0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. QB1 or QB1 more week.
0:04Coming up on the NFL Report, the latest on who's in and who's out for Week 7 of the most important position in sports.
0:11Meantime, don't forget Paris. We're going to go to France to sit down with Cam Jordan ahead of the Saints and the
0:18Steelers and a petit déjeuner on Sunday. And is Sunday night in Seattle still the game we thought it would be?
0:25All of that next on the NFL Report. We are presented to you by Nationwide.
0:30Hi there! My name is Andrew Siciliano from the home office.
0:33You love the cardiac kids behind me. It's fun.
0:36It's Week 7. We have a TNF preview coming up shortly.
0:39We also have Jordan interviewing Jordan in Paris. I'll explain what is news to me.
0:44However, our latest headlines right out of the gate.
0:47We tease the quarterback injuries. So let's do them first in Baltimore where it is looking more and more like Lamar Jackson
0:54could be back on the field Sunday against the Bengals.
0:57Now nothing is official, but we do know and you could see here that he was on the practice field limited, but
1:04there for the second day in a row. Lamar has missed the Ravens last two games.
1:09They are one and one without him and with Tyler Huntley.
1:12We can't say with certainty, however, the Baker Mayfield will be back Sunday for the Buccaneers after missing three games with a dislocated thumb.
1:20Mayfield practiced again today. Two straight days now with that white glove on his thumb.
1:25Bucs in Carolina Sunday. Yeah, feel good. Just improving.
1:27It's been a process for me. You know, never, never really missed time because injury.
1:32So not fun. You always want to be out there with your guys, but just doing the rehab process doing as much
1:39as possible each and every day and trying to recover as quick as possible and take it one day at a time.
1:46So it's been it's been feeling slowly better and better.
1:49But that's that's the frustrating part. Just it just takes time for an injury like that.
1:54Bucs can sure use Baker. The two and four Eagles definitely need Saquon Monday night to help break a four game losing streak.
2:01Barkley has missed the last two games with his hamstring injury against the Rams and hamstrings can be tricky.
2:07But Saquon for now tentatively is expected back on the field this week.
2:12Anytime you had a player like say to Saquon's caliber to your your team, you know, that's obviously a huge plus.
2:18You know, I like the backs in the room that we have.
2:22Obviously, you know, we've we've been beat up there as the seasons went.
2:26And I'm glad we've had the guys that we've had to be able to step in and go.
2:32But yeah, always anytime, you know, we'll see where we are with Saquon.
2:36But anytime that's a possibility. That's that's huge. It's obviously slimmer similar to Vicks defense, which is which is kind of funny
2:43because you're like, oh, yeah, they do that in practice, too.
2:46Or, you know, whatever. But, you know, they have some really good players out there.
2:51And I'm excited to to go up against it and spread the ball.
2:55Tanner McKee talking about Christian Parker, the Cowboys new D.C.
2:58who came from Philadelphia and the Cowboys are two and four.
3:02And how do we say this? I mean, the NFC is just not good.
3:06Two and four is the worst that any Dak Prescott team has begun.
3:10Brian Schottenheimer is a weird world is taking heat, but he's only one game back in the win column.
3:16I think it comes with the territory. I think, you know, some of it is deserved.
3:21You know, we got to play better. I got to coach better.
3:25And so when you grow up in a family that your dad's a head coach for over 20 something years, you understand
3:32that this is part of the the job description.
3:35No one likes it. I block out most of it.
3:38Some of it gets to me doing this job and having to speak to you guys as part of that.
3:44But at the same time, I've got strong shoulders.
3:47I know what a great coach I am. I know what this team is capable of.
3:52And that's what I focus on. Cowboys Eagles on Monday night.
3:55We got Packers Lions on Sunday afternoon. Let's hit Josh Jacobs here.
3:59That story back on the practice field again today.
4:02Yesterday we played you Matt LaFleur speaking of second chances after Jacobs pleaded no contest to two charges related to domestic violence.
4:09Tonight we have what Jacobs said yesterday after returning from the commissioner exempt list.
4:13I'm remorseful and sorry for putting this team in a situation.
4:17You know, sometimes you go through life situations occur and a four second, three second decision, you know, can alter your life, honestly.
4:24But with that being said, man, I'm still a human being, man.
4:28Still trying to learn, still trying to grow from the whole process.
4:32Actually learned a lot throughout this process legally and just just personally.
4:35Josh Jacobs expected to play. We got a game coming up tonight.
4:39Caleb Williams and your four and two Chicago Bears love the suit.
4:43Soldier field Drake may going bomber jacket. We could walk it in there four and two against four and two Christian Gonzalez.
4:50If you're wondering is up and active, he was a late demotion or late, late move to questionable with an illness.
4:56Let's get a primetime preview on this one. Our primetime preview is presented by nationwide NFL dot com.
5:02Lance Zerline love the T-shirt Lance with our primetime preview here today.
5:06It's a it's a battle of the number one overall pick in twenty twenty four.
5:11The number three overall pick. Drake may has been hot.
5:14The Patriots have turned things around. There's a lot on May's plate tonight.
5:18There is a lot on May's plate. You know, it's a battle of the two most heralded quarterbacks, obviously, from that draft.
5:25And I remember when it was Jaden Daniels and Bo Nix were were playing the best that rookie year from that class.
5:32And then all of a sudden Caleb had his moment and Drake made it to a Super Bowl.
5:37And then he got off to a terrible start, turned it over a ton.
5:42But man, the last three games, ten touchdowns, he's completed sixty four percent of his passes.
5:47He's been very, very good. Problem is the turnovers.
5:50You know, the Bears do a great job of taking the ball away.
5:54And so that's going to be something that Drake is really going to have to balance being aggressive with also understanding when he doesn't need to take chances.
6:02Now, his job gets a lot easier if A.J.
6:05Brown can catch the football. He had three drops last week and A.J.
6:09Brown has got to play better football. But I really do question whether or not the the the the Patriots can give
6:16him a little bit of a running game tonight to make his job a little bit a little easier against that Bears defense.
6:24Yeah. Drake may only one pick in that three game winning streak.
6:27The TD to INT ratio is ten to one.
6:30Caleb meantime came back last week off the hammy injury and all he did, Lance, was go ten for ten and then
6:37eventually ten for ten out of the eight and then eventually complete 30 passes.
6:42Is that good? Yeah, it's pretty good. And, you know, I'm really excited.
6:46I think this Bears team before the year started, I had this Bears team winning that division.
6:51I know they've got a very tough they've got a very tough schedule, but I think the Bears are that team just
6:58waiting to make that next step up into Super Bowl caliber team.
7:02And I'm really excited to see who the Bears are with Caleb Williams.
7:06I think the Bears are excited to see who they are with Caleb Williams.
7:10The running game is the best in football right now.
7:13They average over 160 yards a game. And, you know, part of that was because they needed to run the football when he was out.
7:21But now that he's back, Ben Johnson going to be able to balance pass and run.
7:26We know they can run it. Now we're getting Caleb mixed in with some really good targets.
7:32The most creative play caller in all of football.
7:34I'm excited to see who the Bears are now moving forward.
7:38And I think we're about to see a Bears team that may be able to stake a claim to being one of
7:45the top two there in the entire NFC. You mentioned that run game.
7:49Still no Kyle Madung guy. He's going to miss another game.
7:52It is Roshan Johnson RB2 tonight behind Yandre Swift.
7:55And real quick, I said nice shirt. I'm maintaining eye contact here.
7:59My monitor is actually down. When we when we spoke earlier, Lance had it had a cool Smith's T-shirt on.
8:05All right, let's get into the game in France.
8:08France is the eighth country in which the NFL will play an international series game.
8:13It's the Saints. It's the Steelers. It's Sunday morning.
8:16It's Greg Rosenthal and Jordan Roderigue now with Cam Jordan.
8:19I think they're strong. Anytime you have a Hall of Fame quarterback that makes the entire O-line better anyways.
8:25So I love when we talk about offensive line, but I'm like, there's Aaron Rodgers back there.
8:30Like, they're going to be just fine regardless. You could put little cones in front of them and he's still going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback.
8:39So you see the throws he makes. You see the way he speeds up his timing, the way he commands his offense.
8:46I mean, you saw it was like two games ago when him and his OC were sort of getting into it.
8:52He's like, let me run it. And he ran it and there's a reason why he's a Hall of Famer.
8:59Another Cal guy. You know, cerebral. You going to get after him?
9:02Absolutely. Yeah. The plan is, you know, you got guys like Chase Young and Carl Granderson.
9:08You talk about, you know, Braden as well as Godchow.
9:11I think we've got a formidable front. You know, this is all within reason and with the caveat that he is, you
9:18know, in his 40s at this point. But... They said LeBron's in his 40s too.
9:22He's out here dropping buckets. No, but I mean last couple games he's moving better.
9:27Like you see him picking up a couple first downs with his legs a couple weeks ago.
9:32I mean, do you think he's faster somehow this year?
9:36No. Nobody's ever been like, man, he's a burner.
9:38But Aaron Rodgers is definitely elusive as well as, you know, he's always been quick.
9:43So, you pair that up with his IQ for the game and that's what makes him scary as well as a Hall of Famer.
9:51He's always had a tremendous arm talent and the ability to just put ball placement.
9:55So, it's going to be up to the entire defense to try and put a hold on him.
10:01Well, the Saints have the advantage. They have been here all week.
10:05So, you got the fun stuff out of the way.
10:08Got the fun stuff out of the way. They're going to be behind.
10:12Come on. They've got Aaron Rodgers and Cam Hayward.
10:15Cam Hayward doesn't like fun. TJ Watt, have you?
10:18You've never seen them in an off season? I've never seen TJ Watt smile, matter of fact.
10:23Exactly. That's what I'm saying. They're not built for having fun.
10:27So, they'll be just fine. You can fly them in Saturday.
10:30TJ Watt. Yeah, Cam's going to sleep the whole time anyways.
10:33And, you know, like, does he practice anymore? That's fair.
10:37I'll let you guys figure that one out. Low on the list of guys that I personally probably would want to go out with.
10:44TJ Watt and Aaron Rodgers. I don't know. They wouldn't want to go out with me.
10:49I probably wouldn't go out with Aaron Rodgers. I feel like you're going to learn a lot of conspiracy theories now.
10:56And with that, we appreciate Cam Jordan. Thank you as always.
10:59Appreciate you guys. Thank you, Cam. Ben Benson seemingly turning up the heat on this team, winning now.
11:05What do you think on this one? Let me talk about Mickey for a second.
11:10He is the longest-tenured general manager in the NFL by a long stretch, eight more years than John Schneider, who's next up in Seattle.
11:17He's been doing it a long time. Here's the problem.
11:20He's 29 and 45 in his last four and a half seasons, counting this year.
11:25Four of the last five seasons, counting this year, the two and four record, have been losing seasons for Mickey.
11:31And Chris Ballard was just fired by the Indianapolis Colts.
11:34So anytime that happens, you know, people start to perk up in buildings about whether or not their jobs could be on the line.
11:42When we turn to Aaron Rodgers, they talked a lot about Aaron Rodgers.
11:46He's been terrific. He's on pace right now to throw 34 touchdowns this year.
11:51Now, that's his pace. He's still only averaging 6.4 yards per attempt.
11:54So I feel like that's kind of, those numbers are a little bit funny.
11:59I'm not sure if we're going to see that many touchdowns.
12:02But clearly, Rodgers and that offense are clicking at a pretty good rate.
12:06They weren't very good against the Bucs until they needed to be there in the fourth quarter and they turned it on.
12:13But against the Saints defense, I don't know that they have to do a whole lot to be able to move the ball down the field.
12:21And again, that is the early morning game coming up 930 Eastern on Sunday.
12:26Thank you, Lance. Lance is coming right back, by the way.
12:29What if I told you there is yet another Rams injury that they may have to overcome this week?
12:35But they have done this before. How bad is it in LA that's straight ahead on the NFL report?
12:41It really is a great week seven schedule and it opens with a great game at Soldier Field.
12:47Got a couple of four and two teams. A.J.
12:50Brown came back last week, as Lance had said earlier, dropped three passes.
12:54But they're a better team with them. Better team with Roma Dunze healthy as well for Caleb Williams.
12:59Patriots, Bears slightly after eight o'clock Eastern. Seven local, of course, at Soldier Field, Chicago.
13:04Here is that long list of really good games on Sunday.
13:08Now, maybe not the headliner, but it's interesting for me.
13:11Can we focus on the one there bottom left?
13:14That's the Rams and the Raiders there at Allegiant Stadium in Vegas.
13:17And the Rams, well, I they got to start winning.
13:21They are two and four. Some think their season is over.
13:24I think that is nonsense. Back in 2024, they opened one and four.
13:28They made the playoffs in 2023. They started two and three and they made the playoffs.
13:33Matthew Stafford looking to start that turnaround this Sunday.
13:36Every year is different. Every game is different. You know, you can't sit there and go because we did X, we're going to do Y.
13:44But we obviously know what it takes to win football games.
13:47We have enough guys on this roster that know what it takes to win.
13:52And, you know, that starts today, right? We can't sit there and look big picture and go, okay, we have X amount of games left.
14:00These guys are doing that, whatever. Like that's not the mindset of all around here.
14:04It's how can we be as good as we can day in and day out?
14:09How can we go compete every single day that so that Sunday when we turn the tape on, we're proud of how
14:16we competed, how we played, how we went about our business and live with the results.
14:21And I think that's the mindset of this group.
14:24You know, and if we do that, I think we're going to like the results more often than we don't.
14:30Okay, all of that is great. But what if I told you now Puga Naku is banged up?
14:36He's officially limited today. He was on the practice field, but then he left early on Thursday with a calf injury.
14:42Remember, Devontae Adams is out hammy. Terrence Ferguson isn't back yet, a tight end.
14:47Lance, you got the entire D line banged up.
14:50Yeah, they still have McVay. They still have obviously Aaron Donald and Matthew Stafford.
14:54All that is great. As we list your top three most intriguing games, Rams Raiders is number three.
15:00How does the Puga would be injury change things here for you?
15:03Well, it changed it a great deal. But I still think that when you look at how the Rams can run the
15:10football with two headed monster, you know, at the running back spot, and then you look at how the Raiders defend.
15:17I think you still have a chance to get out there and get the W.
15:22The Raiders are a great story to start the season off 3-0, but they've lost their last three.
15:27They're allowing 36 points a game in those three.
15:30And I'm one of those guys that always say, yeah, but this is still the Rams.
15:35It's still the Rams. Is it really still the Rams?
15:38That's what makes this intriguing. They're 27th in terms of sacks, 26th against the Rush.
15:43Now the Raiders don't run it well. They're 30th in the league against, you know, in terms of running the football.
15:50But this is one where you feel like the good team should progress to the mean.
15:55We should see them play good football like we saw the Texans do last week.
15:59Another team that got off to a bad start.
16:02So I'm expecting the Rams offense to push it down the field consistently against the Raiders.
16:07And at some point, the Rams defense has to start playing Rams defense.
16:11It's been disappointing. I didn't sign up for Aaron Donald to come back for this.
16:16As a football watcher, I need more from the defense.
16:19That's just me being selfish. That's what I need.
16:22But I did sign up for a great AFC North battle week seven, the AFC North like the NFC North, the entire division at 500 or better.
16:31You got Joe Burrow and the Bengals, potentially Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
16:35They split last year, Lance, with the road team winning each game.
16:38This is your number two most intriguing matchup. You know, I'll tell you why.
16:43And I'll do respect to the Browns memorabilia in your background.
16:46But I think everyone's looking at this game and saying, OK, Steelers and Browns.
16:51But really, this is the game. This is the one.
16:54Whoever wins this one is going to come out and that's going to be the team.
16:59But the fact is, you know, Lamar Jackson is seven and two against Joe Burrow.
17:04Joe Burrow, when he plays the Ravens, he either goes way off with 500 and 400 yard games or they really hold them.
17:11They hold them down. He's four and seven in his 11 games against the Ravens.
17:16But, you know, in this matchup, if Lamar goes, I think I have to like the Ravens.
17:21They've done a great job of running the football and they don't turn it over.
17:26Those are the two things that you have to do to win.
17:29You want to hear Joe Burrow on Jesse Minter's defense?
17:33Let's roll that. This scheme is different in some ways, but in a lot of ways it's similar as well.
17:39They're going to put their playmakers in position to make big plays.
17:43And they have some really good playmakers. And we have to limit their opportunities to affect the game and take care of
17:50the football and play smart and take our explosives when they come.
17:53Lance, your thoughts? Well, I mean, you know, for Joe, like I said previously, he's been feast or famine.
17:59And this is going to be a situation where they're going to watch film and get ready, but he's going to have
18:06something a little different dialed up for Joe Burrow.
18:09So this is really fascinating to me because I want to see which Joe Burrow shows up.
18:14Is it going to be the guy who bombs out with four or 500 yards and, you know, high 300 yards, three touchdowns?
18:22Or is this going to be one of those games where it's a bunch of Derrick Henry, it's a bunch of Lamar
18:29Jackson extending, you know, third downs with his legs and moving the chains.
18:33And then the Ravens just really taking the air out of the ball.
18:37Is that what it's going to be? We do know this.
18:40Historically, these two guys have gotten into some real shootouts from a points per game standpoint.
18:45So when they get together, there's always a good chance that we're going to have a fun, fun matchup with a lot of points.
18:53Absolutely. Also fun on Sunday night, NBC football night in America, the Chiefs, they are undefeated.
18:58Sam Darnold and the Seahawks, and he's been a turnover machine of late, three and three.
19:03You know, the couple of picks that I threw, just, you know, when that time clock starts to go off and, you
19:10know, just being careful with the football. And sometimes that's throwing the ball away.
19:14And other times that's knowing, you know, just when I'm kind of under pressure and even maybe even taking a sack in those situations.
19:22So I think just understanding, you know, or not understanding, but being aware of the situation and, you know, not making a
19:29bad play worse is kind of the goal moving forward.
19:32But I'm just going to continue to play decisive and try to get the ball out.
19:37When the schedule came out back in May, Lance, you circle this one.
19:41It's great. Now when the Chiefs get out undefeated, you circle this one.
19:45It's great. But are the Seahawks still great? Where do you come down on this game?
19:50Yeah, I feel like Laramie Tunsil with all these false starts I've had on this segment.
19:55But I will say this. I come down. Here's where I come down on this one.
20:00We know it's going to be a great offense versus a great defense.
20:04Mike McDonald versus Andy Reid is going to be terrific.
20:07Pat Mahomes, we're excited about it. The numbers align and match up.
20:11The real problem here is Sam Darnold. As you know, you mentioned his turnovers and then he just talked about not making a bad play worse.
20:19I'm afraid that's who he's been for much of his career.
20:23And last year he had that incredible run in the playoffs.
20:26But against Steve Spagnuolo's defense, it's really tough to get right against Steve Spagnuolo and that defense.
20:32And unless you're really able to run the ball and protect Sam Darnold, unless you're able to, and when I say protect,
20:39I mean literally protect them also from a sack standpoint, you really have problems.
20:43They turn it over a lot. They get sacked a lot.
20:46Steve Spagnuolo can change the pictures on you after the snap and really cause confusions for quarterbacks.
20:52He's smart with where he brings blitzes and pressure points from.
20:55So, you know, this is on paper. This is a, this is a really fun matchups, but at some point Seattle's offense has to come to the party.
21:04That's going to be the real key here. I think from a number standpoint, it really matches up well if Seattle can have a good showing offensively.
21:13Yeah. And a good showing offensively means, and this team has had an issue this year, running the football.
21:18Well, there is good news. There is help on the way.
21:22Zach Charbonnet right at the end of that window, the 21 day window to activate him has been activated.
21:28So there's a good chance. He is back on the field coming back from that bad knee injury a year ago.
21:35Thank you, Lance Zerline. Appreciate you. No false starts.
21:37No five yard flags. Some of them on me as well.
21:41See you, buddy. Lance Zerline, everybody. We continue on the NFL report more from soldier field straight ahead.
21:47Can Drake may of the Patriots stay hot. Can they get the five wins?
21:51Can they win four in a row? Don't go anywhere.
21:54The NFL report, everybody with a friendly reminder to go get NFL plus premium, you get NFL red zone.
22:00You get every touchdown every Sunday, and then you could catch game replays and track advanced analytics powered by next gen stats with NFL.
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22:15apply quick hits injuries ahead of that Sunday night game.
22:18We mentioned earlier, Travis Kelsey Cooper, McDonald, the Jerry is need and Brashard Smith limited in practice today.
22:23Jalen Moore and Rashi Rice did not practice for the Chiefs for rice.
22:27It is a hammy injury, and this is maybe even more significant tackle.
22:32Josh Simmons left tackle. Josh Simmons is going on injured reserve.
22:35It is a bulging disc in his back. Simmons had initially complained of a calf injury.
22:40They figured out it was actually a disc injury.
22:43Not good. Also not good in Seattle. We told you about Charbonnet.
22:47Elijah Arroyo going the other direction shoulder surgery and the tight end is going to miss the rest of the season.
22:53Braylon Allen has done a good job for the Jets in the backfield at a big hundred yard game a couple of weeks ago.
23:01But good news. Brees Hall is on his way back.
23:04Brees Hall, the Jets running back a limited participant today in Florham Park.
23:08He has a quad injury as the Jets get ready for an AFC East game with the Dolphins coming to town.
23:15And we get ready for a Thursday night game, a fantastic one to open up week number seven.
23:20The Bears were on the road in their first game last week after losing the legendary Mike Ditka.
23:26So this is their first game at home after the Hall of Famer died.
23:30So this is on the sideline forever 89. That's cool.
23:33Also cool what they're giving away today when you walk into Soldier Field.
23:38That is our one more thing. The Bears are giving away Mike Ditka mustaches, just the fake mustache.
23:43Boys and girls, men and women can put on that fake mustache.
23:47If you are one of the first 10,000 fans, where have we seen that idea before?
23:52Can we flashback to 2012? This is when yours truly was the preseason voice of the Los Angeles.
23:58I'm sorry, the St. Louis Rams. Get that right, Andrew.
24:01That is Hall of Famer Marshall Falk on one side of the picture and Ross Tucker.
24:06What a booth that was. We all donned our fake Jeff Fisher mustaches.
24:10Who's the other guy? That's Brian Killingsworth, Rams marketing executive.
24:13It was his idea for the fake mustaches. I think it was.
24:17Whatever. I need a fake mustache from Chicago. Somebody save me one.
24:21We'll see you next week, everybody. Enjoy week seven.
24:24I'm Andrew Siciliano. So long. This is an iHeart Podcast.
24:27Guaranteed human. I'm a fan. By the way. I'm a fan.
24:30I should make a list of eight minutes, and you're happy to see him.
24:35We're done with the north-western inside. We'll see you next week.