- 14 minutes ago
Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase kick off a Football Friday by discussing the news that the Vikings will be starting QB Carson Wentz against the Bills on Monday night as Kyler Murray is out with an injury. They debate whether Wentz presents a bigger threat to the Bills at quarterback, and Sneaky Joe explains why he would’ve rather seen Murray. He points to Wentz’s ability to make good decisions, while granting that he is extremely vulnerable to pressure.
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00:00It'll be Carson Wentz.
00:02Carson Wentz.
00:03Is that good news or bad news?
00:06Let's have it, Bills fans.
00:07Is it good news or bad news that Carson Wentz is playing?
00:11I kind of think it might be bad news.
00:14I think I'm a little more worried about him putting a game together than I would be with Murray.
00:22Murray showed nothing that makes it look like that offense works with him in it.
00:27And Wentz, I've got a little bit of sample size of him in Minnesota where, like, all right, the guy
00:35can put a game together.
00:36He throws it to Jefferson.
00:37And that's really, I think, the key.
00:39He will spam the Jefferson button.
00:42And Kyler Murray would not.
00:43There's a stat right now on ESPN that when Wentz is playing, Jefferson is the second most targeted receiver in
00:50the league.
00:51And when Murray is in, Jefferson is the second most targeted player on his team.
00:55Right.
00:56That's quite a disparity.
00:57So, yeah, like, the point totals, like, last year Wentz started five games.
01:01And in those games, they scored 48, 21, 21, 22, and 10.
01:07And that's, I mean, the 48 will obviously, I guess the 48 and the 10 can counteract each other.
01:12That's way better than what Murray's doing this year.
01:15Murray's not even getting to 20.
01:16Right?
01:16So, I do think there is more potential there because of the Jefferson point.
01:22He's going to throw the ball to Jefferson.
01:23However, I do think, you know, there's a reason this guy is not a starting quarterback.
01:29If you pressure him, he's terrible.
01:33He will take sacks.
01:34He will fumble it.
01:36He will throw picks.
01:37I do not think this is a good quarterback the Bills are playing.
01:40But I think there's, yeah, I think there's more potential for him to have a game than there was for
01:45Murray.
01:45But there might be more potential for him to lose the game for them than Murray.
01:49If the Bills can get in his face, he will lose Minnesota the football game.
01:55He takes crazy amounts of sacks, and he has his entire career.
01:59Other than the year that the Eagles had the best offensive line ever, he always takes sacks.
02:04So, I think I would have preferred Murray, though.
02:07I'm looking up career sack percentages and where everybody lands.
02:11Allen's at about 5% for his career.
02:13Wentz is at about 7% for his career.
02:16I'm sure the last couple of years that might be, you know, on the rise.
02:19But, yeah.
02:20Yeah, and a guy that's not going to move too much.
02:23A guy that gets, you know, pressure on his face.
02:25Is it not a lot like Cousins?
02:28A similar player, but not as good?
02:30I think not as good.
02:31Similar player, not as good, but probably with a better group of pass catchers around him than Cousins had in
02:38Vegas.
02:39Which, that was a bit of a game.
02:41You know, the Vikings can't run the ball.
02:43The Vikings are, I guess, counting on Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
02:47I think the Bills will be fine in this game.
02:49But, Benjamin Solak is one that thought this could be not necessarily bad for the Bills,
02:55but that the Vikings get a little bit more of a puncher's chance.
02:58His tweet on this was that Wentz against the Bills will lead to a quarterback controversy in Minnesota.
03:07Like, after this game, they might lose, but Wentz will look good enough that there will be people there that
03:12want him to play.
03:14He should play over Kyler.
03:15He's a better fit for the offense.
03:17And maybe that happens.
03:18I mean, I feel like the Bills could win by 10, and Wentz could still look decent against this defense.
03:24We'll see.
03:24We'll see.
03:25We'll see if it's all C.J. Gardner-Johnson was in there sabotaging them for seven weeks, or if instead
03:31of six weeks,
03:32or if instead of that, you know, they still have some problems on the back end.
03:35Again, it's Wentz.
03:36It's on the road.
03:37I mean, is this a game where it happened earlier this year?
03:42Well, never mind.
03:43That was at home.
03:43I was going to say, the loud crowd noise.
03:45But for the defense, that won't be a factor.
03:47That was something they blamed at home earlier in the year.
03:49D. Alford said it was a factor.
03:51But they're on the road.
03:52So, stand out on that one.
03:54803-0550, football Friday.
03:56The Jags' pursuit of the one seed might be the one to really watch.
04:00You said Wentz's sack percentage for his career is seven.
04:03His last three seasons, 17, 10, and 13.
04:06There you go.
04:06So, maybe it is getting worse over time.
04:09Yeah, the Jags, though, for the one seed, they went up, like, I think, 6% yesterday in Ben Baldwin's
04:14site.
04:14Can I give you their next three games?
04:16Their next three games?
04:17Yeah.
04:17Sure.
04:18Titans, Giants, Titans.
04:21They will definitely win two and probably win all three.
04:24Yes.
04:25After that, it gets a little bit tougher.
04:29Bears, Steelers, Texas.
04:31And then Cowboys, Commanders, Colts.
04:33All right.
04:35Yeah, they could lose a few of those.
04:36How these two teams do against the Bears might be the difference in who does what.
04:40Because the Jaguars, of course, have to catch the Bills.
04:42The Bills have one fewer loss.
04:44One loss for the Bills somewhere along the way.
04:46And Jacksonville is back in the mix for the one seed.
04:49But as of right now, the Bills, you know, they kind of have to let somebody else back in it.
04:53As the only one-loss team in the AFC.
04:55The Chiefs have two.
04:57The Jags have two.
04:58The Broncos have two.
04:59So, who are they going to let back in?
05:01And I guess if they were to lose, they'd let everyone back in.
05:03But for now, you know, get the job done.
05:06Don't let anyone back in.
05:07If they win this game, the Bills, you know, a couple after that seem pretty soft with the Dolphins and
05:12the Jets.
05:14Yeah.
05:14So, hold, sir.
05:15You know, how many losses would you feel like you'd take right now and feel comfortable that they will be
05:22the one seed?
05:23Two.
05:24Only two?
05:25Two is where I'd feel comfortable.
05:26Two would mean that somebody else, Denver, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, or Cincinnati are running the table.
05:33Yeah.
05:33You would need one team to not lose again the rest of the season.
05:37You said to feel comfortable.
05:38Yeah.
05:38Two.
05:38So, you feel like it's got to be the 100% then.
05:41If they have three losses, I think they have a reasonable shot.
05:45But to feel like, if you said, what number would you bank and feel good?
05:50Two.
05:50If I get to three, now Jacksonville can still afford to lose one more game.
05:55And then I'm into tiebreakers.
05:57And what am I doing there?
05:59Right?
06:00Did the Chiefs beat the Bills?
06:02Is that one of their losses?
06:03Because if it is, all of a sudden they're in the mix with a tiebreaker over the Bills.
06:07Yeah.
06:08I don't think it'll have to be two, but it's probably two or three.
06:13I was just getting to that part.
06:14Like, if they have one or two losses, let's say they have three losses, and it's going to come down
06:20to a tiebreaker at the end.
06:21Then it's going to be conference record, right?
06:24And where your losses end up might be important.
06:28The Bills, I think of their toughest, what?
06:33Of their toughest four games remaining are three of them in the NFC.
06:37At least two of them, right?
06:39Chicago and then at Green Bay would be on that list.
06:42I guess you could throw at Minnesota in there.
06:45Like, Kansas City is probably more difficult than this game on Monday.
06:49I mean, the spread will probably be similar.
06:53Maybe it's closer.
06:54I'm not sure.
06:55But you've got Minnesota, Green Bay, and Chicago.
06:58You've got three games against the best division in the league.
07:01And if you end up with three losses, but you beat Kansas City and you won your AFC East games
07:07and you beat Denver,
07:09then I think they're getting it.
07:11That would be a one-loss season in the conference.
07:15And for that, that's going to be very difficult for anybody else to match.
07:19I think because then you've got to run the table to beat the Bills out.
07:22So where their loss comes will be really important.
07:25It's not to say, like, oh, you lose on Monday and you feel okay about it because, well, it's an
07:29NFC loss.
07:30But maybe by the time we get to, like, those Green Bay-Chicago games, it'll be, all right, we're ahead.
07:36And you know what?
07:37This loss wouldn't be so bad because we have a lead and we're ahead in the tiebreaker.
07:41And if we lose this game, then we won't lose the tiebreaker part of it.
07:45I think this game's a little early for that.
07:47But I wonder if by the time we get to Green Bay-Chicago, that's starting to sound like that.
07:52Because those are, I think, the top three most difficult games, I think, are Chicago-Green Bay-Kansas City.
07:57Yes.
07:59The one thing I'm looking at, the Athletics probability, like, you know, playoff machine.
08:05They have the Bills at 34% for the one seed.
08:08The Jaguars are at 24%.
08:10And then after that, it's Denver and Cincinnati is fourth.
08:13So, okay.
08:14To me, it looks like Bills or Jags.
08:17Yeah.
08:17The amount of losses that the one seed has had, really, in the Allen era here, 3-2-4-3
08:25-5-2-2.
08:27Man, five.
08:28Yeah, there was a Tennessee year where they won it at 12-5.
08:31But otherwise, it's usually an average of two or three.
08:36If you have four, you're almost definitely not getting it.
08:40Right.
08:41Most years.
08:428-0-3-0-5-50.
08:43The Jaguars impress.
08:45The Ravens are in trouble.
08:47Big-time trouble.
08:48To even make the playoffs as a wild card.
08:51Right now, Baltimore sits at, like, well, not good.
08:54You said 12%.
08:55I said 12%, but the Athletic has them at less than 1%.
08:59And for the wild card, the Ravens are looking at, like, 3%.
09:04Oh, is it because there's a greater chance they would win the division?
09:08There's a little bit of that.
09:10It's just...
09:11Check, catch Pittsburgh?
09:13It looks pretty rough.
09:14The Athletic site has Baltimore as, like, less than 1% to win the division.
09:19The Athletic would put them...
09:20Well, the NFL.com site said 12%.
09:22Yeah.
09:23Athletic puts them at probably at, like, 9% tops.
09:26Okay.
09:27We got...
09:28There also was a Jeremy Fowler report yesterday that I felt like was unbelievable
09:32because of already the injury questions.
09:35But did you see what he said before the game last night?
09:37He said that Brissette has been told that basically the plan is this is a 4 or 5 game run
09:46before Lamar comes back.
09:48Okay.
09:48And he had surgery.
09:51He has to be on IR for 4 weeks.
09:55And I don't know.
09:55The idea that he will race back and be available for them, like, in December?
10:02I don't know.
10:03That just felt very aggressive for me, given all we already know and talk about with Jackson.
10:09That he doesn't want to play if he's limited and he often doesn't if he's banged up at all.
10:15And you already have had some messaging that, like, he's done for the year.
10:19Maybe he'd be ready for the playoffs.
10:21Suddenly to see one of the NFL insiders yesterday be like,
10:24hey, he could be back in 4 or 5 games.
10:25I just...
10:26I felt like that seemed unbelievable.
10:28Good luck.
10:28Or exaggerated.
10:29Good luck.
10:31Tough season.
10:32For them.
10:348-0-3-0-5-50.
10:35A football Friday.
10:36Sabres play tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
10:38It's a hockey fights cancer night at the arena.
10:40So we've got some hockey.
10:41We've got some football.
10:42We've got a wide open weekend to check out other teams, scout other teams,
10:48and then get to Monday Night Football for Bill's Vikings.
10:50We will remember some Vikings today at some point.
10:53I like that.
10:54I like the Vikings.
10:55Our usual Friday stuff.
10:56Would we root for Minnesota to win a Super Bowl if they got there?
10:59The answer to that is an obvious no for a lot of people.
11:02Because they also have lost four.
11:04And if they won one...
11:06I would root for them.
11:07You might.
11:08I think you're right, though.
11:10I think the older generation might say...
11:12Not even older generation.
11:14Just...
11:14It might be a...
11:15No.
11:15I don't want to be the only team that's lost four.
11:19Do people even know, though, that Minnesota's lost four?
11:22That's a good question.
11:23Their last four was in black and white television, right?
11:27Were we even to color TV?
11:28I think we might have been in color TV.
11:30When's their last Super Bowl?
11:31Like, Bud Grant's their coach, right?
11:33I feel like when I saw some highlights from them, I've...
11:35I mean, the purple people eaters.
11:37Did they call them that just because people on black and white televisions didn't know
11:39what color they wore?
11:40Like, let them know they're purple.
11:441977.
11:45That's color TV.
11:45We probably were in color TV.
11:46That's color TV, yeah.
11:48But, like, 1977.
11:50It would be more to me, like, that's another team that has never won before that would
11:54win their first.
11:55And I try to be more...
11:58I don't want other people to suffer what, you know, this life has been, not ever seeing
12:03a championship.
12:04So, like, yeah, Vikings fans, I've got no problem with the Vikings.
12:09The stadium's cool.
12:10The uniforms and colors are cool.
12:12They've never really done anything wrong to us, other than that Cousins game.
12:17The Jefferson game.
12:18Whatever you want to call it.
12:19The Jefferson game.
12:21It's the Jefferson game.
12:22Yeah.
12:22Or it's the Cam Lewis game.
12:23It's the Jefferson game.
12:24Okay.
12:25It's the fumble into your own end zone game.
12:27For me, that's what it will always be.
12:29More than the Jefferson catch?
12:31Yes.
12:31It is far more ridiculous to fumble a ball into your own end zone to get recovered for
12:37a touchdown on a tush push than it is to just give up a catch to Justin Jefferson.
12:42But it was on fourth and 27 and you used yourself as a backboard on a one-handed catch
12:47It was fourth and 18.
12:48Oh, it was fourth and 18.
12:49And Justin Jefferson making a catch over you is not unusual.
12:52I've seen that 200 times.
12:54How many times have I seen it?
12:55You haven't seen that catch 200 times, though.
12:58That's the best catch of his career.
12:59Have I seen it 10 times?
13:01Have I seen it in Super Bowls?
13:03Pinned against your helmet.
13:05Doing a million.
13:05I've seen catches.
13:07I've never seen a team tush push fumble into their own end zone for a touchdown.
13:11Immediately after making a goal line stand, by the way.
13:14They made a goal line stand.
13:15The defense walks off the field and the offense is like, here's your touchdown.
13:19That was the...
13:20It's got to be the wildest sequence we've ever seen.
13:23I mean, it's such a ridiculous sequence.
13:25It's good the stadium is gone.
13:26So we don't have to think about that anymore.
13:28It was fourth and 18.
13:30Fourth and 18.
13:31Vaughn had a sack, I think, the play before.
13:33You know, but it's a big place.
13:35All right, we'll get a break in.
13:36803-0550.
13:37Your thoughts on...
13:38We'll talk trade deadline.
13:40We're counting down the days.
13:42And Bill's Vikings, which is on the way for Monday Night Football.
13:45Jeremy and Joe, Sabres play tonight.
13:47803-0550 here on WGR.