 I don't promise often I'm not one to guarantee, but I can assure you that today's show will be definitively more exciting than that. 17 punts, snooze of Palooza between the Jets and Patriots yesterday, playing the life-giving CPR lightning jolt role of Marcus Jones is Darius Butler and Joe Hayden, lots of defense, I'm here for it, let's get it, go, go, go, go. That's the situation that we harp on a lot and it's just a whole lot of fun and the emotion to be able to persevere through that, man. It's like a ticking time bomb, man. Once you get in the end zone, man, you just explode. You just fired that ball, right? Yeah, sorry if I hit somebody, I don't have a whole lot of accuracy with this thing, that's why I moved the tight end. Sorry about that. We have Darius Butler and Joe Hayden on the show to talk defense, but it was all about the offense and Travis Kelsey last night and that's about the only thing that she's had to apologize for as we hear Kelsey there post-game. They went into SoFi and pulled off a thrilling 30 to 27 comeback win over the Chargers. Chargers Chief's here for it. Whenever it's on, give me it, Monday night, Thursday night with Andrew Ritworth and I'm here signing up for that matchup any day of the week with Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes under center. How about these Travis Kelsey three touchdowns? Oh my goodness, I mean, if you're playing fantasy, it's done. It took Kansas City just one minute and 15 seconds on just five plays to go 75 yards for this game winning score. So the Chiefs, they're now eight and two. The Chiefs are now sitting atop the AFC alone, planting that flag, ready to eat that turkey on Thursday when everybody else is duking it out to kick off week 12. So by the way, the impressiveness of this feat without a Juju, without Hardman, without Kaderi, with Kaderi's Tony, he pops out of this game with a hamstring injury. Mahomes still through for 329 yards, still had three touchdowns and it wasn't just Kelsey. He was looking at and hitting Skymore, Justin Watson. Shout out, Jody Fortson. I mean, doing it, he was spreading the ball around and he was making it work that Mahomes. I said on Friday that this campaign, all of everything that Mahomes is doing has the makings of a signature MVP moment with all of the injuries, with some adversity, without Tyreek Hill and the man continues to deliver. So the race for MVP certainly isn't over. You got Jalen Hurts, you got Tua, they're still right there in the conversation. But what we saw collectively in Primetime Matters when it comes to these awards, it just does, it was special under the bright lights at SoFi last night. And now the Chargers who play at SoFi, they're still playing better than the Rams, sorry, they fall outside, it's a playoff fixture, they're, even Steven, right? They're at 500, five and five. They did show me something last night too, though. Marissa and I were talking, we're like, Herbert deserves a win, we just want a win for him. And it was nice to see him finally look a little healthy out there. And you saw how much better this offense looks even when Keenan Allen is even just him healthy. Him back on the field is a game changer. So I still expect a run to the playoffs out of these bolts as Lightning probably just struck my studio somehow here. I want to hear from you guys. Let me know, at Up and Atom Show, great weekend, great football. And it wasn't the only exciting finish that we got yesterday. So let's do it, let's get into the big takeaways from earlier action on Sunday Patriots. Oh, woof, woof, woof this game. The Patriots beat the Jets 10-3. It was the sleepiest game of the year until this. That means, I mean, 17 puns, no offensive touchdowns. But this highlight was awesome. It's Marcus Jones, it's 84 yards, it's a punt return touchdown. Guess how much to go, five seconds to go in this thing, a dramatic win for the Patriots. And it made it abundantly clear that New England is a factor in the AFC playoff race. Tell me if you've heard that before for the past 20 years or so. The pass-up won three straight from three and four a month ago to six and four. Now they shoot up to six in the position, seeding, and they're in prime position to make the playoffs. And I kind of think it might happen again somehow crazily. And I have to address, our guy LaShawn McCoy came on the show last week to call Belichick's greatness into question. He didn't come on to do that, but it happened while he was on. And he said that what the Patriots accomplished said far more about Tom Brady. And he tweeted this, so he's doubling down, saying, while overreact when I said without Tom Brady, bills look like the, I forget what the rest of the tweet is, but he's, okay, he's doubling down on the fact that it's more about Brady, that Belichick, it's about defense. He's not an offensive mind to coach, blah, blah, blah. And yes, and it wasn't the sharpest day. And I love LaShawn for doubling down like that. And he's awesome. And LaShawn and everybody can say what they want about the offense, but I think it makes what Bill Belichick is doing with this team even more impressive. They don't have a top tier quarterback. They've got quarterback drama. They don't have any top tier playmakers on offense. And yes, that does go back to some decisions that he certainly is involved in, as he's involved in every minor decision made in that building. But I don't know, if you put up their offensive weapons against anyone in the league, I don't know, it's not great. Like there's about two or three teams, maybe that you would take them over. They're pretty much bottom of the barrel. So objectively, they have to be bottom five from a sheer talent perspective, unfortunately, but somehow they're manufacturing wins and what matters more, nothing. They held the Jets offense to two total yards in the second half. Like the nightmare scenario for Zach Wilson, then like the, what are we still saying, space in your head, rent free, is that cool still, is it? Marissa says yes, so it is. Awful, awful. They have the number two defense in the league right now after letting their best player, all pro corner, J.C. Jackson walk in free agency. I saw Mina Kymes tweet about this, that somehow they have the second best pass defense and they do not have a stud. They do not go draft a stud corner. They didn't do any of that. They created that score on special teams. On a given day, if one phase isn't great, Belichick is the guy that's finding a way to make it happen and play and that's what great coaching is. So I'm not about debating Shady, but I know that, I know, you know, I would love to have Shady come on and talk about this, but more than anything, I think what Belichick's done over this last year and a half with what has been average quarterback play at best, only makes his case as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, even stronger. And he wasn't the only one that made a statement, guys. Let's get into it. The Dallas Cowboys, oh my gosh, they went into Minnesota and demolished the previously eight and one Vikings 40 to three. I was hanging out with my parents who were outside grill and I kept coming in like, what is going on in this game? Even in the stunning loss to the Packers last week, there were a lot of positives for Dallas to take away as you could see signs of what this offense was maybe finally going in through and coming together and see the lamb look so good. And it did eat, I don't know, yesterday afternoon it gelled even more and the big breakout star to talk about what is happening here today, I'm scared. If I'm the NFC East and the NFC, I'm scared of Tony Pollard because he is a legitimate star. So here's what he did, 80 yards on the ground, 109 through the air, including that, you know, I mean, come on, including that, two touchdowns. Look what he's done over the past month if it can pop up this full screen. Since week eight, he's averaged 154.7 scrimmage yards per game, 7.6 yards per Dutch while scoring six touchdowns all lead the entire league over that span. Now under the entirety of the Jerry Jones era, the Cowboys have been at their best, you guys, with what, a strong offensive line of a leaded cheese block out there that nobody can get through and a star running back. Zeke had been that guy, but he hasn't been that guy unfortunately for a few years. The Cowboys haven't had a legitimate threat as a result and I think Jerry Jones was almost trying to force something to happen with Zeke that was no longer happening. A big paycheck to him, a lot of endearment for his player and they didn't have a consistent threat as a result, Tony Pollard was a pushed and championed in that way. But if he keeps playing like that and Parsons keeps playing the way he has been playing and then we're gonna throw an Odell Beckham into this mix, if they get that kind of a signing with the way the NFC looks right now, why not the Cowboys to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl? And I think LaShaw McCoy would come on and say Dak Prescott, which is an interesting answer and why, you know, something that we're gonna have to keep our eye on and talk about as the season unfolds but Marissa, cover your ears. The Eagles don't look quite, I still think, they don't look like quite as scary, do they? Like, we're getting there? Yeah, you saw what they did to the Vikings, okay? The Cowboys look as good as anyone in that conference right now, not saying they're going to win it, I think the Eagles will, but it's time to stop dismissing them for the low-hanging fruit with the valid points. I don't know if we can say to stop dismissing them because Mike McCarthy makes crazy in game decisions and that's why we see him throwing his headset. And Dak, I think, I guess does have something to prove but I'm excited to see what they've got down the stretch. 40 to three in Minnesota's building is no joke and no chains for Kirk Cousins. And I don't think, I think there's no Kirk Cousins is falling down to earth take on this or like, he's going to Kirk Cousins and that's good. It is not that, like the Cowboys are dominant and they're gelling at the right time and Tony Pollard and Parsons are two studs leading the way and Dak can do his thing. All right, so all of this, of course, because we're talking about the Cowboys, leads to Thanksgiving is going to be so fun. We cannot wait. Oh, look at the music, got exciting. This schedule is a thing of a beauty. Tell me if I'm wrong at Up an Adam Show. Tell me if I'm wrong on Twitter while we still have Twitter. Do we still have Twitter today? Okay, great, I didn't check. I cannot remember a Thanksgiving with three truly meaningful games like this. The bill's time as the home team in Detroit might have come to an end, guys, but they're gonna head right back to the Motor City in a few days to take on said lions. I even add, I like, both teams are coming off big wins. The bill's breaking a mini slump to beat the Browns and the lions going into MetLife and handing the Giants their worst loss of the season. So I know it may not look like the most exciting matchup on paper, but are you worried, Brian? Brian's wearing, it's Brian have to move over so we can see what he's wearing. Brian's wearing his Buffalo Bill's dad vest. Where do you get a vest like that? It's literally for my dad. So here's my Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bill's. I mean, you two might play each other in the Super Bowl. You might not be friends for that week. Are you scared about the lions? No, I think it was the first one. The lions have won three straight. Did you know that? Okay, I think they're a little feisty. They're a lot of fun to watch. I think there'll be a ton of points scored in this game. And that's just the appetizer that Bill's game that he's pretending he's not afraid of. You guys are moving around now. Look at this, we get a battle for second place in the NFC East between the Giants and Cowboys. What, and who knows? Philly, hitting some speed bumps. The winner may still have a shot at the division as well. And then for the nightcap, you just saw it. Patriots at Vikings. Two more teams sitting in playoff position with a ton to prove, a ton to gain by coming away with a win on that big national stage, short week. This is the most exciting Thanksgiving of football I can ever imagine or think of. It's just true. Am I wrong? As far as sympathetically, mm-mm. All right, I think Darius Butler wants to get in on this action on this show. There he is, Darius Butler joining us. Hey, wow, a special Monday morning appearance. Yep. All smiles right here on Up and Atoms. Fanduol Casino's giving thanks to their loyal customers by hosting a refer a friendsgiving event that is happening right now. Here's how it works. Today through Saturday, any Fanduol Casino player can refer their friend by sending them a referral link. So after your friend wagers $10 more on Fanduol Casino, you'll both get $50 bonuses and one shared entry to the refer a friendsgiving sweepstakes for a chance to win a share of $50,000, what? 10 sets of winners, 10 sets of winners will receive a $5,000 bonus. That's a lot of money. I will be announcing me, really? Me? I'll be announcing, that's what it says, the first set of winners live on Wednesday's show. I don't know if that's great. All right, check out the Fanduol Casino app for more details. I like that. Can I do like Skypes with the winners? Can we do like a, me showing up with a big check in balloons and the whole thing and scaring them, that would be fun. We have bad champagne here. We can just pop open for them. It's great. Okay, we gotta get to this. We have to, on one of our favorite guests, it's a short week, usually have him on a Tuesday, but he's got a million jobs and a million things to do. He's got two girls at home and he's probably getting ready to baste a turkey. Please welcome in our favorite guy, Darius Butler, are you here, right? What's up? I'm here, I'm here. How we doing? How we living? Hey, I'm doing great. Got a, if you hear a little background noise, don't worry, I got a plumber here. I got my pool guy here. It's a lot going on right now, but it's Thanksgiving week. You talked about that slated games we got this Thursday. So I'm excited to get, you know, going on my thousand jobs this week. Darius, are you loving the media world? I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying it. I am blessed to be able to do things that I actually enjoy doing, work with people I like working with, you being one of them. Obviously Pat and the boys, you know, Greg and Sao Paula and FL film. So every, AB, so everybody, everything that I'm doing, I'm actually enjoying. It's not like I'm dreading showing up to work for. I'm loving it. Travel is getting cold now. You see how I'm already ready for a flat I got in a few hours. It's getting cold, but I like it, man. Week 12 is upon us. I'm having fun. You got to just push through and then you'll be in Arizona for the Super Bowl. I'm sure and that'll be so fun. You're killing it everywhere. We talk every week in our meetings about just like every week. It's, you know, more and more fun. We've got more and more to talk about with you. So we are thankful for you as it's Thanksgiving week for joining us every day. And I need to get your thoughts on a couple of moments from week 11 that had me like, what am I looking at? And here's the first one. The much talked about Jeff Saturday running laps pregame. This is their game against the Eagles. He's doing pushups too. It's a lot. I know he's a player at heart, but Darius, what am I looking at here? Hey, every coach, most of the coaches I've played for, they have some sort of pregame routine. Some guys is running the stadium steps. Some guys just jogging and walking around the field. This, hey, he's getting those arms right, pregame ready. Probably something he did as a player and now he's doing it as a head coach in his second game. So that's our coach Saturday. Hey, we love coach Saturday around those parts. What's he listening to in those earphones? Ooh, that's a much better question. I know that Taylor Swift album just dropped and has everybody in the frenzy right now. So I might bet Taylor Swift, he's probably a Swiftie. He's listening to anti-hero off midnight. I love it. Colds, let's keep it going here. They were leading the Eagles all game until the final drive from Philly. Now, Jeff Saturday's got these colds playing with a passion. So I wanna ask you, is it working? Is it the Taylor Swift? Is it whatever? Is this a new version of the team we're gonna see along the way? Yeah, I think it's working. You know, they came out and scored in the first drive for the first time since last year, Christmas. The playbook was very simple. You know, hand the ball to 28, try to control the line of scrimmage. We needed a passing game. We needed to open up a little more of the playbook as the game went on. We weren't able to, we weren't able to get that win. There's no moral victories really in football. They did come out and play tough. They brought this eight-in-one football team coming in the Eagles down to the wire. We should have won that game, honestly. But Jalen Hurst was too good late in that game. But look, it's a breath of fresh air over there in Indy. I feel like the guys came out energized and that's what you have to do as a head coach. You have to have your team ready to play. And I feel like it's the second game in a row. One on a roll, one at home with Jeff Saturday has had these guys ready to play. So I'm happy from what I've seen from the Jeff Saturday era so far. I love that. And you mentioned Jalen Hurst. And it really was the cherry on top of that cold's loss was him rushing straight through the wide open middle into the end zone. That's a tough play, Kay. That's a tough play to stop. Tell me. Yeah, I mean, it's tough because you have past responsibilities as a linebacker, as a safety. And when you look at that old line initially, it looks like a pass set. So you say, OK, it's a pass. You're looking at the guy he's supposed to be covering. And then it opens up like the Red Sea. So that's a great play design on the Eagles part. And then obviously having a quarterback that can execute something like that. But that's a tough, tough play to stop at that point in the game. But then he starts dancing with Blue. My boy, Blue, what do you make of that? I like blue. Blue, hey, I don't care who the head coach is. I don't care who the quarterback is. Blue is going to show up. Every week, Blue is going to show up at Lucas Oil Stadium. He always has energy. And that's just him being himself. But then Jailer-Hurts go up back and forth. That was a little fun. I thought we were going to come back and win that game at the end still. But that was fun. Love, Blue. Blue is my favorite mascot in the NFL. And he works so hard and is incredible. And oh, you're right. He is everywhere. You look. All right. And I'm watching the show now. You said Blue is your favorite. I don't want to hear you saying any of these other guys. OK, I won't. I won't. Darius, it's bachelor party season, apparently. And it hit the Bears Falcons game. Not wouldn't have been my first choice for a bachelor party, but paying homage to Mike Ditka. I don't know if you saw this. These are a bunch of guys. So this guy, Jared, saying my brother's in Atlanta for a bachelor party. They're going to the Bears Falcons game. But it is incredible. I would say that. Your thoughts. What am I seeing here? Hey, I like it when the band's on the same page. It's just guys being guys, dudes being dudes. I loved it. I know my guy Zito out there in Indy. Bear down. I know he loved it, too. Wish they could have got the win. I thought they should have. I thought they were going to get the win. But I love it. I love the unity. I love everybody being on the same page. And I'm sure Mike Ditka loved it as well. Should have got that win, though. If you're, oh, what a game. If your best friend said, this is what I want to do for my bachelor party, would you throw on cut-offs, I'll I build Bella check and show up in a game like that? Hey, yeah. You know, it's his day. Whatever he wants to do, we're all in. You know, we're doing all. This is nice and wholesome. Going to a football game. Probably some Bible study. Maybe some UNO. That's right. This is what we're doing bachelor parties. Some UNO. A little Candyland shoots and ladders the whole night. I know Dak. OK, let's move on here. The Dak smokes the Vikings. Everyone gets it. It's amazing. Yeah, I have to ask, why is Dak always getting caught? Doing the most the most. That's it. Why is he always getting caught doing the most? What is this? Innovative. Innovative. OK, the hips, it's so important, the core, the hips flexibility, hip mobility. So important for everybody on the field, especially quarterbacks. And I feel like now we may see more quarterbacks, more players doing this now. This is something you remember he started off this a few years ago and everybody kind of got on that train. So, hey, Dak, do this every game. Every pregame, do this. If it's going to lead to 43 blowouts, do this. You don't think it's a little weird that he's doing it? There were great tweets about this. Look at this. Look at this funny tweet I saw. Oh, gosh. This is good. We love Dak, but look at this. Do we have it? Oh, there's a tweet that we don't have. There's a tweet that said the Dak's acting like the guy that you see going hard on the pull-up machine who's got no idea how to work the actual machine. There were a couple good tweets. But we love it. You're saying Dak, it works for you. Let's keep it going. Whatever works for you. And it's not like he's recording himself. He's a quarterback in Dallas Cowboys. So everything he does is going to be recorded. So whatever it takes for you to get ready for a game, it could be push-ups where you're not taking a snap or walking or running the stadiums, whatever it is, do your thing, man, if it's going to lead to 37-point blowouts. Do push-ups. Do everything. Listen to your Taylor Swift. Do your crazy resistance band stuff. I love it. OK, one last one for you. We've got a game tonight in Mexico City. Incredible designers. It's Cardinals. Lot of talent there on both sides. Colt McCoy could get the start again if Kyler is still out. So which playmaker from this matchup are you keeping your eye on? I mean, how do you not keep an eye on Christian McCaffrey? I mean, that's the guy. He can throw touchdowns. He can run touchdowns. He can catch them. So that's the guy. This is what, third or fourth game now in the system. So Kyle Shanahan, I'm sure he's been drawn up and plays on napkins at lunch. I mean, get this guy involved as much as you can. Debo, Kittle, they saw me weapons out there. But if it was one guy I had to keep an eye on, which is an easy one. I'm going with C-Mac, baby. Christian McCaffrey. All right, you've got a plumber over there. You've gotten some going on with your pool. What's the plan for Thanksgiving at the Butler household? A lot of food, a lot of football. To your point earlier, when's the last time we had good meaningful games on Thanksgiving? Usually we're punished to have to watch the Lions or the Cowboys let us down. And now we actually have those teams and good games. Lions are things on the three game win streak right now. Cowboys coming off a blowout. And then the Patriots trying to find a way to get another win too. So some good football, some good food. I'm going to Cajun Fried Turkey. This thing's given for the first time. So that's the plan over here, Kay. Cajun Fried Turkey sounds amazing. What's the one, if you could get rid of one dish on the Thanksgiving table for the rest of time, what would it be? If I can get rid of one, any type of casserole. Any type of casserole. I don't like any casserole. I don't like a bunch of things put out. No, any type of casserole, get it out. Maybe sweet potato casserole. It may be the only one that squeaks by. But any type of casserole, lost my table. What's that? Those marshmallows on the sweet potato caps. I can't, I can't do that. Anytime you have marshmallows or something, I can't push back against marshmallows. Any other casserole? No, I'm good. Give me my sweet potato, my greens, my gams, my macaroni and cheese. Getting hungry for a ham. Woo! Can't wait. Do you eat light until Thursday? Like today till Thursday will you sort of eat light because you know what's going to happen or no? No? I've been blessed. I've been blessed by the gods with some great metabolism so I can eat right now and I'll be hungry in two and a half hours so there's no tapering off for me. I'm full steam ahead till Thursday. You're amazing and I know you have a flight to catch. Get on and good luck with the plumber and everything and happy Thanksgiving to the Butler family. Happy Thanksgiving to you too. Thank you. We will talk to Joe Hayden on the show in a bit. We've also got more stuff that we missed in the other games. We've got to talk about the Bengos. Oh, what up, helmet? Going around the league hitting some games we didn't kick off the week with and here he is. Stick together, play for each other. A win is a win is a win. Wait on three, one, two, three! We're on the league here. There's Josh Allen, very excited. Of course it took a village to get the bills to Detroit but they made it and came away with a 31 to 23 win over the Browns. We're going around the league here. They moved to seven and three now. Wasn't Buffalo's most dominant game? No, it wasn't one of their most complete games but it was significant because for the first time we saw them take some of the weight off of Josh Allen's shoulders and they took weight off of his elbows and they took weight off of his legs. Devin Singletary and James Cook, they put up 86 yards apiece with Singletary punching in the touchdown as well. So this marked the first time all year the bills ran more than they threw so that just deserves, I mean, happy Thanksgiving. That's incredible and they got the win with Josh Allen throwing for under 200 yards and he put up just seven yards on the ground. So Josh, obviously the most dangerous weapon maybe in the NFL, certainly for the bills but getting the running game going and easing his workload is what is going to make this team more dangerous in the long run. And we know that so congratulations for the win bills you play early back in Detroit against the Lions on Thanksgiving. Oh, what a good appetit for our Thanksgiving pleasure. All right, next we got Philadelphia at Indianapolis. Let's do the wipe here. It took everything the Eagles had but they pulled off. Man, look at this, how incredible. It's an emotional, he's so crazy. Zirgani, they escaped Indy 1716. We just talked to Darius Butler about this. Philly, nine and one. Now, the only issue is the fumbles. They were a problem once again, but we see toughness. We see resolve that this team has. We see a crazy head coach, which is just what this team needed. And Philly ripped off 14 points in the fourth quarter. And what you're seeing here, I mean, this Jalen Hertz quarterback draw, the Darius Butler just came on and said, this is a tough play, tough play to defend. And then the whole dancing with blue things happens and any things that they're going to win and they do not. And I know you never apologize for winning this league, but these last two weeks, you have to, as an Eagles fan, be a little more, I'm not going to say nervous, but just a little less confident. A little less, we got this, we're going to the Super Bowl. And that's a fair take. And this is a good time for that to happen, I think. You certainly don't want to see it bleed into next Sunday. They've got SNF against the Packers who have nothing to live for. And you never want to play a team like that. Appanatom show on Twitter, Joe Hayden coming up. Let's move on to the Bengals and the Steelers. Joe Hayden will be on curious to get his thoughts on both sides of this one, of course, but Joe Burrow, man, he's swearing. I couldn't believe it. They go into Heinz Fields. They knock off the Steelers 37-30. They get their first AFC North win of the season. They get to six and four and back on the right side of the playoff picture. And it was refreshing to see this offense roll without Jamar Chase. Burrow was brilliant. Burrow threw for over 350 yards and four touchdowns, three to Samajie Perine, including, oh my gosh, this one was so nice, including this one. We interviewed and sat down and got to spend some, yeah, Peron, we got to hang out with T. Higgins a couple of weeks ago. He was, I was so happy to see it for him. It was unstoppable. He racked up nine catches for 148 yards. And it's one of these things that we've talked about a lot on this show as we have our white helmet on set right here. This is my guy, my co-host. I think it's important for Burrow and for this offense to show themselves and everyone that they don't need Jamar Chase to be successful. And I think everything that T. Higgins told me and everything I know about that team and organization, the way it's run, that doesn't hurt Jamar Chase's feelings. There's no worry of, oh, how's he gonna feel? He's out. This one's racking up. It's not like that. They are an unselfish offense. And that is like wildly to their advantage in the NFL. And it's good that Jamar Chase wants them and wants Joe Burrow to lean on these other pieces. Even when Chase is back in the lineup, that'll be huge and he's able to develop chemistry further with other guys. This is a statement game for Burrow, for the rest of these playmakers. And we do have, I mean, there's a positive update on Jamar, by the way, that he could be back even this weekend and they couldn't come at a better time, because you gotta look at what we got cooking here. The schedule, not good. Can we do, can I hear it, Conrad? I think week 12, Tennessee. Week 13, Kansas City. Week 14, well, I can't, I can't listen while I'm talking. Conrad. Okay, here's the deal. It's Titans next week. Since he plays six teams, this is what I know, since he plays six teams, and sorry, we don't have it up for you guys, that are currently in playoff position over the final seven games. Think about that. The only non-playoff team that they face, the only non-playoff team that whole stretch is Cleveland, okay? Who, we know the craziest thing about that? Has Burrow ever beaten Cleveland? He's never beaten Cleveland in his career. And that's week 14, I'm told in my ear, you know, that means, you know, who's under center for that game, if Deshaun Watson at that point. Really let that sink in, okay? So to me, this, when I'm saying it's a statement game, whatever the Steelers beat them in round one of this year, you don't wanna see them get swept, it's more than that. This was a game, given what I just said in the schedule we didn't show you but told you, that the Bengals needed to have, and it was great to see it happen with this offense firing on all cylinders. I wish I could swear and we could bleep it, so I could be as cool as Joe Burrow, try to look as cool as Joe Burrow, effortlessly looks always. But I do believe that this is the start of an epic run to the playoffs for this Bengal squad. All right, we're gonna have Joe Hayden on, he might disagree with me about those Bengals, but until then, let's move on to Carolina at Baltimore. Say all these things about this team, and then it's like, oh man, I don't know, I think the Ravens are gonna win the Super Bowl. That's how I feel about this team. Man, they're so good. And it was a low-scoring game, it slapped, whatever. They have the lead in the AFC North, it's 13-3, it's over Baker Mayfield and the, whatever, the Panthers, who cares? I don't know. The offense is still trying to find itself and they haven't been right for a while, but they're ripped off a fourth straight win and this once maligned defense has been absolutely brilliant over the streak. Check this out, look at these numbers we pulled up. The Ravens rank top five in every major defensive category since week seven, including number one in third down defense, number one. So yes, the offense has to figure things out, the Ravens are gonna take down the AFC's elite, the Bengals included, but the good news is that they have time to get it going and here's why I like them, this is the case I'd like to pull out here. They don't play, they're the anti-Bangles. They don't play another team with a winning record until they face the Bengals in week eight team. Are they gonna win all of these? I mean, are they gonna have the one seed? If this defense can keep it up and this offense can find itself, watch out, watch out with these Ravens. All right, last up, Detroit, and if they, do we have the schedule for the Ravens? We do not have the schedule. Just trust me when I tell you, it's not good until, or it's easy pick ins to week 18 for them and we'll have schedules for you guys, sorry. Okay, Detroit at the New York Giants. We dominated the ground game, man. We made the throws we had to, we were efficient. That's the way to win, man. Now you're figuring it out. Now we're figuring it out. That's three. Everything will be mental. If we go for four against a really good opponent. That's outstanding, gentlemen. You earned it, man. Who would you like him at your Thanksgiving table? Or like, see, like, you would? We, that sounds like a good segment. Like, who would be the best guest? Like, Siriani would stand on the table, but Dan Campbell would eat the table. And I don't know, like, I want to calm. I'm trying to think, no, Andy, Andy, I would, I, you know, then I'm, then I'm fighting with elbows to try to get anything, go and Andy Reed. Give me some other coaches. Ron Rivera. Ron, oh, see, like, Ron Rivera is a perfect guest. Like, he'll come, he'll behave, he'll bring wine for my mom, he'll give her the European kisses, one, two, three and sit down and be a, Ron Rivera is a good one. Trying to think of another one. Brandon, I mean, yeah, Brandon Staley. Brandon Staley would be good, but he's a little risky, like, but you have to, you have to figure it out. Pete Carroll. Will he take, will he put the chewing gum on the bottom of my mom's table? I don't know if I can do it, Pete Carroll. I don't know if I can handle it. Cliff Kingsbury will hit on my mom, so I have to, we have to, we're getting away from that. Keep naming, naming coaches as I offend them. Go ahead. Carthy is an interesting one. Okay, I could think I could do Mike McCarthy. Matt LaFleur, I feel like is on some, like, you know, him and, him, nobody's eating. Him and, like, Sean McVeigh, and all, they're not gonna eat anything. They're gonna, they're gonna be gulping, you know, protein shakes or whatever it is. All right, we're gonna get out of here. We've got such a fun slate of action on Thursday, but we're recapping everything. Darius Butler was on the show and he was amazing. We were all about defense on the program. Oh, on a golf cart! Yes! We love this retired life. A retired king, Joe Hayden. Next. I mean, honestly, the NFL world was just a better place than Joe Hayden was Roman the Field. And he's our guest today, a two-time all-pro, three-time pro-weller who played 12 seasons in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. And now, newly retired, but always superstar. Cornerback, Joe Hayden, hey! Hello, dawg, how are you? Joe, what golf course are you at? You retired, retired superstar. And what, what hole are you on? I am one nine at Lakeside Golf Course in LA. That's my new club, I remember there having a black... They're asking me in my ear, how's that handicap looking? Handicap, look, I'm a 13 handicap. So it's not, I'm not too good, but I'm not the worst. Okay, I don't even know what that means, Joe. So we're gonna talk football instead. Congratulations. Such an incredible career and on your retirement. And I know that you've said that, you know, you played 12 years and you thought about maybe LA, maybe the Rams, maybe the Bills. And this is back before September when you made that difficult decision to walk away. Do you watch these games now and think, man, the Rams, they're not good. I could have helped them. Do you watch the Bills and say, there might go in a Super Bowl, I wanna be part of that. Where are you at with your thought process? I'm at peace with my thought process, you know. Honestly, I went to my first game, actually besides the Browns games when they played the Bengals when I did my retirement. I went to the Chiefs Chargers games yesterday at SoFi. Brought my son Travis Kelsiata as sweet. That's one of my really good friends. And it was at the game watching, having a blast. You know what I'm saying? So I'm kind of at peace with the fact that the physical, you know what I'm saying? Like the, what it took to be to play at an elite level, I don't take that for granted. And right now I'm two months not working out, two months not doing too much of anything but dropping my kids off at school. You know what I'm saying? Having a good time. Being able to have that freedom is somewhere where I'm like, dang, like I really did, I did that. You know what I'm saying? Being able to really embrace it and just look back at what you did. So I feel good about my decisions. I mean, you're all smiles. You look happy, two months removed. And you're, I mean, you clearly made the right move and we're so happy to hear that. We love when that's the case. And you have been playing golf. I see that on your Twitter. Like I said, I don't know much about the game, but this is not what I thought that it was like. I mean, talk about keeping the competitive juices going. So this is, you know, you, and then there's like a hip check that happens. Let's take a look at this. Walk it off. Throw the club. This is golf is one of the craziest sports because it's a little ball and a little hole. It's like, I can't, I can't, I should be able to hit this ball 3000 yards. And I played with 70 year old dudes, 60 year old dudes that are hitting the ball way farther than me. I'm like, there's no way you should do anything athletically better than me. There's no way, there's no way. And it's just that you got to practice repetition. And I just, I love the competitive nature that you can play so many different courses with so many different people. So golf is, golf is lit. Danny Woodhead comes on our show sometimes and he's, he's really good. Like he's pro golfer vibe style, trying to qualify. Are you taking it that seriously? Like you, or is it just? I mean, I, I love it. And I think when I start, I'm going to start getting the golf coach because I can only get as good as, you know, like I don't, I need, I need Tiger. I need Tiger, I need Roy. I need Justin Thompson. I need these dudes to really give me, give me some of the good stuff. Okay. Yeah. Jordan Spieth was on our show a couple of weeks ago. I got it. We'll get you his information. He's got to help you out and make it happen. What's next for you, Joe? You could do anything. Are you going to come hop on one of these tables someday soon? Oh, one, a thousand percent. Honestly, I'm one to, I'm going to hopefully meet him with like Amazon, CBS, Fox, all of the guys. Just trying to figure it out because I really want to do like the, I want to do some broadcasting. I want to do some sports commentating. I really enjoyed the game. I want to be around it. So I think this, this first season, I just doing a little fun, chilling, hanging out. But definitely during like once Super Bowl happens, I'm going to start meeting with some companies that definitely want to give, want to give them to the broadcasters. That's amazing. If you had a dream job, tell me what it would be. Would it be in the, just so we can manifest this thing for you? Pro golf, you know, you got to be a good golfer. Good golfer. You got to drive those kids to school every day. But then when it comes to your future, like what's the position you want? Pre-game desk, you want? Pre-game desk. I want to do, I'm going to be on my Michael Strahan, AKA Nate Burleson. Oh, you know, I know him. Nate Burleson, I love Nate. I'm supposed to meet him really soon. But like Nate and Nate Michael Strahan and then Andrew Hawkins, just swaggy dudes out here doing Ryan Clark. Like I'm getting, I'm getting good those vibes. I love those vibes. There is no better person to talk to than Nate Burleson who is an absolute star and star human as well, which is amazing. Okay, I want to get to some other questions at the, okay, let's see. I wonder why are we, I don't know, we're jumping around here so much. Okay. You had six interceptions your rookie season. I know you retired as a Brown. That was important to you. The team that drafted you. Cornerback is known as the hardest position on an NFL team to master. So how are you able to transition into the league so successfully looking back at it now removed from the game? I think it was, we had great, great coaching. And then just being able to film study, honestly. The one thing is there's so many great athletes, so many great receivers, quarterbacks going the ball in the dime. But if you can get that film study and then you can kind of understand tendencies and know what's going to happen before it happens, that changes the game. It makes it move a whole lot slower. So I think when I started becoming, as soon as I got in there, I was with Sheldon Brown and Eric Wright. Yeah. Those two are called me. Studying in third down is going to get you paid. And that was like the main thing. Third in shorts, you know that they're going to stick for us. You're anticipating stuff. So you're kind of baiting people. So once you get to that point, it's the game just changes totally. Joe, who reminds you of you? Because there's a few rookie corners having a mate, Exiles Gardner, to Rick Wollin for the Seahawks, Stud, Unexpected. Any corner remind you of you? I really like, well, he's more of a sly guy. Well, Kenny Moore, but my favorite, Darius Slate, is killing it. I think the new one coming man, Surtane, from the Broncos, he is unbelievable. He certainly is. And that's a high praise for them coming from Joe Hayden. I want to get your take on the Jets. I know you got, I mean, your arm's going to get tired from all this holding of the phone. No, no, no, we're good. It's posted. So I want to get your take on this. After losing to the Patriots, the Jets lose and they score only three points. Zach Wilson was asked if he let his defense down and he responded, no. So this is your spot. You want that straight hand, Nate Burleson vibe? This is the kind of stuff they got to talk about. As a defensive player, how would you respond to that? As a defensive player, this is what it is. You want to feel like you, that's, you shouldn't upset them. At the end of the day, if you're a quarterback or a franchise guy, you know that's not, that's not, that's not, but that's not the standard. That's not the standard. You got to be able to go out there and hold your end down too. Because like everybody's getting, everybody has a job to do. The defensive guys out there holding it down. Like they're not, not allowed with any points. You know what I'm saying? So if you're a quarterback or a franchise like that, you got to be able to go out there and stand up and be accountable for when you don't do your job. What do you think you should have said? I think you should have said, if I was like, look, look here guys, end of the day, I did not hold up my end of the bargain. We have to do better. We got to be able to put our defense in better positions. My job as a quarterback is to put points on the board and we didn't do that. And I'll do a better job next week for sure. And just put, put it, put a little bit of accountability on yourself and just make sure like, you know, end of the day you want to quarterback and with, with, yes. Joe, is he losing the locker room over this? I don't think you could lose, I mean, you could. Yes, honestly, honestly, not to, just not to, I don't want to knock the kid, but at the end of the day, you got to be able to stand on your own team. You ain't never grown men and you have a job to do. And when you don't do it, just hold yourself accountable and then people will look at you with a whole different, different life. So I just think that you didn't go about it right now. He needs to get in there and make that right, right away, I think this morning, if he hasn't already. Last one for you. You finished your career in Pittsburgh. There's some golf cart, beer cart girls running by. It's not, listen, it's not looking good for those Steelers. It's not looking good for the playoff chances. But from what you've seen from this team, is there anything that you can point to that makes you think that there's a chance they can make a run to finish the season because they basically have to run the table? T.J. White, T.J. White is back. The defense, I mean, I think that defense, we have a lot, a lot of playmakers on the defense side of the ball. We can get Najee Harris back toting the thing right. Just, I think if our defense can continue to make plays and we can start doing sacks and get a whole bunch of turnovers, I think that'd be the key way. And then if Najee continues to toad the ball on our line for block and give them big hoes, I think it'd be good. They're three and seven, they're tied with the Browns at three and seven at the bottom. Who do you have more faith in? Them or the Browns? Because they do get to Sean Watson back. Oh, I would say right now, I'll have to say the Steelers, just because I believe in Coach Tomlin. I don't think Coach Tomlin, he hasn't had a losing record in his career. I think this one will be tough. They, you know what I'm saying? Finish the season with a winning one. But I just believe in the coaching staff. I believe in T.J. and those, the defense guys there. Hopefully the Browns definitely can turn around when the Sean Watson gets there. It's gonna be a completely different animal. But I just, I just, with Coach T. right now, I just think that they might be able to turn around. And I love hearing you say that. Joe Hayden, come back anytime. Don't forget us when you're big and famous, more famous than you already are, but thank you. No, listen, I'm coming back for sure to your spot. Thank you. You're the one to put me on. I can't even hear him anymore. We love you. Niners, Cardinals and Mexico City. Tonight, enjoy that game. We'll have a follow. Maybe we should call Stats and get his thoughts on that one. But it's part of the international series. Big thanks to Joe Hayden, congrats on his retirement. And his handicap is good. Okay, I don't know. Solid handicap, great. And Darius Butler, it is Thanksgiving week here on the show. Enjoy your day. And go team USA.