Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast. This season is here. Oh god,
Speaker 1: oh god, it's right. Welcome to another Editionally Around the
Speaker 1: NFL Podcast, Dan Hands is here, joined in a room
Speaker 1: filled with some heroes, a virtual room that is Mark Sessler,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal. Boys. Here we are now. This will be
Speaker 1: our ninth season together. We started in the summer of
Speaker 1: two thousand thirteen, and since then we've done somewhere in
Speaker 1: the neighborhood of twelve hundred shows. By my count, at
Speaker 1: least I said nothing that was uttering some sort of words.
Speaker 1: At least twelve hundred shows. We've had at least six
Speaker 1: d six producers. I was gonna say six hundred by
Speaker 1: my count, about six producers. We've been to eight Super
Speaker 1: Bowls as ap to London Games three. If J. J.
Speaker 1: Watts manager didn't get mad at us, Ice Cube was
Speaker 1: on the show once, as was Little Debbie multiple times.
Speaker 1: Get your act together, Bro, get trash. A serial killer
Speaker 1: almost iced Erica last year. West eight pieces of a
Speaker 1: softball pants sprinkled over a four ft hot dog once
Speaker 1: m West West. Yes, we miss that dude. This will
Speaker 1: be our first journey boys without him, but he is
Speaker 1: with us in spirit. Football is back. I think I
Speaker 1: guess today it's like a like, that's for real, this
Speaker 1: is really you could do it. You could do it
Speaker 1: again on Sunday because it's like that's the football is
Speaker 1: back again. This time it counts. Um. I do want
Speaker 1: to point out it was Mark who made that sound early.
Speaker 1: I'm just a pro. I would never cut someone off.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking forward to uh seeing you guys later today.
Speaker 1: Depending on when you're listening to this, maybe it was yesterday.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be taping our Thursday Night recap altogether this
Speaker 1: week over at Keisha Manner, so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1: I will let me just to be to clarify, it
Speaker 1: was a recording of my voice that Erica you know,
Speaker 1: pumped into the program. It was not me, um. And
Speaker 1: I would also note this whenever you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: if you have not already done so. UM. I had
Speaker 1: the pleasure of reading this this morning. Greg Rosenthal, back
Speaker 1: on the QB Index, wrote an incredible tribute UM to
Speaker 1: West to open up that article. UM, it honestly brought
Speaker 1: a tear to my eye. UM. I think that football
Speaker 1: is back, but it's it's it will never really be
Speaker 1: the same for me. The sport will never be the
Speaker 1: same because we've lost our friend. But I do think
Speaker 1: that there is something um about the fact that, you know,
Speaker 1: before John and West would want us to so here
Speaker 1: we go. Appreciate that. I too was in my head.
Speaker 1: Yeah thing, I it was in my head that that
Speaker 1: was like the right the right time and place to
Speaker 1: write about him, um, which is tough obviously, But I
Speaker 1: think of us as like it's like we're we're Internet writers.
Speaker 1: That was how we started, all all four of us,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh, it's it feels like it's a little
Speaker 1: bit on the back burner now, but we're still doing it.
Speaker 1: And that's definitely how I got to know West, you know,
Speaker 1: on on the Sons of the Tundra blog at road
Speaker 1: World and now here. He uh no one could put
Speaker 1: his everything into a like an Internet piece more than West,
Speaker 1: which I always admired because it's like it's gonna be
Speaker 1: there and then it's sort of ephemeral. It's gone in
Speaker 1: a few days. I mean, it's sitting there, but it's gone.
Speaker 1: And he would just like pour everything into that, whether
Speaker 1: it was like the best third down backs or or
Speaker 1: whatever he was writing about. And though I was moved
Speaker 1: by your words and you spoke about west with great
Speaker 1: admiration and love. I did not shed a tear because
Speaker 1: I am dead inside. Oh I'm sorry to hear that.
Speaker 1: Although not surprised, I like cried at the end of
Speaker 1: like when they kick someone off Lego Masters yesterday afternoon
Speaker 1: and my kids are like, what is wrong with you?
Speaker 1: So yes, we're um later tonight. Depending when you listen
Speaker 1: to it, whatever your time situation is, I'm sorry we
Speaker 1: were talking about it too much. Whenever you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: uh you. We do have the Thursday Night football recap.
Speaker 1: It is the opener obviously between the Bucks and the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: That is a separate mini pod that we're gonna release
Speaker 1: every Thursday. And we're doing that one yes at west
Speaker 1: Manor with Lakisha. Connie Fox will be there, even John
Speaker 1: Gonzalez will be there. Um, so that will be a
Speaker 1: nice gathering and boar. Mar twe is an American sports writer,
Speaker 1: was married NFLBA broadcaster College Wolf johnho was a Pisces
Speaker 1: reside in Los Angeles with his wife and two dogs.
Speaker 1: That guy and um. Of course, as we spoke about
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, we lost Tara Deaker this week and over
Speaker 1: the weekend and that was a crushing blow for the
Speaker 1: for our group and for the larger media groups. So
Speaker 1: it's gonna be nice to be together tonight and um
Speaker 1: one more plug before we get into the games and
Speaker 1: the draft, as we do every year. In our locks,
Speaker 1: Greg looking up for the three pet and don't there.
Speaker 1: I don't forget Greg what we discussed a couple of
Speaker 1: months back, because you know, everybody knows Greg's been trying
Speaker 1: to kill the locks for years. If you do manage
Speaker 1: to win three in a row, we will hold a
Speaker 1: vote on this podcast, with majority deciding whether it stays
Speaker 1: or goes between the three of us. So that's something
Speaker 1: for you to really aspire towards. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: win three in a row, you're the majority. I think
Speaker 1: I I just would get to decide. That's it. I
Speaker 1: got the thirty nine and the statement my votes, my
Speaker 1: votes count triple if that's the case. I mean, what
Speaker 1: kind of what kind of thing is that? It's gaudy
Speaker 1: of you. It's very gaudy of you to have the
Speaker 1: trophy um right over your left shoulder there that we
Speaker 1: must stare at every time we do a show with you.
Speaker 1: It's very out front it's someone I had to take it.
Speaker 1: I was it was like buried in the corner next
Speaker 1: to our old shadowy League Figures office, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's there's at least a ten percent chance that this
Speaker 1: just gets left here. So I had to take it home.
Speaker 1: And it might as well beautiful. It's a nouveau reach,
Speaker 1: you know. It's like if you're from the old money,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be more flashy about it and letting people know.
Speaker 1: I mean, people forget that I outright one the locks
Speaker 1: um title and then tied with Dan, which was a
Speaker 1: little bit um fraudulent on some level, very fraudulent, but um,
Speaker 1: you know that's the history of the sport. Creig, you're
Speaker 1: the new team. You're the flashy team of today. But
Speaker 1: that it won't last. I mean, I want the picks
Speaker 1: two back to back when we were doing just records,
Speaker 1: and now this is too and that's pretty super Bowl,
Speaker 1: you know, Brown's That's all they got is pretty super Bowl.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Mark, I don't know why I'm
Speaker 1: I'm taking sniper fire there. There was nothing fraudulent about
Speaker 1: my co title. You collapsed like the Falcons in the
Speaker 1: super Bowl. In the playoffs that year I was able
Speaker 1: to catch you. That's how you remember it, and I
Speaker 1: know I I remember it differently, Dan, and it's it's
Speaker 1: it's my personal history that I reflect on, not yours. Okay, anyway,
Speaker 1: last plug. NFL Network show Around the NFL Broadcast premiers Friday.
Speaker 1: Check your local listings. Make sure you pound that DVR
Speaker 1: button if you can't watch it live. It's a two
Speaker 1: hour show and it's in the format of our beloved
Speaker 1: segment we like to do every year. We couldn't do
Speaker 1: it this year because Mark was unfortunately out ill. But
Speaker 1: we have the Around the a f C, the Around
Speaker 1: the NFC in three minutes, around I guess it's Around
Speaker 1: the blank in forty eight minutes. We're gonna take that
Speaker 1: format to NFL Network and cover every team every week, uh,
Speaker 1: in a two hour edition of the Around the NFL
Speaker 1: broadcast on Friday. So give it a give it a watch,
Speaker 1: let us know what you think about it. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go, It is time for week one. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go. Thirty two teams two already played, Third State,
Speaker 1: thirty teams, nold team sound by thirty by two fifteen
Speaker 1: game stock. It's really the pregnant pauses that make it
Speaker 1: you know, you know, it's a he's a confident comedian
Speaker 1: when he can he can live in that silence. That's
Speaker 1: the that's where the tension is. I love it. Well.
Speaker 1: I think he's also genuinely still regulation mathematical power. He's
Speaker 1: done it. But all right, so yes, let's get into it.
Speaker 1: And if you're new to the show, or if you're
Speaker 1: just a little bit rusty, we do this draft style.
Speaker 1: So ricky, how are we going to determine who has
Speaker 1: the first pick? All right, you guys, so you know,
Speaker 1: we went last year and I don't remember once whoever
Speaker 1: got the first pick? Then we started to rotate. But
Speaker 1: I think this year I'm going to throw out a
Speaker 1: trivia question and the first person to answer, you know,
Speaker 1: gets sort of like family feud style, gets it and
Speaker 1: if it's wrong, then we keep moving on. And so
Speaker 1: whoever gets it first and right is going to get
Speaker 1: the first or if someone was wrong correct, But if
Speaker 1: we don't yell it out, we just yell at how
Speaker 1: many questions do you have lined up? Like? Could this?
Speaker 1: This could go for hours? But all right, I made
Speaker 1: it very easy. Okay, here we go. What was the
Speaker 1: first music video played on video Killed the Radio Star
Speaker 1: by the Buggles. Dan's got the first over, I'll pick
Speaker 1: all right, let's find out who picks second. Okay, how
Speaker 1: about I just say who picks second? All right, now,
Speaker 1: let the kids. Let the kids have another question they
Speaker 1: might have. I'm fine with that. Let's hear it. Who
Speaker 1: sings the hit song? Girls just want to have fun. Mark,
Speaker 1: I think you got it. Okay, so we go Dan,
Speaker 1: then we go Mark, then we go Greg. But then Greg,
Speaker 1: it's snakes back to you, the old snaker who I
Speaker 1: am struggling with knowing what to pick here, So I'm
Speaker 1: almost glad not to go Dan. I purposely didn't cut
Speaker 1: a snake slithering sound effect because I love every single
Speaker 1: time you do. Okay, it's a favorite thing. I will
Speaker 1: I will do a little over that for you. I
Speaker 1: want to make you happy Erica than um yes, um,
Speaker 1: all right, here we go. And and the reason it's
Speaker 1: not just a draft for draft purposes of having fun
Speaker 1: on this podcast. It also determines, um, how we cover
Speaker 1: the games on Sunday and how we break down who's
Speaker 1: responsible for what game for when we talk about every
Speaker 1: game with Nick Shook on Sunday Night, the flagship program. Alright,
Speaker 1: a lot of housekeeping. And remember this is this is
Speaker 1: like the NFL Draft when they spent twenty minutes of
Speaker 1: you know, little ceremonies and they've got you know, machine
Speaker 1: gun Kelly comes out and Roger Goodell's talking. They're like,
Speaker 1: let's get going with the actual draft. Mark, what was
Speaker 1: up with that machine gun Kelly? I thought he did
Speaker 1: an excellent job. I means he was pro Browns. I
Speaker 1: thought his message was on point. I don't know why
Speaker 1: you're continually contriqued seeking the guy. Absolutely. My favorite part
Speaker 1: of the off season was Mark loving machine Gun Kelly
Speaker 1: for about a week, becoming like a hardcore machine gun
Speaker 1: Kelly fan. What was that? The culture question was about
Speaker 1: out the Detroit Rapper, machine Gun Kelly or Cleveland. He's
Speaker 1: a Cleveland, He's a Cleveland, a native son. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go. I have the first overall pick. That's
Speaker 1: a great way to start a season. And I will go,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna overthink this, and I will obviously even
Speaker 1: though yes it is a draft, there are you have
Speaker 1: to have um some integrity. So even though I love,
Speaker 1: for instance, absolutely adore that Cleveland at Kansas City late game.
Speaker 1: I'm not touching that. I got too much respect from Mark.
Speaker 1: We'll do it, so I leave it, and I will
Speaker 1: pick the Pittsburgh Steelers traveling to Orchard Park to face
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills breaking and there's a lot cooking here
Speaker 1: with this game. There's a Buffalo Bills offense that was
Speaker 1: virtually unstoppable last season, including against top ten defenses like
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers were a year ago and have been
Speaker 1: for the past four year. Four years Josh Allen six
Speaker 1: and oh lass season against top ten total defenses. Um,
Speaker 1: nobody was that good last season, not even how Aaron
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. He completed almost of his passes against top
Speaker 1: defenses last year four teen tds, three picks, pass rating
Speaker 1: of one oh eight and yes, undefeated in six games.
Speaker 1: So if you're gonna say, well, the Steeler defense, they're
Speaker 1: gonna go into Buffalo and they're gonna slow down the Bills,
Speaker 1: I don't know about that. Um. The only thing you
Speaker 1: can say, uh, And I'll open it up to you
Speaker 1: boys this way and we'll get to the Steeler sex.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of interesting things there too. But with
Speaker 1: the Bills, the only thing that I step back and
Speaker 1: wonder about is that greatness of their offense last season
Speaker 1: is that sustainable for another year or is it only
Speaker 1: natural to think there could be regression. I know it's
Speaker 1: very They were very fortunate to keep their offensive coordinating
Speaker 1: their building. Brian Dable did not get a head coaching job,
Speaker 1: so that works in their favor. But Greg, there are
Speaker 1: some advanced analytics out there that tell you that perhaps
Speaker 1: Josh Allen will come back to the pack just a
Speaker 1: little bit, and yet I don't buy it, especially not
Speaker 1: early this season. I'm thinking about like continuity versus teams
Speaker 1: that are trying new things out, especially in Week one.
Speaker 1: And it's it's funny because you think the Steelers have them.
Speaker 1: You know, they're just team continuity there. They never go
Speaker 1: crazy in free agency. They've had the same coach as
Speaker 1: you know, Tomlin forever in ownership and GM and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. And yet the Bills have better continuity than
Speaker 1: almost anyone. The Bucks got so much heat and love
Speaker 1: for they brought all twenty two starters back. The Bills
Speaker 1: essentially did it too, like you can call John Brown
Speaker 1: a starter there. They've made some upgrades I think on
Speaker 1: the defense, but basically everyone's back. I think if you were,
Speaker 1: you know, teaching a collegiate class and how to rebuild
Speaker 1: an organization, it's all the brand and being McDermott rebuild.
Speaker 1: Over the last four years, I can't remember anyone doing
Speaker 1: it better in the history of this show. The roster
Speaker 1: looks loaded, and yet I think this game will be competitive.
Speaker 1: They're almost a touchdown favor right here Buffalo. That that
Speaker 1: makes sense, But I just think like the Steelers offense
Speaker 1: should be respected. I think they have things. They have receivers,
Speaker 1: they have tight ends, they have a running back, they
Speaker 1: have a front seven. I'm more worried about the Steelers
Speaker 1: defense in this game not being kind of Week one ready.
Speaker 1: There's no step onto it that's been totally under the radar.
Speaker 1: He's on he's on injured reserve. One of their very
Speaker 1: best players, t J. Watt, is expected to play. His
Speaker 1: contract might be updated by the time you listen to
Speaker 1: this or by the end of the week, but he
Speaker 1: did return to practice. It's more of their defense not
Speaker 1: being totally ready, the fact they had to trade for
Speaker 1: a killer weatherspoon from Seattle to play meaningful snaps. Their
Speaker 1: cornerbacks don't look great. That there's not a lot of
Speaker 1: reason to think if if this Steelers defense couldn't shut
Speaker 1: them down for four quarters last year and they didn't.
Speaker 1: If you remember that ugly ass game in Week fourteen
Speaker 1: or fifteen on in prime time, they're not gonna do
Speaker 1: it here. So you like the Bills. But I think
Speaker 1: it'll be a close, high scoring type of game. I
Speaker 1: mean that that was ugly game, low scoring. Uh I.
Speaker 1: I look at the Steelers, and you know, I can't
Speaker 1: think of another team in the a f C where
Speaker 1: you know that We've spent the entire offseason asking the
Speaker 1: big questions, is Big Ben still functional? H He looked
Speaker 1: great in against the Lions in the preseason. I mean
Speaker 1: he looked fine to me, and I do take into
Speaker 1: some account that maybe his elbow was not last year,
Speaker 1: according to his own words. The offensive line, I mean,
Speaker 1: we've been talking about it all offseason. It is a
Speaker 1: patch work line the Bills last year. On defense, I
Speaker 1: thought they were very well coached by Leslie Frasier. That
Speaker 1: that matters that He's back to to your point on
Speaker 1: continuity with Brian day Ball as well. But I look
Speaker 1: at this I look at this Bill's pass rush and
Speaker 1: wonder can Gregory Gregory Russo, the rookie who's had a
Speaker 1: nice preseason as well, on a good camp um be
Speaker 1: an impact player in this game. Someone they need someone
Speaker 1: to on the pass rush. They didn't have it last year.
Speaker 1: And I'm with you on the Steelers defense. I mean,
Speaker 1: look at their secondary. I don't think that if Josh
Speaker 1: Allen is going to have some sort of analytical regression
Speaker 1: that it comes in this game. There is continuity, you know,
Speaker 1: traditionally franchise wide from the Steelers, but there is a
Speaker 1: lot of unanswered questions, and it starts with their offensive line.
Speaker 1: If that thing is, if that line is not get
Speaker 1: up to speed the way that they hope it will.
Speaker 1: And I think they're well coached along the line. They
Speaker 1: did not look that bad in the preseason. But if
Speaker 1: that is a problem, I think the problems begin right
Speaker 1: there for Big Ben and everyone else. Nagi Harris, though,
Speaker 1: who was a good receiver out of the backfield as well,
Speaker 1: is basically their new Levy on Bell. Yes, he is,
Speaker 1: he's an X factor here. They love him. He's the
Speaker 1: first round pick and we'll see what happens in year one.
Speaker 1: A lot of times rookie running backs burst out of
Speaker 1: the gates. Um, they don't. They're not as uh, it's
Speaker 1: not as necessary to have some type of pro ramp
Speaker 1: up period, so he could be a star right out
Speaker 1: of the gates. And I wonder, now, this is my
Speaker 1: big overarching Steelers question, and I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people have it. Is that fade in December when they
Speaker 1: entered the month to think eleven and no, and then
Speaker 1: they lost all those games and then they got embarrassed
Speaker 1: and that empty stadium by the Browns. Was that the
Speaker 1: of the Roethlisberger era? Or was that just a really
Speaker 1: ugly bump in the road. And there's a prologue here
Speaker 1: where they remain a competent and even um high level team.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of leaning towards the ladder, and that's why
Speaker 1: I think this is gonna be a a good game,
Speaker 1: competitive game. I'm with you guys to see it like
Speaker 1: a thirty seven. I'll go with the home team, the
Speaker 1: Bills on this one, but we'll see, we'll see where
Speaker 1: the Steelers are and this will be a good litmus test.
Speaker 1: Early price, no one surprised. No unlock this game. This
Speaker 1: would have just felt like like the logical lock. It
Speaker 1: was like just maybe maybe it didn't feel bold. Now
Speaker 1: I do like by you know, just quickly that Gregory
Speaker 1: Rousseau is bringing Gregory back. You know, I'm not a
Speaker 1: Gregory um. Greg has totally fallen off the map. I
Speaker 1: checked the rankings. There's like four kids under the age
Speaker 1: of ten in this entire country named greg that's not
Speaker 1: but they've a name now. It's like out of the
Speaker 1: top ten thousand, greg has has really been acted in
Speaker 1: the gutter. And Rousseau maybe maybe he's bringing it back, right,
Speaker 1: Gregory feels like it would be more of a child's name.
Speaker 1: You'd start with Gregory and become a Gregg. Don't hear
Speaker 1: a lot of Gregory's. You don't hear a lot of Gregory?
Speaker 1: It also really does. Greg's a guy that like, he
Speaker 1: does a lot of a lot of stuff, like bothering
Speaker 1: him where he decides a lot of things. Aren't we're
Speaker 1: worth worrying about that? Greg's up in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night, perhaps googling his own name, and one short, well, Greg,
Speaker 1: where are you? I mean when you were naming your kids,
Speaker 1: you didn't just start like looking at you looked at
Speaker 1: like the ranking that just started being curious looking up
Speaker 1: all the ringing. Now, I've always been an anti Greg
Speaker 1: just sounds kind of like a jerk. I note, I
Speaker 1: know of so many jerks that are Greg's and that's
Speaker 1: why that's why it's fallen off. It's fallen off. But
Speaker 1: where are you on, Gregor to answer to ask my
Speaker 1: question of Gregor Mendel the scientist who created that something
Speaker 1: or other. Greg's interesting? Sorry, all right. The number two
Speaker 1: overall pick in the A T and Week one draft
Speaker 1: goes to Mark Sessler. What do you got, Well, A course,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go Cleveland at Kansas City. This is the
Speaker 1: rematch from the divisional round playoffs a year ago, a
Speaker 1: twenty two to seventeen game where the Browns, you know,
Speaker 1: if you want to point fingers, could not take advantage
Speaker 1: of the fact that Chad Henny was in the lineup.
Speaker 1: They're not going to have that kind of luck this
Speaker 1: time around. But why I think that there is reason
Speaker 1: that what Cleveland accomplished last year, UM not unlike Buffalo
Speaker 1: that finally do feel like they have a union between
Speaker 1: coach and front office. There, you know, after decades of infighting, Um,
Speaker 1: there's consistency. I think you know, Kevin Stefanski has proven
Speaker 1: to be a very good game day coach. And for
Speaker 1: all the nitpicking around Baker Mayfield, and I don't think
Speaker 1: this will ever change for Baker Mayfield, largely because of
Speaker 1: his personality. I think he is someone that um people
Speaker 1: uh don't really look at how he finished last season,
Speaker 1: how well he played. He threw one interception, I think
Speaker 1: it was from about Week nine on. And this is
Speaker 1: the first time in his career. This is so unlike
Speaker 1: what happened to Sam Donald. But Baker Mayfield's career has
Speaker 1: not been that different to some degree where it has
Speaker 1: been constant coaching overhaul. And for the first time in
Speaker 1: his career, he's in the same offensive system. You know,
Speaker 1: two seasons in a row, too off seasons in a row,
Speaker 1: and it was actually a real off season this time around.
Speaker 1: I look at this offense and I don't know why
Speaker 1: they can't be a team that puts up you know,
Speaker 1: twenty seven points a game, if not more, UM in
Speaker 1: the defense. You know that last year. I think if
Speaker 1: you look at that game again, Travis Kelsey, there was
Speaker 1: no answer for Travis Kelsey. He he absolutely slaughtered Cleveland
Speaker 1: in that playoff game. It puts rookie Jeremiah a Woasukamoa
Speaker 1: into a big spot because he's I think he's someone
Speaker 1: that they're gonna want to affect Travis Kelsey's game in
Speaker 1: this thing. You still have Travis Hyree Hill. I mean
Speaker 1: the Chiefs to me, you know, if their offensive line,
Speaker 1: which I think you know, they've done a wonderful job
Speaker 1: rebuilding that, if that like the Steelers, if that can,
Speaker 1: if that checks out and they can in their competent
Speaker 1: along the line, nothing tells you that Kansas City can't
Speaker 1: be a dominant team once again in the a f C.
Speaker 1: So I just gonna Cleveland. They've added all these years
Speaker 1: on defense as well, will it take a little bit
Speaker 1: of time for them to gel? They have it? You
Speaker 1: know when they go into a Nickel package, there's up
Speaker 1: to nine different new starters on defense. So if you're
Speaker 1: Joe Woods the coordinator, you know obviously you've had a
Speaker 1: full camp this year this time around. But is this
Speaker 1: a bad draw for Cleveland early on to deal to
Speaker 1: try to mesh as a defense and get Kansas City
Speaker 1: in Week one? I would have liked this game to
Speaker 1: be deeper into the campaign, But you gotta deal with it.
Speaker 1: It's a bad draw for NFL fans. I don't like
Speaker 1: these rematches in week one, Like, that's the last game
Speaker 1: we saw the Browns play and now we get in
Speaker 1: week one. Don't like it. These are two of the
Speaker 1: best rosters in the league. Don't need it week one.
Speaker 1: Uh Like, I think it's a bad time to play
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. I'm with you, Mark, because Andy Reid always
Speaker 1: comes into the season with a whole lot of triggeration.
Speaker 1: He throws in a lot of new stuff that everyone
Speaker 1: else starts copying. I always think of that, you know,
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt game in Foxboro and Week one, like they
Speaker 1: just they always have something ready and ready for Week one.
Speaker 1: Cleveland didn't play their starters at all in the preseason,
Speaker 1: and the Chiefs played their starters more than just about
Speaker 1: any team, possibly more than any team. I think that's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a disadvantage, not knowing what's gonna come.
Speaker 1: There might be no Honey Badger. Though tested positive for
Speaker 1: COVID over a week ago. He is vaccinated, but judging
Speaker 1: by the sound of the coaches, it sounds like he's
Speaker 1: been struggling with symptoms and it might not be back
Speaker 1: in time for the game. And so I'm just expecting
Speaker 1: lots of points. That's my that that's it, lots of points.
Speaker 1: It's a great early test for the Browns. Obviously you
Speaker 1: think the Chiefs. Everyone's gonna pick the Chiefs, and rightfully so.
Speaker 1: They're back to back, defending AFC champions. They're at home.
Speaker 1: We've had a summer where we've heard about the rebuilt
Speaker 1: offensive line, how Clyde Edwards Hilaire is going to have
Speaker 1: a bigger year this year and year two. I do
Speaker 1: wonder about that offensive one we'll see because with Joe
Speaker 1: Tuney and Orlando Brown, that might be the best left
Speaker 1: side of a line you'll find. But the rest of
Speaker 1: the line is filled with either rookies or um opt
Speaker 1: out rookie of last year who ha doesn't even played
Speaker 1: a snap. Um they had Tardif who also sat out
Speaker 1: last year. So they're not proven on that line yet.
Speaker 1: We need to see it in action. But it's like
Speaker 1: a run blocking line. I think they might be they're
Speaker 1: taking a little page out of the Browns and they
Speaker 1: want to run the ball a little more. We could
Speaker 1: see a lot of that this week. The reports were
Speaker 1: positive on that right side of the line. During Camp
Speaker 1: I it were was far from a disaster. No. In fact,
Speaker 1: he wasn't sacked once in preseason play Patrick Mahomes, But
Speaker 1: guess what, this is the season now, and we'll see
Speaker 1: how it translates against a very good Brown's defensive line
Speaker 1: with the superstar Miles Guard alright, with the third overall pick,
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal sets, I'm gonna take a game. I'm fascinated
Speaker 1: by the New England Patriots against the Miami Dolphins. You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes they try to stay away from the Patriots, pretend
Speaker 1: I'm not too into this. Even if I wasn't into
Speaker 1: the Patriots, I think this is one of the games
Speaker 1: of the week and I am excited to watch it,
Speaker 1: just just for the football, all of it all. I
Speaker 1: think these can both be double digit win teams and
Speaker 1: I'm just fascinated to see what they look like. They
Speaker 1: just they're so different than a year ago. Those are
Speaker 1: the teams I want to see in Week one. Like
Speaker 1: I have concerns about Mac Jones in the passing game,
Speaker 1: not because of Mac Jones, but it was a little
Speaker 1: under the radar, like Nelson Agha didn't do anything, didn't
Speaker 1: practice a ton, and Camp didn't do anything in the preseason.
Speaker 1: Hunter Henry barely practiced all preseason. John who Smith was
Speaker 1: in and out throughout the preseason. Like these guys have
Speaker 1: not played any snaps together. I think they're gonna need
Speaker 1: to run the ball a lot that like they did
Speaker 1: in Week one in this exact same matchup where they
Speaker 1: kind of broke out this nineteen forties offense with Cam
Speaker 1: and you you expect the Dolphins defense to like have
Speaker 1: so much going on, but they're a mystery. I mean,
Speaker 1: they are a turnstyle of like players like at this
Speaker 1: point last year, it's like Van Noy and Shack Lawson.
Speaker 1: They brought in Bernard Rick McKinney this offseason, he didn't
Speaker 1: even make the team. Like, it's a lot of new
Speaker 1: faces and they present a lot for the quarterback Mac
Speaker 1: Jones it's gonna have to deal with. So I'm just
Speaker 1: curious how he is it. But it's also a new group,
Speaker 1: like we haven't heard much about Jalen Phillips. Will see
Speaker 1: how he looks in Miami, especially when the Patriots have
Speaker 1: the ball. I am just fascinated, and I feel like
Speaker 1: I have no feel of what's going to happen in
Speaker 1: this game. I Mean I look at Miami and they
Speaker 1: you know, for all these Belichick disciples that have been
Speaker 1: scattered around the league and typically failed for the most part.
Speaker 1: I mean, Brian Flores feels the most Belichicken him of
Speaker 1: the all and and I, I, you're right about the
Speaker 1: turnover on defense, but I just trust Miami on defense
Speaker 1: the way they're coached. I thought that they created total
Speaker 1: havoc for quarterbacks last year. And it's been Bell Bell
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick for so long. Who has you know, taken
Speaker 1: rookie quarterbacks as a as opponents and shredded them. But
Speaker 1: now he's dealing with the rookie quarterback on his own
Speaker 1: roster and that may take a little team time to
Speaker 1: develop Mac Jones, and especially for a Patriots offense that,
Speaker 1: even with Tom Brady used the first month of the
Speaker 1: season a lot of times is sort of a you know,
Speaker 1: it's a warm up to what they were going to
Speaker 1: become on offense. I don't know if you're Miami, though,
Speaker 1: you know, it all comes down to toa they looked
Speaker 1: more aggressive. He looked more aggressive in the preseason. I
Speaker 1: think he was one of the bigger stories of August
Speaker 1: that we saw new aspects to his game. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't have Stephan Gilmore in here. Can Jail and
Speaker 1: Waddle make an impact right away? I mean you are
Speaker 1: missing Will Fuller as well, which I think is a
Speaker 1: problem for suspension. Um I don't know if you can
Speaker 1: run the ball against New England's front. I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: not sure you can not effectively. Um. Miles Gaskin is
Speaker 1: probably he's he's the lead guy, but that it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a game where two is going to have to
Speaker 1: make some throws right away, and that's what we've been
Speaker 1: waiting to see. I had to take this game from Dan.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, if I let this sit around
Speaker 1: too long he likes the A f D East too much,
Speaker 1: I couldn't. I couldn't let it sit there. No. I
Speaker 1: for the same reason I couldn't take Cleveland Casey at
Speaker 1: least in week one, and just got to respect the game. Um. See,
Speaker 1: this is the perfect example this game, because there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of breathless hype about Mac Jones and what
Speaker 1: he did in the preseason and what the beat writers
Speaker 1: are watching a practice and that's all good, and that
Speaker 1: could that could inform you as a fan. It obviously
Speaker 1: informs the team when they make decisions about roster building.
Speaker 1: Same thing with Towah the last season and the struggles
Speaker 1: he had as a rookie um from from time to time,
Speaker 1: and they obviously sat him down several times and let
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick play, so they're trying to ease them into
Speaker 1: the mix. And then this summer you're hearing a lot
Speaker 1: of positivity about him and how he looks so much
Speaker 1: better and maybe looks healthier and all that good. Great
Speaker 1: stuff to talk about in August in early September, But
Speaker 1: now now is here what I decide personally, whether these
Speaker 1: guys are actually the dudes, whether they got the goods too.
Speaker 1: Has got a lot of pressure on him because it's
Speaker 1: a story what's going on with him, not just with
Speaker 1: the Deshaun Watson madness and the reports out there, but
Speaker 1: just in general. If he gets off to a slow start,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be in a situation where he could press
Speaker 1: because he'll know at that point that he's getting into
Speaker 1: a tough situation. And mac Jones, we're gonna see is
Speaker 1: he gonna be one of those rookies that hits the
Speaker 1: ground running or does he struggle out of the gate
Speaker 1: against first team defenses for four quarters and all that
Speaker 1: comes with that. So it's really exciting to watch both
Speaker 1: of these quarterbacks at different stages of their career. Or
Speaker 1: even though they're both young and both Alabama guys, only
Speaker 1: only one as a line though, I mean, at least
Speaker 1: on paper, the Miami line. They're gonna be without Austin Jackson.
Speaker 1: That might be a good thing. Austin Jackson's not played
Speaker 1: well for them. Maybe they're gonna try out this rookie Eichenberg,
Speaker 1: But I I think mac Jones is in a better
Speaker 1: position to to excel. So yeah, I give a little
Speaker 1: edge to the hunting here, all right. I legitimately have
Speaker 1: not decided. I was keep going, keeping keep going, keep going,
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Greg. It's killing me trying to figure out, like,
Speaker 1: what's the first game of the Sunday season I want
Speaker 1: to watch? I don't know, Like I'm looking at the broadcasters,
Speaker 1: ten am. I gotta go with my heart here and
Speaker 1: it's it's a weird one. It's gonna be Cardinals Titans.
Speaker 1: I just, I just I don't care. This is what
Speaker 1: I want to watch it. There is no reach when
Speaker 1: you're seeing the games that you want to watch. That's well,
Speaker 1: of course, if you're coming out of your war room
Speaker 1: and saying, I'm selecting this. You're not gonna say to
Speaker 1: yourself in the college the call telling it's calling me
Speaker 1: to see Julio and that's that's in uh in a
Speaker 1: Titans uniform. I want to see it. I want to
Speaker 1: see Julio Jones go like seven for one sixty five
Speaker 1: and everyone's just like, oh my god, I want to
Speaker 1: see what the heck is going on with Like J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt is on this Cardinals team and they're talking up
Speaker 1: A J. Green and I'm not like convinced that any
Speaker 1: of it's gonna be good. I am fascinated by these
Speaker 1: two teams just because I don't know exactly what I
Speaker 1: gotta get, But you know what, I gotta suspicion. I
Speaker 1: got a suspicion that this Titans team is gonna be
Speaker 1: a little bit better than people think. I think Elijah
Speaker 1: Molten is going to help out at slack corner. I
Speaker 1: like their young cornerbacks, and I think they come out
Speaker 1: playing pretty well, throwing the ball all over the yard
Speaker 1: against this you know, be leaguered Cardinals defense. Let's lock
Speaker 1: up the Tennessee It's the first lock baby, Greg, I
Speaker 1: like it. I think you've got something here because you
Speaker 1: look at the Cardinals cornerback situation, it is a mess.
Speaker 1: It is a huge mess on paper. I mean, Malcolm
Speaker 1: Butler retires, You've got Byron Murphy, Marco Wilson, Robert Alford
Speaker 1: who has not played since. That's like when I played football,
Speaker 1: Tay Gowing was at thirty years earlier. I will let
Speaker 1: you know, actually someone you were on the bench too,
Speaker 1: like the last couple of years you didn't really get
Speaker 1: much playing. I was not, in fact before the show today,
Speaker 1: a friend that I played Pop Warner with sent me
Speaker 1: um VCR recorded uh tape of a game that we
Speaker 1: were in, and I viewed myself Dominnecticut that you guys
Speaker 1: just like save all of your materials and like just
Speaker 1: rewatch it all the time. It's just Greg, I had
Speaker 1: a childhood. We understand that you get VCR player to
Speaker 1: like play it back. No, no, no, he sent it.
Speaker 1: He sent it to me a video from a VCR
Speaker 1: copy that he had somehow that transferred it. I did.
Speaker 1: I did not mention the last Cardinals cornerback though a
Speaker 1: human name Luke. It's like Marcus, like, I've got this
Speaker 1: barkou note, let me get to it. Luke l Uk
Speaker 1: is his first name, which I kind of think it's cool,
Speaker 1: but Luke Barku um an undrafted free agent. Anyways, I'm
Speaker 1: with you. I think that you know, there's no Arthur Smith,
Speaker 1: and I want to see what happens with Todd Downing
Speaker 1: running this offense. It's the same offense, he says. I mean,
Speaker 1: in general, he's been there, he should be able to
Speaker 1: run that. But Arthur Smith got hired because of his
Speaker 1: in game play calls, and he revived Ryan Tannehill's career,
Speaker 1: you know, from from scratch essentially, So what is the
Speaker 1: effect with him out of the building. You know, Evan
Speaker 1: Silva said, never fade the big dog. That's what he
Speaker 1: said for years and years and years. This year, Evan Silva,
Speaker 1: the fantasy guru, said he's finally worried about Derrick Henry.
Speaker 1: That's worth tracking, Uh, not just because Evan said it,
Speaker 1: but after I believe something close to eight d touch
Speaker 1: is over the last two years. Um, that's certainly warrants
Speaker 1: watching the the obviously coaching scheme change or at least
Speaker 1: the coach change. UM, Ryan Tannehill, will he continue to
Speaker 1: thrive as he has the last couple years, there are
Speaker 1: questions there. Julio Jones great on paper, the acquisition is
Speaker 1: the three point favorites. They opened as a two and
Speaker 1: a half point favorite. And and then it's I think
Speaker 1: in Cardinals fans like our buddy jays Umwalt will certainly
Speaker 1: attest there's a lot of doubt around that team in
Speaker 1: that leadership with Cliff Kingsbury. Can he be better? Is
Speaker 1: he the guy to take Kyler Murray to the next level, Because,
Speaker 1: as I said over the summer, I think Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: this year could be lined up to be a four
Speaker 1: thousand yard passing, one thousand yard rushing type guy that's
Speaker 1: never been done before. But he's gonna need Kingsbury to
Speaker 1: be better and be more aggressive and put together an
Speaker 1: offense that keeps defenses on their heels. That's why he
Speaker 1: was brought in here to be this game changer of
Speaker 1: McVeigh type. Uh, and he hasn't been quite frankly, so
Speaker 1: this is a big year for him. This is a
Speaker 1: it's a good game, greg Um a little early in
Speaker 1: the draft, but at the same time, uh, you love
Speaker 1: it and now you have it, so good for you,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. I mean I was I was
Speaker 1: going to lock up the Bills and then it was
Speaker 1: like that that felt like, you know, for the good
Speaker 1: of the show, this would be more exciting. So I'm
Speaker 1: just all about what good for you, Greg and I.
Speaker 1: And there is a team we haven't gotten to the game,
Speaker 1: and it might not be until very late in the show,
Speaker 1: but another team that I thought about locking against, and
Speaker 1: I was like, no, not weak one, Dan, you need
Speaker 1: to get this thing off on the right foot, all right, Mark,
Speaker 1: it heads back to you. I mean, you have to
Speaker 1: know that one of the reasons that we picked some
Speaker 1: of the games that we do is because we are
Speaker 1: covering them and you've got to kind of space it
Speaker 1: out through the day. I am I. I don't think
Speaker 1: in my life I have ever intentionally picked a Lions game.
Speaker 1: Um it's you know, for obvious reasons. I've avoided that
Speaker 1: franchise um from a work standpoint whenever I can. But
Speaker 1: I am very intrigued by seeing the Niners um in
Speaker 1: week one. I hate the draw for Detroit. I think
Speaker 1: whoever needed to be the guinea pig to deal with
Speaker 1: whatever Kyle Shanahan has cooked up on offense, you know,
Speaker 1: and Trey Lance the finger thing. I tvd on how
Speaker 1: much he'll play, if he'll play, how much we'll see him,
Speaker 1: how will be used. UM. But if he's healthy, you know,
Speaker 1: I was in the hospital on a very UM severe
Speaker 1: like delotted drip, which if anyone has not taken to
Speaker 1: a lot at most people, I would assume. If not, UM,
Speaker 1: it puts you into a completely different part of the universe.
Speaker 1: And that is when I watched, UM the Jimmy G
Speaker 1: tray lance double quarterback action that Kyle Shanahan unfurled on
Speaker 1: an August afternoon, UM, and it just blew my mind.
Speaker 1: I I absolutely thought it was one of the most
Speaker 1: joyful things I had seen in so long coaches stay
Speaker 1: away from using two quarterbacks at once. I think Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan is in a dream scenario. He's got to be
Speaker 1: loving this. And they really didn't even use tray lance
Speaker 1: on the ground. That's a huge aspect to his game. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he is an incredibly fascinating runner, and you just wonder,
Speaker 1: you know, how this thing will play out, because if
Speaker 1: he's that daring and uses both of these guys, I
Speaker 1: think you look at the Lions and you look at
Speaker 1: their inexperienced in very young secondary and you can throw
Speaker 1: the ball too. But this is gonna be a run
Speaker 1: heavy Niners team. They always have been. Trace Sermon is
Speaker 1: going to be a fascinating addition to the team. I
Speaker 1: Greg and I have both picked the Niners as our
Speaker 1: Super Bowl NFC teams winners. That annoys me that two
Speaker 1: thirds of the we were not nearly as we were,
Speaker 1: not nearly as original as we thought, Like the basic bros,
Speaker 1: you're trying to be cool. Meanwhile, like the Bucks got
Speaker 1: fewer votes than the forty Niners to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: They didn't. They didn't, they did? They did? I gotta
Speaker 1: think they did. I want to get inside Football second
Speaker 1: on the podcast here and say to you Mark, just
Speaker 1: like with Greg, draft the game, you want to watch,
Speaker 1: but you gotta look at the board here. I mean,
Speaker 1: you gotta look at the board, and you gotta know
Speaker 1: Greg doesn't pick for four picks, and you got two
Speaker 1: picks from me and then you're back. I feel like
Speaker 1: you could have gotten a more high impact game and
Speaker 1: then come back and got this. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: lose it. I don't trust I don't trust um what
Speaker 1: you're going to do next. I was not going to
Speaker 1: watch a line game by choice on Sunday. But well,
Speaker 1: you also know that I one thing I'm looking for
Speaker 1: our games that are like severe blowouts. I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: that um from the coverage angle, So I was not
Speaker 1: gonna let this slip through my fingers because might not
Speaker 1: play in this game. By the way, their their left tackle.
Speaker 1: So after all this nonsense that you moved Penas who
Speaker 1: looked terrible in the preseason too right tackle, are they
Speaker 1: going to move him to left tackle? Decker doesn't play
Speaker 1: that that's a problem. Like when I first saw this
Speaker 1: line at seven and a half points, and I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: I know, I know the forty niners are good. I
Speaker 1: picking them to win the ser Man. That's a lot
Speaker 1: of points for a team that won six games last
Speaker 1: year against the team that won five games. But the
Speaker 1: longer you think about it, you're like, oh, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: also last year their quarterback, starting running back, and two
Speaker 1: wide receivers in San Francisco, I think they played like
Speaker 1: two games together. Last year was more like I'm I
Speaker 1: look at last year and say, I'm more impressed that
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan's essentially swept the Rams and won some of
Speaker 1: those games with nobody on the field. This is two
Speaker 1: years ago healthy they were a super Bowl team. They
Speaker 1: are a super Bowl caliber team. I'm buying into this
Speaker 1: t J. Hockenson joining the elite tight end club after
Speaker 1: the season, just because I think he's gonna get like
Speaker 1: Darren Waller level targets in this offense. And um, I
Speaker 1: think if you've followed his career closely, I think he's
Speaker 1: a former number ten overall pick. He's been kind of
Speaker 1: edging upward. And I think with Goff, who is obviously
Speaker 1: nobody's version of a superstar at this phase of his career,
Speaker 1: but I think he is capable of getting the ball
Speaker 1: at Hackinson's hands. That will be something to watch over
Speaker 1: the season. I just don't know, um, how they keep
Speaker 1: up with San Francisco once they get rolling. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that defense can make this ops. One uh
Speaker 1: one other thought here, boy, well pick this game, Mark,
Speaker 1: do you think it's gonna be even closer? Do you
Speaker 1: think this is a blowout? I would go, um, San
Speaker 1: Francisco Detroit six. Yeah, Dan Campbell's he's trying his best
Speaker 1: home game. You want to get this out off to
Speaker 1: the right star. You don't want to get blown up,
Speaker 1: blown out. The theory. Their offensive line in their defensive
Speaker 1: line look pretty good. Their offensive line on paper looked
Speaker 1: like maybe that's the top five group. But now suddenly
Speaker 1: your top ten pick doesn't look very good. In your
Speaker 1: left tackle, who you decided not to move for your
Speaker 1: top ten pick is hurt. So that's like, now like
Speaker 1: one strength doesn't look too strong at least, this isn't
Speaker 1: it like the most Bengals thing that, Like Jamaar Chase
Speaker 1: had the worst summer camp of any top ten rookie
Speaker 1: wide receiver ever, and then the other guy they were
Speaker 1: supposed to take was also doomed in the summer. It's
Speaker 1: like sometimes yeah, Lions fans will point out suwell not
Speaker 1: looking too good as a very Lions thing, too much
Speaker 1: like their number three overall draft pick Jeff Alkuda getting
Speaker 1: absolutely like torched in Week one on the way to
Speaker 1: a brutal rookie in a year ago. Oh by the way,
Speaker 1: if the because the line certainly could use a premier
Speaker 1: wide receiver Jamar Chase. You know, maybe he ends up
Speaker 1: in Detroit and they switch spots and they're struggling in
Speaker 1: these other cities. It's just you know, sometimes you wonder
Speaker 1: about but the Lions are trying to build a team
Speaker 1: where they're maintaining a lead and they want to run
Speaker 1: the ball all day long. Look at their group of
Speaker 1: wide receivers. They're gonna be in a lot of games
Speaker 1: where they're down by ten, fourteen points and they have
Speaker 1: no way out of that situation. I don't like to
Speaker 1: set up for Jared Goff at all. All right, um,
Speaker 1: let's move on here. Let's see hmmmm, I'm gonna hammana, hammana.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna don't. Yeah, if anybody who thinks
Speaker 1: that this is all fake and we're not actually trying
Speaker 1: to figure things out in real time, I am, because
Speaker 1: you you need to be careful with who Greg I
Speaker 1: have a snake. So here we go. I will start
Speaker 1: with a game that I said that I was excited
Speaker 1: to watch, and I am the Los Angeles Chargers. That's
Speaker 1: the best at the Washington football team. A nice battle
Speaker 1: here between um, a Charger's team that everyone is very
Speaker 1: excited about. On offense, although you know this Austin Eckler thing,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't. I hope I didn't jank them,
Speaker 1: But you know, you get out of summer, all your
Speaker 1: stars are intact. Here we go, and now Eckler is
Speaker 1: down with an injury. U what what's our status? Sero
Speaker 1: on NFL now just this day said, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: He's playing. It sounds like he's gonna he's gonna be
Speaker 1: what is it a hamstring? Yep? Okay, So we got
Speaker 1: Eckler there hopefully in the lineup. It's a locked and
Speaker 1: loaded UM team. And yeah, Greg, you Mark, you mentioned
Speaker 1: it and we spoke about it, although I could not
Speaker 1: shed a tear over it. Um when you were writing
Speaker 1: about West at the top of your QB index spoke
Speaker 1: about Um justin Herbert and uh how much West loved him.
Speaker 1: So as a little nod to West for myself, I
Speaker 1: want to watch him on Sunday, UM try to beat
Speaker 1: a Washington defense that is very, very good, especially upfront
Speaker 1: and the Chargers offensive line. Okay, we'll see if they
Speaker 1: m are better this year and see if they can
Speaker 1: handle the great tandem. You know who they are, Montes,
Speaker 1: Sweat Chase Young better known as Young and Sweaty. I
Speaker 1: thought we had a sound drop for a second. I
Speaker 1: was getting excited. I'm unsure why that's not totally taking
Speaker 1: off into the skies on a national basis, and it's
Speaker 1: now going to start taking off as this season and
Speaker 1: they need to play their role. Uh. Sweat said he
Speaker 1: believes they could set the all time tandem sack record
Speaker 1: as they start to build that sack total. Hopefully Young
Speaker 1: and Sweaty it's gonna be on T shirts and I
Speaker 1: will not be cut out of the profits. I don't care.
Speaker 1: I know there's those companies out there that they I
Speaker 1: think they their whole hook is when something happens in
Speaker 1: the sports world, they make a T shirt really quick
Speaker 1: and make some money off it. If I see Young
Speaker 1: and Sweaty anywhere that I P right now September nine,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you that is the old Zusers I P.
Speaker 1: That's tug Boats, I P. The new Old Blue Eyes,
Speaker 1: is I P. Why Why are you waiting around for
Speaker 1: some other Giberne to st Yeah, Paul Rudd, what was
Speaker 1: that Mark? Why are you waiting around for some other
Speaker 1: clown to start creating T shirts? You should We've been
Speaker 1: talking to podcast for ten years. Do you have to
Speaker 1: file like three different UM I P s or whatever
Speaker 1: under different notes names, like you gotta do one under
Speaker 1: tug Boat, one under the New Old blue eyes. I
Speaker 1: have to pay seven times the amount of paperwork fees
Speaker 1: as the normal human being. Um. Anyway, I do wonder,
Speaker 1: by the way, do you think if you were to
Speaker 1: look it up, is there is there a Young and
Speaker 1: Sweaty dot com. I'm not sure where that would take
Speaker 1: us if it existed. It might not be I'm trying
Speaker 1: to class up Young and Sweaty because I know it's
Speaker 1: been it's been in the in the in the gutter
Speaker 1: for perhaps decades. But now it's gonna be more of
Speaker 1: a wholesome gridiron type scenario, you know. Anyway, back back
Speaker 1: to the task in hand. Here Washington football team with
Speaker 1: that great defense against this great Chargers offenses, healthy offense,
Speaker 1: and then you've got the Joey Bosa angle and what
Speaker 1: he can do against Ryan Fitzpatrick and your boy uh
Speaker 1: McLaren um greg and you got Derwin James back. It's
Speaker 1: just a great matchup with a lot of star player
Speaker 1: on both sides. It's gonna be fun to watch. I'm
Speaker 1: already regretting my Titans Gardener's pick just thinking about this game.
Speaker 1: I think it's more that I'm like emotionally invested in
Speaker 1: the Chargers, and I sometimes I don't want that. Early on,
Speaker 1: I picked against them in this game. I think it
Speaker 1: was the toughest game to pick, just total coin flip
Speaker 1: to me, Curtis Samuel, it looks like he's gonna miss
Speaker 1: this game. And when you mentioned the Chargers rebuild online,
Speaker 1: that's where the bad memories start coming in because I
Speaker 1: can't tell you how many different seasons Philip Rivers went
Speaker 1: into with this Chargers team, and it really it really,
Speaker 1: I know it doesn't have anything to do with one team.
Speaker 1: It's I know it doesn't, but somehow it affects me that, like,
Speaker 1: there were so many times you thought they were gonna
Speaker 1: solve things and they looked great on paper, and they
Speaker 1: just didn't solve it, and they gave him no support.
Speaker 1: And Herbert's like my new Philip Rivers. He's He's my
Speaker 1: favorite young quarterback in the league. Absolutely, and I am worried,
Speaker 1: especially in this matchup, that just it's it will look
Speaker 1: a little more like last year. Then then you're comfortable
Speaker 1: with that. They're gonna have some bumps. They didn't play
Speaker 1: at all in the preseason. That's sometime I'm kind of
Speaker 1: watching whether that has any impact at all. Because the
Speaker 1: Washington football team did play quite a bit in terms
Speaker 1: of their starters in the preseason. I mean you look
Speaker 1: at you look at Herbert though, and he had that
Speaker 1: magnificent rookie campaign and thrived um behind what was arguably
Speaker 1: the worst line in the league last year. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's still looked fantastic and he was blitzed NonStop.
Speaker 1: I do think if anything, you look at Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: they put resources into the line. They tried at some
Speaker 1: point it's gone. It has to work at some point.
Speaker 1: I'm with you on that. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: we've talked about Joe Lombardi, new offensive coordinator. You don't
Speaker 1: like a lot of change for Justin Herbert, But I
Speaker 1: didn't think wonder if he's getting a little too nitpicked,
Speaker 1: because it sounds like from everything that he and Brandon
Speaker 1: Staley have said is we are doing everything we can
Speaker 1: to build an offense that is from multiple systems um
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of Shanahan elements in there that
Speaker 1: will be that will put Justin Herbert into a place
Speaker 1: to succeed. You still have Keenan Allen, who's a huge
Speaker 1: part to this game. If they did not have Austin
Speaker 1: Ekeler I would be very down on their chances and
Speaker 1: against this defense. But I think you're gonna get Austin
Speaker 1: ekeler um in the passing game as well, used NonStop.
Speaker 1: I mean they had to win games without him last
Speaker 1: year a couple of times as well. But how do
Speaker 1: you offset this pass rush? The young and sweaty duo
Speaker 1: is a huge concern. But I'll tell you one thing
Speaker 1: about the Chargers too. It's along and along with no, no,
Speaker 1: along with the line I'm not locking this up. And
Speaker 1: the more he talked, the more smart things come out
Speaker 1: of his mouth, and you think, like, Okay, this guy's
Speaker 1: get it figured out right. Because I think the other
Speaker 1: thing that have dogged the Chargers for as long as
Speaker 1: we've done this podcast, our bizarre end of games scenarios.
Speaker 1: Half of them you know, missed field goals and all
Speaker 1: that business, but a lot of poor clock management and
Speaker 1: other business. I think Brandon Staley brings a completely different
Speaker 1: vibe to this team, and a lot of that malarkey
Speaker 1: is gonna vanish. Okay, don't play the games. See if
Speaker 1: this Brandon Staley could play the guitar, that's what the
Speaker 1: games are are. This one's gonna hurt, correct, So I
Speaker 1: think you thought it might sneak to you like I
Speaker 1: went to two Lane. What a time it was. I
Speaker 1: learned so much about different cultures and made a great
Speaker 1: friend that became a famous person. And now we have
Speaker 1: our podcast together. Yeah that jessel Nick and Rosenthal Vanity Project.
Speaker 1: Check it out. I love New Orleans. I love their game.
Speaker 1: They're playing this week, the Packers the Saints a late game.
Speaker 1: The old zooser is going to cover this one. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, gotta love it. Now stinks that
Speaker 1: it is not at the super Dome. Let's just start there.
Speaker 1: This will be played at t I A A stadium.
Speaker 1: Can we just these corporate stadium names? What a mess?
Speaker 1: But that's where the Jacksonville Jaguars played football. Uh, and
Speaker 1: that's where the Saints will play football. And initially after
Speaker 1: her Acane EIDs destruction, we thought, man, are they not
Speaker 1: gonna get in there until the end of October. Now
Speaker 1: there's the thought that it could happen early October. I
Speaker 1: believe a game against the Giants in the first week
Speaker 1: of October. Let's hope that happens, and hope everybody in
Speaker 1: New Orleans is doing okay and getting um in a
Speaker 1: better position after that terrible storm for the Saints. It's
Speaker 1: just a terrible situation because the Packers, it's Packers Week
Speaker 1: and this is a big, big starts your season against
Speaker 1: the arrival in the NFC, and you've got to figure
Speaker 1: out a way to stop Aaron Rodgers coming off an
Speaker 1: MVP season, and you're not gonna have that crowd behind you.
Speaker 1: And maybe and we'll see what the pack What is
Speaker 1: that crowd gonna be? Like? Is it gonna be a
Speaker 1: Packers crowd? Is it gonna be a Saints crowd? Like
Speaker 1: I could see it being close to fifty fifty with
Speaker 1: two very um hardcore fan bases, But you never know.
Speaker 1: Those Packers fans are maniacs um. And then you have
Speaker 1: the Jamis Winston side of things. This is his chance
Speaker 1: now and he's in good physical condition, he got the
Speaker 1: eyes fixed, He's had an entire off season with Sean
Speaker 1: Payton and his playbook. He easily outplayed your boy Mark
Speaker 1: Taysom Hill to be the starter here. He's gonna get
Speaker 1: the opportunity and hopefully Taysom Hill only has a minor
Speaker 1: role and Peyton doesn't get too cute. Although I should
Speaker 1: give Sean Payton the benefit of the doubt if he
Speaker 1: wants to run his offense a certain way, probably better
Speaker 1: than my theories on how they should run their offense. UM.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to see how this offense looks with
Speaker 1: Drew Brees gone and an amazing Packers offense and a
Speaker 1: defense that could be better than it was last year.
Speaker 1: And I want to see where za Darius Smith, how
Speaker 1: he comes back from a relatively down season. This is
Speaker 1: such a fascinating game. I I don't have a good
Speaker 1: feel for this, like the Packers kind of playing into
Speaker 1: what I was saying with continuity. I like teams with
Speaker 1: continuity who know who they are going in week one,
Speaker 1: they're the h a picture of it in terms of
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers in that system that he can make up
Speaker 1: for whatever the offensive line problems are the Saints, especially defensively,
Speaker 1: but also at receiver, like they've had so much turnover
Speaker 1: that even though the coaching staff is the same, they
Speaker 1: are trying out a lot of new parts. And yet
Speaker 1: I do feel like Sean Payton's a perfect coach for this.
Speaker 1: I do think there's something to having something to play
Speaker 1: for beyond just yourself if you listen to the Saints
Speaker 1: players in Dallas the last two weeks, it's on their mind.
Speaker 1: It's affecting all their families. You know, power is just
Speaker 1: coming back two parts of New Orleans even now, and
Speaker 1: and everyone's impacted by it. And you know, I think
Speaker 1: that that's I don't know, I think it's a factor.
Speaker 1: I I believe that they'll be playing for something greater
Speaker 1: than themselves, and that matters to me a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I listened to the Saints Twitter podcast with Adam
Speaker 1: and Ryan. I was on it to check that out
Speaker 1: this week, and they they had a really good, like
Speaker 1: in depth look at things they wanted to see out
Speaker 1: of the preseason. And they got him. Caesar Ruis, their
Speaker 1: number one draft picked from a year ago, who was
Speaker 1: a bust as a rookie at he struggled, looked really
Speaker 1: good in the preseason. That offensive line might be the
Speaker 1: best in the entire NFL. Zack Bond kind of a
Speaker 1: bust as a second round pick, didn't look ready for
Speaker 1: the NFL, one of the weakest spots there at weeks.
Speaker 1: Side linebacker look great in the preseason. We might have
Speaker 1: some Bond time, I forgot, you know, we might have
Speaker 1: a little Zach bonnissance and never even played well in
Speaker 1: the first place to have a renaissance, and then they
Speaker 1: trade for Bradley Roby this week. I love that Bradley
Speaker 1: Roby trade. Bradley Roby is a good number two cornerback
Speaker 1: and they had nothing at cornerback. The problem is Bradley
Speaker 1: Roby suspended for a week one, and so you're still
Speaker 1: matching up like Ken Crawley and this rookie Pauls and
Speaker 1: Nadibo against these Packers guys, and the matchups don't quite
Speaker 1: favor you in the end. Like it's I don't know,
Speaker 1: my heart's with the Saints, but your head it's hard
Speaker 1: not to think the Packers just have the mismatches here.
Speaker 1: I mean, you don't. You don't have to, you know,
Speaker 1: guess if what's happened in New Orleans could be something
Speaker 1: that galvanizes this team because under Sean Payton, when they
Speaker 1: went through Katrina, that's exactly what it did. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's one of the biggest stories in Saints history, I
Speaker 1: think if you're Sean Payton. Although Saints fans will point
Speaker 1: out like they went three and thirteen after Katrina, what
Speaker 1: Jim has I he never got the credit he deserved
Speaker 1: for keeping that team of flow. But you know what,
Speaker 1: they won Week one. It was one of the great
Speaker 1: Saints wins in history. They won on the road in
Speaker 1: Week one against Caroline. Well know, we'll see that though
Speaker 1: that that season where they were actually kind of on
Speaker 1: the road was immediately after. I do wonder how how
Speaker 1: the emotion translates in Jacksonville, of all places. We'll see
Speaker 1: about that. But I think if you're Sean Payton, you
Speaker 1: basically you love the challenge because it's been the same
Speaker 1: quarterback for so long. You've got to do something different now.
Speaker 1: I think he's the right coach for this, But we
Speaker 1: still don't know what Jamis Winston is gonna be. I
Speaker 1: think Sean Payton is gonna have to coach unlike he's
Speaker 1: ever coached before and be as creative as possible. But
Speaker 1: I don't understand why people are still picking the Saints
Speaker 1: as a playoff team and talking about and it's like,
Speaker 1: I just, I just I just don't buy that at
Speaker 1: this point because it's a little bit too much transition.
Speaker 1: I am locking up the Packers with Ultra confo hates
Speaker 1: the victims of Hurricane I do not. I wish the
Speaker 1: victims of the hurricane nothing but good things. And I
Speaker 1: am awesome, and I am also going to uh oh wow,
Speaker 1: I'm the bad guy praiser rab Moon. I will lock
Speaker 1: up the Packers too, And then, as you know, to
Speaker 1: do with the great people of New Orleans and everything
Speaker 1: to do with the game of football and the fact
Speaker 1: that they are strangers in a strange land, a team
Speaker 1: the Saints in transition right now trying to figure things out.
Speaker 1: And I am not buying into the jamis Winston renaissance
Speaker 1: because he has Lasik. Now, can we calm down with
Speaker 1: all this stuff? Can't hurt it back to me in
Speaker 1: a moment the impossible as possible? Like you wait, he
Speaker 1: should be better now? How is he almost worse? That
Speaker 1: that's in play too? So I'm not gonna be I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be on that Saints podcast, although I like
Speaker 1: the people that do it, because I don't believe in
Speaker 1: the Saints as much right now, even though I do
Speaker 1: like the head coach and think he can coach them
Speaker 1: up in time. I think the timing of Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: and the Packers Week one outside of your building in
Speaker 1: a quote unquote home game is too much, and that's
Speaker 1: why Green Bay is gonna roll. I have to ask
Speaker 1: you one quick question. Let's say that you were like
Speaker 1: back in castle times. You were like an archery person, right,
Speaker 1: and you needed to defend your castle and you couldn't see,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly you had crystal clear vision. Would you
Speaker 1: not be better at your job? Why are we dismissing
Speaker 1: lasik surgery for an NFL quarterback as non meaning here
Speaker 1: here from this perspective, I mean, what does it say
Speaker 1: about the person? And you've got a factor in all
Speaker 1: sorts of things with a quarterback, whether he's a success,
Speaker 1: including what's going on from the shoulders up, What does
Speaker 1: it say about him? Man, if he waited until he's
Speaker 1: like twenty eight and busted out of his first round
Speaker 1: pick run with his first team before I decided to
Speaker 1: get this, now you're asking the right question that from
Speaker 1: that angle, I completely buy that's saying the whole James
Speaker 1: Marston experience, because he never wears glasses and has terrible vision.
Speaker 1: Like I've never quite understood that we're at the office,
Speaker 1: he's like, he's not putting his glasses on, He's he's winting. Man,
Speaker 1: I've wrestled with this pick more than any other. I
Speaker 1: picked those Saints like to cover four but lose the game.
Speaker 1: And now that you jokers are locking up the Packers,
Speaker 1: I feel like the switching my pick on NFL dot
Speaker 1: com just so I can fully like be aligned in
Speaker 1: rooting against the clowns. Okay, well that's great. We gotta
Speaker 1: we gotta take up the pace here, Mark, go ahead, alright,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go, um Philadelphia, Atlanta at one o'clock, start
Speaker 1: on the East coast. I want to see what well,
Speaker 1: that's how this works. I take what you want away
Speaker 1: from you. I want to see the Arthur Smith, you know,
Speaker 1: introduction here, the debut. I really like Arthur Smith. I
Speaker 1: think it's, uh, you know, he may not come across
Speaker 1: personality wise the way that you you think of some
Speaker 1: head coaches, but you look at what he did in Tennessee,
Speaker 1: and I just wonder the effect that he will have,
Speaker 1: maybe not in this game, but overall on Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: and in the tail end of Matt Ryan's career and
Speaker 1: what they do there. Um, I don't I think that
Speaker 1: both of these teams, to me, vibe is total question marks.
Speaker 1: But I think it's it's Um, it's you look back
Speaker 1: at what Jalen Hurts and four starts last year had
Speaker 1: three fifty four yards rushing and three touchdowns. And this
Speaker 1: is someone who can impact the game on the ground.
Speaker 1: And I know that the Eagles were whispered about as
Speaker 1: a team that you know at interest in Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 1: They maybe we're gonna go somewhere else in the draft.
Speaker 1: They're lined up to do something else in the draft
Speaker 1: next offseason. If they don't love Hurts, they trade for
Speaker 1: Gardner Minshew, which that happened when I was in the hospital,
Speaker 1: which was the second strangest thing. I don't know why
Speaker 1: they went and did that. Um. I mean I liked
Speaker 1: the player, but the whole thing seems strange to me.
Speaker 1: I think it hurts is very much UM on a
Speaker 1: season long audition, So every game matters a ton and
Speaker 1: I kind of can't wait to see how this plays
Speaker 1: out in Week one. I think the Eagles had because
Speaker 1: last year was such a huge disaster because the front
Speaker 1: office looked bad, the coach got fired, the quarterback got traded.
Speaker 1: That you look at you we're maybe overlooking a little
Speaker 1: bit at some of the hearts on this offense. If
Speaker 1: you don't have to squint too hard to see an
Speaker 1: offense that could be I think run heavy and functional
Speaker 1: and a little more exciting than people are giving them
Speaker 1: credit to. Under Nick Sirianni, we will see I like
Speaker 1: it when Mark goes I like the player, like he
Speaker 1: goes all Bill parcels. You won't even say I have
Speaker 1: a lot of parcels. I like the player. That's how
Speaker 1: it is a lot of Bill just a piece of
Speaker 1: meat to me. This this Eagles team does have the
Speaker 1: bones of a good team. They've got a good offensive line.
Speaker 1: You know, you've got Lane Johnson, You've got my Lotta,
Speaker 1: You've got Kelsey, You've got the guards, and they've got
Speaker 1: a good defensive line. You still got um Cox, you
Speaker 1: still got Barnett. You have Javon Hardgrave, who looked like
Speaker 1: he had a good camp. You have Brandon Graham. You
Speaker 1: they like this rookie Milton Williams. I don't know. You've
Speaker 1: got a good offensive line and a good defensive line.
Speaker 1: That's a team that can surprise. I am very intrigued
Speaker 1: to watch this game too, because I I want to
Speaker 1: see Kyle Pitts. I want to see what this Falcons
Speaker 1: team is and this egos team. They're both kind of
Speaker 1: mysteries to me by I think the goals do have
Speaker 1: the bones of a surprising team and this is this
Speaker 1: is a perfect first test I think for both these
Speaker 1: teams and first year coach Nick Sirianni, and let's face it,
Speaker 1: the brain trust in Philadelphia, which is meddlesome would be
Speaker 1: one way to put it. Are they all going to
Speaker 1: be on the same page here with Jalen Hurts and
Speaker 1: give him actual runway here to develop? He's only had
Speaker 1: four starts in the NFL. Or with Gardner Minshew in
Speaker 1: the building, with Joe Flacco still in the building, is
Speaker 1: there a treachery afoot for the former second round pick
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts. I think that's a sub I know people
Speaker 1: on Twitter, the Eagles fans that try to assassinate me
Speaker 1: don't want to hear this stuff, but just keep an
Speaker 1: eye in the situation. Is that organization functional enough right
Speaker 1: now and locked into the same mindset to let a
Speaker 1: young quarterback develop that isn't a premium draft pick. We
Speaker 1: shall see Greg close out the draft portion of the preview. Okay,
Speaker 1: I was gonna take Texans Jags, Yeah, because like I
Speaker 1: like having a bad second game, and then I thought
Speaker 1: that we got to think about the good of the
Speaker 1: show again. We should have someone watching this Seahawks Colts game.
Speaker 1: That is what I'll take, because I think it matters.
Speaker 1: I think it's two teams that we're in the playoffs
Speaker 1: a year ago, and we want to see how they
Speaker 1: look right now. We want to see. Yeah, just like I,
Speaker 1: someone should should have their eyes on this game. I
Speaker 1: guess it could have been Nick Shook and I could
Speaker 1: have taken Texans jacks. But that's that's silly. I'm not
Speaker 1: writing anymore on Sunday nights. I should think that way. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about that. That's good. I
Speaker 1: just think this. I'm all over the place, but I
Speaker 1: think a lot of mental processing going with here. Yeah. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I think it's just it could wipe the floor with them, right. I.
Speaker 1: I just don't like their past. I love the Seahawks
Speaker 1: pass rush and I don't love the Colts pass protection,
Speaker 1: and I don't love Carson Wentz hobbling on his foot.
Speaker 1: So I guess I gotta see it, can't you see
Speaker 1: a big story on t A And by the way,
Speaker 1: total access come back to me. Yeah, the old man.
Speaker 1: Keith hands us. He calls me yesterday. I call him, Actually,
Speaker 1: I can catch up with the parents and my dad.
Speaker 1: I'm um. I got a lot of TV and stuff
Speaker 1: going on Tuesdays with Power Rankings. He says, Oh, by
Speaker 1: the way, I was watching that one show Total Access.
Speaker 1: They're burying your power rankings, Willie McGinnis, Shawn O'Hara, m
Speaker 1: J Acosta. I don't think MJ was getting shots in
Speaker 1: because m J is a pro My lover her. But
Speaker 1: Willie taking shots at Zeuser, and that's fine. You don't
Speaker 1: do the power rankings unless you're able to take some fire.
Speaker 1: That's what the whole thing is about. So I never
Speaker 1: take an issue with someone saying my rankings are wrong.
Speaker 1: But you gotta have the old Juser there right. They
Speaker 1: did not give you Total Access. You gotta put a
Speaker 1: camera in front of me. You gotta hook me up
Speaker 1: with the mic so I could defend myself. Where was
Speaker 1: I I wanted to hear. I want to hear exactly
Speaker 1: what Keith Hans has said to you about this in
Speaker 1: his voice. Okay, Danny, you know it's good that your
Speaker 1: name was on the show and everything. They had your
Speaker 1: name on the screen and that was good. But uh,
Speaker 1: you know who's that big guy the um the defensive
Speaker 1: playoff from New England? Oh Willie? Yeah, yeah, he was
Speaker 1: saying some things. It wasn't so nice anyway, Ricky, you're
Speaker 1: gonna you have to cut this off for social and
Speaker 1: creat an in house civil war. Please. Um. What I'm
Speaker 1: going to send it to, like Willie's McGinness, is private
Speaker 1: cell phone. I will address this if they have me
Speaker 1: on Total Access and they actually let me defend my
Speaker 1: self on the power rankings, I will share with Willie
Speaker 1: that I was displeased, as was Keith by the treatment.
Speaker 1: He's going to be shaken by your your reaction to this,
Speaker 1: no doubt. I'm sure it's gonna keep him up at night.
Speaker 1: My point is on Monday's edition of NFL Total Access,
Speaker 1: there is going to be a portion of that telecast
Speaker 1: dedicated to is it time to worry about the Colts?
Speaker 1: Because I think if you have to pick one team
Speaker 1: that is going to come out of the gates slow,
Speaker 1: especially on offense, it's gonna be the Cult. And it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean they're doomed, but with Carson Wentz, lack of
Speaker 1: reps in practice time and the fact that he's on
Speaker 1: a bad foot still or a foot that's healing, and
Speaker 1: the same thing with Quentin Ellen, the other most important
Speaker 1: player on the offense, and t Y Hilton's out, and
Speaker 1: there's just it takes a while for a team to
Speaker 1: jael typically with new parts and a new quarterback in place.
Speaker 1: It just seems like they're in a very tough spot
Speaker 1: here well. Also quinnin Nelson dealing with a bit of
Speaker 1: a back issue as well. So you don't like the
Speaker 1: health of the line. And for whether you're a Wenz
Speaker 1: defender as you are Dan to some degree, or one
Speaker 1: who thinks that you know last year was it was
Speaker 1: an honest look at who he had become in that offense.
Speaker 1: I think from the neck up I was worry very
Speaker 1: concerned about whence the player and the person. He just
Speaker 1: seemed completely detached from what was going on around and
Speaker 1: making incredible mistakes, forcing throws. He's barely plays. You know,
Speaker 1: he's practicing, but this is not the way the off
Speaker 1: season wanted to go for him at all. Who is
Speaker 1: this player and he's not in the in the best
Speaker 1: Everyone's talked about Wentz being in the best possible situation
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis, because of the coach, because of the line.
Speaker 1: It's not the case in Week one, Um. The one
Speaker 1: player I'm interested to see that was Quitty pay their
Speaker 1: pass rusher, because he has in every report about him
Speaker 1: is that he's been freaky. I think he could be
Speaker 1: an impact player. That to me is someone to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on. Who rusher? By the way, remember the
Speaker 1: big kitty pass rusher? Was it for a collision collision
Speaker 1: low Crossers? Was Mike petton Um, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was. It was more of a type of player
Speaker 1: they were looking for everything to win. Is a nice, little,
Speaker 1: low scoring game, conservative, a lot of running. It's just
Speaker 1: like ugly. I was shocked how high a number this
Speaker 1: game has between Colt and Seattle because it feels like
Speaker 1: it's going to be a very defense Hi, I think
Speaker 1: it's like over or something crazy. Doesn't matter. Let's hit
Speaker 1: the prime time games. We'll start with Sunday Night football
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears at Los Angeles Rams at Hollywood Park, our
Speaker 1: future office in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, sorry, Mark Um.
Speaker 1: The story here, of course, is Matthew Stafford's debut with
Speaker 1: the Rams and Sean mcveigh's he gets a chance to
Speaker 1: really um the second part of his career, a rebirth
Speaker 1: here in a functional offense with great skilled players, and
Speaker 1: then on the Chicago side of the ball. You know, listen,
Speaker 1: everybody's a little bit disappointed. But Mark, how about this
Speaker 1: idea that you know they have a home game next
Speaker 1: week the Bears against the Bengals, I believe, And that's
Speaker 1: that's not too that's not too rough. But is anyone
Speaker 1: else in the NFL can they claim the to be
Speaker 1: in the position Andy Dalton is where the fan base
Speaker 1: is actually rooting against you, like Bears fans cannot wait
Speaker 1: to get Andy Dalton out of the picture and Justin
Speaker 1: Fields onto the field. Which I get it from a
Speaker 1: big picture sense, but it also feels like it that
Speaker 1: has to be maybe a little bit uh tough mentally
Speaker 1: to know nobody wants you on the field, at least
Speaker 1: the home fans. Uh. Tough way to start your Bears career, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he dealt with that in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: to agree to where you know they're tired of him, though,
Speaker 1: because not to this degree to put in Ryan Finley
Speaker 1: or whatever. No, and it's it's not Andy Dalton's fault,
Speaker 1: but I simply, you know, and we've I don't want
Speaker 1: to beat this dead horse, but I just I don't
Speaker 1: understand the strategy with Matt nig. I mean, they've got
Speaker 1: line issues. So I guess from one angle you're looking
Speaker 1: look at, we want to protect Justin Fields for a
Speaker 1: bit here versus throwing him into the fire. Nagy was
Speaker 1: in Kansas City the year that they sat Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: up until that Week seventeen game when we realized maybe
Speaker 1: they should have just been playing him the whole time.
Speaker 1: My concern for the Bears organization in general is like
Speaker 1: if Fields and I mean, by all accounts, he was
Speaker 1: not perfect in the preseason, but Fields is the more
Speaker 1: electric um player that offers you much more than Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton ever will why wait, what is the weight? Why
Speaker 1: put him in in Week four? Week five? I just
Speaker 1: think that quarterbacks in one are not players coming out
Speaker 1: of college systems that need to sit and wait for
Speaker 1: four years to play like Joe Theisman forty five years
Speaker 1: ago or something. So organizationally, I completely disagree with what
Speaker 1: they're doing. Uh, the NFL West would always say this,
Speaker 1: you know, favor of four, the fortune favors the bold.
Speaker 1: You've got to go for it, and the Bears are
Speaker 1: one team sitting out there playing it's safe. I don't
Speaker 1: like it at all. It's hard. It's hard to see
Speaker 1: where they're like special, you know, defense. Defensively, there's just
Speaker 1: been like a little bit of erosion. They still do
Speaker 1: have pretty good players, but the secondary little bit of
Speaker 1: erosion there Akeem Hicks maybe not quite the difference maker
Speaker 1: that he used to be. They hope they get more
Speaker 1: out of Robert Quinn. I think there is a path
Speaker 1: to keeping this game close. You know, the Rams, there's
Speaker 1: so much to be excited about on offense, but you
Speaker 1: do want to see it. They haven't you know, practiced there,
Speaker 1: you know, played you know, meaningful snaps together yet at all.
Speaker 1: I can remember the last couple openers they had after
Speaker 1: sitting out the preseason. There was that Raiders game on
Speaker 1: Monday night which they ended up winning in a walk,
Speaker 1: and in its other Panthers game where it's like a
Speaker 1: slow start. They're not the deepest team in the world,
Speaker 1: and this is a team. This is a week where
Speaker 1: you'd love to be able to play your backups twenty
Speaker 1: snaps and and give reps to and break to your starters.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to see de Sean Jackson, Van Jefferson
Speaker 1: all that fun stuff. But you haven't you haven't seen it.
Speaker 1: I think there is a there is a avenue here
Speaker 1: for the Bears to just make this game kind of
Speaker 1: ugly and everyone's like, oh, how come this isn't a
Speaker 1: great good game and it's like one at the end
Speaker 1: and you know the Rams escape. I could see that
Speaker 1: there's another catchphrase or another phrase mark um chance favors
Speaker 1: the prepared mind bad guy number one from under Siege
Speaker 1: to Dark Territory feels a little less catchy to me,
Speaker 1: and I botched the initial phrase when I attempted to
Speaker 1: say it. So perhaps Underseige two, Dark Territory, that's the
Speaker 1: one on the train, there's the one on the battleship
Speaker 1: under Siege one, and that's Tommy Lee Jones performance. It's excellent.
Speaker 1: And then you have the second one with Eric Bedogian
Speaker 1: Dark Territory not as good, but Travis Dain is a
Speaker 1: great bad guy in it. And uh, I will just
Speaker 1: say that ties into this game. Uh let me forget
Speaker 1: how it ties in. Oh maybe Eddie Dalton. They just
Speaker 1: feel he's better prepared for this moment and they want
Speaker 1: to let Justin Fields marinate. I'm not here to tell
Speaker 1: you that's what they should do, but maybe they think
Speaker 1: this will help Justin Fields in the long run to
Speaker 1: get his feet wet on the sideline and maybe come
Speaker 1: in at some point. But everyone wants the same thing
Speaker 1: and and ultimately Ryan pays the Matt Maggie needed to
Speaker 1: happen to if they want to continue to coach and
Speaker 1: GM with the Bears. So okay, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see Matthew Stafford was Sean McVeigh. That's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: Hopefully stays healthy. All right, Monday Night football, Baltimore Ravens,
Speaker 1: Las Vegas Raiders. See the way they set this up?
Speaker 1: You got who got breaking news? I have some unfortunate
Speaker 1: breaking news. According to Ian Rappaport, the Ravens cut short
Speaker 1: practice today after cornerback Marcus Peters and running back Gus
Speaker 1: Edwards sustained potentially significant knee injuries on back to back plays.
Speaker 1: Um another running back back to back plays. They think
Speaker 1: Gus Edwards might be out for the entire season. Whoa
Speaker 1: they've lost that? Well, they just signed Levi on Bell,
Speaker 1: so it's like, are we going to see him now?
Speaker 1: This is it's I mean that is devastating and back
Speaker 1: to back plays like what is happening over there? Greg,
Speaker 1: you mentioned how weird and strange and somewhat sinister their
Speaker 1: camp was. I mean it is extended with a with
Speaker 1: a huge hammer punch right there. I mean that is
Speaker 1: they have no running back. It's insane. They've had a
Speaker 1: terrible time of it. This is why it's like they
Speaker 1: shouldn't ask us to lock in our NFL dot com
Speaker 1: predictions early because it's like, Okay, now I got the
Speaker 1: Browns in the playoffs. Mark there you go. Um that.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to make light of it. It stinks
Speaker 1: because for many reasons, but it's there's a point where
Speaker 1: you still do need a running back. They like Tyson Williams,
Speaker 1: who I thought showed some things. We don't know much
Speaker 1: about him, um, a second year player, but he's now
Speaker 1: in theory would be your lead guy. And you get
Speaker 1: some other guys off the street. And they left Bell
Speaker 1: to their practice squad right right, And he might be active,
Speaker 1: which is a sign he probably will be, especially after
Speaker 1: this injury. He's probably not giving him a lot of times.
Speaker 1: But Marcus Peters is the bigger injury here because as
Speaker 1: good as their secondary is, I I did think they
Speaker 1: were a little more vulnerable this year. If even one
Speaker 1: guy goes down, and now Jimmy Smith who has been
Speaker 1: banged up, and Marcus Peters, it's just you start to
Speaker 1: take away a lot of pieces. Man. The Raiders are
Speaker 1: catching the Ravens at the right time. Unbelievable and that
Speaker 1: and it just goes to show you. And when J K.
Speaker 1: Dobbins towards a c L in the preseason game, it
Speaker 1: was like another feather in the cap for people that
Speaker 1: are like, hey, don't don't play your starters in the
Speaker 1: in these games that don't matter. It's football. These guys,
Speaker 1: the bodies and the speed and the hour involved even
Speaker 1: a simple practice um, devastating things can happen. So that
Speaker 1: is that's a very tough loss both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: And we don't know we're learning this in real time.
Speaker 1: Obviously we don't know about either injury, but just based
Speaker 1: on initial reports, it does not sound good. L s
Speaker 1: Rap report says both of them will be just confirming it.
Speaker 1: So usually so the Ravens obviously now are dealing with
Speaker 1: big time issues on both sides of the ball. As
Speaker 1: they travel to the Desert to face the Raiders UM
Speaker 1: at Allegiant Stadium. I believe it is Allegiant. I don't know.
Speaker 1: And uh. And for the Raiders, this is a nice
Speaker 1: early test for them after their latest late season fade.
Speaker 1: UM and it's a big season obviously for them. Is
Speaker 1: they need to prove that they're going in the right direction. Um,
Speaker 1: what do you think about this matchup? I think this
Speaker 1: this feels like to me, and that was even before
Speaker 1: these injuries, Greg. This felt like one of those on
Speaker 1: a Monday night with the Ray Raiders and their fans,
Speaker 1: and that building is gonna be going off the first
Speaker 1: Vegas home game. Of course after COVID last year, there
Speaker 1: were no fans in that new stadium. I think this
Speaker 1: is a coin flip game, and I'm actually leaning the Raiders. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought it was a coin flip game too. I
Speaker 1: thought it's two offenses that like to slow the pace
Speaker 1: down or at least run the ball a lot. The
Speaker 1: Ravens do it in a fast way, the Raiders do
Speaker 1: it in a slow way. And those types of games
Speaker 1: the Raiders played every week last year, eight series, nine
Speaker 1: series for each team's tends to inspire a close game.
Speaker 1: And now with Lamar, who just hasn't had a lot
Speaker 1: of reps in terms of the passing weapons around him
Speaker 1: in camp, you just feel like it's going to be
Speaker 1: more about the running game. I know they're they're short
Speaker 1: a few running backs, doesn't matter. Lamar makes I mean
Speaker 1: it matters, but they're still gonna try to run the
Speaker 1: ball and Lamar makes them a good running game. But
Speaker 1: I think the Raiders fans that are optimistic that their
Speaker 1: defense is going to be better this year, like, there
Speaker 1: are reasons to believe that the guys who were problems
Speaker 1: for them last year, a lot of them are backups
Speaker 1: now and they do look better on paper there and
Speaker 1: they do have a good coach. There is a route
Speaker 1: here to go from like thirty and thirty second in
Speaker 1: defense to twenty, which would make all the difference in
Speaker 1: the world for Derek Carr and would make them a contender.
Speaker 1: And yeah, make this is a tough out. I think
Speaker 1: the home crowd thing not to just keep rambling, but
Speaker 1: we haven't talked post pandemic crowds are nothing. I think
Speaker 1: that matters a lot. I mean, you have your their
Speaker 1: owner didn't even sit in the stadium last year because
Speaker 1: he was banded with the fans. If they couldn't be there,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't be there. I would note this about Baltimore
Speaker 1: last three seasons, a few teams have opened as well
Speaker 1: as they have a hundred and forty four points to nineteen.
Speaker 1: They've outscored opponents in the last three openers. But the
Speaker 1: Ravens are changing um dramatically, you know as we speak,
Speaker 1: so I'm now edging I would I would go Raiders
Speaker 1: in a in a close one at this point. They
Speaker 1: play a lot of their starters in the preseason. As
Speaker 1: we've noted, they're historically good and that you know that
Speaker 1: would support that week once that, which I didn't know
Speaker 1: Mark would support that. They're pretty good starters, maybe because
Speaker 1: they're ready to go. The Raiders, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: h sat everyone. But yeah, these post pandemic crowds, they're
Speaker 1: having an impact. The US Open crowd for tennis is
Speaker 1: unlike anything I've ever seen in tennis. I think people
Speaker 1: are just and check out courts of thunder by the way,
Speaker 1: you know, my m tennis prob a lot of plugs.
Speaker 1: That's it. We're done for We're done for the season
Speaker 1: after that. But like I really think it could be
Speaker 1: a fact, Like absolutely, how would that not help this
Speaker 1: Raiders team out on Monday night? I think it could
Speaker 1: be rock all right, Now, before we say goodbye, we
Speaker 1: have four more games and we'll do it more in
Speaker 1: a speed round fashion. So if you guys have any
Speaker 1: thoughts on each of these games, get them out and
Speaker 1: we'll keep moving. We'll start with the New York Jets
Speaker 1: at Carolina Panthers the Don Old Ball and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of mental gymnastics going on on the head of
Speaker 1: the the old Zuser and every other Jet van trying
Speaker 1: to make sense of how to process this game, because, um,
Speaker 1: we all had a lot invested in Sam Donald and
Speaker 1: now we have a lot invested in Zack Wilson, and
Speaker 1: now they're both on the field together and they're both
Speaker 1: under the age of twenty four. It's all it's just
Speaker 1: a lot, it's just a lot of process. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see obviously how Zack Wilson looks, uh in
Speaker 1: his first game. UM, I'm excited to see Corey Davis
Speaker 1: and Elijah Moore play together. Uh, they'll be starting. Jameson
Speaker 1: Crowder's status is up in the air after he contracted COVID.
Speaker 1: So it looks like Elijah Moore will be starting with um,
Speaker 1: Corey Davis and Keenan Cole in three wide receiver sets
Speaker 1: and on the Carolina side of the ball, and Matt
Speaker 1: rule Um didn't get a chance to have Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: as a main part of his team last year. I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna give the Jets a lot of trouble
Speaker 1: in this game. I think if you drafted Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: UH this season, UH, Week one is gonna make you
Speaker 1: feel real good because I see him going for a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty plus total yards a couple of touchdowns.
Speaker 1: I just don't know if there's anybody on the Jets
Speaker 1: that can cover him. C J. Mosley coming back from
Speaker 1: two years off, not a great coverage guy in the
Speaker 1: first place. There's gonna be a lot of issues trying
Speaker 1: to stop Christian mc caffrey. So I think this will
Speaker 1: be a pretty close game. I think the Jets defense
Speaker 1: is why the Panthers are gonna win. Like the Jets
Speaker 1: have a lot of work to do on defense. This
Speaker 1: is I I would think, I would say the most
Speaker 1: um dramatic and intriguing Jets opener since the days of
Speaker 1: Rex Ryan. I mean, I I don't know if you'd
Speaker 1: agree with that, Dan, but there is optimism. You've got
Speaker 1: a good coaching staff, then the offense is gonna look
Speaker 1: completely different. Zack Wilson looked as advertised in the in
Speaker 1: the preseason. There is one um member of NFL media's
Speaker 1: staff that picked the Panthers to make the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: it is the person speaking right now. I think that
Speaker 1: the they were being overlooked. They were juicy at times
Speaker 1: last year. They lost a ton of close one score games.
Speaker 1: I am not drunk, not yet. I am telling you
Speaker 1: this Panther's team is going to be intriguing more than
Speaker 1: people exact, but it does. You do have to see
Speaker 1: what Donald is because there's another scenario where Donald is
Speaker 1: a total flop. Yeah, how about how how about Sam Donald? Um,
Speaker 1: you don't spend the whole week loss just another game.
Speaker 1: I'm not really anymore into it than any other game.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. How about a little fire from Sam Donald? No,
Speaker 1: he doesn't, he doesn't play play with it. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm just sick of hearing quarterbacks say like that. Please,
Speaker 1: this team gave up on you. They gave you, Adam Gates,
Speaker 1: they gave you no support. If he's not furious at
Speaker 1: a lot of aspects of his Jets career, something's wrong here.
Speaker 1: He should want to like so Cal guy. He's a
Speaker 1: chill so guy. Um. Up next, the Minnesota Vikings at Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Ben Gals. Kind of like this game because I just
Speaker 1: want to see how Joe Burrow looks in his first
Speaker 1: game back after the knee injury. And I think Minnesota,
Speaker 1: who I think I picked them for the playoffs on
Speaker 1: NFL dot Com. Um, you're gonna want to go to
Speaker 1: Minnesota and take care of or to Cincinnati and take
Speaker 1: care of business here? Their offense was shaky uh in
Speaker 1: the preseason and uh in the summer and the practices
Speaker 1: according to those who follow the team. But you think
Speaker 1: they're gonna take care of business here? I do. But
Speaker 1: I think it'll be like an ugly game, another one
Speaker 1: where you kind of like like the low score because
Speaker 1: both teams I think are gonna be able to get
Speaker 1: after the quarterback. The Vikings offensive line might be worse
Speaker 1: than the Bengals, who I think it's almost been overstated
Speaker 1: how bad their line might be. But the like the
Speaker 1: Vikings defensive line is gonna be really good. My one
Speaker 1: little Bengals point is watch out for this defense. They
Speaker 1: maybe it was just because they were playing the Bengals offense,
Speaker 1: but man, the reporters really believed like they were taking
Speaker 1: a step forward. They've had some continuity that it could
Speaker 1: be a better defense than people thinking. So this, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if I want to watch this game that much.
Speaker 1: I think it could be low and a little ugly.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I love their secondary versus Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson and Adam Feeling. But we will see, and this
Speaker 1: will be a better Vikings team than a year ago.
Speaker 1: I wrote in the Power Rankings that the Vikings offense
Speaker 1: is built like a Jana tower. You need high level
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl seasons, level seasons from Cousins from Cook, from Feeling,
Speaker 1: from Jefferson. If you don't get those things where you
Speaker 1: get injuries, look out the Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans.
Speaker 1: Um As we all know, the Texans are a mess
Speaker 1: right now. Tyrod Taylor is their quarterback. They just traded
Speaker 1: their only quarterback cornerback of note to the Saints. So
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a team. Everybody's gonna stomp on
Speaker 1: the spread. The Desert only has it at three points here.
Speaker 1: And I thought about locking up Trevor Lawrence in his debut,
Speaker 1: but that's that's just not fun. I thought about locking
Speaker 1: up the Texans. I think the Texans should be favorite.
Speaker 1: This is a one win team that's on the road.
Speaker 1: I think if you look at roster spots twenty through fifty,
Speaker 1: the Texans are probably a little uh more talented. I'm
Speaker 1: not into the Texans. I just think like NFL teams
Speaker 1: aren't that different from top to bottom, and these are
Speaker 1: two at the very bottom. And I think there is
Speaker 1: a route here with the Texans. How they're gonna plays
Speaker 1: a lot of running, a lot of Philip and Lindsay,
Speaker 1: a lot of David Johnson, a lot of Tyrod Taylor.
Speaker 1: And it's not gonna be fun. It's not gonna be pretty.
Speaker 1: But this is a coin flip at best, and I
Speaker 1: would take the home team just because they're home. You
Speaker 1: are you are very low on Jackson. I mean, I mean,
Speaker 1: couldn't you also see the Texans going to in fifteen
Speaker 1: and getting their asses blown out? But this is like
Speaker 1: if you look at their season, kind like the Jaguars
Speaker 1: getting that Week one victory last year over the colt
Speaker 1: It's like, isn't a home game against the Jaguars the
Speaker 1: easiest game on the Texans schedule? You know, if you
Speaker 1: flip it around, like this is a game that they
Speaker 1: absolutely can win, they're not going to be overwhelmed. I
Speaker 1: don't think with me, you're right. But I look at
Speaker 1: Jacksonville's skilled players on offense and I there's a lot
Speaker 1: to like there. I hate that they lost Travis y
Speaker 1: t N, but I mean they're their wide receiver group
Speaker 1: is solid. If Trevor Lawrence this is advertised and I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, his later preseason work was marvelous that. I
Speaker 1: think they can be a much better team than they
Speaker 1: were last year. They lost a lot of close games
Speaker 1: last year. They were not a genuine one and fifteen
Speaker 1: team in my book, very spice rack. Uh, it's a
Speaker 1: spice rack thing. You know, be aware, like the slight
Speaker 1: home on you know, the two and a half point
Speaker 1: slight home underdog, like b beware. You know. One one
Speaker 1: quick note of both these teams. Uh, there has not
Speaker 1: been a number one overall pick quarterback that's won his
Speaker 1: season debut since David Carr in two thousand, two oh
Speaker 1: twelve and one that surprised me. That's stats. So Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence is against history there. And on the Houston side,
Speaker 1: I wrote about this in the Power Rankings. This one
Speaker 1: NFL coach an anonymous NFL coach on the Texans. I
Speaker 1: think people are going to play the Texans and think
Speaker 1: they are and they'll surprise some people slap that on
Speaker 1: a billboard. That's what I mean. Like, I think they
Speaker 1: could go right, they could be four and thirteen and
Speaker 1: people are really like, oh, that's a little better than
Speaker 1: we thought. It's hard to know who's going to be
Speaker 1: the very right, but Tyrod Taylor invariably, you know, will
Speaker 1: fall into some sort of injury scenario two quarters into
Speaker 1: this game. Anyway. So and finally the Denver Broncos at
Speaker 1: New York Giants. Greg, I'm gonna how do you after
Speaker 1: all this talk about Teddy two gloves all summer driving
Speaker 1: us crazy, you don't even draft him. You let him
Speaker 1: play the Giants in the shadows. It's opposite the Patriots game.
Speaker 1: I you want to watch it with full attention on
Speaker 1: game pass, so you're kind of knocking out your backup game.
Speaker 1: The thing you can get me on, get on me
Speaker 1: for is not locking them up, because that was kind
Speaker 1: of my mindset just until the show is started. I
Speaker 1: do like the Broncos in this game. I'm a little
Speaker 1: worried that Bradley Chubb is in a percent healthy Von
Speaker 1: Miller playing his first game, uh in a couple of years.
Speaker 1: Maybe the mismatch up front isn't quite as big as
Speaker 1: Giants fans would fear. They have got some good injury news.
Speaker 1: Goladays practicing, Tony is practicing, Barkley is practicing, So Ingram
Speaker 1: is really the only key player that looks like he's
Speaker 1: probably out for the Giants. That's good. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: think both teams are so conservative. They both love to
Speaker 1: run the bass so much that it could be pretty
Speaker 1: low scoring. But I still do like the Broncos to
Speaker 1: win it. I mean all I look at the Giants, though,
Speaker 1: I just don't like the starts of their season at all.
Speaker 1: We don't know how much we'll see sake one. Barkley,
Speaker 1: Evan Ingram is out, ka Darius Tony missed essentially all
Speaker 1: of camp with COVID and a hamstring issue. Kenny Golladay
Speaker 1: basically told reporters this week, um prepare for the Giants
Speaker 1: to start slow. Okay, that's not what you want your
Speaker 1: big free agent wide receiver to be telling reporters. Necessarily.
Speaker 1: The offensive line is an absolute mess. I mean, the
Speaker 1: Athletic had a comment about Andrew Thomas in his preseason finale,
Speaker 1: setting off alarms because of how poorly he played. I mean,
Speaker 1: he looks like it could be a complete bust. The
Speaker 1: line from tackle the tackle is sort of a mess.
Speaker 1: And they're asking Daniel Jones to make some sort of
Speaker 1: Josh Allen leap. Good luck with that. I mean, everything
Speaker 1: you're saying is true, and they might have the worst
Speaker 1: offensive on the league. And if the Broncos don't beat
Speaker 1: the Giants in Week one, everything Greg said, we'll just
Speaker 1: look Absolutely it's on the road. Absolutely a travesty on
Speaker 1: for Greg. That's what it would be. Let's go Broncos.
Speaker 1: All right, good stuff? Hey, Ricky, before we sign off
Speaker 1: and get ready for the Thursday night opener. Um, what
Speaker 1: are the announcer assignments for week one? For Week one?
Speaker 1: You want me to go through every every game? Who's
Speaker 1: where's uh the CBS big ones? Yeah? Give me those? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the Jets and Panthers, we have Catalan Lofton and bursts.
Speaker 1: What's the Romo game, the Romo Nance game. The Romo
Speaker 1: game is Cleveland, Kansas City. Oh, he's gonna go here,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't I don't even want to deal
Speaker 1: with it. Romo is gonna just talk about Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: for four straight hours. That's what happened in the playoff game.
Speaker 1: Totally obnoxious, Greg. You also for Miami New England get
Speaker 1: Kevin Harlan and Trent Green, which is decent. Well, I
Speaker 1: mean it's like it's like being served like the best
Speaker 1: steak possible at like the most amazing restaurant and then
Speaker 1: they like, you know, give you a piece of for dessert.
Speaker 1: Oh that's what goodness, Greg, It's just football. Um what
Speaker 1: about bucking Aikman. Let's see they are packer packer st Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's you know, there's a couple of new teams there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Ion Eagles got the Buffalo Pittsburgh Eagle Charles Davis are
Speaker 1: still the number two team for CBS. Adam arch Aletta
Speaker 1: is now with Greg Gumbel. We'll keep guy on that.
Speaker 1: Spirodidas is now with Jay Feely and Tom McCarthy with
Speaker 1: Tikey barber Beth Beth Mallens. She she had a regular
Speaker 1: gig last year. I believe she's some week. Yeah, some
Speaker 1: weeks not others. You know, it's like depends on how
Speaker 1: much much they have. Greg Olsen and Kevin Burkhart is
Speaker 1: the number two Fox team. That might be the biggest team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great team. Okay, alright, so one more time,
Speaker 1: thank you, ricky Um. NFL Network broadcast premieres. The rebooted
Speaker 1: Around the NFL broadcast premieres Friday morning on NFL Network.
Speaker 1: There's a re air later in the day already check
Speaker 1: so set your DVRs if you can't watch it live.
Speaker 1: And yes, Sunday night, make sure you constant refresh on
Speaker 1: your podcast player of choice because the flagship edition of
Speaker 1: the Around the NFL podcast will drop at that time.
Speaker 1: And yes, since we started years ago, I think we
Speaker 1: kicked some of the industry in the old behind. A
Speaker 1: lot of people have said, oh, let's wait till Monday
Speaker 1: to do our show. That doesn't happen so much anymore
Speaker 1: after we came around. Uh so there are other quote
Speaker 1: unquote competitors, but you know, the flagship show is where
Speaker 1: you go to get a great breakdown of all the
Speaker 1: action that happened on Sunday in the NFL, with Nick
Speaker 1: Shook helping us out. Anything else, boys, that's it. No,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm gonna. I can't wait to just, you know,
Speaker 1: touch your faces later tonight. I'm just gonna i'm your face.
Speaker 1: That is extremely sensual, a little disturbing. All right, good stuff,
Speaker 1: all right until Friday for TV and Sunday or podcast,
Speaker 1: Heed the Call.