NFL Week 6 | Overreaction Monday with Rich & Chris Brockman

A third of the NFL season is already gone, and Chris Brockman showed up to Overreaction Monday with a full slate of hot takes. Before any of them, though, Rich and Chris paused for Jalen Hurts.

The news that Hurts is out for the year, with blood clots that started in his lower body and traveled to his lungs, broke about an hour before the show went on the air. "We just send our best to him," Rich said. The show has followed Hurts since he was balling out at Alabama, and Rich said everyone in the building can't wait to see him back on the field.

Then it was on to the overreactions.

**Dak's best years are behind him**

Chris opened on Sunday night. He started with a joke about Jerry Jones hiring back "the embarrassing guy" and giving him a raise, then got to his real take: Dak Prescott's best years as a Cowboy are behind him.

Rich couldn't sign off on that, but he admitted it looks terrible. The worst part, he said, is that Prescott gave his side of the football a nickname. If people are going to give JJ McCarthy grief for calling himself "nine," Rich argued, Dallas deserves the same grief, because "that doesn't look like it's anything close to the greatest offense there is."

The photo of Prescott on the sideline said it all. "That's a thousand yard stare," Rich said. "That's him wondering what the hell has happened." Chris pointed out that Dallas sat on seven points for most of the night against a Green Bay defense that had given up close to 50 to the Falcons a couple of weeks ago. Rich added that the Cowboys only scored 16 at home against a Tampa team that hadn't beaten anybody at the time.

Still, Rich said there's time. If the next 10 weeks look like the first six, then you can entertain the idea. Dallas gets Philadelphia, then Arizona at home, then a trip to Indianapolis. Win those three, and the Cowboys are 5-3. But, Rich noted, you can't look at a schedule and assume Dallas wins anymore. Verdict: overreaction.

**Jordan Love belongs in the MVP conversation**

Chris's next take was that it's time to put Jordan Love in the MVP conversation. Rich was willing to go there, with one condition. If Love is in, so is Jared Goff, who is only half a game behind him. And guess who plays each other next week? Love at Goff, with Goff coming off the bye.

Love has been on point, Rich said, with the deep ball and everything else working. His numbers on Sunday should have been even better, with Matthew Golden and Christian Watson dropping touchdowns. Chris said it felt like Love could have had six.

As for Rich's own MVP picture, Josh Allen remains his number one. Number two is Kenneth Walker, who now holds the record for most rushing yards through the first five weeks. Rich also had Brock Purdy in the mix. The race is wide open, and Love belongs in it. Verdict: not an overreaction, as long as Goff comes along.

**The Rams must win their next four or miss the playoffs**

Chris knew this one would land with Rich. If the Rams don't win their next four games heading into the bye, they're going to miss the playoffs.

The two of them did the math. The NFC East and NFC South look like one-bid divisions. The NFC North will get three, maybe all four. That leaves one wild card spot, with Seattle at 3-3 and the Rams at 2-4.

Next for the Rams is Las Vegas, and Rich noted a loss there would make a prophet of Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, who already slid into Rich's DMs. Akbar had predicted the Raiders would start 3-0, lose three straight, and then beat the Rams. Rich told him nobody has ever nailed their first six picks in a win-loss game, especially with half of them predicted losses.

Rich's counter: if the Rams go 3-1, they're 5-5, and Tom Brady once went from .500 at Thanksgiving to a Super Bowl title. The reply: Brady didn't have the Niners and Seahawks in his division. The margin for error has gotten slimmer, Rich admitted, and the post-bye schedule doesn't look friendly, with a Green Bay team that might not have a loss by then, and a Kansas City team that looks unstoppable.

Rich also shared that his son Cooper keeps asking when Myles Garrett is coming back. "Not soon enough," Rich tells him. And he had words for kicker Blake Grupe, who got hurt throwing his body around on a kickoff: "You're not Captain America. You're Steve Rogers before he took the shot."

The Thanksgiving Eve game against Green Bay could be massive for a wild card tiebreaker. But Rich still called the take an overreaction. The counterpoint: they can't go .500 over the next four, because too many teams are passing them by.

**The Texans are the best team in the AFC South**

Chris crossed the pond next, and he was feeling vindicated. "Oh, I love being right," he said. C.J. Stroud is betting on himself and is going to get absolutely paid, and the Texans are the best team in the AFC South.

Rich said Houston looked it on Sunday. For the second straight year, Jacksonville spent a full week in London and lost at Wembley to a team that arrived on Friday. Rich called it maybe the game of the day. Stroud looks like his rookie self again, "dropping dimes," and Marvin Harrison Jr. should open things up. The studio was curious what happens when Montgomery gets healthy, after Jawhar Jordan ran one in from 20-some yards out and Woody Marks became the first player all season with a 40-yard run against Jacksonville.

Rich expects the Jaguars to make some hay with Indianapolis, Baltimore, Tennessee, the Giants and Tennessee again ahead, though their December is brutal and mostly on the road. Houston, meanwhile, is still in a hole, with the Giants next, then a bye, then the Chargers and a big one at 4-2 Cleveland. Rich wouldn't crown them yet. But if the Texans win the division, would he be shocked? "Of course not."

**The Jameis experience is over. Start JJ McCarthy.**

Chris turned to Rich's guy. "I guess we got to pour one out because the Jameis experience is over," he said. The Giants should start McCarthy moving forward.

Rich asked if Chris was repaying a favor by hanging that curveball for him. Chris said they were simply talking about what everyone is talking about. Rich pointed out McCarthy threw for more yards in the fourth quarter than Justin Herbert has had in an entire game this season. "That is absolutely an insane stat," came the reply.

Chris did find McCarthy's first pass, an interception, kind of funny. "Funny how?" Rich shot back. "Like a clown? It amuses you?" Chris explained it was funny in a "now it's my guy's time" way. Rich's Goodfellas riff continued: McCarthy is "done shining shoes," and that's what he told the Saints defense while nearly pulling it off.

The upside, Rich said, is a first-class problem for John Harbaugh: McCarthy with a healthy, resurgent Malik Nabers and a stupendous Isaiah Likely, plus defensive help from Big Ten products Abdul Carter and Arvell Reese. If the Giants win the division with McCarthy, Harbaugh has to decide who's next in 2027. Verdict: not an overreaction.

**The Colts should clean house**

Chris wrote his next take before the Indianapolis news broke: you can't stop at Chris Ballard. Carlie Irsay-Gordon's notebook should just say "clean house."

Rich laid out how it works. When the general manager goes first, the coach has been put on notice. And the team's statement made clear the expectation is still championships, which, Rich said, this does not look like.

He also defended the owner's sideline note-taking. Irsay-Gordon is clearly up to speed on how the roster was built, what it can do, and what it's doing snap to snap. "This is clearly not a decision that's been made without some foundation of significance," Rich said. He called Ballard one of the show's favorite guests and said he's sure Ballard will land on his feet.

Shane Steichen, though, needs a Steve Fisher, Michigan 1989 type run, and probably a playoff win, to be the coach a new GM is told to keep. Quarterback Daniel Jones came up next, and the consensus was that he's going to go too, with the house getting cleaned except for Jonathan Taylor and a handful of others. Next up for Indy are trips to Minnesota and Jacksonville, two teams that feast on mistakes.

There was a bold idea in the studio if Steichen does get let go: the Eagles should be first on the phone to bring him back as offensive coordinator, and get him back in Hurts' headset.

**Caleb's back, and the Bears are the team to beat**

Chris was all in on Caleb Williams after a 30-for-36 day, saying the Bears are the team to beat in the NFC North as long as he's healthy. Rich teased that Chris had just put Love in the MVP conversation, noting that every take on the show lives in its own silo.

Rich said he would counsel Williams to get offline, the way Bo Nix has said he doesn't even keep that stuff on his phone, unless that's what fuels him. In which case, don't change a thing. The studio also checked in on the texter who wanted his Colston Loveland money back after Loveland scored the first touchdown. Rich did not send the $18.

But with an undefeated team, a 4-2 team and a 3-2 team in the division, Rich wouldn't call Chicago the team to beat through six weeks, though he admitted the Bears are phenomenal to watch because of their offense. "Words I don't think I've ever said out loud," he said.

**The Eagles should trade Saquon**

With the season circling the drain in Philadelphia, Chris suggested the Eagles trade Saquon Barkley to a contender. Minnesota? Seattle, which didn't pay Kenneth Walker? New England, "up the Acela train"? Houston, where he'd join Marvin Harrison Jr.?

Rich wasn't buying it. Tanner McKee has an opportunity, and there's a statue of Nick Foles outside the stadium. Foles was more of a veteran and only had to cover a few weeks, Rich acknowledged, but DeVonta Smith is back, Hollywood Brown is there, and the defense is terrific. Someone even floated Philly trading for Kirk Cousins so the Raiders can play Fernando Mendoza.

Rich's view was to play out the next three weeks against the NFC East and the bye, and see. If they've lost seven straight and are 2-7, maybe you entertain it. Otherwise you're telling the fan base you're pivoting away from everything. Verdict: overreaction, but fun fantasy football conversation.

**The Chiefs are hands down the best team in the AFC**

Rich couldn't go there with the Bills playing the way they are, the Patriots coming on and the whole AFC North above .500. It does look like a Chiefs versus Bills conversation, and they play on Thanksgiving night.

The reason the Chiefs are in that conversation, Rich said, is Kenneth Walker, with 700 yards on the ground in five games. He's the one who got Kansas City past the Chargers while Patrick Mahomes was running for his life and Rashee Rice remains out. Everybody is pointing at a Tyreek Hill return, but the studio didn't see that happening right now.

And Josh Allen keeps doing superhuman things, like the 20-yard shovel flick with Maxx Crosby about to wreck him. "Anybody wondering who's the MVP of the league, that photograph is the picture that tells a thousand words," Rich said. Verdict: overreaction.

**The Browns-Steelers winner takes the AFC North**

Chris snuck in one more: the winner of Browns-Steelers in week eight wins the division. Rich reminded him the Ravens and Bengals are still in it, and they play each other first. The studio praised Aaron Rodgers for popping back up every time he gets blown up, and for telling Jeremiah Trotter Jr., with a smile, that he played with his dad. Todd Monken is in the coach of the year conversation, too. Verdict: overreaction.

**Tweet of the week**

The tweet of the week came from a user called JJNW's Ghost: no division will have a repeat winner this year. Rich and Chris sounded it out. The Bills, Steelers, Texans and Broncos could all fall in the AFC. In the NFC, the Eagles, Bears, Panthers and Seahawks could too. "It's a good dart throw right now," Rich said.

He bought it. "It's the first tweet I'm going to buy," Rich said. "It's not an overreaction."