Latest / Unicorn Football Talk / Reaction: NFL Week 8 + College Week 9
Transcript
- Emily: Hello Hillary, we were back to react to the NFL week eight and college week nine. You ready to do it? Hilary: I am ready. It was another exciting weekend both for the NFL and the NCAA. Let's dig in. Emily: Okay, let's start with the NFL. who is unbeaten and who is winless? Well, we have a change this week. There are no undefeated teams as of last weekend. The Vikings were the last ones standing, and they lost to Detroit. But sadly for the Chargers, we do have a winless team, and they are 0-7. They are have up next the Texans, Ravens, and Jets. So all three of those teams have been struggling. So it'll be interesting to see if Chargers can pull out a win in the next three weeks. Hilary: I'd like to see them get a win and start to build a little bit of momentum. I think those next three games should be winnable for them. Emily: Yeah. Well they also should not be ON seven. So there you go. Hilary: Right. Any given Sunday, right? Emily: Any given Sunday. All right, let's talk about QB injuries. This was an interesting week for injuries because I was gonna report that Lamar Jackson was back. He was back, and then he got injured on the very first play I was watching that game, he hurt his thumb and he was out. And now he is on injured reserve and he may not come back this season. And some people think he may not come back to the Ravens even. So that was surprising, but even more interesting in that game, their backup Q B that we know pretty well, Tyler Huntley, because he's been playing the last three weeks, he also exited the game with an injury. they took Hilary: So so what do you do now? Emily: Yeah, the NFL instituted their emergency QB system and their emergency QB came in. Fagnano? I'm not sure how you pronounce it. I had to look up the emergency rule because I wasn't sure how it worked. It has changed over time. They can only enter the game if both players are unable to play. For injury reasons, the emergency quarterback cannot come in because of an equipment issue or performance or anything like that. But anyway, he did come in and it looks like he will be starting next week, but he also is injured. I don't know if you read that. He has an ankle injury, but Hilary: So does every team even have the three deep quarterback scenario? Emily: I don't know that for sure. Hilary: I guess maybe including your I guess maybe including your practice squad, but wow. Emily: Yeah, I don't know that for sure. I don't know for sure. All right. Also up Kyler Murray. has a hamstring issue and happened late in the game on Sunday. we don't know if he's gonna play this weekend. I think some people are guessing that it might be an excuse not to play him this weekend and give Carson Wentz the start, but we'll see. Hilary: Okay, we'll see. Any updates on Jalen Hurts? Emily: No update in the last week. I don't know how long it's gonna take for the joint study with the NFL PA and the NFL. So we'll just keep watching that one. Hilary: Okay, keep watching. Emily: All right. So then let's talk about what caught our eye. Hilary: Yeah. Emily: the last week for me, what was interesting is the trade deadline is coming up. I'm always fascinated by what moves GMs make and who's buying and who's selling. And there has been some early activity this year. The cults are open for business. I was slightly surprised by that. I know they have a bad record right now, but Still didn't expect them to be in fire sale mode. after getting You did? You Okay. Hilary: I totally did. I totally did. yeah. I thought that when they let go of manager Chris Ballard, that was just gonna be the first what do you call that when they first link first Emily: The first Yeah, the first domino, I don't know. Hilary: l first domino, first link in the chain. Yeah. Emily: All right, well, they've been active. Quentin Nelson to the Seahawks. the Seahawks are sending a twenty twenty seven third round pick and a twenty twenty eight fifth round pick. Now, Quentin, we have to re sign him if we want to keep him beyond this year, but I think that was a really good deal for us. A future Hall of Famer on our offensive line. Hilary: Yeah, and that's what they refer to as a half year rental, right? Where we've we've paid the price for him for the rest of the season and then it's on us whether we want to renew or not. Emily: Yeah, and I think we do. I think we've Hilary: Yeah, yeah. Emily: had a very good track record with renewing people. I think once they come to the Pacific Northwest, they're willing to stay. I know that it was that way for me when I moved here years ago. So, I think we'll be able to keep him. I hope we will. Hilary: Okay. yeah, the Colts also let go of DeForest Buckner, right? Emily: They did to back to the 49ers. yeah. So Indianapolis will receive a 2027 fourth round pick from San Francisco And then the last one of note I will call out is Jeffrey Simmons to the Bears from the Titans. Chicago received Simmons and a fifth round pick, and Tennessee receives twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight first round picks. along with a fourth round picked in twenty twenty seven. And we saw him yesterday. I saw him firsthand and that was a great addition to the Bears. He was very disruptive, very concerning for everybody that has to play Chicago. Hilary: yeah, that was pretty impressive after just three or four days in-house in Chicago to put up that kind of a performance. And can we circle back a minute to the Colts? Because I've been reading a lot of rumors about Jonathan Taylor. Any news on that and any further info? Emily: Yeah, people have been talking about him nonstop and where he could end up. To my knowledge, he has not requested a trade. And I don't think they want to trade him. But, anything can happen between now and the tenth. I'm sure they will do more but I don't know if they want to get rid of Jonathan Taylor. Hilary: Yeah, okay, we've got a week to go, so more next week probably. Emily: Absolutely. All right. Before I hand off to you, I thought there were some interesting stats over the weekend. The Buccaneers in a game that I circled beat the Falcons, unfortunately, because I was rooting for the Falcons. They won 16-0 in a really sloppy, windy, rainy day. And what was noteworthy is that they won the game without completing a pass. Think about that. Baker Mayfield was zero for three. zero yards throwing the ball. And it was the first time Hilary: Wow. Emily: since nineteen seventy-four that that's happened. Hilary: I think there's some upset fantasy people out there on that stat. Emily: Yeah, I know. That's a good point. I don't like fantasy, so I don't feel bad for those people. all right, another stat for you, because you love your kickers. Broncos kicker Will Lutz has hit 113 consecutive extra points attempts. Think about that. Like that is a lot given that I think we've missed at least two this year. Hilary: Yeah, that's a phenomenal stat. Emily: It's the longest streak since the NFL moved the point after back by thirteen yards in twenty fifteen. So congratulations, Will Lutz. Well done. Hilary: That's awesome. Emily: And then here's a stat you actually pointed out to me. The Eagles have allowed hundred plus rush yards in every game this season. So not great. Hilary: Not great. Yeah. Okay. Well, I wanna circle back on part two of the status of some of the major trade and free agency moves that we saw at the beginning of the season. And I wanna start with Trey Hendrickson, who was a free agent signing from the Bengals to the Ravens. And the Ravens signed him on a four-year. 112 million dollar contract. Big money. The attempt there was the Ravens were looking for a premier edge rusher. And Hendrickson was kind of a quick pivot after, I don't know if you remember, but they backed out of the Max Crosby trade deal for medical concerns. Emily: Yep. Hilary: So yeah, so so far that's not playing out as planned. Trey got a broken finger. on the his right hand in week one and he tried to play through weeks two and three and then ended up requiring surgery. He's missed a couple of weeks and he's back now, but he's playing with a big protective hand wrap and his production and stats are reflecting that. They're down from prior years. And the results for the Bengals, Hendrickson wanted out and they avoided committing to another long term contract for him. And so I think they're better off and I want to talk about them next. Because what the Bengals did is they traded with the Giants for Dexter Lawrence. The Bengals gave up a number 10 pick in 2026 for the Giants. And that is super out of character for the Bengals front office, who intend to be, they tend to be tight with their money and and don't take big swings, but they are aggressively trying to address their struggling defense. And I think that's a d direct result. That they've got to do something while Joe Burrow is still in their championship window. So they signed Lawrence on a one year $28 million contract extension. It's not a new contract, and that's what he was seeking in New York. So the Bengals got a little bit of relief there. The result is that it's absolutely lived up to expectations so far. He's in the top of the league in his sacks and the pressures for his position, which is technically nose tackle. And he's just one piece of a revamped defense for the Bengals. They added some other additions in the offseason, Boye Mafei and Jonathan Allen, and also a couple of draft choices. So good for the Bengals. Results for the Giants. They used that number 10 pick on offensive tackle, Francis Maui Noah. And he's playing a different position from college and experiencing some growing pains, but he's getting more consistent each week. And the Giants avoided the long term salary cap commitment for Dexter Lawrence. So I think this is a win win for both teams. the Bengals in the short term and the Giants in a long term move, building for the future with Harbaugh making changes as he reworks the roster. Any thoughts on those? Yeah. Emily: Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's a good summary. Hilary: Okay, another one I want to cover because we talked about this at the front end of this podcast is Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals to the Vikings. So Arizona released him in March. And by doing so, they took a massive dead cap hit on his contract. And Murray signed a one-year, 1.3 million contract with the Vikings, but he also has 36 and a half million in. guaranteed money still coming from Arizona. So basically Arizona is paying him to play for Minnesota, the way I see it. And Emily: Yeah, that's not the first time that's happened with somebody like that. But yeah, that is just crazy. Yeah. Hilary: Right. Yeah. And so I think the original intent on the Vikings part was they wanted to start the offseason with some competition for JJ McCarthy and Carson Wentz at quarterback and just stir up that quarterback room. And Murray won the starting job and the Vikings have since sent JJ McCarthy to the Giants. And now maybe we don't know if Murray's playing this coming week or not, but in general he's Missed time due to injury, and his play's been inconsistent. He's ranked number 25 in the current QBR ratings by ESPN. And he's playing good enough, but the Vikings aren't winning because of him. They're winning because of their defense and their special teams. And so technically, I guess this is a win for the Vikings because it's a really low-cost, low commitment move. But I don't think Kyler is playing like the kind of guy who's gonna take them on a deep postseason run. And the Emily: No. Hilary: Vikings have yeah, and the Vikings have one of the hardest remaining schedules. So long term, I think they'll be looking for a different solution. The results for the Cardinals, they took a massive dead money cap hit to unload his contract. They signed Jacoby Brissett to a one-year $15.5 million guaranteed contract. And Brissett is now sitting on the bench in lieu of Gardner Minshew. So Emily: Yeah. Hilary: I can both teams lose on this one? I I don't know what to think about this one. Emily: I know. I think Arizona had finally just had it with Kyler. So I know they don't have somebody better than Kyler, but I think it was just time for them to move on. So I understand why they did what they did. Hilary: I understand it too, but I I don't think either team is in a great position because of the changes. Emily: Correct, I agree. Hilary: Correct. Okay. Here's another interesting one. Tyler Linderbaum went from the Ravens to the Raiders as a free agent signing when the Ravens declined his fifth-year option, The Raiders signed him to a three-year $81 million contract, which Baltimore didn't match. And that pegged Tyler as the highest paid center in the league. He's a three-time Pro Bowl center. And the intent here for the Raiders was to anchor the interior line and protect Kirk Cousins and eventually franchise starter for Fernando Mendoza, right? So results so far are kind of mixed. His performance grades place him at number 12 out of 32 centers, but he's certainly an upgrade from last year. And his leadership and communication skills with the rest of the line and the quarterback are excellent. He's been flagged for a couple of penalties at critical moments. And I think the question is whether his play has been dramatic enough impact for the Raiders to justify the huge salary. The result for the Ravens, they are. Definitely feeling his absence. They haven't replaced his consistency. for them, he played 95% of the snaps in 2025, and the communication skills aren't there with their current center. they did maintain some financial flexibility and they'll get a third round compensatory pick. But I I think this is a better move for the Raiders, whereas the Ravens are feeling the loss. Emily: Okay. Hilary: Although that's a lot, that's a lot of money for a center. Let's be Emily: It is Hilary: clear. It's a lot of money. All right, really quick, two more. Jalen Waddell traded from the Dolphins to Denver. Denver got Waddle and a fourth round pick in 2026. Miami got a 2026 first round, a 2026 third round, and a 2026 fourth round. The intent was another receiver for Bonex to pair with Cortland Sutton. And there is no doubt Jalen Waddell is super fast. The results, receptions and yardage are well down in Denver from his time in Miami. It's hard to know if that slow start was partially because of the play calling by the new OC instead of Sean Payton. He is the Broncos' leading receiver in yards, targets, and catches, but almost half of those numbers were from his huge game week two against Jacksonville. Has not been as impactful the last couple of weeks. The results for the Dolphins, they got a lot of. draft capital in their rebuild. They did some more trading after they got those picks from Denver, and they ended up with four picks in the 2026 draft. And they cleared the books of Waddle's contract after they took his dead money cap hit. you might remember we talked about Dolphins having one of the heaviest dead money rosters in the league. So they cleared that money off the books and I think so far it looks like Miami got the better deal of this just looking towards the future and they're obviously rebuilding down there. We'll see as the season goes on. I think all of Denver's play has been hit and miss right now. All right. And the last one is DJ Moore, a trade from the Bears to the Bills. The Bears got a 2026 second round pick and the Bills got more and a 2026 fifth round pick. The intent was a proven durable target for Josh Allen, and it reunites more with Coach Joe Brady, who I didn't know this until I looked it up, but Joe Brady was his offensive coordinator at the Panthers. Unfortunately, results are not what was expected. He had an explosive 100 yard week one, but it's been slow since then. He missed a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury. He was back this week with a Decent performance and he potentially has a new knee injury. So the Bears got salary relief and they felt that the his production had been on the decline and that Rome Adunze, Luther Burden, and Colston Loveland were the young future of the offense. And we saw that on Monday night. So Bears got more value out of this deal. Emily: Yeah. The bears are the bears are great. Hilary: Bears are rolling. Emily: The bears are fine. Yeah. Hilary: Yeah the Yeah, the bears are fine. Emily: okay, Hilary: that takes us to college. Emily: All right, college. what caught my eye? I wanted to start with Miami. And there's just been so many teams that have been ranked. We talked about this in the past that have lost or lost multiple games and I just I don't know. Is is the number one team really the number one team? They should have lost to Florida State. They just escaped UNC. So I guess time will tell. I think we'll all be circling that Miami Notre Dame game. but anyway, I don't really have more to say on that. I'm just kind of scratching my head about who the number one team really is. Hilary: I love that there's no defined number one. I think that's what makes college football great. Emily: Yeah, I think the playoffs should be a little bit more interesting if if there's no one super dominant team. All right, and then I actually wanted to call out your huskies. I had that game on in the background. I was not actively watching it, but every time I looked up, Hillary, it was still seven to three. Like nothing was happening. I'm sure you were actually watching, watching. Hilary: I was watching, watching, it was painful. In in Nebraska, let's be clear, on Halloween in Nebraska. Yeah. Emily: It was just like Yeah, by the way, it looked good on TV. Everybody wearing their black it was cool. But I think what's I'm not a Husky fan, or I I root for them for for you. but I think what's been interesting around the Huskies is their starting quarterback. They had Damon Williams, just super talented, highly rated, QB. But he hasn't played that great and he's been injured and he didn't start this game. Elijah Brown started the game and he's been playing for the Huskies this season due to Damon Williams injury. but like the drives just stalled. It just things just stalled for like three quarters. They brought Damond back in, and that was the spark. A trailing by four with four minutes left. He let a 12. play eighty yard drive and gave them their first lead in the game and ended up winning that game. There's a lot of lot of excitement in the last couple of minutes that seemed to make up for the first what, fifty five minutes? Hilary: Yeah, Painful to watch most of the game. the bright spot there for me was I felt like the Husky defense really stepped up for one of the first times this season. I was encouraged to see that. But I want to call out the Nebraska breakdown. I believe this is the third game in a row where they have had a lead going into the fourth quarter, substantial lead going into the fourth quarter and had a breakdown and blown it and lost it. So Matt Rule a little bit on the hot seat there. unhappy fans in Lincoln for sure. Emily: I bet. I bet he's on the hot seat. all right. Well, I'm about to pass off to you, except that I did see that there was really poor attendance last week in college football. The games were on Halloween, and I presume that's why. But traditional schools that pack the stadiums like Oklahoma, Penn State, Florida State, very, very poor attendance. UCLA did not have good attendance either, but They I don't think they usually do. It's just what's a little disappointing for me is they're undefeated and regardless of who you're playing, I feel like you should be able to pack it in. top ten team. Hilary: Yeah, Halloween anomaly or a forebearer of teams are having a hard time filling the stadiums. We'll see. Emily: I don't know. Time will tell. All right. What do you got for me? Hilary: Okay. Kicking. Emily, it's always about the kicking. My theme is all about kicking this week. So Minnesota and Indiana, there were two 60 plus yard field goals in the last 20 seconds of that game to send it to overtime. They were tied at 13. Minnesota kicker Luke Jerweski, I think, had 19 seconds on the clock. And by the way, he's one of the best kickers out there. He's a transfer from New Mexico. And last year he tied the FBS in his field goal percentage, and he hasn't missed anything this season yet. So, okay. Minnesota's up by three, right? Yeah, well, no. Indiana sends out Patty McIntyre, who I want to be clear here, he is not their regular kicker. That's Nico, right? But they send out Patty McIntyre. Who's a specialist for kickoffs and long-range kicks? He kicks another 60 yard field goal to tie it and send it to overtime. And Indiana did win it in overtime. But to put this in context, until last year, the NFL hadn't had a game with multiple 60 yarders in the same game. So yeah, Emily: wow. Okay. Hilary: like 60 yards is really far for college. Okay. Emily: Yeah. Hilary: Now I've got another one that I've got to call out because it's just so weird. Johns Hopkins over Mullenberg. They won making use of an obscure rule change this year. After 76 years, the NCAA brought back what they call the fair catch-free kick. So Mullenberg punted from their own five-yard line, and the punt went 24 yards. So Johns Hopkins made a fair catch at the 29. And by the rule, a team can attempt a field goal directly from that spot. No snap, no rush. The defense has to line up 10 yards away. And the kicker can use a holder without a T or dropkick it or whatever he wants to do. And when you make it, it's worth three points. So After the fair catch, Johns Hopkins sends out their kicking team, and Caleb Wyatt makes the field goal, and it's 31-28. Johns Hopkins win on a just totally random, weird rule change that I don't even know the last time that was used. the last time in the NFL was the Chargers in 2024, Cameron Dicker did it against Denver. Emily: I did not know. I feel like maybe in the back of my mind somewhere I had heard about that, Hilary: Yeah. Emily: but yeah, there's no way I would have I would have known that. Yeah. Hilary: Okay. One more. You called out the Miami UNC game. There were at the end of the game three onside kick attempts by UNC. The first two were penalized even though they did recover them. And the third one, Miami recovered to put the game away. So there's kicking in week nine. Emily: And stay number one. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Hilary: Okay. First CFP poll is out. We'll be following that. I expect it to change weekly as the teams continue to play each other interdivisionally. And really quick, college by the numbers. Undefeated list remains at three with Miami, Utah, and UCLA. Miami remains number one this week for the third week. Georgia's the new number two after the Ohio State loss to USC. And every other position in the top 10 just shuffled because Ohio dropped down after the loss. And on that note, this is the first time in 86 weeks of rankings that Ohio sits outside the top 10. That's going Emily: What? Hilary: all, yeah, that's going all the way back to September of 2021. Since they've Emily: my gosh, those fans have been spoiled. Hilary: Those fans are spoiled. Okay. Other number of note this week is 50.3 million. That's the reported contract buyout for Florida State head coach Mike Norville, who was fired this week. That represents roughly 85% of his remaining contract, which was set to run through 2031. And it ranks as the third largest coaching buyout in college football history. Okay. AP risers and followers. USC returns to the rankings at number eighteen. The New Mexico Lobos are ranked for the first time in school history at number twenty two. And the fallers are Ohio State is down nine positions and Florida is down eight positions. My North Dakota State bisons moved to seven and two overall with a win over UTEP. They're now bowl eligible. Go bison. Emily: amazing. Hilary: Okay. And my one last fun number is four hundred and eighty-one. Any guesses what it's for? Okay. Emily: No, none. Hilary: The Florida Gators, they haven't been shut out since nineteen eighty-eight. It's an NCAA record of four hundred and eighty-one games. I thought it might finally end this week when they were down late against Georgia. But Georgia got called for a PI call that led to Florida scoring a touchdown, so four hundred and eighty one. Emily: Wow. that's that Hilary: And that's college by the numbers. Emily: that was a that was a great little nugget there. Okay. well let's wrap up by talking Hilary: Yeah. Emily: about what games we're gonna circle. Let's start with college. there are just so many good games this week. Like so many. All right. Hilary: Yeah. Emily: And obviously I'm gonna be watching Kentucky, Tennessee. That goes without saying. but starting an hour after my game starts, Miami, Notre Dame, which I talked about earlier is the big one. And I think for me it's like Notre Dame's real last test of the season. I mean, I know they have to play SMU, but like if they lose this one, I don't think they have a case for the playoffs. But we'll see. We'll see. what about you? Hilary: We'll see. Okay. Is is Miami really the number one team, right? Emily: Right. Hilary: Well, there are six AP ranked versus ranked games this weekend. And in addition to the two you called out, there's number seven BYU at number three Utah. There is number two Georgia at number twelve Old Miss. There is number nine Alabama at number fifteen LSU. And I'd really love to cheer against both in that case, Emily: You have to pick one, right? how how do Hilary: Yeah. Emily: I pick between those two? I might surprise you to say that I hate Alabama more. I hate Kiffin, but I I kind of just want to see Alabama lose. So yeah, Hilary: Wow, okay. Emily: this is it's it hurts. I don't think I'll watch either way because I can't watch one of them win. Hilary: Yeah, I'm not watching that one either. Okay, last one is number eight, Texas at number nineteen, Missouri. And I've circled the BYU Utah game. Utah's favored by five at home. It's the first time ever that both schools are ranked in the top ten. And this is a super intense divisional rivalry with big playoff implications for them. The winner here is in the Big 12 driver's seat, I think. So I Don't know that I've picked a team to cheer for particularly, but I'm hoping that's a good close game. Emily: Okay, in the NFL, I am circling Buffalo at Minnesota. Now that Minnesota is no longer unbeaten, are they about to go on a losing streak? That's my question. Hilary: well, maybe. their schedule's certainly getting harder. Emily: Yeah, the the Bills are obviously the Bills and then they play the Packers and the Forty Niners and I think they were exposed finally for not having a great quarterback and I don't know that Carson Wentz is up to the task either. So I'm gonna watch that one. Very interested. Hilary: I will never bet against Josh Allen ever. I think I think the Bills have that one. Okay, I've circled the Packers at the Patriots at Foxboro. I'm interested to see which Patriots team shows up again. I've been asking that for a couple of weeks now. And I'm curious to see how the Packers race to the challenge too. Emily: Yeah, that's a great one. Okay. Well, it was fun talking to you again this week, and I will catch you next week. Hilary: Lots going on as always, Emily. Unicorn Football Talk. Catch you soon.