Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast.
Speaker 2: It's breaking hearts, ankles and records everywhere. I'm the Chris
Speaker 2: Westling podcast studio, mighty high on our own supply lately
Speaker 2: with the Zummy drops. It's around the NFL. My name
Speaker 2: is Dan Hansas. They got heroes everywhere I look. On
Speaker 2: this important episode Around the AFC in forty eight minutes,
Speaker 2: Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal, Patrick Claybond back in studio.
Speaker 3: What's up?
Speaker 2: Gang?
Speaker 4: Just glad to be here. This is a tradition. I'm excited.
Speaker 4: I see if I can get shranked a few times.
Speaker 4: This is one of my favorite parts of the year.
Speaker 5: It's a special day. You wake up and the cereal
Speaker 5: just tastes a little better.
Speaker 4: M hm.
Speaker 5: Walk walk to school with your kids in back for you,
Speaker 5: the air is just crisper.
Speaker 3: Football is back.
Speaker 6: Well, I knew we were gonna get that that You
Speaker 6: get this, Greg football.
Speaker 2: You're trying to make it a thing, Greg, And the
Speaker 2: more you try to make it a thing, the more
Speaker 2: it repulses Mark and I because we know football is
Speaker 2: not back until the second week of February.
Speaker 5: It's been a thing for We're on like year nine
Speaker 5: of this spit going strong.
Speaker 2: And yes, before the show we were talking learned a
Speaker 2: couple of different things. Clay Bonn tomorrow right, Actually you've
Speaker 2: heard the cliche, but Patrick wants to the world to
Speaker 2: know he actually did walk uphill both ways to get
Speaker 2: to and from his school as a child. And now
Speaker 2: they've cut a path through the middle of the easy path,
Speaker 2: which made me wonder, is oh, that sounds great for
Speaker 2: the kids of today. But that's where to use the
Speaker 2: parlance of my times. Back in New York, the skids
Speaker 2: would hang out and the less populated less no cop
Speaker 2: interference or people looking around. The skids could do what
Speaker 2: the skids do, also known as what do we call them?
Speaker 2: Where you guys are from burnouts? No chance about Massachusetts?
Speaker 2: What were they known as gregs? Like I was one
Speaker 2: of them. I don't know.
Speaker 5: Burnout sounds right, burnoutsound Yeah.
Speaker 4: We didn't necessarily have a parlance. There weren't any like
Speaker 4: creek Creek critters who would hang out on the past.
Speaker 5: Critters that's like with the arsonists would be another word.
Speaker 3: I guess the skit Well, that's different the it's just
Speaker 3: a lot of fires.
Speaker 2: The only thing the skids really did that I ever
Speaker 2: clocked was they put one foot up against the side
Speaker 2: of the Walgreens over the fence from the high school,
Speaker 2: smoked a ton of cigarettes, listened to a lot of metallica,
Speaker 2: and threw snowballs at the normals.
Speaker 5: It's very Simpsons as the Skids.
Speaker 2: I was asking about Greg. I had to know because
Speaker 2: you had the long hair, you were in a gothmo band.
Speaker 2: Maybe you didn't know what the term was. Maybe you
Speaker 2: actually were in that crew.
Speaker 6: Now, I don't think emos were like, there wasn't a
Speaker 6: huge ven diagram crossover with burnouts.
Speaker 2: I mean, but also goth emo usually doesn't crossover, does it.
Speaker 2: Or maybe.
Speaker 5: Certain Delaware are that man of your imagination now that
Speaker 5: they existed.
Speaker 3: I don't know what the name is.
Speaker 5: I do remember I was once like like kicked very
Speaker 5: hard by one and in a hallway in our class,
Speaker 5: in our What did you possibly do to elicit that
Speaker 5: react from a student?
Speaker 3: Nothing?
Speaker 2: Nothing.
Speaker 5: They were just kind of the types that would just
Speaker 5: beat up fresh that's what the that's a senior.
Speaker 2: Kids are gonna do what the kids are gonna do it.
Speaker 2: It's classic burnout behavior.
Speaker 6: Craig's walking around his middle it's like marching. It's like
Speaker 6: we're gonna kick you.
Speaker 2: Around the AFC in forty eight minutes. And this is
Speaker 2: like I said, I get a text from doing the
Speaker 2: Scott Hansen Okay, Scott Hansen of Red Zone fame.
Speaker 5: Yeah, like seven hours no p breaks, which you can
Speaker 5: get on NFL Plus.
Speaker 2: You can get on an NFL Plus. But you can
Speaker 2: get us on NFL Plus. Uh starting uh next week,
Speaker 2: we better get on that. He wanted to know when
Speaker 2: around the ABC and NFC was dropping. It is right now.
Speaker 2: We're going to go through the entire conference three minutes exactly.
Speaker 2: And another thing came up before the show, Mark, you
Speaker 2: grew up in Connecticut, also brief time in England. We've
Speaker 2: heard it. I don't know how many.
Speaker 6: It's just factual biographical information, but I know it now
Speaker 6: that you've had kids.
Speaker 5: What did they remember from years you know, zero to three?
Speaker 5: Nothing right, And I'm just saying.
Speaker 7: Mark, looking at her, literally kill, they're from age three
Speaker 7: to six. I take it back childhood.
Speaker 3: He always says, three.
Speaker 2: Mark, there was a Mimosa Stabber where you grew up.
Speaker 7: It was a section of my This is not in England.
Speaker 6: It was back when I let out, Like a section
Speaker 6: of our town was called mosa like a neighborhood and
Speaker 6: there was someone someone called the MoMA.
Speaker 2: Someone was a little stabby in that area, and that well,
Speaker 2: see how you made it real. And now it feels
Speaker 2: like not something I could even make light of anything.
Speaker 2: I think you can now I was fine, she escaped,
Speaker 2: not mortal injuries. Another weapon is the one held in
Speaker 2: the hands of our producer, Eric Roberts, who for the
Speaker 2: first time and the grave digger Justin Graver, did so
Speaker 2: many things well for us during his tenure as super producer,
Speaker 2: but nothing better than shooting Greg right in the old
Speaker 2: throat with a trenk, or any of us for that matter,
Speaker 2: when we went over the allotted three minutes, okay, and
Speaker 2: broke the rules of this hallowed game. So Eric, are
Speaker 2: you feeling nervous like Aaron Rodgers playing his first preseason
Speaker 2: game in six years, like he admitted he had butterflies?
Speaker 2: I imagine that's the similar case. It's a big responsibility,
Speaker 2: it is. I don't want to, you know, tarnish the authenticity.
Speaker 2: The timer is the timer, so I will be stern
Speaker 2: and quick.
Speaker 5: Well, plus he's playing hurt, so those tranks might not
Speaker 5: be totally.
Speaker 2: Don't use use the right hand. It's gonna affect the accuracy.
Speaker 3: Now I've become a little ambidexterrous here, So I got
Speaker 3: we have a role.
Speaker 6: In that too, because I thought in the last couple
Speaker 6: of times we've done this exercise, like someone gets fired
Speaker 6: point blank in the middle of their forehead with a
Speaker 6: so called dart and they keep talking.
Speaker 2: Right, we got it. You're right on this side of
Speaker 2: the last. You got to respect the TRNK, built.
Speaker 4: Up a tolerance to the you know whatever the medical
Speaker 4: instrument is over the.
Speaker 2: Time, and Graver got a little TRNK crazy in the
Speaker 2: final episodes. I think he started to lose his mind
Speaker 2: from us talking too much over it. So let's try
Speaker 2: to be respectful of the time allotment because this, if
Speaker 2: we do it right, this should be over in exactly
Speaker 2: forty eight minutes plus three time outbreaks. That we only
Speaker 2: have three clock management is important. Why don't we get
Speaker 2: it going? Here we go, We're going to start in
Speaker 2: the AFC East. Hit it, Eric Buffalo Bills, Greg.
Speaker 5: All right, I want to know what Sean McDermott has
Speaker 5: in store with this defense when you look at what
Speaker 5: happened with Leslie Fraser leaving now working with us.
Speaker 3: It's a little strange.
Speaker 5: I think Sean McDermott wanted control of his defense, and
Speaker 5: you look at a team that I don't think the
Speaker 5: window is closing in any way. But in terms of
Speaker 5: this defense, Jordan Poyer, Tredevius White, Tron Johnson, Micah Hyde,
Speaker 5: that to me is the Buffalo Bills under Sean McDermott.
Speaker 5: What's made them really interesting and consistent. They've been together
Speaker 5: for five years. That doesn't happen. That's the core of
Speaker 5: this team. This defense, He've been as consistent as any
Speaker 5: defense in the NFL. They don't get von Miller back
Speaker 5: for four or five weeks. But I think Sean McDermott
Speaker 5: wanted to shake things up, and I do wonder does
Speaker 5: he have one great Buffalo Bill's defense with all this continuity,
Speaker 5: all these great players, Matt Mlano, some good guys up front,
Speaker 5: ed Oliver gregorw so like one great defense to shut
Speaker 5: everyone up about the whole Buffalo Bills losing their steam.
Speaker 3: They could do it on the defensive side.
Speaker 6: You don't have von Miller for the start of the
Speaker 6: year because of pup, but you are right, there's a
Speaker 6: lot of consistency here.
Speaker 7: I always wonder like when you lose a coordinator.
Speaker 6: I think Leslie Fraser was underrated in that role in
Speaker 6: Buffalo and part of why they were what they were.
Speaker 6: You know, you lost Brian Dable a year ago. Know
Speaker 6: Leslie Fraser, and sometimes I think mcdermt can handle it
Speaker 6: because he's been doing this for so long. But when
Speaker 6: you're the head coach that's to suddenly call the defense
Speaker 6: on top of it comes not always the smoothest transition.
Speaker 4: And I think it's something that Pep Hamilton pointed out
Speaker 4: as last week we were getting ready for Game Day Live.
Speaker 4: Glad to have him, Glad to have coach Fraser come over. Well,
Speaker 4: Leslie Fraser allowed Sean McDermott some leniency in terms of
Speaker 4: how much attention he played to the defense that's gone.
Speaker 4: I wonder how the change in the offense comes with
Speaker 4: Ken Dorsey.
Speaker 1: Are they going to run the ball more?
Speaker 4: They're going to be a little more complimentary now that
Speaker 4: the head coach is calling the defense, if he's going
Speaker 4: to just because it's something that people do, pay more
Speaker 4: attention to the way that the offense does to facilitate
Speaker 4: better defense and success.
Speaker 1: Now that he's the person that has to own it.
Speaker 2: We all had McDermott in the safe grouping when we
Speaker 2: did hot butts. I still feel that way. Did get
Speaker 2: some pushback on social media that McDermott should be seen
Speaker 2: as guy may be a little bit warmer if the
Speaker 2: defense has a bad year, the team falls short, would
Speaker 2: he ever be in dangered? I don't think so. But
Speaker 2: I do think there's pressure on McDermott, like you're saying
Speaker 2: Greg to really build something up here on dates.
Speaker 5: Well, and Ken Dorsey's entering the second year, and I
Speaker 5: think he did a good job for the most part.
Speaker 5: Last year they declined when Josh Allen got hurt. There's
Speaker 5: been some interesting things this preseason. I like what Dalton
Speaker 5: Kincaid's looked like. Trent Sherfield's their number three. Like, there's
Speaker 5: no reason to me why they should be viewed any
Speaker 5: differently entering this year than a year ago.
Speaker 3: I did know they're healthier.
Speaker 6: I think there's like no team in the AFC with
Speaker 6: kind of more of a tight butt pressure on them
Speaker 6: where it's like anything less than thirteen wins in an
Speaker 6: AFC title game appearance does not fly.
Speaker 2: Gotta get there. This is the year You've got to
Speaker 2: get there. Beautiful the Miami Dolphins. There is a general
Speaker 2: assumption that the Dolphins offense was good last year, even great,
Speaker 2: and for the majority of the season with two with
Speaker 2: the controls, it was. However, a close examination of the
Speaker 2: game log might give you a little bit of pause.
Speaker 2: After a Week twelve win over the Texans got into
Speaker 2: eight and three, they lost five straight. You saw all
Speaker 2: their numbers come down, Teams change their scheme, played more
Speaker 2: press coverage, messed with what Mike McDaniel likes to do,
Speaker 2: mess with the timing of the offense. Then TUA got hurt, disappeared,
Speaker 2: They went one and done in the playoffs. I think
Speaker 2: the offense is gonna be very good. I think the
Speaker 2: defense is in some ways more compelling with mcfangio there.
Speaker 2: But I'm just curious. Did the league catch up to
Speaker 2: McDaniel's scheme at the end of last year, and if so,
Speaker 2: can McDaniel make the necessary tweaks to ensure a high
Speaker 2: octane attack doesn't putter out this time around?
Speaker 6: Man, I thought, like the Jordan Rodrieg like podcast series
Speaker 6: about this crew of offensive dudes, like the Shanahan to
Speaker 6: McDaniel tree, I don't think there's catching up because they're
Speaker 6: working so hard week to week to recreate what they
Speaker 6: do and do it in different way. And I mean
Speaker 6: we've seen with Shanahan's scheme, which this so much is
Speaker 6: that it isn't so much a catchup.
Speaker 7: It's like you're always ahead of it.
Speaker 6: And I think that McDaniel, if anything would have been
Speaker 6: last year, would have been the growth year, and there
Speaker 6: was no growth. They were explosive right out of the gate,
Speaker 6: and you're still talking about how do you deal with
Speaker 6: their speed? Their speeded is something you're gonna have to
Speaker 6: deal with no matter what the scheme is.
Speaker 5: I think he's the guy that Kyle Shanahan never wanted
Speaker 5: to let go. I think he almost held some of
Speaker 5: McDaniel's personal struggles as leverage to keep Mike McDaniel in
Speaker 5: his pocket. And so I'm very curious to your point
Speaker 5: sort of what Mike McDaniel's going to do for a
Speaker 5: second act, because maybe a little like Andy Reid and
Speaker 5: certainly Andy Reid earlier in his career, but I think
Speaker 5: he's gonna come out with a lot of different stuff,
Speaker 5: and he's got the speed, as you mentioned, to make
Speaker 5: it hurt.
Speaker 3: I'm not worried about Mike mcdee.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's not his first year at coaching anymore.
Speaker 4: And we see offenses go through lulls sometimes, and it
Speaker 4: just so happened that the Dolphins lull on offense coincided
Speaker 4: with at the end of it, their quarterback getting hurt
Speaker 4: and we never got to see them work their way
Speaker 4: out of it.
Speaker 6: Armstead's got to be healthy though, yet when he was
Speaker 6: not in their last year. Don't you think Dan, like,
Speaker 6: one place you could grow is like the ground game,
Speaker 6: which is such a Shanahan staple, like was not really
Speaker 6: as much of a difference maker in Miami last year.
Speaker 6: I think that's something you can add to the offense
Speaker 6: and make it more balanced.
Speaker 2: I thought one more note, because you can't have a
Speaker 2: Dolphins conversation without talking about to his health. Read this
Speaker 2: in the Football almneck Kel Clinton. Big hits on a
Speaker 2: QB are a part of the Shanahan system. The way
Speaker 2: they do the play action. It asks your running backs
Speaker 2: to do a lot of heavy lifting and tight ends
Speaker 2: on edge rushers and linebackers. So when you look at
Speaker 2: San Francisco's QB injuries, you connect the dots there. Look
Speaker 2: at what happened with Tua he's a guy that's vulnerable
Speaker 2: to start with. In the scheme he's even more so.
Speaker 2: I hope he's healthy. I hope Mike White, if he
Speaker 2: comes in, can push the ball down field, because that's
Speaker 2: not really his thing. Was that too negative in there?
Speaker 2: I don't know, No, think we're beina.
Speaker 7: The first one felt good.
Speaker 4: Not gonna lie Patrick the Jets all right, So a
Speaker 4: lot of questions have been answered about this team already.
Speaker 4: Makai Beckton earns that starting job at right tackle, which
Speaker 4: felt like it turned it into a necessity versus earlier
Speaker 4: in the off season when we thought it was a
Speaker 4: little bit more of a luxury. They get Dalvin, which
Speaker 4: gives them some brief insurance as he's working his way back.
Speaker 1: From that Week seven ACL tear.
Speaker 4: My only question is we've seen such an egalitarian Aaron
Speaker 4: Rodgers the entire offseason. The opening schedule for the Jets,
Speaker 4: you start off with the Bills, and then there's the Cowboys,
Speaker 4: the Patriots, the Kansas City Chiefs. If things don't start
Speaker 4: out well, because it was full on Nate Hackett defense, like,
Speaker 4: where does the conversation go if the start is a
Speaker 4: little slower, And again I expect them to be good.
Speaker 4: But what if the start is slow?
Speaker 5: You get a little r e lax, relaxed vibe from
Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers, possibly because that schedule, especially you know, for
Speaker 5: the offense, is especially brutal those first couple of weeks,
Speaker 5: and I'm much more worth about the offense. I do
Speaker 5: wonder if Aaron Rodgers has enough support, like you think, Okay,
Speaker 5: Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson, that's incredible, it is, but
Speaker 5: two players do not make an offense. And I I
Speaker 5: just don't assume that Lazard or Hardman, or the offensive line,
Speaker 5: or the running backs or the coach are better than
Speaker 5: average anywhere else. So like you have a great quarterback
Speaker 5: and a great number one, I believe everything else offensively.
Speaker 3: I have questions.
Speaker 5: They might be able to answer him, but I think
Speaker 5: people are assuming they have more talent on offense.
Speaker 3: I really do.
Speaker 2: I questions around Breeze Hall are fair come off the ACL,
Speaker 2: but you have Cook and Breeze Hall. That's pretty that's
Speaker 2: pretty damn good.
Speaker 3: It's fine, Okay, I mean it's good. I think it's
Speaker 3: still really fun. I think I guess you're right.
Speaker 2: It'd be great.
Speaker 3: By the way, it could be great.
Speaker 5: But if you put it up against all the other
Speaker 5: running back groups in the league and they're run blocking,
Speaker 5: it's fine.
Speaker 2: Their defense is going to be so good this year
Speaker 2: that I think that's gonna help too. Like the offense doesn't.
Speaker 2: I don't think needs does not agree. It doesn't need
Speaker 2: to be studeley because when you have have that defensive
Speaker 2: line and the back end of the secondary led by
Speaker 2: Sauce and to the mark, to the point of look
Speaker 2: at the top of their schedule and I get it
Speaker 2: as a gauntlet like the old Bengals matcher from lest year,
Speaker 2: they got to play us too, Like Thatt's are a
Speaker 2: tough team to beat. I don't imagine they're gonna come
Speaker 2: out of their own four one or three.
Speaker 6: I think there was no more dominant position group through
Speaker 6: the entire preseason what than New York's defensive line. They're
Speaker 6: so deep and you know that side of the ball,
Speaker 6: and those meetings they kept saying it, we're gonna keep
Speaker 6: this offense in games, and they are. And I think
Speaker 6: that Look at we've seen Aaron Rodgers go through periods
Speaker 6: and stretches where he didn't have immense talent around him,
Speaker 6: and he still made it happen. I think he's at
Speaker 6: least with people that he knows and that he's comfortable with,
Speaker 6: and you're getting the best kind of mental version of
Speaker 6: Aaron Rodgers. He's also like a corrector and he gets
Speaker 6: moody and stuff, so I do. The one only thing
Speaker 6: is like if psychologically it does not look great after
Speaker 6: a month, like does this feel good thing kind of
Speaker 6: wear off? And then you're in the middle of a battle,
Speaker 6: what happens?
Speaker 5: Then that's the NFL season though, But that well, every
Speaker 5: team's gonna go through it unless it's just like a
Speaker 5: dream here, they're gonna have a two weeks stretch where
Speaker 5: everyone's getting on them.
Speaker 2: And the schedule softens up after that.
Speaker 7: Maybe they went for those games.
Speaker 2: Time out first time out little Hard Knocks talk. First
Speaker 2: they plugged Colleen and I did our fourth episode, the
Speaker 2: penultimate episode of the Hard Knocks podcast, which you could
Speaker 2: catch in this feed whenever you like. You did see
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers get fired up in practice and angry. As
Speaker 2: a Jets fan, it was nice to see that the
Speaker 2: Snoopy Bowl and Rogers calling it Jet Life Stadium and
Speaker 2: really feeling like for the first time since the Rex
Speaker 2: era pre Victor Cruz. It feels like it could also
Speaker 2: be the Jets town, which it doesn't matter. Most people
Speaker 2: study a football fan in that region this idea and
Speaker 2: feeling like you're you're about to take over the town,
Speaker 2: which hasn't happened there since Victor Cruz went ninety nine
Speaker 2: on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 5: I mean the Jets, the Giants have left the door
Speaker 5: pretty wide open for you in the last seven or
Speaker 5: eight years.
Speaker 2: We weren't ready to walk on the door and was
Speaker 2: ready to cut but uh, yeah, that was interesting and
Speaker 2: the and you have some of the smack dog just
Speaker 2: uh getting after Jihad Ward, the former second round pick Rogers,
Speaker 2: that was some good stuff.
Speaker 1: Expect welcome on what that five?
Speaker 3: I know you are? You know, I've never heard.
Speaker 2: You, Gwards. I don't know who you are. That's a comeback.
Speaker 2: It's a comeback. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Sometimes in a in the heated in the battle, you
Speaker 5: just repeat what the person said, even though it does
Speaker 5: makes no sense.
Speaker 1: As soon as it left his lips. He probably wanted
Speaker 1: that one.
Speaker 2: There, Rogers, like what all right? Time in to the
Speaker 2: New England Patriots closing out the AFC East Mark sas.
Speaker 6: All right, I ask you this, do you still believe
Speaker 6: in Bill Belichick. It's the best coach in today's NFL.
Speaker 6: And if he is, how does he steer this weird
Speaker 6: offensive roster through the dark thicket of the AFC East
Speaker 6: and beyond great defense? We get it, But I see
Speaker 6: the worst QB in the division, all right, the lowest
Speaker 6: gaggle of why so banged up offensive line with issues
Speaker 6: of tackle and zero X factor on this side of
Speaker 6: the ball.
Speaker 7: Where are we six months from now?
Speaker 6: And if things go south to conspiracy theories around the
Speaker 6: idea of as Corporal's like to say, sun setting Bill
Speaker 6: Belichick as a Patriots coach become a reality. And if
Speaker 6: Belichick can be fired, what stops one thousands? What stops
Speaker 6: one thousand alien crafts from invading next? That would be
Speaker 6: a weird, like a very strange world we live in,
Speaker 6: but it seems more possible than ever before. If you're
Speaker 6: not a Patriots fan, this is the most interesting Patriots
Speaker 6: season ever.
Speaker 2: Mark's still trying to get Belichick back to Cleveland.
Speaker 5: He's still trying to get the Aliens invading. I think
Speaker 5: Belichick's answer would be or at least mine as a Homer,
Speaker 5: what he has up his sleeve is that defense. If
Speaker 5: he's still got it, it has to show up in
Speaker 5: this defense because he's been building up this defense to
Speaker 5: this moment for about three years and they're kind of
Speaker 5: fully formed. They've got some really young, intriguing players like
Speaker 5: Christian Barbera. They have guys who have been there for
Speaker 5: a long time wise, and you know Larry Guy and
Speaker 5: the three safeties. You got Kyle Duggery, you have the
Speaker 5: two Joneses at cornerback. You love this rookie quarterback, Like
Speaker 5: if they can still make a difference on defense, this
Speaker 5: is the time. This is Belichick because offensively, maybe you're right,
Speaker 5: but that's not going to be his VALI wick. He's
Speaker 5: hoping to be twenty second on defense, I think an offense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, nobody's punning on Bill Belichick in general, I think,
Speaker 4: but maybe you bring Andy Reid into the conversation and
Speaker 4: you look, because part of being a good coach is
Speaker 4: developing a staff around you. And the decision with Matt
Speaker 4: Patricia was just so baffling for everybody. It's kind of like, well, hey,
Speaker 4: Bill can't always do everything all of the time, and
Speaker 4: so I think the team is going to be good.
Speaker 4: They're clearly going to be better and it kind of
Speaker 4: gets restored, but it's hard to erase what was a
Speaker 4: disastrous mistake in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: It still goes on the list, and it makes me wonder.
Speaker 2: And I think part of this is just recalibrating expectations
Speaker 2: of what the Patriots are and what comes out of
Speaker 2: a season for them, because we're still living in the
Speaker 2: after effects of nine super Bowls and eighteen years or whatever.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I think they're a middle of the road team,
Speaker 2: and I don't think I think Belichick still has it.
Speaker 2: There was no medical incident that we know of. The
Speaker 2: Patricia move was baffling, but I think he's gonna coach
Speaker 2: up the day and they're gonna win probably between six
Speaker 2: and nine games. This world will go on.
Speaker 5: The schedule is so much suffer if he if they
Speaker 5: only win six or seven games. I don't think he'd
Speaker 5: be back next year.
Speaker 6: Had they gone and got like DeAndre Hopkins, you've got
Speaker 6: to and he's here, he is what we think he is.
Speaker 7: You got a starting guy.
Speaker 6: I just don't I think everyone's being pushed up the
Speaker 6: charts a little bit where you're not really where you
Speaker 6: should be slotted as wide receiver on the team got
Speaker 6: a bunch of guys, but it's like, who scares you
Speaker 6: if you're a defensive coordinator going against this offense?
Speaker 7: This is twenty.
Speaker 3: That's the idea I think is Rimandre and old Zeke.
Speaker 1: They can't be worse?
Speaker 3: Should we? Should we take a time out here and
Speaker 3: talk a little? Uh?
Speaker 1: Take it Grid?
Speaker 2: I don't know, step On No, Actually it's a TV timeouts.
Speaker 2: It's the end of the quarter, so we can do
Speaker 2: it without blowing it up. What does that even mean
Speaker 2: the end of the first quarter? Well, I was gonna talk,
Speaker 2: take a time out and talk a little, Zapi. You
Speaker 2: don't have They're in a chiev e timeout. So it's great.
Speaker 2: We actually timing worked out.
Speaker 1: For him a little, save the tomouts he did.
Speaker 5: He did not approve of your Sannis planned all three timeouts.
Speaker 5: I thought we're doing a little cutdown Recapa any time out, Yeah, Zappi.
Speaker 5: In terms of like having things planned out, I think
Speaker 5: the fact that they cut Bailey Zappi and he made
Speaker 5: it through waivers and now he's their practice squad backup
Speaker 5: quarterback and I assume he'll be elevated if they don't
Speaker 5: find another quarterback. But it does make it feel like
Speaker 5: they're still winging it here on offense.
Speaker 2: If I'm Mac Jones, I'm pretty pumped up about Baillie's
Speaker 2: Zappie summer because it removed any heat around him having
Speaker 2: to play for his job in September and everything.
Speaker 1: Why was there a heat from Bailey Zappi any.
Speaker 5: There never was except from the most basic of Patriots fans.
Speaker 2: I saw a guy wearing a jersey had a game
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 7: People that are paying tickets to go to the game.
Speaker 5: Greg Right, Yeah, they were the most basic of like
Speaker 5: w e I listeners who thought this guy at a
Speaker 5: future When Mac Jones had a nice little rookie year
Speaker 5: and Bailey Zappie was never a threat, it was almost
Speaker 5: a shot from Belichick to that guy.
Speaker 6: I mean, Billy Zachy came in and destroyed the Lions
Speaker 6: and beat the Browns and then came in off the
Speaker 6: bench against Mac Jones when Matt Jones looked, you know,
Speaker 6: had problems. Great for a couple of minutes, then he
Speaker 6: melted against the Bears. But that that's not that crazy
Speaker 6: that a fan base would start to go in New
Speaker 6: England would start to go over wild Frame late round
Speaker 6: white quarterback.
Speaker 3: Sure, it's not crazy.
Speaker 2: That the old late the quarterback.
Speaker 5: That any fan base goes for like a backup, but
Speaker 5: they were they were.
Speaker 2: Shirt so uh a little tight in the peck area. Wow.
Speaker 2: And the sleeves.
Speaker 5: It's almost like you sized it's preseason. Maybe I'm just
Speaker 5: sizing up, you know. There we go on, it's preseason.
Speaker 3: You gotta get the shirt sitting where you can.
Speaker 7: It's a nice fit.
Speaker 5: Uh, let's just run through a couple interesting there were
Speaker 5: a couple of backup quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: TV over they're coming back and.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jonathan Taylor on Pop we know he's out for
Speaker 3: four weeks.
Speaker 2: That that might really handled that.
Speaker 5: Some kicker trades will Latts to the Broncos, that's fun.
Speaker 5: Nick Folk to the Titans, that's fun, your boy. Kade
Speaker 5: York on the Titans practice my boy still though, Chris
Speaker 5: Jones and Nick Bosa updates. Alberto to the Eagles. Von
Speaker 5: Miller We mentioned.
Speaker 2: It because the Eagles traded for him. It's it's perceived
Speaker 2: as if they got a young Travis Kelcey in this deal,
Speaker 2: and it's like, all right, we get it. You all
Speaker 2: love the Eagles and everything they do.
Speaker 3: Kyle Allen is the becco Chamber.
Speaker 2: Chamber, Chamber, I love that for the Eagles. All Right,
Speaker 2: we're back AFC North, starting with not me right, yes, me,
Speaker 2: the Bengals. No team, Let's get the whistle. No team
Speaker 2: has ever won the AFC North three years in a row.
Speaker 2: Do you know that? Did not know that? I believe
Speaker 2: the Bengals are fixing to make history. They nearly won
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl with their Cinderella run in twenty one,
Speaker 2: then fell short of the Big Game last season, even
Speaker 2: though they had the better team last year. That's funny
Speaker 2: how sports work. They bring the bulk of their quarterback.
Speaker 2: They're a little worse at tight end, They're potentially a
Speaker 2: lot better at left tackle. Orlando Brown deep talented, battle tested,
Speaker 2: roster superstarquarterback in this prime. As long as this CAF
Speaker 2: is okay, it's not practicing yet. He did today, good, excellent.
Speaker 2: If the offensive line and Burrow hold up physically, this
Speaker 2: is the number one seed in the AFC. And that
Speaker 2: ain't a question, that's a fact. Jack.
Speaker 6: I'd like to see this. They came out of the
Speaker 6: gate last year zero and two. The Burrow CAF thing,
Speaker 6: I mean, just because it's like the kind of injury
Speaker 6: where like you're just sort of sitting there with your
Speaker 6: fingers crossed that it doesn't resurface.
Speaker 2: On some level, I'm working under assumption that they played
Speaker 2: this smart and gave him extra time to get the date.
Speaker 2: Hopefully so yeah, hopefully nobody wants to Joe barroget Her.
Speaker 3: Yes, it doesn't have a contract, which may be that should.
Speaker 6: Come out in the next couple of days. That needs
Speaker 6: to be getting Browns. You're the Browns in week one
Speaker 6: and the Ravens in week two. These are huge games
Speaker 6: right away for a team that I mean, I think
Speaker 6: number one, you have Louis Arama Rumo back.
Speaker 7: That is consistency. I love that for them.
Speaker 6: He could have been hired away, but you lost a
Speaker 6: major chunk of your secondary. I kind of like the
Speaker 6: pieces they put in there, but there's some moving parts.
Speaker 6: I don't love what's happening with Jonah Williams at right tackle.
Speaker 6: And you mentioned the thin situation at tight end. I mean,
Speaker 6: there are some changes on this roster that leave some questions.
Speaker 5: They're a little thin. There's certainly thin at tight end.
Speaker 5: The running back room has questions. I love the defense.
Speaker 5: I love cam Taylor Britt how he played at the
Speaker 5: end of last year, they get Uzi back, so that's
Speaker 5: actually a big addition. I mean that's their best cornerback.
Speaker 5: I think they're confident in daxx Hill in his second year,
Speaker 5: Like getting into Rumo back, it really does feel like
Speaker 5: him back, The continuity on defense, the relative youth and
Speaker 5: experience combination, Like they to me are the most window
Speaker 5: team right now.
Speaker 3: Not that they'll go away in any way.
Speaker 5: But like you're not gonna have t Higgins, Jamar Chase,
Speaker 5: and Tyler Boyd ever again, this is Tyler Boyd's last
Speaker 5: year in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4: I just can't help but get over, Like I'm trying
Speaker 4: to get over the fact that Jesse Bates played ninety
Speaker 4: eight percent of the snaps last year. Von Bell played
Speaker 4: ninety nine percent of the snaps last year. They had
Speaker 4: so much I don't think we could just like handwave
Speaker 4: that away. We know the offense has been very good,
Speaker 4: it's going to continue to be good. But though these
Speaker 4: the secondary made so many plays.
Speaker 5: But like I can't get I guess question would be,
Speaker 5: who was Von Bell before he was with this team.
Speaker 5: Not that he's not a talented guy, but this team
Speaker 5: to me, can help make these players.
Speaker 2: They've done a good job developing guys and setting up
Speaker 2: for the next guy to come in. And I guess
Speaker 2: it's a little bit of faith in the Bengals operation,
Speaker 2: which is say, but we'll see they could take a
Speaker 2: step back, There's no doubt about it. And Brian Callahan's
Speaker 2: also back at OC. Their defense last year plus fifty
Speaker 2: one second half point differential Wow, plus seventy if you
Speaker 2: include the three playoff games. Captain loub the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Speaker 2: Greg Rosehalt, all.
Speaker 5: Right, we've given the young offense a lot of love.
Speaker 5: They're primed. We can get to them if you want.
Speaker 5: But it's been a minute since Mike Tomlin had a
Speaker 5: difference making defense, and I think he's got a chance
Speaker 5: this year. It's one of the reasons why I think
Speaker 5: Mark's twelve win prediction is looking great right now, because
Speaker 5: the offense is fun, but the defense has Teacher in
Speaker 5: his prime. Cameron Hayward's still playing at a very high level.
Speaker 5: Alex high Smith a great second pass rusher who got
Speaker 5: some money.
Speaker 3: We've loved what we saw Nick Krbig, Marcus Golden.
Speaker 5: Like this is a pass rush with some good guys
Speaker 5: up front. Two that could be one of the better
Speaker 5: groups in the league, and I want to see it
Speaker 5: from Tomlin. Tomlan we talk about as a potential future
Speaker 5: Hall of Fame coach. He is great on overall, but
Speaker 5: he's also a defensive guy, and I think this defense
Speaker 5: is what really could put them over the top and
Speaker 5: compete with Cincinnati to win this don't you.
Speaker 6: Think also, like the where Patrick Peterson might not work
Speaker 6: out somewhere else, I feeling he's going to work out
Speaker 6: in Pittsburgh. Joey Porter, I was pushing for that draft
Speaker 6: pick the entire time you mentioned Harvick. I think like
Speaker 6: you're starting to see depth. This is a team that
Speaker 6: found a way to win without TJ. Watt for the
Speaker 6: vast majority of last season. You got him back. We
Speaker 6: love the offense. Like I just think twelve wins in
Speaker 6: this division is not out of control. Because Tomlin doesn't
Speaker 6: do things other than win nine games plus every season.
Speaker 2: I think twelve wins is out of control.
Speaker 7: It is not out of control.
Speaker 2: With the Cincinnati Bengals in the division and no dog
Speaker 2: in the division. I don't think. I think twelve is
Speaker 2: a lot to ask.
Speaker 6: It's it's out there, but I think it's very possible.
Speaker 7: There's not a big weakness on this team.
Speaker 4: Twelve might not be enough to win the division. It
Speaker 4: could be it could be that competitive. Looking looking at things,
Speaker 4: my I just the Matt Canada situation. He's gotten so
Speaker 4: much criticism, but I think that the success has been
Speaker 4: relative to what they've had on offense, and we saw
Speaker 4: towards the end of the year where Kenny Pickett started
Speaker 4: to figure things out. I don't see a problem with
Speaker 4: it overall. I think the offense will be find As
Speaker 4: Greg said that they're young and exciting, a really good team.
Speaker 1: I don't think twelve is. I don't think twelve is.
Speaker 6: Think of the red zone offense, like they added Dornell Washington,
Speaker 6: like the tight end, this massive bodied human that looks
Speaker 6: bigger than anyone else around him. Like, I think they're
Speaker 6: gonna be dangerous.
Speaker 7: I'm with you. I think Canada like got over some
Speaker 7: of his issues potentially.
Speaker 5: I love the depth because Friarmouth is a great starter,
Speaker 5: and then you have a nice right like Naja Harris
Speaker 5: is a solid starter. You have a great backup in Warren.
Speaker 5: I think Pickens needs to go to another level for
Speaker 5: this to be a great team.
Speaker 2: Obviously. I'm in the I'm already here. It feels like
Speaker 2: this room thinks the Steelers are gonna be a superpower
Speaker 2: this year. I'm just not ready to go there yet.
Speaker 3: And you guys, I don't even know if I like
Speaker 3: it more than the race.
Speaker 2: Bro all you want if they're seven and one in October,
Speaker 2: but we'll see.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 5: I'm not with twelve wins because I'm confident the rest
Speaker 5: of the division is so good.
Speaker 2: I like the first two weeks they have home for
Speaker 2: San Francisco home versus Cleveland. If you are a big
Speaker 2: time team, two dubs.
Speaker 6: They learned about close games at the end of last
Speaker 6: year with pick It Too. I just think like something
Speaker 6: about them, like because I think the way pick It
Speaker 6: through in the preseason, Like if that none of that happened,
Speaker 6: I'd be in a different place.
Speaker 2: And look out, San Francisco Cleveland, you get two wins,
Speaker 2: then at La Vegas at Houston.
Speaker 1: Nice, very nice.
Speaker 2: Baltimore Ravens Mark Selick, all right.
Speaker 6: The Ravens are, you know, widely seen as a playoff
Speaker 6: team in a post Greg Roman world. We're about to
Speaker 6: witness the unveiling of Todd Monkins offense with a better
Speaker 6: group of wideouts on paper than Lamar Jackson ever enjoyed,
Speaker 6: and yet reports out a camp somewhat if he on
Speaker 6: the new offense. What if Greg Roman knew that a
Speaker 6: pass happy attack wouldn't work with his QB. There are
Speaker 6: holes on defense. It's going to take more than Genevian
Speaker 6: Clowney to save the day rushing the passer. Think that
Speaker 6: the cornerback position is a hospital room. The Ravens are
Speaker 6: seen as a legit contender, but I'm not sure they're
Speaker 6: unquestionably better than anyone in their own division, much less
Speaker 6: the Chiefs, Bills, Jaguars or Chargers or the rest of
Speaker 6: the AFC East.
Speaker 7: Am I two down on this team?
Speaker 2: Well, you're questioning that Greg Roman doesn't know anything, which
Speaker 2: is now stated fact that Greg Roman is bad, and
Speaker 2: it's he's holding the Ravens back in full Patrick ahead.
Speaker 1: Well, where's Greg Roman coaching?
Speaker 7: Now?
Speaker 4: I'm sure Greg romanedingly coaching commander and somebody's.
Speaker 2: Ails which aren't bad at all either.
Speaker 4: No, no, they're certainly not. But he also there were
Speaker 4: players that were a part of that as well, And
Speaker 4: I think if Greg Roman thought that they couldn't pass
Speaker 4: the ball, then having pat Riccard run twenty yard dig
Speaker 4: routes might have been a questionable decision at the time.
Speaker 3: They didn't have any receivers last year because to.
Speaker 4: Be honest, why looking people look at wide receiver production
Speaker 4: the most. The highest snap percentage that Hollywood Brown ever
Speaker 4: had in this offense was eighty percent. The reason Lamar
Speaker 4: wasn't targeting receivers a lot. You just didn't get receivers
Speaker 4: on the field that much. In terms of the offense,
Speaker 4: I think the offense will be successful regardless, but it
Speaker 4: gives them the capacity to do more. They might have
Speaker 4: topped out with Greg Roman, and I just personally feel
Speaker 4: like if he was offering that much, then he would
Speaker 4: be somewhere.
Speaker 5: I agree, just because his offenses tend to have shelf life.
Speaker 5: So it happened in San Francisco too, where it really
Speaker 5: got a little stale toward towards the end there. I
Speaker 5: think they're the highest ceiling team in this division really.
Speaker 5: I mean, I guess the bet they'd be tied with
Speaker 5: the Bengals, But to me, they have a chance to
Speaker 5: have a top three offense. But they also it could
Speaker 5: really not work, and it could also take a while
Speaker 5: to get going because there's so many new pieces, and
Speaker 5: you mentioned the huge questions on defense where I just
Speaker 5: don't see edge rushing, like they're not getting anything out
Speaker 5: of David Jabu by the way, in preseason, like there
Speaker 5: are there are certain things that you can you can
Speaker 5: call from preseason, and you mentioned the cornerback room like
Speaker 5: there are major questions. I just think they're boom er bust,
Speaker 5: like they could be twelve wins or they could be
Speaker 5: seven wins.
Speaker 4: Top two offense in the league since Lamar entered the league,
Speaker 4: when he's playing, worst offense in the league when they
Speaker 4: don't have.
Speaker 3: Lamar, Tyler Huntley is still on the roster.
Speaker 6: By the way, that Greg you was wrong, A bit
Speaker 6: of a disappointment for you because you were no what we'll.
Speaker 3: See in over the next week. I still think you
Speaker 3: might get traded.
Speaker 1: I mean, if Greg Roman couldn't make it work with
Speaker 1: Tyler Huntley, come on, now.
Speaker 5: Well we wanted we wanted it to work with Josh Johnson.
Speaker 5: I'm curious about this line too. Ronnie Stanley's like another
Speaker 5: Boomer bus guy, like, yeah, it sounds great to have
Speaker 5: Ronnie Stanley back. He wasn't quite Ronnie Stanley last year,
Speaker 5: and he doesn't stay on the field for sixteen years.
Speaker 2: The Cleveland Browns with Patrick claibont.
Speaker 4: Okay, so we just talked went through this division and
Speaker 4: we discussed a team in the Pittsburgh Steelers that has
Speaker 4: Deontay Johnson and George Pickens. Of course, all of the
Speaker 4: additions that the Rave have made at wide receivers. A
Speaker 4: Flowers Odell comes in to go with Rashad Bateman, and
Speaker 4: then T Higgins and Jamar Chase don't even need to
Speaker 4: be mentioned. The Cleveland Browns come in with a twenty
Speaker 4: second ranked passing offense last year. They paid the quarterback
Speaker 4: all of that money, and their wide receiver too is
Speaker 4: a Jets throw away or you know, now I'm blanking
Speaker 4: on DPJ. Also, is that enough to properly even evaluate
Speaker 4: this off do this? Do the Browns have enough talent
Speaker 4: at wide receiver to make this work?
Speaker 3: I think it was.
Speaker 6: You know, they came into the offseason with that as
Speaker 6: one of their clear, clear positional need. If Elijah Moore
Speaker 6: is like what all the hype says he is, and
Speaker 6: I think that's a real question mark at this point
Speaker 6: because they're talking about like he's doing a lot of
Speaker 6: Jets sweep stuff. And all this other pisode's like, is
Speaker 6: he what they want wide receiver? I think Cedric Tillman,
Speaker 6: the rookie, there's some promise there. They have bell from
Speaker 6: a year ago. It's like, if these guys work out,
Speaker 6: you've got a room. Amari Cooper seems like it can
Speaker 6: still play. To me, you have to like factor in
Speaker 6: Dave and the Djoku to some degree. There is a
Speaker 6: big part of that attack. But I think it's a
Speaker 6: wait and see. It's a wait and see because also,
Speaker 6: who is DeShawn Watson shown true chemistry with There's no
Speaker 6: evidence of that so far except other side of Nadjoku.
Speaker 5: If they don't work out, I don't think it's the
Speaker 5: receivers because I just think they're a model of a
Speaker 5: team that gets great pass protection and great run blocking,
Speaker 5: and that's what makes the receivers work.
Speaker 3: Kind of like Green Bay.
Speaker 5: Used to be, kind of like the Patriots used to
Speaker 5: be in the right year, that a great quarterback can
Speaker 5: elevate your wide receivers if you have great protection a
Speaker 5: great running game. The problem is like there's no expectations
Speaker 5: of Doshaun Watson to be a great quarterback, like he
Speaker 5: should be elevating everyone people are kind of hoping that
Speaker 5: he's back to being above average.
Speaker 2: So the expectation I mean of.
Speaker 5: Him to be great, of him to like make his
Speaker 5: receivers great, him to be a top five type of quarterback,
Speaker 5: I don't feel like I think that would be a surprise.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe I think it's.
Speaker 6: It's one of the question marks hanging out there like
Speaker 6: the Browns thought they were getting.
Speaker 5: My point is with that line aligne that good and
Speaker 5: a good quarterback could make the receivers and the receivers
Speaker 5: aren't terrible.
Speaker 2: And what we're gonna we're doing our season preview and
Speaker 2: predictions next week, like, yes, this could all go terribly
Speaker 2: for the Browns, and a lot of it hinges on
Speaker 2: the QB as much as you don't want to simplify it,
Speaker 2: but yeah, there is the other side of it where
Speaker 2: he plays really well and there's a lot of pieces
Speaker 2: here on both sides of the ball. And I wonder
Speaker 2: if this is the year you finally get that defensive
Speaker 2: player of the year from Miles Garrett and Nick Chubb.
Speaker 2: Is he gonna be more active in the passing game
Speaker 2: and we see another dimension to the offense in that realm,
Speaker 2: you know, Mark, I love David Njoko. Maybe he's a
Speaker 2: Pro Bowl guy this year. With a full year with Watson,
Speaker 2: there's reason for optimism.
Speaker 6: I think a huge factor is that Jim Schwartz is
Speaker 6: just like if you're Miles Garrett, your Zadarius Smith. This offense,
Speaker 6: this defense is uncomplicated. Just go rush the quarterback and
Speaker 6: like Miles Garrett, is set up for a defensive Player
Speaker 6: of the Year type situation.
Speaker 8: Oh fast, got him right in the jugglar, been shot twice,
Speaker 8: got your ace right in the jugular.
Speaker 2: Let's take a break halftime. But before we hit a break,
Speaker 2: I want everyone to know.
Speaker 7: Sam Spence NFL films.
Speaker 2: Yes, around the NFL and NFL plus together in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty eight three, we're gonna have two shows. A Monday
Speaker 2: game rewatch our Game of the Week Thursday. We're gonna
Speaker 2: have all sorts of your favorite ATN segments and other surprises,
Speaker 2: all in bite sized form. And I want to put
Speaker 2: this on the radar. And this is Patrick. This is
Speaker 2: important because I don't even know if you know about this, Patrick,
Speaker 2: and you're in the ATN family. Patrick doesn't have a
Speaker 2: windscreen on his mic and it's freaking me out. Man.
Speaker 2: The Thursday at n NFL Plus show, We're gonna have
Speaker 2: the fans involved. We want the fans to submit video
Speaker 2: entries that we will react to. The crazier, the better mark.
Speaker 2: We want you to let your freak flag fly and
Speaker 2: share your opinions about the NFL questions you have to us.
Speaker 2: Not the one about would you fight tiny thousand ducks
Speaker 2: or giant one duck? None of that stuff rives on island,
Speaker 2: no desert island survival stuff. But be part of the show.
Speaker 2: We know how creative our listeners are. We're setting you
Speaker 2: loose to be a part of our Thursday NFL Plus.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we've got, you know, fleets of musicians, actors, actresses,
Speaker 6: female musicians, male male assassins, female assassins like these are
Speaker 6: our talented individuals who have a voice. And it's like,
Speaker 6: if you don't have NFL Plus, you're walking around your
Speaker 6: neighborhood like that loser that you when you're driving buyers
Speaker 6: a losers walking.
Speaker 2: Oh look, it's a loser.
Speaker 7: It's a loser.
Speaker 2: Oh I'm sorry. Is that the mimosa stabber feeling stabby Chris? Anyway,
Speaker 2: this is how you get in touch with a video
Speaker 2: entry atn Fan of theweek at gmail dot com. Send
Speaker 2: in your videos. Don't make them too long. That will
Speaker 2: work against you. Crisp crisp tight, creative, fun and if
Speaker 2: they're good enough and they tickle our fancy, it will
Speaker 2: be on our show. Everybody wins. Everybody have a BOMA
Speaker 2: that's incredible atn plus. NFL plus coming your way starting
Speaker 2: next week. We'll be right back. All right, welcome back,
Speaker 2: and we move on now to the third quarter of
Speaker 2: around the AFC in forty eight minutes to the AFC South.
Speaker 2: Interesting little division, and let's start with Greg Rosenthal and
Speaker 2: the Tennessee Titan.
Speaker 5: Okay, I look at the Titans defensive line, really their
Speaker 5: defense as a whole. I see a good group. I
Speaker 5: see a pretty loaded group up front. And then I
Speaker 5: look at the three big names on this roster that
Speaker 5: people know the best. Ryan Tannehill, can you give us
Speaker 5: one more surprise? People always think Tannehill's, you know, just
Speaker 5: a mediocre quarterback.
Speaker 3: He's been a good quarterback there.
Speaker 5: DeAndre Hopkins, could he get that second team boost for
Speaker 5: a Hall of Fame case? And Mike Rabel if he's
Speaker 5: really one of the best coaches in the league, which
Speaker 5: we were all saying halfway through last year and the
Speaker 5: year before when he won the Coach of the Year.
Speaker 5: If they're all that good, why not go win the Division?
Speaker 5: Tennessee Titan Man, you hate the Jaguars, I do not,
Speaker 5: you do.
Speaker 3: I just don't.
Speaker 2: Bet you're looking for a reason to pick anyone else
Speaker 2: other than the Jaguars. And now you've still some think.
Speaker 5: There's there's some huge separation when the Titans were destroyed
Speaker 5: by injuries, including that quarterback and had to lead over
Speaker 5: a Jaguars team and who struggled to beat the Titans
Speaker 5: in Josh Dobbs, by the way in the game.
Speaker 6: That really helps the problem with what you're talking about, though,
Speaker 6: because like so I think Frabil is that guy I'm with.
Speaker 3: He's that guy. He's got the defense, he's got some he.
Speaker 6: Also has the worst offensive line in football. And that's
Speaker 6: how Tannehill got hurt a year ago. Is just beaten
Speaker 6: up week after week.
Speaker 2: Then you're looking at what Malik willis or will the
Speaker 2: old Ryan Tannehill.
Speaker 7: Right, No, but Tannehill can still play.
Speaker 6: But like there is another world where maybe Dereck Henry
Speaker 6: hit the wall, I mean hope not. Maybe DeAndre hops
Speaker 6: Hopkins is like late period Julio Jones versus the last
Speaker 6: version we saw of Hopkins. So it's like in those situations,
Speaker 6: you've got one of the thinnest wide out groups in
Speaker 6: the league, the worst offensive line in football, and a
Speaker 6: lot of other questions on that side of the ball,
Speaker 6: So you need your defense to hold teams to nine
Speaker 6: or ten.
Speaker 3: Points just on the O line.
Speaker 2: Quickly.
Speaker 5: They had the worst offensive line in the league, I
Speaker 5: would say over the last two to three years, and
Speaker 5: it might be the worst now. It's a lot of
Speaker 5: different players, it's different coaching, and so you're right that
Speaker 5: they need to creep closer to average there. But they
Speaker 5: do have a top ten pick, they have a guy
Speaker 5: they paid a lot at left tackle, they have different
Speaker 5: healthier players, so they're hoping and you're right, that's that's
Speaker 5: in their way.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And the Tenhill injury did so much to the
Speaker 4: perception of the team because it happened at a point
Speaker 4: in the year. Derek Henry could have easily led the
Speaker 4: league in rushing again last year, but the offense just
Speaker 4: fell off such a cliff. You put Malik Willison in
Speaker 4: a situation where he probably shouldn't have even been playing
Speaker 4: at that point, and he had to play a meaningful
Speaker 4: time in meaningful games. It was just a bad situation.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying it because I have questions about the
Speaker 4: Jacks two. They might be Greg's exact questions, but I
Speaker 4: think it's it's way early to write Tennessee off considering
Speaker 4: what they had.
Speaker 3: They've been trying to write off Tannehill's whole career.
Speaker 2: I like I like Tannehill. I've been speaking with regret
Speaker 2: about banging the under on this team because of figures
Speaker 2: like Tannehill and Henry and Vrabel. However, is there a
Speaker 2: higher Jeffrey Simmons? Is there a higher variance with a
Speaker 2: one two wide receiver combo than Hopkins, who could be
Speaker 2: cooked or could be good?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 2: And Treylon Burks who's entering year two. He's back at practice,
Speaker 2: which is good this week, but they need him to
Speaker 2: really kind of fulfill his draft potential. Those guys flop.
Speaker 2: The offense has nowhere to go but on Henry up next,
Speaker 2: the Indianapolis Colts. Oh, the Colts. Matron marksis all right.
Speaker 6: We get the whole Jonathan Taylor thing a disaster. We've
Speaker 6: spent a lot of time on that. Let's peer elsewhere.
Speaker 6: What's a positive? If you're Shane Steiken, you might have
Speaker 6: the most intriguing player in the entire division in Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 6: But this is a quarterback with three hundred and ninety
Speaker 6: three college attempts all right, just thirteen starts and outrageous
Speaker 6: fifty three point eight completion percentage. These are major outliers.
Speaker 6: The closest comp would be Trey Lance, who had three
Speaker 6: hundred and eighteen college attempts. Jalen Hurtz Stikeen's masterpiece still
Speaker 6: at one thousand plus throws in college with a nearly
Speaker 6: seventy percent completion percentage his senior year. It wasn't like
Speaker 6: this guy that couldn't play turned into a player. So
Speaker 6: I am genuinely excited to see Richardson. But do we
Speaker 6: trust this hot and cold organization to handle the development
Speaker 6: of this extremely unusual specimen.
Speaker 5: I trust Shane Steiken. I don't trust the organization because
Speaker 5: I think the organization is the problem with Jonathan Taylor
Speaker 5: right now. The fact that they were reportedly asking for
Speaker 5: Jalen Waddle plus picks for Nathan Taylor, he means they
Speaker 5: didn't want to make they actually it made me think
Speaker 5: they want to give him. The front office wants to
Speaker 5: give him the contract he wants, but ownership isn't ready
Speaker 5: to swallow its pride yet. And it's like, maybe they
Speaker 5: can make it happen, but without Taylor Man. Even if
Speaker 5: Shane Steichen and Richardson are a perfect marriage, and I
Speaker 5: think they will be, there's not enough around him to
Speaker 5: win enough games right now.
Speaker 4: And you wonder what it takes, because clearly Anthony Richardson
Speaker 4: has to buy in for his NFL career and whatnot.
Speaker 4: But watching this situation unfold, a guy who's a leader
Speaker 4: in the locker room, who's been really good player on
Speaker 4: the team have to go through this, Like what kind
Speaker 4: of feeling mitigates through the rest of the of the roster,
Speaker 4: especially from the quarterback from the standpoint, especially when they're
Speaker 4: going to run the ball so much and you would
Speaker 4: like to have that centerpiece of your offense, but you
Speaker 4: can't even get him in there because of this situation.
Speaker 4: So like, as much as we don't need to talk
Speaker 4: about it, because we have talked about it's so central
Speaker 4: I think to the development or at least the first
Speaker 4: season of Anthony Richardson that it's hard.
Speaker 2: To look past looking have the depth chart around Richard
Speaker 2: if you take Taylor out of it, and at the
Speaker 2: very least he's out for the first four weeks, Zach Moss,
Speaker 2: Deon Jackson, and a rookie Evan Hall.
Speaker 3: I think Hall is the starter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have Michael Pittman. Okay, we could live with
Speaker 2: Michael Pitton. He could be He's good, he could be great.
Speaker 2: Alec Pierce a second round pick last year, Isaiah McKenzie
Speaker 2: there now in the slot. I don't know. We got
Speaker 2: to see is the offensive line gonna bounce back after
Speaker 2: last year? And does the team have the stomach to
Speaker 2: go through the growing pains of Anthony Richardson, which there
Speaker 2: will be. There has to be. Unless he's a phenom
Speaker 2: that we're not. We haven't seen in a long time.
Speaker 2: He's he's gonna be learning on the.
Speaker 5: Job, but they're also going to be trailing that defense,
Speaker 5: like the secondary is maybe the most questionable secondary in
Speaker 5: the entire.
Speaker 7: And untrafted players and rookies in.
Speaker 3: Rookie it's crazy.
Speaker 5: They have a lot of roster holes that even if
Speaker 5: Richardson wins Offensive Rookie, he can win Offensive Rookie of
Speaker 5: the Year and they could win six games. I've just
Speaker 5: seen Sam Bradford action like.
Speaker 6: Ownership, front office, coaching staff not all on the same page.
Speaker 2: Oh, c Jim ob Cooter JBC. Yeah, you gotta take that,
Speaker 2: you gotta take that.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to.
Speaker 2: The Houston Texans. Houston's offense ranked dead last in expected
Speaker 2: points added for play last year. Okay, that that leads
Speaker 2: to the number two overall picks. DJ Stroud should have
Speaker 2: been the first pick they watched that, but you know,
Speaker 2: Stroud could be great anyway. New coaches, a new quarterback,
Speaker 2: some new weapons. Hopefully that changes things. Bobby slowick Slowick
Speaker 2: Slow Slow. He's from the Shanahan coaching tree ys nice.
Speaker 2: All that's good. So you have one of the most
Speaker 2: accurate quarterbacks in college joining a Shanahan system. I'm at
Speaker 2: least excited to watch what the Texans have on offense,
Speaker 2: even if the weapons aren't high end. You have a
Speaker 2: promising running back behind the rookie, at least the Texans
Speaker 2: for the first time since Deshaun Watson before the scandal hit.
Speaker 2: There's something to watch on this offense.
Speaker 6: I think there's also, like we talked a couple weeks
Speaker 6: ago about you know, Dimiko Ryans and is he safe
Speaker 6: in our hot butts rankings?
Speaker 7: Like, yes, I think he is.
Speaker 6: I mean I don't trust this ownership group to your point, Dan,
Speaker 6: but I think there's some patients and there needs to
Speaker 6: be patients with CJ.
Speaker 7: Stroud.
Speaker 6: I mean, we didn't see a whole lot of them
Speaker 6: in the preseason, but the one thing that was consistent
Speaker 6: with his college tape was, man, when he throws, he's
Speaker 6: a couple throws a game where you're just like, there
Speaker 6: aren't that many people that throw the ball with that
Speaker 6: amount of beauty, And like, I do think that, Like
Speaker 6: he's a high growth potential quarterback. No quarterback in a
Speaker 6: two year window in the Big Ten history had more
Speaker 6: touchdowns than he did. So it's like he's done it.
Speaker 6: He played a lot of college football.
Speaker 5: And how quickly are these guys going to get open?
Speaker 5: I thought the offensive line was shaping up to potentially
Speaker 5: be a real strength, but you struggles a little hurt
Speaker 5: right now. They had to trade for a guard. They
Speaker 5: Titus Howard is hurt right now. They actually lost their center,
Speaker 5: their original center for the season, who maybe wasn't got
Speaker 5: to start. But they right off the bat, they're down
Speaker 5: about four offensive linemen. You hate to see that in
Speaker 5: front of a rookie quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you lose Kenyan Green to ir in a preseason game.
Speaker 2: That is as bad as bad.
Speaker 4: As it gets, especially considering where this roster was a
Speaker 4: few seasons ago, even till last year. They're gonna be
Speaker 4: thin because they just have to come back from what
Speaker 4: was a team that essentially didn't seem like it was
Speaker 4: putting its best effort forward. And so to suddenly go to, hey,
Speaker 4: the Texans are trying. Now, you're gonna have to have
Speaker 4: some guys really just stay clean, stay healthy, and to
Speaker 4: have that happened, it's gonna hurt a little bit, But
Speaker 4: at least we do need to consider where they were.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 5: One reason the higher dimigo Ryans is it's been proven
Speaker 5: it's not that hard historically to go from a pretty
Speaker 5: poor defense to an above average defense. A coach and energy,
Speaker 5: tackling fundamental. Certainly some talent in the secondary with Petrie
Speaker 5: and Ward, and you got Anderson up front, like they
Speaker 5: could go to a frisky defense right off the bat.
Speaker 2: I think that's his predecessor. Robert Salad did the same
Speaker 2: thing right York, so he can do that. The skilled
Speaker 2: players Xavier Hutchinson a little bit of a Darth throat,
Speaker 2: tanked Dell wide receiver. Are you and the Robert Woods
Speaker 2: is an actually cooked bandwagon? If you are, maybe you
Speaker 2: feel good. I don't feel good, But listen, all right, Greg,
Speaker 2: sharpen your fangs. Here is Patrick Claiban on the defending
Speaker 2: Division champion Jaguars.
Speaker 4: So the Jacks made some cuts, most notably Doug Peterson
Speaker 4: cut his son yesterday. He got back on the PI
Speaker 4: better than me. I wouldn't be doing that, hey, son,
Speaker 4: you go yeah, you go ahead and fire me. They
Speaker 4: didn't cut Parker Washington a sixth wounder at whiteout. They're
Speaker 4: gonna carry seven windeouts as of right now. Doug loves
Speaker 4: his offense, not his son.
Speaker 5: I think he loves his son. That's why he's on
Speaker 5: the practice squad. He was not getting a lot of
Speaker 5: NFL interest for a few years before that.
Speaker 2: Doug Peterson hates his own son. That the headline.
Speaker 4: My only question about the Jags offense is what's to
Speaker 4: do in the meantime While Cam Robinson is dealing with
Speaker 4: this suspension, the question is defense. They didn't make any
Speaker 4: changes in the secondary. They were able to overcome that
Speaker 4: towards the end, but they'll need those guys to grow
Speaker 4: a whole lot. Is there enough growth in what's there,
Speaker 4: like guys like Campbell in that secondary to be what
Speaker 4: they need to be to win the division.
Speaker 6: I thought it was a weird offseason because yes, you exited,
Speaker 6: you know, January, thinking this is one of the new
Speaker 6: teams in the AFC. They're completely set on one side
Speaker 6: of the ball in many ways. Dwayne Smoot arden Key,
Speaker 6: two of their top three sack leaders from year ago exit.
Speaker 6: They don't draft the defensive player till the fourth round.
Speaker 6: It's like other teams well are rebuilding in one year.
Speaker 6: It's like you pour all your resources into your weakness,
Speaker 6: and the Jaguars did the opposite.
Speaker 5: They're building on strength. They're kind of like the old
Speaker 5: cult system and it might might not be a bad
Speaker 5: idea in this division.
Speaker 3: I'm not.
Speaker 5: I'm just down relative to consensus because I think there's
Speaker 5: a chance, to Patrick's point, that they could be a
Speaker 5: bottom five defense. I just think they're very thin at
Speaker 5: ed Rutger, not like a very promising cornerback group, and
Speaker 5: Boomer Buss at linebacker. Maybe it all works out, but
Speaker 5: they didn't really show that they were like coach that
Speaker 5: well on defense last year.
Speaker 2: To your point, the Trayvon Walker move is not looking
Speaker 2: good right now. This is a big year or two
Speaker 2: for him. Number one overall pick last year when you
Speaker 2: could have had Hutchinson, Calvin Ridley's there, and you know what,
Speaker 2: I don't think we talked about him enough. Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 2: is there, yes, and Lawrence really made a huge step
Speaker 2: last year, and I think you know, you want to
Speaker 2: talk about dark horse and in the MVP race, like
Speaker 2: Lawrence very much has a chance to become a superstar
Speaker 2: this year and that is going to lead to a
Speaker 2: blowout in this division.
Speaker 7: We don't know that. Like Trevor Lawrence has maxed out.
Speaker 6: I mean he had no year one obviously, so last
Speaker 6: year was essentially like the first look and he almost
Speaker 6: had like two seasons in one, and that second one
Speaker 6: was he and the offense were among the best in
Speaker 6: the entire conference. It's like we have but he's on
Speaker 6: level seven of ten. If he gets better, then they
Speaker 6: are a big problem in the South.
Speaker 3: I think that's the biggest question.
Speaker 5: Can he be a top five quarterback now for a
Speaker 5: seventeen game schedule, It's possible.
Speaker 4: Well, we saw all of it in the comebacks against
Speaker 4: Dallas and the one of the playoffs against the Chargers.
Speaker 4: But they had to come back in the first place, right.
Speaker 4: They built those deficits because they couldn't necessarily stop those
Speaker 4: offenses early. And I just wonder has that changed enough?
Speaker 5: So to me, yes, he's in his third year, But
Speaker 5: to me that that makes me think he's going to
Speaker 5: be better in year six and seven. And I'm not
Speaker 5: as convinced he's as lee out of the gate as Burrow,
Speaker 5: Herbert Lamar, some of the guys we've seen come up lately.
Speaker 7: Well, the gate was locked for the first year.
Speaker 3: Time out, Sessler, and this is the time out that
Speaker 3: you saved by.
Speaker 2: Not no, I'm winging it really, I'm like Todd Bowles,
Speaker 2: real confused and need somebody by my side. I just
Speaker 2: want to clarify my stance. I get a kick out
Speaker 2: if you're not liking the Jaguars. I don't love the Jaguars.
Speaker 2: In fact, if you look at what are the who
Speaker 2: are the four kind of favorites in the divisions in
Speaker 2: the AFC, it's the Bills. I guess the Bengals would
Speaker 2: be the popular pick. Overall, the Jaguars definitely in the South,
Speaker 2: and the Chiefs in the West. I would say the
Speaker 2: Jaguars of those four, I think you're definitely in beneath.
Speaker 3: I think you just hit on it. For me.
Speaker 5: You can't just pick all the favorites. And there's other
Speaker 5: three I feel good about.
Speaker 2: But you can. You could, but you won't.
Speaker 3: I don't want to.
Speaker 5: I truly do believe there's a special magic sauce in
Speaker 5: Tennessee that like, at the end of the year, you're
Speaker 5: gonna be like, how did they win ten games? Like
Speaker 5: there's an organizational belief that I have in them.
Speaker 7: That that I think they've done that. So it's not outrageous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it'll be interesting to see where the
Speaker 2: Jaguars come down because I think they are beneficiaries of
Speaker 2: a much weaker division.
Speaker 3: Than in schedule.
Speaker 5: You're right, I mean, there's opportunity for Tennessee and Jacksonville
Speaker 5: to have better records than people expect, just because the
Speaker 5: Colts in Texas could be that bad.
Speaker 6: The achieve like ride for months at a time over
Speaker 6: the past couple years with like a bottom five defense,
Speaker 6: and there's still winning in debtoning fe I mean I'm
Speaker 6: just not as concerned about the defensive statistics when you've
Speaker 6: got what they have on offense.
Speaker 2: And Doug Peterson's building something there. He built something in
Speaker 2: Philly with.
Speaker 1: Howie literally a new facility open this summer, thank god.
Speaker 1: And his film name is Soni Electric Complex.
Speaker 2: All right, let's head to the AFC West. I'm out
Speaker 2: of the doubting or even softly questioning Mahomes and Andy
Speaker 2: Reid game. It's a waste of time. I don't care
Speaker 2: if Travis Kelsey's a year older, or Canarius Tony is
Speaker 2: a stretch at wide receiver one, or Sky Moore is untested,
Speaker 2: or that they lost their left tackle and free agency,
Speaker 2: or and it sounds like doubting Isaiah Chenko, is he
Speaker 2: ready really to lead the backfield? I don't care whatever.
Speaker 2: Here's a crazy stat. I don't care about any of
Speaker 2: those things. Here's a crazy stat from Football Almanac. Last year,
Speaker 2: the chief saw their offensive DVOA improved from thirteen point
Speaker 2: six percent to twenty six point two percent, and they're
Speaker 2: passing DVOA specifically jump up from thirty four to seven
Speaker 2: to forty one one. That was with Juju Smith, Schuster
Speaker 2: and Marquez Valdi scanting is the top two wide outs
Speaker 2: and Tyreek Hill putting up seventeen hundred in Miami, it's stupid.
Speaker 2: The defense is young and perhaps perhaps punched above their
Speaker 2: weight class a little bit during their Super Bowl run.
Speaker 2: Then again, they also have maybe just found their footing
Speaker 2: and they could be even better. Chris Jones, I think
Speaker 2: he'll be there. La Jarius Snead, and then you have
Speaker 2: young guns like Trent McDuffie and George Carloftis who really
Speaker 2: stepped up down the stretch. So yeah, the offense above
Speaker 2: reproach and the defense has everything necessary to get to
Speaker 2: a floor of like middle of the pack. That's all
Speaker 2: you need. My only question, who did the Chiefs play
Speaker 2: in the AFC Championship win this year?
Speaker 7: I'm with you one hundred percent.
Speaker 5: I mean, according to you, the Bengals because you said
Speaker 5: they're in. Didn't you say it's a fact that what
Speaker 5: are they?
Speaker 3: Well, they were the best team in the conference, I
Speaker 3: believe the one seed.
Speaker 6: But you can ticket Kansas City, so there's your game. Absolutely,
Speaker 6: And like I like this way. Andy Reid is unquestionably
Speaker 6: the best coach in football for me because last year,
Speaker 6: at this time, in this various exercise, we were like,
Speaker 6: whoa are the Chiefs? What are they gonna be? Can
Speaker 6: we trust them anymore? It's like they refashioned their attack
Speaker 6: in one season and change that we do it now.
Speaker 6: I see them as more like they might have games
Speaker 6: where they're a power run game, a run team with
Speaker 6: Isaiah Pichaco, and then they've got the best interior offensive
Speaker 6: line in the entire conference and can beat you in
Speaker 6: new ways. And I simply trust him to take Mahomes,
Speaker 6: to take guys like Richie James, Kadarius Tony when he's healthy,
Speaker 6: and the rest of the crew and just find it
Speaker 6: through the air like there's no weakness, because Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 6: takes the weakness and turns it into a strength. In
Speaker 6: one week, break his ankle, he's running forty five yards
Speaker 6: again you in the next for the come on.
Speaker 5: I think he's gonna have to turn you know, those tackles,
Speaker 5: I guess could be a question. Juan Taylor right tackle,
Speaker 5: he should be fine. Donovan Smith left tackle. That's new,
Speaker 5: but there's not much. I think you hit on some
Speaker 5: of the names that are key to me. The key
Speaker 5: for the Chiefs staying where they are is they continued
Speaker 5: to find these young guys who aren't highly drafted that
Speaker 5: turn into really good players. McDuffie was a first round pick,
Speaker 5: but can they develop m McDuffie, can more step up?
Speaker 3: Can Karloftis step up? Because really he.
Speaker 5: Was okay last year, he wasn't great twelve. Nick Bolton
Speaker 5: be like a star. Keep developing these young guys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we saw Justin Ross a lot in the preseason.
Speaker 4: I'm starting to kind of park my ears up about
Speaker 4: what he's able to accomplish there. I do worry like
Speaker 4: Patrick Mahomes having to come back from ankle injuries and
Speaker 4: play through that. We're not you want to see less
Speaker 4: of that. It's the fact that it has to happen.
Speaker 4: But we're in Belichick lamb with retreads. We got Matt
Speaker 4: Nagy back an offensive coordinator. It's the parallels.
Speaker 1: He was looking. I think you got away. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was trying to stink it in there. Oh all right, justin.
Speaker 7: One of the most I got a huge clock to
Speaker 7: the left.
Speaker 3: I'm watching you guys over here.
Speaker 1: Our clock is not reflective.
Speaker 6: I guess I think it's fair for the producers to
Speaker 6: start to get a little, you know, irritated with us,
Speaker 6: and he sounded a little irritated.
Speaker 2: Right there. It's good.
Speaker 3: I'm giving hi leeway. This's a it's a weird chime.
Speaker 2: It's not really precise at the zero excuses, two excuses
Speaker 2: and right not fight. All right, we move on to
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles super Chargers.
Speaker 4: Okay, so the Chargers just picked up a cast of
Speaker 4: other teams discarded linebackers. Brandon Staley's defense was twenty first
Speaker 4: in points allowed last year finish twenty eighth in yards
Speaker 4: allowed dead lasting yards per attempt allowed last year at
Speaker 4: five point four. If that trend continues, what change does
Speaker 4: Brandon Staley make or is the only change left to
Speaker 4: make regarding the Chargers defense?
Speaker 1: The head coaching position.
Speaker 5: It's whoa when you see your houser attempt you mean
Speaker 5: on the ground? Yeah, yeah, okay here it's per carry.
Speaker 5: Well that I guess answers. The question I would ask
Speaker 5: you them is like, why not the Chargers? I don't
Speaker 5: I think they look pretty good on paper defensively, You're right,
Speaker 5: have they done enough to It's not really much of
Speaker 5: a different crew in terms of stopping the run. They're
Speaker 5: just gonna have to coach it better. They're gonna have
Speaker 5: to be healthier out of Bosa, a little better out
Speaker 5: of Mac. I think linebacker they can certainly proved. But
Speaker 5: to me, it's hard to see a lot of holes
Speaker 5: on this team.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 6: I mean, they poured all that money into the defense
Speaker 6: a year ago and got all these pieces that you know,
Speaker 6: they knew Staley if you're you know Mac, like all
Speaker 6: these guys, and it was a disaster. They were like
Speaker 6: a That had to be one of the biggest disappointments
Speaker 6: in the AFC was LA's defense under Stalian. Like, there's
Speaker 6: a lot of pressure there, but I think a lot
Speaker 6: of it is that I from the on the other
Speaker 6: side of the ball that I think the Kellen Moore
Speaker 6: and Justin Herbert thing is going to work. And I mean,
Speaker 6: so much of what was depressing about this team a
Speaker 6: year ago was how they handled early downs, how Justin
Speaker 6: Herbert was kind of pocketed in. I think you can
Speaker 6: unleash him. He's going to be healthy. He was not
Speaker 6: healthy for a month plus two months of last year.
Speaker 6: That's where this thing starts.
Speaker 2: I think they get the reverse like tax that I
Speaker 2: just was talking about the Chiefs like Greg your quote
Speaker 2: just and I think they look better on paper. It's
Speaker 2: like this happens every year and then something happens, either
Speaker 2: by bad luck or poor play or slumps. It's like,
Speaker 2: is this the year the Charges finally shut up and
Speaker 2: just take this rock and maximize it. I'd like to
Speaker 2: see it, but I'm still used to it not working
Speaker 2: out that you just assume that it won't.
Speaker 5: I think the difference to me is the offensive line
Speaker 5: on paper again, but it's based on how these players
Speaker 5: have performed. Looks great, like I think this could be,
Speaker 5: like they have a chance. I'm sure they don't have
Speaker 5: odds in Vegas for this, but I would take the
Speaker 5: odds that, like the Chargers finished first in DVA for
Speaker 5: offense just because they probably would be the ninth or
Speaker 5: tenth favorite, And to me, they have a chance. They
Speaker 5: are that talented at every position on offense and have
Speaker 5: a quarterback who I think, can you know, compete for
Speaker 5: an MVP right now.
Speaker 2: You know what spooked me a little bit on Fantasy
Speaker 2: draft days was Austin Eckler twenty touchdowns eighteen touchdown. How
Speaker 2: many running backs have three straight years with that amount
Speaker 2: of workload and that success. Is he going to be
Speaker 2: able to keep it up? And what's a pivotal season
Speaker 2: for him.
Speaker 5: Probably not, but they've showed a little bit more of
Speaker 5: like a power North South running game. I think the
Speaker 5: other guys will get more involved.
Speaker 4: But again, the even with Joe Lombardi, the offense did
Speaker 4: everything it needed to do to have a lead in
Speaker 4: the playoffs.
Speaker 1: In the defense let them down.
Speaker 5: I think the answer your question, the answer is if
Speaker 5: the defense doesn't work, yeah, they should get rid of them.
Speaker 1: Defensive masterminds got it back. That was one from last time.
Speaker 5: Uh the ratas Greg Rosenthal, all right, are we buying
Speaker 5: any defensive improvement from the Raiders. One of the most
Speaker 5: surprising storylines to me of the preseason was how consistently
Speaker 5: good they looked in practice and in the preseason to
Speaker 5: it to the point where I'm starting to buy into it.
Speaker 5: You start off with Max Crosby, Chandler Jones, and Tyree
Speaker 5: Wilson who's now come back and looked pretty good. And
Speaker 5: a coordinator if you don't remember, Patrick Graham, who's had.
Speaker 3: Some big ups in the NFL and big downs.
Speaker 5: But I would describe his system as maybe a little
Speaker 5: too complicated. Maybe year one you got through a little
Speaker 5: bit of that, and maybe he's got players who know
Speaker 5: what to do now, because if they are a decent defense,
Speaker 5: if we're buying it, is anyone buying it could be
Speaker 5: competitive at least not really okay because the players don't
Speaker 5: look great on paper.
Speaker 3: But defense is more than just like the roster.
Speaker 6: You know what I feel like, if you lose, like
Speaker 6: you go, you go about two or three deep on
Speaker 6: this defense, if you lose Max Crosby for two months,
Speaker 6: or you lose Marcus Peters, Like.
Speaker 7: Yeah, but the no, there's teams.
Speaker 6: There's teams that I think you could say on defense,
Speaker 6: you've got like the Jets defensive line. We talk about
Speaker 6: layers of players, like this is like a really Jenga
Speaker 6: piece type defense with one or two guys and like also,
Speaker 6: you know, I guess that's one area where like preseason
Speaker 6: practice or preseason games and like camp practices where they're
Speaker 6: looking good.
Speaker 2: All right, I definitely to Mark's cynicism around the Raider
Speaker 2: is like putting too much in the preseason on how
Speaker 2: the defense looks. But you're saying also camp reports and
Speaker 2: what the beat reporters.
Speaker 3: More about the practices and stuff.
Speaker 5: Now, granted, these weeks of practice were against the offense,
Speaker 5: but it was partly the two joint practices too, that
Speaker 5: they were just like Okay, I don't know, well, I.
Speaker 3: Don't think I don't think they're terrible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so much talk about the Raiders being one
Speaker 2: of the worst teams in the league. Is there a
Speaker 2: path to them surprising and hanging around to the wild
Speaker 2: card race?
Speaker 4: Patrick, Yeah, I think that might be a little bit
Speaker 4: too far. It's just a team in transition, and every
Speaker 4: single year it's become more accepted. The defense isn't going
Speaker 4: to be as sticky and there's a little bit easier
Speaker 4: to turn a defense around. But I think maybe we
Speaker 4: should give more credit to the defenses who are consistent
Speaker 4: year over year because of that. Uh, And I don't
Speaker 4: know if I've seen enough to make that determination.
Speaker 5: Well, now, they need Jimmy G to be better than
Speaker 5: Derek Carr. I think there is a world where Jimmy
Speaker 5: G is better than Derek. Actually, I expect him to
Speaker 5: be better than Derek Carr was for the Raiders.
Speaker 7: People are so low on Jimmy G.
Speaker 1: Do you expect him to be better than Derek Carr
Speaker 1: this year?
Speaker 3: I think it's about the same.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't like to say I expect them to
Speaker 5: be an upgrade from what they had a year ago.
Speaker 3: And they still have Devanta Adams.
Speaker 6: They have Judgy yeah, and DeVante Adams, who were months
Speaker 6: removed from saying that he's simply going to have to
Speaker 6: buy into this and try to be as optimistic as possible.
Speaker 6: I just think there's a couple of like ticking time
Speaker 6: bombs all over this place, and it starts with Josh
Speaker 6: McDaniels and his people skills.
Speaker 5: We did that. We did that. The kids draft. Uh Dan,
Speaker 5: my kids are in the same fantasy. Divanta Adams is
Speaker 5: still sitting there like late in the second, like the
Speaker 5: radio is out there active.
Speaker 2: Josh Jacobs back. Did anybody say give up? I mean,
Speaker 2: one of the best players in the league last year,
Speaker 2: back and happy and paid. I'm happy, man, No effect Wait,
Speaker 2: I'm disrespecting the game.
Speaker 7: Yeah you are.
Speaker 2: Can't do it.
Speaker 5: But you know, Josh, you made you were the one
Speaker 5: that made the biggest speech about respecting the drink.
Speaker 2: I know. I just wanted to say, Josh Jacobs is back.
Speaker 6: We could the messages and don't I'm on your side,
Speaker 6: but it's just like shooting me.
Speaker 5: Well we said I did say it.
Speaker 2: All right last time?
Speaker 1: Out.
Speaker 2: Jimmy Garoppolo is better than Derek Carr.
Speaker 5: I think he will be an upgrade. Okay, Eric Carr
Speaker 5: with the Raiders in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: Day Adams one of the top five wide receivers in
Speaker 2: the sport. Yes, yes, Josh Jacobs at least the Josh
Speaker 2: Jacobs one of the top running backs in the sport.
Speaker 2: Max Crosby one of the best edge rushers in the sport.
Speaker 2: I'm saying, there is.
Speaker 3: The highest ticket price in the sport.
Speaker 2: Sure, sure there is a there is. I think a
Speaker 2: case to be made that there's enough talent, top tier
Speaker 2: talent to maybe lift all boats to mediocrity. I'm just saying, like.
Speaker 7: That that's better than the old runs.
Speaker 2: But not every team needs to have like Super Bowl
Speaker 2: aspirations every year, Like if they is a transition year,
Speaker 2: if they can fight for a wild card in January,
Speaker 2: even if they fall short, I think maybe that's success
Speaker 2: for this team, because I don't. I think Roppolo's a bridge.
Speaker 2: I think that's all he is, and then they can
Speaker 2: figure out what their next big step is. At QBIT, they.
Speaker 6: Fit perfectly as a team that will win just enough
Speaker 6: games to disappoint in terms of the standings, but also
Speaker 6: be out of the running for one of the great
Speaker 6: college cour uarterbacks next year's draft.
Speaker 2: That's a blueprint. Yeah, but I thought you said they're
Speaker 2: going to be horrendous.
Speaker 7: I think they could be.
Speaker 6: I'm saying that all these things that you're ticketing off,
Speaker 6: which they had last year, by the way, come to
Speaker 6: fruition in a more glorious way than last year.
Speaker 7: They win seven games.
Speaker 3: It's a tough conference. It's a tough one conference.
Speaker 2: Tough is a tough conference. We got one more team.
Speaker 2: We got one more team, and that team is the
Speaker 2: Denver Broncos with Mark Sessler.
Speaker 6: All Right, last year's coaching staff disaster much renowned in
Speaker 6: some way, but to this year's Sean Payton regime, Okay,
Speaker 6: I think it might be the biggest leap I can
Speaker 6: recall in sort like a talent jump, maybe outside of
Speaker 6: like the Urban Meyer thing that we talked about in Jacksonville.
Speaker 6: And we don't know what will happen with Russell Wilson,
Speaker 6: but I think number one, the only evidence we have
Speaker 6: is that his body looks like he looks he went
Speaker 6: and got in shape, and I think it's going to
Speaker 6: solve some of the issues.
Speaker 2: From very hot here, he looks very tight. Congratulations, Absolutely,
Speaker 2: it's a good job by her. But I do have
Speaker 2: this twenty years of evidence telling me that Sean Payton
Speaker 2: is better than ninety percent of other coaches in the NFL,
Speaker 2: And so I think if even if RUSS is somewhere
Speaker 2: between like good Russ from a while back and last
Speaker 2: year's Russ. This is an AFC team that has an
Speaker 2: offensive line that is not perfect, but they're kind of
Speaker 2: built to mal people on the ground, and I trust
Speaker 2: Sean Payton to find ways outside of just Russell Wilson
Speaker 2: to win games. I feel like my I had this
Speaker 2: weird arrow up on the Denver Broncos after really being
Speaker 2: bored by the whole concept for months.
Speaker 7: Am I a fool to think this?
Speaker 5: I don't see it unless yeah, unless coaching is just
Speaker 5: that important. They're a great test. I mean, he said
Speaker 5: it's one of the worst. He's one of the worst
Speaker 5: coaching jobs in history according to Sean Payton's which is like, look,
Speaker 5: if you don't win more than five or six games,
Speaker 5: then you're now the worst coaching job in history.
Speaker 3: Sean Payton.
Speaker 5: I just I don't see a lot of position groups
Speaker 5: when I go through them that are above average, it
Speaker 5: doesn't look like a great roster to me. They have
Speaker 5: a couple great they have a good safety justin Simmons.
Speaker 5: You have Patrick Sartan in the secondary. After that, it's like,
Speaker 5: what am I excited about on this team? I don't
Speaker 5: know if they're in the coach.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it's fair to even if they
Speaker 2: didn't have a good year this year, to put it
Speaker 2: on Peyton because you got to build the program. I mean,
Speaker 2: even Sean Payton.
Speaker 5: They win five games after he says winning five games
Speaker 5: was the worst coaching job in history.
Speaker 2: Tough sitch.
Speaker 3: I'm putting it on.
Speaker 2: It's a tough sitch. But remember before they hit on
Speaker 2: that big draft in UH twenty seventeen, he had back
Speaker 2: to back to back seven and nine years with New Orleans.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's not not like he's never failed in
Speaker 2: his life or had teams that were didn't reach the playoffs.
Speaker 2: So like, it's all I say.
Speaker 6: Over seven and nine teams was that the offense was
Speaker 6: still Sean Payton's offense. Those defenses were an absolute disaster
Speaker 6: during that stretch. But I think the most delicious thing
Speaker 6: if he rips the coaching staff that won five games,
Speaker 6: then he won five games.
Speaker 2: Just he doesn't have Drew Brees anymore either.
Speaker 4: And that was and that was in an era in
Speaker 4: the NFC South where you had like Matt Ryan Julio
Speaker 4: at their peak.
Speaker 1: He had Cam coming up, and so there was explanation.
Speaker 4: But also now in the AFC West, it's not it's
Speaker 4: necessarily an easy situation there. I think they can clearly
Speaker 4: be better than they were last year, but is there
Speaker 4: enough improvement to kind of heal all those wounds from
Speaker 4: when we were saying, oh, the Broncos are going to
Speaker 4: be Super Bowl contenders and they.
Speaker 1: Were miserable.
Speaker 5: Bronco's Raiders Week one, sneaky fun. I don't know what
Speaker 5: I'm getting.
Speaker 2: It's over so I can talk about this and that
Speaker 2: people love love to chicken and egg Belichick, Brady, but
Speaker 2: we don't really talk about Sean Payton and all success
Speaker 2: coming with Drew Brees, one of the greatest pastors who's
Speaker 2: ever lived. How's he going to do without Drew Brees.
Speaker 5: I think it's partly because his record without Drew Brees
Speaker 5: was so good in those last few years, although that
Speaker 5: was true of Belichick in the Brady Era too. This
Speaker 5: record was great without.
Speaker 6: Coach up Teddy coached up Winston. It's like, I don't know,
Speaker 6: like I didn't. I think Sean Payton is not for
Speaker 6: me in a world where suddenly I think without one player,
Speaker 6: he's got no ability to coach, right.
Speaker 2: I don't like that argument. That's why I don't do
Speaker 2: that with Belichick. I'm just saying like that was a
Speaker 2: massive advantage that he had. Drew Brees was an incredible player,
Speaker 2: and I and you could also say, well, Drew Brees
Speaker 2: gonna become incredible player until you got in New Orleans.
Speaker 2: That's fair too. It'll just be fun to see Sean
Speaker 2: Payton with a fresh start a new QB, whether it
Speaker 2: is Russell Wilson or who's the Fellows, if they they
Speaker 2: recruited over from Jared Stidham or whoever comes next down
Speaker 2: the line.
Speaker 6: If if Wilson fails, though, Sean Payton will not be taking
Speaker 6: any credit for that, Like I guarantee there would be
Speaker 6: any you know that's.
Speaker 2: Called Jared Stidham a fellow.
Speaker 5: I always am a little wary because of the historical
Speaker 5: precedent of a coach taking a huge contract as he's
Speaker 5: hitting you know, he's getting to his sixties with a
Speaker 5: lot of previous success in an NFL history that hasn't
Speaker 5: generally worked for the teams doing it, coaches in a
Speaker 5: new spot after they've already achieved a lot, and oh,
Speaker 5: by the way, he was like their third or fourth choice.
Speaker 3: That part was weird.
Speaker 6: That part was My mind goes to Jimmy Johnson's Dolphins
Speaker 6: that I believe the last game he coached, like Dan
Speaker 6: Marino lost in the playoffs, like seventy one to ten
Speaker 6: to the Jaguars.
Speaker 2: Right, there's also like a very depending on who you
Speaker 2: are and where you stand on what a head coach
Speaker 2: should be doing. Disturbing Draft time video that rolled out
Speaker 2: also fine completely of course you would say, I'm just
Speaker 2: saying a completely insane, unhinged interview and which he wasn't
Speaker 2: wrong about Nathaniel Hackett, but like completely like the type
Speaker 2: of interview for you you give when maybe you're not
Speaker 2: thinking clearly, we good, everything good, well, we good.
Speaker 1: Un precious it's it's wild to say that we good.
Speaker 1: We literally agree with everything that he said.
Speaker 2: It's not just about what he said, it's you know
Speaker 2: who he said it to. And then not having the
Speaker 2: good sense to understand that was going to make just
Speaker 2: massive waves that him and his team didn't need to
Speaker 2: deal with.
Speaker 4: Well, I hope, like everybody has cried sufficient tears over
Speaker 4: at this point because it was a whole thing, and
Speaker 4: I can't remember anybody saying he was wrong.
Speaker 1: Everybone's like, well, just don't you it's a code?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Is this baseball now? Like I'm so confused by it.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm not going to acknowledge Sean on that giving
Speaker 5: he's giving off and believe I believe he has a
Speaker 5: difference maker as an offensive coach, and I believe his
Speaker 5: Bill Parcells in autumn vibes that he's giving off a
Speaker 5: little Dallas, a little Miami even as an exect.
Speaker 3: Like I love that the NFL can use that. Let's
Speaker 3: have fun.
Speaker 4: It's well, now that he's been sufficiently punished for it,
Speaker 4: no coach is going to.
Speaker 2: Say and he apologized too, and he was going to
Speaker 2: maybe reach out as well. I don't know if I
Speaker 2: don't know if that ever happened.
Speaker 7: It's not according to Nathaniel Hackett.
Speaker 2: By way, it doesn't have to be patrick unwritten code
Speaker 2: or whatever. But like the reason why you don't do
Speaker 2: it is because like, if you follow the sport, it's
Speaker 2: really hard to be a coach. It's a really tough life.
Speaker 2: You bounce around, you grind through different levels.
Speaker 5: If we criticize Hackett to the to the nth degree,
Speaker 5: so why can't other colleagues do it?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 2: The reason I'm trying to make but you interrupted me
Speaker 2: is that he is also a coach, and you understand
Speaker 2: when things go sideways unless you don't care about it,
Speaker 2: and your ego is so out of control that you
Speaker 2: speak that could shoot off the lip of USA today,
Speaker 2: which is fine. I thought it was fun too. I
Speaker 2: love the story. I don't care that he's connected to
Speaker 2: the Jets now. I think it's great. But I'm just saying,
Speaker 2: you know, that's everything, all right, shun.
Speaker 6: It is in the realm of possibility that he's like
Speaker 6: external based, high ego individual that like doesn't care about
Speaker 6: all these codes and things.
Speaker 4: But if you get the guys open and Russ hits them,
Speaker 4: none of it matters, right, That's my question is like
Speaker 4: how much does it necessarily matter? It's a thing to
Speaker 4: talk about, but like what impact does it happen?
Speaker 1: But he's okay, I.
Speaker 6: Say, if you're gonna you know if you're gonna take
Speaker 6: a breather from coaching and go take a studio gig
Speaker 6: pre game, like where's that fire?
Speaker 7: Then right exactly the most vanilla comments I've ever.
Speaker 5: Heard that there is something to that that's it's annoying,
Speaker 5: like he could have had a different tone about it,
Speaker 5: but there is something gutless about it that like we're
Speaker 5: fine with all of us can say it, but they
Speaker 5: can't say it about each other. It's kind of similar
Speaker 5: how like we can't say certain things about other people
Speaker 5: and broadcasting that we actually hold our tongue on some
Speaker 5: level about that those sort of things because it's like
Speaker 5: it didn't.
Speaker 2: I don't remember a certain broadcast are coming up to
Speaker 2: you had a coach's breakfast and shaking you down and
Speaker 2: wagging his finger in your face.
Speaker 3: It's happened.
Speaker 2: We'll leave it right there.
Speaker 7: That's how Greg knows where Sean Payton was when he.
Speaker 2: Gave it interview. But yes, insummation, I'm happy Sean Payton's
Speaker 2: back to He's a character. He's from the parcels world,
Speaker 2: and I love parcels and those guys that are a
Speaker 2: little rough around the edges. Everyone else seems to be
Speaker 2: so streamlined and smooth these days. Maybe I saw Nate
Speaker 2: Hackett with his daughters after the Taylor Swift concert.
Speaker 6: Also, we're past hating on him too, he's a he
Speaker 6: seems like a likable fellow.
Speaker 2: Great Dudek took him to Vegas.
Speaker 5: I mean past might be exaggerating. If they're the twenty
Speaker 5: fourth ranked offense in Week four, we won't be past it.
Speaker 5: So it's it's all based on how things go.
Speaker 2: My name is Nathaniel Hackett. Thanks, it's nice to see
Speaker 2: you out here. All right, coming up tomorrow is around
Speaker 2: the NFC. In forty eight minutes. We could not have
Speaker 2: done literally well, we could have. It would have been
Speaker 2: an inferior program without Patrick Clavin, who.
Speaker 1: Said it all well. Thanks Dan.
Speaker 2: Any final words, just go out there.
Speaker 1: And love football and love Ingle Hackett, who's a very
Speaker 1: nice man.
Speaker 5: And check out Patrick hosting this year on Game deviut
Speaker 5: with the plug Our our Pick shows.
Speaker 2: You're plugging yourself and may it seem like, yeah.
Speaker 3: It's Cynthia's it's Cynthia and Patrick guy. But now he's
Speaker 3: the host.
Speaker 7: We've been down this avenue before.
Speaker 2: What else are your NFL fantasy?
Speaker 4: Yes, you've got fantasy tonight, six o'clock Eastern, right here
Speaker 4: on NFL.
Speaker 2: Now, I feel like you're a valued member of the team.
Speaker 2: I think you're held in good regard with the people upstairs.
Speaker 4: Well that's that's because of the people on the floors
Speaker 4: with me, which includes you guys. Anybody who's the chance
Speaker 4: to do things and go all the way back to
Speaker 4: t D and Dave Damashek put me on the first
Speaker 4: podcast over Oh.
Speaker 2: My god, hit the music. You're right check Davis ires
Speaker 2: start that's true.
Speaker 7: Talk about a great guy.
Speaker 2: Dave listens every episode of the show. That is not true.
Speaker 2: Heed the call.