00:00Let's get to Mike Florio now, though, on the West Her Hotline.
00:03Pro Football Talk, chief of Pro Football Talk, creator of Pro Football Talk.
00:07Mike, thanks for joining us today, and hope you've enjoyed the football.
00:11No Bills game on Sunday, but it was a nice chance for Bills fans
00:16to kind of sit back and watch the league.
00:18Well, that's right.
00:19Every team has to do it once per year.
00:21You get that weekend off.
00:22You get a chance to relax a little bit, not have to worry about wins and losses,
00:27and watch everyone else, and the Patriots lost, which is good for the Bills,
00:32and the two undefeated teams that were ahead of them in the PFT Power Rankings lost.
00:37So I'm getting ready to publish this week.
00:39These are official. These are binding.
00:42They shouldn't even bother to hand out a Super Bowl trophy.
00:44The prize should be finishing the season number one in the PFT Power Rankings,
00:49and the Bills, I'm telling you now, I'm giving you the advance word.
00:54All right.
00:54The Bills, and I think this is the first time ever.
00:56We've been doing these for years.
00:58I think it's the first time ever that a team has moved into the number one spot without playing.
01:03Wow.
01:03Just not being active.
01:05The teams around them losing.
01:06Don't lose.
01:07Yeah.
01:08Oh, good.
01:09I mean, well, really, that's kind of the weekend it was.
01:11It felt like everybody that a Bills fan would have wanted to lose.
01:15I mean, like Baltimore and Cincinnati played each other, so I guess there it's kind of a wash.
01:20But everybody you wanted to lose lost.
01:23That's right.
01:24And, look, I don't know who you root for between Baltimore and Cincinnati.
01:27There's more of a rivalry there between the Bills and the Ravens, although I still remember that.
01:34And there's no need to even discuss that playoff game in the snow from a few years ago with Joe
01:40Burrow.
01:40But the Ravens are coming to town next, and they're wounded now, and they're getting desperate.
01:45They've got two games coming up that could really put a serious dent in their ability to get to the
01:51playoffs.
01:51And they've lost two in a row, leading by double digits at the half.
01:56They're the first team since 1950 to be leading by 13 or more points and lose by 20 or more
02:03points.
02:03So there's an urgency for them.
02:05They're hoping to get Lamar Jackson back.
02:08They're a different team without Lamar Jackson.
02:10And that's really going to shape how you feel about the game.
02:14Come Sunday, and they may take it all the way up until kickoff, who knows, or 90 minutes before kickoff
02:19when they have to put in the inactives.
02:21But the chances against the Ravens are going to hinge largely on whether or not it's Lamar Jackson or Tyler
02:28Huntley playing quarterback.
02:29Right.
02:29I wonder, Mike, what the Ravens think of all of that and whether they even feel like they know, they're
02:34talking like they know, that he'll play on Sunday.
02:37But yesterday, very interesting about, you know, Jesse Minter is asked about the report on whether it came as a
02:45shock that Jackson didn't play.
02:47And he said a little bit, which in coach speak I feel like is a pretty strong response.
02:51I saw some old quotes from Harbaugh when he was there about, you know, thinking Lamar was going to play
02:57and then he didn't end up playing.
02:59It's becoming a bit of a story about Jackson and, like, is he just not willing to play through injury?
03:06Because that is different than a lot of quarterbacks.
03:10Like, it's so easy to compare our guy here, Allen, to that.
03:13Allen plays through everything and doesn't want you to hear about him.
03:16Mahomes plays through how many ankle injuries in his career.
03:20Jackson is not really doing that, it sounds like.
03:24Well, and Jackson met with the media on Friday and he said, as of Friday, right now I'm heading in
03:29the right direction.
03:30I've got two days of a grace period before we know.
03:34And then come Saturday they downgraded him from questionable to out.
03:38Rarely do you see a guy who's questionable for the home team get downgraded on Saturday.
03:43That usually happens for the road team when the guy who's already listed as questionable doesn't travel with the team.
03:51Obviously, he's not going to play.
03:53So it was a surprise they downgraded him on Saturday, gave the Bengals a full 24 hours of knowing it's
03:59definitely going to be Tyler Huntley.
04:00For final preparations, that's important.
04:02And there was a lot of conversation about pain tolerance and what it does to his mobility.
04:09Well, at a certain point, I still would rather have one-dimensional Lamar Jackson than two-dimensional Tyler Huntley.
04:17So it does contribute to this vibe that's been there for several years.
04:22And I think in past years when it happens late in the season and he doesn't have security on his
04:27contract or any contract at all beyond the current season,
04:31there's a business reason to say, I'm not putting myself at risk unless I'm 100% because I don't have
04:37my security.
04:38That's not an uncommon thought from players who don't have contracts that they believe they've earned.
04:43I don't think that's the issue here.
04:46And I think what's been lost in all this, teams like to be so secretive about injuries.
04:50Ankle sprains come in different shapes and sizes.
04:53A high ankle sprain is the one that takes the longest time to heal.
04:55And Lamar said, I've got a high ankle sprain.
04:58So three weeks is not unreasonable for him to be out.
05:02We're getting closer to when he could be able to come back.
05:05And he said himself he was moving in the right direction.
05:08But something happened between Friday and Saturday.
05:10And now, the way I put it on Football Night in America, within the building, there's no real idea as
05:16to when he'll be back.
05:17And the thinking is that anyone who would say they know is simply guessing.
05:21So they're going to sit back and wait and see how much he practices this week.
05:25The problem, though, is once he's back to taking first-team reps, if he takes first-team reps, that takes
05:30him away from Tyler Huntley, which makes him less prepared.
05:33So if he comes back and he takes first-team reps and then doesn't play, they're in a worse position
05:39than they would have been in if he just hadn't practiced at all during the week.
05:43So Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are going to be critical.
05:46Watch those injury reports.
05:47See if he's full or limited.
05:49If he's full, that's an indication he's going to play.
05:51And then if for some reason he doesn't, it's even better for the Bills because it's Tyler Huntley not as
05:56ready as he would have been.
05:58Mike Florio, Editor-in-Chief, Pro Football Talk, is with us on the West Her Hotline.
06:02Around the league a little bit, Mike, how ugly do you think this NFL, NFLPA Eagles story is going to
06:09become with Jalen Hurts and the investigation?
06:11Well, and I think it's important to focus on the specific words of the statement that was issued Sunday by
06:20the league and the union.
06:21They did not announce that they're doing a joint investigation.
06:25And the union has not yet activated its right under Article 39, Section 5F of the CBA to demand an
06:33investigation, to spark an investigation.
06:37I think the union needs to be careful not to put itself in a position where it appears to be
06:43complicit with the possible cover-up.
06:46And we know that given the way the Eagles have handled this, the messaging, there was a report from the
06:50Philadelphia Inquirer,
06:51the league is furious with the Eagles for how they've handled the messaging.
06:54They haven't put anybody out there to explain why they did what they did.
06:57We all know the medical side of it.
06:59They hide behind patient privacy.
07:00We already know everything there is to know about Jalen Hurts' diagnosis.
07:05These are just questions about how we got to the point where he flew to London, played in a game,
07:11and flew back with a blood clot in his leg.
07:14So the union needs to be stubbornly insisting on a real investigation.
07:19And the way the NFL tried to brush all of this under the rug last week, the way that Chief
07:23Medical Officer Alan Sills
07:25was kind of strident and dismissive of concerns about the true independence of doctors.
07:31Well, look, they wouldn't have an unaffiliated doctor involved in the concussion process if the team doctors didn't have an
07:37inherent bias
07:38that sometimes worked on them to clear a guy to play when maybe he wasn't ready to be cleared to
07:44play.
07:44And I hope that's what comes out of this.
07:46I hope they recognize that there are certain health conditions that aren't like an ankle or an elbow or a
07:52hamstring.
07:53We're talking about a serious health condition, and maybe there needs to be an unaffiliated doctor for those as well.
08:00We're already using an unaffiliated, disconnected doctor to make the final call on whether a guy has a concussion,
08:06whether a guy can return from a concussion.
08:08I think that, and I hope that, the league embraces the opportunity to improve everything, all teams.
08:15We need to have, under certain circumstances, a button that gets pressed,
08:19and there's a doctor who's not a team doctor, who's got no inherent bias, full objectivity, who can make these
08:26decisions.
08:26Because there's still this nagging sense that someone, as Sills said, Hurts was treated very conservatively.
08:34Well, as Devin McCourty said last week on PFT Live, if it was very conservative, that means he wouldn't have
08:40played.
08:41That's what very conservative is for a doctor.
08:43All the time, doctors will say, just don't do anything.
08:47Just give it a rest.
08:49Take your time.
08:50Here's your slip to be home from work for two weeks.
08:53And in 99.9% of industries, we'll take that.
08:57Oh yeah, I get to stay home?
08:58Great.
08:59In football, the problem is everybody wants the player to be available, including the player.
09:03You've got to protect the player from himself, and this is a prime example of that.
09:07Right.
09:08Everyone's incentivized for him to be on the field, and that's the system.
09:12Last thing for you, Mike, we asked you this a few weeks ago.
09:15Maybe it's changed.
09:16Maybe, maybe not.
09:17Who do you feel like, at the moment, is leading the way for first coach fired?
09:22So, I mean, is there a bunch of different names that you could really throw out there?
09:26Aaron Glenn did not have a good couple of weeks for this, especially after losing to Miami.
09:30Well, I think the reality is you never know what's going on behind the curtain.
09:34Look at what happened in Indianapolis.
09:36There was no indication that Chris Ballard was on the verge of being fired.
09:41Now, there's nothing like losing to a winless division rival to suddenly turn up the heat
09:47on a seat that was, it was already warm.
09:50When you look at what ownership said last January about the urgency, the mandate to improve significantly.
09:57So, in hindsight, it wasn't a surprise, but we still didn't see it coming.
10:00I look at Woody Johnson's history.
10:03He fired Robert Sala after five games when they were 2-3 in 2024.
10:08And it's just been an embarrassment this year.
10:12The late half, 107-6 is how they've been outscored in the final two minutes of the first half under
10:22Aaron Glenn.
10:23They haven't won a game in the division under Aaron Glenn, 0-8 now.
10:26And to have a Dolphins team that wasn't only winless, they hadn't even been in the lead
10:34in a single minute, a single second of any of their five prior games.
10:39For them to beat the Jets on Sunday, I think that leaves a mark.
10:43And I think Aaron Glenn is the one that I'm watching most closely to be the guy who is most
10:48likely
10:48to be the first one fired during the season.
10:51Especially because you always have to look at who the interim coach would be.
10:54They got Frank Reich right there, ready to go.
10:57So if they would move on from Glenn, boom, it's an easy call.
11:00You know, Dan Quinn, I think, is kind of in that territory where if he makes another boneheaded
11:04decision and he's two for two over the last two games, he could go.
11:08But he doesn't have a former head coach, two-time former head coach, ready to go.
11:13Anthony Lynn's there.
11:14He's the running back's coach.
11:15He's the most likely candidate.
11:16But it's more obvious with the Jets.
11:18You just pivot from Glenn to Frank Reich.
11:20And I feel like that's going to happen unless Glenn turns things around pretty quickly.
11:24Mike Florio, Editor-in-Chief, Pro Football Talk.
11:27He's got the Bills number one in the power.
11:29Open up, just stare at it for a while.
11:31Even though you heard it here first, but you just stare at the Bills at number one.
11:35Thanks, Mike, for joining.
11:37Appreciate you as always.
11:37And we'll talk next week.
11:39All right, pal.
11:39Have a great week.
11:40We will talk next with Lindy Ruff, Sabres head coach.
11:44Out West, Sabres and Sharks tonight at 10.30.
11:48Stay tuned for that.
11:49Lindy on the other side here on WGR.
