Ed Kleese and I engage in a thorough discussion regarding Week 5 of the NFL's 2025 season, during which we offer our bold predictions for the upcoming matchups. This episode is underpinned by our collective assertion that the outcomes may indeed astonish listeners as we delve into various games and their intricacies. We scrutinize the ramifications of injuries and performance fluctuations across teams, thereby highlighting the unpredictable nature of the league. Our analysis extends to the potential implications of coaching strategies and the psychological dynamics at play, particularly when teams confront the specter of desperation or momentum shifts. Join us as we navigate the complexities of this week’s contests, offering insights that may challenge conventional expectations.

Join us at the Pigskin Dispatch website to see even more Positive football news!

Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts.

Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website.

Takeaways:

• The discussion centers around the bold predictions for Week 5 of the NFL 2025 season, including unexpected outcomes.
• The significance of timing in matchups is highlighted, emphasizing the impact of teams' performance leading up to games.
• Injuries play a critical role in the dynamics of the NFL, affecting team performance and predictions.
• Both hosts express excitement for the upcoming games, while also reflecting on previous games and their outcomes.

And you might be surprised by the outcomes because there's some bold ones.

And it's all coming up in just a moment with Ed and I right after this.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of.

American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darren Hayes is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at.

Hello my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

And it's Wednesday during football season and it's time for some big bold predictions.

Ed Cleese joins us just like he does every Wednesday morning.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey Darren, how are you doing today?

I am doing great and trying to figure out why on a football show a guy from Oklahoma is wearing a Cincinnati Redskins hat.

Well, there's a reason for believe it or not, football in the NFL is not my only sports passion.

It's very much a year round thing.

Here we are.

First of all, we're huge Oklahoma City Thunder fans.

We can tell you all about that great our great summer this year.

But I'm also a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan.

Tonight we're recording this.

So we are locked in and excited about that and fingers crossed we got the Dodgers on deck.

It's not going to be easy, but at least we're here for the first time in a dozen years.

So excited about that.

Being a Pirates fan, I don't even know what that feels like in the last like 30 years.

The Pirates beat us.

So that was the last time either team was in the playoffs.

Was I believe I don't think the Pirates made it after that.

So I think it's.

No, no they have not.

So yes, I'm we're, we're excited and we're ready to go.

This is the my I've always said October is the best sports month with right.

So much happening.

So October from now until Thanksgiving I think is the best sports time of the year.

Yeah, October you got not only football and Baseball ending, but you know, the NBA and NHL are kicking up, so.

Yep.

And you kind of get in the heart of college football season, you know, those October games.

So.

Yeah, it's just, it's kind of non stop.

I love it.

I can't.

I just, you know, I had baseball on, on and off all day today.

So it's, it's great.

Exciting.

Yeah, yeah, certainly is.

Certainly.

Hopefully next time we talk, we'll still be in the playoffs.

Yeah, we'll see if you're still wearing that hat next week, right?

Yeah, we'll see.

All right.

Well, what did you think about last week's game?

Week four games in the NFL.

So my theme for last for this week, you know, we talked about the first couple weeks, we talked about how the week to week nature of the league and how exciting it makes it.

And you know, one week we get this and then we get a shutout.

Then the team scores 40 the next week and it's just back and forth sort of the, the cliche of the week to week league and how it really is accurate.

And so the other thing I think is really important is in the NFL it's a little bit superstition as a fan, but I think there's some legitimacy to it is the, how important the win is on your schedule.

And it's, you know, they have the obvious things like travel, catching a team on a bye week, you're on a short week.

Those are the things that can very much be quantified that we can all.

I know Warren Sharp does a really good job of that now out there, the analyst of the net rest days and calculating that for the whole season.

It's a really nice little tool.

But I'd say beyond that is sort of the, the, the luck factor of when you play a team based on what's going on with that team at that exact moment.

So last week I had, I had a few examples.

My.

So on week three, watching the commanders kind of blow out the Raiders in the corner of my eye, I'm noticing that the Falcons are getting destroyed by the Panthers.

And I'm like, oh man, that's no good.

I do not want to catch the Falcons in week four coming off a humiliating loss.

All right, so I kind of felt that that was one game where you.

And it was our second week without Jaden Daniels.

So you kind of, you know, you can ride that backup thing for the, for a week or two until it starts to catch up.

So I thought that was a bad confluence of events for my team and it kind of bore itself out because the Falcons were just a lot better.

They were sharper, they were very, you know, they fired their wide receivers coach during the week.

They moved their offensive coordinator from the booth to the sideline.

So they made a bunch of changes.

They obviously put a high level of importance on the game and bouncing back from their humiliating effort against Carolina.

And then in Carolina, you had a team coming off a 30 to nothing win going on the road to the Patriots, who were coming off a game against the Steelers where the Patriots turned it over five times and probably should have won, right?

So what happens?

The Patriots blow the Panthers out, right?

You know, so it's like.

And then you get.

The Chargers have a super emotional home win at the last minute against the Broncos.

They go across the country early noon start against the Giants, who have made a quarterback shift, a lot of energy out there.

The Giants pull it off.

And then the game that you and I talked about last week, another one would be the 49ers who are super beat up and banged up, get an emotional last second victory at home.

They, they bring in the Jags.

The Jags seem to be catching.

The Niners had a good time and the, the, the Jaguars win the game outright.

So I had five games that I, that I thought last week you had a intangible advantage for one team and four of those games, the team that I figured had the advantage won the game.

The one that didn't was I thought that the packers would have a little bit of an advantage going into Dallas coming off that loss from the Browns.

It's kind of like a bad spot for the Cowboys to catch the packers and that obviously Green Bay did not win.

Nobody did.

If there would have been some better coaching at the end there, I think Green Bay, when you have first and 10 at the 12 with like 35 seconds or whatever, yeah, you got to win that game.

It was wild.

So, yes, and that was a very poor.

That was, that was the one that really surprised me.

I kind of figured Green Bay would come out wanting to avenge that loss.

Kind of the embarrassing end the way that game ended for them in Cleveland.

And they really didn't.

Whereas all the other teams where you kind of looked at it, you said, you know, it's not as simple as, oh, I know for me as a Washington fan, I always prefer the team we're playing the following week to be coming in on a high.

A lot of teams say, oh, you want to get, you don't want to get a team when they're hot I'd almost rather get a team when they're hot as opposed to when they're desperate, you know, or when there's been some sort of big.

You never want to be a team.

You never want to be playing the team that just fired their coach.

You know that you don't want to be the first game of the interim coach.

Right.

You don't want to be the first game after they make an emotional quarterback change.

You know, you don't want to be the team they play when they're coming off a humiliating loss.

You know, that'd be interesting to look up sometime to see what interim coaches in their first game.

You know, after a mid season firing with the record, I bet you it's, it's, it's pretty high winning percentage.

It's probably not bad.

It's probably not bad.

And you know, you get that a quick emotional boost and you kind of look at like, oh, and they're traveling.

You know, if one team's coming off a real high win and the other team's coming off a really depressing loss, you know, a lot of times you kind of, it shifts the other way.

So there's a couple games this week where I feel like it's happening as well.

We can talk to it, talk about it when we, when we get into it, but that was sort of, my observation is sort of how important the win is in the NFL.

Okay.

I think some great observations there.

We had some really, a lot of injuries happened again this week.

You know, the Tyreek Hill injury, he looks like he's going to be lost for a season.

The Ravens just got, they got really banged up in their game, you know, losing Lamar for who knows how long and what Metabucque is out for the season and they lost Stanley, you know, their tackle for a little bit.

So there's been a lot of rash of injuries and hope these guys get better.

So we can see some good football coming up.

But really changes the dynamics of, of the NFL.

Attrition is the way of life in the NFL.

You got to be able to.

Now there's certain.

Then I think you have to look at the teams.

Everybody battles injuries, but then you have to look at the teams that you decide, okay, a threshold has been crossed here to where they really can't reasonably overcome this.

And there's a couple teams, Baltimore might be one of them that either are there or they're approaching it quickly.

You've got to be able to roll with the punches with, you know, I'll be honest, like Jaden Daniels missing two games, that isn't something that should sink our season.

The Washington season, you know, Lamar missing two weeks shouldn't sink the Ravens season.

But if you add the volume on there.

Well, okay, you lost your defensive tackle and then there's a lot of teams have some really bad O line issues right now.

So it's kind of like if it's, if it's all clustered in one position group or, you know, just the volume is just too, too much to handle.

That is something to consider when you're making picks and, and looking at that landscape.

Because it always matters in the NFL.

No doubt.

Yeah.

All right, well, I guess I'm interested feature you started last week, you started a cut list.

You eliminated two teams from content their season's over.

Do we have anybody making that list this week?

Well, first, first of all, I think we should cut Tommy Boy again just after.

So we cut the Tommy Boy Titans last week, right.

And then they go out this week and they lose 26 to nothing.

So if there's like a way that we can like have them walk the plank again, like we need to do that because now it needs like public humiliation or like we really.

What was the line in Dumb and dumber.

Just when I thought you couldn't do.

Any worse, you go, you go and totally redeem your right.

So.

So yes, so we're going to cut the Titans again and then I've only added one team to the cut list right now.

And then we're going to talk about who's on watch.

So I did say last week that the loser of the Jets Dolphins game was an automatic cut, an organic cut.

And yes, we're cutting the Jets.

That was.

Not that I was expecting much from the jets, but, but that was a mess.

That was disgusting.

That was.

I would, you know, jets fans, I guess were kind of miserable anyway, but even when you're a first year coach to the things they were doing, all of the penalties, the pre snap clock mishaps, jumping off sides, fumbling on your way into the end zone, you know, curious calls.

It's just that was such an uninspired effort.

I don't even know if the Dolphins played well or not.

It was hard to tell because the jets were just, it's sort of like the Dolphins just showed up, the jets did their jet thing and the Dolphins won.

You know what I mean?

It's like I don't even know if we should give Miami credit or not.

I really don't.

I did like the highlight reel.

I watched it was happening.

But when the Fields did that run, he goes, goes right.

There's nothing there on.

It was, I think it was like 4th and 1 or something.

He takes off for however many yards for a touchdown.

It was beautiful.

It's their best play.

I mean it was a horrible call.

It was a totally busted play.

And fields just ran 43 yards for a touchdown.

Because that is one thing he, he's certainly capable of doing.

That's the.

Really their offense right now is.

It's going to be bad.

Let's just hope Fields can run, you know, and not fumble because it's.

Yeah, that was a very, that was a very, very pitiful performance from the Jets, I thought.

Really, really, really not good.

So they're done.

That team has absolutely no chance to rebound this year into any level of like contention or you know, maybe second half of the year they can start to feel better about themselves for next year.

But they are, they are crossed off for 20, 25 for sure.

Okay, so let me get this straight then.

So we got had the Saints you cut last week, you're cutting the jets this week and the Titans got cut twice, so.

Correct, correct.

And then, and then there's, here's the.

Cuts, but three teams we have, we.

Have another organic cut coming this week because we have the Dolphins playing at the Panthers.

I'm not letting the Dolphins off the hook yet, especially without Tyreek.

Whoever loses the Dolphins Panthers game, you can pretty much be rest assured they'll be on the list next week.

Can't you cut them for those ugly ass uniforms?

Oh my gosh, what is that?

It's so funny because they have some of the nicest, cleanest looking traditional uniforms, I think.

And that was just, that was.

Everything about that game was just borderline unwatchable.

I would have rather see them all in aqua blue or whatever that blue color is.

Yeah, it was, it was bad.

It was bad.

Everything about that was gross and just really question why I was even watching it.

The Browns are on watch.

You know, they are on watch.

That offense is bad.

And now it looks like they're going to go to Gabriel who.

Well, there's rumors going about, but I just heard it on, you know, Pat Kerwin and Jim Miller and Kerwin went off on somebody when they suggest that there's rumors.

Kerwin said, hey, I talk to everybody, you know, around the league daily.

He goes, I know Stefanski.

He goes, I've heard nothing.

He goes, this would be headline page in a Cleveland plane dealer if Flacco got benched.

He goes, it's coming in the coming weeks because I don't think it's going to happen this week.

That's.

Yeah.

And I don't think.

I don't really think it matters.

You know, maybe.

Maybe flying over to London for their game this week isn't the best time to do it, but they're.

They're really.

Their defense is really good, so I'm a little.

Unbelievable.

Yeah.

I'm a little hesitant to just totally cut them because maybe if they can get.

I want to maybe at least see one of the rookies first before you completely cut them.

But.

But they're on watch, I'd say.

And the other team that is still on watch is.

Even though I'm going to pat myself on the back here later, the Giants are still on watch because that's not a great team.

They had a really nice win and now they've lost neighbors, so they've lost their number one offensive threat, which is going to be real negative for Dart.

And then I was really close to cutting the Bengals.

That is too.

Just.

That's a dumpster fire.

That's like fireable offenses.

Those two losses for Zach Taylor, I realized Burrow's gone.

But you cannot be.

That's just inept football.

You know, that's just.

And it looked, you know, watching.

I was mainly watching the Jets, Dolphins.

I don't know why.

Because.

Maybe because the Bengals.

Broncos was just as bad, but it looked very.

Kind of like the Bengals had quit in that game.

Yeah, it did.

Yeah.

Kind of early in the season for that.

Do you think the Bengals should go out and get a quarterback?

I mean, you can get maybe a Russell Wilson or Jameis Winston from the Giants.

James would be fun.

Not Russell Wilson.

Maybe.

Maybe Cousins from the Falcons.

You know, I think Jameis makes sense just because he might be able to actually, you know, inject some, like, fun and some life very, very quickly.

And, you know, he's going to air it out.

You know, he'll.

At very least he will give Chase and Higgins the opportunity to make plays.

So that would be kind of interesting.

But to be perfectly honest, I think they're done.

I think they're just too far gone.

That defense is like an F. They're.

They're.

That's not getting better.

The defense is really bad.

The offensive line is extremely bad.

So, you know, yeah, I guess they can make a trade for Jameis and he could maybe make things a little more interesting or entertaining, but that's not going to.

I think they're.

I think they're toast.

I think maybe we should retroactively go back and give Joe Burrow the MVP from last year for getting that team to nine and eight, because there's.

There's nothing else to like.

They're not on the coaching staff.

I mean, besides the receivers.

Receivers are good, but there's nothing else to like.

Yeah.

They have no offensive line.

Their best two players are the receivers right now with Burrow out, and you can't get them the ball.

Yeah.

You can't block.

You can't pass very well.

You know, it's.

If this keeps up, and it's kind of hard to see it changing.

It's.

It's difficult for.

For me to see Zach Taylor surviving another year in Cincinnati, and I haven't.

I won't cut him yet because they are technically 2 and 2.

Maybe they shock everybody against Detroit this week, but, boy, that feels like a mega, mega long shot.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

That's a bad one.

Yeah.

All right, well, how.

How'd we do last week on our predictions?

You bet.

Last week was our best.

Cumulative.

Cumulative week.

We didn't really have too many big, massive swings and misses.

You.

So I guess we both had that Cardinals Seahawks game, so we'll kind of start there.

I'm giving us.

So we were both.

I feel like we both kind of had it right, but not all the way right.

You had the Seahawks big over the Cardinals, and I had the teams combining for a very strong defensive effort with 40 or fewer points.

And with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, we were both totally right.

They had 26 points had been scored, and the Seahawks were up by two touchdowns.

So you were right, and I was right.

And then a late rally by the Cardinals, you know, pushed it just over the 40 points and also made it a close game there at the end, one that maybe the Cardinals should have actually won one.

But so I gave.

I kind of split the difference, and I gave us each a point there.

Fair enough.

So then you had Shakur and Kincaid for the Bills combining for three touchdowns in a route of the Saints.

I also gave you a point there because Shakir had a big game.

And they did combine for two touchdowns with Kincaid, and it wasn't quite a route, but they did wind up winning by double 10 digits.

So sort of like you were kind of on the right track.

I was yelling at the TV when they were in victory formation.

I'm like, no, Josh, throw the ball deep to secure.

There you go.

Yeah.

So it was.

Oh, we.

You were kind of.

You were on the right path there.

So I gave you a point on that one as well.

I also gave you one point for your CJ Stroud and Texans prediction.

You had the Texans kind of rolling over the Titans.

Two touchdowns for Stroud passing and one rushing.

He did get the two passing.

He did not get the rushing touchdown, but he did have a very solid game.

So another one where you got one point, you got a big fat zero for the Ravens winning by two scores.

That was not even close there.

And that was ugly.

That was sort of.

I stayed away from that game, but that was kind of my lean as well.

But that was sort of the Chiefs maybe message that, you know, don't count us out yet and, and alarm bells, I'd say, for the.

For the Ravens, which we kind of hinted at earlier, especially if it's going to be the Cooper Rush show for the next two or three weeks.

That Right.

Be highly problematic.

Yeah.

A little bit different style quarterback than Lamar Rush.

Slightly.

Yeah, slightly.

So I suggest a lot of handoffs to King Henry over the next couple of weeks.

That might be what they need.

And then keep their defense off the field too, maybe.

Yeah.

What was it in the first half?

They only gave Henry the ball like four times or something.

It was something ridiculously low.

Yeah.

It's funny how coaches do that.

It's almost like a little bit of panic.

And I guess when you have a quarterback like Lamar, maybe it's very difficult to.

Because if every time you hand the ball to Henry, you are taking the ball out of Lamar's hands.

So, you know, it's kind of hard if he gets stuffed on.

On first and 10, you know, he gets two yards.

Do you want to go to the well again on second and eight or you give Lamar a shot?

You know, it's, it's tough, but just.

For the fact that they were running like a spy on Lamar almost every play, at least the passing downs wouldn't have an Henry in that backfield.

Is going to take a little bit off of that spy.

You know, even if you fake a handoff, it's got to make that linebacker think for a second and Lamar can go the other way.

I don't know.

I was happy that the Ravens lost as a Steelers fan, but yeah, it blew up my pick.

Since the.

Since opening night, Lamar and the Ravens offense hasn't been very good.

Lamar's got bottled up.

So, yeah, it's, it's been pretty bad.

And I think there's, there's.

There's trouble there now for sure.

Yeah.

Your Last pick you get, you get.

Bingo.

All.

Both big, big two points.

We both had the Jaguars going into San Francisco and winning outright.

That was kind of funny that we both picked that one and we both got it right.

And really I got a little close there late, but really the Jaguars really handled the, the Niners pretty handily.

That was, that was a pretty easy win for Jacksonville until that.

It was more lopsided than I expected.

Yeah, it really was.

Yeah, it was, it was pretty impressive.

And I think, you know, we talk about teams that are kind of like on watch to get cut.

The Jaguars are sort of now like on watch.

Like, okay, are they good?

You know, they're three and one.

They're off too good.

So we see teams start three and one all the time and then fade.

But, you know, the Jaguars are, Are they good?

I think, I think they're.

At least we can ask the question and we might get an answer this week because they do.

They host the Chiefs, so that'll be, that's kind of a fun game.

So you wound up, Darren, with, let's see, that's 2, 3, 4.

You wound up with five points for the week, which is a pretty solid week.

And that gives you 17 for the season.

My picks, we've already done two of mine and I got, so I got the one for the Seahawks game and I got the two for the Jaguars win and then the others for me.

I, I, Wow.

I guess I'm gonna owe you an apology along with your team and your quarterback because I said that the Vikings would not only win that game in, in Dublin, but that they would dominate Aaron Rodgers.

And that did not happen.

That, that didn't happen really at all.

It wasn't the other way, you know, where Rodgers was like just totally picking them apart or anything like that.

But in no way did the Vikings defense do what I thought they were going to do to the Steelers.

And here we are again, those pesky Tomlin led Steelers who, who aren't particularly impressive.

There's nothing that jumps out on the stat sheet.

And you know what?

They're three and one, which is sort of like where the Steelers have been living for the last 20 years.

And they can't lose this week.

No, that's right.

They can't lose this.

Still be in first place after.

They can't lose this if they get the Browns coming off of the buy.

So, you know, I think if you're, I mean, you are a Steelers fan, so you can tell me if I'm right.

You got to be feeling Good.

You got to be feeling good.

I am.

I'm a little bit nervous about the Cleveland game because usually they.

Cleveland gets up for that game, you know, no matter how if one.

Even when they were owing 16 year, Cleveland gave the Steelers two good games.

So.

Well, they'll be.

But you know, we talked about the win.

They'll be coming back from London, the Browns, the Steelers will become.

Oh, and this is my, you know, I've mentioned my buddy Joe, the big Browns fan that has the conspiracy, and he says Raj and his goons are always out to get us.

So he is always, he is already very much pointed this out to me.

First of all, he said that of course the Steelers get the Dublin game because Rooney is the ambassador, the US Ambassador to Ireland.

And so of course they were going to get that game and of course they were going to win it.

So he said the NFL would have never let the Steelers go over there and lose.

Playing in front of stadium that was 95% Steelers fans in a quote unquote neutral environment.

And then he says, of course that the Steelers get their bye week and then they get to play the Browns coming back from London.

Of course.

So he's all over, all over that already.

So the excuses are already out for the dog pound for their preemptive loss a week from this Sunday against the Steelers.

Yeah.

How about the Vikings?

Two weeks over in Europe in a row.

First time.

I don't love that.

I don't, I don't love that.

I'm not a big fan.

But the good thing is they're both away games for the Vikings.

Well, that's what I don't like.

I think it's an unfair advantage for the Vikings because you get, you get two because, yeah, we call them away, but they're away games for everybody.

I mean, it's not a home game for the Browns this week.

You know what I mean?

But, but it was, it was kind of almost like a home game because it was the Steelers PR system.

It was their announcers or they're playing their music.

They played renegade.

They, you know, and of course, you know, Steelers fans travel well.

So it was, there was some advantages there.

I am a. I think that us fans overrate ourselves when it comes to home field, home court advantage.

I think the biggest advantage to being at home is literally being at home.

Not traveling, sleeping in your own bed, keeping your routine the same, you know, every time, you know, the road team and every NFL game has to get on a plane or a train or a bus or multiple on A Saturday, they go to a hotel, I think.

I think that's a, you know, it's a visitor's locker room, things like that.

So I think these neutral site games where they can maybe try and emulate a home field advantage, it's much more to me the amenities that matter when it comes to.

When it comes to those things.

So I don't love the fact that the Vikings get two neutral sight games to take place of to road games.

And I think it's a little bit of an advantage for them this week especially.

They're already over there, whereas the Browns have to travel.

So, yeah, look at the Browns just getting screwed left and right by the league like my buddy Joe says.

So maybe Joe's right.

He could be.

Or maybe they just didn't want him to play in what the stadium name was, like Choker Stadium or something.

Maybe they want the Browns playing.

Yeah.

So I did.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna.

This is my best week of the year so far by far.

Because after I screwed that.

That Rogers pickup, I did say that Jackson Dart would have a good debut and keep it really tight in New York against the Chargers.

Not only did they keep it tight, they won the game outright, which was not a shocker to me.

I didn't quite have the guts to say it, but Dart was impressive.

He was good.

He used his legs as I thought he.

He gave the fans and a lot of life and injected the team with a lot of oomph in life.

So I was right on that.

And then I was also.

I got very lucky.

I need to thank Donnie Mitchell of the Colts for celebrating as he goes into the end zone and losing the ball at the.

As he goes into the end zone and losing it out of the back of the end zone.

That took a touchdown off the board for the Colts when I predicted that they would score 24 or fewer points in a game.

And I think they went up a 20, I think is what it was.

The Rams defense did make my prediction come true with a little bit of help from the premature celebration there from Mr. Mitchell.

So I got two points for the.

For that as well.

That gave me a total of seven for the week there.

And I think that is our strongest showing.

That is the best.

Yeah.

That's the best anybody's done.

Yeah.

You are still ahead.

You.

You now lead 17 to 15 on the year, but I did make up a little bit of ground.

You made up a lot of ground?

Yeah.

Great.

Good for you.

I'm locked in now, Darren.

My baseball Team's in the playoffs.

We got Jane Daniels coming back and I'm going to catch fire, so you better be careful.

All right, well, may have your chance to take the lead this week because I'm going to go crazy this week, so.

Okay, let's hear it.

Let's hear some crazy.

So I think you go first.

I go first.

Yeah, it's your.

All right, so we kind of ended on Jackson Dart there.

So we're going to start with Jackson Dart in New Orleans this week.

As peachy as everything was for the Giants last week, they're going to go down to New Orleans and lose to the Saints in the dome this week.

I do think that neighbor's injury that I mentioned is really, really big.

And I think the Saints are going to have.

They got a week of film on Dart now.

A little bit of that energy I was talking about now now becomes reality.

Right?

So now you're just a quarterback in the NFL with teams trying to rip your head off.

The Saints had a, you know, they have.

Obviously they're not good.

They're owing for, but they did have a fairly competitive effort in Buffalo.

The point spread in this game is a little fishy to me.

The Saints are favored.

I think a lot of people look at that, don't quite understand it.

And when that happens, it usually makes me lean towards that team.

So I'm going to go with the Saints winning in New Orleans.

Their first win of the year of will not, which will not be a very many.

But they will get this win in a close win over the Giants.

I think last week turned a switch on for the Saints.

I think it did for Spencer Rattler.

I think the coaching staff, I think this team believes in themselves a little bit more than they did the first three weeks because it was abysmal their play last week against the Bills, one of the predominant teams in the NFL.

They held their own for much of that game.

Bills fans had to be nervous in Buffalo with the way the Saints were playing.

And I agree with you.

And as a matter of fact, that's one of my crazy picks.

It's the same as your crazy pick.

I have the Saints taking out the Giants getting their first W in New Orleans.

Well, look at that.

Second week in a row we're picking the same outright winner.

Although what's interesting is in terms of being technical, they are favored.

So neither of us are making that bold of a Prediction, really.

But considering they're owing for their own four, we'll consider it bold enough.

All right, so then I'm going to go just, I guess, way up the road to Philadelphia now.

This is pretty bold.

It's finally going to happen.

I'm over this.

Did the Eagles have zero complete passes in the second half?

Did I see that correctly?

That wasn't very many.

If they.

I think they had zero completions in the second half.

Another game where they were, what, under 200 and some yards total offense.

And I don't mean this to disparage them, because it really is impressive.

They have won 20 games in a row that Jalen Hurts has started from start to finish.

The one exception I was at last year in Washington, which was great.

But Jalen Hurts has won 20 starts in a row, including the Super Bowl.

So at some point, it's obviously clearly beyond luck and fortune, and they're just really, really good and know how to win.

They're able to take every game and figure out what do we need to do today to win.

And it's really quite impressive.

That said, what they're doing right now can't be sustainable.

It just can't.

And I think that Broncos are going to go in there to Philly on Sunday and not keep it close.

They're going to win.

They're going to.

This is.

The streak's going to end.

This is where their luck's going to run out a little bit.

I really liked what I know the Bengals are terrible.

I really liked what I saw from the Broncos on Monday night.

That's a team I liked a lot before the year.

A little bit of a shaky start, but I think they're rounding into form.

This is a really, really good defense in Denver, and I think Knicks maybe also a little bit of a shaky.

Stark.

He looked good on Monday.

So the Broncos are going to go in, they're going to beat the Eagles, and I'm going to be able to breathe a sigh of relief because I can't take much more of it.

Well, I think that there's something going on in the cyber world because I think you hacked my computer, because I also have the Broncos going into Philly and stunning the champions with a victory.

And it won't.

It won't be a blowout.

It's going to be a close game.

It's going to be a good ball game.

But I. I believe in that Denver defense.

I picked them earlier this year, and I think they are going to make Philadelphia, who is already one dimensional, but make them extremely one dimensional and they won't get into those situations of third and one, fourth and one to be able to do their tush push because the Broncos are that good.

They're strong defensive lines, strong secondary and they're going to upset the Eagles at home.

I agree.

All right, well, it's way more fun when we disagree, so.

But it would be kind of awkward now if I decided to change my pick.

It's okay when.

When I'm in two points up, so that's.

There you go.

So so far, yes.

So far I can't make up any ground.

Okay.

So let's move on to my third pick.

We'll see if we're in the.

We're in agreement on this one or not.

This one's a little more specific, so I doubt it.

We're going to go to Indianapolis.

I. I have kind of faded and kind of picked against the Colts the last couple weeks.

This week I'm going to kind of sort of do the same thing, but not really.

So I'm going to.

They play the Raiders in the dome and I'm going to predict that we have a shootout in the dome.

I'm going to.

Last week I said the Colts game was going to stay a low toll, and it did.

This week I think it's going to go be a high total.

So I think the Raiders and the Colts are going to combine to each score at least 24 points.

So we're going to talk about 50 or more points overall, but I'm not going to give myself credit if it's a blowout, you know, if we get to.

If it's 48 to 3, you know.

Yeah, that gets me to my number, but it's not what I'm predicting.

I'm predicting a sort of equal shootout or both teams get to 24 points.

Pulse will probably win.

I kind of feel like this shapes up well for a big Geno game.

You know, it's kind of like the Geno cycle where it's like, you know, big 300, 400 yard passing game, then all the way down the ladder and kind of like who is this guy?

And then back up and then in the middle and then back down.

This sort of seems like it's.

He's due for one of his up games again.

So that's my prediction there.

Well, I.

We must have been liking the same games because I have a similar path, but I don't.

I don't.

I'm not picking a winner in this.

I think it's going to Be good offensive football, like you're saying.

And I'm not going to go score wise.

I, I'm saying that both Daniel Jones and Gino both go over 300 yards in this aerial circus of these two teams that are going to just make some really fun offensive watching for a fan.

That's really weird.

I mean, that's getting a little, it's getting a little strange now because it's going to be very difficult.

It's going to be difficult for one of us to be right and one of us to be wrong with that.

I guess it's possible if you're.

If it's a bunch of field goals after a bunch of yards, but so I guess that's what you'll be rooting for.

You'll be rooting for a bunch of yards and then a bunch of fumbles in the red zone.

I am, I almost.

I would be stunningly shocked if we're the same on our last.

Knowing what my last two picks are.

Okay, so let's try it.

So now we're gonna go, I think for the first.

No, this is the second time this year I've included the commanders.

Another outright upset.

Washington's going to go into Los Angeles and beat the Chargers.

This, this, this goes back to my win.

What I'm talking about a little bit.

I think people are sleeping on Jane Daniels a little bit.

This does assume, by the way, he's coming back.

Everything I read sounds very positive that I would not feel this this way if he's not playing.

But Washington's offense has actually been very, very potent so far.

Very good, running the ball extremely well.

I think Jaden Daniels is going to come back.

I think he's going to be fresh.

I think he's going to look good.

Our defense got really embarrassed in Atlanta and it's possible our defense is not particularly good.

So I'm not necessarily thinking they bounce back all the way, but it can't be any worse than they were in Atlanta.

They've been really good on third downs.

But prior to the Atlanta game, the Chargers offensive line is extremely banged up.

They're going to be without both tackles.

All right, well, I also picked on that game, but this is going to be an opportunity for you.

Okay, great.

Because I have the Chargers as banged up as they are, they were embarrassed last week and I think they, you know, I think they were going to react.

They have a fiery coach, Jim Harbaugh, who's going to get this team up and ready and they're going to end up using.

Okay, we lost our top two tackles.

They're going to find a way to win the close game and hold for it against the Commanders with Jaden Daniels in there.

Chargers end up winning in a close one.

Okay, finally we're head to head on that one.

I know we're not a gambling show, so I'm not going to get too big into it, but 1, 1 number I do like to look at is sort of where the money goes.

And you always want to bet against the public because you want to be on the side with the house usually.

And right now I saw that it is the number one public bet so far for the entire football weekend.

Pro and college is on the Chargers.

So whenever I see that, I always advise, tread lightly.

Tread, tread lightly.

You want to, you, you want to be on the side with your neighbor next door who thinks he knows it all or do you want to be on the side with the, the, the, the guys that find ways to pay the air conditioning bills at the casinos?

That, that's kind of how I figure we do it.

I, I hope that for your sake next Wednesday that it's not me.

And the rest of the majority of Americans are laughing.

Yes.

Because they're, everybody's lined up on the Chargers, I can tell you that.

So we'll, we'll see.

We'll see.

All right, so then my last pick, we're going to end on Sunday night and I'm going to say that Drake May in Buffalo has the best game of his career.

Maybe not statistically speaking, but it'll be the Drake May coming out party.

This will be the first game that everybody kind of really gets to see him on a big stage.

He's going to have a really good game and that game is going to go down to the wire.

Buffalo's probably going to win.

I just cannot pick against Josh Allen at home against the non elite team, which the Patriots certainly are not.

So I'm going to.

But I think that's going to be a really, really good game.

It's going to be our first.

Well, I guess last Sunday night's game was amazing.

The two prior were pretty bad.

It's going to be a really good Sunday night game.

Patriots are going to keep it really close.

May's going to have A big game and it's going to be going down to the wire.

Well, we were five for five.

I'm picking the same games because I also took this game slightly different.

So it's going to be.

This could be an opportunity for you.

I also have Drake.

Drake may having a big game.

I'm a Drake made believer.

After watching him firsthand against my Steelers a couple weeks ago, I'm going to say that Drake is going to go 50 plus yards rushing and over 250 passing and the Pats are going to give the Bills their first loss.

Okay, I'm a believer.

I think Vrabel is.

He's played against this Buffalo squad a lot over the years coaching as a player, and I think.

I think he knows what it takes.

And I don't think the Bills are going to stay undefeated after this week in the champagne bottles for the 72 dolphins, they'll start cracking them a little bit here.

That is nuts.

That of the entire board.

We each pick five games and we picked the exact five games.

And to be perfectly honest, Darren, we really picked four of the five same exact picks.

Yeah.

Because there's really no way to.

And it's hilarious.

It comes down to Chargers or Commanders this week on who.

On who's gonna.

Who's gonna win.

Well, it's Buffalo.

Buffalo or.

Or the Pats winning because you have the Buffalo winning.

Right.

That's true.

That's true.

So that's.

So they're similar in those things, but it could be a swing.

Yeah.

If the Patriots win.

I def.

I guess you definitely deserve something over me for that.

So.

And vice versa.

Right.

We'll address it then.

Okay.

Impartial judge.

That'll average.

Average minds think alike.

There you go.

There you go.

All right.

Well, hey, those are some exciting picks.

We didn't cover a broad band of the NFL games this week, only only five.

But that makes it kind of interesting in a different way that when we've had in the first four weeks of going head to head on every single game accidentally.

That's the amazing part of it.

So believe it or not, we do not share what way we're going until it's a surprise to me what Ed's picking.

Just like it is to you.

Hearing.

I'm hearing for the first time right now.

And same with him.

With me.

Yep.

No clue.

All right, well, you have any last thoughts before we sign off for this week?

No last thoughts on this one, Darren.

I'm just flummoxed by our brains being so aligned and it really makes me nervous, actually.

Okay.

All right, Ed, we will talk to you next week.

And good luck.

But not too much luck, okay?

And go Chargers.

And go Pats.

Oh, gosh, you have the last word.

No, no, thanks.

Thanks, Ed.

Thank you.

See you.

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