Speaker 1: Welcome in What's Driving the Great Episode four eighty four.
Speaker 1: This episode of What Driving the Grid is presented to
Speaker 1: you by Boost Mobile. We are recording this Thursday, July
Speaker 1: twenty third. You guys will be hearing this sometime around July,
Speaker 1: I don't know, twenty fifth, twenty six, twenty seven, eight,
Speaker 1: twenty ninth, something like that. This is what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: These are very quick episodes, and I say that very often,
Speaker 1: and then we do a regular forty five minutes. This
Speaker 1: one is the AFC one minute per team. There will
Speaker 1: I will be forced to move on. They will play
Speaker 1: a whistle once we do one minute on the team.
Speaker 1: This is something I used to do when I did
Speaker 1: radio in Kansas City. I first started doing this. Actually,
Speaker 1: we did thirty two teams in thirty two minutes NonStop
Speaker 1: as an a block I think once a quarter during
Speaker 1: the NFL season every month. This will be a nice
Speaker 1: little preamble. We're doing the AFC today. We'll do the
Speaker 1: NFC in a couple so you guys have something in
Speaker 1: your feeds during the week while I'm off and we're
Speaker 1: back with our live shows first week of August. We
Speaker 1: will get started right now in you can start the
Speaker 1: clock on me. Now, the AFC East, the Buffalo Bills. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the story with the Bills is Sean McDermott out Josh Allen,
Speaker 1: our Josh Allen and Joe Brady and and how will
Speaker 1: that impact the offense? How will that impact Josh Allen?
Speaker 1: And is Dj Moore enough of an upgrade to give
Speaker 1: Josh Allen a legitimate top flight receiving threat which he
Speaker 1: has not had, not even since the final year of
Speaker 1: Stefan Diggs, but the second last year of Stefan Diggs.
Speaker 1: I know some people believe this is no longer their
Speaker 1: division to win, and the reason you would believe that
Speaker 1: is because they didn't win it last year. I still
Speaker 1: think it is their division to win. I think Josh
Speaker 1: Allen what he has now, the one thing he has
Speaker 1: over Patricks and Patrick's coming off the tourny is availability.
Speaker 1: He's never missed a game, He's always been there, So
Speaker 1: I think they are almost a lock for ten wins.
Speaker 1: I also think they probably got worse at head coach,
Speaker 1: and their Super Bowl chances did take a bit of
Speaker 1: a hit. Next Miami Dolphins knew everything new head coach
Speaker 1: Jeff Hafley not over the moon about that new quarterback
Speaker 1: Malik Willis. I do like the the gamble on Malik Willis.
Speaker 1: I feel bad and the low price on Malik Willis.
Speaker 1: I feel badly that Malik Willis is being asked to
Speaker 1: do it with a team that wants a sense that
Speaker 1: the only investment they had was in him and everything else.
Speaker 1: It's trade away. Their best players get off bad contracts.
Speaker 1: It is smart for them to be turning this page.
Speaker 1: It puts Malik in a brutal spot. But the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins are cleaning their books, moving on from Tyreek, moving
Speaker 1: on from to a This is the closest we will
Speaker 1: see to a team tank in the NFL since the
Speaker 1: Dolphins last tried to do it. Brian Flores wouldn't let
Speaker 1: him do it, and that's part of the reason he
Speaker 1: got fired. But this should be the worst team in
Speaker 1: football next year. Patriots. They won fourteen games. They had
Speaker 1: the softest schedule this century in the NFL, not amongst
Speaker 1: playoff teams, not among Super Bowl teams, the softest schedule
Speaker 1: of any team since the ninety nine Rams. They also had,
Speaker 1: let's call it an interesting offseason with the Mike Vrabel,
Speaker 1: Diana Russini story that seems to be over. But that
Speaker 1: story is over until it is not. And I say
Speaker 1: that only because is there a chance that there is
Speaker 1: a massive shoe to drop on that story that the
Speaker 1: person holding has been waiting until it would cause peak damage.
Speaker 1: I think there is a chance. So that's going to
Speaker 1: be just simmering in the background, if you will. The
Speaker 1: other story is how Drake may looked in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Was that just young quarterback first playoff run? Or was
Speaker 1: that quarterback finally facing real defenses, real teams and showed
Speaker 1: some holes also worried about will came on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: And then the Jets, I mean they brought Geno back.
Speaker 1: They inexplicably also brought back their head coach. I like Gino.
Speaker 1: I believed in Gino last year. I think Gino probably
Speaker 1: is now on the downtick, so I don't think that's
Speaker 1: going to work. I also think they might and Aaron Glenn,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be rude. They might have the
Speaker 1: worst coach in the NFL, and that is rude. There's
Speaker 1: no way not to be rude. What the most interesting
Speaker 1: part about the AFC East is you have two teams
Speaker 1: that are legitimate to contenders in the Bills and Patriots,
Speaker 1: and then the other two teams should be the two
Speaker 1: worst teams in the NFL in my eyes, in the
Speaker 1: Dolphins and the Jets. I don't have much say about
Speaker 1: the Jets. Now to the AFC North, Listen, John Harbaugh,
Speaker 1: it ran its course. I suppose there is a version
Speaker 1: of be careful what you wish for here now, I andreed,
Speaker 1: just like even though I didn't. I I like Sean
Speaker 1: McDermott enough, but I also like John Harbaugh enough. But
Speaker 1: the Ravens, I really like the guy they hired in
Speaker 1: jesse Mentter. I'm not as high on Joe Brady, so
Speaker 1: I'm a little more optimistic about that. The Ravens got
Speaker 1: the head coach right there, and both listen, we've talked
Speaker 1: about it. For every coach quarterback combo that ever won
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl together won their first one within their
Speaker 1: first five years. For Lamar and for Josh Allen, they
Speaker 1: were talking about we were into year eight, so moving
Speaker 1: on makes sense. But why should the Ravens be dramatically
Speaker 1: better than they were next last year? The answer is, well,
Speaker 1: Lamar will be better and will be healthier. Probably, I
Speaker 1: don't think the Trey Hendrickson addition is enough. I'm going
Speaker 1: to spend a little extra time here, sorry, enough of
Speaker 1: a massive upgrade for me to believe that defense is
Speaker 1: going to be dominant, which means Lamar is going to
Speaker 1: have to be Lamar and which means Dereck Henry can't
Speaker 1: fall off. It's asking a lot. I think they'll be good,
Speaker 1: not great. Sorry, sin Downy, Bengals, We took twenty seconds
Speaker 1: of your time. The Bengals don't like firing coaches because
Speaker 1: they don't like paying people not to work for them.
Speaker 1: But if they missed the playoffs again, obviously Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: is getting fired. And I just want someone to explain
Speaker 1: to me why this team is going to be different
Speaker 1: than it's been the last three years, which is an
Speaker 1: elite offense when Burrow is there, a defense that can
Speaker 1: stop no One, an offensive line that is shaky that
Speaker 1: Burrow tries to bail out, a running game that's shaky,
Speaker 1: a couple of great receivers, and if another nine win
Speaker 1: seasons what I see. Speaking of the worst teams in
Speaker 1: the league, the Browns were like, hey, you left us out.
Speaker 1: Todd Munkin with the saddest quarterback battle I've ever seen
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson and Shoudoor Sanders and for Todd Munkin Man.
Speaker 1: I understand there's only thirty two head coaching jobs, and
Speaker 1: I understand in Baltimore the head coach got fired. You
Speaker 1: weren't coming off a great year. So you get ahead
Speaker 1: coaching job, you gotta grab it. But you're not going
Speaker 1: to What head coach in the league wants to be
Speaker 1: in a spot where he's not even the one who
Speaker 1: gets to pick his starting quarterback, because I don't think
Speaker 1: he does. I think the owner there, Jimmy Haslam, is
Speaker 1: gonna put his finger on the scale. It seemed like
Speaker 1: the owner was out on DeShawn now might be back
Speaker 1: in on Toshaun. I think I think Deshaun Watson's career
Speaker 1: as an NFL quarterback is over. Don't if Shreorge Standers
Speaker 1: is ever gonna have a career as a NFL starting quarterback,
Speaker 1: So they probably not Probably definitely have the worst quarterback
Speaker 1: situation in the league, which is a shame because even
Speaker 1: without Miles Garrett, that defense should be excellent again. But
Speaker 1: I don't know how they're gonna move the ball. And
Speaker 1: then to me, one of the least interesting teams in
Speaker 1: NFL history that has a Super Bowl champion quarterback and
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl champion coach together in Rogers and McCarthy,
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers I thought were moving on
Speaker 1: from Mike Tomlin because they needed to finally turn the page,
Speaker 1: get younger, try to win games, not tank, but doing
Speaker 1: on the fly, rebuild if you will. Instead, they hire
Speaker 1: one of the older coaches in the league, a guy
Speaker 1: on his third team, who, again, Mike McCarthy's a good coach,
Speaker 1: but he's not gonna be there for ten years. And
Speaker 1: you bring back the oldest player in the NFL and
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. It simply doesn't make any sense to me
Speaker 1: why they won't take their medicine and try to build
Speaker 1: the next Super Bowl champion rather than trying to build
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Speaker 1: as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited Plan AFC
Speaker 1: South Houston, Texans. The only question, the only question for
Speaker 1: the Texans is this, who is the real CJ. Stroud? Now?
Speaker 1: In his defense, he has never had an elite running attack.
Speaker 1: He has never had even a good forget great offensive line.
Speaker 1: And despite that, they have not only made the playoffs,
Speaker 1: they have won a playoff game every year he's been there.
Speaker 1: With that said, all you need in Houston is league
Speaker 1: average quarterback play and you're a terrifying team. Dimiko Ryans
Speaker 1: plus that defense makes you a legitimate Super Bowl contender
Speaker 1: if you have the sixteenth highest scoring offense and your
Speaker 1: quarterback can stay upright not turn the ball over. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's happened to CJ. Strod over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. This year, all of a sudden, becomes
Speaker 1: the proven year for his career. Also, so no contract
Speaker 1: extension Colts. Has anybody checked on Daniel Jones Achilles the Colts.
Speaker 1: We said it at the time when they traded multiple
Speaker 1: first round picks for Sauce Gardner, they were going all
Speaker 1: in on Daniel Jones, and Daniel Jones sadly right after
Speaker 1: that popped his achilles, and now they're in flux. To me,
Speaker 1: they are understandably out on Anthony Richardson and they are
Speaker 1: just in something of limbo when it comes to is
Speaker 1: Daniel Jones going to be able to recapture anything of
Speaker 1: what we saw from him the first half of last year,
Speaker 1: where the numbers were amazing, where the team was playing great,
Speaker 1: and where they felt like they were in win now
Speaker 1: mode enough they traded multiple first round picks for a
Speaker 1: corner Sauce will help the defense obviously should be healthy
Speaker 1: coming into this year, but it is you know, Sauce
Speaker 1: also is a guy I said should be healthy coming
Speaker 1: into this year. I guess that's a bit of a
Speaker 1: question mark there. They are one of the more it
Speaker 1: feels like snake bit. Snake Bitten maybe is too strong,
Speaker 1: but it feels like they don't really have a great
Speaker 1: path all right. Coming finally, sorry into my Jags time,
Speaker 1: the Jags question. Listen, Trevor just finished fifth in MVP voting.
Speaker 1: They won thirteen games. I think Liam Cohn is a
Speaker 1: good coach. You guys know how I feel about Trevor.
Speaker 1: The Travis Hunter reporting this offseason was poorly done. He
Speaker 1: still wants to play both sides of the ball. I
Speaker 1: think he is going to have a bigger focus on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball. But they did not
Speaker 1: trade those picks and draft him at number two for
Speaker 1: him to just be a corner. He's the most intriguing
Speaker 1: guy on the team. You know what, It's okay, we
Speaker 1: went a little short on the Jags because I've spent
Speaker 1: so much time on the Jags historically. Titans. Bob Sala
Speaker 1: gets a new job, we know that he will coach
Speaker 1: up the defense. Now personnel wise, do they have almost
Speaker 1: about as lot about as little talent defensively as any
Speaker 1: team in the league. Maybe, well, But we saw Robert
Speaker 1: Salad take teams with average talent defensively in San Francisco
Speaker 1: and make them look like a top five defense. So
Speaker 1: I believe in that side of it. And I actually
Speaker 1: think Robert Sala outside of the Jets might be able
Speaker 1: to prove he's a good NFL head coach. He didn't
Speaker 1: do all with the Jets I'll give him a chance
Speaker 1: to prove it. Of course, the question is does cam
Speaker 1: Ward take a leap he you know, he was very
Speaker 1: open and honest about how bad they were last year.
Speaker 1: He was a big part of that. If cam Ward
Speaker 1: takes the year two quarterback leap, the little hope in
Speaker 1: Tennessee now to the AFC West. Oh my god, this
Speaker 1: hurts my heart. They put the Denver Broncos first on
Speaker 1: the running on the AFC West, So Davis Webb is
Speaker 1: now the play caller. Maybe I know that they're saying that,
Speaker 1: but I Sean Payton. I feel like it's gonna have
Speaker 1: the laminated paper in front of him. But the real
Speaker 1: question is Bo Nicks the little bit of tet tet
Speaker 1: with Sean Payton about his ankle, but the legitimate concern
Speaker 1: about the ankle injury. This Broncos team is the defending
Speaker 1: number one seed. They beat the Bills. They didn't get
Speaker 1: their real shot in the AFC Championship game because of
Speaker 1: Bow's injury. And I didn't believe in them last year.
Speaker 1: I was proven wrong. Bo Knicks one of the worst
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the league until he's trailing and then instantly
Speaker 1: transforms into one of the better quarterbacks in the league.
Speaker 1: I can't quite explain it. The relationship between he and
Speaker 1: Sean Payton's the most interesting part of their season. I
Speaker 1: also think they take a bit of a step back
Speaker 1: from fourteen wins the Chiefs. Here's what everyone's gotten wrong
Speaker 1: about the Chiefs. I've told you guys all along. Patrick
Speaker 1: Mauls are going to be dancing in Travis Kelsey's wedding.
Speaker 1: Is gonna be starting Week one, That is correct. I
Speaker 1: the Chiefs obviously remade their secondary in this offseason, including
Speaker 1: trading up in the draft for mansword delayed. I think
Speaker 1: they'll be fine there. I think Spags will coach that
Speaker 1: unit up. The biggest reason the Chiefs will bounce back
Speaker 1: this year, aside from finally got some rest, the three
Speaker 1: straight Super Bowl appearances war on them all of that.
Speaker 1: Mahomes will be better is because for the first time
Speaker 1: in five years, people are gonna have to respect the
Speaker 1: running game. Kenneth Walker does not have to be great.
Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker just has to be competent, and it's the
Speaker 1: best running attack the Chiefs will have had in at
Speaker 1: least three seasons. The addition of Kenneth Walker will prove
Speaker 1: to be one of the biggest additions any team made
Speaker 1: in the league. This year. Raiders knew everything new head
Speaker 1: coach Clint Kubiak, new quarterback Kirk Cousins, and of course
Speaker 1: number one pick Fernando Mendoza, one of my favorite I'm
Speaker 1: not actually saying you should bet this, but one of
Speaker 1: my favorite kind of you know, bets with friends. When
Speaker 1: do we see Fernando Mendoza. I am going to give
Speaker 1: you two dates that are disparate dates. I think we
Speaker 1: either see Fernando Mendoza in week three at New Orleans,
Speaker 1: and if we don't, we're not gonna see him. I
Speaker 1: do not believe he's gonna start week one. And if
Speaker 1: we do not see him week three at New Orleans,
Speaker 1: I do not think we will see him until week
Speaker 1: eight at the Jets. They don't have their bye until
Speaker 1: week thirteen. I don't think they're gonna wait that long.
Speaker 1: I also don't think in between those week three and
Speaker 1: week eight games it's Kansas City, New England, Buffalo, Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna start him there. So week
Speaker 1: three at New Orleans or week eight at the Jets.
Speaker 1: I actually like the idea of him not having his
Speaker 1: first start at home and last, but not least, Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Chargers. They finally got there. You know, this is
Speaker 1: the year for the Charger guys. Their offensive line is back,
Speaker 1: justin Herbert, Well, their tackles are back. The interior of
Speaker 1: the offensive line is going to be the excuse this year.
Speaker 1: I would imagine Mike McDaniel will help, but Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: is good. I am surprised they did not prioritize getting
Speaker 1: Herbert more receiving weapons. They are still holding on to
Speaker 1: hope that Quinton Johnston can validate his draft selection. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's going to validate his draft selection. I
Speaker 1: like Ladd McConkie, but I don't think Herbert has a
Speaker 1: ton of great options deep down the field. I also
Speaker 1: think this year we might say, Jim Harbaugh, maybe some
Speaker 1: of the NFL magic has gone a bit. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to figure something out because what we do
Speaker 1: know about the Chargers is it won't be Herbert's fault.
Speaker 1: All right, sixteen minutes, sixteen teams. I thought we did
Speaker 1: pretty well except for the Colts when I kind of
Speaker 1: butchered that one. We'll do the NF on Thursday. Talk
Speaker 1: to you guys. Then thank you to all our great sponsors,
Speaker 1: Boost Mobile, hard Rock Bet, thank you to Volume, thank
Speaker 1: you to Blue Dock. Talk to you guys on Thursday.