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| Tuesday, October 20, 2020 |
| Guys, after watching the Cowboys play on Monday night, I'm starting to think that Ezekiel Elliott might be under the impression that he's being paid per fumble. |
| As you guys know, my goal every Tuesday morning is to try and repress every memory I have of watching NFC East football from the previous week, so I don't remember everything the Cowboys did on Monday, but I do distinctly remember Elliott fumbling twice. The Cowboys running back is now tied for the NFL lead in fumbles (five) and lost fumbles (four). His fumbles are actually even more embarrassing when you consider the fact that no other running back in the NFL has more than two this year. |
| As much as I want to sit here and talk about Zeke's fumbles, we need to move on, because we have a huge newsletter today: Tua's starting? Pete Prisco's not showing any respect for the Titans in his Power Rankings? Me picking the Titans to beat the Steelers to spite Prisco? That's all in today's newsletter so let's get to it. |
| 1. Today's Show: Chiefs run wild over Bills |
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| I've been so spoiled by Patrick Mahomes for the past two years that I totally forgot the Chiefs also know how to run the ball and that's exactly what they did during their 26-17 win over the Bills on Monday. |
| The rushing numbers were so crazy that I thought my CBS Sports box score had been hacked when I looked at them after the game. For one, the Chiefs had more rushing yards than passing yards (245-221), which is the first time that's happened since Mahomes became the starter. The Chiefs' rushing total was the highest-ever since Andy Reid became coach in 2013. The team also ran the ball 46 times, which is notable, because that tied the record for most rushing attempts that one of Reid's teams has had in his 22 years as a head coach. |
| After the game, I dissected Buffalo's loss with Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson. Although we're not worried about the Chiefs, we are kind of concerned about the Bills, who no longer seem like a shoo-in to win the AFC East. Not only is the defense bad, but Josh Allen seems to be regressing. The Bills have been so bad that we actually had a spirited debate about who's going to win the division (Spoiler alert: Everyone but the Jets got a vote). |
| To listen to today's episode -- and subscribe to the podcast -- be sure to click here. |
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| 2. Today's show Part II: Cowboys lose in Texas-sized blowout |
| If you decided to go to bed after the first game was over on Monday, the only thing you missed was the Cowboys embarrassing themselves on national television. This game was a disaster from start to finish for Dallas and not only did we cover it all on the podcast, but we even brought on a special guest in the form of Cowboys super fan Jared Dubin, who is now considering switching his fandom after the 38-10 loss. |
| Sure, the Cowboys have been bad this season, but they were especially horrible on Monday: Their defense struggled, their offensive line was terrible and their $90 million running back continues to fumble on every other play (Ezekiel Elliott lost two fumbles). As a matter of fact, everyone was so bad that Andy Dalton's below average performance might have actually been a bright spot for the team, which is one of the arguments I made on the podcast (No one agreed). As always, you can listen to the podcast by clicking here. |
| The loss was so humiliating that Will Brinson actually decided to take a look at all the problems the Cowboys currently have and there are a lot of them. To check out Brinson's piece, be sure to click here. |
| 3. Tua time in Miami |
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| After six weeks of waiting, it's finally Tua Time in Miami. Well, not quite yet. The Dolphins are actually on a bye this week, so they won't be playing again until Week 8, but when that happens, Tua Tagovailoa will be their starting quarterback. The former Alabama QB made his NFL debut during Miami's 24-0 win over the Jets. |
| The decision to start Tua is an interesting one and it will definitely be debated for weeks if he struggles out of the gate. Let's take a look at the pros and the cons. |
| Pros: After selecting Tua with the fifth-overall pick in the NFL Draft, it was pretty much a guarantee that he was going to become the team's starter at some point this year. The advantage of doing it this week is that Tua now has extra time to prepare thanks to Miami's bye. Tua has a much higher ceiling than Ryan Fitzpatrick and if he's half as good as the Dolphins think he is, then he could very well lead Miami to the playoffs. |
| Cons: Ryan Fitzpatrick has been on fire over the past few weeks during a span where Miami has won three of its past four games. Thanks to Fitzpatrick, the Dolphins are 3-3 and in the thick of the AFC East race. Basically, I think the Dolphins should have kept riding the Fitzpatrick train until it crashed. It doesn't make much sense to bench a starting quarterback when he's playing as well as Fitzpatrick has been. The biggest problem for the Dolphins is that if Tua struggles out of the gate, they're going to look foolish for making this decision. By starting Tua, you're stuck with Tua. If Tua were to lose his first two or three starts, you can't just send him back to the bench in favor of Fitzpatrick. Also, if I'm a coach, I'm not sure I want my rookie quarterback running from Aaron Donald during the first game of his career, but that's what Tua will have to do in Week 8. |
| What his all comes down to is that in the short-term, this is a high-risk move, but in the long-term, it's a move that eventually had to be made. For more on Tua being named the starter, be sure to click here. |
| Oh, and here's one fun fact about Tua: He'll be the first left-handed starting quarterback the NFL has seen since 2015, when Kellen Moore started for the Cowboys. |
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| 4. Pete Prisco unveils his Week 7 power rankings |
| In what might go down as the saddest day of 2020 for Pete Prisco, he had to drop his beloved Packers out of the top spot in his weekly power rankings. I'll be honest, part of me thought Prisco was going to keep them at the top just to spite everyone -- Prisco loves spiting people -- but he actually dropped them big-time following Green Bay's 38-10 blowout loss to the Buccaneers. |
| I'm not going to spoil his power rankings here, but I am going to give you a few nuggets: |
The Packers tumbled all the way down from one to eight, which was the biggest drop that any team made this week. There are three undefeated teams in the NFL right now and even though the Titans are one of those teams, they did not crack Pete's top four, despite handing the Bills their first loss the of season and despite becoming the first team in NFL history to produce a 350-yard passer and 200-yard rusher in the same game. Prisco refuses to recognize the brilliance of the Titans, who he has at No. 5. The Cleveland Browns might be Prisco's new favorite team. Even though they got absolutely pounded by the Steelers in Week 6, Prisco kept them in his top 10, but just barely, as the Browns are checking in at No. 10 this week. In a surprise to no one, the Jets are still ranked last.
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| If you want to know where your favorite team ended up in Prisco's Week 7 Power Rankings, be sure to click here. If you want to argue with Prisco over his rankings, you can do that on Twitter by clicking here. |
5. Breech's Week 7 NFL Picks
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| If it's Tuesday, that means it's time for my weekly picks. The fun thing about my weekly picks is that I'm usually up until about 3 a.m. Monday night/Tuesday morning writing them. The only reason I'm telling you that is because I think it's my way of saying that you should never volunteer to write a picks column that comes out on a Tuesday morning. |
| Last week, I gave you an upset pick that hit (Bears over Panthers in a game where Carolina was favored for some reason) and a "Lock of the Week" that might have been the easiest "Lock of the Week" ever (Dolphins over Jets). For my Week 7 picks here in the newsletter, we're going to feature the Steelers-Titans game along with my "Lock of the Week," which just happens to once again feature the Jets. |
| Buffalo (-11) at N.Y. Jets: I wasn't planning on picking against the Jets as my "Lock of the Week" again, but they're so bad this year that picking against them might be my lock every week for the rest of time. The Bills have lost two games in a row, which means the Jets are going to be facing an angry Buffalo team. The Jets don't play well against teams that aren't angry so there's no way they're going to play well against an angry team Verdict: Bills win and cover. Pittsburgh at Tennessee (+1.5): I'm not sure anyone is going to be able to stop the Titans this year. I know the Steelers have a good defense, but Derrick Henry has made a living of steamrolling good defenses. If the Steelers somehow slow down Henry, then Ryan Tannehill will just throw five touchdown passes. I'm taking the Titans. Verdict: Titans win and cover. |
| To check out the rest of my picks for Week 7, including the two big underdogs of five points or more I have winning, be sure to click here. |
| 6. Rookie Power Rankings |
| Pete Prisco isn't the only one who releases his power rankings on Tuesday. We also get a rookie power rankings from CBSSports.com NFL Draft writer Josh Edwards. Last week, Joe Burrow fell out of the top spot, which led to a situation where I had to report Edwards to HR for hurting my feelings. As the resident Bengals homer at CBSSports.com, it hurt to see Burrow treated that way. Apparently, my complaints did not fall on deaf ears because Burrow is back in the top spot (On a serious note, I don't think it was my complaining that got Burrow back in the top spot, it was more likely his impressive performance against the Colts). |
| Here are a few nuggets from this week's rankings: |
| The player who made the biggest jump this week was Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, who moved up from nine to three after going off for 166 yards and two touchdowns in Minnesota's loss to Atlanta. Two players made their debut on the list this week and they're both from the AFC North: Bengals receiver Tee Higgins (who checked in at 15th overall) and Steelers guard Kevin Dotson, who was one spot higher at 14th overall. Speaking of guards, Lions guard Jonah Jackson moved into the top 10 this week (from 12 to 8) after an impressive performance in Jacksonville where he helped pave the way for D'Andre Swift to rack up 116 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. |
| If you want to know who the top-15 rookies are heading into Week 7, be sure to click here so you can check out the entire list from Edwards. |
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| 7. The Kicker! |
| Although the Bills lost ugly Monday night and there's a lot of blame to go around, let me just tell you that there's one guy on the team you CAN'T BLAME for the loss and that's punter Cody Bojorquez. I am not kidding when I say that Bojorquez had one of the most impressive punting performances of the season. Not only did he average 53.3 yards on his four punts against Kansas City, but he PINNED the Chiefs inside their own 20-yard line with all four punts. The Chiefs had to start from their own 6-, 10-, 17- and 18-yard line after Bojorquez's punts. Against a normal team, this might have been enough to help the Bills win, but the Chiefs can score from anywhere on the field, so no one will ever remember this brilliant performance. |
| Speaking of brilliant performances, I'm expecting we'll be getting one tomorrow from Commander Cody Benjamin, who will be handling the newsletter (as he always does on Wednesdays). If Cody's performance is half as good as Bojorquez's on Monday, then you guys are going to be getting the best newsletter that's ever been written. |
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