Latest / Know Your Personnel Pod / NFL Week 4 Recap: Are the Eagles BROKEN? + Bryce Young's Surge! 🏈

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NFL Week 4 Recap: Are the Eagles BROKEN? + Bryce Young's Surge! 🏈 · Know Your Personnel Pod

• Nathan Hawthorne: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to yet another episode of KYP. This is episode number forty-two. And so if you've been following along, thank you for your support. Make sure to like and subscribe. My name is Nathan Hawthorne. This is my co-host Jared McEnroy. This is the NFL Week Four recap. Boy, did a lot happen, and boy, has a lot changed. So today we're gonna do a week four NFL recap. And then if you're following along also, stay tuned for our week five look ahead. So Jared, let's start with the NFL recap. What do you got for me? Jarod McInroy: Yes, so we're gonna start this off with with winners and losers from the week, but we're gonna start with losers. And I have a very specific loser I wanna talk about. It's not gonna be fun, so just bear with me, but it's something that needs to be said, and it needs to be said on this platform right here. In life there are gonna be decisions where you have to either choose the easy way or the hard way. And sometimes the hard way is the right way. Sometimes the easy way is the wrong way. And that is the case for the Browns. The Browns chose to go with the more talented, more skillful quarterback, who was clearly the wrong choice for many reasons. first and foremost, you're three and one, and we all want to celebrate with you, we all want to be there with you, but for what? What are you three and one for? You decided to put a guy who's frankly a terrible human being at your quarterback position We're not gonna sit here and analyze him. We're not gonna talk about his stats. We're not gonna talk about anything that has to do with Deshaun Watson. That is the guy that I am talking about here. There's nothing to be excited about. I told you this would be a cursed year, it would be a wasted year. You have a ton of talent. You have a ton of really hard workers on your roster. ultimately you have three quarterbacks who all deserve a shot at a QB one position. you just wouldn't draft it, you wasted a draft pick on Talen Green for what? If you're gonna go ahead and start him. So I think Jimmy Haslam's an absolute loser. I think Roger Goodell is a coward for letting this guy even be in the NFL at this point. and I'm not gonna blame Andrew Bar Barry the GM because ultimately he has a job. He has people above him that make these decisions and he wants to win football games and that's what they're doing. I'm also there's fifty two other people on this roster, so we're gonna give him a fair shot. Hats off to all of them for putting together this three in one season, but as long as that guy's running the show. you guys are cursed ultimately. I don't know what to say for your franchise and the future of your franchise, but I can tell you that he from a football standpoint doesn't even fit that timeline. So it makes no sense whatsoever that you even have this guy on the roster. You're the biggest loser. Congrats on your win against the Steelers, but it it's all for what? It's all for nothing. so we're gonna we're gonna shift this into a more light, positive, great week for we recap, but ultimately just remember This is a podcast with two girl dads. Love women, protect Nathan Hawthorne: Amen. Jarod McInroy: women, stand up for women. So, and that and that's not even a political statement either. That that should just be a human this is just a human issue. so that's all we're that's all I'm gonna say on this guy. I'm done. We're I'm probably not gonna say his name again for the rest of the year. but from the Browns, that that was a great game. Queenshot Jug Kids. I told you he would show up although he wasn't getting a ton of ground yards on the ground, he finally got in the end zone. there was a lot a lot of good things coming from that Browns camp. like you kinda said last week, KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston, like they got guys everywhere. so there's a lot of exciting things happening around this team that are not that guy. Nathan Hawthorne: Talk about a talk about a young core that's going to be great for years to come. Again, you mentioned them, Quinsha Judkins, Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion, Harold Fannon Jr. You've got guys Jarod McInroy: yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: that, number one, are young, and any quarterback would love to have these guys as their weapons. If you could refresh and give these weapons to Pat Mahomes, I'm sure he would be stoked. And I love you, Travis Kelsey, but you don't think Pat might be ready to move on. You know what I'm saying? Like there's a number of teams that would die to have. Number one drafted so well the last two years. And then even on the defense, I know Mason Graham's got a little bit of an injury right now. Jared Verse has been a little bit of a non-factor, but that again, that's in comparison to Miles Garrett, who you had before, who could just play for sacks because the team sucked anyway. So so many things to be excited about for this Browns team. There's just one that makes it really, really def difficult to root for and to be excited for. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. But that's all we're gonna say on them this week. we'll we'll we'll circle back next week. There's another loser that you want to talk about in particular, and I don't know if we pr we we quite agree on them being a loser quite yet, but the Eagles look pretty bad. They look pretty darn bad and I I can't I can't pinpoint it. and I'm gonna let you jump in here and tell me what you think about the Eagles. Nathan Hawthorne: You can't you can't pinpoint it? You can't pinpoint what's going on. This offense is horrible. For the second year in a row, arguably third year in a row, Jalen Hurts looks awful. He's just pedestrian. He's refusing to use his legs, despite what I thought what I was seeing, where he had slimmed down, maybe was getting back to his immobile ways. He's refusing to use his legs. He's breaking the pocket and looking like, he might take off for six, seven yards here and be safe. And then he's just throwing the football or throwing away. I am not understanding it. They can't seem to get Saquon Barkley going consistently. Now he's got the stinger and then now he's got the hamstring injury. I it's blowing my mind what Sean Mannion has been able to put together for this offense. But I think the biggest part is Jalen Hurts is really just not seeing it. And it's a combination of both things. I think Shan Sean Mannion's offense is looking really pedestrian right now, which is okay, especially earlier in the season. A new quarterback or a quarterback that's in a new system. You're gonna give him that looks that are traditional to football, you know? You're gonna run your smash concept, you're gonna run your fade different fade concepts, you're gonna be running your flood, all the things that a quarterback should be able to know how to do, but Jalen Hurts is just not getting rid of the ball. And we're seeing it on tape, we're seeing it highlighted by guys like Kurt Warner, guys like Kurt Bankart, which it again, like they're all seeing the same thing. The plays are there to be made, and he's just not taking them. And then I think that this is kind of what we've talked about with Nick Siriani. And what I was trying to give him credit for is yeah, he's built a great culture centered around winning, but he has proven yet again that if he doesn't have head coach caliber coordinators, this team's not going to succeed. And the Eagles right now running out Sean Mannion, he's just getting beat by more experienced coordinators. Week in, week out. He's just getting beat by more experienced coordinators. Yeah. No, yeah, go ahead. I'm pretty much done. Jarod McInroy: Can I jump in for a second before you finish? Vic Fangio should not be let off for no reason here. He's given up their defense has given up twenty two, twenty, twenty-seven, and twenty-two again or in twenty again. It's the it's not just the offense. Yes, the offense clearly there's an issue. Saquon Barkley needs to get healthy. He hasn't been healthy for a down of football this year. Hang on. Hang on, pal. Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna stop you right there now. It's compliment it's complimentary football. No, you hang on. It has to be complimentary football. If my defense if my offense is going three and out, four plays, getting nowhere, punting the ball from deep in your territory, giving the de giving your defense a short field to go against their offense, it's gonna be really hard. And then now you're on the play for a bunch of for the for this entire season. Jarod McInroy: For a week or two for sure. Listen, listen, hang on though, hang on. For a week or two I get it. You you look at the Seahawks versus the Commanders last week, right? That was complimentary football. Like the the the offense was putting the defense in terrible positions the whole time. They even gave up points. Like there's there's a lot of issues there, but that's one week. That's one week of the year. My thing going into the season is I said that Vic Fangio's defenses traditionally have been best in their first or second year of him showing up to a new place. And I think it's because he gets new toys, he throws them into his system, yada yada yada, and then it all gets solved. His i there there's nothing he's doing different. to he he's not throwing different looks. He he's not great at adjusting on the fly throughout a game. he sticks to to what he does and what he knows. And I I think there's a lot more problems with this Eagles team than just the offense. That's not saying there is no issue with the offense. There's a huge issue. but I also kind of said this going into the season, there there wasn't a lot of exciting things about this Eagles team from my standpoint anyways, and I think there's there's just a lot of talent in the NFC and it's Nathan Hawthorne: I also Jarod McInroy: gonna be tough. Nathan Hawthorne: I also want to point out Saquon Barkley exited the game early. Okay. Devontae Smith weeked four with the hamstring injury. Dallas Garter missed with his knee injury. Devontae, or I already talked about Devontae Smith, and then Quenyan Mitchell exited the game, and so did Cooper DeGene. So you dealt with some injuries. Now that doesn't excuse the lack of I think attention to detail. And I'm gonna say it, the lack of give a shit out there. It doesn't It looks like everybody is too calm. This is one thing as a University of Oregon fan I don't like about Dante more that I don't like about Jalen Hurts. They always try to be the guys that don't get too high, don't get too low, and try and be even keel. At a certain point, you need to bring some juice and some energy that isn't you screaming because you got held out for a concussion. And you don't see it on the sideline. You see the guys sitting on the bench like this. Everything's fine. There's no juice and energy. And the only juice and energy I see is Nick Shayani screaming at the other team. Which is embarrassing. And I just tried to compliment him. It it I gotta right after I Jarod McInroy: It's hilarious. It's hilarious. So it's right after you said it. Nathan Hawthorne: gave him credit for being calm this year and and having that emotional barrier, he just goes off the rails. It it blows my mind. So I think from a organizational organization standpoint, the Eagles have looked embarrassing. From a offensive standpoint with Sean Mannion, honestly, he's just getting outclassed by more experienced coordinators and then the players. I just need to see more juice and more energy across the board. You let Shane Steichen walk out the door of Siriani. You've let Kellen Moore walk out the door, and Siriani's still there. Imagine if this team still had Kellen Moore as the offensive, as the offensive coordinator or just the head coach. It'd look entirely different. Now, they weren't on the hot seat at the time, because you know you just come off these Super Bowl runs, but man, I just biggest losers. And you give up what? Was it a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter to a Rams offense that was just having a really tough time getting going? Now I know they had Puka back and I know Kyron looks like a r an RB one. He's moved himself into the next tier of running backs, but goodness gracious. Eagles, you disappointed me. Jarod McInroy: Stafford's really really having a tough time getting into his rhythm, but let's let's jump over, let's stick with losers before we get over to the Rams. the Lions, that was another game last night that I th the offense just did not look good. and frankly the defense is horrible. Like not even they they don't even look remotely decent. And I don't want to take away from what Bryce Young's been able to do this season as a whole. what the Panthers offense is is looking like in terms of I I know Coker got injured, but he's Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: been great this season. Tet McMillan had a huge game last night. there's there's a lot of good things going on over there, but at the same time, it's not a great defense. from an offensive standpoint, you've said it over and over again. They're overusing Gibbs. with a guy like Jamison Williams, there's so many ways to use him But sometimes it's not trying to get creative and sometimes it's just why don't we use him for what he does best? he can have a a big play down the field. maybe it's an end around. It's it's it's very very much just get the ball into his hands and stop trying to to kind of outthink the room. think about how the offen the offense for the Seahawks runs with JSN, like you know what he's going to do. He's just gonna do it better than the defensive back can do to stop him. Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: I'm look on the same field as him right now. Look everyone knows what Amon Rossane Brown is going to do, but he always gets his. He always finds his spots. so if Jameson Williams is gonna be that guy, we're gonna have to figure out a way to get him into the flow of this offense, utilize him more more frequently in a lot of in a more consistent way. same same with S Sam Laporta. Like finally yesterday he looked great. he was finding a lot of spots over the middle, similar to how we've seen with kind of, you know, that Bowers in and mayor combo over there in Las Vegas. It's it's kinda clicking now, which is great, but still they're doing it too late. They're not coming out hot, they're not doing it early on in the game, they're getting way too far behind. Then they start to succeed against a softer coverage, and then we kinda get some fool's gold gold numbers, which we've seen with a lot of different teams. We're not Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: anyone out right now, but I I don't know. What make make sense of this lines team, please? Nathan Hawthorne: I can't I you know, I think that they've lost their identity as we've now been two years removed from Ben Johnson. I think that's two years removed. Yeah, two years removed from Ben Johnson. Jarod McInroy: His second year, yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: and that identity that he has, which you now see with the Shar Chicago Bears playing more hard nails football, it it sounded like it was Dan Campbell, right? The big big guy in front of the mic talking about how much coffee he drinks and how juiced up he is. But then you realize it was actually Ben Johnson. And what is this team right now, other than throwing the ball forty plus times a game out of necessity? Cause this defense is just sitting back in zone. They have one of the highest zone percentages. I think it's north of seventy-five percent. So they're sitting back in zone, hoping that the pass rush gets there, relying on Aiden Hutchinson to get there, and he's not getting there. And then Aiden Hutchinson's trying to play for Sacks because he knows that there's not a great back end behind him, and he's getting caught breaking the pocket, and quarterbacks are Or scrambling and making big plays on second on third down to keep the other teams ahead of the sticks. Kelvin Shepard and Christian Parker from the Cowboys are two cheeks of the same ass here as defensive coordinators. There's no identity, Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: there's no focus, and there's no structure. Guy, there's more busted coverages and broken plays on these two defenses. And again, focusing on the Lions here than I've seen. They're av they're allowing 423 yards a game and 31 points per game through the first four weeks. They're just Giving it up, just like the Bills defense. We'll get into them too. Or maybe we won't. I don't know. But Gibbs has a hundred and two touches through four weeks. That's on pace to have four hundred and thirty-three touches. Christian McCaffrey's biggest year was four hundred and thirteen. You want to just ride this guy into the dirt? Remember what happened when they gave C Mac four hundred and I think it was three touches in twenty nineteen? A string of years of injury after injury after injury before he got healthy again. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, Pacheco is a Nathan Hawthorne: The most Gibbs Jarod McInroy: strange strange choice for a running mate too because you have to have someone who's healthy and reliable behind your guy. so yeah, very cheap. Nathan Hawthorne: Monty seems really cheap right now. Monty seems really cheap. And so that and and that's one of the things is outside of Gibbs busting big plays, they're really not running the ball very well. And they're using him in the receiving game a ton. And so I again I just think for the Lions, it's been a lack of identity. The confusion and the I don't really know if we should go for it on fourth down seems to come from a lack of confidence in the play caller and the offense executing on fourth down. And then what were it was fourth and twenty and we tried to run a hook and ladder with seven minutes left. I mean, I know your defense could not stop Carolina's offense. And do you really want to watch Bryce throw it to Tet for another drive and just keep letting it happen? Probably not. But from a perspective of this is a team for the last three years now, has a ton of talent, and we've just seen them regress, regress, regress. They have the talent, they'll get it together, and they're just not getting it together. And then they're and they frequently are injured. I just it blows my mind. Jarod McInroy: Something very similar between this team and the Eagles team though is with both of their head coaches. You know that scene in Step Brothers when he's like, Now that I think about it, the the suits kinda effed up. Yeah, that's Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: kind of what we got going on here. They they are both very coordinator reliant and now that they don't have that, their their shtick behind the mic is kind of getting sickening and is rubbing people the wrong way. So we'll Nathan Hawthorne: There is Jarod McInroy: see. Nathan Hawthorne: there's no room to be Jarod McInroy: We will see. Nathan Hawthorne: a walk-around guy in the NFL anymore. There's hardly any room to be it. Mike Tomlin, he's gone. He was a defensive guy, but he was a walk around guy. who else is gone? John Harbaugh got fired. Jarod McInroy: Whoa woah woah woah we we need to calm down on that one Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: Siriani. No, I'm I'm saying look at all the coaches who have been hired. They're very specific X's and O's to one side of the ball. Mike LaFleur, Jarod McInroy: True. Nathan Hawthorne: Clint Kubiak, Robert Salah. who else was hired in this most recent cycle? Now my mind's taking a blank here. But again, like that's that's the Jarod McInroy: Jeff Halfley. Nathan Hawthorne: Jeff Halfley. Is he he was a defensive coordinator? Okay. He seems like more of a walk around guy, but again, we know that he was hired. Jarod McInroy: No, no, Nathan Hawthorne: He we know that he was hired to Jarod McInroy: no, no, no. Give him some time. Nathan Hawthorne: he was hired to lose a lot of games this year. And we're seeing that. They could have beat the Vikings, let's be real. Anyways, just there's there's no longer room to be a walk around coach and be the guy who be the guy who keeps a team together and builds the culture. While that's important and I and I value that just as much as anything else, you now need your head coach to have that element to it. The responsibility has grown. You have to own your side of the ball, plus be the head coach and build the culture. 'Cause right now the guys that are doing it best are doing that. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Jack of all trades is a master of none. But honestly I don't even know if he's a Jack of All Trades. okay. We we're not gonna talk t we're Nathan Hawthorne: He's a he's a jack of something. A jack of some kind of ass. Jarod McInroy: not gonna talk too much about the Texans 'cause I feel like we've beat them down week after week. but I I said it going into the when we were in our week four look ahead and You had you had a struggling Cowboys team whose record was not great, and if they had won, this was gonna be an 0-4 team. That was not the team you wanted to face when you're 0-3. That was a game that you expected to have a better record going into it, and you deal with the loss, in especially in the fashion that you did lose. man, they they're 0-4, and I don't know where these wins are gonna start piling up on the schedule, but here's one thing I will say. Everyone's talking about CJ Stroud's play like he's not playing that bad. don't play blame Stroud. blah blah blah. He's you know, five touchdowns, zero interceptions. He's also only completing like sixty percent of his passes. and then on top of that, he's not changing the game. That's a huge piece of this. If you want the big bucks, you gotta change the game. And it also has to be not just statistically, you have to change the game in order to win the game. yeah. I'm not gonna just sit here and beat beat down the Texans any more than just an O and four record does, but top it off. Nathan Hawthorne: We're starting to see we're starting to see that they don't know how to close games. And you've got a defense that's built to be game wrecking and closing. You gave up a field goal against Indiana to lose it, which was embarrassing, and then you gave up a touchdown to the Cowboys to lose it. You couldn't stop C D Lamb even if you want even if you wanted to. And like you said, we knew that they would have had to outscore Dallas to win and they just couldn't do it, despite holding Dallas to only six points before halftime. Like I think the wheels are officially off here. They cannot run the football, which I think is making it harder on CJ Stroud. These teams aren't even loading the box at all. They're just saying, hey, go ahead and try and run the football. Montgomery's had no space, 60 yards against the Bills. What is that? 10 yards against Cincinnati, 33 against Indy, 24 against Dallas. All of these teams you should be able to run the ball against. You haven't played a stout run defense yet, and this was the week. To get going on the ground with either Montgomery and woor or Woody Marks, whoever you wanted to go to, and you couldn't do it. You couldn't choke out the Cowboys by controlling the clock with your run game. And that's part of what they're missing. Yes, we need CJ Stroud to close the game, but if you can't run the rock and choke teams out, use up the clock and have a seven minute drive, you're gonna have a tough time winning games in the NFL. If you have that lead, you want to shorten the second half. And they cannot shorten the second half right now. Defense is starting to, I think, come undone through the lack of play through the offense. You can see that there's starting to that distrust is starting to develop. Again, D'Amico, congratulations. You are now the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco forty niners in twenty twenty seven. Jarod McInroy: Chill, bro. Chill, chill, chill. Nathan Hawthorne: Is that a little bit that's probably that's probably too far, but I mean that's what that's what, you know, his defensive coordinators do. They go coach somewhere and then they come right back. So Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Well, that's it for our losers. I don't e I don't even think we need any honorable mentions, but let's jump over to our winners and stick with the same game. The first name we have is the Cowboys from the same same week. two and two is where you're at right now. Maybe that's not where you wanted to be, but you're two and two and I think you like the look of your next five games. you got the Bucks at home, at Packers, at Eagles. home against the Cardinals and then at Colts, like those are all very winnable games. and you like where the offense is. The defense is only gonna get healthier, and then you'll start to understand what the actual scheme of this defense will look like with the right players in it. It Nathan Hawthorne: There isn't one. Jarod McInroy: doesn't look like there's much of a scheme, but they haven't really had the the players behind it. But with that being said. Your offense looks like they're gonna outscore any bad team that they go against. with the next five games all being winnable, even if you go four and one, I think where you like where you're sitting at at six and three, and five weeks is a long time to get people healthy. so to just squeeze out this game, it was at Houston. I think you're happy. I think we all know that Houston has the talent to win any given week if they actually pull their head out of their ass and You you won you squeaked squeak squeaked it out, so Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: winners, Dallas. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You know, keep pouring scoring points on offense. This is one thing you called about C D Lamb last year. He dealt with injuries. This year you said he was coming for the crown. He wanted the triple crown. He wanted the receptions. He wanted the yards and the touchdowns. And he's absolut he's going after it right now. He is unstoppable. And I love the way he's being used by Schottenheimer in more than just the outside receiver position. They are mixing they are this is the this is peak what you do with your elite wide receiver. You move him across your offense to get him matched up on more than just the team's best corner. If you want Pat Sertan or if you want or if you want Derek Stingley to follow him the entire game, great. He's gonna have to line up in the slot in the different positions that make him feel uncomfortable. If you don't want him to follow, are you gonna put your third or fourth best corner who's your nickel on him? Are you gonna match him up with a back? Are you gonna match him up with a safety? Like It's it's amazing what they're doing and teams can't stop it. So keep doing it. I'm feeling bad for George Pickens, but you know that he'll get it going. And again, this defense, I think the worst thing right now is our inability to get off the field on third down. Their third down percentage is less than half. So they're on the field Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: still sixty percent of the time on these big third downs. they're allowing the most yards per play on first down. they're allowing almost a hundred and eighty rushing yards a game. So The biggest winner, I think, is the Cowboys offense, but this defense is still sketchy. if they can keep scoring points, they're gonna be a problem, but there will be nights where the offense isn't clicking, Dak's gonna be a little bit off, and those are gonna be losses. And they could be against and Jarod McInroy: Do remember? Nathan Hawthorne: they could be against bad teams. Jarod McInroy: Maybe. But do you remember what I said going into this week and you were not very high on their chances at rushing the football well? I don't know if you saw Javante Williams stat line. It's only sixty-two yards, but three Nathan Hawthorne: Ex Jarod McInroy: rushing touchdowns and again five catches, only twenty-one yards, but those are twenty-one good yards. it's providing an you Nathan Hawthorne: Yes, yep. Jarod McInroy: have to keep the swing pass honest. You have to to follow around on play action. Anything. Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Jarod McInroy: so There's a lot there. Javante Williams is playing great. Yet again, it's nice to see him do it two years in a row. I I mean I don't want to I guess write the the story of the rest of the season already, but so far so good. And yeah, they they got weapons all over the field. It's gonna be a different name every week, as long as Dak continues to keep showing up and then if they can rely on that ground game w on those off weeks where Dak's really not clicking, I think they'll Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: be just fine. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. I mean, they're forcing teams into light boxes. You can't defend CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Jake Ferguson, and Flornoy sitting there with your heavy guys trying to stop the run. You can't do it. So I think that's been a benefit for Javante Williams and for this Cowboys offense. And again, it's very strategic and it's very efficient right now. his yards per carry average, I think, is really strong right now. And so I expect him to Continue to do that, keep the defense honest, but yeah, we'll see. Jarod McInroy: Jumping over to our next winner, the Carolina Panthers after last night's game. Yes, it was against a bad team, but we can say this officially right now, in this given moment, Bryce Young leads the league in passing yards. Nathan Hawthorne: Wow. Jarod McInroy: Leads the league in passing yards. Now, with that being said, we are looking at about 62% completion percentage. Not great. Not the worst, not good. nine touchdowns, two interceptions. In general, though, if we're just talking about the eye test, again, this offense looks pretty darn good. he looks a lot more in control. He's making kind of those crazy game-changing passes like that one he had on the sideline to Tet McMillan. Like, yes, that was an amazing catch, but let's talk about how that ball was put in the perfect window. Nathan Hawthorne: The placement on the run? Come on now. Jarod McInroy: he trusts everybody on the offense, he's getting everybody going, everybody's touching the ball. Chuba Hubbard looks pretty good to start this season already. the Panthers look pretty good, man. I said somebody's gotta come out and own this division. we have a really exciting game tonight between the Saints and the Falcons. But as of right now, again, I think the Panthers kinda like where they're at. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, if you're the Panthers, you love where you're at. And you love that Bryce Young has developed to what you thought he would be. And a lot there's a lot of discourse right now about young quarterbacks and not getting the opportunity, blah, blah, blah. Not all of them were Heisman winners and national champions and throwing for ridiculous stats and yards in college. Some of them were, most of them aren't. So you're going to take your time with Bryce Young. You forced him in, you had to sit him, and he's just developed. I love what Dave Canales has done, trusting him to continue throwing the football. And I think that that's what we saw the first couple of years. It was just too conservative for Bryce Young. They were trying to be like, hey, you know, you need to hit this hitch in the flat. You need to make sure that you're finding your tight end, settling in the zone over the middle, and trying to tighten him up. When Bryce Young is a mobile guy, he sees the field well, he throws with anticipation. I think Canal has finally started saying, dude, just let it fly. You've got nothing to lose. And once he got that draw back from Andy Dalton, not last year but the year before. That's what we started seeing. He's like, all right, I just I have to just throw the ball. And it's been looking fantastic. He fits the ball into a keyhole. And now they've developed and brought in the weapons. Chuba Hubbard looks fantastic, which everyone kept saying, you know, he's gonna lose snaps. I don't think he's losing snaps anymore. No matter how good, who's it? I no matter how good Brooks is when he comes back. Like he's not losing snaps. He looks great. this this offense again looks great, led by Bryce Young. Defense might be a little shaky, but this is one of those scary teams that might be a year away from truly contending, but is certainly owning this division. They feel like the Lions did maybe in twenty twenty one where they're starting to find their identity and believe that they're a good football team. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, that last piece of it is huge because they probably looked at their schedule when this when the year started. I'm sure they're kinda looking at encircling games that they're probably gonna be losses, probably gonna be wins. This is one you snuck out. You probably looked at this early on and you're like, All right, you know, if we lose in prime time against the Lions, it is what it is. but you got the win one way or another. So and honestly it was convincing. I I don't care if they they finally made a run toward the end of the lines. it The Panthers were in control of this. Again, they they went really soft pretty early in the fourth, just kind of a you know, let have a little yards and eat clock here and there. as long as we don't let the big play happen and let them score quick and yeah, it was it was a blow up. They did great. Nathan Hawthorne: Again, your offense was so deadly that you made a team feel like they had to go for it on fourth and twenty. I think that's impressive. They've got a couple winnable games coming up. the Eagles, the com the at the Eagles versus the Bucks, at the Packers, but then the Broncos come to town. And I think that's gonna be one of those games against an elite defense where they're where they're truly tested. But then again, the Broncos Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: offense maybe looks a looks a little tough right now. But tip of the cap to Dave Canales and what they've been able to do. this is this is really impressive from from the Carolina Panthers. And we haven't said that in a long time. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Let's jump over. Let's jump over to the Niners now. We're gonna give them another winner. They're gonna be our final winner slot here. We have a Nastris and a couple honorable mentions, but the Niners look pretty good. They're winning a lot of football games and I said the only way we were gonna come out of this and and kind of shut down the narrative that was being created about can Brock Purdy get you over the hump? Can you stay keep all your your weapons on the field? Can you all of that matters, but at the same time, winning matters more. They're doing it. Brock Purdy looks incredible. Maybe he'll get an apology from me. Again, I told you week ten I will come out and that will be the official day that I have my Brock Purdy take, but things are not looking good for me in terms of ball knowledge, in tur in terms of sitting Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Jarod McInroy: on a podcast in front of a microphone and giving my best analysis. he's doing it and that's all I asked him to do. the rest of the team I I think helps having George Kittle get back to what George Kittle does, especially after it was an Achilles tear, am I correct? or some sort of major injury he just had. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, Achilles, sir. Jarod McInroy: yeah. so he he looks incredible. Christian McCaffrey, he's he hasn't really popped quite yet. he's remaining consistent and just kind of being good too great in that area, and that's all he really needs to do as long as their defense continues to show up. Having Fred Warner on the football field changes the entire landscape of not just this defense, but it could could change any defense. He truly is the best at his position. I I I don't know if there's even an argument to be made for anyone else at this point. The way he flies around, the way he calls the defense, the way guys get behind him he makes sure everybody's in the right right spot and just the communication aspect of it, but then the ability to go and back it up and and be the the guy at the front of the line. yeah, it's it's incredible. They're back. They're back. I still think they're the third best team in this division. Is that crazy? Is that crazy to say? Nathan Hawthorne: Well, I we'll find out this week and so we'll preview that. Make sure you guys stick around and you come back to KYP for our week five breakdown, Seahawks, Niners. It's gonna be a hot one. the again, the Niners, this game was really a snoozer. It was a big defensive battle, which is shocking because the Niners defense has not been amazing this year. again, you pointed out that Fred Warner certainly changes that defense. The thing is is after that muff pump by Marvin Mims, they erupted. They went for three straight touchdowns. And closed out the game, like nobody's business. And it didn't look pretty the entire game, but sometimes you just gotta gut out the wins. And that's what the Niners have typically been able to do with Shanahan is you gut out some of the ugly wins where it wasn't pretty, but things start to get rolling. And eventually, again, you've got you have a bunch of short drives if you're the Denver Broncos and eventually your defense is gonna crack. and Pat Sertan dealing you dealing with with being a little bit banged up in that game. So I a big tip of the cap to the Niners. Brock Purdy has played well against bad teams. I don't think he looked amazing, but I think the end of the game started to show a little bit more class. That big I think it was like a 70 yard bomb to George Kittle. I might be fluffing the number there. But I mean, Kittle looked fast. And the ball was perfect. Kiddy Kittle Jarod McInroy: Yeah, he did. Nathan Hawthorne: looked fast. great way to really close out the game. that also cost me my fantasy matchup. Not only I Jarod McInroy: no. Nathan Hawthorne: had the Denver defense. And I was playing against a guy who had George Kittle. So not only did the Denver defense lose points, but Kittle had a massive play for a bunch of points and I lost the matchup by one point four points. So that game literally cost me. But yeah, t shout out to the Niners. Jarod McInroy: Well. What Purdy's what Purdy's doing with his legs too though. He was extending drives. yeah, it's he's doing a lot. it's it's not looking good for week ten. I'm going sorry, go ahead, finish finish off the Niners. Nathan Hawthorne: What I what I I j yeah, I just wanna say what I like from Purdy and this I think what I was trying to get to is I think the last two years he had some pretty head scratching turnovers. Just a few of the ball while trying to extend the play, he would try to fit a ball in somewhere and you're like, Brock, what are we doing? And he's he's just played clean football this year. And that's gonna change the dynamic Jarod McInroy: Very clean. Nathan Hawthorne: in any team. You keep the ball away from the other team, you're gonna be doing well. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. so I'm going to actually we have one last winner that we had marked. I I said earlier it was an asterisk. I'm gonna punt this to next week. I'm making an an executive decision that we're going to punt our analysis of the Rams, whether they're a winner or a loser to next week. I don't think we need to say another word about and we're we're punting it to next week. How do we feel about that? Nathan Hawthorne: That's fine. Puka Naku is back. offense can hopefully get hopefully get rolling. And you'll just hand it to him. So yes, we need to see next week. Is Miles Garrett na Jarod McInroy: Yeah. 'Cause I I I don't I don't feel f yeah, exactly. It just Nathan Hawthorne: is Miles Garrett back next week off the IR? Jarod McInroy: Could be. He sure could be. I don't think it's been Nathan Hawthorne: Okay. Jarod McInroy: four weeks, but some honorable mentions here. These will be very quick. Raiders were a w a winner just because you're competitive against a really good team, another three and team, it shows that you're not you know, just you didn't just stumble your way in three wins. you did against a really good team, so honorable mention there. anything on the Raiders? Nathan Hawthorne: Clint Kubiak, his halftime interview, saying, Yeah, we we haven't run the ball well and we're gonna win this game. I love that kind of energy, and that's what he's Jarod McInroy: He's a dog. Nathan Hawthorne: bringing to the locker room. You can just see how he has lived a true football kid's life. with his Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: with his dad, being in the NFL behind the Shanahans and the McVeighs this whole time. Like he just lives and breathes football. You can tell that he loves it, and he's brought that identity to the Raiders. Everybody seems mature and grown in that organization. again, they hung in there and at certain points Jarod McInroy: They're in a good spot. Nathan Hawthorne: felt like they had control of the game. The most talked about losing team in the NFL, the Vegas Raiders, might as well have been a home game for the Chiefs. Looked so impressive. Gotta get the run game going. But yeah, love it. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. and then another honorable mention, the Titans, the win here, I know you're 0-4, but is that your pick looks good. And I think that when you have a lost season, you have to find the little wins. So we'll give you your little victory here. Carnel Tate looked great. He looked actually incredible. he even made Cam Ward look pretty decent. So hats off to well, when the ball is going his way. hats off to to Carnell Tate and that was a good week. Last one, honorable mention, the Bears. You're treading water. You're collecting victories while your guys out. You're treading water. That's a victory. we'll count that as a win even though it wasn't a great win. It's a win. Nathan Hawthorne: You went out there and you scored points and you held a Jets team that had been playing pretty well offensively to start the year to little points. So that's again, you win the games that you're supposed to win. You did it with your third quarterback in three weeks. I mean, hey, what can you do? Jarod McInroy: When was the last time we could say Geno Smith is completing seventy three percent of his passes? Five touchdowns, no picks. Nathan Hawthorne: Probably that probably that revived year he had with the Seahawks. That for some reason keeps getting him paid. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: But hey, if you can sling the rock, you can sling the rock, baby. Jarod McInroy: Ladies and gentlemen, this is time for rapid fire reactions from week four of the NFL. We're gonna go very quickly, one to two sentences of each game. We wanna make sure we talk about every one of your teams so you can keep coming back. We don't want to leave anyone out. first game, not even gonna talk about it. Steelers at Browns, Browns won, congrats. Colts Commanders, thirty to thirteen. Colts pull out the win in London. What say you? Nathan Hawthorne: Strangely ugly game. If you look at the box score, doesn't even make sense how the Colts won. Both teams are bad. Jarod McInroy: Both teams are very bad and they will both lose a lot of games moving forward. Patriots at Bills, twenty nine to twenty six, awful game. Didn't enjoy a second of it. Drake May still looked bad. Bills defense will give up thirty to anyone who asks nicely. Nathan Hawthorne: I told you guys this is the same Bills defense that we've seen year after year. Ain't nothing change. Jarod McInroy: Jets twelve, Bears twenty three. Bears get the win at home. Again, treading water. Congrats. You held a pretty, you know, good Jets offense, frankly, to only twelve points. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, they're bringing Tom Brady off the bench next week. Jarod McInroy: that that's exciting. I didn't get that notice. Nathan Hawthorne: Ben Ben Johnson has a Ben Johnson has a new challenge. How many weeks can I win? How many weeks in a row can I win with a different quarterback? It's gonna be tight. Jarod McInroy: Okay. I like that. Jags get the win at Bangles, twenty two to seventeen. again, the Jags keep rolling. this is another one we were right about. That that offense looks incredible. Defense is starting to show up too. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, it's Trevor Lawrence is starting to throw with conviction again this year. I love seeing Brian Thomas Jr. score. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Cardinals twenty four, Giants thirty six. Giants keep winning football games, but I think that the schedule will dictate whether they get a win or loss each week and I think a lot of losses are coming. Nathan Hawthorne: I like Michael Wilson. He should not be the third most targeted receiver in the NFL right now. I think that's malpractice by Mike LaFleur. And not just because I think it Marvin Harrison deserves the targets, but because your offense deserves to be a little bit more dynamic. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Bit of a loss season for them. Nathan Hawthorne: But tip it I guess a tip of the cap to the Giants, I'd I'm I'm still on fraud watch with him. Jarod McInroy: No no caps getting tipped. Rams pull out the victory twenty four twenty. Already talked about it. you know, Eagles just look bad. They give up that game and they were in control the whole time. So it's it was a bit of a shame. Nathan Hawthorne: Shame. Jarod McInroy: That's all got. Cool. Packers Nathan Hawthorne: No notes. Jarod McInroy: seventeen. Bucks fourteen. the Packers suck. They're so bad. You almost just lost to an undrafted rookie. You were getting gifted and I know this is rapid fire, but you're getting gifted a schedule from the gods right now. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, this was the first true toilet bowl of the season. Jarod McInroy: Mm. Nathan Hawthorne: I don't know. Packers don't look great. it doesn't look like they're getting Josh Jacobs back and the Buccaneers, we called this the wheels wheels are falling off. we're probably not gonna see Todd Bowles as head coach next year. Jarod McInroy: No. Titans eighteen, Ravens twenty four, another great game from the Titans where they had somebody on the on their you know, back foot that kinda kinda just caught the Ravens sleeping a little bit, but Ravens pulled out the victory nonetheless. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, no Lamar Jackson in second half. they just did what they had to do to get out of there with the win. tip of the cap. Jarod McInroy: Yep, Cowboys thirty four, Texans thirty. big win for the Cowboys. They're two and two. I think you're pretty happy with that at this point. Nathan Hawthorne: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. C D Lamb is somewhere and he's open. Jarod McInroy: He's always open. Dolphins ten Vikings fifteen, you want to talk about Toilable? That game was awful. Nathan Hawthorne: It was bad. Kyler Murray continues to get grace from me, his second full game back after a concussion, still learning the offense, but he looked great in the fourth quarter. And I think that's what counts. Jarod McInroy: It was just the the Jeff Halfley defense was really coming at him. So the Chiefs thirty, Raiders twenty seven, Raiders are looking pretty good. Kirk Cousins looks I wouldn't say as good as he ever has, but looks a lot better than we expected. Nathan Hawthorne: Looks he looks fantastic. Again, this kind of looks like his first year that he had with Kevin O'Connell, where he's again standing in the pocket and delivering the football with precision and with anticipation. And that's what Kirk Cousins wants to do. so I I love to see this for him. the Chiefs, your defense kind of scares me a little bit, but also I think we need to show a lot of respect to this this Raiders offense. They're special. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, and prayers up to Taekwondhorten. that wasn't good. Nathan Hawthorne: How do you just stand up? Good news is, if there is good news, it was just dislocated. Doesn't sound like there was anything broken or fractured, just dislocated. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Certainly was not in the right location. Broncos fourteen, forty niners twenty four. Again, this is a gritty win, very bad game overall. I think both teams would agree with that, but forty niners pulled it out. Hats off. Nathan Hawthorne: Forty Niners pulled it out. Broncos, you have to throw the ball downfield. And you have to throw the ball downfield, not at the sideline. Every time I see you throw the ball down the field, it feels like it's a toss away to the sideline at Sutton. And it's got to be infuriating for him. Throw the ball over the middle of the field. Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Maybe you're not calling the plays. Maybe Bo can't do it. I don't know. It just looks way too hard for the weapons that they have on that team. Jarod McInroy: Yep. Chargers twenty three, Seahawks thirty. yes, Chargers started to make it a game, but the Seahawks were in control of the entire game. And Justin Herbert is Mr. Meatball Sub. Nathan Hawthorne: What a tough way to end what was looking like Justin Herbert kind of finding the way he wanted to play football, which is not how Mike McDaniel wants to, just drop back, throw the football, you know. Hate to see it with that fumble. Seahawks getting a little bit sketchy with the way they're closing out these games, but they're fine. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. And Lions twenty six, Panthers thirty two. Panthers look great. yeah, great Nathan Hawthorne: Watch out f Jarod McInroy: win. Nathan Hawthorne: watch out for the big cats, baby. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Okay, take us home. Nathan Hawthorne: Ladies and gentlemen, that's gonna do it for the week four NFL recap. Stay tuned, stay close, turn on your notifications, like and subscribe. We've got the week five breakdown coming your way here in just a couple of days. Don't go anywhere. My name's Nathan Hawthorne. This is my co-host Jared McEnroy, and we will see you on the next one.