Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Report. I'm Steve White.
Speaker 2: Here is my guy, James Palmer JP. We've got our
Speaker 2: debut show launching on the same day that the NFL
Speaker 2: season kicks off.
Speaker 3: My brother, Yeah made in voyage. Here we go. And
Speaker 3: here's the funny part for everybody at home. We actually
Speaker 3: are friends and talk on a personal basis about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're actually good. You know, there's some shows and
Speaker 2: people have to worry about that. But me and JP
Speaker 2: were good. I mean, you know, JP's even so much
Speaker 2: of a superstar. He got to speak of his son's
Speaker 2: career day recently. Yeah, and I'm sure with a smash
Speaker 2: hit JP.
Speaker 3: They squeezed me in between a lawyer and a and
Speaker 3: an ear doctor, but everybody was pretty awesome. I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna lie, Steve. The best question I had was what's
Speaker 3: my favorite chicken nugget? So I'm kind of curious what
Speaker 3: yours is? I said, Wendy Spicy chicken nuggets. And the
Speaker 3: second one was what's your favorite route? A kid was
Speaker 3: dressed in full football gear, shoulder pads. How everything he goes?
Speaker 3: Mister Palmer, what's your favorite route? I'm a wide receiver.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure you hit him with a fifteen yard
Speaker 2: dig with a bang eighty going up that way. But anyway,
Speaker 2: enough of this NFL season is underway, James, And what's crazy.
Speaker 2: Normally we're talking about sleepers, we're talking about Super Bowl favorites,
Speaker 2: we're talking about quarterbacks. But this NFL season actually kicks
Speaker 2: off and we're talking.
Speaker 1: About edge rushers. They are all the news, my man.
Speaker 2: And look, we got to start right here with Nick
Speaker 2: Bosa of the San Francisco forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: He holds out all.
Speaker 2: Off season up until this week and signs a five year,
Speaker 2: one hundred and seventy million dollar deal, a buck twenty
Speaker 2: two guaranteed and fifty million at signing highest paid defensive
Speaker 2: player now and he's earned it.
Speaker 1: Man, we could hit her lap I want. He's that guy.
Speaker 3: He is him, he is He is that guy. And
Speaker 3: it's funny. I was in Denver right now, but I
Speaker 3: was at the Broncos practice yesterday. They're on the field
Speaker 3: when this deal goes down, they come into the locker room.
Speaker 3: It's media portion. You know, we're in there for forty
Speaker 3: five minutes with these guys, and all you can hear
Speaker 3: across the Broncos locker room is just like how much
Speaker 3: one seventy? How much guarantee? One twenty Like just screaming
Speaker 3: this at each other across locker room, just going like, Holy,
Speaker 3: I can't believe that Nick Bosta just got this. It's funny.
Speaker 3: I went over to my fellow dude from the area
Speaker 3: in the Philadelphia AIA and Mike McGlinchey and also a
Speaker 3: former San Francisco forty nine er oo. I said, Mike,
Speaker 3: have you seen have you seen the deal yet? Have
Speaker 3: you seen Nick? Deely goes, what do you get? One
Speaker 3: seventy one? Was it twenty two guarantee? See? He goes,
Speaker 3: Oh my god, he deserved every penny of that. I
Speaker 3: was like, you went against him in practice. He goes,
Speaker 3: I know, he's the best in the game, man, he
Speaker 3: deserves every penny of that. It was kind of cool
Speaker 3: to get his perspective. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Look, I was in charges practice and I call over
Speaker 1: Derwin James.
Speaker 2: He's signed a big deal last year and I was like,
Speaker 2: d you know, here's the numbers on the deal.
Speaker 1: He's like, this just happened. I was like, it just happened.
Speaker 2: He was like, yes, yes, another guy gets paid and
Speaker 2: this is what really cool, right, and this is this
Speaker 2: is really cool about what we do. This we're gonna
Speaker 2: bring you on the show. I mean, James and I
Speaker 2: we know people, we know this brotherhood. We're telling you
Speaker 2: about this, this fraternity that NFL players have. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 2: there's probably gonna be something people are gonna hate on
Speaker 2: him making the money, but most people celebrated because the
Speaker 2: next guy up is gonna get the next biggest deal.
Speaker 2: And we're gonna have Brian Baldinger and DeMarcus where on
Speaker 2: later in the show to talk about who.
Speaker 1: That next guy up is.
Speaker 2: But James, you know, let let's talk a little bit
Speaker 2: about Nick Bosha and and why he is that guy
Speaker 2: and why he is so good.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you this.
Speaker 2: You know, in that locker room, people see the videotapes
Speaker 2: of Nick, like I just want to sack him.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of that sirve for dude. His signmates, his
Speaker 1: teammates love him.
Speaker 2: I mean I remember talking to Deebo Samuel Guys on
Speaker 2: the Offensive sign like, this guy's different, right, Everything he
Speaker 2: does so meticulously to take care of himself is so different,
Speaker 2: and he's so good.
Speaker 1: You hear former teammates Richard Sherman, these guys like we
Speaker 1: love Nick Bosa. We love Nick Bosa.
Speaker 2: So they had to get him back, the Niners do.
Speaker 2: They had to get him back, not just because he
Speaker 2: is a great player, but because he's a great guy
Speaker 2: in that locker room. And James, you know, when we
Speaker 2: talk about this guy being in shape, he's probably gonna play.
Speaker 2: On that he's probably gonna play against the Steelers a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 3: Oh, he's gonna play. He's gonna play. We'll get to
Speaker 3: Kyle Shanan's comments on whether he's gonna play or not
Speaker 3: in just a second, but you're right to speaking on
Speaker 3: it really quickly. What he is as an athlete, what
Speaker 3: he is as an irreplaceable member of this team. They
Speaker 3: don't get to the NFC Championship Game without Nick Bosa.
Speaker 3: Obviously wins Defensive Player of the Year. He was in
Speaker 3: a position Steve to have all the leverage this past offseason,
Speaker 3: and we saw his brother do it before. And they've
Speaker 3: been very good at football, and they've been very good
Speaker 3: at the negotiating table. Those are two places that the
Speaker 3: Bosa family has to throw. And I'm curious when you
Speaker 3: mentioned the diet, you mentioned how in shape he is,
Speaker 3: if that made this dragon a little bit further. Listen
Speaker 3: to me, like it's the forty nine ers. Knew and
Speaker 3: John Lynch and Kyle Shannon, everyone involved that he was
Speaker 3: going to come ready to play. John Lynch believes it
Speaker 3: takes a player roughly two three weeks to be ready
Speaker 3: for an NFL game. They didn't think that with Nick Bosa.
Speaker 3: I was curious if that allowed this to get even
Speaker 3: further in terms of both teams standing their ground and
Speaker 3: butting up right against the start of the regular season,
Speaker 3: because they knew he would arrive on time. If it
Speaker 3: took extra time to get this deal done, there was
Speaker 3: no fear of maybe really losing him on the first game.
Speaker 3: Now obviously missing all this time. Who will see how
Speaker 3: many snaps he plays. But listen to Kyle Shanahan because
Speaker 3: he's playing and he knows the type of shape that
Speaker 3: Nick Bosa is arriving in. There any questions and at
Speaker 3: this point whether he's going to.
Speaker 4: Be in uniform on Sunday, I mean there is question
Speaker 4: because we haven't seen him. But thank you guys know
Speaker 4: how I'm talking. Have to be I have to have
Speaker 4: a beer belly and be out of shape for some
Speaker 4: let's switch. That's not in in Bosa's DNA.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's playing off the jump, Steve.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The image, the image of Nick Bosa having a beer
Speaker 2: belly is like something I don't think any of us
Speaker 2: could even like, we couldn't even.
Speaker 1: Draw a cartoon of it. Because this guy is absolute superman.
Speaker 1: I will say this.
Speaker 2: I mean we've seen it before where guys coming late,
Speaker 2: they're in great physical shape, their specimens, maybe not like
Speaker 2: Nick Bosa, but you know they may get nicked up
Speaker 2: a little because they're hyped up. They want to come
Speaker 2: out and play. How about this factor.
Speaker 1: They're going up to Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: It's supposed to be a rainy field on Sunday and
Speaker 2: the University of Pittsburgh has a game on that same
Speaker 2: field on Saturday. So I wonder if these field conditions
Speaker 2: and just maybe some of this, you know, you know,
Speaker 2: the the Niners might have to say, well, let's let's
Speaker 2: kind of figure.
Speaker 1: Out how this is going. But it's not just Nick Bosa.
Speaker 2: You know, they're gonna have to say, you know, the
Speaker 2: field conditions, whatever about because James the star power, the
Speaker 2: star power on the defensive lines, on the defensive side
Speaker 2: of the ball for these two teams, let's just let's
Speaker 2: just go through this. Nick Bosa, last year's Defensive Player
Speaker 2: of the Year, TJ. Watt, the previous years defensive player
Speaker 2: of the Year. You've got Cam Hayward, You've got Highsmith
Speaker 2: for the Steelers, and then you've got Javon Hargrave for the.
Speaker 1: Eric Armstead for the four.
Speaker 2: I mean, anyone who thinks there's gonna be more than
Speaker 2: like a combined thirty points score in this game might
Speaker 2: be out of their head because you look at the
Speaker 2: defensive fronts for these teams and where both of these
Speaker 2: teams have sunk their money. That is absolutely kind of
Speaker 2: dictates with this opener for both the Steelers and the
Speaker 2: forty nine Ers, two potential Super Bowl teams. That's where
Speaker 2: they that's where they rest their value.
Speaker 3: I love you said sunk their money there because we're
Speaker 3: gonna transition this into Chris Jones in a sense, because
Speaker 3: I do think there's a real connection between these two.
Speaker 3: Early in the negotiations a couple months ago, I was
Speaker 3: kept hearing, you know, Nick Bosa's deal separate from Chris Jones.
Speaker 3: This deal, these do not connect with one another, right
Speaker 3: won an interior pass rusher one an edge Rusher. But
Speaker 3: now that this deal's done and I'm starting to hear
Speaker 3: our premier defensive player market, the group that you would say,
Speaker 3: Steve is probably what irreplaceable for However, many games that
Speaker 3: you would play without them, you don't really replace a
Speaker 3: Chris Jones with anybody else in your ross. You don't
Speaker 3: replace or an Aaron Donald or a TJ. Watt or
Speaker 3: any of these guys in that top group. Now that
Speaker 3: the ceiling of that group has gone up, how does
Speaker 3: that impact Chris Jones? Because what we're seeing is what
Speaker 3: the forty nine ers have done. They have come out
Speaker 3: with this contract and said what to us, Steve, we
Speaker 3: are putting all the chips on the table. We want
Speaker 3: to go to a super Bowl. This is our super
Speaker 3: Bowl spot. We paid George Kittle, we paid Trent Williams,
Speaker 3: we paid Deebo Samuel, even though that even got contentious
Speaker 3: at times, a way to get deals done because we
Speaker 3: have players like Nick Bosa that are irreplaceable. It's a
Speaker 3: different school of thought with the Kansas City Chiefs right
Speaker 3: now with what's going on with Chris Jones' contract.
Speaker 1: I thought Chris just wanted to raise you know, I
Speaker 1: just he said he just wanted to raise.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I wonder, as you mentioned the Bosa deal, might say
Speaker 2: I want a bigger raise than I initially told you.
Speaker 2: But the standoff JP to me also shows the discrepancies
Speaker 2: on where these teams lie. We have seen the Chiefs
Speaker 2: let tyreek Hill go, they let Orlando Brown go. I
Speaker 2: don't think they're gonna let Chris Jones go, But if
Speaker 2: they're not trying to pay him right now, that's them
Speaker 2: saying we are going to keep our salaries under a
Speaker 2: certain way because we've got a very high priced quarterback
Speaker 2: so we can have sustained success. The forty nine ers
Speaker 2: are saying, we're gonna go out and give Nick Bosa
Speaker 2: all this money right after we paid defensive tackle Javon
Speaker 2: Hargrave a four year, eighty four million dollar contract, and
Speaker 2: we're gonna put all of our money in.
Speaker 1: Look, the Niners have nine.
Speaker 2: Guys making more than fifteen million dollars because you know,
Speaker 2: right now is their windows. It seems like the Chiefs
Speaker 2: are playing the fairways whereas the Niners are playing the greens.
Speaker 2: And look, it works for both teams, and right the
Speaker 2: Niners been knocking on the door while the Chiefs have
Speaker 2: been winning Super Bowls, so different philosophies, but it kind
Speaker 2: of shows where each team stands and where maybe how
Speaker 2: different each owner kind.
Speaker 1: Of approaches this as well.
Speaker 3: It is and I yeah, you don't want to question
Speaker 3: the Chiefs thinking, Steve, but you could think, is there
Speaker 3: a ben of Hubris here that we're going to keep
Speaker 3: flying closer and closer to the sun because we've gotten
Speaker 3: through it, as you mentioned, they've gotten through moving on
Speaker 3: from Tyreek Hill, which by the way, was a move
Speaker 3: that they were making to make sure they had enough
Speaker 3: money to pay Chris Jones, which apparently hasn't alleviated that situation,
Speaker 3: and they move on to two new tackles after winning
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl. I think the thought there, honestly is, well,
Speaker 3: we have Patrick Mahomes, we have a Hall of Fame coach,
Speaker 3: and Andy Reid. We have the greatest tight end of
Speaker 3: all time. I think they have a very good offensive line.
Speaker 3: I think we can keep They've been drafting well, so
Speaker 3: there's almost maybe a thought that's going on there, like, well,
Speaker 3: maybe we could lose the next one and still be fine.
Speaker 3: I think Chris Jones is one of those irreplaceable type
Speaker 3: of players that is, I don't want to say in
Speaker 3: the realm of Nick Bosa, but he's in the area.
Speaker 3: He finished third in Defensive Player of the Year. He's
Speaker 3: done stuff at the t tivin Taftas spot that we've
Speaker 3: never seen before. It's going to be interesting when he's
Speaker 3: sitting there at Arrowhead in a suite watching the Chiefs
Speaker 3: go out there and play against the Lions. I find
Speaker 3: that very interesting. I'll leave you with this part. It
Speaker 3: is my understanding that he is very comfortable missing four games.
Speaker 3: This deal could get done tomorrow, This deal could get
Speaker 3: done anytime between now in those four games. But my
Speaker 3: understanding is he has no problem missing at least four
Speaker 3: games to prove his value. And right now it's a
Speaker 3: matter of who values who more.
Speaker 1: JP.
Speaker 2: He must be comfortable if he's got the type of
Speaker 2: bread to miss four games and those million dollars worth
Speaker 2: of all.
Speaker 1: Right, lastly, before we get out of here, we started
Speaker 1: this conversation on Nick Bosa.
Speaker 2: But have we forgotten about his brother Joey, who just
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago. Here's his Joey's deal he
Speaker 2: signed a couple of years ago, five years, one hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty million dollars, one hundred and thirty five million
Speaker 2: dollars with one hundred and two million guaranteed. He reset
Speaker 2: the market. Then he only played in five games last year.
Speaker 2: Jpi was out of Chargers practice. And you talk about
Speaker 2: somebody who's in like a different category.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: We talked Earli about how the Niners players say how
Speaker 2: Nick Bosa is just all alone, how he takes care
Speaker 2: of himself and stuff like that. He's not all alone
Speaker 2: because Joey is the same way. This is somebody who
Speaker 2: is so determined to come out and redeem himself after
Speaker 2: an injury plague twenty twenty two, who alongside Khalil Mack,
Speaker 2: they could end up being the best pass rushing tandem
Speaker 2: in the NFL. We're not talking about these two. Why
Speaker 2: wouldn't they when they when the Charges acquired Khalil Mack
Speaker 2: last year, that's what we expected. Both players got nicked up.
Speaker 2: They only played three games together last year. If they
Speaker 2: can stay healthy, we will be talking about them at
Speaker 2: the end of the season and the Chargers potentially challenging
Speaker 2: the Chiefs for a FC dominance.
Speaker 1: Wow, I like it. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3: I did one of their games early, which is a
Speaker 3: game that they actually both played in I think it
Speaker 3: was against the Kansas City Chiefs Week two, and that
Speaker 3: was all the talk. When I talked to Derwin James
Speaker 3: at length, it was just, now, we're gonna have Khalil
Speaker 3: somebody who can close games in very favorable matchups because
Speaker 3: Joey gets just as much attention as Nick does in
Speaker 3: terms of a pass rush and in terms of what
Speaker 3: an offensive line needs to slide over and help out on.
Speaker 3: And they thought this was gonna put Khalil Mack in
Speaker 3: a lot of favorable situations. They didn't get a chance
Speaker 3: to see that at all. Now they're gonna get a
Speaker 3: chance to have those moments that even though Khalil max
Speaker 3: in the second half of his career, they believe with
Speaker 3: Joey Bosa on the other side, Steve, he's gonna have
Speaker 3: opportunities in fourth quarters to end drives into end games
Speaker 3: because he's gonna have a favorable matchup because of Bosa
Speaker 3: on the other side.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, and they open up against Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2: Their defense put some hands on the Dolphins last year,
Speaker 2: and now with Mac and Bosha, they'll have some opportunities. JP,
Speaker 2: why don't you get us to our next guest, because
Speaker 2: our next block, We've got a whole lot of things
Speaker 2: to make people think.
Speaker 3: Listen, Judy Batista rode article. I think it has seven
Speaker 3: hundred thousand things about the NFL season in twenty twenty three. No,
Speaker 3: it's only fifty eight for super Bowl fifty eight, but
Speaker 3: three could alter the entire landscape of the NFL. Here
Speaker 3: what she has to say.
Speaker 5: Next, Welcome back to the NFL Report, and as the
Speaker 5: season kicks off, here's the path to super Bowl fifty
Speaker 5: eight in Las Vegas.
Speaker 2: You're seeing thirty two storylines as to how the season
Speaker 2: could play out some of the elite players. But our
Speaker 2: Judy Bautista has written a column that has shown up
Speaker 2: at NFL dot com this week on fifty eight storylines
Speaker 2: we should pay attention to in case we're drawing the
Speaker 2: line to Super Bowl fifty eight.
Speaker 1: Judy, Welcome to the NFL Report and JP.
Speaker 2: Real quick, you know, Judy and I have known each
Speaker 2: other since what Judy about nineteen ninety one?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, that suggests we're old, which well.
Speaker 3: You should have asked Judy about that before we started
Speaker 3: the second.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, No, but I mean like we were
Speaker 2: Judy and I we used to work at the Miami
Speaker 2: Herald in the Fort Lauderdale Bar in the neighbors section
Speaker 2: JP covering community sports together. And now look at how
Speaker 2: big Judy. Judy's all grown up and she's granted enough
Speaker 2: time to share with us. But Judy, I just talked
Speaker 2: about your column on the fifty eight things to look
Speaker 2: out for, and you've got one in there.
Speaker 1: It's number three on the list.
Speaker 2: And this is about the running game, which really kind
Speaker 2: of blew my hair back, the little gray.
Speaker 1: Hair that I have. And I read this, why don't
Speaker 1: you tell us about the rushing game?
Speaker 6: So last year sort of incongruously, the running game took
Speaker 6: off in the NFL. I've got the stats, and I
Speaker 6: think what makes it so incongruous is, of course, we
Speaker 6: just came out of an off season which was just
Speaker 6: terrible if you were a veteran running back looking for
Speaker 6: new contract, right, the market just cratered on them. But
Speaker 6: last season teams averaged one hundred and twenty one point
Speaker 6: six rushing yards per game. That's the most since nineteen
Speaker 6: eighty seven, which we all sort of think of as
Speaker 6: like the a day of the running game before quarterbacks
Speaker 6: just completely took over the league and teams averaged twenty
Speaker 6: seven point three rushing attempts per game. That was the
Speaker 6: most since twenty eleven. So again you're thinking like, how
Speaker 6: can that be, Well, this is how it can be.
Speaker 6: It's because quarterbacks rushing accounted for fifteen point five percent
Speaker 6: of all rushing yards, which was by far the highest
Speaker 6: in NFL history. So it was not really a demonstration
Speaker 6: of the power of the running back.
Speaker 1: It was rather a.
Speaker 6: Demonstration of the different ways that teams generate the running game,
Speaker 6: which really doesn't do anything to help running back seeking contracts.
Speaker 3: So Judy, at first, this is like a wolf in
Speaker 3: sheep's clothing, right, you were gonna tell us that running
Speaker 3: backs where now contracts are on the rise. Here we go,
Speaker 3: we're running the ball more than ever. No, Now, the
Speaker 3: it's funny. When I looked at it, and I looked
Speaker 3: and I started researching everything that you put out there,
Speaker 3: I was like, let me take a look at this.
Speaker 3: And when you go and look down, like biggest rushes
Speaker 3: in terms of success rate, right, what you gain on first, second,
Speaker 3: or third down, a lot of those rushes are from
Speaker 3: quarterbacks in key situations. Quarterbacks are being used eve in
Speaker 3: the run game, and obviously the evolution of our game
Speaker 3: has played a factor in this. In the RPO and
Speaker 3: all those other sides, when there's a key third down
Speaker 3: and it's third and short, some of these quarterbacks are
Speaker 3: getting those instead of the running back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do.
Speaker 6: I feel bad for the running backs, right like you know.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think we all wish running backs were
Speaker 6: paid as much as they could get. But this, I
Speaker 6: think this statistic is sort of just a demonstration of
Speaker 6: how you can see you can still have a really
Speaker 6: proficient running attack, and it can be a big part
Speaker 6: of your game, but it doesn't necessarily have to come
Speaker 6: from a running back. And that is why teams when
Speaker 6: they're dolling out the contracts, just don't value the running
Speaker 6: back position. They may value the running game, but they
Speaker 6: can generate those running yards from other positions, most spectacularly
Speaker 6: right now in the NFL, from you know, the quarterbacks
Speaker 6: that are just so dynamic, but they have as a result,
Speaker 6: caused a minimization of the role of the running back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, here's what I'm interested to watch when it comes
Speaker 1: to that.
Speaker 7: Though.
Speaker 2: We've got three rookie quarterbacks starting right now. We've got
Speaker 2: Josh Dobbs starting a quarterback at Arizona. There are teams
Speaker 2: where the quarterback play is a little and all we're
Speaker 2: hearing is about is they need the support of a
Speaker 2: run game. And not all of these quarterbacks, I mean,
Speaker 2: only Anthony Richardson's the running quarterback of these rookie quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: So I'm just kind of seeing if maybe the playing
Speaker 2: of the younger quarterback and maybe some of these other
Speaker 2: quarterbacks who aren't a mobile increase the role of.
Speaker 1: The running back.
Speaker 2: Knowing that the running game is important, here's another element
Speaker 2: where the running game could be important. And this gets
Speaker 2: to another element of your column. Duty scoring is down.
Speaker 2: Please explain, make it make sense.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, you can bet that this is not something
Speaker 6: that the NFL wants, and it's certainly not something that
Speaker 6: the NFL wants for two years in a row, but
Speaker 6: scoring went down last year. Averaged forty three point eight
Speaker 6: points per game in twenty twenty two. That was a
Speaker 6: five year low. Related to that is that it was
Speaker 6: also a drop in defensive pass interference and roughing the passer.
Speaker 6: And those are obviously the two calls that affect offense
Speaker 6: the most dramatically because they are such big penalties. So
Speaker 6: not surprisingly so, it points of emphasis. They want officials
Speaker 6: to call those things consistently across all officiating cruise. That
Speaker 6: was their concern last year with roughing the pastor. I
Speaker 6: remember there was some early calls in roughing the passer
Speaker 6: that generated a lot of controversy. Well, what the league
Speaker 6: was really concerned about is it doesn't get called uniformly
Speaker 6: across all officiating cruise. They want uniformity, and they also
Speaker 6: want those called the way they want them called, the
Speaker 6: way they think they should be called, because the last
Speaker 6: thing this league wants is a drop and.
Speaker 1: Scoring real quick, JP, real quick.
Speaker 2: And I want to go back to our previous point then,
Speaker 2: about the rushing quarterbacks. How can you call it uniformly
Speaker 2: when you don't know if Deshaun Watson is running or passing,
Speaker 2: or if Josh Allen is running or passing. And you
Speaker 2: may say the quarterbacks are runner, I can't call roughing
Speaker 2: the pastor on that.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm curious about, Steve. Honestly, Judy, I think
Speaker 3: that we're seeing a rise in the quarterback carrying the football.
Speaker 3: I had to get this out of love the Steve
Speaker 3: went back. Listen to this twenty twenty, first time we've
Speaker 3: ever had eight thousand total rushing yards from quarterbacks twenty
Speaker 3: twenty one, first time we've ever had nine thousand yards
Speaker 3: from rushing from quarterbacks and twenty twenty two, first time
Speaker 3: we've ever broken ten thousand yards from quarterbacks. So they're
Speaker 3: carrying the football, Judy, do you think the increase yards,
Speaker 3: the increase carries is because of the protection they're getting
Speaker 3: within the rules. I almost look at a dual threat
Speaker 3: quarterback now as possibly having a greater chance of a
Speaker 3: longer NFL career than say a dual threat quarterback twenty
Speaker 3: years ago because of the rules.
Speaker 6: Yeah, there's no question that if you are a coach,
Speaker 6: you would not send your franchise quarterback out running this
Speaker 6: much if they were not getting protection from the officials.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 6: I mean, if Lamar Jackson was getting clocked every time
Speaker 6: he ran the ball, right, John Harbaugh would say that's
Speaker 6: enough with Lamar. Just let him stay in the pocket
Speaker 6: and throw the ball, which he can also do really well.
Speaker 6: But yes, the rules are designed to protect quarterback. It
Speaker 6: is trying to find the balance, right, the tension between
Speaker 6: You got to let defenders. If he's taking off, he's
Speaker 6: a runner, You've got to let the defenders take them
Speaker 6: out and tackle them versus you've got to protect the
Speaker 6: most important assets that the league has, the starting quarterbacks.
Speaker 6: So that is a fundamental issue. And again, the concern
Speaker 6: of the NFL is that it gets called the way
Speaker 6: it's supposed to get called, and that it gets called
Speaker 6: the way they want it called across the board. So
Speaker 6: they don't want one crew offering more protection to Patrick
Speaker 6: Mahomes when on the same day Joe Burrow is not
Speaker 6: getting the same level of protection. Right, it's got to
Speaker 6: be the same, and that's the problem. But again, we've
Speaker 6: been around the league long enough to know scoring is
Speaker 6: the most important thing. That is the stat that they
Speaker 6: look at most closely, because they know fans love scoring.
Speaker 6: They do not want scoring down. So you better believe
Speaker 6: we're going to see more calls go in favor of
Speaker 6: the offense because the last thing they want is a
Speaker 6: consecutive year of scoring going down.
Speaker 3: And Judy, we're going to see fans continue to complain
Speaker 3: that Patrick Mahons is getting protected more than say their
Speaker 3: quarterback in terms of how the officiating crew is going
Speaker 3: about it. And the third one we want to hit
Speaker 3: is coaches upset about something. What I've never heard that
Speaker 3: before the new kickoff rule. Right, they are not happy
Speaker 3: with this kickoff rule for this season. And you're hinting
Speaker 3: there could be more changes coming after this season to
Speaker 3: what happens on kickoffs. Please elaborate on that second part.
Speaker 6: They're not just hinting that there are going to be
Speaker 6: more changes. I mean they have basically said this is
Speaker 6: just a stopgap measure. More to come. So the kickoff
Speaker 6: is the most dangerous play in football, right, Like, there's
Speaker 6: a disproportionate number of concussions suffered on the kickoff, and
Speaker 6: that is because of the speed of the collisions with
Speaker 6: the coverage team and the returner, right, and they just
Speaker 6: blast into each other. You've heard players describe it as
Speaker 6: like running into a garage door. Obviously, the NFL is
Speaker 6: in an era where it is very concerned about head
Speaker 6: injuries and they need to do everything they can to
Speaker 6: address concussions. So what they can up with this year
Speaker 6: and the Competition Committee is if you fair catch on
Speaker 6: a kickoff, the ball automatically comes to the twenty five
Speaker 6: yard line, that's where your drive starts. The twenty five
Speaker 6: yard line doesn't matter where you fair catch it from
Speaker 6: the twenty five yard line. In so if you were
Speaker 6: standing on a one yard line and you fair catch it,
Speaker 6: you're at the twenty five. Needless to say, coaches, especially
Speaker 6: the traditionalists in the group, say, are you trying to
Speaker 6: take the foot out of the game. I have been
Speaker 6: in meetings with the Competition Committee and special teams coaches
Speaker 6: for years where they've had this argument going back and forth.
Speaker 6: How do you keep the foot in the game while
Speaker 6: making it safer. So this is what they came up
Speaker 6: with this year. They have been very clear they are
Speaker 6: not done changing the kickoff. They don't want to eliminate
Speaker 6: the kickoff, but they once it's positioned as a player
Speaker 6: safety situation, there are going to be more changes until
Speaker 6: they drive the number of concussions down. And one thing
Speaker 6: that they are looking at is the way they do
Speaker 6: it in the XFL, which is only five yards.
Speaker 3: I have no problem.
Speaker 6: If that's what keeps the kicker kick in the game, Sure,
Speaker 6: let's do it. It's only five yards, so you can't
Speaker 6: get the high speed collisions.
Speaker 2: Sure, whatever about And let me just quickly explain the
Speaker 2: XFL rule because I love watching it.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, the kicker lines up at his thirty yard line.
Speaker 2: The other ten numbers of the kickoff team lineup at
Speaker 2: the opponent's thirty five while the return team lines up
Speaker 2: at the thirty, so you'll get.
Speaker 1: Five yards for the collision.
Speaker 2: But we've also seen a significant amount of kickoff returns
Speaker 2: for touchdowns or big plays in the XFL, so it
Speaker 2: can work.
Speaker 1: Judy, you got us thinking, we got to bring you back.
Speaker 1: What's the flesh?
Speaker 3: Away?
Speaker 2: These things out and some more stuff because we've got
Speaker 2: fifty five other things you wrote about that we eventually
Speaker 2: have to cover. And for more on Duty's column, go
Speaker 2: to NFL dot com slash Batista and coming up next,
Speaker 2: Class of twenty twenty three Hall of Famer DeMarcus where
Speaker 2: he's about to tell us.
Speaker 1: Who is him? Back on the NFL Report. All right, JP,
Speaker 1: we are officially blessed.
Speaker 2: Right now we are in the presence of Class of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three Pro Football Hall of Famer DeMarcus Where
Speaker 2: d were what's up?
Speaker 7: What is going on? Fellas? How y'all been?
Speaker 1: We're good, We're good.
Speaker 3: We're wonderful.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: It's great to see that smile. I miss it. I
Speaker 3: used to see it in Denver all the time back
Speaker 3: in the day, and now I get to see it again.
Speaker 3: It's wonderful. I gotta ask you, do you whear like
Speaker 3: you went into pretty much every hall of Fame this summer.
Speaker 3: I think it was high school, college, Sunbelt, the NFL.
Speaker 3: You're gonna be in the ring of Like do you
Speaker 3: have a favorite? Do you have a favorite? What went on? Man?
Speaker 1: You know what?
Speaker 3: I I.
Speaker 7: Don't have a favorite.
Speaker 8: And the thing is I have favor And I think
Speaker 8: that's like the coolest thing to see all your hard
Speaker 8: work has really paid off and you're seeing that finally.
Speaker 8: So it's one of the coolest things that you know,
Speaker 8: you know, just to experience it from high school level,
Speaker 8: college level all the way to the ultimate Hall of
Speaker 8: Fame level in the NFL. And Wisch was there to
Speaker 8: take witness that and there it was. Man, that was
Speaker 8: a cool opportunity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, from from from the door knock to the incredible
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame speech.
Speaker 1: I want to circle back to the speech in just
Speaker 1: the second d where but as.
Speaker 2: We kick off the season this week, we know we
Speaker 2: got the Chiefs and Lions and and everything kicks off.
Speaker 2: I kind of want to get your take on the
Speaker 2: two teams that you played for the Dallas Cowboys. You're
Speaker 2: gonna be defensive led team. And the Broncos with Sean Payton,
Speaker 2: the coach that you tormented a few times when you
Speaker 2: were playing.
Speaker 1: For the Cowboys, Let's start with the Cowboys where.
Speaker 8: You know the Cowboys. From what I see and have
Speaker 8: seen in the locker room and eating rooms, I've seen
Speaker 8: character for the first time. I've seen, you know, guys
Speaker 8: really wanting it. And I can actually pinpoint the captains.
Speaker 8: And when you can pinpoint the captains, you can pinpoint
Speaker 8: the tenacity of the team. And I think that's what's
Speaker 8: going to take them to where they need to be.
Speaker 8: And it's all about this thing healthy for the postseason.
Speaker 8: If they can, you know, stay healthy, they can go
Speaker 8: a long way. And then the transition over to the
Speaker 8: Denver Broncos, I knew Sean Payton was going to be
Speaker 8: a great move. And you can see how they're scoring
Speaker 8: points now. They're not turning the football over, They're playing
Speaker 8: fundamentally sound football.
Speaker 1: Pre season dware, it's pre season dware.
Speaker 7: Listen.
Speaker 8: But the thing is, if you play bad in the preseason,
Speaker 8: it can carry over to the regular side. But if
Speaker 8: you see glints is in the preseason some of it
Speaker 8: that can happen in a regular season, and I got
Speaker 8: to see.
Speaker 7: Some of that, so I'm like, all right, all right,
Speaker 7: I see change. I saw change so change on both teams,
Speaker 7: and I can't wait to see what they're going to
Speaker 7: do this year.
Speaker 3: I'm curious, do you think Michael Parsons breaks your Cowboys
Speaker 3: sack record? Does he have a chance to do that?
Speaker 8: He has a chance to do that if he stays healthy,
Speaker 8: I stay healthy for eight or nine years and really
Speaker 8: really consistent. If Mike Coho can play like he's been playing,
Speaker 8: I mean he's been averaging what over you know, thirteen
Speaker 8: sacks a year.
Speaker 7: It's hard to get double digit sat. So if he
Speaker 7: can do that, yeah, the.
Speaker 8: Record will be shattered. And I know if he can
Speaker 8: get that pressure like that, but they'll end up winning
Speaker 8: the Super Bowl. I'm just throwing it out. I'm just
Speaker 8: throwing that nugget out there for Michael.
Speaker 2: Okay, we got record chattered and super Bowl Okay, okay, okay,
Speaker 2: throwing it out.
Speaker 1: Hey, DeMarcus, real quick, we're short on time.
Speaker 2: I really would love to talk more about that, but
Speaker 2: I want to get to something that really stood out
Speaker 2: from that great Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend in Canton,
Speaker 2: and that was this moment from your Hall of Fame speech.
Speaker 1: Let's take a listen.
Speaker 8: This might sound crazy, but the NFL taught me how
Speaker 8: to forgive. First I forgave myself, and then I forgave
Speaker 8: my dad. Dad, all the times I didn't understand why
Speaker 8: you weren't there, it doesn't matter. You're here. Now, I've
Speaker 8: learned that guilt rocks in a person, and forgiveness heels.
Speaker 8: How can I expect God to forgive me if I
Speaker 8: don't forgive you? You once said it's two simple words
Speaker 8: to me. I'm sorry. I'm not sure if I was,
Speaker 8: but I'm telling you now on the biggest platform of
Speaker 8: my life, I forgive you.
Speaker 1: The market size is blown away, then I'm blown away.
Speaker 1: Now what is your relationship now with your dad?
Speaker 8: We've always had a close relationship, but we never talked.
Speaker 8: And it's one of those things where that was the
Speaker 8: moment for me to where I had to release something
Speaker 8: like I really had to release a lot of the
Speaker 8: anger that I had as a child towards my dad
Speaker 8: and that experienced that story and what I was trying
Speaker 8: to do and let the world know that you know
Speaker 8: what you have to let go sometimes to live and
Speaker 8: that was one of those moments for me. I mean,
Speaker 8: it still gives me chills because that was my first
Speaker 8: time ever saying dad. And you probably notice how like
Speaker 8: quivered in my voice a little bit. But there was
Speaker 8: a moment for me, and I know everybody felt that,
Speaker 8: and there was a moment I know everyone's going to remember.
Speaker 3: It was incredible. It's amazing if you were to see
Speaker 3: you move forward and move on. I want to move
Speaker 3: forward also to this season. I mean, what is your
Speaker 3: take on edge rushers now in today's NFL? Is it
Speaker 3: is it with the ball coming out so quickly?
Speaker 1: What is it like?
Speaker 3: Would you have to change your game? What is it
Speaker 3: like rushing from the edge with the ball out under
Speaker 3: two seconds? Now?
Speaker 8: You know, I would probably have to change my game
Speaker 8: a lot, because you there's not a lot of five
Speaker 8: step drops anymore. It's you know, RPO, there's three step drop.
Speaker 8: There's a lot of screams to keep you on your feet,
Speaker 8: and so I would actually just really be in the
Speaker 8: cornerback room telling those guys, listen, I need one more second,
Speaker 8: you know, I need you out a bump and run. Okay,
Speaker 8: can y'all just bump and run, get back, give me
Speaker 8: an extra second. That's why I'll be telling the defensive coordinators, hey,
Speaker 8: can we draft our corner some free safeties because I
Speaker 8: need more time. It doesn't matter the quarterback has he
Speaker 8: said throw the ball off and it doesn't matter what
Speaker 8: kind of pressure you get.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: You got to disrupt the timing of those receivers. Well,
Speaker 2: the markets, we know you're also here on behalf of
Speaker 2: Direct TV. What do you got going on with them?
Speaker 8: You know, I'm with Direct TV for business and ever
Speaker 8: past media, and we're talking about football, right, Football on
Speaker 8: the Sunday ticket in businesses. And when you start trying
Speaker 8: to affect the masses, when you start thinking about football,
Speaker 8: you go into that restaurant, you go into that bar,
Speaker 8: and if they don't have the Sunday ticket, I'm walking out.
Speaker 7: And so I'm just letting.
Speaker 8: Everybody know that it's here, right, they got it with
Speaker 8: three hundred thousand locations and we're trying to do it big,
Speaker 8: just like the Hall of Fame. So I'm here and
Speaker 8: how to tell everybody that the NFL ticket is back.
Speaker 8: It's in the businesses everywhere, and go watch some football
Speaker 8: because it's about to get started.
Speaker 2: There we go, Dware, We appreciate your time, and everybody
Speaker 2: remember and the words of Devarcus Ware save this tape
Speaker 2: that Micah Parsons could shatter his record and the Cowboys
Speaker 2: could go to the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Appreciate the Dware.
Speaker 3: Can see to unreal from Dware Right there, he's got
Speaker 3: Michaeh Parsons right there breaking his sack record with the Cowboys.
Speaker 3: What cowboys going to the super Bowl? What about edge
Speaker 3: rushers in today's game? What about tackles in today's game?
Speaker 3: We have Brian Balding or Baldy coming up to break
Speaker 3: the trenches down. There's nobody better in the business. Stay tuned,
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the NFL Report, James Palmer, Steve Whitch
Speaker 3: and the next guy, Steve. Our next guest needs no introduction,
Speaker 3: but I'll do it anyway because this is also a podcast.
Speaker 3: Baldy joins us. Brian Baldinger. I almost feel like I
Speaker 3: gotta go one more button down, Baldy to join you
Speaker 3: in the salad right there? What was your thoughts, because
Speaker 3: you know Dware you played with them, Like, what what
Speaker 3: did you take out of what what he had to say?
Speaker 9: Well, I thought the most eye opening thing outside. He
Speaker 9: thinks that, you know, Micah Parson is going to break
Speaker 9: and shatter his sack record in jacks. But I thought
Speaker 9: I thought he said, for the first time in a
Speaker 9: long time, the Cowboys have the right character in the
Speaker 9: locker room. And that's something that reporters like yourself, analysts
Speaker 9: like myself, we can't always gauge.
Speaker 3: We can kind of see it.
Speaker 9: It gets revealed sometimes, but we can't really feel the
Speaker 9: locker room the way players and guys that are used
Speaker 9: to it see it. So I thought that was a
Speaker 9: good sign for any Cowboy fan out there. What Dwear
Speaker 9: had to say about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, Bald, you know we heard him talking to
Speaker 2: him about edge rushers too. And I want to pick
Speaker 2: your brand because you work with so many, you know,
Speaker 2: you see so many. We know the great ones, right,
Speaker 2: we know Max Crosby, we know Cam Jordan, TJ Watt,
Speaker 2: Nick Bos, Joey Bosa, Miles Garrett, players like that. But
Speaker 2: who are maybe some of the players you've seen that
Speaker 2: are kind of on the cusp of kind of joining
Speaker 2: that club.
Speaker 9: Well, I mean Brian Burns right off the bat, you know,
Speaker 9: I don't know what his contract status is in Carolina
Speaker 9: right now. I mean he's he's an electric player and
Speaker 9: you have to game plan for him. Rashaun Gary before
Speaker 9: he got hurt, was arriving in Green Bay. You know,
Speaker 9: he's he's a big edge rusher. He's two hundred and
Speaker 9: eighty two hundred and eighty five pounds. He has a
Speaker 9: little size to him. And I know, I watched about
Speaker 9: ten or twelve snaps in the final preseason game of
Speaker 9: Tyree Wilson with the Raiders, and you just go, wow,
Speaker 9: Like he opened like he coming off of foot surgery,
Speaker 9: all this kind of stuff, Like you see his side,
Speaker 9: his length.
Speaker 3: We saw it at Texas.
Speaker 9: Tech, but now you saw it even in a preseason game.
Speaker 9: You go, there's something there. And then I think I
Speaker 9: think people recognize that Jalen Phillips could easily break out
Speaker 9: in Miami this year. He looks like he could be
Speaker 9: a really special player.
Speaker 1: Hey, Roal quick bald, No, Chase Young.
Speaker 9: I need to see Chase on the field. Steve, we
Speaker 9: haven't seen him on the field. You know, He's got
Speaker 9: to get on the field to get my eyes and
Speaker 9: to get my breakdowns. I love breaking them down. His
Speaker 9: rookie year. I mean, he's had seven and a half sacks,
Speaker 9: but he his speed and his athletic building change direction
Speaker 9: was there. He's got a sack in half in the
Speaker 9: last two years, like you know, and he's missed a
Speaker 9: lot of games. So I need to see Chase on
Speaker 9: the field. I know Warren Sapp was working with them
Speaker 9: during training camp. He said, get your butt in a
Speaker 9: four point stance and a three point stance. Get be
Speaker 9: like a jet taken off. He rushed from a two
Speaker 9: point stance all the time. He's standing straight up like
Speaker 9: I don't think people felt his power. So I want
Speaker 9: to see Chase on the field. And though I want
Speaker 9: to see I want to see a better pass rush
Speaker 9: array of moves from Chase right now.
Speaker 3: Boy, I'm stuck on this because we talked about it
Speaker 3: with d Ware. You heard it in kind of how
Speaker 3: today's game has evolved. I remember being in Philly during
Speaker 3: camp and talking to Brandon Graham, who's been around forever, right,
Speaker 3: and just talking to him about the frustration that you
Speaker 3: have as an edge rusher when the ball's just out
Speaker 3: and it's and it keeps coming out. You mentioned a
Speaker 3: bunch of different guys with different sizes skill sets. Is
Speaker 3: there a premiere size and skill set that fits today's
Speaker 3: game better than maybe it did in the past. That
Speaker 3: you see a certain maybe body type or does does
Speaker 3: that not matter in terms of what guys can be
Speaker 3: successful with now?
Speaker 9: I don't think it matters, you know. I mean, Dwight
Speaker 9: Freeney was different than Reggie White, was different than Michael Strahan.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 3: Uh, but but they put up huge numbers.
Speaker 9: Jason Taylor put up big numbers and he was long
Speaker 9: and lean, and I don't know that Jason Taylor Waite
Speaker 9: and I remember playing with Reggie and we had an
Speaker 9: electronic scale in Philadelphia back then, and sometimes in December,
Speaker 9: Reggie would get on the scale and he would jump
Speaker 9: off as it was rising past three thirty.
Speaker 1: Five, like I don't know when to tip it off back.
Speaker 3: So I think we're always you know, and really just
Speaker 3: not edge rushers either.
Speaker 9: By you know, great football players will always come in
Speaker 9: different shapes and sizes. You know, their greatness is how
Speaker 9: they play the game, whatever they've been gifted with.
Speaker 2: So Paul, let me let me ask you this. De
Speaker 2: wear said he'd have to change his game a little bit.
Speaker 2: I was talking to Khalil Mack at charges practice shows
Speaker 2: today about this quick passing game, and he said, it's
Speaker 2: so frustrating, you know, because you know, you just can't
Speaker 2: get to the quarterback. He said, but that's where you
Speaker 2: have to be patient because hopefully the defense keeps the
Speaker 2: opponent out of the end zone, the offense scores points.
Speaker 2: So at some point the opposing team you've got to
Speaker 2: try to drive the ball downfield. I mean, what about
Speaker 2: the patients these pass rushers have to play with now?
Speaker 9: And I asked to say question of Miles Garrett about
Speaker 9: a month ago, Steve when the Browns were scrimmaging against
Speaker 9: the Eagles, and he said, you can't pick and choose
Speaker 9: when the pass rush, like, you just have to go
Speaker 9: and then you know, if it's a if it's a
Speaker 9: bubble screen, turn and run and go make to play.
Speaker 9: I mean the screen game should be the defensive lineman's game,
Speaker 9: like flip your hips, turn and run like that's what
Speaker 9: you're expected to do. That's what the great ones do.
Speaker 9: Go make to play, don't let it get started. Tackle
Speaker 9: before it does get started. But you you know, when
Speaker 9: you get to third and seven, third and ten, third
Speaker 9: and twelve, third and fifteen, Steve, I mean, it's like
Speaker 9: pin your ears back, all right? Did you know you
Speaker 9: might have fewer rushes because of the way the game
Speaker 9: is played now, but you have to maximize the rushes
Speaker 9: that you get. But if it's first and ten, a
Speaker 9: bubble screen comes out and they're throwing it to the sideline,
Speaker 9: just run and chase. But if you're there trying to go, Okay,
Speaker 9: I'm gonna go harden this time because I think it's
Speaker 9: gonna be a deep set and then the you know,
Speaker 9: like you just you can't do that. You have to
Speaker 9: play hard every play and just react to what the
Speaker 9: play is.
Speaker 3: But we had Judy Batista on a little earlier talking
Speaker 3: about honestly, teams are running the football more than ever,
Speaker 3: but the quarterbacks running the football are a big part
Speaker 3: of that because they're running it themselves more than ever.
Speaker 3: What does that do for offensive linemen in terms of now,
Speaker 3: more than any previous season, we're seeing guys take off
Speaker 3: and run or it's designed run, or it's an RPO,
Speaker 3: or it's just the mindset you have to have. I
Speaker 3: guess as an offensive lineman now that that part of
Speaker 3: the game is just continues to grow. That the quarterback
Speaker 3: is going to carry the football.
Speaker 9: Well Okay, a couple of things here, James, Because it's
Speaker 9: a loaded is a valid question, it is topical one.
Speaker 3: The NFL can take it.
Speaker 9: You're a reporter, James, you know the NFL can only
Speaker 9: take what the college game gives us. So it gives
Speaker 9: us Justin Fields, it gives us Jalen Hurts, it gives
Speaker 9: us Lamar Jackson. That's what it's given us. Okay, So now, okay,
Speaker 9: now we've now figured out how to incorporate. Right before
Speaker 9: he came on, I broke down the Patriots last year
Speaker 9: against Justin Field and Lamar Jackson. They were awful, like
Speaker 9: they hadn't seen raid option. They tried to spy them,
Speaker 9: it didn't work. And here comes Jalen Hurts coming into town.
Speaker 9: So you have to defend all six basically skilled players
Speaker 9: on any given play, and your eyes have to be right.
Speaker 9: And you can say, okay, well, it's just numbers. Somebody's
Speaker 9: got to pitch, somebody's got the quarterback, somebody's got to dive,
Speaker 9: all right, until you're in that position and you're Matt
Speaker 9: Judahon this weekend and Jalen Hurts is coming down the
Speaker 9: line with DeAndre Swift and you don't know who's got
Speaker 9: the ball where it's going and you just have to
Speaker 9: freeze for a second against these guys are right by it.
Speaker 9: I think we all remember that play of Justin Fields
Speaker 9: against Green Bay last year. The entire pack or defense
Speaker 9: was chasing him into the end zone. It was too
Speaker 9: late by the time they figured it out. I think
Speaker 9: it's a problem and there isn't one answer for it.
Speaker 9: And you can drop all the defense you want. You
Speaker 9: can rush three, drop eight, you can do all this stuff.
Speaker 9: These guys are skilled running backs. Their vision tells them
Speaker 9: where to go. It's not like they're just running blind
Speaker 9: in a meathouse.
Speaker 6: Like.
Speaker 9: They know how to set guys up. They know where
Speaker 9: the pursuit's coming from, they know where the daylight is.
Speaker 3: Like.
Speaker 9: These are skilled running backs with the ball in their hands.
Speaker 9: And I would say just the three guys I mentioned
Speaker 9: amongst others. But you know, Lamar, Justin and Jalen this
Speaker 9: weekend be something to watch and just track how they
Speaker 9: perform this weekend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Baldy is a scrub outside linebacker. Had to play
Speaker 2: assignment football back in the Big Eight days. It is
Speaker 2: so tempting to take the dive back when you come
Speaker 2: and unblocked. But the next thing, you know, the quarterback
Speaker 2: pops out. Hey, Baldi, we gotta let you go. We
Speaker 2: got to talk about your interesting life. Because James Palmer
Speaker 2: spoken is on his career day. We want to see
Speaker 2: what it'd be like for you to speak at a
Speaker 2: career day since you do fifteen million awesome things. We
Speaker 2: got to catch you next time because coming up next
Speaker 2: on the NFL report, is it prime time in Colorado?
Speaker 2: And could us see quarterback Kleb Williams actually when he
Speaker 2: might be the number one pick. We're back on the
Speaker 2: NFL Report, but right now we're going to talk some
Speaker 2: college football.
Speaker 1: That's because the biggest story.
Speaker 2: Coming out of last weekend is NFL or Pro Football
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer Dion Sanders coaching the Colorado Buffalo's to
Speaker 2: an upset victory forty five forty two over TCU. And
Speaker 2: oh boy, James, you know this because you live in Colorado.
Speaker 2: The sports world lost his mind. This guy coaching at
Speaker 2: Jackson State just went up there and took his team
Speaker 2: with an eighty percent roster turnover and knocked off the
Speaker 2: team that played in the National Championship. I want to
Speaker 2: get your Colorado I view of exactly what the reaction
Speaker 2: was semi locally up there, and just kind of how
Speaker 2: Dion Sanders has been elevat into a credible head coach,
Speaker 2: even though he shouldn't have to be elevated he already was,
Speaker 2: but elevated to.
Speaker 1: That degree nationally where he's created all this conversation.
Speaker 3: Let's start with locally, Steve. It has been the dominant
Speaker 3: sports landscape conversation in the state of Colorado this entire summer.
Speaker 3: It really has. And we have Sean Payton coming to Denver,
Speaker 3: Kenny fixed Russell Wilson, major Broncos storylines in anything that
Speaker 3: I'm told locally. In terms of a discussion about Deon Sanders,
Speaker 3: this entire summer, ratings are through the roof and he's
Speaker 3: just up the road and Boulder, and everybody was curious
Speaker 3: how this opening week was going to go, because we
Speaker 3: have to remember what Dion did, Steve. He went and
Speaker 3: did exactly what everybody in the college landscape didn't wantim
Speaker 3: to do, which is flip his entire roster. Which also
Speaker 3: be clear, he wasn't the only one that did that
Speaker 3: correct this past season, but he got most of the scrutiny,
Speaker 3: if not all of it for what he did and
Speaker 3: maybe the way he went about it. But he goes
Speaker 3: out in that first game against TCU and being here
Speaker 3: in Colorado with the state absolutely exploding, when they go
Speaker 3: out and they knock off the horn Frogs, who were,
Speaker 3: even if they're not the same team, they were in
Speaker 3: the National Championship last year, and Colorado won one game
Speaker 3: a season ago. I think what happened most Steve is
Speaker 3: we had a chance to see Dion do things his way,
Speaker 3: and what did he get in this first game? He
Speaker 3: got validated everything that he wanted to go out and
Speaker 3: do in terms of empowering his players, letting a player
Speaker 3: like Travis Hunter come and play both ways who wanted
Speaker 3: to come and play both sides of the football, That
Speaker 3: came out as a success. His son comes out and
Speaker 3: throws a football over all over the arm and throws
Speaker 3: her five hundred and ten yards and breaks the CU record,
Speaker 3: all of that happening in a successful manner. I don't
Speaker 3: know if that just jettisons this into another stratosphere in
Speaker 3: what Dion's putting together at CU. Because everyone was watching,
Speaker 3: everyone in the NFL game was watching, everyone in college
Speaker 3: football was watching, and maybe most importantly, every high school
Speaker 3: rec cruit was watching, Yes, sir, and I think that's
Speaker 3: the biggest aspect of this.
Speaker 1: That's a great point, okay.
Speaker 2: And it's funny because I remember back when I was
Speaker 2: a scrub at University of Missouri, uh Colorado that multiple times.
Speaker 1: Ye I was no good. I was no good. I
Speaker 1: mean that's how I ended up transferring and stopped playing football.
Speaker 2: But anyway, Colorado comes down to Columbia and their old uniforms.
Speaker 2: They look like UCLA, right, they were blue and gold.
Speaker 2: We mopped the floor with them.
Speaker 1: Bill McCartney comes in next year.
Speaker 2: It's about nineteen eighty five because the black uniform starts
Speaker 2: turning over the roster and next thing you know, Colorado
Speaker 2: is a powerhouse. That's what Dion is doing. But here's
Speaker 2: before we move on. This is to me what Dion's
Speaker 2: biggest accomplishment is about to be. You mentioned SHITTERR. Sanders,
Speaker 2: you mentioned Travis Hunter, They.
Speaker 1: Had a couple other players. Soon we're gonna be talking.
Speaker 2: About his players and things other than Dion and the
Speaker 2: Colorado program. Once people stopped talking about Dion and they
Speaker 2: start talking about the players in the program, that's where
Speaker 2: Prime is really going to establish himself as a legitimate guy,
Speaker 2: because right now he's personality leading a program.
Speaker 1: Which is unfortunate how he's viewed that way.
Speaker 2: Once the program starts being the personality, that's when he
Speaker 2: gets a dumb Speaking of personalities, In a GQ article
Speaker 2: this week, Caleb Williams, the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback from
Speaker 2: the USC had his father come out and say that
Speaker 2: if he doesn't like the situation, he could potentially be
Speaker 2: drafted into in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: He may return to USC. All right, GP, this is
Speaker 1: kind of crazy, not feeling it whatsoever. Don't want to
Speaker 1: get your take.
Speaker 3: A couple of things jump out of me, Steve, the
Speaker 3: first one being I think the carts ahead of the
Speaker 3: horse a little bit. Here. Is this a preemptive strike
Speaker 3: to put this out prior to really this season up
Speaker 3: and going and three? You're really making a lot of
Speaker 3: assumptions about what you're expecting to happen. And that was
Speaker 3: a lot of what this article was about. Kayleb Williams
Speaker 3: himself was saying, I've really never had the choice out
Speaker 3: of my hands before. I've always had a choice in
Speaker 3: everything that's going on in my football life. This is
Speaker 3: an opportunity. I wouldn't. I'm just fascinated by the idea
Speaker 3: of them just already knowing what's gonna happen. At the
Speaker 3: top of the draft. You made a couple of points
Speaker 3: to throw them out real quick at the top of
Speaker 3: the draft. Things can get a lot different each and
Speaker 3: every year, and things can change quickly in the NFL,
Speaker 3: very very quickly.
Speaker 2: Right this year, she got Goa have the worst record,
Speaker 2: but Carolina came up and traded. You get the top
Speaker 2: pick to take the top quarterback. You maybe have a
Speaker 2: team all of a sudden, you have a new head coach.
Speaker 2: You don't know the situation of what you can be in.
Speaker 2: But I'm not saying it. But I'm saying it because
Speaker 2: in the article his dad listed, look, a player like
Speaker 2: Baker Mayfield went to a certain situation and then it
Speaker 2: didn't work. A quarterback like Kyler Murray went to a
Speaker 2: certain situation where organizationally, it was a disaster.
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray played for the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona Cardinals could
Speaker 1: have the first overall pick.
Speaker 2: Who is Caleb Wims quarterback coach Clif Kingsbury, who no
Speaker 2: longer is the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 1: I didn't say it, but I'm saying it.
Speaker 3: You did say. It's Steve and on the debut episode
Speaker 3: right here of the NFL Report Remembers tem fifteen Eastern
Speaker 3: every Monday every Thursday. We're also a podcast. Catch us
Speaker 3: wherever you catch your podcast. We're on the NFL channel
Speaker 3: to be broku Pluto to name it Steve, We're on it.