna have some other.

We're gonna have that 49ers Bucks game, I think, going on at the same time.

And my goal will probably be to watch 0 minutes of that Titans Raiders game.

So it'll.

It'll be on the multi.

The multi view somewhere in there, I guess, because those late afternoon games, there's not very many of them.

You'll be watching it, I think, because it'll be a fun game.

Kind of like this through your fingers, right?

Yeah.

It'll be so sloppy that you'll.

You'll have to watch.

It's like watching a train off a cliff.

All right, well, I guess, you know, I'll take your word for it that one terrible team will beat another terrible team and we'll find out which one, which one is which.

So I'm gonna end with two not terrible teams on Sunday Night Football.

And this goes a little bit against what I've been theming earlier, how I've told you, sometimes you can't just flip the switch, Darren.

Like, you know, sometimes there's just real football reasons that you.

You can't get it done.

But I'm going to say that the Chiefs find a way at home against the Lions on Sunday Night Football.

The Lions, who look incredible, by the way, they look fantastic.

I will point out that those wins are against the Ravens, the Browns, the Bengals and the Bears.

Those are their four wins.

Now, you can't control your schedule.

All you can do is go out there and dominate people.

And that's what they've done for four weeks in a row.

I think their offense looks exceptional and their defense looks pretty good.

You know, that's not.

It's been good as well.

So the Lions look great, but this is such a big game for the Chiefs.

Now this is uncharted territory for this Chiefs regime, Right?

So it's two and three at home, facing a Super bowl contender and you know, the season isn't on the line.

The Chiefs could bounce back from two and four if they lose.

But every loss now becomes more and more, creates more and more urgency.

And I just think that the Chiefs are going to find a way.

They've looked better the last few weeks.

They have looked better.

Their offense looks a little more smooth.

They're moving the ball more, a little more easily.

Kind of ran into a weird situation in Jacksonville with the, you know, the 98 yard touched, 99 yard pick six.

A couple other things kind of went Jacksonville's way there at the end of the game.

But I'm going to say the Chiefs figure it out.

They find a way.

They gut it out, and they kind of breathe a sigh of relief, and they're going to leave Sunday night by the skin of their teeth.

They're going to wind up three and three.

Well, I.

This.

My fifth pick is also that game.

And I couldn't agree with you more, because I think the Chiefs are.

They're too good of a team.

And just like I talked about some of the other teams with Philly and with the Ravens, they're too good of a team to be falling as far from grace as it seems like they are, because they're.

They're probably not.

Maybe not as close as Philly to being hit in full stride, but much more so than the Ravens.

But I believe that they will beat the Lions, and I think the Lions right now are a better team.

I agree with you in that respect, too.

But there's just something about it.

When you have a team or a wounded animal, you know, that's something that you don't want to.

You don't want to mess with.

There's too feisty.

And I think this is my third pick this week of that same kind of animal.

And the Chiefs are that.

And they are going to find a way to win.

They have a brilliant mind on offense, they have a brilliant mind on defense, and they're going to figure out a way to outscore in a close one, the Lions.

And I'm.

I'm sorry to.

To Randy and Adam Snow over at the World of Football podcast.

I know they look forward to when I do Detroit projections, but this one's not looking too good for the Lions, and I'm going with the Chiefs.

All right, well, we.

We end in agreement, and.

Yes, you did.

You kept a consistent theme with your picks where I was a little more bouncing all over the map.

Yeah.

Except for the Don't Stop Believing Titans.

Yes, the Don't Stop Again, Darren, the sound you hear is people turning off the podcast because we spend entirely too much time talking about the Tommy Boy Titans.

It's because they're running to bet on the Titans.

I'll bet.

There you go.

Exactly.

Yes.

Get those tickets in.

Get those tickets.

All right, well, I think we have some.

Some great insight by you from week five.

I think we have some interesting things in our own little competition.

Your points wise are one point apart.

This is.

You've been gaining ground on me the last two weeks.

I. I went out on a limb on some big ones this week.

You've picked some solid picks.

I think they're very interesting and that's going to be some great football to watch this weekend.

Looking forward to it, Darren.

All right, Ed.

Well, we will talk to you again next week to see the results of week six that we just picked and pick for week seven, as well as insights by you on how week six went.

So we'll talk to you.

Thanks a lot, Darren.

Have a great week.

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