Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where the show's title kind of
Speaker 1: overrides the concept of Labor Day. I'm Greg Rosenthal and
Speaker 1: pleased to be joined by now a repeat guest. Hopefully
Speaker 1: we can make this as regular as possible. Ali Connolly,
Speaker 1: who does great work over at the read Optional on Substack.
Speaker 1: Him and John Ledyard do a great podcast there, renamed
Speaker 1: and that's gotten.
Speaker 2: Going for the year. You know him and love him.
Speaker 2: He was on The.
Speaker 1: Menachim Show last week. Welcome Ollie, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: This is a huge, huge week for the North of England.
Speaker 1: You have me doing NFL Daily. Oasiss reform. This this
Speaker 1: big popping off all over the place. And you took
Speaker 1: off the hat, which like, what were you doing hiding
Speaker 1: this beautiful let us you got there. You know, forget
Speaker 1: the Kirk Cousins that you have because he can't rock that.
Speaker 3: Every single comment I see under anything I do mind
Speaker 3: entire social media feed is all you.
Speaker 4: Like Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3: So I'm trying to do everything possible to pass the
Speaker 3: Kirk Coms you pointed out last time. Not an awful
Speaker 3: comp it could be way worse.
Speaker 1: No, No, he's a successful man, handsome man, nice family,
Speaker 1: nice guy. We spent a whole episode talking about him
Speaker 1: last night, which was which was fun and a coincidence
Speaker 1: because I didn't know quite how similar you look to
Speaker 1: him this time. I thought it'd be fun, Ali because
Speaker 1: I've spent so much time, certainly over the last month,
Speaker 1: but especially over the last week, like going through the
Speaker 1: league as a whole and predicting and season, and it's like,
Speaker 1: these games are here, We're at these games, and we
Speaker 1: really haven't gone through the matchups of Week one, and
Speaker 1: Week one is a very different week in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You know this because these teams really do prepare for
Speaker 1: their Week one game longer and more extensively than they
Speaker 1: really prepare for any other game until maybe the playoffs
Speaker 1: where you start getting ahead of time. And so yes,
Speaker 1: we have our previous show coming up on Thursday. I'm
Speaker 1: really excited for that show every week. Steve Wish and
Speaker 1: Patrick Clayband are going to be with me on that.
Speaker 1: But I thought we'd get to jump on it and
Speaker 1: look a little more just big picture into these matchups
Speaker 1: we've had this long off season, Olie, and talk about
Speaker 1: kind of man, what are we looking forward to the
Speaker 1: most matchup wise? Just like kind of opening up a
Speaker 1: box on Christmas. Week one because to me, week one
Speaker 1: is still the best week. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: agree with me on that or what, Ollie, Because you
Speaker 1: spent a long time you've been covering soccer. You know
Speaker 1: now you're back to doing American football full time. So
Speaker 1: I'm excited about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, as excited as could be.
Speaker 3: My favorite thing about Week one is overreactions to Week
Speaker 3: one is two bad teams play each other, and you
Speaker 3: think one's really good after one does really well.
Speaker 4: But look, you spend a whole off season. I'm the
Speaker 4: kind of person.
Speaker 3: Where as we go through all the drafts, all of
Speaker 3: fregent transactions, I can be critical of them in the moment,
Speaker 3: and then two weeks before the start season, I started
Speaker 3: talking myself and do basically every single team having an
Speaker 3: appropriate plan, something that could work, some kind of change
Speaker 3: they've made that may make sense, and I look forward
Speaker 3: to within by week three, week four, immediately going that
Speaker 3: was terrible. I was right the first go around. Everything
Speaker 3: is ruined. So week one is off first tuns to
Speaker 3: find out kind of where these seems lie.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into it. I might as well start.
Speaker 1: Why not the first thing I thought about. And again
Speaker 1: we're gonna just kind of pick out instead of like games,
Speaker 1: just more concepts or matchups. Part of the matchups, I'm
Speaker 1: going to talk about the egos running game like I
Speaker 1: just want to see that off the bat because I
Speaker 1: just think of the trajectory of Kellen Moore. I also
Speaker 1: wanted to hear your thoughts on this, especially that a
Speaker 1: year ago we were being sold this bill of goods
Speaker 1: that he's going to fix the Chargers running game and
Speaker 1: they actually had a monster week once again Week one
Speaker 1: can be missed leading. I think they were over two
Speaker 1: hundred yards in that game, and you know they're doing
Speaker 1: the under center stuff and the outside zone. He's mixing
Speaker 1: it all up. It look great, and then they end
Speaker 1: up having the worst running game in the league. Obviously,
Speaker 1: they were effective when he was in Dallas, but now
Speaker 1: he goes to a team in Philadelphia, which, for all
Speaker 1: their troubles last year and Jalen Hurts wasn't even one
Speaker 1: hundred percent for a good chunk of the season. I mean,
Speaker 1: they were the number five most efficient running game according
Speaker 1: to DVOA. They were pretty effective the whole season. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Jason Kelcey's there. You have the tush push, but he's
Speaker 1: coming to a group and a system that's been good.
Speaker 1: Now you add Saquon Barkley, the offensive line is different.
Speaker 1: You go against this Packers defense, which could be a
Speaker 1: whole nother conversation. But I have heard some reports alim
Speaker 1: from Eagles training camp that they've had Hurts pretty involved
Speaker 1: in the running game, which I think they were encouraged
Speaker 1: by a little more running backs in the passing game,
Speaker 1: which they talk about every year.
Speaker 2: But that's exciting.
Speaker 1: So I just don't know what I'm going to get
Speaker 1: because to me, they're one of the signature units of
Speaker 1: the entire NFL Eagles running game over the last couple
Speaker 1: of years, and now it's going to be different.
Speaker 2: Like what are you looking for there?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think the number one thing you hit up top
Speaker 3: is how involved as Hurts in this rung game when
Speaker 3: they were really rolling with Shane Steike, and that to
Speaker 3: me has been probably the best offense in the last
Speaker 3: four or five years. But what all the meta trends
Speaker 3: are on defense, how you would attack them all is
Speaker 3: what kellum, which is what Shane Styking came up with,
Speaker 3: which was a power spread offense. All five guys can
Speaker 3: pull downhill running threat and then a really talented.
Speaker 4: Accurate deep ball thrower.
Speaker 3: That is like the go to way to kind of
Speaker 3: disrupt what everyone's doing with movement up front, moving on
Speaker 3: the back end. That's the way to get after it.
Speaker 3: Kellen Morris someone I've been pretty critical of in the
Speaker 3: past because he, to me, is a guy who is
Speaker 3: only really interested in the payoff plays. He's not as
Speaker 3: involved in the down to down sequencing of how to
Speaker 3: get those pay of plays. There is an awful lot
Speaker 3: of highlight social media clips, great whiteboard stuff as opposed
Speaker 3: to maybe having a feeling and sense for like the
Speaker 3: rhythm of a game itself and how to dig out
Speaker 3: of hole when things aren't going well, which is why
Speaker 3: I think you get moments where he has fifty five
Speaker 3: point explosions in Dallas because everything is just clicking the
Speaker 3: way it was designed, and he can't necessarily get himself
Speaker 3: out of a hole when it's not flowing the same way.
Speaker 3: So for me, he's walking into an organization where he
Speaker 3: should just ask them all for the playbook from two
Speaker 3: years ago.
Speaker 4: Hand it to me.
Speaker 3: Good stuff, Let's get rolling. That's still the best way
Speaker 3: to approach this thing, and it's just getting Jalen Jalen
Speaker 3: hurts a downhill run as involved as possible.
Speaker 1: Okay, so a few things there, and I can't remember
Speaker 1: because one of my favorite things you would hit on
Speaker 1: on your podcast, and again like, if I can do
Speaker 1: one thing today, it's to point people towards the read
Speaker 1: optional Ali's substack. I've been paying for this podcast last year.
Speaker 1: I do like the coordinators you get on for being
Speaker 1: too flashy that they there's some that you think it's
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a look at me coordinators versus
Speaker 1: having an overall smart scheme. I can't remember if Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore was in that category.
Speaker 3: He might be the post a child of the flashy
Speaker 3: I go viral. People write nice profiles about me because
Speaker 3: I do interesting or cool things that draw attention, but
Speaker 3: is it really helping the offense move?
Speaker 4: Is it efficient enough?
Speaker 3: And he's got some unbelievable numbers though he has worked
Speaker 3: with incredible talent. The thing for me was he goes
Speaker 3: to the Chargers and everyone was saying, Wow, this is
Speaker 3: gonna be incredible just in her, but with Keller Moore,
Speaker 3: and once again it becomes look how clever Keller Moore
Speaker 3: is rather than is this thing effective?
Speaker 1: Mm and yeah again, we'll see what the difference of
Speaker 1: Jason Kelsey not being there.
Speaker 2: I think it's gonna be a difference. But they've been
Speaker 2: ready for this moment with Cam Jurgens.
Speaker 1: Also, that came is on Friday night in Brazil, so
Speaker 1: one of the best NFC games of the season. Like
Speaker 1: it just I can't believe this is all happening, but
Speaker 1: it's fantastic. I'm looking forward to doing a recap of
Speaker 1: that show. We're having Adam Lefko, who I'm a big
Speaker 1: fan of and is an Eagles guy, who's gonna gonna
Speaker 1: join me after the show, So he's either gonna be
Speaker 1: bummed out or happy. Why don't you you get me
Speaker 1: going with your first one?
Speaker 3: OLLI.
Speaker 4: My big thing is the state of the Ravens defense.
Speaker 3: We don't have very much data on you know, defensive
Speaker 3: football year to year fluctuates so much, it's so volatile.
Speaker 3: These kind of new breed of we sim a bunch,
Speaker 3: we roll a bunch in the back end. We doesn't
Speaker 3: have much date on how those perform year to year.
Speaker 3: So you have a first time coordinator who's not been
Speaker 3: coaching football for a long time, with a team that
Speaker 3: relied so much slashly on one guy in the middle
Speaker 3: of the field being an absolute monster, and Kyle Hamilton
Speaker 3: being the most unique player in football on the back
Speaker 3: end and playing all three levels, going against the best
Speaker 3: staff in football, the best player in football in primetime.
Speaker 3: To me, it's the number one thing of I don't
Speaker 3: expect him to, you know, find a way to confuse
Speaker 3: and befuddle Patrick Mahomes, But it's more finding out is
Speaker 3: he just going to run the same system as Mike
Speaker 3: McDonald or does he have his own identity and imprint
Speaker 3: he wants to put on the team which may be
Speaker 3: more reliable, sustainable as the year goes along.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm curious too.
Speaker 1: I'll just pick that one next, which is what Mike
Speaker 1: McDonald's going to do. But sticking on the Ravens, You're right,
Speaker 1: it used to be a cliche. You do these shows
Speaker 1: long enough, you find yourself repeating yourself. And there was
Speaker 1: that Andy Reid Week one thing going for a little while.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's calmed down a little bit. It
Speaker 1: definitely peaked in the Week one where Kareem Hunt just
Speaker 1: went crazy on the Patriots in Foxborough. But he would
Speaker 1: always come up with some stuff that you just hadn't
Speaker 1: seen before. In Week one, Mike McDaniel does that too,
Speaker 1: And thinking about that versus a brand new coordinator in
Speaker 1: zach Or, I'm not as I'm not worried about their defense,
Speaker 1: but yes, I'm curious how it's going to look. I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see what the secondary is going to be
Speaker 1: with Nate Wiggins, Like, that's an interesting Week one guy.
Speaker 1: I do just put some faith, and maybe it's too
Speaker 1: much faith that zach Orr is a great coaching prospect
Speaker 1: just because the Ravens chose him. They apparently had four
Speaker 1: defensive coordinators on their own staff last year and Mike
Speaker 1: McDonald left, and so they chose zach Orr out of
Speaker 1: the other three. And so I guess I'm going to
Speaker 1: give it to John Harbod that he's going to make
Speaker 1: a smart choice, but it's hard to guess like exactly
Speaker 1: what that's going to look like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just think if your kind of predominant blue
Speaker 3: chip thing, isn't that we have one or two top
Speaker 3: tier pass rushers. Yeah, that to me is a thing
Speaker 3: that's sustainable. I love the sim pressure world all the
Speaker 3: dorky stuff.
Speaker 4: I get it. I just don't know how reliable it
Speaker 4: can be. Years.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you can't teach Kyle Hamilton, you can't teach
Speaker 3: Roquan Smith. All those guys might a week I think
Speaker 3: will still be as good as he was.
Speaker 2: Like, well, they're still there, though they're not going anywhere.
Speaker 4: Everyone's still there. But I just don't know.
Speaker 3: If you give people that long to take a look
Speaker 3: and review things and you're coming in week one, you
Speaker 3: imagine he's going to default to the things that he
Speaker 3: thinks worked best last year and then over time kind
Speaker 3: of blending how he've used the game. Right, That's what
Speaker 3: I would assume what happen Robin trying to tear it
Speaker 3: up what was a great unit last year, and so
Speaker 3: they've had, however long to prepare with the best player
Speaker 3: in football, the best offensive mine of football. That's the
Speaker 3: thing for me, And it's one of those ones. Way
Speaker 3: it would not surprise me if it didn't look that
Speaker 3: great in week one, and try not to overreact to.
Speaker 4: It, but I do think it's something worth watching.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think you point out in terms of
Speaker 1: the edge rushers, of course, Genevian Clowney's not there after
Speaker 1: he had a good season. Odafe Oway has gotten a
Speaker 1: little better every year and certainly could have a good season,
Speaker 1: but after that, like they're starting Kyle van Noy in
Speaker 1: the year twenty twenty four. I know Kyle Vanoy's played
Speaker 1: well for the most part the last few years, but
Speaker 1: that's a thin edge group. Absolutely. I do like the secondary.
Speaker 1: It's fun, so that that's a good one to look
Speaker 1: forward to. I might as well go to my Mike
Speaker 1: McDonald one. It's not that deep, but it's just, you know,
Speaker 1: what does his defense look like without a Roquan Smith
Speaker 1: in Seattle? Because to me, their off ball linebacker situation
Speaker 1: could be a total fiasco. I think there's some concern
Speaker 1: about people who have watched them in training camp because
Speaker 1: Jerome Baker has not been healthy. Interroalde Doddson, we'll see
Speaker 1: he hasn't been one hundred percent either. They actually traded
Speaker 1: for a rookie who's going to be a backup at
Speaker 1: off ball linebacker, and so what does that look like now?
Speaker 1: If you look at the preseason, which I guess does
Speaker 1: tell you something. They were the leader, you know, in
Speaker 1: stunting in the preseason percentage wise by a good amount,
Speaker 1: and they were running a lot of sim pressures. So
Speaker 1: for as much as people say, like the preseason doesn't
Speaker 1: tell you anything, like Todd Bowles was the one running
Speaker 1: the most blitzes, Mike McDonald's the one running the most stunts.
Speaker 1: I mean, they kind of do what they do even
Speaker 1: if it was in the preseason, and I think they
Speaker 1: have enough talent overall to make it work. But I
Speaker 1: do love the matchup Week one, that they're going against
Speaker 1: bow Nicks and this hype machine in Denver. That's a
Speaker 1: little out of control and I have to stop myself
Speaker 1: from just pushing against the fans because it's not Sean
Speaker 1: Payton or bow Nix's fault that the fans think bo
Speaker 1: Nicks is this awesome, but it does annoy me ally.
Speaker 3: Well, Mike McDonald has the chance it's like win Week
Speaker 3: one by closing down Bonix and a misbegotten high train
Speaker 3: and then people saying, look, how smart might McDonald's being
Speaker 3: one of the great Week one overreactions before they get
Speaker 3: their heads club for the next five six weeks. That's
Speaker 3: definitely in play. My big concern with I think the
Speaker 3: linebacker stuff, the way Mike McDonald approaches things. They really
Speaker 3: play in a pretty limited plane. You're not asking an
Speaker 3: awful lot of people. It's pretty vertical and north south
Speaker 3: that there's not an awful lot going on there for
Speaker 3: those guys, So that is something you can pick up with.
Speaker 3: I mean, he had great ones last year, and I
Speaker 3: understand that, and that is a true cheat code. The
Speaker 3: big thing for his defense is then Nickel has to be,
Speaker 3: if not the best player on the unit, in the
Speaker 3: top three, and he's only not the best one because
Speaker 3: of the two guys are such freakazoids. That's like the
Speaker 3: go to thing for that defense. They blitz it so
Speaker 3: often it is crucial to the run scheme. I don't
Speaker 3: want to bore people too much with the details. I
Speaker 3: love Devon Weatherspoon. I thought he was the best corner
Speaker 3: in that class. I'm not sure for that role where
Speaker 3: a big part of the responsibility is being a wall
Speaker 3: defender versus the run. The guy who hits, who comes down,
Speaker 3: who flies around, but he doesn't scream out to me
Speaker 3: as a guy who can like drive someone off the
Speaker 3: ball plant and shift the blocker. It is more driving
Speaker 3: downfield and clothes lining someone and trying to create a turnover,
Speaker 3: So that to me is the concern that they've got
Speaker 3: a lot of talent on the back end. I think
Speaker 3: because of the young guys, I'm not sure that necessarily
Speaker 3: a line to what he wants to do, which then
Speaker 3: means he might have to switch things up and put
Speaker 3: more pressure on the linebacking group if he can't figure
Speaker 3: out with the secondary. So I just don't know if
Speaker 3: we're gonna get the pure uncook McDonald's right away.
Speaker 4: I think we're going to be at least a year
Speaker 4: away from.
Speaker 1: It because Devin Weatherston in that defense, you know, just
Speaker 1: from a basics point of view, it's like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: it's hee a sneaky defensive Player of the Year candidate
Speaker 1: or an All Pro candidate, And I am buying. There
Speaker 1: are some preseason stories I buy, and cornerbacks are so
Speaker 1: up and down that I am buying, like the Reek
Speaker 1: Woolen rejuvenation because he understood what went wrong on some
Speaker 1: level last year that he'll be at least a quality
Speaker 1: corner All it took for me, I'll were like a
Speaker 1: few reps where he embarrassed Calvin Ridley and joint practices
Speaker 1: and a few podcasts from Michael Shan Dugar, who does
Speaker 1: a great job of just saying he's looked awesome, and
Speaker 1: so I'm into that. There there's a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: and I think way more talent than the Broncos offense.
Speaker 1: And so that's one week, one game. I'm just curious
Speaker 1: to see. I guess if I'm right, and if they
Speaker 1: can dominate in that game, all right, you give me
Speaker 1: one more and we'll take a break after that.
Speaker 3: It's gotta be Caleb versus the Tennessee defense. Is is
Speaker 3: this Titan defense going to be good? Do you think
Speaker 3: they could be sneaky good?
Speaker 2: I would tend to know. That's what I'm I'm going towards.
Speaker 3: It's weird one because as I go through them, it
Speaker 3: does feel like I don't know me playing Madden and
Speaker 3: like the signing guys I've heard of in two years time.
Speaker 4: So I understand that.
Speaker 3: But once you look at the secondary in particular, I
Speaker 3: do think X actually a decent amount of talent. Then
Speaker 3: obviously the best receiving core is could be really overwhelming.
Speaker 3: Caleb is such an unusual player and can extend and
Speaker 3: create plays, and I get the concerns with the front seven.
Speaker 4: I love the uns Jones pickup.
Speaker 3: I think that can that can have an impact, and
Speaker 3: they may not be a top twelve in DVOA type defense,
Speaker 3: but I don't think this is anywhere near like a troubling,
Speaker 3: dumpsterfire type unit. So I'm interested to see what that
Speaker 3: looks like in Week one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's the same coaching trades in Ard Wilson.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't know if he's gonna run everything
Speaker 1: the same. Actually, the way he's talked in the preseason
Speaker 1: does not sound like he's like running a Mike McDonald
Speaker 1: type of defense. It's gonna be a different a different scheme.
Speaker 1: He's his own guy, and the front could be good.
Speaker 1: Devandre Sweat Again, it's camp. I just think he's had
Speaker 1: a very positive camp, a guy that everyone was down
Speaker 1: on and certainly lack of judgment with Dui and his
Speaker 1: weight in everything. And yet everyone that's been at Titans
Speaker 1: camp is like, other than Jeffrey Simmons, he's been our
Speaker 1: most consistent defensive lineman. He's actually shown up and it's
Speaker 1: translated and they could be good upfront. And I am
Speaker 1: a little worried about the Bears offensive line in general.
Speaker 1: I think Bears fans are higher on it than I am,
Speaker 1: but is at a matchup that they could lose Week one,
Speaker 1: Caleb Williams, that's spicy. I could see them being good.
Speaker 1: I didn't love the Owoozia signing. It's like and he
Speaker 1: hasn't been healthy in camp. I didn't even love love
Speaker 1: the lagarious Snead outside of Kansas City, not always being
Speaker 1: able to practice because his knee is such a problem signing.
Speaker 1: So that's a big mystery box, a big question mark.
Speaker 1: But you're right, there's a chance there that they could
Speaker 1: improve quite a bit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I am higher on the secondary than you.
Speaker 3: I really like the safety room. I think they can
Speaker 3: do interesting creative things with those guys. I think Sneed's
Speaker 3: are really good. We'll see if you just put him
Speaker 3: in a pure bump and run situations that you've got
Speaker 3: nothing else to do with the rest of the game.
Speaker 3: That should translate. There's no earthy reason why it shouldn't.
Speaker 3: Yet for some reason, this happens every year in free age,
Speaker 3: So these guys don't translate playing the exact same technique
Speaker 3: as somewhere else, and for some reason it doesn't work.
Speaker 3: The front I'm probably more down on from you. I'm
Speaker 3: not a Devandre sweat guy. That is to me, that's
Speaker 3: camp stuff. It's believe it when I see it. It's
Speaker 3: believe it when it's eight straight weeks and it's snapped
Speaker 3: a snap and it's not rotating golf and just playing
Speaker 3: running downs and maybe possibly considering being in shape to
Speaker 3: play football.
Speaker 4: At this level.
Speaker 3: So that that is the thing I will I will
Speaker 3: definitely have to see before I believe it.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's a great point too, because of course
Speaker 1: in camp, like they're not you know, they're in pads plenty,
Speaker 1: but they're not they're not tackling to the ground.
Speaker 2: They're doing it. It's a totally different sport.
Speaker 1: And they're very thin there that I have sort of
Speaker 1: picked up on that, Like they're planning on him playing
Speaker 1: a lot. He's certainly starting, and that's that's a little concerning.
Speaker 1: But if you get close to prime Jeffrey Simmons and
Speaker 1: it sounds like he's ready to go, and Harold Landry
Speaker 1: finished out last season well and I think could have
Speaker 1: you know, is certainly a solid edge like they they
Speaker 1: have guys arden Key had that suspension overturn, and so
Speaker 1: that's a fun one. Titans Bears Week one, We're gonna
Speaker 1: come back with a couple more things that we're just like,
Speaker 1: we just can't wait to unwrap week one. We couldn't
Speaker 1: even wait to do the previous show. So we'll be
Speaker 1: back in a couple of minutes. All right, we are
Speaker 1: back here on NFL Daily and yeah, but the big
Speaker 1: news in the UK.
Speaker 4: Oasis it's back. They're back.
Speaker 1: Are you what do you? What's your oasis connection? I'll
Speaker 1: give you a second to think about that, as I say,
Speaker 1: my biggest connection there is the first ever weekend of
Speaker 1: my life that I ever just got drunk for an
Speaker 1: entire weekend because I was either a freshman or a
Speaker 1: sophomore in high school and someone someone had a house
Speaker 1: that was just open for the weekend and I somehow,
Speaker 1: you know, got you know, my parents allowed me to
Speaker 1: sleep over there and I think I spent we spent
Speaker 1: like two or three nights and yeah, that was that
Speaker 1: was That ages me a little bit, but it was
Speaker 1: definitely maybe an oasis lived forever, just basically on repeat,
Speaker 1: like while getting drunk as a fifteen year old for
Speaker 1: forty eight hours straight.
Speaker 3: Well, I live in Manchester, England, as you know, I'm
Speaker 3: from the North of England. People can't tell that from
Speaker 3: my messed up voice of living in Boston for three
Speaker 3: years and having the wolf's most accent. So for us,
Speaker 3: you know, thirteen years old in a park with rock
Speaker 3: and roll star believing and walking and talking like we
Speaker 3: are all Liam and Nole Gallaghans. That is how I
Speaker 3: was born and raised.
Speaker 2: That is awesome.
Speaker 1: I can kind of picture it, but not picture because
Speaker 1: I've never been in Manchester. When I go, it's like
Speaker 1: I always stay in London. This year, I really on Saturday,
Speaker 1: I wanna Saturday usually have some free time. I want
Speaker 1: to like get outside the city. Not that London's not amazing,
Speaker 1: but it's time for me to venture out. Maybe you
Speaker 1: can help me with that.
Speaker 4: Ali.
Speaker 1: Before that, though, let's talk more week one and hmmm,
Speaker 1: where do I go next? Let's call Colt's defensive line.
Speaker 1: I had a lot lay after LAT two was just
Speaker 1: such a fun prospect to me, as fun of a
Speaker 1: edge prospect as there's been in a couple years. And
Speaker 1: in the preseason, the little that we saw he looked
Speaker 1: like the same guy in college. It makes you feel
Speaker 1: a little better that, okay, this is going to translate.
Speaker 1: And then you think about that defensive line in general.
Speaker 1: You know, the question for me is DeForest Buckner and
Speaker 1: Grover Stewart gonna be close to where they have been
Speaker 1: at their peak, because if they're anywhere close, and they've
Speaker 1: been pretty good lately next to lat too, and you
Speaker 1: know you have Quidy pay as the other edge that
Speaker 1: matchup against the Texans week one, you got larm. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a lot to versus tunsl which is like
Speaker 1: you know, film geek porn there and the whole line
Speaker 1: in general. I have some questions about the rest of
Speaker 1: the Texans offensive line, but that line and some good
Speaker 1: linebackers for the Colts too against this explosive Texans offense,
Speaker 1: and there's some familiar aler arity now between the two
Speaker 1: coaching staff to me that that's a really exciting Week
Speaker 1: one of just like, okay, where are these these two
Speaker 1: sides at especially a lot too versus Tunsil could be
Speaker 1: a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a GC one. I wish I really like
Speaker 3: that line. I don't mind them playing a four down
Speaker 3: and go situation. They've got the dudes, they can just
Speaker 3: fire off the ball and make some Hey. I do
Speaker 3: kind of wish he was with someone over them. Gous Bradley.
Speaker 3: Not to dump on Gus Bradley particularly, but you just
Speaker 3: went through it right. We've got this guy, this past
Speaker 3: rusher who is an unusual type play. He doesn't win
Speaker 3: in normal ways pass rushers play football. I've described him
Speaker 3: for as like an MMA fight. Do they just like
Speaker 3: let loose on the football field. It's a weird hand
Speaker 3: movement and uncoordinated body stuff. It's not really fire off
Speaker 3: the ball and dip around the edge or run through
Speaker 3: someone's chest. I mean, he can do that stuff, but
Speaker 3: he's at his best kind of levitating in the air
Speaker 3: and doing unorthodox kind of TJ. Watt type things. So
Speaker 3: you look at the Texans line, you say, let's just
Speaker 3: plant this guy over the center, let him loose, and
Speaker 3: we'll get like ten to fifteen pressures. Everyone else can
Speaker 3: come screaming con and we all high five, what a
Speaker 3: great day. There's no need for him to be caught
Speaker 3: up in the Laramie tunsil hurricane of just the speed
Speaker 3: and the power and a guy who is who will
Speaker 3: be laughing if you try and hit him with some
Speaker 3: weird like Bruce Lee moves and then you just wind
Speaker 3: up in his arms. It's not gonna work. So that's
Speaker 3: not a great match to my thinking for a lot
Speaker 3: do week one. If he's going to come and try
Speaker 3: and do his typical things, which I think can make
Speaker 3: him a really, really good player in the league, I
Speaker 3: would like to see him moved around and maybe Bradley
Speaker 3: spent you know, six months away hanging out in the lake,
Speaker 3: get a bit frisky and deciding to change up things
Speaker 3: a little bit front.
Speaker 1: It is kind of wild to think about the run
Speaker 1: that Gus Bradley's had. I don't know if he's had
Speaker 1: a single season where he hasn't run a defense since
Speaker 1: he started running a defense.
Speaker 2: And yeah, he has the reputation.
Speaker 1: You can tell me if it's changed in your eye
Speaker 1: in any recent years of Yeah, he's gonna line him up,
Speaker 1: he's gonna have the four linemen, he's gonna do what
Speaker 1: he does. I mean, he's mixed it a little bit
Speaker 1: on the back end maybe before, but he's a little
Speaker 1: more static and a little more just like our players
Speaker 1: are going to be ear players more, yes, coordinators.
Speaker 3: It's really static and it's all about which is fair
Speaker 3: enough to the NFL. It's really hard. You got guys
Speaker 3: rolling now injured right practice squad guys. It makes a
Speaker 3: ton of sense to say, you get me players, I'll
Speaker 3: teach them technique, will go win games. It is still
Speaker 3: for all the fun stuff about rotations and sim pressures.
Speaker 3: It is still sixty forty a man coverage single highly
Speaker 3: That's what it is. So that's what he made in
Speaker 3: him getting frisky was adding in a dose of Tampa
Speaker 3: two and being like, hey, look at me, guys, kind
Speaker 3: of getting out there over here, look at me. So
Speaker 3: I don't think it's going to be a wacky situation
Speaker 3: on the back end, but he's now been given these
Speaker 3: pieces where he could do interesting things them. It could
Speaker 3: be more Niners like where it's at least an overload
Speaker 3: front and we're trying to do something a little bit
Speaker 3: different to get after people in the past US game.
Speaker 3: Because he's now he's got the pieces, there's not really
Speaker 3: an excuse I don't think for them to be one
Speaker 3: of the best pressure teams in the league.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Deo Adigmbo is still there. Sampson Abakom just a
Speaker 1: little update. I had mentioned he was out for the season,
Speaker 1: we believe with an achilles. They put him on designated
Speaker 1: to return. There was a Terrell Suggs Achilles tear ones
Speaker 1: where he returned by the end of the season. So
Speaker 1: if they're you know, I think they can be a
Speaker 1: playoff team. I put them in the playoffs in our
Speaker 1: AFC preview with Nick Wright as one of the wildcard teams.
Speaker 1: So just something to keep an eye on that maybe
Speaker 1: he could return. But they're fairly deep, especially on the edge.
Speaker 1: They have Taekwon Lewis. It's a it's a fun defense.
Speaker 1: It's a fun off. I mean, it's just a fun division.
Speaker 1: Why don't you go with the next one?
Speaker 3: For me, it has to be the Dallas defense. I
Speaker 3: have no idea what this thing is going to be.
Speaker 3: We get zimmer Bag. I don't think people quite understand
Speaker 3: last year how corrupted they were by design for long stretches.
Speaker 3: Because dank Quinn is considered a great coach. He had
Speaker 3: the two really good years and he gets a head
Speaker 3: coaching job, so he gets a job promotion, which I
Speaker 3: think people think means he did a great job. But
Speaker 3: structurally they were a disaster for like large chunks of
Speaker 3: last year. And I've made this point before where it
Speaker 3: just because you had that one by year, it doesn't
Speaker 3: mean dan Quinn can't be a good head coach elsewhere.
Speaker 3: That could be what happened in a job interview can
Speaker 3: run a programmer's done the job before. But if he
Speaker 3: just went in without any of the background stuff and
Speaker 3: it was just a tape by tape who had a
Speaker 3: good year of the year before, there is no chance
Speaker 3: he's getting any kind of job. And so you bring
Speaker 3: Zimmern and they do absolutely nothing. They get Eric Kendricks,
Speaker 3: who is just like Scotch taped together as please give
Speaker 3: us a chance. They say they're not going to run
Speaker 3: all this three safety stuff. They're betting on Marsie Smith
Speaker 3: and these guys to show internal development. They lose a cornerback.
Speaker 3: I'm pretty worried that they're not going to be anywhere
Speaker 3: near the level people would assume they would be the
Speaker 3: thing they've got going in their favors. I'm also not
Speaker 3: quite sure about Deshan Watson the Cleveland Browns offense. And
Speaker 3: we may get one week where Mike Parson sparkles and
Speaker 3: we still think that they're a really effective group.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting and I haven't heard it put that way.
Speaker 1: I think you're right because of the presidence of Parsons
Speaker 1: and just the name of Laurence, so that DeMarcus is
Speaker 1: still a good player. He's not what he was, but
Speaker 1: he's still a plus player to have out there, not
Speaker 1: as much talent. And you're right, I didn't think dan
Speaker 1: Quinn had that bad of a year. I thought he
Speaker 1: had a bad like final six weeks. It was kind
Speaker 1: of disastrous. It reminded me a little bit of Mike
Speaker 1: Rabel getting the promotion to a head coaching job too,
Speaker 1: when his defense was absolutely terrible.
Speaker 3: Here, it's not a bad year. If you go by
Speaker 3: some of the metrics and the measurables, it's not so bad.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying that if you are someone who's evaluating
Speaker 3: a coaching job and you sit down with them and say,
Speaker 3: walk me through what you're doing here. They have things
Speaker 3: where runfit wise, they don't make any logical sense, and
Speaker 3: it was happening weekly, and you've got you know, they're
Speaker 3: playing more defensive backs than anyone else in the lead.
Speaker 3: They got defensive backs fitting B gaps which regularly, which
Speaker 3: is not like cool Brandon Staley stuff.
Speaker 4: It's like an error.
Speaker 3: Then they have a bunch of players when it's run
Speaker 3: to the perimeter where two guys are arriving at the
Speaker 3: same spot at once. So that's just either a coaching
Speaker 3: issue of feeding it into the players or you've designed
Speaker 3: a poor defense and you don't now have to spin
Speaker 3: your way out of it midway through the year because
Speaker 3: you realize we don't have any linebackers.
Speaker 4: What have we done?
Speaker 3: And that runs into this is to go and get
Speaker 3: Zimmer and Eric Hendricks. That's the solution.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Kendricks hype and I think think I've said
Speaker 1: this on this show, so I feel bad pileing non
Speaker 1: but this weird thing where I'll listen to Cowboys ANALYSTSS like,
Speaker 1: well we got you know, we fixed linebacker by getting
Speaker 1: Eric Kendricks. I was like, no, Aeron Kendricks was a
Speaker 1: problem for their last two teams. He's got to be
Speaker 1: a problem for your team. Zimmer coming off the shelf,
Speaker 1: you never know, like could he get a little wild
Speaker 1: or could it be stale?
Speaker 2: Like he's a bit of a mystery.
Speaker 1: Certainly one of the most effective defensive coordinators of the
Speaker 1: last twenty years, and yet yeah, different situation.
Speaker 2: Everyone's on the hot seat. It's weird.
Speaker 3: He certainly is. And everyone loves Mike Zimmer. I love
Speaker 3: Mike Zimmer. I love the tenor and tone of how
Speaker 3: he just used football. I love the commodtioneally style when
Speaker 3: it's kind of this like little genius hidden in there.
Speaker 1: But he's a commercial still good on hard knocks. As
Speaker 1: a decoordinator. It was so good with the Bengals.
Speaker 2: It was fun.
Speaker 3: That is my favorite kind of coach. But I think
Speaker 3: he's a little bit misunderstood in the sense that they
Speaker 3: were never that wacky or inventive. They did some interesting
Speaker 3: things with Harrison Smith, and it was like, well, therefore
Speaker 3: the whole defense must be really, you know, inventive and cool.
Speaker 3: He's very static, it's very cover three. It's pretty traditional.
Speaker 3: It's three linebackers as often as possible. That's why they
Speaker 3: went and got Kendricks. It's like, you wouldn't have made
Speaker 3: that move if that was not the style you were
Speaker 3: expecting to run again, and dan Quinn, to be fair
Speaker 3: to him, really overhauled the entire thing. Became a guy
Speaker 3: who was playing a bunch too deep and rotating a lot.
Speaker 4: It just failed.
Speaker 3: It was just not well designed by the end of
Speaker 3: the run there and was bailed out by great players
Speaker 3: up front, essentially masquerading, you know, covering up a lot
Speaker 3: of like technical flaws with the defense. I think Zimma
Speaker 3: can at least fix those bear basics, and that is
Speaker 3: a starting point. I just don't know if they have
Speaker 3: that much talent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're counting on de Moon Clark maybe who knows,
Speaker 1: he might be the fourth linebacker, but they think maybe
Speaker 1: he develops DeMar Vean Overshan maybe improving. That's a third
Speaker 1: round pick from a year ago development there. I've heard
Speaker 1: there's some concerns about Marshawn Neelan and his hip coming
Speaker 1: into the ceiling. I know he's defensive end, but they're
Speaker 1: they're a little thinner, and you're right, just the talent
Speaker 1: isn't quite as good, and certainly Deron Bland's injury doesn't
Speaker 1: help there. I hate to go so Cowboys heavy and
Speaker 1: be basic, but that was my fourth was the offense.
Speaker 1: So I guess I gotta watch this game. I really
Speaker 1: am interested in this game. Plus it's Brady's first game.
Speaker 1: I have to admit as a broadcast head and a
Speaker 1: Brady head, you know, just.
Speaker 2: All of it.
Speaker 1: I'm this is my main game. I'm in Fox. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be like a hipster. I want to watch
Speaker 1: this game. But it is because of the offense for
Speaker 1: the Cowboys to me more than the defense that this
Speaker 1: offensive line versus the Browns defensive line. Now they've had
Speaker 1: some injuries in camp, but you know, Miles Garrett potentially
Speaker 1: against Geiton and or whoever they're you know, going to
Speaker 1: have it right tackle there. It was a really effective
Speaker 1: defensive line. I'm wondering if this Brown's defense kind of
Speaker 1: like you mentioned with mac Mike McDonald's defense, in everyone
Speaker 1: getting a year to kind of get used to the
Speaker 1: scheme and everything, what is year two Jim Schwartz in Cleveland?
Speaker 2: Can it be as effective?
Speaker 1: And then all the questions that we have about the
Speaker 1: Cowboys offense, specifically to me, the offensive line coming into
Speaker 1: the year and the running game, And I'm just I
Speaker 1: don't really have a hot take of like how it's
Speaker 1: gonna go. I just want to see it and what
Speaker 1: the heck happens. The Browns one is fascinating because that's
Speaker 1: one where we'll know, I think within like a quarter,
Speaker 1: like is the magic still there? They last year played
Speaker 1: like almost a high school kind of defense. It was
Speaker 1: seventy two percent of the time the middle of the
Speaker 1: field is closed. They ran basically three coverages all year.
Speaker 1: They had like four changeups. That was the entire defense.
Speaker 1: And then they've got this outrageous pass rush, which is
Speaker 1: just players. It was just four down and go, and
Speaker 1: that is great coaching. It's like, I have really good players,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put them in the best spot. We'll play
Speaker 1: man coverage everywhere. It's really easy. They had really talented corners.
Speaker 1: But when you're losing guys tow injury to just say,
Speaker 1: this is what Belichick always did so well. Why he'd
Speaker 1: always just find a corner by people.
Speaker 4: How does he do that?
Speaker 3: Belichick's a genius. He says, you find that guy and
Speaker 3: you run with him everywhere. That's the job for the week.
Speaker 3: We're not doing all cool creative coverage stuff. So I
Speaker 3: think we'll know pretty quickly whether they still have that
Speaker 3: kind of talent. I just don't know if it's easy
Speaker 3: to roll with that year or year and say we're
Speaker 3: going to be the most static, predictable defensive league and
Speaker 3: not just you know, do well, but house people by
Speaker 3: a big distance in terms of precious sacks, TFLs, all
Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. So I think we'll know quickly,
Speaker 3: and then for Dallas. I just don't trust that staff
Speaker 3: to ever make things. It's like they as good as
Speaker 3: Dak is and I'm a huge Dak believer. It's like
Speaker 3: they think there's some kind of like extra bonus points
Speaker 3: for being very complicated and that's how they view offensive football,
Speaker 3: and there just isn't And if he's not got the
Speaker 3: time and he can't create a move as well as
Speaker 3: he has it in the past, then I think they could.
Speaker 4: Be in trouble.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it could be one of those matchup based
Speaker 1: things that both of these units are a little worse
Speaker 1: than everyone thinks. But it's a fun game, it's close,
Speaker 1: it's the national game, and you feel good maybe about
Speaker 1: both sides coming out of it. It's like, oh, that
Speaker 1: was a good match between two good sides. And maybe
Speaker 1: not because to me, Cook Brandon Cooks is is.
Speaker 2: Not what he was. He hasn't been what he was.
Speaker 2: And we'll see.
Speaker 1: They've been high on their third receiver, whom I wanted
Speaker 1: to say Geiton, but Jalen Tolbert, not Jalen Guitton, who's
Speaker 1: had a good camp and everything. Ferguson's a solid, you know,
Speaker 1: but this is a maybe a group you can cover
Speaker 1: with man coverage other than Seee Lamb, who's not going
Speaker 1: to have a ton of practice time before this game.
Speaker 1: All right, let's wrap up one more pick your best
Speaker 1: one you got remaining, Ali Connolly.
Speaker 3: Best one I got remaining is Bryce Young has to
Speaker 3: be Bryce Young? What on earth is this thing going
Speaker 3: to look like? Do you have any idea of what
Speaker 3: Bryson will look like?
Speaker 4: In you two?
Speaker 3: Because for me, the big thing is it's like everyone's
Speaker 3: already moved on. C J. Stroud is great, we get
Speaker 3: Caleb Williams, we get Drape May, and it's as though
Speaker 3: an everyone outside of Carolina is like the number one
Speaker 3: overall pick who they traded their entire frenchise to go
Speaker 3: get might just stink and they don't want to say
Speaker 3: it publicly.
Speaker 4: And I hope he's going to be great. The league
Speaker 4: will be awesome.
Speaker 3: If Bryce Young is amazing, that would be I just
Speaker 3: from what they've said, what they've messaged, what they've shown
Speaker 3: in the tiny sample size possible, I'm just not buying
Speaker 3: him believing it right now.
Speaker 1: In terms of the camp progress. And you know, he
Speaker 1: had one good preseason drive, but it's hard to take
Speaker 1: too much out of that. I just feel like and
Speaker 1: you can tell me what you think about Canalis that
Speaker 1: it'll make it should make more sense. I just am
Speaker 1: more concerned that even if he plays better, the talent
Speaker 1: around him, is the coaching enough to like, what's the
Speaker 1: upside here, Like, it's the ceiling's still probably pretty low
Speaker 1: even if he plays better. I keep comping him to
Speaker 1: Alex Smith just in terms of like where he could
Speaker 1: go as one of the worst rookie quarterbacks of all
Speaker 1: time to a pretty respectable second year under North Turner
Speaker 1: with the forty nine ers, where I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this guy is going to have a career and be
Speaker 1: a decent enough starter.
Speaker 2: That's that's probably the hope.
Speaker 1: But I still think everything around him is probably close
Speaker 1: to bottom five level.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean the offensive line they did improve, and it
Speaker 3: was such a disaster last year, but it's one of
Speaker 3: those ones where they invested so much money in it.
Speaker 3: It's like even if it's just like bad.
Speaker 1: Right, maybe Damian Lewis and Robert Hunt, like how many
Speaker 1: people were talking about them as difference makers last year.
Speaker 4: I don't know, No, I think it's not going to
Speaker 4: be great. The only thing you can buy.
Speaker 3: It's like trying to give Bryce Young his second contract
Speaker 3: now by buying other.
Speaker 4: Players in the hopes he may be good and.
Speaker 3: Then you can make a decision, but at some point
Speaker 3: you would have to pay him then at that point,
Speaker 3: So it's I think it's a gutsy strategy to basically
Speaker 3: make yourself bad on defense.
Speaker 4: We will be old and bad on defense.
Speaker 3: To give this guy a hope is to their credit
Speaker 3: of trying to find out what they got with this guy.
Speaker 3: I just don't like the pairing of the coach of
Speaker 3: the quarterback. I think worked to a point of Canalis
Speaker 3: is a really good motivator, confidence builder. I view him
Speaker 3: as more of like a glorified quarterback coach who's also
Speaker 3: the head coach. Where I get concerned from what he's
Speaker 3: been messaging and what they've shown so far is that
Speaker 3: he will have a hands on role in the actual offense.
Speaker 3: That gives me a cause to pause and concerned. I
Speaker 3: just don't think that fits with Bryshung the player at all.
Speaker 3: So even if you can build it slightly, I think
Speaker 3: we're gonna end up with this season where it's like
Speaker 3: Bryce Sung's maybe there's something in there, and that isn't
Speaker 3: really a good answer. Either you kind of just want
Speaker 3: to know right by the end of the year. Either
Speaker 3: this isn't gonna work. We've got to pull the ripcorn
Speaker 3: and find a way out because we've got to build
Speaker 3: the rest of our roster. We've sunk so much money
Speaker 3: into the offensive line. Now we're gonna have to make
Speaker 3: some tough decisions.
Speaker 4: Or Yeah, we got it.
Speaker 3: There's a pathway to stardom here and we can start
Speaker 3: building around that. And I think what they're building here,
Speaker 3: for some strange reason, in my opinion, is some part
Speaker 3: some kind of Jared Goffian, Baker mayfield Ian Russell wilson
Speaker 3: Ian type offense that just is not a fit for Brys.
Speaker 3: Youung the player based on the line.
Speaker 2: Why now, Like why not?
Speaker 1: So you said Canalis being so involved in running the
Speaker 1: offense is almost a red flag for you. Their offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator is Brad Idzick. Just the name Idzick freaks me out.
Speaker 1: It's sort of like the opposite of, you know, Nepo Baby.
Speaker 1: But I guess it worked out for him that, like
Speaker 1: he overcame what happened with his dad with the Jets.
Speaker 1: But why don't you think Canalis and Young fit perfectly together?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: And if you go through the rest of the staff,
Speaker 3: these are all his boys from Seattle. He just went
Speaker 3: through the phone book. He brought all his boys to
Speaker 3: them Seattle. They didn't go and bring out someone as
Speaker 3: an outside high who maybe would blend more with a
Speaker 3: true spread type style that Bryce Young I think would
Speaker 3: be best. And now I've said this in a bunch
Speaker 3: of places, so I'm sorry people heard this before. But
Speaker 3: he's such an unusual player. To try and build a
Speaker 3: typical offense that constrains the quarterback that is Jared Goffian
Speaker 3: when he doesn't have those skills makes no sense. And
Speaker 3: it sounds like I've been smoking when chweed or something
Speaker 3: to say, you've got a bill swing no one's ever
Speaker 3: seen before. Man, it's got to look completely different, man.
Speaker 4: But I think that's true.
Speaker 3: I think you need this is we've never seen someone
Speaker 3: with that skill set whose best trait is tap dancing
Speaker 3: in the backfield, right, That's the number one bryising thing.
Speaker 3: Can he create and playmate from the backfield so in
Speaker 3: a Drew Brees body, that's who he is. So what
Speaker 3: you have to do is given as many options as
Speaker 3: possible on every single play. You know, constraining him in
Speaker 3: a two man route combination offense, whereas you hit the
Speaker 3: deep cross while you check it down. He's just not
Speaker 3: that player. He doesn't drive the ball down the field
Speaker 3: like Russell Wilson. He doesn't drive the ball down the
Speaker 3: field like Gered Goff. These guys where it's a point
Speaker 3: and shoot, take that and go. That's not who he is,
Speaker 3: and that's the style they've been running in the preseason.
Speaker 3: It's a whole bunch of concept feed coverage. If the
Speaker 3: concept wins, get rid of the ball. So you're trying
Speaker 3: to make him Baker Mayfield by limiting him as much
Speaker 3: as possible. That's what they're trying to do. When the
Speaker 3: point of taking the guy would be he can create
Speaker 3: for us, and you can only create if there are
Speaker 3: as many options out in the route as possible, so
Speaker 3: that he can move around, bounce and then go find
Speaker 3: people downfield.
Speaker 2: Maybe like I'm trying to think, well, what would be
Speaker 2: good for him?
Speaker 1: And you're right, I saw I think people underrate or
Speaker 1: have forgotten about his potential creativity. He didn't have the
Speaker 1: confidence to necessarily do it. Certainly he can throw with anticipation,
Speaker 1: and he showed a little bit of that in that preseason,
Speaker 1: just the way he was moving looked good.
Speaker 2: It's like, Okay, this guy's in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You realize that I'm trying to think what would be
Speaker 1: good for him is like a like a Deshaun Watson
Speaker 1: and Houston type of thing.
Speaker 3: Even then, I mean that was again Deshaun drives the
Speaker 3: ball down the field. It's really it's difficult to play
Speaker 3: in an offense where you're basically in a three man situation.
Speaker 3: That's a lot of what they do these like levels concepts,
Speaker 3: you call them deep, intermediate, short, that's a lot of
Speaker 3: what those offenses are. When your guy can't truly drive
Speaker 3: it down the field, it has to be a lot
Speaker 3: of what the Rams have done when they get into
Speaker 3: empty is it's a double stack, switch releases, and then
Speaker 3: you can just throw it open.
Speaker 4: Swan runs underneath it. That's what you would need.
Speaker 3: Now. I think they should be at ten, fifteen, twelve
Speaker 3: percent in empty and just have oz on a podcast
Speaker 3: people writing deep features.
Speaker 4: How are the Panthers running empty?
Speaker 3: It by far the highest rate since Brady was really
Speaker 3: cooking in twenty That's what it should be, Noriy.
Speaker 1: But that's where I threw out Watson because if I'm right,
Speaker 1: I think there was a lot. I was just trying
Speaker 1: to think who can be a point guard and just
Speaker 1: create and options and they will be fun. That's a
Speaker 1: fun one to watch in Week one. They're playing the Saints.
Speaker 1: I do like Week one games where it feels as
Speaker 1: close to a must win as possible. So on one hand,
Speaker 1: like Saints Panthers is low on everyone's list of probably
Speaker 1: what they're watching first, and yet if that game is
Speaker 1: fifteen to twelve in the fourth quarter, Panthers are leading
Speaker 1: the Saints and that crowd is booing Derek Carr a
Speaker 1: little bit and grumbling, there actually feels like there'd be
Speaker 1: more stakes in that game because the Saints can't lose
Speaker 1: that game to start the season than almost any other
Speaker 1: NFL game out there. So that's fun to me. Every
Speaker 1: game in Week one is a little fun in different ways.
Speaker 1: It was great having you Ali again. If I can
Speaker 1: do anything, listen to this podcast that Ali does with
Speaker 1: John Ledyard and Oli does a great job writing too.
Speaker 2: You can get smarter.
Speaker 1: And so that's over at the Read Option Podcasts and
Speaker 1: we hope to have Ali on throughout the course of
Speaker 1: the season until Tuesday look, I'm gonna have Jordan rodriegback,
Speaker 1: and before the season starts, we're gonna choose what would
Speaker 1: be our ideal roster, almost like a preseason All Pro team,
Speaker 1: but in the fifty three million roster form. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a fun exercise until then football's back.