NFL Week 4 ‘Higher Register’ – Raiders, Chargers & Rams-Eagles Tepid Takes

The rules of Higher Register are simple: you have to go up an octave to believe your own opinion. Entering Week 4 of the NFL season, the crew delivered three takes, and the last one landed in Las Vegas.

Chris went first, and he went big. Sunday's Rams and Eagles game in Philadelphia, in his view, is an elimination game in disguise.

"I think the loser of this game is going to miss the playoffs," Chris said.

That drew immediate pushback, at least on the Eagles side. A loss would leave Philadelphia at 2-2 and potentially still leading its division. Chris's response was blunt: "Well, they look terrible." The Rams, meanwhile, would fall to 1-3 and sit three and a half games back of San Francisco, which is a tougher spot.

Cue a familiar side bet. The room had already debated whether the Rams or the Patriots were more likely to fall to 1-3, and Chris had previously said he would eat Del Tufo's hat if the Patriots did. Now, with the crew basically predicting it, he is not going to eat the hat. TJ suggested he kind of should.

TJ was next. Rich acknowledged TJ is a lower register guy by nature, but called him a gamer, and TJ came through with a fantasy football take. He won his league last year, he explained, in part because one player put his team on his back. That player went high in drafts this year and has started slow.

"I'm not really worried about Omarion Hampton this year," TJ said.

The room was skeptical. "It doesn't look good," came the reply, along with a note that "the ball's on the ground a lot." TJ held firm. "We give Justin Herbert a lot of crap and the Chargers, but I think Omarion's coming."

Rich stayed in the AFC West for his take, and he did it while fielding the usual accusations that he is a closeted member of Chiefs Kingdom. He did not exactly deny liking the Chiefs ("Chiefs are filled with likable people"), and he noted that Chiefs fans will tell you Las Vegas is their home away from home. If Andy Reid wins this weekend, he will have more regular season wins in that building than any Raiders coach.

Then came the turn.

"At the end of the day, I kind of think the Raiders could go 4-0," Rich said, to laughter in the studio. He likes Maxx Crosby to get after it, and Brock Bowers to be a favorite target of Kirk Cousins again. "It's entirely possible they're playing better than they have in years."

The Chiefs come to town as four and a half point favorites after what Rich called a cover in Miami. "What do great teams do?" he asked. "Great teams cover." And if the Raiders do get to 4-0, remember who went higher register first.