0:09

Welcome to another edition of the Around

0:11

the NFL Emergency Podcast.

0:15

Here in the Chris Westling

0:18

podcast studio, I'm

0:20

with my friend a hero, Patrick

0:23

Claybonn, and uh, we're usually here

0:25

on Fridays to tape game deviut a fun

0:27

show. Yeah, Unfortunately we're in the podcast

0:29

studio for an unfun reason.

0:31

I wish we weren't the exact opposite of

0:34

an of a fun Friday, because

0:36

right when I got in, I'm looking up

0:39

and I'm seeing Taylor on On with

0:41

the end, and it's like, oh, what's what's the breaking Burrow's

0:43

done for the year. And I was,

0:46

you know, considering the way that he reacted after

0:49

the ball left his hand, and and like you could see,

0:51

he was an obvious pain. He was kind of dejected

0:53

for the remainder of the game. It's like, well, this is

0:55

going to be significant, but to have to

0:58

have no Joe Burrow for the rest of it, Like, the

1:01

league is better when not just

1:03

Joe's playing, but just when we're talking

1:05

to Joe, when we're hearing Joe's thoughts about football,

1:07

even the way he handled his season

1:10

ending Now news conference just

1:12

highlighted how great it is, how

1:14

great of a communicator and a person a football player

1:16

he is, and it's just it sucks.

1:18

It sucks.

1:19

I was talking about it with Emmica, my wife,

1:21

because I was just leaving the house when this popped,

1:23

and we were saying

1:25

the same sort of thing that you do.

1:27

Forget that this whole league, this

1:30

studio, this.

1:30

Building, everything, like a lot

1:33

of it is on the backs of like ten

1:35

quarterback and like if you whittle a

1:37

town, it's like six or seven, Like they do really

1:40

matter that much. They add so much

1:42

to what we do on a week to

1:44

week basis, and it's such a bummer. And maybe I'm

1:46

just an optimist for some reason, it didn't occur

1:49

to me that he would be out for the season. It's the same thing

1:51

last night when Dan broke the news to me mid

1:53

podcast and Mark Andrews out for the season. I was like,

1:55

Oh, I just I never think worst case

1:57

scenarios, like that'll be a high ankle, or that'll be something.

2:00

And this is rough because

2:03

like most teams, the Bengals don't

2:05

really have a backup plan. We

2:07

can get into that, but I think we'll just start

2:10

more on just the big picture Bengals of

2:12

it all. They're five and five this season,

2:14

they're zero and three to the division. They're

2:17

one to five in the conference. They had some

2:19

issues that I talked about with Dan last night. We don't

2:21

defensively offensive line in terms of

2:23

their pass protection.

2:24

We don't need to go too deep into it.

2:26

It's hard to imagine them

2:29

winning enough games to

2:31

make the playoffs this year. They

2:33

play the Steelers, Jaguars, Colts, Vikings,

2:36

Steelers, Chiefs, Browns, All those teams are

2:38

in the playoff race. I guess I'm

2:40

more interested looking at this

2:42

team right now and that like, can

2:45

they be competitive in those games? Can they win some

2:47

of those games? Even if it's not going anywhere?

2:50

They now matter because they're

2:52

improving all these potential

2:54

playoff teams as schedule. The Steelers

2:57

are kind of lucky here because they missed

2:59

Joe Burrow to Times.

3:00

Yeah, and ultimately because we saw and

3:02

Trey Hendrickson really gutted it out last

3:05

night. He did come up with a sack, but he was

3:07

clearly playing hurt. And we saw

3:09

them go through that stretch right whereas Arizona,

3:11

Seattle and then San Francisco

3:14

and lose defense played spectacularly,

3:16

and I guess that's something else we need to look ahead to with

3:19

regards to twenty twenty four, is if

3:21

lou Ana Roumo is not the head coach

3:23

somewhere, because clearly, like

3:25

losing safeties that played

3:28

ninety nine and ninety eight percent of the snaps

3:30

last year has an impact, Right, you're

3:33

you're not.

3:33

Just sometimes the offseason narrative. Yah, yeah,

3:36

it's true. I thought it was overblown. Actually,

3:38

I was like, they'll probably be fine, and last night was

3:40

a big change. Actually they bench Nick Scotten from

3:42

Yeah for the first time in that game, and they're.

3:44

Still kind of trying to ultimately figure

3:46

things out there. But it's so much easier

3:48

to go in. And obviously

3:51

it is even dumb to say when oh,

3:53

yeah, we got Joe and Jamar and

3:55

t and everything's, you know, worst

3:58

case scenario, we end up in a shootout and

4:01

it's it's not looking good like

4:03

the rest of the way, Like even even

4:05

after because of the Colts and the Vikings,

4:08

it's like, where's the where's

4:10

the spot, Like, where's where's

4:12

win six coming?

4:14

I think they can be competitive and

4:16

and I don't want to get into a whole Zach Taylor

4:18

thing. Me and Dan have gone back and forth about

4:20

him quite a bit, and I do with my Bengals

4:23

fans a lot of them or are on my side

4:25

that like, look, if if you have a quality coach,

4:27

you can maybe survive the loss

4:29

of even a franchise quarterback. We're seeing what the Vikings

4:31

are doing, for instance, right now, and just that they

4:33

would be competitive in these games. The Steelers aren't some

4:36

world beaters the Colts. We know

4:38

what the Vikings are dealing with that maybe they can

4:40

pick like a coach and a defense

4:42

and all that talent you said that's still

4:44

there on offense can maybe pick off a

4:47

couple of these games, but it's gonna be tough.

4:49

Jake Browning played

4:52

fairly well, I thought last night.

4:54

You know, we checked the PFF grades right before

4:56

we started. He got a sixty eight. That's pretty

4:58

good, and that passed the eye test that

5:00

he didn't do too many things wrong. He made

5:03

a couple accurate throws, he kind of went through his

5:05

reads, and I was like, Okay, that was better than

5:07

the version I saw in the preseason

5:09

when he had one of the worst

5:12

training camp battles. Because they played the whole preseason

5:14

because Burrow is hurt, and I

5:16

watched most of it for some

5:18

reason, and him and Simeon couldn't It

5:20

couldn't have been worse, And I

5:23

don't know. It got very frustrated

5:25

with these teams who don't invest

5:27

in backup quarterbacks and just weirdly

5:31

don't seem to take that position that

5:33

seriously. Our friend Chase Daniel was

5:35

honking about it on Twitter, and I agree with him,

5:38

Like Teddy was just sitting out there for

5:40

a while, like these teams that have championship

5:42

aspirations. I guess you're not winning the championship

5:45

with Teddy, but you can't tell me that a playoff run

5:47

wouldn't be a lot more entertaining

5:49

and be worth it for the fans paying money,

5:51

and be worth it for T Higgins and Tyler Boyd

5:53

in a contract. Y're like, like, the

5:55

next seven weeks matters, even if you're

5:57

not gonna win a super Bowl, And they got

6:00

super cheap this offseason and a couple of teams

6:02

did that, and I just don't get it.

6:03

It doesn't make any sense.

6:04

I mean, the best possible explanation a

6:06

few years ago was, well, we don't

6:09

want somebody to come in and the quarterback

6:11

lose the locker. The Carson Wentz backup

6:13

situation, and it's like you're worried about somebody's

6:15

feelings. Like, if the feelings are that much

6:18

of a concern, maybe the quarterback's not very good.

6:20

Right, No one's worried about Joe Burrow's feelings. He can

6:22

handle it.

6:22

Yeah, Joe will be fine. You've

6:25

got to you gotta invest at the position.

6:27

And maybe this changes

6:30

things for twenty twenty four, but everybody's stuck

6:32

now, Like Tommy DeVito is going to be playing

6:34

for the rest of the season because like there's

6:37

there's just no other than pulling

6:39

somebody off the street.

6:40

Well, Joe Flacco did work out

6:43

for the Browns, right. You know

6:45

what's funny is I was thinking, like, is

6:47

are we in a world where the Bengals are like, damn,

6:50

they got to Flacco first, or there there's actually

6:52

like a betting war.

6:53

Yeah, Joe Flacco sweepstakes.

6:55

I mean maybe why not or Matt Ryan

6:58

or someone.

6:58

I mean part of it is there's just not enough you

7:01

know, proven quarterbacks in

7:03

the NFL. But I just think it's an under

7:08

I don't know, underpaid position. It's

7:10

kind of crazy to me because like Jamis was available

7:13

for cheap. Andy Dalton was available for

7:15

cheap, Baker was available for cheap. Any of

7:17

these championship level teams

7:20

or even playoff level teams could have just invested

7:23

the five six million dollars that it costs,

7:25

and it's so worth it because it's

7:27

a weird sport where one

7:30

position so far outweighs

7:32

every other position that it's like

7:34

driving your car without insurance. It just doesn't

7:37

make any sense because yeah, like Tom Brady could

7:39

stay healthy for his entire career except

7:41

for that one year with Matt Castle, and yet

7:43

I was always supporting Bill Belichick taking

7:46

Ryan Mallet and Kevin O'Connell

7:49

and Jacoby Brissett and Jimmy Garoppolo.

7:51

He just kept doing it like over and over because

7:54

it totally makes sense. That position so much

7:56

more important. Why not spend a second or a third

7:59

on that instead of spending the money on

8:01

some cornerback that you're gonna cut.

8:02

If you're Bill Belichick in year two.

8:04

I just had a second theory. What if they don't want to answer

8:06

the questions about the backup?

8:08

Is that's I think that's part of it.

8:09

A two game skid, and then it's like,

8:12

let's put in Bailey's appy and like it

8:14

literally never works, but people are going to continue

8:16

to ask.

8:16

I think that's part of it. In Belichick was one

8:19

person that didn't care, but I just maybe.

8:20

That's maybe that's why you put him in the final drive.

8:22

My larger point was just like it, it

8:25

doesn't make any sense that that's not treated

8:28

financially and draft pick wise

8:30

as important as you're

8:33

starting off ball linebacker or

8:35

even your third edge rusher, whatever

8:38

money you're picking, or just.

8:39

Or just not unspent money, or

8:41

just money that's there that's available to spent,

8:43

and right they just don't spend it.

8:45

That That's just sort of a frustration

8:47

I've long had, and it's funny with this

8:49

team in particular because I listened

8:52

to Paul Daner his podcast with

8:54

the Athletic and I read his stuff there and this

8:57

was like story number two behind the safeties

8:59

all off season was why don't why are

9:02

backups so bad? Why aren't we investing in

9:04

backups? So it is a case of first guessing,

9:07

not second guessing.

9:09

Greg, Where do you get all the time for all these podcasts?

9:12

You listen on one point five speed, you do

9:14

a lot of stuff around the house, You pick and

9:16

choose but I've sort of added the team

9:18

podcast. It's it's good, all right?

9:20

What else should we talk about the Bengals? They're

9:24

done for the season. Let's look at the division. I guess

9:27

quickly the

9:29

Steelers are just

9:32

right in.

9:32

A way of the zombie Steelers, right.

9:34

I wouldn't call it.

9:35

Luck because I think they've won these games

9:37

and that they have a good coaching

9:40

staff that's figured out a way to do it, and they've gotten a little

9:42

luck along the way.

9:42

But it is crazy.

9:43

They've been out gained every game in their six and three and

9:45

now in the last week they've seen both Deshaun

9:48

Watson and Joe Burrow

9:50

leave the division. The

9:53

Ravens are a couple of games ahead, but they're in a

9:55

weird spot where they're eight and three and the Steelers are six

9:57

and three.

9:57

That bothers me.

9:58

I know it's only for four days, but like, what are

10:00

we doing here sport that there's an eight and three

10:02

and a six and three?

10:03

It's that that bothers me.

10:04

Do you think the Steelers now like they got two games

10:06

against the Browns, Like, do you think they were a playoff

10:08

team?

10:09

Yeah?

10:10

I think the Steelers, Like why

10:11

why wouldn't they be other than the fact that

10:14

the numbers that you mentioned, I mean, you could also make the

10:16

case that, like Lamar and the Ravens were

10:18

the best seven and three team of all time before

10:20

last night. Are considering the way that things have gone

10:22

statistically for them, it's so

10:25

hard to continue

10:27

to win in the way that they have. But while

10:29

they keep doing it, Like who's

10:32

to say, because we looked back at last year's vikings and it's

10:34

like, oh, that was a fraud. Well, like here comes

10:36

Kevin O'Connell again, right, and

10:38

so like I know it's

10:40

cliche and it's like wins

10:42

and losses are all the matters, but like they

10:45

keep doing it, and they keep doing it in weird fashion.

10:48

I keep I kept believing at some point they're

10:50

actually gonna play better. You know,

10:52

the offense looked a

10:54

whole lot better. They actually are already since

10:57

the buy. Kenny Pickett hasn't been he's

11:00

just kind of been like a below average quarterback, but

11:02

he's been a below average quarterback that's not going to crush

11:05

your team. And their offense has been

11:07

average to better than average because the running games getting

11:09

going. So I think they're gonna play better. This is a big game

11:12

this weekend. I'm actually picking the Browns

11:14

to win this game. A little tease for

11:16

NFL game debut. People should check

11:18

that out. We're on reruns throughout the weekend. Even

11:20

if you don't hear this right away, but I think we're

11:22

five pm Pacific on Fridays. We're on Sunday

11:25

mornings before game day. Yeah,

11:28

Saturdays, it's there.

11:29

We'll do the picks.

11:30

I think the brown like, the Browns are winners

11:32

here too, because they don't have that

11:34

Bengals game coming up or anything like

11:36

that, or they do they finish the season

11:38

with the Bengals, so like

11:41

that, there's a difference between these two teams.

11:43

The Bengals do not have a difference making difference

11:45

right now. You can say that they can play

11:48

better because of the personnel they have, but

11:50

the Browns of the best defense in the league.

11:52

The Bengals are

11:54

just there.

11:55

Yeah.

11:56

It's depressing, man.

11:58

It's like I think about the big picture of it

12:00

all too and we will wrap up

12:02

soon.

12:02

We got to get going.

12:04

But I think back to that

12:07

play in the Super Bowl, the penalty on

12:09

Logan Wilson, and then certainly what happened

12:11

with the last drive against the Rams.

12:14

It's just so hard to get back to that point, and

12:16

that was a coin flip game. I believe those two

12:18

teams whereas even a super Bowl

12:20

as you'll see, and

12:23

you feel like you have all the time in the world. And

12:25

they're going to be very good, I think throughout the Joe

12:27

Burrow era, but this offseason

12:29

they're going to be a very different team

12:32

in twenty twenty four than they were in twenty twenty three.

12:34

Here are some free agents that the Bengals

12:36

have. DJ Reider, their best interior

12:39

defensive tackle. What a great free agent signing

12:41

right there with Trey Hendrickson. Does

12:43

he get another contract with the team. He's getting a

12:45

little older. Tyler Boyd is a

12:47

free agent. T Higgins is a

12:50

freight free agent. That was part of what made them

12:52

special, these receivers all together.

12:54

Jonah Williams, who's played a ton of snaps for

12:56

them and it has been fine this year

12:58

at right tackle, is.

12:59

A free agent.

13:00

Shaudobi a woozy who hasn't maybe played

13:02

up to his previous level coming off a series serious

13:05

injury.

13:05

He's a free agent.

13:06

Those are as core of

13:08

five, you know, starters

13:11

as you could find from this three year run. So

13:13

it just I just kind of wanted to circle

13:15

how it's difficult. You need a lot of things

13:17

to go your way. And Burrows had bad injury

13:20

luck, the Bengals have had some in general. And

13:23

they're going to count on Duke Tobin and

13:25

partly Zach Taylor to come up with like a new

13:27

version of this Bengals team because they're not going to be the same.

13:29

And people may be tired of us talking about it, but I always

13:31

have to go back to it that it's really hard to win

13:33

that one game, right, It's really hard. A lot

13:36

of stuff has to happen, and then you lose that

13:38

game or you come up short before that game, you never get

13:40

a chance to play in it. And we and we make

13:42

the case about the quality of people's entire

13:44

careers based on the outcome of that in a story.

13:46

Or even last year, they were so close

13:49

to being in that game again, you kind of

13:51

forget about that as a heartbreaking loss, that Chiefs

13:53

loss.

13:54

They could have.

13:54

Very easily been back in that Super

13:56

Bowl and won it. And there was nothing separating

13:59

those two teams to me really either. Just that

14:01

day the Chiefs were three points better.

14:03

Yeah, and then so like I'm

14:05

looking at that list of free agents and maybe it's

14:08

Tyler Boyd, and Tyler Boyd is

14:10

the odd man out and he's somewhere else and he's no longer

14:12

around the Boyd Chase

14:15

Higgins receiving group with Burrow

14:17

like it deserves to be remembered. And because

14:20

you know, because you

14:22

know that there was an incompletion to samaj pron

14:25

you know, because there was a

14:28

hedge on on Aaron Donald, it didn't quite

14:30

get there. Like we have to say

14:32

that this was group was a failure, but

14:34

we aren't a failure.

14:35

We don't.

14:36

Yeah, yeah, to hell with that.

14:38

There weren't our own podcasts.

14:40

We're the around the NFL podcast We are

14:42

the thought leaders Patrick.

14:44

We don't have to say it.

14:48

And but I might as well make predictions here reader

14:51

chance to come back Boyd, he's probably

14:53

gone a Woozy, probably gone T franchise

14:56

tag if I had to guess, but no

14:59

guarantee. He's and Joan and Williams probably guns

15:01

or maybe actually they're the team that that does pay him. So I

15:04

think there's gonna be a lot of changing. And you just feel

15:06

you said it really well at the top. You

15:08

feel for Burrow personally.

15:11

He's had a few injuries now, He's

15:13

had the a c L had a knee

15:15

sprain I believe late.

15:18

In the twenty twenty one season.

15:22

Nothing that that kept him out a

15:24

long time until this calf injury which

15:26

bothered him. So he's just he's

15:29

just had bad breaks and you feel for him,

15:31

you feel for the whole organization and and even

15:33

the smallest bit for us because.

15:35

We're gonna have like Jake Browning in primetime.

15:37

And it's gonna be annoying.

15:40

U let's wrap the show with more bad

15:42

news, uh Ian Rappaport as

15:44

we are taping, this reported

15:47

just kind of the extent of the Mark Andrews

15:50

injury, and uh, I believe

15:52

it's a fractured fibula

15:56

along with the knee or

15:58

the let's see what it is, sorry

16:01

cracked fibula and the ankle ligament

16:03

injuries. That it makes sense

16:05

that that he's out for the season, but that still

16:08

is disappointing because

16:10

that's a really serious injury.

16:12

When it's both of those combined, like the

16:15

broken in a situation like

16:17

this, you almost root for a broken leg because that's

16:19

a cleaner recovery and that's something

16:21

he could be back working pretty

16:23

early in the offseason. But it makes sense

16:25

that they so quickly ruled him out for the year because

16:27

that that is a long time recovery,

16:30

so he wish wished the best for him too.

16:31

Yeah, and possibly multiple surgeries.

16:33

And you could see it in Lamar's

16:35

reaction both on the field and after the and

16:37

after the game that this will significantly

16:40

impact the chances for Baltimore

16:43

m because there's plenty of times where Mark

16:45

is the one, well.

16:46

He's the most important one.

16:48

Yeah.

16:48

I've been waiting for their passing

16:51

attack to just be a little more consistent, a

16:53

little more on the same page. I think we're seeing that with

16:56

Odell and Bateman, who

16:58

were kind of the we

17:00

know what we're getting out as z A Flowers, I think the way they

17:02

use him makes sense. But those two

17:05

guys, it's been better and

17:07

they still have more than enough I believe to

17:09

go on a Super Bowl run. But

17:11

that is still a

17:13

major loss, and the AFC just

17:15

feels different. The Bills are no

17:18

lock to make the playoffs, the Bengals are

17:20

no locked to make the playoffs. The Browns are

17:22

now playing with the backup, and it absolutely

17:25

leaves more room for Miami

17:28

and a surprise team

17:30

somewhere that we're not even thinking about, whether it's the Chargers

17:33

or the Colts or heck,

17:35

the Las Vegas Raiders. I'm

17:38

not going that far. I'm just saying it does

17:40

open it. It opens it up a little

17:42

where if you look at the who's

17:45

going to make it as the seventh seed and the sixth seed.

17:47

Before I would have said, well, you at least got to get

17:49

to ten wins and you might be looking at tie breakers

17:51

there, and now it's like, okay,

17:53

ten wins maybe feels a little safer, Maybe

17:56

you don't need the type of who knows, maybe nine to eight gets

17:58

involved here because all these teams

18:00

are closer than they are apart, and with.

18:02

So many common schedules.

18:03

I think nine and eighttimly

18:06

right, and like I feel more confident today. Jacksonville

18:08

and Houston both get in, for instance, just because

18:10

I actually thought they probably were

18:12

good enough to do so already, and now

18:14

it's like you just look at the picture, everything

18:16

changes with the quarterback. It is a bummer,

18:20

but I'm glad, you know, we do this game debut

18:22

together, so that we were here to be able

18:24

to do this today and it didn't wait till the Sunday.

18:27

Yeah recap show.

18:28

Yeah, let's let's do an emergency

18:30

pod when something awesome happens next time.

18:32

That would that would be fun.

18:34

Until then, we will be

18:36

back on Sunday, we

18:38

hope, and we plan for

18:40

Mark Sssler to be back there. Get

18:42

better, buddy, and until

18:45

then, for Patrick Claibond

18:48

Keep it

19:02

ta