Speaker 1: All right, welcome in. We'll drive in the right episode
Speaker 1: four eighty five. If you listened on Tuesday, we did
Speaker 1: sixteen minutes sixteen AFC teams. We are going to be
Speaker 1: the same thing today with the NFC as I am
Speaker 1: on vacation, but I wanted you guys have something in
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Speaker 1: pod so you get those you know, no matter what, YouTube,
Speaker 1: by Tunes, Spotify, all of that, and then we'll be
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Speaker 1: As always, we can go ahead and start the clock.
Speaker 1: We'll go to the NFC. We will start in the
Speaker 1: NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys. The only question for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, the biggest question for the Cowboys is this,
Speaker 1: can the defense be average. If the defense can be average,
Speaker 1: they not only can win the division, this can be
Speaker 1: the best Cowboys team of Dak's career. George Pickens, to
Speaker 1: his credit, accepted the franchise tag, decided he's gonna go
Speaker 1: try to prove it. I thought last year he was
Speaker 1: phenomenal until the very end of the year when he
Speaker 1: seemed to kind of, you know, quit on some games,
Speaker 1: but he had nearly fifteen hundred yards. He was great
Speaker 1: Ceedee Lamb is one of the most talented players in
Speaker 1: the entire league. Last year, the defense did not give
Speaker 1: them a chance to compete, but they drafted one of
Speaker 1: my favorite players in Caleb Downs. They took Malachi Lawrence,
Speaker 1: They traded for d Winders and Rashaun Gary. They remade
Speaker 1: the secondary. If that defense, if they can have the
Speaker 1: fifteenth ranks scoring defense in football next year, they can
Speaker 1: win twelve games. Giants all right? Concern for the Giants,
Speaker 1: did Malik is maliite neighbors going to be all right?
Speaker 1: I he suffered a bad knee injury, but his having
Speaker 1: one of the rare ACL recoveries where it does not
Speaker 1: seem like he's not only is he not ahead of schedule,
Speaker 1: he seems like he's behind schedule. He was so dynamic
Speaker 1: and so special when we've seen him healthy. That's terrifying
Speaker 1: if you're a Giants fan. On top of that, you're
Speaker 1: you know, your running backs has got a blown up
Speaker 1: ankles to him backflips at fanatics Fest. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if Jackson Dart is the you know, the mature
Speaker 1: force in the room that a lot on John Harbaugh's plate.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to read too much into the embarrassing
Speaker 1: viral video from last week of him trying to fire
Speaker 1: up the team, but John Harbaugh is going to really
Speaker 1: have to prove his coaching medal this year with this
Speaker 1: Giants team. That's going to be a trendy pick for
Speaker 1: a lot of people. Eagles, I've said it before, I'll
Speaker 1: say it again, and this might seem like a cop
Speaker 1: out of a take, but I believe it. The Eagles
Speaker 1: are the only team in the league that them being
Speaker 1: the number one seed would not surprise and also them
Speaker 1: firing their coach during the season would not surprise me.
Speaker 1: I think their spread of potential outcomes is the widest
Speaker 1: of any team in football. I think that them going
Speaker 1: seven and ten and fourteen and three both are possible.
Speaker 1: And not surprisingly, Hurts once again with a new offensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: this one Sean Manyon. Unlike you know the last few
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator changes, He's not gonna have Aj Brown for
Speaker 1: good or for bad, to rely on. Uh. With man
Speaker 1: and Mannon, they made it very clear they want to
Speaker 1: change the offense. We will see how much Hurts accepts
Speaker 1: that and then finally the Washington Commanders. I can't remember
Speaker 1: a team being more almost popular and in the zeitgeist
Speaker 1: to just totally out of the conversation like the Commanders
Speaker 1: from two years ago to last year. Jaden had one
Speaker 1: of the greatest rookie seasons, and the Commanders are in
Speaker 1: the conference championship game and then an injury plague year,
Speaker 1: a year where you saw a lot of the holes
Speaker 1: on that team, from its offensive line, to its weapons,
Speaker 1: to its older kind of you know, sloppily if I
Speaker 1: may say, put together defense. All those wards were in
Speaker 1: full display. I'm not a big believer in the Giants.
Speaker 1: If the Giants are as good as a lot of
Speaker 1: you think they will be, the Commanders feel to me
Speaker 1: like the worst team in this division. And I think that,
Speaker 1: barring the Philly being on the downside of what I
Speaker 1: said that span was their best case scenario was third
Speaker 1: place in this division. I'm not a big believer in
Speaker 1: the Commanders. NFC North start with the Bears. They won
Speaker 1: one of the most competitive divisions in football last year,
Speaker 1: even though none of the teams except for them won
Speaker 1: double digit games. They I am buying, maybe not as
Speaker 1: much as Colin, but a lot of the Caleb Williams
Speaker 1: stock again. I think the leaps you saw him make
Speaker 1: in his first year with Ben Johnson, now that the
Speaker 1: pre snap operation, that some of the terrible sacks, those
Speaker 1: things got cleaned up. Now I think he can work
Speaker 1: on fully mastering the offense and something he was not
Speaker 1: so sneakily really bad at last year, which is just
Speaker 1: hitting the easy passes. The magical stuff will always be there,
Speaker 1: the escapability, the clutch stuff that's not going anywhere. If
Speaker 1: the easy stuff gets cleaned up, they can win twelve games.
Speaker 1: All right. The Lions first year without Ben Johnson last year,
Speaker 1: and it looked like they were missing Ben Johnson, the
Speaker 1: secondary all of a sudden big hole thanks to Terrian
Speaker 1: Arnold's let's call him escapades another year where you're like,
Speaker 1: all right, Aiden Hutchinson's great, but what about everybody else?
Speaker 2: With that?
Speaker 1: Said Jamier Gibbs, Sam Laporter, Amont Laporta, Aman Ross Saint Brown,
Speaker 1: Jared Goff. When he has time, that offense, even without
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson, should still be one of the scarier ones
Speaker 1: in the league. But this is the season where we
Speaker 1: find out how prophetic Dan Campbell was when he told
Speaker 1: the team a couple of years ago after they blew
Speaker 1: the NFC Championship game. Guys, this might be the you know,
Speaker 1: our best chance. We might never get closer than this.
Speaker 1: Lions fans obviously hoping that's not the case, but we'll
Speaker 1: find out this season. Packers, you could argue their best
Speaker 1: players on both sides of the ball toward their acls
Speaker 1: last year. Mike is unquestionably the best defensive player. Tucker
Speaker 1: Craft might be their best offensive player. Obviously Jordan Loved
Speaker 1: the most important They were I think nine to four
Speaker 1: and one when Mike h nine three in one, actually
Speaker 1: when Micah tore his ACL. They then lost five consecutive
Speaker 1: games to end the season, including the playoff game. Micah
Speaker 1: I do not expect back right to start the season.
Speaker 1: He got his ACL surgery. While after mahomes he also
Speaker 1: plays a different position. How will the defense looked without
Speaker 1: look without Micah when he seemed to totally transform it
Speaker 1: last year when he was on the field, Tucker Craft,
Speaker 1: you expect to, at least by midway point in the season,
Speaker 1: be back to being Tucker Craft. Jordan Love. The stats
Speaker 1: to me tell a better story for Jordan Love than
Speaker 1: actually watching him does. Packers feel like the third best
Speaker 1: team in the division. And then there's the Vikings, such
Speaker 1: an intriguing spot for Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell I think
Speaker 1: knows and wants and plays for Kyler Murray to be
Speaker 1: his starting quarterback. To give them the best chance to succeed,
Speaker 1: they should give Kyler Murray every single first team rep
Speaker 1: possible so we can learn the offense, so we can
Speaker 1: get up to speed, so we can do everything that
Speaker 1: one needs to do to be ready to be the
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. However, if you do that, you are officially
Speaker 1: saying JJ McCarthy, who we took with the I think
Speaker 1: the tenth overall pick, we're giving up on you after
Speaker 1: how many career starts, ten career games played. That seems
Speaker 1: like it would be organizational malpractice. But splitting the reps
Speaker 1: gives you doesn't give you the best chance to succeed
Speaker 1: this year. It's a really tough spot. Very interested in
Speaker 1: how Kevin O'Connell handles it when you know he wants
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Speaker 1: dot com. NFC South maybe the most uninteresting division in football. Sorry,
Speaker 1: NFC South fans, The Falcons, Stefanski. Everybody loves Stefanski except
Speaker 1: for me. I didn't think Stefanski handled the quarterback situation
Speaker 1: great last year. I understand that. I said, you know,
Speaker 1: during our AFC side, that's a tough job because of
Speaker 1: the meddling of the owner. So maybe I should come
Speaker 1: some slack there. I Kevin Stefanski, to me, has a
Speaker 1: far greater approval rating than his win loss record would demand.
Speaker 1: I also don't think Tua all of a sudden is
Speaker 1: gonna stop being Tua. And if you're a Falcons fan,
Speaker 1: man oh man, you're hoping too is the backup? And
Speaker 1: that Michael Pennix your surprising first round pick, right ahead
Speaker 1: of the Vikings surprising first round picking JJ McCarthy that
Speaker 1: he is able to validate that selection. Carolina Panthers and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, freshly minted NFL Top one hundred
Speaker 1: player Bryce Young who came in ninety eight on that list,
Speaker 1: which ultimately is gonna end up being the eighteenth best
Speaker 1: quarterback in football. That still feels a little rich to
Speaker 1: me about where Bryce is. Can they build on last
Speaker 1: year's success? They finally make the playoffs in part because
Speaker 1: of the not in part in large part because of
Speaker 1: the Bucks epic collapse, but it wasn't because Bryce all
Speaker 1: of a sudden took a leap. Bryce the previous year
Speaker 1: was six point three yards per attempt, Last year six
Speaker 1: point three yards per attempt. Bryce, you know, for his
Speaker 1: career is still well under two hundred yards per game passing.
Speaker 1: That is every single year, that's his rookie ear second
Speaker 1: year and last year when he was under two hundred
Speaker 1: yards per game passing. I don't see it with him,
Speaker 1: and I don't see enough talent outside of him for
Speaker 1: them to be able to repeat what they did last year.
Speaker 1: Saints an interesting one. Tyler Shuck, second year quarterback. Could
Speaker 1: he be the best quarterback from that draft class. I
Speaker 1: guess it's possible. It also Warren's mentioning that before we
Speaker 1: get to week four, second year quarterback Tyler Shuck will
Speaker 1: be twenty seven years old. Man, that's almost the rarefied
Speaker 1: Brandon Whedon territory. They also brought back again Alvin Kamara,
Speaker 1: which is a bummer for me. I kind of wanted
Speaker 1: to see him on an actual contender. Now. The Saints,
Speaker 1: to their credit, refuse to bottom out like you expect
Speaker 1: them to. I go into every year saying this is
Speaker 1: gonna be, you know, one of the worst teams in
Speaker 1: the league, and instead they're just a cut above that.
Speaker 1: Each year they win six games, they win five games.
Speaker 1: Not bad enough to be in contention for the number
Speaker 1: one pick, but not good enough to really be snipping
Speaker 1: a playoff spot. I don't know. Like I said, it's
Speaker 1: not really the most interesting division. And last, but not least,
Speaker 1: the only team I'm really that interested in this division
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay Bucks. By the time you hear this, maybe
Speaker 1: Baker of a new contract. Now. Baker has said when
Speaker 1: training camp starts, we're shutting that contract discussion down. Baker
Speaker 1: is on a huge bargain contract. There are right now
Speaker 1: a dozen quarterbacks making fifty plus million a year. The
Speaker 1: quarterback franchise tag number is fifty five million a year.
Speaker 1: Baker is going to want around three years, around one
Speaker 1: sixty at least at around one hundred guaranteed. That is
Speaker 1: the market rate. Not for the best quarterback in football,
Speaker 1: which he is not, but for a quarterback of his caliber.
Speaker 1: Are the Bucks will to pay him that? And will
Speaker 1: we actually see the best out of Baker? What is
Speaker 1: histery tells us? If they don't pay him that and
Speaker 1: he goes chip on his shoulder, maybe they should be
Speaker 1: the best team in the division this year. NFC West
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals new head coach and Mike Lafloor, they are.
Speaker 1: If it's not the Browns with the most underwhelming quarterback
Speaker 1: situation in the league, it's Arizona. Jacoby resets their starter,
Speaker 1: but they don't want to pay him as such. They
Speaker 1: have third round pick Carson Beck. Gardner Minshew, I don't
Speaker 1: I think if I'm Mike laflor and I have real
Speaker 1: job security and I just got hired, so I hope
Speaker 1: I have some I am hoping against hope that Carson
Speaker 1: Beck looks good in training camp and gives me a
Speaker 1: reason to give him the starting job over Jacoby. Credit
Speaker 1: to Jacoby, the Cardinals were actually better last year with
Speaker 1: him than Kyler. That's why when Kyler was healthy they
Speaker 1: went to him. But Jacoby Brissett is definitionally a great
Speaker 1: backup and a bad starter, similar Gardner Minshew's a tier
Speaker 1: beneath that you hope that could be better. This is
Speaker 1: the worst team in that division by a mile. It's
Speaker 1: the toughest division. Probably shouldn't have started them the Rams.
Speaker 1: They were gonna be the favorites to win the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl before they traded for Miles Garrett. Then they traded
Speaker 1: for Miles Garrett. Now they might add Aaron Donald. That
Speaker 1: all sounds good. I can't explain why adding Aaron Donald
Speaker 1: feels like a bridge too far. I think I'd run
Speaker 1: it as we currently have it. Here's the one thing
Speaker 1: no one is talking about with the Rams, and you
Speaker 1: guys know how much I like the Rams. Second oldest
Speaker 1: quarterback in the league, and the only question mark on
Speaker 1: the team is offensive line, particularly left tackle. That is
Speaker 1: the only way this range season is not somewhere between
Speaker 1: wildly successful or just success. But don't win the super
Speaker 1: Bowl is if something happens to Stafford and that left
Speaker 1: tackle spot makes me a little nervous there, all right,
Speaker 1: the Niners. I feel like now that they've luckily put
Speaker 1: that you know that that that electromagnetic field or whatever
Speaker 1: the hell is, they put it to bed. Guys, Our
Speaker 1: players are not hurt because of some weird you know
Speaker 1: where our stadium is. Our players are hurt. It's it's
Speaker 1: our fault. It's either because of how we run the team,
Speaker 1: how we run practices, our trainings have made let's make
Speaker 1: it clear time because of that. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's good or bad. I also think they all of
Speaker 1: a sudden look pretty light in the weapons area. Unless
Speaker 1: McCaffrey has a bounce back massive season. Kittle coming off
Speaker 1: the injury, Ayuk sadly seems to be out of the
Speaker 1: league and certainly done with the Niners. Now they have
Speaker 1: a floor with Shanahan. We saw it when Mac Jones
Speaker 1: put up rock Birdie numbers. But do they have enough
Speaker 1: weapons offensively to compensate for the very young defense and
Speaker 1: the loss of Robert Sala And, last but not least,
Speaker 1: the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, who, aside from Kenneth Walker
Speaker 1: and a couple front seven defensive losses are simply running
Speaker 1: it back without Clint Kubiak. Now, Donald's a veteran enough
Speaker 1: that I think he'll be fine, and Donald obviously coming
Speaker 1: off the best year of his career by a mile.
Speaker 1: And they don't have to have a great offense. Their
Speaker 1: defense is so good that as long as the offense
Speaker 1: and with JSN, they should be fine, can be good,
Speaker 1: they will be very good. If the offense without Clint
Speaker 1: Kubiak is very good, again, there's no reason they can't
Speaker 1: get back to the super Bowl other than it's very
Speaker 1: difficult to get back to the super Bowl. The most
Speaker 1: interesting story in the NFC this year is who wins
Speaker 1: this division. If the Rams win that division, I think
Speaker 1: they will go to the super Bowl. If Seattle can
Speaker 1: prevent them from winning that division and force that Rams
Speaker 1: seem to go on the road in the playoffs, then
Speaker 1: I think for all the talent the Rams have, I
Speaker 1: don't think they're going to quite reach their ultimate goals.
Speaker 1: All right, there was the NFC. I'm on vacation. I
Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoyed these quick little shows. Thank you
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Speaker 1: Thank you to Blue Duck Back Live Tuesday. Talk to
Speaker 1: you guys then, what's right