Unveiling NFL Week Four: Bold Predictions and Insights

Well, you're going to be having more fun as we get into week four as Ed Cleese and I get together to pick our big, bold predictions for week four in the NFL.

Come join us here in just a moment.

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

Your host, Darren Hayes is podcasting from.

America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a. Hello, my football friends.

I'm joined by Ed Cleese.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hi, Darren, how are you today?

I'm doing great.

How about yourself?

Doing great.

Yeah.

So what did you think about week three in the NFL?

Well, I'll start by saying what really sticks out to me is, you know, we hear about all, we hear all the time about the amazing ratings the NFL does, how it's the most popular, not just the most popular sport on television, but it is the most popular television show in America.

And I think, you know, really, I kind of look at back on my own experience from this Sunday to kind of like illustrate exactly why.

Because the great thing about the NFL is it produces this amazing product in a very, very tight and predictable window of time.

Meaning if you just dedicate yourself depending on which part of the country you're in.

Of course, for me, I'm in the central time zone.

And so for me, I've got it set up where we've got two TVs out on our deck.

And the way we do it is we do the Commander's game on the big TV with the sound.

Okay, so that's the main event and then the TV below it is where we do the multi view.

And now if you have YouTube and Sunday Ticket, you can build your own multi view which is like, oh my gosh, this just warms my heart.

It's amazing.

And the best thing about the multi view is you can also then zap a game once you've decided it no longer is worthy of your screen.

You know, so you got.

So I have this very strict thing we do.

We put the four games up and then we sort of deem okay, like for Example this week, Bengals, Vikings, it was off by the, you know, end of the first quarter and a new one comes in and then you have these blowout games, you have these other games that are close.

And then literally luckily the commanders were way up.

We had it wrapped up.

So the last couple minutes we were just running the clock out.

I was able to turn my attention to the other games and in rapid fire secession, right.

You might go what Darren Weeks without seeing a blocked field goal in the NFL.

Right, right.

And then in rapid fire succession we see three game deciding or almost deciding a game altering blocked field goals in like six minutes of real time.

It was like boom, boom, boom and these.

And so it's just incredible.

What a.

What an.

It's so fun, it's so exciting and there's so much happening.

Wasn't like the Eagles block and the Browns block.

It was almost like in the same minute, wasn't it?

Another block, another block.

And then you look up in the.

Jets return for scores, you know, and.

The jets are returning it for a touchdown.

The jets are winning.

They were down 23 to 6, now they're winning it.

So it's just like what is happening.

And then you know, the late windows weren't as great, but you still had two games that also came down to a field goal on the last play.

The Niners and Chargers both win on a field goal on the final play.

And those are kind of happening simultaneously as well.

So it's just like you strap in for that, those early afternoon kickoffs and you're pretty much guaranteed a great time.

The Sunday night games lately have been kind of duds, but really the.

But it's just so fun and it's just.

And I think that explains the national addiction to the NFL which is so unique to that compared to all the other sports.

Yeah, I think this week three was like the NFL excitement on steroids.

I believe the stat was that I saw before the Monday night game.

They had nine of the 15 games played Sunday and through Thursday were decided in the last minute.

There's a last minute score.

It certainly felt that way and it's great because then if we did have some blowouts too, but they're so easy to just discard.

You know, we got six other games going on, so.

Okay, forget this one.

We move on.

You know, it's very, it's just, it's just great.

It's just great.

But it's not all necessarily great news for every fan base because here at week three, Darren, I'm already ready to Start crossing some teams off.

Crossing them off already three weeks, three games into the 17 game season, you're crossing some teams off.

Yes.

Okay.

And by cross off, here's what I mean.

So, you know, after about Thanksgiving, when they start doing the graphics where they show the playoff picture and then the.

In the hunt, you know, in the section.

In the hunt.

And they usually pretty much list, even if you're right on the outskirts, if you're, you know, four and seven in the wild card race, but you're in the hunt.

Right.

So these teams I'm, I'm predicting, not only are they not going to make the playoffs, we will not see them on the graphic.

Come November and December, they'll, they're gone.

Okay?

These teams, we can, we can erase them.

We'll never hear from them again the rest of this year, except for, maybe for bad reasons.

And I'm going to be very, very nice.

And I'm only going to cut two teams this week.

Okay?

And those two teams we're going to start in Tennessee, we're cutting the Titans.

That is, that is a joke.

First of all, I'm very disappointed because, you know their coaches, Bill Callahan's son.

Right, Right.

So the former coach Callahan.

If you're, if you're my age, you probably remember the movie Tommy Boy.

Tommy Callahan.

Okay.

Big Tom Callahan.

All right.

And Tommy Boy was the son Callahan.

So I, I gave.

Yes.

Just Sunday, I decided to, you know.

You don't pick out a steak by looking up a bull's ass.

You know, There you go.

Exactly.

So you got it perfect.

So you're a fan, obviously.

Great.

So I decided that we're going to call Coach Callahan and Tennessee Tommy Boy because that is, that, that's like as if who's coaching them.

So I was very proud of this.

So I'm texting my friends, I'm saying, the Tommy Boy, Tommy Boys coaching the Titans.

We can't, we can't bet on the Titans anymore.

There's no reason to watch Tit Tommy Boy.

And then on the Bill Simmons podcast that came out late last night, it is titled, one of their subtitles is the Tommy Boy Titans.

Now I can't claim it because obviously they don't have.

They, maybe, maybe they are watching my text messages and that's how they got it.

But I was very, I was very either disappointed or thrilled or whatever to see that somebody else had caught up on that.

So we are cutting the Tommy Boy Titans because they are terrible.

It looks like they're doing kind of a disservice to Cam Ward early on in his career.

Did you see Darren that they attempted in the first half, they attempted two 60 plus yard field goals that weren't like at the end of the half that weren't desperation.

They attempted a 65 yard field goal with about six minutes left in the half in the first.

And he missed them both.

Of course.

You know, I realized that we're entering a new age of kicker domination.

But he missed them both.

So twice in the first half they give the Colts the ball, you know, on the other side the 50 just for making terribly dumb decisions to kick a field where that was never going to make it.

So in addition to lacking talent, that team is poorly coached.

I saw today that Tommy Boy passed up his, passed off his play calling duties to one of his assistants.

So he's firing himself already as well.

It might be a preemptive firing too, but it's, it's bad.

So you know, sometimes you can say, hey young team, but would you like to see in the second year of a head coach is you'd like to see some growth, you'd like to see some creativity and they're just, they're just bad.

I mean there's just, there's not much good going on, you know, pick six in the first play of the game.

It was bad.

It was bad.

And I'd be a little bitter because I thought they were going to really give the Colts a good game.

So I'm kind of mad at them.

But they are crossed off.

We can cross off the Titans.

Okay.

You have any guesses as to the other cross off is.

Well, I would have to guess it's one of the other Owen three teams and I'm going to take a wild guess.

Maybe the Giants.

It is not.

I'll get to them in just a minute.

Okay.

But it's the Saints.

Okay.

Yes.

Now I, I gave them a lot of heck in our first podcast when I, I talked about how bad their quarterback situation is going to be.

And I guess Spencer Rattler hasn't been humiliating, but he is now 09 as a starter in his career.

The offense is very bad.

It's very limited and I thought maybe they could kind of hang around defensively a little bit.

They haven't been very good on defense either.

Their special teams was embarrassing on Sunday in Seattle.

That game was what, 34 to 3 midway through the second quarter.

And you just don't see that very often in the NFL, you know.

So the Saints are 03.

It's an ugly 03.

They have a horrendous quarterback situation.

They have a rookie coach.

We can cross off the Saints.

We will not be seeing them again this year.

They play at Buffalo this week, by the way.

Yeah, that's not looking too bright for them, that's for sure.

The game like that.

So.

So I have a few things I want to mention too because we, we lost some people for the season.

Some.

Some very good players.

Cleveland lost their, their starting, I believe left tackle Jones.

Right.

You know, he, he's out for the season now.

A few former Steelers that I watched quite a bit of.

You know, Najee Harris looks like he's going to be done for the season with a torn ligament, I believe he had.

And James Conner, who former Pittsburgh Steeler also, he is from Erie where I am.

I officiated his games when he was in high school.

Looks like he's done for the season also.

So, you know, feel bad for those guys and it was just announced today that the Giants are benching Russell Wilson and putting Jackson Dart in a starting hole.

And that is why.

So I have a lot of Giant fans in my life.

It starts off with my uncle who is now a regular podcast listener, you'll be happy to know.

Possibly because my aunt forces him to.

I'm not really sure yet, but I know that maybe she.

She's behind it.

But he was.

He won't feed him dinner until he listens to the.

Probably.

Probably.

All right, well, thanks.

Thanks, Ant.

We appreciate that.

There you go.

So.

So it started with him.

He was a huge Giants fan and he would often fall asleep on the floor watching the Giant games with a can of Charles Chips.

And that's one of my earliest memories of football in the NFL is my uncle falling asleep on the floor watching the Giants.

So then now my brother in law is a Giants fan.

I have some friends that are Giants fans.

So there is no team I would rather cross off completely than the Giants.

The last few years I've really reveled in some of their, their, their ineptitude and misery.

It's been great.

I'm not.

I'm going to be very nice and not cross them off quite yet simply because they have made the switch to the rookie.

Because you just never quite know.

I do think Russell Wilson is so far gone at this point.

He was embarrassing on Sunday night.

What he was, I mean throwing the ball out of bounds on fourth down at the goal line.

His arm was tired from the week before.

500 yards.

That might be the biggest head fake ever was the Week 2 Russell Wilson Resurgence, where.

And then he decided to let us all know that.

No, no, no, no, no.

You were right the first time.

So it was, it was, it was really bad.

So they, I think they made a good choice.

The odds that Dart comes in and is able to, like, turn their season around, they've got some other injuries and issues, is very, very low, but I will give them a chance.

I will not cross them off yet.

I will also not cross off the, their counterpart in New York, the Jets, simply because the jets play the Dolphins on Monday night, and that will organically take care of itself.

So whoever loses that one, you can pretty much be sure will be on the list for next week.

And then the other one that I have, that's maybe a little bit of a surprise is the Bengals are teetering for me now.

They're two and one.

So you might be like, oh, what are you talking about?

Their defense stinks.

Okay, it's, it's bad.

And Browning is a fine backup quarterback, but, you know, a fine backup quarterback is a guy you want to step in for a week or two to spell your starter.

They're going to be playing possibly not week three, though.

Yeah, now we three.

And it's got to last until it looks like week 15.

So, you know, the strength of the Bengals was that Burrow could maybe carry them past all their weaknesses.

You know, it was, it's basically Burrow and the receivers, because their offensive line isn't very good, their defense is bad.

So it was sort of like, how far can this quarterback and our really talented pass catchers take us?

And now that's gone.

So I've, you know, this could get ugly for the Bengals, obviously, at 2 and 1.

You know, you're not going to say, you know, they're not done yet, but I think it looks shaky there.

So those are the teams that are on my, my watch list for next week.

Okay.

Yeah, that's a very interesting to go.

So it's, I, I, I believe you're right, though.

Saints and who, who's the other one you had?

Titans.

Titans.

You've already forgotten.

See, they're very forgettable.

Yeah, yeah, they're very forgettable.

Yeah, I, I'm not holding up, I wasn't holding up too much hope for him before the season started, but, yeah, I think they're done.

I think Pat Kerwin just said it.

He says that every year at the beginning of the year, when you go 03, you have like a 1% chance to make the playoffs.

Yeah, I mean, it's bad.

No I think with the 17 game schedule, maybe it's, you know, those odds have been up slightly.

Just, you know, you get that extra game in there, but yeah, you're owing three.

It's gonna be rough, you know, I mean, it's gonna be.

It's gonna be rough, you know.

Speaking Owen 3 though, that's where the Bengals were, I believe it was last year.03 and just missed making the playoffs, so.

Just missed it.

You never know.

Yeah, there's looking at the Owen 3 teams, I guess the Texans would probably be the one that would stand out as being possible to, to make, to make a late run.

That's the one.

But I'm.

I don't like what I see there either though.

Yeah, it's.

It's got some difficulties down there in Houston, that's for sure.

Well, it's hard.

It's hard if you look at the O and three teams to find positives because everybody, you know, it's own three is going to be panicking.

But my team's not 013, so I'm not worried about it.

Yeah, me neither.

I'm worried and my team's got.

It's two in one.

Gotcha.

Gotcha.

So you want to, you want to review last week?

Well, I thought we were going to skip that part.

No, Darren, it's a, it's another W for you.

And I think, you know, this, this is modesty.

I think this is modesty for you.

No, you know, I'm.

Well, there's one that I'm embarrassed on and I had it scratched off like I went back and forth on two or three times and I chose the wrong way.

But go ahead.

Let's.

Let's hear the results.

All right, so what we got here is.

I've got to move this a little bit.

Am I, am I still on your screen here?

Yeah.

Okay, great.

So you had the.

Well, we both.

We'll start with this one.

We'll do it as a combo.

We both had the Bears beating the Cowboys.

So we both got that one right.

I went ahead and gave myself the two points.

I said a shootout.

It wasn't quite a shootout.

I do think Caleb kind of.

That was kind of like my, the reason for my pick, but I think we were both kind of right on that.

We called.

We both called that right.

The Bears took care of the Cowboys.

Their offense looked good.

Pretty easy.

Pretty easy win.

We both get two points on that one.

Okay.

You had Daniel Jones lighting up the Titans and throwing for three touchdowns.

I am giving you a point.

On that because he didn't get to the three touchdowns, but he did light up the Titans, meaning the only reason he didn't throw more touchdowns is because they were scoring touchdowns so easily in other ways.

So they run it running all over.

Him with Taylor running all over him.

And then every third down that.

That they needed, he got.

So it was no problem.

I give you.

You know, I won't give you the full two because they didn't get to the exact.

But we'll give you one for that.

Fair enough.

The Bengals scoring 30 or more in Minnesota.

You can't they.

Well, you know what, maybe I should give you some points because the Bengals offense almost gave the Vikings 30 points.

You know, so I didn't say who they'd score 30.

Right.

Right.

So yeah, between the scooping scores and the interceptions that Browning was throwing, that was one of those games again on the multi view I wasn't really paying a lot of attention, but every time I glanced down, there was another Viking defensive player running towards the end zone with.

With the football.

So I was like, what is happening down there?

That's the game I'm embarrassed about because I had two or three times I had went scoring 30 and crushing the Bengals.

And I said, you know what?

Vikings have like three offensive linemen out.

They're going to make the Bengals defensive line look like superstars.

And boy was I wrong on that.

That's where I ended up going to.

And I figured Wentz was going to get crushed.

And boy was I wrong on that.

Yeah.

So woulda, coulda, shoulda on that one.

On that one, Darren.

So you have no points for you on that one.

You are gonna get.

Also you're gonna get zero points for your Steelers tight ends catching three touchdowns.

I don't think they caught three passes, I don't think.

Exactly.

Kind of ironic though because on the other side of that game, the Patriots Hunter Henry, I think he had eight catches and two touchdowns.

So you were maybe somewhere in there you had this psychic vision of tight ends and you just had the helmets mixed up.

That could be.

Could be so, so zero on that as well.

And then you do get two points.

You should probably get some sort of asterisk, like a bonus point, perhaps two points for the Lions upsetting the Ravens.

You didn't say it would be close.

You didn't say that.

Oh, I think they'll make it a tight game.

You said the Lions are going to go in there and win and they did.

So two big points for you there.

That gives you five for the week.

And that gives you a grand total through three weeks of 12 points.

All right, I'll take that.

I'll take that.

I wish.

I just wish I would have had enough guts.

And I think I mentioned it.

I wasn't brave enough to pick the Browns over the packers and I chickened out on that one.

But you did, you did mention that.

Now that I think about it.

Yeah.

See, you got to go with it.

Feel it.

You got to go with it.

Yeah.

So on mine, we already talked about the Bears.

I got, I did get the two points for that one.

Also.

I was head to head with you on the Lions.

I think you're three.

And oh, with me on these.

Head to heads now each week because I had the Ravens not only beating the Lions, but winning by seven or more.

And talk about the wrong side of that game, because while the Ravens did very briefly take a seven point lead, at no point in that game did the Ravens feel like the right side, you know, that the Lions were ready to roll.

They looked great.

So I'll tell you where I got a little bit nervous about that is at the end of the half.

First half, you know, the Lions had that great defensive stand, you know, at the 1 yard line or whatever they did, and got end up strip sacking Lamar on fourth down and end up going three and out punting the ball.

And you know, Ravens come down and score right before the half and get the ball back.

I'm like, oh my gosh, this is, this is not looking too good for the Lions on that.

But yeah, they great.

I don't know what they were doing to Lamar there.

They may, I think they were spying him in the middle or something because he, not only did he, he looked very uncomfortable all night and look like he wasn't quite sure when he wanted to take off, you know, hold the ball, hold the ball, hold the ball.

And then now I'm going to try to run and it's too late.

And you know, I, I haven't seen him look that flustered in a while and I think there might be some problems there with the Ravens.

Now that's kind of got the antennas up a little bit because that's the third week in the row their defense hasn't looked very good.

And you know, they had a lot of trouble holding off the Lions front as well.

So maybe maybe something to watch there.

It feels a little bit like deja vu because last year they struggled.

The beginning of the year, the defense looked really suspect and then all of a sudden, offense Defense clicks in and they're, you know, they're the best team in the NFL for a while, you know.

Yep.

Yep.

So they got to hope that that's going to happen again because it looks shaky start, shaky start.

I do get two points for.

I said the jets will keep it close.

That you will look up in the fourth quarter and be like, whoa, the jets are in this game in Tampa.

I got kind of lucky on that.

It was 23 to 6 at one point and it looked very bad.

It didn't look like at any point the jets were going to get in that game.

They kind of snuck back in it.

We talked about the blocked field goal that gives them the lead.

So I think.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

They had the lead with three minutes to go.

I was right.

So I'm definitely giving myself two points on that one.

Well deserved.

You were all over it.

Yeah.

I'm going to get a zero going back to that Minnesota game because I said that Wentz and Browning would combine for four plus touchdowns.

I think they.

They got to three.

But that wasn't the type of game that I was predicting at all.

You know, I thought it was going to be very back and forth close.

I kind of thought the Vikings would win, but I thought it would be sort of an exciting game with a lot of receivers making big plays and it just wasn't.

So a zero on that.

And then I am mad about this one because I'm going to get a zero for my negative tush push result.

But I should have gotten one because the Eagles ball started again on the tush push down by the goal line and the refs missed it again, if you can't tell, my bitterness towards the Eagles grows weekly.

So the day had gone so well.

Right.

For me, the commanders went easily.

There's all these exciting games.

The Rams are lining up to kick this game winning field goal.

Eagles are going to lose.

We're going to be tied for the division.

And then here we go with this Eagles voodoo magic that they've now stolen from the Chiefs and you know this crazy, their second blocked field goal of the quarter that this gets returned for a touchdown.

So.

But I'm going to get zero on that.

Even though I feel like I got robbed just like the Rams did.

So I will give you some credit though because since you said that when we recorded this last week and the rest of the week, at least once a day I heard a national media head talking about banning the tush push.

They're all stealing my ideas, Darren.

See, I haven't heard that in a while, but I heard it all last week.

Everybody's tuned into Pig Skin Dispatch.

There you go.

You're an influencer.

There you go.

There you go.

That's good.

Oh, by the way, there was a flag called on a tush push in the Saints Seahawks game.

So how funny is that?

The Saints tried it.

The guard started a little early and they flagged it and pushed him back.

Support Saints, you know.

Yeah, you need to get that Tayson Hill going.

Right.

So I got four points for the week, which gives me eight for the season.

And that is now a 12 to eight lead for you through three weeks.

Weeks.

All right, I'll take it.

I'll take it.

So that's where we stand.

Okay.

And I cannot remember who went.

I think.

I think you went.

I went first last week you went.

You go first this week.

Okay.

I think that's right, Doug.

I think you went.

The odd weeks you've gone, you're going first.

Okay.

For week one and three.

All right, well, I'm gonna stay on this kick here of trying to pick.

I believe it's a Thursday game.

You is the Seahawks and the Cardinals and I'm going to say that the Seahawks are going to feast in the desert and they're going to win convincingly over the ailing Cards.

Got it.

Big win.

Big win.

Seahawks big over Cards.

Okay.

It's kind of funny because my first pick also is on the Thursday night game and it's not head to head, per se.

I have that the both of those.

So both of those teams defenses have been pretty good so far.

And now with James Conner out, as you mentioned, and then factoring in the short week, I think that speaks a little bit more to defense.

So I think both ended divisional game with familiar, familiar foes and opponents and coaches and all that.

So I think it's going to be a low scoring game.

I think it's going to be kind of ugly, sort of that somewhat typical Thursday that we see fairly often.

And I think the teams are going to combine for 40 or fewer points in the game.

So both defenses kind of dominate.

If you put a gun to my head, I'd probably pick the Seahawks to win it as well.

I do not think they'll rol like you did, but I think they'll probably squeak it out.

I am not as much as I applauded Baker Mayfield last week, I am not a very big fan of another OU quarterback.

I'm not a big Kyler Murray guy.

There's just, it's Too erratic for me.

Too much going backwards when scrambling.

Really some amazing things he can do, but I. I just don't trust him.

I just don't have a lot of trust.

This is a really tough divisional game.

It might.

Might be one of those that you got to kind of grind out.

And I think I'd lean to the Seahawks, but I'm definitely going to lean to the under.

So I'm going to say 40 or fewer points combined.

Okay, all right.

40 or under.

All right.

All right.

Well, I'm going to go to the Buffalo Bills on my next pick and I am going to do another combo of offensive players.

I'm going to say that Shakir and Kincaid are going to combine for at least three scores and a Bill's route of the Saints.

Kieran Kincaid three touchdowns route.

Well, I'm certainly not going to say the route part of that is bold considering they are playing the Saints.

However, that is very specific on Shakir and Kincaid going for three plus touchdowns.

So.

So those have to happen in conjunction, correct?

Sure.

Okay.

Okay, got it.

Well, I'm certainly not going to push back on you on the.

You know, traditionally the Bills, I think, are 16 and a half point favorites, which is going to the biggest number we've seen in the league so far this year.

It might wind up being the biggest number all season.

Traditionally in those really big spreads.

The.

The underdog has done well over the course of 50 years of NFL in terms of covering the spread, at least.

So the odds would actually tell you that it may not be quite as big of a whitewashing as.

As.

As.

As it might appear.

However, it's very hard after watching those two teams to land on any other possible result.

And it's sort of like, well, if the Saints do wind up keeping it within 15, let's say, will it be because of a Bill's mercy?

You know what I mean?

It's very hard to see that the Saints actually staying in this game.

Yeah, it was.

But like you say that usually teams rally and it's a home game in New Orleans, but I'm still picking with the Bills, so.

No, that's in Buffalo.

Is this a Buffalo?

Oh, okay.

All right.

The news gets worse for the Saints.

Oh, okay.

Yes.

Wow.

They got the couple home games in a row then.

Yes.

So crisscrossing the nation.

You know, the, The.

The Saints, Seattle, the Buffalo.

Get your.

Get your butt whipped all over the country.

There you go.

So I'm gonna go way out of the country and I'm gonna follow your guys The Steelers to Dublin.

I have another defensive minded prediction, one that you may not like because I think the Vikings defense is exceptional and I think they are going to give Aaron Rodgers hell in Dublin on early Sunday morning.

Again, wow.

That.

The Europe games are great because that expands our day by even three more hours.

So now it's.

It's all in.

It's fantastic.

So I think the Vikings defense is going to.

I'm just going to say Aaron Rodgers is going to have an objectionable.

Objectionably.

Objectively.

Excuse me.

Objectively bad game.

Meaning there'll be no doubt.

Okay.

I don't know if that's going to mean multiple interceptions, fumbles, super low yards, very low production, very low quarterback rating.

He's going to really, really struggle.

The Vikings are going to dominate him.

And I think the Vikings will win the game as well.

But really my pick is more about the Vikings defense eating Rodgers up.

Okay.

Well, they should know him very well.

They played against them for so many years, of course, different coaching staff, different players.

But I found this kind of interesting.

This is before last night's game, the Monday night game.

They said that Rogers has the most red zone touchdown passes in the NFL.

He had six and he else had more than five, so.

Which kind of shocked me.

But he really hasn't been throwing the ball that far.

I think it's like an average, like 3 yards per pass or something, so.

Well, last week was sort of hard to judge with the Patriots turning it over five times.

You know, it's kind of, it's difficult.

That's a, that's, that's going to be hard for Pittsburgh to repeat week after week.

I don't, I don't want them to repeat it because they had.

Their first two drives were good and the final drive was good.

Everything in between was really kind of putrid.

There you go.

Yeah, Minnesota can really do.

Yeah, they're pretty good team.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I like to pick.

I don't like to pick, but.

All right, well, I am going to go to the battle of the winless teams.

I'm going to go to the Texans.

I'm gonna say they're going to get their first win, which isn't going out too far on a thing.

But I'm going to say C.J.

stroud has two touchdown tosses and runs in another.

He's gonna have three altogether.

Two touchdowns maybe.

Very specific because it's not real bold, just picking the Texas.

Yeah.

Because your last two picks so far, Darren, have been that the two teams we crossed off earlier in the podcast are going to lose on the road.

So, so yeah, you had to attack.

I think you had to attach something specific to it which you, which you've done well there.

My third pick.

We're going to go out to Santa Clara, the site of the super bowl this year, and I'm going to predict an upset.

I think the Jags are going to go into San Francisco and win that game outright.

I'm not.

This is a little bit more of a pick on the reality of what the Niners are dealing with right now as opposed to anything amazing I've seen from the Jags.

Their injuries are over the top.

It took everything they had to squeak out that game against the Cardinals and they got some good fortune there at the end.

To 16 to 15 was the final and that was a pretty ugly game.

They are really hurting.

I'm assuming Purdy's still going to be out, so that would, that would change things if that, that if that weren't the case.

But I think the Jags are going to go in there, they're going to keep it close and they're going to find a way to win late.

Mac Jones has done a pretty admirable job, but I think he might turn into a pumpkin a little bit this week.

Things catch up to the Niners.

It's not a really huge game for San Francisco.

They're already three and oh, it's an A.

They're playing an AFC team.

It's one they could probably afford to lose.

Probably not a big deal.

So I'm picking the Jags to win that game outright.

Well, I couldn't agree with you more and I think we're gonna be head to head on this, but in total agreement on this because I have one of my picks being Jags taking out the Niners in San Fran and Trevor Lawrence having a day because I think dude is locked on and he's.

He's grooving right now.

All right, well, look, that's.

Well, we're either both going to win or both going to lose that one.

So there's no way to make up points on that.

So then my fourth one is going to be that.

Again, talking about my Giants people, I think Jackson Dart is going to have a good debut at home for the Giants against the three and oh, Chargers.

I don't think the Giants are going to win that game, but I think that they are going to keep it close and that Dart is going to be somewhat impressive that he's going to.

I think.

First of all, first things first.

I Think he's going to really energize the team and the fans.

The fans.

I read some things online.

The Giants fans said it was about as dead as they can ever remember it in the Meadowlands on Sunday night for a home opener because I think the fans just know you're looking on the field.

You see this old quarterback on this 02 team, you're going nowhere.

You got this rookie on the bench.

It's like, what are we waiting for?

Right?

So there's just.

It's almost like you don't even want Wilson to do that well, because you just want to see the kid play.

Right.

So it's sort of like, let's rip the band aid off.

He's had three weeks to kind of acclimate to the league, so let's get him out there.

We've seen plenty of rookie quarterbacks now that do fine when they, when they start in their rookie year.

So let's take the kid gloves off, let's throw them out there.

The Giant schedule is really tough, so there was really no great place to start them.

So, you know, here we go.

So I think they start Dart, I think he's going to eventually, he's probably going to take some lumps, no doubt, but I think he's going to get off to a nice start.

They're going to keep it close.

That's going to be kind of a fun game.

Another game where it's, you know, the fourth quarter like, oh, wait, the Giants are.

The Giants are in this.

So that's my pick there.

Well, I like the pick and I think it might be interesting because Dart's mobility might be a factor in that because Russell's a little bit long in a tooth, not able to move as well as he used to, and Dart may make a difference there.

And having that quick release on the run like he had showed in college so often with Ole Miss, it was fun to watch.

So, yeah, I think that might be an interesting pick, you know, and that's.

Definitely part of it.

Wilson has no, no desire to, to run the ball anymore.

None.

So, yeah, and when you're in a little bit of an under talented team trying to fight through some of these games, you got to have a quarterback that can just make some plays for you, you know, third and six, they, they blow the, they blow the protection.

The receivers can't get open and the quarterback just makes a play, you know, first down.

So that dart's going to give them a much better chance of that than, than Wilson did.

Yeah.

And I Think he's going to be a lot like Drake may has been this year.

You know, Drake May not.

Not a particularly good team he's on, but the guy's making things happen and sometimes with his legs.

And I think that's what dart can do, too.

I can see it.

So what's your last pick?

Well, I am going to go to.

With the big boys.

These are the preseason favorites in the afc.

I'm going to have the Ravens Chiefs game.

I'm going to the Ravens.

They're.

I think they're going to be a little bit upset with themselves from last weekend showing.

I mean, what.

What schedule the Ravens have had to start off this season.

I mean, these.

These four games are just, you know, for the top teams of the NFL that they're playing.

But I have.

They're going to beat the Chiefs in KC by at least two scores.

I think they're going to embarrass the Chiefs and put the Chiefs to one and three.

Ravens win by nine or more.

By nine plus.

Okay.

Because that's two scores.

Okay.

All right.

Yeah.

That game I've really waffled them on.

I can't.

I wanted to pick that one because it's obviously kind of a very interesting game.

You know, it's kind of hard to believe that either the Ravens or the Chiefs are going to be one in three after this game.

And I think.

I think the Ravens are the right pick.

I really do.

But it's almost as if there's like a force field around me that just will not allow me to say the words out loud that, you know, the Chiefs are going to lose their second game at home.

They're going to fall to 1 and 3.

They're going to.

They're going to be in real trouble.

You know, if they're 1 and 3, they're in real trouble.

Especially in that division.

They're.

They're in trouble.

And it's hard to imagine that that's going to be a reality for the Chiefs.

But we're.

It probably is, but I just.

I can't get the words out.

I just can't.

So it's almost like if I wrote down on my notes, who am I going to pick?

It would say Ravens, Ravens, Ravens, Ravens, Ravens.

And then somebody's going to ask me.

And I would go to Chiefs, Chiefs, Mahomes.

Read, they win.

You know, it's like.

It's like I can't.

I can't do it.

So you need to take a lesson.

From my Green Bay Cleveland pick last week.

You got it, you got to go with your gut.

I'm not doing it.

I'm not doing it.

So I'm just going to stay away from that one.

And my last pick is going to be maybe a little bit of a boring one.

We're going to stick with the defensive theme.

I'm going to fade, I guess you could say Daniel Jones and the Colts just a little bit.

Going out to LA to play the Rams.

This is more of a pro Rams pick than it is an anti Colts pick.

I do think the Colts are pretty legit.

That offense is really good and I think that's a well coached football team with pretty balanced roster.

I think they're going to be just fine.

But I do think they're going to go out to LA and struggle with that Rams defense, who's going to be, who's good.

And I think they're going to be a little salty after last week as well.

There's also the human nature factor a little bit.

You know, the Colts now are three and oh, it's their back to back road games.

They're flying out west.

You know, I don't think it's anything conscious that you're like, oh, we're not going to take this as seriously or not.

But there's got to be a little seed in the back of your head, you know, road game, NFC team, you know, maybe it's, maybe they're not quite, you know, whereas the Rams are coming in really fired up.

So I'm going to say the Rams defense holds the coats.

The Colts are averaging 34 a game right now.

So I think the Rams defense is going to hold the colts to under 24.

So 23, 23 or less is what the Colts are going to score on Sunday in a Rams victory.

Well, okay, interesting.

Sort of Daniel Jones getting stifled a little bit.

Yeah, I think a little bit.

I think a little bit.

Yeah.

So I think, and, and I know I'm just such a huge Sean McVay fan.

I just think he's exceptional and I think they'll, they'll be ready to bounce back.

Coming off that really, really got to be a very frustrating loss for them because they had the Eagles beat three or four different times.

Yeah, it just couldn't put them away.

That, that block, those damn Eagles.

Yeah, that block kick really did them in.

It's almost like the Eagles are living like what the Patriots were like last 20 years.

You know, it seemed like everything goes their way to get these last minute wins, but you got to be good to be in your put yourself in those positions.

So unfortunately that's off to the Eagles, you know.

Yep.

So.

All right.

Well, that makes a very interesting week four for us.

And you know, it's going to be some great games to watch again, I hope.

Just like last weekend and like you said, Sunday, we have a very long day of football, approximately what, 15 hours of football on.

I can't wait.

And neither can my wife, I can tell you that.

Yes, yes.

Yes or yes.

Or my aunt or my uncle who are out there too.

Yes, yes.

So, yeah, that's right.

Yeah.

So get the can of chips on the floor and get ready to watch some Charles chips.

Yep.

Yep.

All right.

All right.

We will see what our results are next week here.

Same bat time but same bat channel Wednesday on pigskin dispatch, YouTube and podcast with Ed Cleese and Darren Hayes.

Ed, good luck this week, but not too much luck.

I want to extend that lead.

Thanks, Darren.

Have a great week.

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