Speaker 1: Be Around with the NFL podcast will also answer to
Speaker 1: Mr Name. Welcome do another edition of the Around the
Speaker 1: hat Abel podcast, presented by the United States and Marine Corps.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Tansas, coming to you from a
Speaker 1: virtual room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal. Week
Speaker 1: three previoud time, Boys, what's happening. I feel like we're
Speaker 1: settling in. You know this. It was a shock to
Speaker 1: the system initially, and now we're settling in. Three weeks in.
Speaker 1: You know, you can already can look at a couple
Speaker 1: of teams and say, I am not m scheduling you
Speaker 1: for a postseason birth. I'd like to get rid of
Speaker 1: some teams early, and they already have a few fork
Speaker 1: some teams. You hear every year the stat if you
Speaker 1: start oh and three, you're pretty much cooked. Now, that
Speaker 1: is not across the board, but that is certainly something
Speaker 1: that portends to doom if you can't get that first
Speaker 1: w within the first three games. We have a bunch
Speaker 1: of oh and two teams. So this is I wish
Speaker 1: Chris Westling was here, But this is what we often
Speaker 1: talk about as the caged animal game or the cornered
Speaker 1: animal game. And they're going to a bunch of them,
Speaker 1: because there are teams that no full well the pressure
Speaker 1: and what they'll put themselves, the position they'll put themselves
Speaker 1: in if they can't figure out a way to get
Speaker 1: to one and two through three weeks. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: break down all those games. Uh, and it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: And by the way, mark this time, about ten days
Speaker 1: from now, a quarter of the regular season will be over,
Speaker 1: so think about that already. Honestly, I think part of
Speaker 1: this thing about being home, the way that we are NonStop.
Speaker 1: It just feels like it's suddenly always um, We're suddenly
Speaker 1: doing the show, and then the rest of the week
Speaker 1: races by. Maybe this is the only thing of importance
Speaker 1: that I have in my life. Maybe that's what I'm learning.
Speaker 1: But we're here. I get your kids, don't it's the
Speaker 1: door closed listening to this. They they're not listening to
Speaker 1: any thing I'm saying. So the theme there is consistent.
Speaker 1: All right, So you know the theme of our Thursday shows.
Speaker 1: We have a draft where we pick each of the games,
Speaker 1: and it just so happens that the old Zeuser is
Speaker 1: picking first. And it is the no brainer of no
Speaker 1: brainers to get us going here it is Monday Night Football,
Speaker 1: it is the Ravens, it is the Chiefs, and my goodness,
Speaker 1: this feels like and it doesn't take a football genius
Speaker 1: and I'm not one to guess that this could be
Speaker 1: an a f C game championship game preview. And how
Speaker 1: exciting it must be for the Monday Night football booth. Wow,
Speaker 1: Bob Greasy in a big spot there, Riddick. I mean,
Speaker 1: everyone has got to be on their top game because
Speaker 1: this is excellent. And you know, you look at what
Speaker 1: the Ravens have done the first two weeks. They've been dominant.
Speaker 1: I had to bump them up to number one of
Speaker 1: my power rankings a week because they're clicking in all cylinders.
Speaker 1: And the last thing that we were waiting for them
Speaker 1: to do is look like the Ravens of last year
Speaker 1: on the ground. And then what do they do against Houston?
Speaker 1: They run for a hundred and fifty three yards in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter to go well over two hundreds. So
Speaker 1: you've got Lamar Jackson passing better than ever, you have
Speaker 1: the running game just as dangerous. You have the defense
Speaker 1: making life hell for the opposition. I just think the
Speaker 1: Ravens are the best team in football right now. But
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, of course, greg are the defending Super Bowl
Speaker 1: champions and they're also off to a two and oh start.
Speaker 1: So uh, make the case why the Chiefs can win
Speaker 1: this game? Well, because it's Patrick mahomes Because it feels
Speaker 1: so wrong that everyone is picking the Ravens here, that
Speaker 1: the Ravens are a significant favorite and that Patrick Mahomess
Speaker 1: has a significant underdog in any game seems wild. But
Speaker 1: I'm doing it too because I don't. You have to
Speaker 1: judge it based on what you've seen, and the Ravens
Speaker 1: are better right now then the Chiefs. You look at
Speaker 1: the matchup when the Ravens are on offense and the
Speaker 1: young players that they had, they and just come back
Speaker 1: and be the same. They're better, they're younger, they're faster.
Speaker 1: Guys like Devin du Varney is faster. J K. Dobbins
Speaker 1: is faster. Myles Boykin is back and he just looks
Speaker 1: faster to me. And you think of those guys matching
Speaker 1: up against the Kansas City Chiefs linebackers who so far
Speaker 1: has have really struggled. I mean, you can't name them.
Speaker 1: It's it's Nieman, it's Wilson, it's mismatches against the tight
Speaker 1: ends and the running backs of the Ravens, and I
Speaker 1: think that this Chief's defense is gonna have a hard
Speaker 1: time getting stops. You know, I would look at Baltimore's
Speaker 1: defense to which you know it's gonna get overlooked because
Speaker 1: of all the all the weapons and Lamar Jackson. But
Speaker 1: two weeks in a row. I mean, you you watch
Speaker 1: what the Browns did against the Bengals, and you go
Speaker 1: back to the way that Cleveland looked against Baltimore and
Speaker 1: the way that Houston looked against Baltimore. Baltimore's defense turns
Speaker 1: the opponent into an identity free offense. The Houston Texans,
Speaker 1: to me, did not look like themselves at all, because
Speaker 1: you've got guys like Patrick Queen, the rookie linebacker making plays.
Speaker 1: Klaias Campbell has been an awesome signing for Baltimore, and
Speaker 1: Marcus Peters seems to pick the ball off in a
Speaker 1: big spot week after week. I just think this is
Speaker 1: a fascinating matchup to see if the Chiefs can look
Speaker 1: like the Chiefs against this defense. And you know, boys,
Speaker 1: that I am the owner of the Kicker Club, which
Speaker 1: is a place where all kickers could come in and
Speaker 1: gather and dance to some hot club music and get
Speaker 1: bottle service. And not only is this the matchup of
Speaker 1: arguably the two best teams in football, it's the two
Speaker 1: best kickers in football. Justin Tucker is off to another
Speaker 1: indestructible start for the Ravens. He might go down as
Speaker 1: great as kicker of all time. But what Harrison Bucker
Speaker 1: did on Sunday put the whole league on notice that
Speaker 1: he is right there in that conversation and and and
Speaker 1: you know, I kid about the kickers, but it is
Speaker 1: a reminder how great these teams are at all three
Speaker 1: levels and how they and the Chiefs. You know, they
Speaker 1: didn't play great against the Chargers, but it was interesting
Speaker 1: to me to see how the defense and special teams
Speaker 1: was able to pick up Patrick Mahomes. It's not just
Speaker 1: a bunch of saddle. It's around Mahomes. And I know
Speaker 1: their defense might not be an all time defense, but
Speaker 1: it is a reminder that they can really win a
Speaker 1: lot of different ways. They just it's not just Mahomes
Speaker 1: and pray not against the Ravens. Though you gotta score points.
Speaker 1: They're they're relying a little too much on Bucker. They
Speaker 1: are not the same Chiefs offense. So far, it's two weeks.
Speaker 1: It is nothing to worry about. But Patrick Mahomes has
Speaker 1: completed one pass that went over twenty yards in the
Speaker 1: air the entire season. I mean that is not Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: He he has less twenty yard completions this season. That
Speaker 1: includes runs after catch, then Dreff Jeff driscoll. So I'm
Speaker 1: not that worried about them. But early in the season,
Speaker 1: and this was similar to when they played last the
Speaker 1: Chiefs started out and they looked like the better team,
Speaker 1: and the Ravens were very lucky to hang with Kansas
Speaker 1: City last year, also in Week three. Why why are
Speaker 1: we playing in this in Week three? By the way,
Speaker 1: later in the season, And I don't think the Chiefs
Speaker 1: are ready right now, just like the Ravens weren't quite
Speaker 1: ready for the Chiefs early last year. I mean, Chief's
Speaker 1: hat a couple games last year where they were a
Speaker 1: little slow out of the gates. Mahomes had sixty yards
Speaker 1: passing at the half last week. So the idea that
Speaker 1: they're this invincible spaceship ready to just rip through sixteen
Speaker 1: opponents is not the case. They have to work through
Speaker 1: a few things themselves. But I kind of. I mean,
Speaker 1: I would rather this be late in the year maybe,
Speaker 1: but I like seeing this right now, just to get
Speaker 1: a measuring stick for where we are with the a
Speaker 1: f C. Because everyone clumps Baltimore in Kansas City together
Speaker 1: at the top, and they should, I mean, then the
Speaker 1: fall off is steep after that. But I'd like to
Speaker 1: know right away who who's going to take this thing.
Speaker 1: And I think it's an interesting test for mahomes. I
Speaker 1: really do. And I I mean, I'm just gonna sit
Speaker 1: down on my couch and watch this thing. Shut the
Speaker 1: doors no one's allowed in and correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: There's a different structure now at the playoffs, where only
Speaker 1: the number one seed has a buy. So think about
Speaker 1: what this could mean. The winner of this team, winner
Speaker 1: of this game has the tiebreaker head to head, which
Speaker 1: means whoever loses not only has to finish UH with
Speaker 1: an equal record, No, they have to finish one game
Speaker 1: better if they hope to have that number one seed.
Speaker 1: If it does indeed come down to the two teams,
Speaker 1: do we all have the Ravens because that would feel
Speaker 1: like the kiss of death. Yes we do, alright, Congratulations
Speaker 1: Chiefs on a three and oh, start al right. Up
Speaker 1: next in the draft, Gregenthal, Okay, surprise pick here. I
Speaker 1: am going with the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Rams in Buffalo. I'm excited about this game. Two undefeated teams.
Speaker 1: Farrell fourth overall reach. Well, you know what, Farrell made
Speaker 1: a game winning play last weekend. I love the I
Speaker 1: love this matchup early because I know that Josh Alan
Speaker 1: believers are gonna be out in force. It's a great
Speaker 1: litmus test. I've been seeing them come after me because
Speaker 1: I'm kind of I've been a bit of a doubter
Speaker 1: over the last few years. Even Mark Sessler is coming
Speaker 1: after me. I mean he he puts a tweet out
Speaker 1: he says it was an ugly Sunday for Josh Allen
Speaker 1: Hayter types he and then talking about Alan he floats
Speaker 1: today as a godlike figure from the wilderness. And all
Speaker 1: I want to say to you, Mark is like, why
Speaker 1: don't you just at me? I mean, if you're saying
Speaker 1: put my name in the tweet, just say what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like this says a lot more about Greg than it
Speaker 1: does Mark. I'm clearly in your head. I mean, there
Speaker 1: are people all over the place on Josh Allen. That
Speaker 1: was not specifically a Greg's centric missive from me. Well,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe it should have been, because I I've I've
Speaker 1: killed this guy, and uh, he might be a system QB.
Speaker 1: But you know what, that's okay, Jared Goff's system QB
Speaker 1: to like, that's what quarterbacks are there in a system
Speaker 1: and the way they've built this system around Josh Allen's
Speaker 1: legs in short passing, which he's undeniably improved. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's been more accurate, his touch passes have been better,
Speaker 1: and the players around him are awesome. They're they're fun
Speaker 1: to watch. But I do have some doubts too that
Speaker 1: when he plays a better defense in this RAMS defense
Speaker 1: I think counts. Um let's see how they do. Because
Speaker 1: he has played the Dolphins and the Jets and some
Speaker 1: dropped interceptions last week. You know, I'm until a little doubt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let me tee you up on this mark, because Alan
Speaker 1: is still a bit confounding to me. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying I'm I'm holding out and all this, but you
Speaker 1: watch the two games. The numbers are through the roof
Speaker 1: compared to last year, and you can't take that away
Speaker 1: from he's really producing at a high level. But if
Speaker 1: you watch these games, he's still doing the things that
Speaker 1: killed the team in January that have had doubters like
Speaker 1: Greg and to a lesser extent myself, sitting back a
Speaker 1: little bit, putting the ball on the ground, throwing balls
Speaker 1: up for grabs and he's not been getting busted for
Speaker 1: it yet. Will that happen as the competition gets better
Speaker 1: and it is better this week? The Rams have come
Speaker 1: out of the gate very good on defense. I'm I
Speaker 1: kid Greg. I think it is a good pick because
Speaker 1: I think it's a great game mark. Have you seen
Speaker 1: that from Alan? Some of these mistakes that are hit
Speaker 1: in a little bit by the stats, I think that's
Speaker 1: fair because I could I could look at a past
Speaker 1: last week where he clearly could have had Steffon Digs
Speaker 1: for a touchdown and it was overthrown and you get
Speaker 1: some of that malarkey down field a little bit. I
Speaker 1: would also say that was maybe one of only two
Speaker 1: or three ill passes he threw. All I just think
Speaker 1: that the overall Josh Allen experience, it has been improved,
Speaker 1: and it's markedly improved over these two weeks. The productions there.
Speaker 1: I think that Brian Dable is someone whose name is
Speaker 1: going to continue to get magnified as the season goes along.
Speaker 1: He works really well with Josh Allen, and he works
Speaker 1: really well, and Stephan Diggs is fitting. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: another world we live in where Stephan Diggs is upset
Speaker 1: right now and you know, not making plays. He has
Speaker 1: fit right into that offensive think called easily John Brown.
Speaker 1: They've got a good group of wide receivers, a good backfield,
Speaker 1: so it doesn't have to be all on Josh Allen alone.
Speaker 1: And on the Rams side of things, here's a great
Speaker 1: stet we've we'd speculated as Sean McVeigh feeling more free,
Speaker 1: uh now now that he doesn't have to worry about
Speaker 1: feeding Todd Gurley. Uh. Seven players had rushing attempts and
Speaker 1: Sundays win, so six different players had at least two catches.
Speaker 1: Are more so, the Rams are spreading things out on offense.
Speaker 1: McVeigh looks like he's having the time of his life.
Speaker 1: Jared Goff looks comfortable again. How much of this greg
Speaker 1: goes back to the offensive lines seeming to be getting
Speaker 1: back on track. Rob Havingstein, the right tackle, has gone
Speaker 1: from one of the best in the league to a
Speaker 1: disaster last year. Because he was banged up to now
Speaker 1: he looks great again, and that makes a huge difference.
Speaker 1: And they have a system where they rely on guys
Speaker 1: to make plays after the catch, you can get rid
Speaker 1: of the ball quickly. Cup is playing awesome. Woods is
Speaker 1: playing awesome. Higbie is playing awesome. And that's why I
Speaker 1: picked the Rams this week because I think the Bills
Speaker 1: defense has had some concerning elements over the first two weeks.
Speaker 1: Levi Wallace at cornerbacks really struggling. Their linebackers are a
Speaker 1: little banged up. They haven't quite been the Bills defense
Speaker 1: that we expect. So I expect this game to come
Speaker 1: down to the end. But I kind of like the
Speaker 1: Rams offense putting up a lot of points. I'm with you, Greg,
Speaker 1: I think the Rams, like watching their game last week
Speaker 1: and reflecting on the Cowboys game two, are playing really
Speaker 1: um like top seven in the league football right now.
Speaker 1: And I mean, you're a little banged up at running back,
Speaker 1: Darryl Henderson probably will get a lot of work. But
Speaker 1: to your point, Dan, I mean Higbie, who really was
Speaker 1: not at part of the equation a couple of years
Speaker 1: back when they were so centered and funneled around Girley
Speaker 1: is a huge part of the offense. Now. I think
Speaker 1: that this is like Rams two point oh and McVeigh
Speaker 1: probably was driven he heard everyone saying he's not the
Speaker 1: little boy genius anymore. We'll look at he's reorganized the
Speaker 1: entire attack. They're fun to watch, and I mean they
Speaker 1: put it on the Eagles, and I know the Eagles
Speaker 1: are having the issues, but the Rams are for real.
Speaker 1: We saw Sean McVeigh. He made it be known that
Speaker 1: he's been working hard in the gym and that hard
Speaker 1: knocks premier. He doesn't want to be seen as a
Speaker 1: boy anymore. He's a man, He's not a boy. All right, Mark,
Speaker 1: you're up next. I'm up next. And I love what's
Speaker 1: happened here in the draft so far. You guys took
Speaker 1: the obvious picks. There, at least Dan did. I'm going
Speaker 1: one out of the blue Las Vegas Raiders at New
Speaker 1: England Patriots. This game to me, you know, you look
Speaker 1: at you look at the slate every once in a
Speaker 1: while you say, this sticks out to me. The Raiders
Speaker 1: were fascinating on Monday Night football. And you know John Gruden,
Speaker 1: who I basically dismissed a couple of years ago is
Speaker 1: doing a good job. Can you imagine if you're John
Speaker 1: Gruden and in the course of a week you knock
Speaker 1: out Sean Payton and now have a chance to take
Speaker 1: out Bill Belichick. That's telling everyone put me back up
Speaker 1: there on top of that mountain. I'm not a has
Speaker 1: been hanging out in the desert. The Raiders are built
Speaker 1: around some really interesting star players and Darren Waller, who
Speaker 1: was incredible on Monday Night, and Josh Jacobs, who I
Speaker 1: think is as fun to watch right now as any
Speaker 1: running back in the league. He has completely grown as
Speaker 1: a running back in terms of his ability to catch
Speaker 1: the ball out of the backfield. I think this Raiders
Speaker 1: offensive line, which is a little banged up incognito out
Speaker 1: of the mix now too. That's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a concern against the Patriots team that is well coached
Speaker 1: as any sports team in all of sports right now.
Speaker 1: And I'm telling you the idea of seeing Cam Newton
Speaker 1: go up against the Raiders. I like this game. Guys. Wow.
Speaker 1: Giving Belichick love even over the Tampa Bay Lightning coaching
Speaker 1: staff right now is a big I'm fascinated by this.
Speaker 1: Belichick and Gruden have always had a mutual appreciation society,
Speaker 1: and I think the way they're running their offenses says
Speaker 1: a lot about where the NFL is in. I think
Speaker 1: the Raiders and the Patriots offenses are built specifically to
Speaker 1: go up against these dime defenses like the Patriots have.
Speaker 1: I think the Raiders are perfectly positioned to grind defenses
Speaker 1: which count on these cornerbacks into dust. You mentioned Josh Jacobs. Uh.
Speaker 1: They also have a great group of tight ends including
Speaker 1: you know, Fabian Moreau and Jason Witten's and they're blocking
Speaker 1: and they are a power team. And I think the
Speaker 1: Patriots built their offense in a way to go up
Speaker 1: against these nickel and dime lightweight defenses and grind them down.
Speaker 1: So I think it's a mismatch this week when when
Speaker 1: both offenses have the ball, they're bigger, they're stronger, and
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna have successful long drives. It's one
Speaker 1: of those games. I don't expect a lot of possessions
Speaker 1: and I don't expect a lot of stops by either defense.
Speaker 1: You know, I thought it was maybe the kiss of
Speaker 1: death for your fantasy team if you're uh, if you
Speaker 1: owned Darren Waller in your leagues when Bill Belichick started
Speaker 1: this week off by saying, you know, it's been a
Speaker 1: long time since there's been a guy in the league
Speaker 1: like Darren Waller. So now you think about it. Okay,
Speaker 1: So it's definitely on Belichick's radar that the Raiders offenses
Speaker 1: running through Waller, and you get a feeling that he's
Speaker 1: gonna go out of his way to try to shut
Speaker 1: down Waller and see if Derek Carrent company can make
Speaker 1: things happen without that dynamic tight end because Waller was
Speaker 1: so important. And I know he's a little banged up
Speaker 1: this week too. He's on the injury report with the knee,
Speaker 1: so you wonder how that factor in factors in, but
Speaker 1: you know he is. He was so important. Every time
Speaker 1: Derek Carr needed some needed somebody you need to pick up,
Speaker 1: whether it was ten yards or three yards or fifteen yards,
Speaker 1: Waller was the guy. And that's why he only had
Speaker 1: a hundred and three receiving yards on twelve catches, but
Speaker 1: it felt like he had three hundred yards because every
Speaker 1: time they needed a plane and to move the sticks there,
Speaker 1: he was. Yeah. I mean the Saints had no answer
Speaker 1: for him. I would also want I think Brian Edwards
Speaker 1: is an interesting rookie and wide receiver too, and I
Speaker 1: mean they need some of their young white else to
Speaker 1: make a contribution. For Derek Carr, who I think. You know,
Speaker 1: they had three sacks in the first quarter and somewhat
Speaker 1: one of those was definitely on car just holding onto
Speaker 1: the ball too long too. I I to me, I
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see what Josh McDaniels does. Though.
Speaker 1: I think Josh McDaniels because he's been in New England
Speaker 1: forever and had Tom Brady, you know, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we get that he's good, But I mean to come
Speaker 1: and create this entire offense around Cam Newton and and
Speaker 1: trust Cam Newton on the ground, but also to throw
Speaker 1: the ball the way he has been and now Julian
Speaker 1: Edelman play the way he has last week, Julian Edelman
Speaker 1: that was the best game of his entire career and
Speaker 1: it looked like it. I just I to me, this
Speaker 1: Patriots team, you can point it to all the weaknesses,
Speaker 1: but I don't really care about that. With New England,
Speaker 1: they find a way to get it done no matter
Speaker 1: who's on the fields. McDaniels with Cam Newton, but just
Speaker 1: don't trust him with a handshake. That's all. That's a
Speaker 1: fair point. I mean, McDaniels, let's let's give him some credit.
Speaker 1: And you know they're they I know what it means.
Speaker 1: They're steaming up some plays, I think because they don't
Speaker 1: really have a ton of athleticism. But let's give most
Speaker 1: of the credit to Cam Newton. I mean, give me
Speaker 1: a break, this guy. It's not like it's the old
Speaker 1: Cam Newton. This is better. I mean, he's throwing the
Speaker 1: ball better. And it was one performance in terms of
Speaker 1: how he was throwing it, but that was as accurate
Speaker 1: down the field consistently as he's ever been in his
Speaker 1: entire career. So whatever the reason for that is. And
Speaker 1: the past protection has been awesome, and so that's part
Speaker 1: of it. If he throws like this, I mean, it
Speaker 1: is outrageous that he's on the Patriots right now. They
Speaker 1: didn't want him, No one wanted him. I mean they
Speaker 1: they're paying him less than Brian Hoyer. He was a
Speaker 1: free agent for three months and he's out playing and
Speaker 1: throwing the ball like he's never done it, and with
Speaker 1: the threat of the run, that's going to change defenses.
Speaker 1: I'm so impressed. I think it's one of the biggest
Speaker 1: developments of this young season. How how good Cam Newton looks.
Speaker 1: It's outrageous. You're you're mad, Dan, because you said the
Speaker 1: Patriots weren't special anymore. Cam Newton's special he can make
Speaker 1: he does look special. I mean one and one is
Speaker 1: not that specialist. Let's calm down. But you know what,
Speaker 1: the Patriots have been blessed with more than their share
Speaker 1: of luck over the last twenty years, and this is
Speaker 1: more of it. I mean, there's no reason. You're right,
Speaker 1: there's no reason he should be on the Patriots playing
Speaker 1: for one million dollars. But when a little bit of
Speaker 1: like excellent preparation, though, Dan, it's not when you've been
Speaker 1: by the hand of God, but luck when you're touched
Speaker 1: by the hand of God the way the Patriots have been.
Speaker 1: I don't know what they did to deserve this, but
Speaker 1: good for them. Uh. And Cam Newton, who does look
Speaker 1: truly excellent. All right, Mark, it snakes to you. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go somewhere a little weird here. Um. I don't
Speaker 1: think maybe this is where you guys would go with
Speaker 1: this pick, but I'm gonna go Bengals at Eagles. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it really starts for me for one reason. Joe Burrow. Well,
Speaker 1: there's two things. Number one, Joe Burrow, I really cannot.
Speaker 1: I want to track every one of his games. I
Speaker 1: think this is one of them. You talk about Cam
Speaker 1: Newton being a big story in New England, and it is,
Speaker 1: but Joe Burrow raising the Bengals out of you know,
Speaker 1: they were basically glee sleeping uh six ft under the
Speaker 1: past couple of years, past couple of decades, and Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow comes in and he's sort of a transformative guy
Speaker 1: under center that can make you think entirely different about
Speaker 1: this team, about Zack Jackson at Jack Taylor at head coach.
Speaker 1: So I like the situation. But the flip side of
Speaker 1: it is the Eagles um in a place of immense chaos,
Speaker 1: your oh in two, your sound operators are unfurling booze
Speaker 1: at Carson Wentz is interception in the end zone in
Speaker 1: your home stadium. No other team is thinking that way
Speaker 1: right now, no one's dealing with that. So I think
Speaker 1: this is an interesting situation where if you're an Eagles fan,
Speaker 1: you're thinking the way that I was as a Browns
Speaker 1: fan of we could go, but Joe Burrow could come
Speaker 1: in and completely cause and spend total madness inside your organization.
Speaker 1: Can the Eagles hold off Cincinnati? The Eagles offense, to me,
Speaker 1: has looked formless identity lists. I cannot figure out what
Speaker 1: they're trying to do at this point. Carson Wentz looks
Speaker 1: a little bit lost. I think he has a reason
Speaker 1: to feel lost with what they put on paper so far.
Speaker 1: Twenty nine yards per play their their thirty second and
Speaker 1: t and over is their thirty one and in yards
Speaker 1: per tect. I mean they're they're a disaster and they're
Speaker 1: losing Jalen Reagor, who looked pretty good in the first
Speaker 1: few weeks. And Peterson, Uh, Doug Peterson, their coach. You know,
Speaker 1: got mad at a reporter a little bit this week,
Speaker 1: who said, have you ever played quarterback? On these? These
Speaker 1: throws he's missing aren't lamps? Well, I mean he some
Speaker 1: of them are over the middle of the field. This
Speaker 1: was a great interception by the Rams last week that
Speaker 1: turned the game around. Um, but he also Carson Wentz
Speaker 1: missed the third and five early in the game where
Speaker 1: zach Ertz is wide open and it goes fifteen feet
Speaker 1: over his head. And those are the type of throws
Speaker 1: that you're just like, what what is happening here? Uh?
Speaker 1: And the drive stop stops because of that, And this
Speaker 1: is a great matchup for him to turn it around,
Speaker 1: but he's feeling it. There are reports in Philadelphia how
Speaker 1: his teammates aren't really trying to console him. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's getting ugly early. But the Bengals are slump busters.
Speaker 1: They were slump a slumpbuster for Baker Mayfield. I think
Speaker 1: they can be for Carson Wentz. I'm hoping that that
Speaker 1: reporter shot back at Doug Peterson. Have you ever filed
Speaker 1: a gamer on deadline for early edition? Because it is
Speaker 1: actually pretty scary. Uh. Yeah, Whence was a mess last week,
Speaker 1: and I was so surprised by and by and you
Speaker 1: look at this game and it does feel like a
Speaker 1: perfect get right game. But I was shaken by that
Speaker 1: week two performance and and the Rams obviously are a
Speaker 1: good team, but his inability went to get things going
Speaker 1: and get in a groove. He's been when he's been healthy,
Speaker 1: he's been just such a consistent player. The fact that
Speaker 1: he has not been that guy for them when they
Speaker 1: need it, Uh, that's that's a problem. And I think
Speaker 1: everyone's excited to see Joe Burrow back on the field.
Speaker 1: He's quickly becoming appointment television for football fans, and it
Speaker 1: will be ten days between games, so we see what
Speaker 1: what he does. I mean, can you imagine what happens?
Speaker 1: And I don't think the players can hear those piped
Speaker 1: and booze on TV, but can you imagine what would
Speaker 1: happen if Cincinnati went into Philly and dropped the Eagles
Speaker 1: to own three. I almost want to lock up the Eagles,
Speaker 1: but again, you just can't trust them based on what
Speaker 1: I've seen with you. I I try. The one thing
Speaker 1: that to me is another X factor is you know,
Speaker 1: we all watched a J. Green look like a J.
Speaker 1: Green fourteen years from now on Thursday, last Thursday night.
Speaker 1: So this is a key centerpiece of their passing game.
Speaker 1: If he's not going to be who we expected him
Speaker 1: to be, that is a ugly development for the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Well for a J. Green. He has basically missed a
Speaker 1: year and a half. He missed all of training camp.
Speaker 1: He's someone who's hurt throughout August. So I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: him a little, you know, a wider berth to get
Speaker 1: into form. But I do think we need to calm
Speaker 1: down a little on Burrow because he's very exciting and
Speaker 1: I think he's playing really well and he's promising, but
Speaker 1: they're passing attacks bad. I mean, the Bengals offense is bad.
Speaker 1: He's he's lasting the league in yards per attempt by
Speaker 1: a lot. I mean, he's deep into the Gabbard zone there.
Speaker 1: There's no one even close to him to his five
Speaker 1: point two yards protempted. So they're very condensed. They're limited.
Speaker 1: They have a bad offensive line. He can look good
Speaker 1: despite the surrounding, but they are not an effective offense. Right.
Speaker 1: But I just like people watching you can see some
Speaker 1: flaws in the overall scheme, but you're not looking at
Speaker 1: Burrow and saying he doesn't see the field or he's
Speaker 1: not making the throws. You can see everything there that
Speaker 1: you see in other quarterbacks that bloom into something great.
Speaker 1: Excitement is complete legit. You don't want to be that
Speaker 1: guy and be like, oh, get your head out of
Speaker 1: the numbers, nerd. He passes the eye test, but he does.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're watching the games, you see the
Speaker 1: plays that it's all there for him, uh, and you
Speaker 1: know it's one of the craziest stats. And Greg that
Speaker 1: wasn't a shot across your bow. Don't worry, I know
Speaker 1: you watch it. Greg's getting a lot of subtweet action here.
Speaker 1: Show he had sixty one attempts Burrow against the Browns
Speaker 1: and didn't throw an interception for a rookie making a
Speaker 1: second start, That is remarkable. Anyway, I might say more
Speaker 1: about the Browns Mark, Well, it might. There's something else
Speaker 1: to look out there, but I like Burrow, Greg Europe.
Speaker 1: All right, I will take the primetime game Saints and
Speaker 1: Packers on Sunday night. Good one for Alex Oh yes,
Speaker 1: and it is time now for a Road to Victory
Speaker 1: presented by the United States Marine Corps. Oh, what a
Speaker 1: perfect game. Makes me even more excited. You're going to
Speaker 1: New Orleans. You can't have the fund that you normally have.
Speaker 1: It's all business, and you can put a big time
Speaker 1: NFC rival, the Saints UH into into a big hurt.
Speaker 1: I know they're not owing to the Saints, but it
Speaker 1: feels like it feels like this is almost a cornered
Speaker 1: animal game for the Saints because you look at the
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks and Breeze is trying to figure out what
Speaker 1: plays work. Sean Payton's trying to figure out what plays
Speaker 1: work for him. Meanwhile, on the other side, you have
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur and Aaron Rodgers in as good a sink
Speaker 1: as we've seen. I think of an image at the
Speaker 1: end of last week's game where you just saw Rogers
Speaker 1: and La Fleur, and Rogers puts his arm around La Fleur,
Speaker 1: kind of like La Fleur is the little brother, and
Speaker 1: he's like, you know what, buddy, you're doing pretty well now.
Speaker 1: I do respect you was learning your light and guys
Speaker 1: open you're having uh, you're having the running backs in
Speaker 1: the past, you know, in the passing game. It's really good.
Speaker 1: I love I love the sink that they have. It's
Speaker 1: so different than the storyline we came into a year ago.
Speaker 1: A lot of detail that you pick up on the
Speaker 1: condensed game watch. That's a guy that watched, you know,
Speaker 1: the entire broadcast. I'm definitely one of the people that
Speaker 1: put Green Bay into the soft thirteen and three category
Speaker 1: that I'm so annoyed not only Dan our Host, I believe,
Speaker 1: but um, Aaron Rodgers and others, And maybe it was
Speaker 1: a little disrespectful. This team, though, is what I think
Speaker 1: of when I think of a thirteen and three team.
Speaker 1: This is a much better Packers team than a year
Speaker 1: ago on offense. And I think when you're getting this
Speaker 1: m v P level version of Aaron Rodgers, it makes
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones in the running games so much more dangerous.
Speaker 1: And we saw you had two hundred total plus total
Speaker 1: yards last week, Aaron Jones, And it's a whole another dimension.
Speaker 1: And I can't believe there was a month ago that
Speaker 1: we were basically writing Aaron Rodgers's ull G and now
Speaker 1: it's being written for Drew Brees. And the idea that
Speaker 1: we're watching this Saints team potentially fade in two straight,
Speaker 1: two straight primetime games. I'm just not ready to write
Speaker 1: off Breeze yet. I see what you're seeing. I see
Speaker 1: the arm strength and not, you know, diminishing to some degree.
Speaker 1: But you don't think Sean Payton is in the lab
Speaker 1: cooking up a little surprise here saying I'm not going
Speaker 1: to go out like this yet. I'm with you, Mark.
Speaker 1: And interesting stat that popped up this week that and
Speaker 1: West has been beating the drum on this that Drew Brees.
Speaker 1: Drew Brees can't beat teams downfield. His arm has become
Speaker 1: a liability to the point where the offense is being
Speaker 1: heard by it. But if you look back over the
Speaker 1: last three or four years, when Brees was still manning
Speaker 1: an elite offense and they were scoring a ton of points,
Speaker 1: he was near the bottom of the league every year
Speaker 1: in the average air yards per attempt stat that I
Speaker 1: like to throw around for Teddy Bridgewater, so they he doesn't.
Speaker 1: He's he hasn't been a mad bomber for years now
Speaker 1: and it's worked. So I'd be more concerned by what
Speaker 1: we saw on Monday night with his loss of accuracy,
Speaker 1: which could be a simple mechanical flower just a bad night,
Speaker 1: uh to to start to pick up whether or not
Speaker 1: he's truly in a deep decline, because saying he doesn't
Speaker 1: beat teams downfield with throws, he hasn't been doing that
Speaker 1: for a long time. It was his un breezed an
Speaker 1: interception that you've seen that was just one of the
Speaker 1: worst picks he's thrown in years. If he's not accurate,
Speaker 1: who is he? I mean that he needs these brings
Speaker 1: to you. He needs it, and but he needs a
Speaker 1: good running game, and I think he's gonna get it
Speaker 1: this week. I mean, that's the thing. I think you
Speaker 1: can minimize the pain of Drew Brees by just handing
Speaker 1: the ball off to Alvin Camara. It is a perfect
Speaker 1: match of Mike Petton's defenses are allergic to stopping the run.
Speaker 1: I mean they they've never done it. They love giving
Speaker 1: up big even this year, Like they got six defensive
Speaker 1: backs on the field. They're just inviting you to run
Speaker 1: all over them. And Camara looks back to his like
Speaker 1: little Wayne, I'm a freak. There's no running back like
Speaker 1: me in the entire NFL mode that he was in
Speaker 1: for the first two years of the league. So I
Speaker 1: think he has a big night. Yeah, I'm with you
Speaker 1: on that. And and keep an eye on what's going
Speaker 1: on Davante Adams and his healthy exited um week two
Speaker 1: with the hamstring. I saw it again in the week
Speaker 1: to win for the Packers. There are yards being left
Speaker 1: on the field by these non Davante Adams pass catchers.
Speaker 1: As much as we want to pump up the Alan
Speaker 1: Lizards and the mbs is of the world, they're gonna
Speaker 1: need to be better. If Adams is compromised or not
Speaker 1: around for the Packers, I'm up snake into me in
Speaker 1: a big spot. All right, let's start here. Speaking of
Speaker 1: Cornered Animal game. The Houston Texans have to go up
Speaker 1: to hein s Field now to face the Steelers, and
Speaker 1: this has been the unholy terri Trio of the NFL
Speaker 1: to start the season for the Texans. Oh my good,
Speaker 1: Chiefs Ravens Steelers on the road one to three, and
Speaker 1: you gotta win one of these games to really be
Speaker 1: a player. And I listen, this Bill O'Brien Texans team
Speaker 1: doesn't have a good vibe around it right now. But
Speaker 1: this is also right around the time when you write
Speaker 1: off a Texans team and then they deliver a big
Speaker 1: performance and they get themselves back upright, and then they
Speaker 1: win a few games in a row and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, like you forgot. Oh, I remember when
Speaker 1: they were on the brink. So I feel actually good
Speaker 1: despite what we've seen on the field, that Bill O'Brien
Speaker 1: and Deshaun Watson are going to come to play up
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. But that I don't know if that's gonna
Speaker 1: be enough, Mark, because the Steelers look as good as
Speaker 1: anybody in the league just about through two weeks, and
Speaker 1: they're in their building and a defense that's been given
Speaker 1: everyone fits is gonna probably do a good job, you
Speaker 1: would think against the Texas offense that has not figured
Speaker 1: out where they are post DeAndre Hopkins yet. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess you could. You could make a case and
Speaker 1: say we don't know who Houston is right now because
Speaker 1: they've played the Kansas City Chiefs in the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 1: What it tells me is this is a playoff team
Speaker 1: of old um potentially still, but one that is not
Speaker 1: at the upperschelans of a f C. And if I
Speaker 1: count on one thing in this game, it's Pittsburgh's pass rush,
Speaker 1: It's t J. Watt and I I don't know if
Speaker 1: you're Houston, how you counteract that? When I look at
Speaker 1: this offensive roster, who is extremely special outside of Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 1: what does he have around him? That if you're if
Speaker 1: you're Pittsburgh's defensive coordinator, you are absolutely being kept up
Speaker 1: at night. I'm not trying to harp on DeAndre Hopkins
Speaker 1: being sent away, but the but the wide receivers who
Speaker 1: are adequate um are not making a difference, not in
Speaker 1: these two games. This is another team that I thought
Speaker 1: was rendered rather uh, you know, formless over the last
Speaker 1: two weeks. I'm trying to figure out who the Texans
Speaker 1: are right now, right they're they're searching because you know
Speaker 1: what they don't have is Deshaun Watson running the ball.
Speaker 1: Either his rushing yards have gone down each year, remember
Speaker 1: his rookie year where the offense is kind of built
Speaker 1: around his athleticism. That's not there right now. I think
Speaker 1: they're offensive talents fine, except for the line. But we
Speaker 1: just saw it. You just warmed up against a Chiefs
Speaker 1: defense that loves the blitz and you didn't really protect him.
Speaker 1: Then you play the Ravens who love to blitz. How
Speaker 1: about we play the US pass rushing team in the league.
Speaker 1: On the right side, it's t J Watt. He is
Speaker 1: the best pass rusher in the NFL right now, and
Speaker 1: he's mostly gonna be lining up against Titus Howard, one
Speaker 1: of those draft picks for the Texans who it looks
Speaker 1: like they've missed on and they need to hit their
Speaker 1: draft picks because they don't have any draft picks, so
Speaker 1: when they miss it, it really hurts double And on
Speaker 1: the Steelers side of things, you know their offense is
Speaker 1: very turned into a pick your poison situation with Chase
Speaker 1: Claypool at the four yard touchdown a week two. He's
Speaker 1: made himself an instant difference maker on this offense. And
Speaker 1: when you add him with Deante Johnson and Juju Smith
Speaker 1: Schuster and James Conner and Ben Roethlisberger who has not
Speaker 1: missed the beat and his return to action, this offense
Speaker 1: is extremely difficult to deal with. So the Houston Texas defense,
Speaker 1: which is also not being doing the job to start
Speaker 1: it just as much as again to circle back, not
Speaker 1: to be labor the point. This feels like such a
Speaker 1: spot where Bill O'Brien team gets right, but nothing feels
Speaker 1: right about the Texas in this matchup. And that's why
Speaker 1: I still think the Steelers are gonna win and the
Speaker 1: Texans will be three. Yeah, I mean, I do think
Speaker 1: Bill O'Brien has um probably some concerns about what is
Speaker 1: exactly happening in the NFL schedule making office. Who did
Speaker 1: he offend to get this scenario out of the gate.
Speaker 1: But still, I mean, if you are the team that
Speaker 1: people thought you were, you need to take one of
Speaker 1: these three games. And I for me, Pittsburgh they're just
Speaker 1: getting they seem to be growing each week, and you
Speaker 1: look at like you mentioned Chase Claypool and to me,
Speaker 1: Big Ben like when his If you have got Big
Speaker 1: Ben with of the arm, big problems, that's not happening.
Speaker 1: This team is kind of stacked on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball right now. They are they still struggle to
Speaker 1: beat Jeff Driscoll. It should be pointing out that Driscoll
Speaker 1: had the Broncos in the red zone with a chance
Speaker 1: to win the game right at the end, and they
Speaker 1: came up short. So they haven't been perfect, but it's
Speaker 1: great to win games if you're the Steelers with a
Speaker 1: chance to get better. Their offensive line looks like it
Speaker 1: will be a little healthier this week, and I feel
Speaker 1: fine about it. And that's why I am locking. Okay,
Speaker 1: I feel very confident. You know, sometimes when a team
Speaker 1: shows you they're bad like the text, and you just
Speaker 1: gotta believe them. After a couple of weeks, I believe them,
Speaker 1: all right. That's fair. Alright, it's snakes to the old
Speaker 1: Zuser and that's why I will move to the four
Speaker 1: pm slate and check in on the Cowboys at the Seahawks. Okay,
Speaker 1: first of all, what a great value add in the
Speaker 1: draft here this late in the draft, the Cowboys coming
Speaker 1: off that win where still you come out of that game.
Speaker 1: These guys got a ton of problems but also flukey. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: the four fumbles in the first quarter, I believe it
Speaker 1: was against the Falcons. That's not typically typically gonna happen.
Speaker 1: So even though there are blemishes with the Cowboys overall,
Speaker 1: and you worry about their defense, especially going on the
Speaker 1: road against Russell Wilson and God Mode right now Mr
Speaker 1: Unlimited truly has been that so far the season. Um,
Speaker 1: you also wonder that a forty nine kind of like
Speaker 1: all time Cowboys regular season win, if that inspires, gets
Speaker 1: the juices flown and they go to Seattle and really
Speaker 1: put up a big fight. So if you that's what
Speaker 1: this game comes down to. For me, there are a
Speaker 1: lot of people and I was a little bit on
Speaker 1: the fence, but probably more on the side of the
Speaker 1: fence of the Cowboys are good this year. The Cowboys
Speaker 1: are at ten eleven maybe twelve win team. Uh, then
Speaker 1: you think there's no reason they shouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: go up to Seattle and hang with the Seahawks. For
Speaker 1: all their greatness at quarterback, in their ability to score
Speaker 1: points themselves and what they did against New England at
Speaker 1: the big goal line stop at the end. This is
Speaker 1: an unbeatable team. So I think the Cowboys are hanging
Speaker 1: in this game. But the Seattle I understand that they're
Speaker 1: the favorite. I just have concerns about the fact that,
Speaker 1: you know, if you're the Cowboys, you were flamed by
Speaker 1: Jared Goff, you were flamed by Matt Ryan. I mean,
Speaker 1: and now you've got a The Cowboys are a good team.
Speaker 1: We agree, we did Dan. The Seahawks are a special team.
Speaker 1: There's something going on there that just, um, it has
Speaker 1: me feeling something that I'm gonna be locking up Seattle
Speaker 1: in this game, all right, because I'm two in the locks.
Speaker 1: It's about to get to three. And oh the special
Speaker 1: sauce in Seattle is Jamal Adams on defense two games
Speaker 1: in a row, all over the place. They don't have
Speaker 1: pass rush. He created against Cam Nember him dragging Cam down.
Speaker 1: He was all over Newton in various ways, and I
Speaker 1: cannot wait to see. But I'm just saying he could
Speaker 1: do a lot of things I don't want to hear about.
Speaker 1: You know, safeties don't matter anymore. He matters, and you've
Speaker 1: got to deal with him all game long. And you know,
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott coming off maybe one of the best games
Speaker 1: he's ever had. This matchup of Jamal Adams and Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott signed me up. Well, I mean that the Seahawks
Speaker 1: defense can't stop anyone. Though. I love this matchup because
Speaker 1: I'm with Dan that I think it's gonna be in
Speaker 1: the mid thirties. I think it's gonna look like Falcons
Speaker 1: Cowboys a week ago, a week ago, where it comes
Speaker 1: down to the end because both teams are great offensively
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks have no pass rest. The Seahawks have
Speaker 1: really nothing that can stop you on defense. If if
Speaker 1: you look at what Dk metcalf has done though the
Speaker 1: first couple of weeks. To me, that's a big time development.
Speaker 1: The route he ran against Stefan Gilmore, the fact that
Speaker 1: he really won that matchup against Gilmore. I believe Tyler
Speaker 1: Lockett's a true number one in Metcalf is a true
Speaker 1: number one in a in a much different sort of way.
Speaker 1: And so they're unstoppable right now. And the Cowboys are
Speaker 1: so banged up. They're banged up in the secondary. They
Speaker 1: have as many starters injured really as any team in
Speaker 1: the league. I believe in the Cowboys to put up
Speaker 1: thirty five and doc to look great and to entertain us.
Speaker 1: But I think the Seahawks weirdly are better position right
Speaker 1: now to win a shootout. Yeah, and I think to
Speaker 1: your point the DK Metcalf performance, I think, and sometimes
Speaker 1: it works out this way that it happens in primetime
Speaker 1: where you know there's millions and millions of people watching it.
Speaker 1: I think he announced himself as a star in that game.
Speaker 1: We knew he was a promising rookie last year who
Speaker 1: got better as the year went along. But once you
Speaker 1: start giving Stephan Gilmore the business in primetime, your based
Speaker 1: be putting it on notticed that you are going to
Speaker 1: be one of the top guys and you could be
Speaker 1: an all pro level talent. So they are right. The ROLESO.
Speaker 1: I mean, Chris Carson has been helpful in the past
Speaker 1: game too. I mean Russell Wilson had seven touchdowns before
Speaker 1: he had seven in completions. I don't know how else
Speaker 1: to describe a quarterback can sink at the moment, Greg,
Speaker 1: you're next, All right, let's go down to Atlanta. This
Speaker 1: is absolutely a cornered animal game. The O and two
Speaker 1: Falcons against the two and O Bears that the two
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that the Falcons have faced on defense have turned
Speaker 1: out to be the offensive player of the week in
Speaker 1: the NFC. So if that happens a third time and
Speaker 1: Mitchell Robinsky is the offensive player the way, I don't
Speaker 1: know if Dan Quinn gets a fourth crack at it,
Speaker 1: and uh, for his sake, I hope it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: In his best route to win is just to ride
Speaker 1: the arm of Mattie Ice. Matt Ryan is playing about
Speaker 1: as well as you possibly can for an O and
Speaker 1: two teams, and the offensive line in Atlanta has also
Speaker 1: played really well. I think that's been a big change
Speaker 1: for them. They put a lot of resources into it,
Speaker 1: and for the most part they've protected him well. Now
Speaker 1: they've got to go up against Khalil mac Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: looked really good, Akeem Hicks. When those three guys are
Speaker 1: together for Chicago, you know they're they're cooking with gas.
Speaker 1: So this is a big time matchup for the Falcons
Speaker 1: offensive line. But I trust Mattie Ice right now really
Speaker 1: against anyone. Yeah, well, if Ridley is plane, Yeah. We
Speaker 1: write all these columns and over the summer in our
Speaker 1: writing duties for The Dot com One of them was
Speaker 1: the Superstar Club. I had Calvin Ridley in there, and
Speaker 1: I'm feeling really good about that through two weeks. He
Speaker 1: was he was very good for them the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. But there's something different than what's going on
Speaker 1: with him right now where you get the feeling this
Speaker 1: could be one of those double digit touchdown seasons that
Speaker 1: is shaping up right now. I just gotta wonder. You
Speaker 1: gotta wonder when some of these NFL teams, what is
Speaker 1: happening inside the locker room, because the Cowboys last week,
Speaker 1: you got the Falcons offense plane as well as it
Speaker 1: ever has. The Cowboys had a two percent chance to
Speaker 1: win the game at one point last week, and the
Speaker 1: Falcons defense allow Dak Prescott in Dallas to score on
Speaker 1: seven of their last eight drives. I mean, how I
Speaker 1: don't I'm not saying Chicago can do that, and I'm
Speaker 1: not sure they have the guys, but I would just
Speaker 1: go three wide all day long and forget about the
Speaker 1: fact that Trabinsky had about thirty yards passing in the
Speaker 1: second half last week and two interceptions wipe it out.
Speaker 1: You're playing a team that just invites you into the
Speaker 1: end zone. March after March. Alright, so here here's my
Speaker 1: thought on this game. I think the Bears are very
Speaker 1: bad too, and O team, I think they've been. They
Speaker 1: stole Week one from the Lions with one good quarter
Speaker 1: of offensive football. They got off to a nice start
Speaker 1: against the Giants, but the Giants were essentially, you know,
Speaker 1: just mortified after se Kwon Barkley went down. So I
Speaker 1: can't put a team in shock beating that Giants team.
Speaker 1: I can't come too much credit for that either, So
Speaker 1: I think the Bears are well overdue for a loss.
Speaker 1: I also think, even though it's a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: later than we expected, you're gonna start hearing about Nick
Speaker 1: Foles soon as they that needs centered the picture at
Speaker 1: quarterback and uh with cornered animal game factored in for
Speaker 1: the Falcons, Yeah, it's a cornered falcon. Order a falcon.
Speaker 1: See what happens. I'm locking it up for the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Falcons to get a W and bring the Bears down
Speaker 1: to earth, because that is not an undefeated team, and
Speaker 1: I don't imagine it will last much longer. We keep
Speaker 1: roland Mark Sessler. Alright, another game. I don't peg you
Speaker 1: guys as um you know, heat seeking, uh, in terms
Speaker 1: of your draft picks. So I'm gonna I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: this one. Cleveland Washington, UM, not a big surprise. Uh,
Speaker 1: I want to There's some things I want to see though,
Speaker 1: and I really uh, you know, for the for the
Speaker 1: positive aspects that the offense produced in Cleveland last Thursday night. UM,
Speaker 1: I thought Baker Mayfield probably played with more confidence, um,
Speaker 1: and more organization than we've seen in a long long time,
Speaker 1: probably all of last season. Can you continue with that?
Speaker 1: Can the running game where you know, Nick Chubb and
Speaker 1: Cream Hunt are both have major roles. That was not
Speaker 1: the case last year. Hunt was you know, dabbled in
Speaker 1: towards the end of the season after his suspension. These
Speaker 1: guys both are accounting for a hunter plus yards a
Speaker 1: game if you set them up for that. Can Washington
Speaker 1: stop the run? Cleveland's defense, Uh, Myles Garrett has a
Speaker 1: great chance here to have an impact game. Washington's line
Speaker 1: Garren Christian at left tackle, West Martin and left guard
Speaker 1: have been a disaster. Brandon Schurf, your rock at right
Speaker 1: guard is out of the lineup. So Haskins, who has
Speaker 1: seven sacks in the first two weeks, and a lot
Speaker 1: of pressure. This is an offense that put up one
Speaker 1: drive last week of more than twenty yards, and you know,
Speaker 1: you get minutes into the game, they only had one
Speaker 1: drive over fifties. So the offense has issues. Cleveland really,
Speaker 1: uh you know, I know, I understand they're still figuring
Speaker 1: themselves out a little bit on defense. Um, they're getting healthier,
Speaker 1: They've got some guys back in the secondary. There's really
Speaker 1: no excuse to lose this one. I mean, Cleveland, you'd
Speaker 1: like to see them um pick up where they left
Speaker 1: off and control both sides. Right. This is such a
Speaker 1: perfect too for the Browns. I mean, they get the
Speaker 1: Bengals and the football team, uh back to back weeks.
Speaker 1: For Brown's defense, it's kind of been a mess so far.
Speaker 1: They're a little healthier now in the secondary, so so
Speaker 1: that should help them out. But they're they're playing a
Speaker 1: team that's in the third week of their preseason, that's Washington.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're they're they're not ready. They're sort of remedial,
Speaker 1: and they're playing a defense that's good rushing the pastor.
Speaker 1: But I don't think the Browns need to rush the pastor.
Speaker 1: I mean, you should just hand the ball off to
Speaker 1: Nick Chubb and Hunt the whole game. Washington has not
Speaker 1: been very good stopping the run so far, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of what you would hope if you're a Brown
Speaker 1: span that Kevin Stefanski brings just sort of let's not
Speaker 1: beat ourselves. And to me, that's the only way you're
Speaker 1: gonna lose to Washington is if you beat yourself. I
Speaker 1: think we all got excited week one when Washington had
Speaker 1: the eight sacks of Carson Wentz and you said, oh,
Speaker 1: there's a path here to winning some games and hanging
Speaker 1: around in the NFC's Maybe that's still the case. And
Speaker 1: I think it's a good test of the Cleveland offensive
Speaker 1: line and Baker to make the right decisions when he
Speaker 1: is dropping back to pass. But yeah, like it seems
Speaker 1: like a perfectly set up that if Stefanski UH does
Speaker 1: the right thing, that you don't put this on Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield and you you lean on this running game that
Speaker 1: was so dominant UH in week two. I just you know,
Speaker 1: Washington comes off that performance in Week one and then
Speaker 1: they're down twenty to nothing at halftime and it almost
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, this is really might be closer to
Speaker 1: who they are than the team that scared people in
Speaker 1: Week one, I think, so, I mean, you know, this
Speaker 1: is this is a classic what could go wrong after
Speaker 1: everything we've just said? I you know, I'm you have
Speaker 1: me slightly concerned, but the script um is positive. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's keep moving, Mark, you are up again on the Snakes.
Speaker 1: All Right, I'm gonna I'm gonna go Tampa Bay Denver.
Speaker 1: And I get that the wattage just low on the
Speaker 1: Broncos side right now. But watching that Bucks game during
Speaker 1: the week, I'm just seeing a team that I understand
Speaker 1: that there have been some chemistry issues early on, and
Speaker 1: Tom Brady dropping some f bombs on the side line
Speaker 1: last week after humble by Ronald Jones and well, you
Speaker 1: don't you know he's not someone that dips into blue
Speaker 1: language too often, I don't imagine. Seems like a pretty
Speaker 1: well and go. Isn't that like the whole thing you
Speaker 1: screamed the people? Well? I think so. During these games,
Speaker 1: it just showed me that if he's been doing that before,
Speaker 1: we're not getting a less fired up version of Brady.
Speaker 1: He was animated. He was animated, and he cleaned up something.
Speaker 1: The chemistry with Mike Evans in that last game was
Speaker 1: they were on point. I just see an offense that's
Speaker 1: gonna drop forty on the reg like over and over
Speaker 1: down the stretch. This team, to me, is just beginning
Speaker 1: on the leg right there, just to show what they are.
Speaker 1: I don't like their backfield situation at all, but I
Speaker 1: mean to me, the Bucks are going to be the
Speaker 1: story of November and December said, you think that is
Speaker 1: gonna be dropping on the reg forty points on offense?
Speaker 1: I'm not seeing that their two weeks. Look at the
Speaker 1: points they left on the table last week and they well,
Speaker 1: Arians was fired up. Yes, I think Arians went out
Speaker 1: of his way to say that the they had seven
Speaker 1: drops worth a hundred and twenty five yards, which is
Speaker 1: a weird stat to like roll out to the press.
Speaker 1: But Arians is a different type of dude, so he's
Speaker 1: in his mind, and I guess Mark Sessler's mind. Tom
Speaker 1: Brady should be coming off a four yard game with
Speaker 1: four touchdowns. Maybe that is the case, it is right,
Speaker 1: but he was playing the Panthers. He had absolutely literally
Speaker 1: zero pass rush against him the entire game. So you
Speaker 1: better deliver in that game. Uh, this will be different
Speaker 1: because the fighting fo Gio's you know what they do
Speaker 1: is they lose close games. They lose close games against
Speaker 1: good teams, and their defense plays better than you think.
Speaker 1: For for all the love we gave the Steelers, that
Speaker 1: game was imminently winnable for Denver. And I tell you what,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he could do a two straight
Speaker 1: weeks and the Todd Bowls defense will send a lot
Speaker 1: of crazy blitzes at him. And that worked somewhat last week.
Speaker 1: And Pitts Driscoll played great there. Driscoll, he made plays.
Speaker 1: I'm just if they did. Watched that game and you
Speaker 1: said luck was gonna give you that Drew Drew lock
Speaker 1: rather you would have taken it. I mean, Jeff Driscoll
Speaker 1: made a lot of big time plays in that game
Speaker 1: because he's got big time players. kJ Hamdler out there
Speaker 1: for his first game and Jerry Judy together those two guys,
Speaker 1: what a combination of route runners. And Bruce Arians said
Speaker 1: no a fan maybe the best tight end in the
Speaker 1: league right now, I'm buying. I'm buying uh that in
Speaker 1: terms of best the I mean, I'm not gonna put
Speaker 1: him ahead of Kittle and Kelsey, so that's too far.
Speaker 1: But in terms of a receiving threat, he's right there.
Speaker 1: That's a big league right here with those guys. Fan
Speaker 1: was like a drop machine during parts of last year,
Speaker 1: so that he's made a big leap into year two.
Speaker 1: I think Jerry Judy I love to see that. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not the way they wanted to happen, but with
Speaker 1: Courtland Sutton out of the picture, Judy is going to
Speaker 1: be a primary part of this offense. We've all talked
Speaker 1: about it. The dude looks like a star, so I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not lights out on Denver entirely, you know,
Speaker 1: especially with Greg falling in love with their backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: I'm not falling in love. I'm just basing it on
Speaker 1: that one game that that the history tells us. Drisk
Speaker 1: will not keep it up. He is somewhat entertaining to watch,
Speaker 1: but he played a pretty good game against Pittsburgh. I mean,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna give if we're gonna give Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: credit for moving the ball up and down the field,
Speaker 1: coming pretty close, drist call did even more. He really
Speaker 1: did know. The Broncos are in a lot of trouble.
Speaker 1: A lot said Courtland Sutton is a killer, but they
Speaker 1: do a lot of guys, Melvin Gordon looks pretty good.
Speaker 1: This is a tough to matchic. I think the Bucks
Speaker 1: are gonna win games because of their defense. I'm not
Speaker 1: with Mark. I'm not convinced their offense um is ready yet.
Speaker 1: Eventually they will be. They should get Chris Godwin back,
Speaker 1: which helps a lot. Would you say that they would
Speaker 1: score twenty five on the regg on the reg the
Speaker 1: re the rega, They're gonna get worse. They're gonna get
Speaker 1: Chris Godwin back and get worse. Okay, they're not playing
Speaker 1: the Panthers every week. That's the worst defensively, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, And I didn't say it was right now.
Speaker 1: I said in November they would be the story of
Speaker 1: November and December. Check back with me in two months, gentlemen. Alright,
Speaker 1: greg by Europe, I believe, all right, and I need
Speaker 1: a late afternoon game and I'm gonna take one. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm truly intrigued by the Lions heading to Eras Zona.
Speaker 1: Clions need this one bad there. Oh and two, I
Speaker 1: said last week was a huge game for Matt Patricia.
Speaker 1: I mean, now you're at the point if if you
Speaker 1: lose this game in your own three, and and you
Speaker 1: head into the bye week, which is only in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, and they haven't won a game. He
Speaker 1: he might not get to close out the season. Matt
Speaker 1: Patricia and and I'm not that surprised that his defense
Speaker 1: is not playing well. They're banged up and they never
Speaker 1: play well. I am a little surprised that Matthew Stafford
Speaker 1: and the Lions offense has been very met I think
Speaker 1: Stafford has been a little worse even than his conventional
Speaker 1: stats say. They get Kenny Golladay back this week, I'm
Speaker 1: not ready to crown this Cardinals defense just because they
Speaker 1: slow down Washington. So I this should be an opportunity
Speaker 1: for Matthew Stafford and Golladay in that backfield to put
Speaker 1: up some more points. Because we expected a lot out
Speaker 1: of this offense. They've they've been pretty average so far
Speaker 1: through two weeks, they have been I mean, I just
Speaker 1: I feel like we just haven't really had a chance
Speaker 1: to see what Darryl Beverl and the Lions wanted to
Speaker 1: do with this offense yet. I mean, you know, three
Speaker 1: or three or four weeks ago, no one was saying
Speaker 1: Adrian mash And would be in the backfield well, because
Speaker 1: Goladay has not been on the field. I mean, Adrian
Speaker 1: Peterson has had to come in for what has been
Speaker 1: a really disappointing performance so far. Far from DeAndre Swift,
Speaker 1: I mean, forget just the Week one stuff. He just
Speaker 1: hasn't been the guy on the ground they thought either
Speaker 1: so either that happens or it doesn't. But it's I'm
Speaker 1: with you that it's been a very disappointing start for
Speaker 1: an offense that a lot of people talked about as
Speaker 1: being potentially high powered a month ago. The Cardinals are
Speaker 1: a tough matchup for them as well, especially with Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray has never been playing with more confidence at the
Speaker 1: NFL level than he's right now. And he's you know,
Speaker 1: he had two great rushing touch downs in Week two
Speaker 1: against Washington. Again to bring up Washington, the team everybody
Speaker 1: was talking about, Uh, coming out of Week one, the
Speaker 1: damage that they did to Carson Wentz in that Eagles line. Well,
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray seemed pretty okay back there, and DeAndre Hopkins
Speaker 1: again led the team and targets catches yards. Uh. This
Speaker 1: feels like a great spot for the Cardinals to be
Speaker 1: three and oh and everyone in the league talking about
Speaker 1: them coming out of Sunday. I don't think these two
Speaker 1: teams are so far apart. I really don't. I guess
Speaker 1: I gotta see a little bit more out of Arizona
Speaker 1: there there there two games. In terms of their opponents, UM,
Speaker 1: I do think Jeff o'cuda, the number three overall draft
Speaker 1: pick for the Lions, is a guy that they'll probably
Speaker 1: look to attack. I mean, what what Aaron Rodgers did
Speaker 1: to him was unfair. I mean, he just went after
Speaker 1: him the whole time, and if it wasn't for a
Speaker 1: couple of mistakes by the Packers receivers, it would have
Speaker 1: been about a hundred and eighty yards on this one guy.
Speaker 1: And this is where like the lack of a preseason,
Speaker 1: he reportedly struggled in camp. I think it hurts a
Speaker 1: guy like that. They have injuries so they have to
Speaker 1: play him. Um, and it looks like he's just started,
Speaker 1: does not have the confidence right now to stick with
Speaker 1: a guy like DeAndre Hopkins or whoever it is that
Speaker 1: he's matching up against. I don't I don't see how
Speaker 1: you say that there. The teams are similar in the
Speaker 1: sense that for me, if if I'm like a Cardinals fan,
Speaker 1: you know a year ago, you're wondering, can Cliff Kingsbury
Speaker 1: can this thing work? We get that he what he
Speaker 1: did in college. Well, it's working, and it's one of
Speaker 1: the more exciting developments on that side of the ball
Speaker 1: in the entire league. Where the Lions feel somewhat lost
Speaker 1: to me, and they have a banged up secondary, it's
Speaker 1: it's not a very good secondary. And now you're gonna
Speaker 1: go against a four wide receiver offense that is completely
Speaker 1: on fire. I don't know. I mean last year these
Speaker 1: two teams tied. That was a long time ago Week
Speaker 1: one for a Kyler Murray offense. And I don't want
Speaker 1: to belabor the point because I feel like everyone's kind
Speaker 1: of on the same page about what's going on at
Speaker 1: head coach in Detroit. But they've now dropped four straight
Speaker 1: games where they've had a double digit lead. That has
Speaker 1: never happened in the history of football. And they have
Speaker 1: blown seven seven double digit leads in eventual losses since
Speaker 1: last season. If that does, defensive coach, If that is
Speaker 1: not an indictment of coaching, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 1: Because you look and I'll use the Rams as an example.
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh and the Rams are now twenty seven and
Speaker 1: oh in games in which they've had the lead at halftime.
Speaker 1: Coaching matters when it comes to closing out games, and
Speaker 1: you see it when a bad coaches involved. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't want to payle on, but it just seems
Speaker 1: like you're getting close to time right And to your point, Dan,
Speaker 1: when I got on my little August Um Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: bandwagon thing with a few other media types already had
Speaker 1: you're not sticking with it. You're not sticking with it. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just saying the bandwagon is like basically
Speaker 1: hit a wall. I'm still sitting in the bandwagon. It's
Speaker 1: not going anywhere. But I immediately had someone text me
Speaker 1: and say, bad idea. You don't know what's going on
Speaker 1: in that locker room in the way they feel about
Speaker 1: their coach. So e I was like, well, you might
Speaker 1: be wrong about that, and he might have been right.
Speaker 1: So if you're on the SPA, didn't let's pick this
Speaker 1: game then? So I have the Cardinals. Gregg has the Cardinals. Mark.
Speaker 1: If you are still in the bandwagon, obviously they're not
Speaker 1: starting going three right, Well, I'm on it because like
Speaker 1: it's seems it's lacks nobility to jump off it. The bandwagon,
Speaker 1: I said, is crashed into a wall. I'm not gonna like.
Speaker 1: I've not didn't like take my and these teams weren't
Speaker 1: even close. I'm saying, I think the Lions. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not buying the Cardinals as a heavy favorite out
Speaker 1: there in the desert. You know, here's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: To be a nice close game. I am taking the
Speaker 1: Cardinals um with eyes open and no concerns that the
Speaker 1: Detroit Yeah, then you're off the bandwagon. You're not, Then
Speaker 1: you're not allowed. I guess I'm the first person that
Speaker 1: you know, made some sort of offseason, you know, got
Speaker 1: excited about something in the off season in the NFL
Speaker 1: that three or four weeks in doesn't look so hot.
Speaker 1: I being the only person I'm gonna have to feel
Speaker 1: that situation in the way that I do. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on. It's my pick. I will take Titans Vikings,
Speaker 1: another wounded cornered animal and the Vikings and a team
Speaker 1: that is very hard to get behind right now, because
Speaker 1: what have they showed you in the first two weeks
Speaker 1: that makes you think they're gonna turn it around? And
Speaker 1: you can't even say, well, they're up in there in
Speaker 1: their building up there in Minneapolis, because there's not seventy
Speaker 1: thousands screaming Midwesterners, and and and everything is so weird.
Speaker 1: We've already seen them get lit up at home in
Speaker 1: week one against Darreon Rodgers. So I feel I still,
Speaker 1: you know, speaking of bandwagons, Mark, I was on the
Speaker 1: bandwagon of the Vikings this summer, and I said this
Speaker 1: team had the highest floor of any team in the NFC.
Speaker 1: I thought, and I can't get off the bandwagon. But
Speaker 1: if you you can't be on the bandwagon, Mark, I
Speaker 1: guess this is my point. But then also not be
Speaker 1: on the bandwagon. So that's why I still think the Vikings,
Speaker 1: in spite of all their problems, have enough to get
Speaker 1: this thing, the ship righted. But the ship doesn't get
Speaker 1: righted if you get bombed out again in week three
Speaker 1: in your building and you head into the quarter pole
Speaker 1: of the season at a windless Mark. So I think
Speaker 1: the Vikings get right. I'm putting this one on Mike Zimmer.
Speaker 1: I'm putting it on Big Mike's shoulders and saying, hey,
Speaker 1: get this team coached up, and get this team ready
Speaker 1: to beat the Titans because it's not gonna be an
Speaker 1: easy one either. This is a tough game, Greg and
Speaker 1: once again, Ryan Tannehill, a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: people in the football Cognus sent date mm hmm, yeah,
Speaker 1: said Tannehill was one and done. It was not going
Speaker 1: to be the same guy. But he looked just like
Speaker 1: the Tannehill of two thousand nineteen of this past Sunday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: against the Jags. And and this is another favorable matchup
Speaker 1: where I think he'll be protected. Well, um, they're a
Speaker 1: little healthier up front. This was the game that I
Speaker 1: had the hardest time picking for um in my column
Speaker 1: this week. Also, it's gonna be on game debut check
Speaker 1: that out on NFL Network Friday, eight pm DVR. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking the same way as you were, Dan,
Speaker 1: That's just like, well, this is one of those games
Speaker 1: that a decent enough team, a good coach that has
Speaker 1: some talent finds a way to win. And I think
Speaker 1: the Titans have been a pretty soft to know. I
Speaker 1: think they've played two so so teams and and they've
Speaker 1: had a little bit of luck in both of those games.
Speaker 1: But you know, I just couldn't do it because I
Speaker 1: don't know that. I just have to trust that the
Speaker 1: Vikings problems that they've shown are potentially going to continue
Speaker 1: because they seem uh just personnel related their defensive line
Speaker 1: other than in gok Way last week again for a
Speaker 1: second straight week, was was miserable. I don't expect Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins to be that bad, but the receiver groups pretty rough,
Speaker 1: and then you have the cornerbacks are struggling. You're having
Speaker 1: to have the safeties help out the young cornerback, so
Speaker 1: that hurts them in the running game, and you just
Speaker 1: start like adding up all these different problems and uh,
Speaker 1: by the end of the week, and maybe it's because
Speaker 1: I watched that Vikings Cults game last and and seeing
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins six for fifty nine yards and three interceptions
Speaker 1: in the middle of the fourth, I just couldn't pick them.
Speaker 1: I couldn't do it. That the Titans are too professional.
Speaker 1: What they do is they beat bad teams lately, and
Speaker 1: they deserve their respect um of my pick. And that's
Speaker 1: the nice respect you can really have. I mean, Greg
Speaker 1: going through a personal crisis over whether or not to
Speaker 1: pick the Vikings. I see a team in crisis, and
Speaker 1: I mean they to your point, Greg, they have four
Speaker 1: quarterback hits and two sacks over two games. The defensive
Speaker 1: line is providing no pressure. I mean, the secondary is
Speaker 1: getting swallowed up. There's nothing here that Mike Zimmer does
Speaker 1: well that the Vikings are doing well. It's just not
Speaker 1: matching up. I don't I don't think this is a
Speaker 1: team that finds its way necessarily. I think they're just
Speaker 1: probably a six and ten type of team, uh that
Speaker 1: got a really bad start and at some point games
Speaker 1: at some point, sure, that's what six and ten would indicate.
Speaker 1: They would have to at some point win six games.
Speaker 1: I hear you, But the Titans. I don't have a
Speaker 1: problem with the Titans starting a little bit soft and slow,
Speaker 1: because I think they've been They've been figuring themselves out.
Speaker 1: But they've come out of these games. And I like Tannehill.
Speaker 1: To me, the one thing that he has is this
Speaker 1: like to He completely invites guys right into the pocket
Speaker 1: to destroy him as he's unfurling like a perfect pass
Speaker 1: down field. Four touchdowns last week, one of the prettiest
Speaker 1: games we've seen from a quarterback. And I think people
Speaker 1: were saying, you're not going to get the same statistical
Speaker 1: outlier version of Ryan Tannehill, but he did it last week.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if this is like Arthur Smith
Speaker 1: is like the perfect play caller for this team and
Speaker 1: understands Tannehill, or if it says a lot about the
Speaker 1: Dolphins where he was before, or a little bit of
Speaker 1: all of it together. I think that Tannehill is the
Speaker 1: tougher dude than perhaps we give him credit for. But
Speaker 1: also you take a few more shots like Josh Allen
Speaker 1: gave him on that beautiful touchdown throw to Adam Hunt Humphreys.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be visiting the clavical surgery doctor soon. I
Speaker 1: mean he's getting walamp in the pocket the first two weeks.
Speaker 1: And that is the rest to pe for disaster for
Speaker 1: Mr Tannehill, no matter how tough he is. Um okay
Speaker 1: snakes to me, all right, I'm gonna give you guys
Speaker 1: a break here. Speaking of bandwagons that are doomed, the
Speaker 1: New York Jets hopped on that bandwagon in about seven
Speaker 1: and I would say it's not going that well. It's
Speaker 1: it's a it's a trail of tears. Um Jets at Cults. Uh,
Speaker 1: beautiful game for the Colts, awesome set up for them
Speaker 1: at home against what's been the worst team in football
Speaker 1: for the first two weeks of the season, and a
Speaker 1: team in the Jets, that, on top of all their
Speaker 1: other issues, can't stay healthy. So you take a team
Speaker 1: that had a suspect roster entering week one and then
Speaker 1: you strip away multiple players from it, whether it be
Speaker 1: due to injury or even COVID nineteen opt outs with
Speaker 1: c J. Mosley, and what you have is a total
Speaker 1: disaster at the Hindenburg level. So brush out Perryman is
Speaker 1: doubtful to play. Um, excuse me, Bashad Perriman is. I
Speaker 1: don't know what his status is, but he's got an
Speaker 1: ankle issue, likely not to likely not playing. Uh Crowder
Speaker 1: Uh he is their best wide receiver. He's doubtful to
Speaker 1: play with an ankle. Denzel Mims parts unknown with a
Speaker 1: hamstring injury. Here are the three wide receivers scheduled to
Speaker 1: line up for Sam Donald on Sunday, Chris Hogan, Braxton Barrios,
Speaker 1: Josh Malone, who's been on the practice cloud the last
Speaker 1: three weeks. No chance. Look, I mean the Cults should
Speaker 1: walk to win. This game, should be uh done by halftime,
Speaker 1: and if it's not the Cults have done something very wrong. Greg,
Speaker 1: you watched the Vikings Cults game, I mean Indianapolis controlling
Speaker 1: the ball for like thirty eight minutes. Uh, that was
Speaker 1: a statement game to me. And you don't hear you know,
Speaker 1: good times are bad. The players seem to line up
Speaker 1: for Frank Reich and I one thing that concerns me
Speaker 1: a little bit. I mean a lot of things concern
Speaker 1: me about the Jets. I mean, yes, you got it,
Speaker 1: you did a great job. Macky Beckton has been awesome
Speaker 1: at tackle. I mean that's been a bright spot for them.
Speaker 1: But then you've got guys you brought he's been he
Speaker 1: like they needed that to talk about, Like no McKay Beckton,
Speaker 1: Well you know, there we go first name uh not
Speaker 1: first name basis with him at this point. But this
Speaker 1: this story that came out with like Bradley Bradley McDougald
Speaker 1: and Avery Williamson saying that, um, you know, coming from
Speaker 1: other teams that practice Jets practice has been, um, such
Speaker 1: such a telling indicator of why they've not shown up
Speaker 1: on game day and saying that after two games to
Speaker 1: the press, I just think that, you know, come on, guys,
Speaker 1: you've got to give yourself the best shot here, and
Speaker 1: they just seemed disorganized, disorganized as possible on top of
Speaker 1: the injuries. Yeah, the other problem coaches, Go ahead, No,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say that. Adam Gates comes out on
Speaker 1: Thursday and says the media, Uh, we're just looking for
Speaker 1: warm bodies for wide receiver. I don't want my head
Speaker 1: coach saying that. I mean that you just sounded defeated.
Speaker 1: You sound like a guy that's making excuses. And this
Speaker 1: comes off a Week two performance by Gates where he
Speaker 1: just played scared and he coached scared, like he had
Speaker 1: no interest in really being aggressive and trying to win
Speaker 1: that game. I don't think. Yeah, everything's pointing to the
Speaker 1: same direction, which is the Gates with the Jets have
Speaker 1: not fired a head coach in season since Lou Holtz,
Speaker 1: I believe in nineteen seventy six. I would not be
Speaker 1: surprised if that streak ends in because you're gonna continue
Speaker 1: to hear chatter and you're gonna continue to see the
Speaker 1: losses pile up. And the whole thing with Donald with
Speaker 1: Adam Gaze was they're tied at the hip. He's supposed
Speaker 1: to make him better. If Donald's showing progress, through this season.
Speaker 1: There's zero reason to keep gays in the building, even
Speaker 1: through sixteen games. Gays coaches like he thinks his players
Speaker 1: stink and you know what you know, and he in
Speaker 1: that that con that press conference kind of said it,
Speaker 1: and like I get it. Yeah, you've got the Patriots
Speaker 1: leftovers at receiver with Hogan and Baryt. Like that's rough.
Speaker 1: But you can't go show your team knows you're coaching
Speaker 1: that way is so many throws short of the sticks
Speaker 1: on third down. He's trying to win with five yard throws.
Speaker 1: I actually thought Donald played a solid game last week.
Speaker 1: The whole question is how do you evaluate Donald um
Speaker 1: stack games like this. If if Donald keeps playing games
Speaker 1: like this where you can tell he's better than his surroundings,
Speaker 1: then okay, that's a positive. You know, you're making good
Speaker 1: decisions and you're making the right throws and reads and
Speaker 1: and your team is terrible. I thought he played pretty well.
Speaker 1: You know, Quentin Williams played well. Mackay Beckton, they found
Speaker 1: a left tackle. There's a couple of little things here,
Speaker 1: but otherwise, man, in both of these games, the eight
Speaker 1: yard run by Mostard on the first play and then
Speaker 1: the way the Bills games started, it felt like those
Speaker 1: games are over in five minutes, so just hang around
Speaker 1: for a quarter, for a quarter, and I think they
Speaker 1: maybe can. The Colts offense was not impressive to me
Speaker 1: um a week ago. They weren't really not in sync.
Speaker 1: Their defense played outstanding, and I don't know if they're
Speaker 1: just gonna blow out teams the way they play. And
Speaker 1: two plus seasons, Sam Donalds played with seventeen different wide
Speaker 1: receivers that have caught at least one past, eighteen different
Speaker 1: starting offensive lineman and not a running back who has
Speaker 1: gained more than eight hundred yards or nineteen. It's it's
Speaker 1: good to get Gore in there. They're kind of building
Speaker 1: the offense around Gore. I thought Levy on Bell was
Speaker 1: don't get me started on that getting a lot of
Speaker 1: runs all you, Frank Gore. People get so quiet once
Speaker 1: the season starts. Once he delivers one of his three games,
Speaker 1: I mean, Michael p. Ryan in there, I get the
Speaker 1: kid in there, Frank Gore, I don't, with all due respect,
Speaker 1: Greg progress stopper, that's what he is at the stage.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's he's the only one, uh in
Speaker 1: the Jets uniform that's going to be going to Canton someday.
Speaker 1: You should appreciate him. Greg, you're up. You can't hurt me, am,
Speaker 1: I now all right, Um let's uh, let's go for
Speaker 1: what early games are left here on the schedule. Oh,
Speaker 1: there are there's one. It's forty Niners and Giants. All right. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm curious how the Giants come in into this game.
Speaker 1: You lose se Quon Barkley and Sterling Shepherd, I think
Speaker 1: is a bigger loss than people realize. But you are
Speaker 1: really playing the forty nine years B team, and I
Speaker 1: think you almost take for granted Kyle Shanahan, that that
Speaker 1: he's such a good coach that his backups, you know,
Speaker 1: blew out another NFL team, And I know is the Jets.
Speaker 1: This will be a tougher matchup. I think for the
Speaker 1: forty Niners. Uh, you're not gonna have Jimmy g to
Speaker 1: start the game. Jimmy G played well last week. Jerick
Speaker 1: McKinnon started a running back. He's looked good, but that's
Speaker 1: relying a lot on him. George kill might be back,
Speaker 1: but their defensive line in San Francisco, um man, if
Speaker 1: you think about the players they lost, Buck DeForrest Buckner
Speaker 1: is gone. De Ford is gone now you know, maybe
Speaker 1: for a while, and nick Bos has gone for the season.
Speaker 1: They are they don't have the same identity, and I
Speaker 1: think this is a winnable game for the Giants. I
Speaker 1: do not see the forty niners, with so many players
Speaker 1: out um, winning games easily against a competitive NFL team.
Speaker 1: I think the Giants can be competitive. I really do
Speaker 1: think they're a little better this year that than we thought.
Speaker 1: There are people as there are people asking that the
Speaker 1: Giants might find their way on offense um a little
Speaker 1: bit of a Ewing theory scenario without without Barkley in there.
Speaker 1: Is that just completely absurd? Yes, when Dion Lewis is
Speaker 1: your backup and now it's Devanta, it's Freeman, I mean
Speaker 1: we have to see what DeVonta Freeman is. I'm not like,
Speaker 1: I I find it absurd because he's a he's a
Speaker 1: complete star. But who's actually saying that that is that's
Speaker 1: a stupid thing to say. I'm just like, it's seen
Speaker 1: tweets about it, and I'm not saying that. You know, like,
Speaker 1: if you're one of those people that set out the tweet,
Speaker 1: you're a fool. Barkley is the most talented guy on
Speaker 1: that team. Give me that ewing theory stuff. Marc, go ahead. Sorry, no,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm with you. I don't agree with it either,
Speaker 1: but it does put like extreme press. You're on Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones to uh step in and remove some of the
Speaker 1: fumbles and the gaffs and the turnovers, because if you're
Speaker 1: gonna grow into what I mean I think Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: can be, you've gotta you've gotta kill the mistakes. But
Speaker 1: I don't know that for me the Niners, this has
Speaker 1: got to be the most depressing season around um based
Speaker 1: on the injuries. I mean, it was with them all
Speaker 1: through camp. It's now reared its head in terrible ways
Speaker 1: in the regular season. And you know, before the last
Speaker 1: year's Super Bowl run, we were asking if Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 1: on our pod was on the hot seat and if
Speaker 1: John Lynch was on the hot seat. It was basically
Speaker 1: because two for two straight years prior, they had dealt
Speaker 1: with nothing but injuries. And you know, they're right back
Speaker 1: there and there and you and you can't ask a
Speaker 1: team to just overcome this. This is the equalizer. Yah
Speaker 1: Simon is a big, big your wife. I mean, you
Speaker 1: could imagine that on the list of you know, stressful
Speaker 1: scenarios here in with kids home all day long. Um,
Speaker 1: the Niners are not something that Simona is overly concerned about.
Speaker 1: I don't hear a lot of like, you know, frantic
Speaker 1: Niners commentary in our kitchens. Can I give her a
Speaker 1: pep talk? Can I give her a pep talk? We
Speaker 1: did the pep talks on Tuesday. I've got one for
Speaker 1: the forty Niners. Uh, your schedule the next three weeks,
Speaker 1: three weeks Giants, Eagles, Dolphins. Just beat the Jets. You
Speaker 1: can eat, you can even lose one of those games.
Speaker 1: And you get to three and two when when the
Speaker 1: tough part of your schedule starts. And listen to all
Speaker 1: the players that should be coming back. I mean, Deebo
Speaker 1: Samuel is coming back, Richard Sherman is coming back. Your
Speaker 1: two best running backs, Tevin Coleman and Raheem Moster is
Speaker 1: coming back. De Ford. You know, we're not really sure.
Speaker 1: He hasn't helped you out that much, but at this
Speaker 1: point they're expecting him to come back. So Jimmy Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: he's coming back. Get get your guys healthy, get the
Speaker 1: three and two, and um you're fine. I think are
Speaker 1: gonna be fine. This is a crisis moment for the
Speaker 1: forty Niners, no doubt. But to get the Jets and
Speaker 1: the Giants arguably the two worst teams in the league
Speaker 1: back to back, and then the Dolphins after that, who
Speaker 1: aren't that far behind, Yeah, you're right. They could definitely
Speaker 1: come out of this and kind of get their feedback
Speaker 1: under them and real quick. On the Giants, Yeah, losing
Speaker 1: se Kwon Barkley is nothing short of an organizational disaster
Speaker 1: for that team. So it kind of takes them out
Speaker 1: of the mix to be even a compelling, buzzy wild
Speaker 1: card team that scores a lot of points and maybe
Speaker 1: hangs around in a socio division. I think that's all
Speaker 1: out the window. That's the level of loss that is.
Speaker 1: But you could still use this as an important development
Speaker 1: season for Jones and he still has weapons out there
Speaker 1: to put up some points. He's not like you look
Speaker 1: at his situation compared to Sam Donald him earlier. At
Speaker 1: least he has some pieces and you could see whether
Speaker 1: he's developing in year two, and that's so important for
Speaker 1: this Giants team. I like Greg suddenly, you know, offering
Speaker 1: inspiring speeches about the nine is after he's been burying
Speaker 1: them and pronouncing them as dead after the last eight
Speaker 1: or nine opportunity to survive this. I was impressed. Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan can blow any team out with what he's got
Speaker 1: going on. And if you can win a couple of games,
Speaker 1: at least you can survive season. So we'll see that
Speaker 1: we got one more game on the schedule if I'm
Speaker 1: not mistaken Mark Sessler, and that is I believe Carolina
Speaker 1: at the Chargers. Well, where are we right now with
Speaker 1: the quarterback situation? Because it's held on. I gotta gotta
Speaker 1: get my act together. Well, yeah, let's touch on that
Speaker 1: we have. Let's start here what happened with Tyrod Taylor.
Speaker 1: It was a big mystery last week. Uh, he was
Speaker 1: slated to start. He has some type of medical issue
Speaker 1: involving his chest. He goes to the hospital justin Herbert
Speaker 1: gets his first start, plays well in a loss to
Speaker 1: the Chiefs, and then it came out was reported, uh
Speaker 1: this week that there was some medical uh failures involved
Speaker 1: an injection that led to a collapsed lung, which is
Speaker 1: just how can that happen? And and it gives a
Speaker 1: little bit more Uh, Mark, greg you were talking about
Speaker 1: it earlier this week on the podcast, trying to piece
Speaker 1: together what what is actually going on with this team
Speaker 1: and Anthony Lynn's thought process about saying Tyrod's our starter
Speaker 1: when he's healthy, it makes a little more sense. Leafly
Speaker 1: changes that. It completely changes that, and like and I
Speaker 1: and I gave the pep talk that Anthony Lynn need
Speaker 1: to be forward thinking and start Herbert, but we found
Speaker 1: all this out after and I think that it just
Speaker 1: shows that Anthony Lynn is probably someone that's going to
Speaker 1: protect and care about his players as much as anyone
Speaker 1: in the league. I would not have wanted to be
Speaker 1: the team doctor. Uh that's already dealt with a lot
Speaker 1: um with this team to begin with. Had to walk
Speaker 1: up to Anthony Lynn, you know, five minutes before kickoff
Speaker 1: and say, I just want to let you know, not
Speaker 1: quite easy to describe this, but I've just punctured the
Speaker 1: lung of our starting quarterback with an ill advised needle
Speaker 1: um entry for hiring. So you get for hiring Dr
Speaker 1: Leo Spaemen as your team doctor. I mean he's got
Speaker 1: to show up to work to you know every day too.
Speaker 1: He's still there at where I I appreciated Lynn actually saying,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, he didn't appreciate all the piling
Speaker 1: on on the doctor too, because this gout. You know,
Speaker 1: that's the last thing he wants to do. It was
Speaker 1: a mistake that happened. That is almost unprecedented. Someone found
Speaker 1: a similar situation with Jerome Bettis about a decade ago
Speaker 1: for a playoff game. Um, but it's gonna change Tyrode's
Speaker 1: career and they might get sued the Chargers for it,
Speaker 1: and you know the money could be involved. But for now,
Speaker 1: justin Herbert steps into an unbelievable matchup for for his
Speaker 1: first start that he knows about going into the whole
Speaker 1: week because the Panthers I have. The craziest that I've
Speaker 1: seen in this entire NFL season is that the Panthers
Speaker 1: almost have a Gholston through two weeks. That's that's our
Speaker 1: old word for not having a QB hit or a
Speaker 1: sack in a game. They have one QB hit. But
Speaker 1: the that's not even the craziest That the craziest stat
Speaker 1: is according to Pro Football Reference, they have a total
Speaker 1: of three pressures in two games this season. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's on, but that is unbelievable. To put it in
Speaker 1: perspective that the Steelers have over seventy. Wow, so it's
Speaker 1: like this is a great matchup to just run the
Speaker 1: ball and do whatever you want and be hanging out
Speaker 1: back there and throwing passes. The Panthers defense is rough
Speaker 1: right goodness, And now no Christian McCaffrey. He's got a
Speaker 1: high ankle sprain and it's a four to six week timetable.
Speaker 1: He says he can accelerate that timetable, but we'll see,
Speaker 1: certainly not going to play in this game. I mean this,
Speaker 1: Matt Rules in a very, very tough spot to start
Speaker 1: his career. He is I would say the couple of
Speaker 1: positives for the Panthers though I thought that I think
Speaker 1: that Robby Anderson has fit in really well with them.
Speaker 1: Um d J. Moore is they didn't you know that
Speaker 1: you're losing Christian McCaffrey. That is an absolute killer. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know they talked about the Panthers as a one
Speaker 1: in fifteen team. I don't think that's who they are,
Speaker 1: but it is. It is a problem when your first
Speaker 1: round pick on defense, Um has not played well. Kan
Speaker 1: Short has not been himself. I mean, their whole crew.
Speaker 1: They need to start back the right. He's still iffy
Speaker 1: and it's like, you their their whole defense is essentially
Speaker 1: dudes that were in college a year ago. And sometimes
Speaker 1: that can create these wonderful stories where it's like, wow,
Speaker 1: it works and we should all do that. It's like,
Speaker 1: or you get this and they're getting this and that's
Speaker 1: why they're giving up thirty points a week. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: always felt like when Rule took the job, with everything
Speaker 1: that was going on to developmental year for them, and uh,
Speaker 1: so far it's heading down that road. All right. That's
Speaker 1: every game that will be played Sunday and Monday, including
Speaker 1: that Monday Night football Ravens Chiefs My goodness, Brian Greasy
Speaker 1: be ready, all right? Dan has a signing up or
Speaker 1: Quide still him the old boss Ricky Hollywood in West
Speaker 1: Hollywood until Sunday