Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Pick Six Newsletter!
I was going to start here by rehashing Marshawn Lynch's entire appearance on last night's Manning Cast, but he used so many curse words that I'm pretty sure I'd get fired if I tried to do it. That being said, the Manning Cast was definitely the most exciting part of the Saints' 13-10 win over the Seahawks last night.
The game was actually entertaining, but the Manning Cast was just better. The first half alone featured Marshawn AND Tom Brady. Also, Peyton Manning had to watch a game that featured the only two teams he ever lost to in a Super Bowl, which made things even more interesting. If you haven't watched the Manning Cast yet, I highly recommend you check it out at some point in the near future. If you have no idea what the Manning Cast is, it's an alternate feed of the Monday game that airs on ESPN2 and features Peyton and Eli watching the game together. Since they don't want to talk to each other for three straight hours, they always bring on four guests per week with one coming on each quarter.
Anyway, we don't do guests here, but we do cover six topics every day, so let's get to them.
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1. Today's show: Recapping the Saints' wild win over the Seahawks
Calling this game "wild" might be a slight exaggeration, but it was definitely a riveting game to watch and that's mostly because it went down to the wire. The only thing more riveting than the Saints' 13-10 win was the podcast that Will Brinson, Ryan Wilson and I recorded after the game.
Not only did we talk about the game, but we spent some serious time breaking down the Seahawks schedule to try and figure out if they have any shot at the playoffs (Spoiler alert: Probably not).
With that in mind, here are three key things from the game that we touched on during the podcast:
- Saints saved by Alvin Kamara and their defense. Alvin Kamara is easily the best player on the Saints offense right now, yet somehow, the Seahawks seemed to forget that he existed on Monday. The Saints running back went off against Seattle totaling 179 yards and a touchdown. Kamara's yardage total ended up representing 55% of the Saints total yards in the game. Although the Saints only scored 13 points, that ended up being enough thanks to a masterful performance from a defense that sacked Geno Smith five times while holding Seattle to just 219 total yards. It was the fewest yards the Seahawks have been held to in a home game since 2017. The Saints also got a clutch performance from rookie kicker Brian Johnson, who hit the first two field goal attempts of his career in Seattle. Johnson will be the team's kicker going forward after Wil Lutz was lost for the season due to a core muscle injury.
- Seahawks offensive game-plan set football back 60 years. After scoring on an 84-yard pass less than five minutes into the game, it seemed like the Seahawks were going to test the Saints through the air all night, but then they changed their minds. After that TD pass to from Geno Smith to DK Metcalf, the Seahawks decided they were only going to run the ball, which made no sense when you consider that the Saints went into Week 7 with the second-best run defense in the NFL. In news that probably won't surprise you, the plan didn't work. As for Smith, he had more passing yards on his TD to Metcalf (84) than he did in the rest of the game combined (83).
- Seahawks had some special teams trouble. Despite all their troubles, the Seahawks actually could have won this game if kicker Jason Myers didn't have a meltdown. The Seahawks kicker missed two field goals in the second half (from 44 and 53) that both ended up being costly. The two misses were a huge surprise for a kicker who had a perfect 2020. Last year, Myers went 24-for-24 on the season, making him just the third kicker in NFL history to attempt 20 or more kicks and make all of them. This year, the magic seems to be gone as Myers is now just 6 of 10 on the season.
We talked about those three things plus everything else you could possibly want to know about Monday's game, so be sure to check it out. To listen to today's episode -- and to subscribe to the best daily NFL podcast out there -- be sure to click here. You can also watch Monday's episode on YouTube by clicking here.
2. Prisco's Power Rankings heading into Week 8
If you've looked at the NFL standings over the past 24 hours, you may have noticed that there are only five teams in the league with one loss or less and in something that's not a coincidence, those five teams are all in the top five of Prisco's Power Rankings this week.
With that in mind, here's a look at Prisco's top five teams heading into Week 8:
I'm not going to spoil the rest of the power rankings here, but I am going to give you a few nuggets. Here's what has changed since last week:
- Two teams tied for the biggest jump this week as the Patriots and Falcons both moved up six spots. Apparently, Prisco was super impressed with the fact that the Patriots put up 54 POINTS on the Jets. Following the win, New England jumped from 24th to 18th. The other big jump went to the Falcons, who moved up from 25th to 19th after beating the Dolphins 30-28 with a field goal on the final play. .
- The biggest tumble in this week's rankings went to the Kansas City Chiefs. For the first time in Patrick Mahomes' career, the Chiefs are NOT ranked in Prisco's top 15. After the Chiefs lost to the Titans 27-3, Prisco dropped Kansas City a total of seven spots, from 10th down to 17th.
- The weirdest drop of the week went to the Saints, who fell three spots -- from ninth to 12th -- even though they beat the Seahawks. I'm guessing Prisco doesn't know who won last night because there's a 61% chance that he went to bed before the game was over.
- We also have some big news at the bottom of the rankings: THE LIONS ARE NO LONGER IN LAST. Even though they're the NFL's only winless team, Prisco has been impressed enough with them that he moved them out of the cellar. The new team at the bottom of the rankings is the New York Jets and based on how they played on Sunday, I feel like they're going to be there for a while.
If you want to know where your favorite team ended up in Prisco's Week 8 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. I argue with him all the time about everything.
3. Breech's Week 8 picks
It's Tuesday, and that can only mean one thing: It's time for my weekly picks.
Last week, I went 10-3 straight up and 8-5 against the spread, but you guys don't care about last week, you want to know about this week. One twist with this week's games is that most of them will be played on Halloween, which is something that hasn't happened in more than a decade. The last time Halloween fell on a Sunday came all the way back in 2010. To mark the occasion, I am making some scary picks this week and by scary, I mean I'm picking both the Lions and Jaguars to win.
With that in mind, here are three of my picks for Week 8:
- Green Bay at Arizona (-6): The Packers are likely going to be missing both Davante Adams and their defensive coordinator for this game due to COVID-19 and let me just say, when you're facing the highest-scoring team in the NFL, the last two people you want to be missing are your top receiver and your defensive coordinator. PICK: Cardinals 37-30 over Packers.
- Philadelphia at Detroit (+3): It seems like every week, the Lions get close to a win and then have their soul ripped out. We saw them lose on a 66-yard field goal and then lose another game on a 54-yard field goal and they lost to the Rams because Jared Goff threw a late interception. Well, I think this is finally the week where they don't get their soul ripped out, which I guess is fitting since it's Halloween week. I'm taking the LIONS TO GET THEIR FIRST WIN WITH AN UPSET OVER PHILLY. PICK: Lions 27-24 over Eagles.
- Jaguars (+3) at Seattle: You don't usually see the words "Jaguars" and "winning streak" in the same sentence, but we might start seeing those words together more often because I'm starting to feel like the Jags are going to win their second straight game with an upset here. I've got a perfect record picking Jags game this year and I have to admit, I'm starting to feel a little queasy knowing I'm putting it on the line by taking them in the upset here. PICK: Jaguars 30-27 over Seahawks.
To check out the rest of my picks for Week 8, be sure to click here.
4. 10 NFL deals that need to happen before the trade deadline
With the NFL trade deadline exactly one week away, we thought today would be a good day to look at 10 deals that need to go down before the Nov. 2 deadline.
Cody Benjamin pored over the needs of every team and came up with 10 potential deals. Here's a look at three of those proposed trades:
- Ravens get: WR Allen Robinson
- Bears get: 2022 second-round pick, 2023 fifth-round pick
- Cody's take: While Lamar Jackson is faring just fine with his current crop of wideouts, the Ravens were sniffing around for veteran pass catchers this offseason, and A-Rob would be a nice complement to the speedy Marquise Brown.
Packers trade with Texans
- Packers get: WR Brandin Cooks
- Texans get: 2021 third-round pick
- Cody's take: Cooks is in his eighth season and has already been traded three times, and he'd welcome another move to escape the rebuild in Houston... and what better landing spot than Green Bay, where he could star opposite Davante Adams.
Chiefs trade with Lions
- Chiefs get: DE Trey Flowers
- Lions get: 2023 conditional fifth-round pick
- Cody's take: Flowers has struggled to live up to the massive payday he got coming over from the Patriots, and the Lions, at 0-6, can stand to sacrifice his veteran presence for another pick for the rebuild. The Chiefs, meanwhile, need help getting after the QB.
If you want to see the other seven trades that Cody is proposing, then be sure to click here.
5. Tom Brady finally makes a deal with fan who ended up with his 600th TD ball
After nearly 24 hours of haggling, it seems that Tom Brady and Buccaneers super fan Byron Kennedy have finally agreed to a deal for the football from Brady's 600th career touchdown pass. If you haven't been following this situation, Brady threw his 600th career TD on Sunday, but he didn't get to keep the ball because Mike Evans GAVE IT AWAY to a fan.
A Buccaneers staff member asked Kennedy to return the ball, which had an estimated value of $500,000. Kennedy definitely did not get $500,000 worth of stuff in exchange for the ball, but Brady and the Buccaneers did give him a pretty solid package of items.
Here's a look at what Kennedy got in exchange for returning the ball to Brady:
- Two signed jerseys plus a helmet from Brady. I know the 600th TD ball is worth more, but there aren't many people out there who have two signed jerseys from Brady. If Kennedy wants some extra money, he could sell one jersey and keep the other one. Also, if he doesn't have a Halloween costume lined up for this week, he can now go as Brady since he has a jersey and helmet.
- A signed Mike Evans jersey plus the cleats Evans wore in the game. There's currently a thriving industry for game-worn memorabilia so getting the cleats that Evans wore in the game is kind of nice. If Kennedy doesn't want to keep them, he could easily sell them for thousands.
- A $1,000 credit to the Buccaneers team store. This guy is a Buccaneers fan so I'm guessing he'll find plenty of ways to use this credit. Plus, with Christmas right around the corner, I'm guessing everyone in his family will be getting Buccaneers gear this year.
- Buccaneers season-tickets for the rest of 2021 and 2022. Before I can say whether I like this part of the deal, I need know where the tickets are located in the stadium. Kennedy had a front row seat on Sunday and if that's where these season tickets are, then it's a pretty solid deal. I hope the Buccaneers are also throwing in playoff and Super Bowl tickets for any game they play in.
- One bitcoin from Tom Brady. The Buccaneers QB announced on Twitter that he'll also be giving one bitcoin to Kennedy. One bitcoin currently has a value of roughly $62,000, so I'm sure Kennedy will gladly accept this.
Although Kennedy got a lot out of the ball, it's not known if he got what he wanted. The only thing he actually requested was to play a round of golf with Brady and as of right now, it's not clear if Brady agreed to make that happen.
6. Rapid-fire roundup
It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
- Davante Adams on COVID list. The Packers likely aren't going to have their star receiver for Thursday's game against the Cardinals after Adams was placed on the COVID list. Adams does have an outside shot of playing, but he would need to record two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry is also on the COVID list, which means Green Bay could be extremely shorthanded this week.
- Joe Flacco traded to the Jets. If this was four years ago, this probably would have been the headline in the newsletter, but now, it's just part of the roundup. With Zach Wilson battling a knee injury, the Jets decided they needed a veteran QB, so they made a deal for Flacco. To acquire Flacco, the Jets sent a conditional 2022 sixth-round pick to the Eagles that could improve to a fifth-round pick based on Flacco's playing time.
- Broncos and Rams also make a trade. For the second time in 48 hours, the Broncos pulled off a trade for a linebacker. The Broncos are acquiring Kenny Young and a 2024 seventh-round pick from the Rams in exchange for a 2024 sixth-round pick that they'll be sending to L.A. The trade come less than 48 hours after the Broncos added linebacker Stephen Weatherly in a trade with Minnesota.
- Saints starting guard might be out for the season. Andrus Peat had to leave Monday's game with an injury and it appears he might not be returning this year. According to NFL.com, the Saints three-time Pro Bowl guard suffered a torn pec and will likely miss the remainder of the year.
- Jeff Bezos not interested in buying the Broncos. If the Broncos are up for sale in the near future, don't look for Bezos to buy them. According to NBC's Peter King, the Amazon founder isn't interested in the Broncos. Bezos might eventually purchase an NFL team, but if he does, it definitely won't be the one in Denver.
- Longtime NFL replay official passes away. Longtime NFL replay official Carl Madsen passed away on Sunday at the age of 71. Madsen died on Sunday night, just hours after working the Chiefs-Titans game in Nashville. For more details on the situation, be sure to click here. Madsen worked as an on-field and off-field official for nearly 25 years
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