Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we'd also boo if we
Speaker 1: paid money to go to a preseason game in the
Speaker 1: rain and they took out Drake May after one series,
Speaker 1: give me a break. I'm Greg Rosenthal and I'm beyond
Speaker 1: lucky today. To be joined later in the show by
Speaker 1: Ali Connelly, a talented writer.
Speaker 2: About football podcaster.
Speaker 1: From over in the UK, who's going to talk to
Speaker 1: me about what if Kirk Cousins really isn't the guy
Speaker 1: we think he is, especially this season with the Falcons
Speaker 1: little thought experiment.
Speaker 2: But that's going to come up after the break.
Speaker 1: To start the show, going to go over news really
Speaker 1: quickly in the two preseason games that we had on
Speaker 1: Thursday night. And before I do that, I just want
Speaker 1: to ask our producer here, Eric Roberts, how annoyed he
Speaker 1: is at me that I'm asking him to produce on
Speaker 1: a Thursday night in the preseason while he's got his baby,
Speaker 1: Austin James making his NFL Daily debut. If you check
Speaker 1: us out on YouTube, you can see this beautiful boy
Speaker 1: and they set a hair just like his dad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, dude, nice hair.
Speaker 3: Maybe he'll get the mustache s geene, but yes, spit
Speaker 3: bubbles and all right now, not it at all. I'm
Speaker 3: glad you just at home and stuff, just to get
Speaker 3: some time with the kid. You know, I was off
Speaker 3: for a little bit of time, but anytime with this guy.
Speaker 3: A little bit of football too on the TV for him.
Speaker 3: No Bills games yet for him, so he hasn't got
Speaker 3: the misery. But watching a lot of Dodgers games with me,
Speaker 3: and yeah, maybe he'll be a little podcaster who knows.
Speaker 1: There is beautiful and yeah, that is something beautiful about it.
Speaker 1: It's not like we're in the studio, but we are
Speaker 1: putting you back to work. And you can hand him
Speaker 1: off now if you want, if he if he's feeling uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: But it is cool. These preseason nights, we're gonna try
Speaker 1: to take you, especially on the Thursday nights and get
Speaker 1: you covered with all the games. So yeah, I'm making Austin,
Speaker 1: James and Eric do a little overtime. So why do
Speaker 1: we why do we not waste any more time? We'll
Speaker 1: get to the news, Eric showing versatility, hitting the buttons
Speaker 1: it with us and on the lapp let's go back
Speaker 1: to Brandon Ayuk. I can't believe this thing hasn't happened
Speaker 1: yet it's still hanging out there days now after a
Speaker 1: report in Pittsburgh that the deal was happening from a
Speaker 1: radio station there, And I did want to just update
Speaker 1: you on what Kyle Shanahan said on a KNBR radio
Speaker 1: appearance on Thursday night.
Speaker 2: Very interesting.
Speaker 1: He said, quote, if it doesn't work out, and he's
Speaker 1: talking about getting that you signed in San Francisco, you
Speaker 1: always try as hard as you can to get fair value,
Speaker 1: whether it's fair value for the future, fair value for now.
Speaker 1: You're always hoping for both. Ba's got to agree on
Speaker 1: that too. We're looking at every possibility, so this thing
Speaker 1: is getting held up. There was a report from Diana
Speaker 1: Rossini of The Athletic that kind of spelled out what
Speaker 1: seems like pretty obvious, which is like the forty nine
Speaker 1: ers are not happy with the trade terms that the
Speaker 1: dealers are bringing to the table, and yeah, they don't
Speaker 1: have any receivers to send back. And Shanahan also said, quote,
Speaker 1: there's got to be two teams tied to that, and
Speaker 1: anytime there takes three things, it's not easy. And again
Speaker 1: they're looking at every possibility, and that when it's all
Speaker 1: said and done, the best thing for the forty nine
Speaker 1: ers and the best thing for BA.
Speaker 2: So I just think this is happening.
Speaker 1: The head coach would not be on the radio talking
Speaker 1: about how tricky it is to complete a trade like that.
Speaker 1: They're talking about this guy as if he's not there,
Speaker 1: and it does make you wonder whether they're trying to
Speaker 1: get a third team involved or whether there's ever a
Speaker 1: world where they're just trying to run out the clock
Speaker 1: here and get Brandon Ayuk back on the team, because
Speaker 1: to me, that's what makes the most sense. But hearing
Speaker 1: the coach talk about it like that, almost as if
Speaker 1: he's already gone, talking about how tough it is to
Speaker 1: complete a trade, it does seem like he is going
Speaker 1: to go somewhere. I don't think Ceedee Lamb is going
Speaker 1: in anywhere. And Eric, I want you to play the
Speaker 1: sound for me. Jerry Jones. This comes after he was
Speaker 1: asked if he's in any hurry and feeling any urgency
Speaker 1: to get Cede Lamb's contract done.
Speaker 2: This coming from KDFW Fox for such of urgency as
Speaker 2: you begin the preseason to get CD done done.
Speaker 4: No, No, I'll like say it.
Speaker 1: I'm just just.
Speaker 5: I went to OH school or I went to college.
Speaker 3: I don't want to say it, but I'm just saying.
Speaker 4: I don't know, I don't have a sense of urgency
Speaker 4: about getting it done.
Speaker 1: Why why is everyone laughing? Like you're at the board
Speaker 1: meeting and your boss, who's not funny at all, just
Speaker 1: made like a half joke and then everyone laughs way
Speaker 1: too hard.
Speaker 2: That it just was.
Speaker 1: An odd comment that he doesn't have any urgency. I
Speaker 1: think what he's saying. And he did talk a little
Speaker 1: more that they don't feel like they're losing that much
Speaker 1: with a player like Cede Lamb at this point in time.
Speaker 2: That I get.
Speaker 1: But Dak Prescott took the podium just a little bit
Speaker 1: after that and he said, you know, I know y'all
Speaker 1: want to ask I got urgency for it to happen.
Speaker 1: So just a strange moment, strange times with the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: like why are you setting this message out? Ceedee Lamb
Speaker 1: actually quote retweeted it on Twitter with the lol over.
Speaker 1: It's like Michael Parsons retweeted that. I mean, we're getting
Speaker 1: deep into it. Michael Parsons could also use a new
Speaker 1: contract pretty soon. So it's never great when your player
Speaker 1: is LOL and your owner. On the Thursday evening, a
Speaker 1: couple other very quick items of news, and then I'll
Speaker 1: hit the preseason games and again get to that Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins conversation. Will also hit on Nick Folk, I mean
Speaker 1: Nick Foles rather retiring on Thursday. Rondell Morris, the injured reserve.
Speaker 1: I had mentioned that it looked like he had broken
Speaker 1: his leg on our last show. Unfortunately, Yeah, the third
Speaker 1: receiver for the Falcons is going to be out for
Speaker 1: the season. Also out for the season Drake Jackson, who
Speaker 1: you might remember was a second round pick of the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers in twenty twenty two. They put him
Speaker 1: on the reserve pup list. He's trying to come back
Speaker 1: from a really devastating injury that a Patel attendant injury.
Speaker 1: That's gonna came out. You know, it was at the
Speaker 1: end of last year all of this year, which is tough.
Speaker 1: And I bring that up because it's just a reminder
Speaker 1: this forty nine Ers defensive line is just not the same.
Speaker 1: They were hoping to get some jews from Drake Jackson
Speaker 1: at some point in this rookie contract.
Speaker 2: After Nick Bosa.
Speaker 1: It's Leonard Floyd and Yatara Grossmatos as his other edge guys.
Speaker 2: Not that bad.
Speaker 1: Malik Collins is a starting defensive tackle on this team.
Speaker 1: It's just not the talent up front that they had
Speaker 1: a few years ago. And then finally in the news,
Speaker 1: I'm really testing you here, Eric, because earlier in the day,
Speaker 1: Jameis Winston said something that only Jameis Winston would say.
Speaker 1: And this has no news value. But I'm just happy
Speaker 1: that Jameis Winston is still in our lives.
Speaker 5: I think that's one of the things that a lot
Speaker 5: of people forget. When you can go out, you can
Speaker 5: see practice, you can nicknack this that Paddy wag gildog
Speaker 5: a bone. Deshaun Watson is gonna turn it on. He
Speaker 5: always gonna find a way to shine when the lights
Speaker 5: come on. Man, I just ran, Can I leave off that?
Speaker 5: But I know definitely gonna het.
Speaker 2: You can tell that man is a preacher. He truly
Speaker 2: is he. I love that man. What a what an
Speaker 2: odd guy.
Speaker 1: But you know what, maybe the perfect backup quarterback for
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson because he has been Deshaun Watson's biggest supporter
Speaker 1: and rhymer uh this preseason. All right, finally, let's hit
Speaker 1: the two games. I would have gone with the games first.
Speaker 2: I was excited.
Speaker 1: It was Drinke May's debut, but as I mentioned in
Speaker 1: the open, only one drive it was pouring rain. Maybe
Speaker 1: that had an impact on how Drod Mayo decided to
Speaker 1: give May snaps on Thursday night, Jacoby Brissett only had
Speaker 1: one drive.
Speaker 2: May through three passes.
Speaker 1: Two of them were screen passes, one was was a
Speaker 1: heater that was a little high for Jalen Rager that
Speaker 1: Rager got his hands on. But I don't think they
Speaker 1: wanted May out there with the backup offensive line. He
Speaker 1: actually played with the starting offensive line, which he hasn't
Speaker 1: been doing in all of camp. Hasn't really been a
Speaker 1: competition with Brissette like we expected, but they decided not
Speaker 1: to really use him tonight. So yeah, that Patriots defense
Speaker 1: look good against this Panthers team. But for the sick
Speaker 1: I was out there wanting a few little takeaways. The
Speaker 1: Patriots did use their rookie receivers that people are getting
Speaker 1: excited about with their backups, So that's just something to
Speaker 1: keep in mind. Jalen Polk with the second team, Javon
Speaker 1: Baker with the third team not getting played with the
Speaker 1: starters yet.
Speaker 2: It's early, my guy.
Speaker 1: Joe Milton, their fourth Stringer got a huge ovation when he.
Speaker 2: Came into the game.
Speaker 1: The poor Patriots fans were booing Bailey Zappi when he
Speaker 1: came in, more booing Mayo for taking may out of
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 2: But then they were waiting.
Speaker 1: They were restless for Joe Milton to come into the game,
Speaker 1: the big armed quarterback from Tennessee, and he looked good.
Speaker 1: He looked good scrambling and checking down and then throwing
Speaker 1: a wide open touchdown pass. So kind of fun for
Speaker 1: Joe Milton. I do not think Bailey Zappy is gonna
Speaker 1: make the team even less. The takeaway from the Panthers,
Speaker 1: who were not playing their starters. They started a man
Speaker 1: named Jack Plumber at quarterback. Jonathan Mingo was out there,
Speaker 1: had to drop early, but yeah, not many takeaways there.
Speaker 1: The Giants also played and the Giants got a w
Speaker 1: in the preseason against the Lions, who were playing their backups.
Speaker 1: Malik Neighbors actually played three drives in this game but
Speaker 1: did not get a target, which was too bad. Wanted
Speaker 1: to see him do a little bit something. Tyrone Tracy
Speaker 1: was the clear second running back for the Giants if
Speaker 1: you're in a deep fantasy league, but Eric Gray, who
Speaker 1: was their third stringer had a big, long touchdown.
Speaker 2: They'll both have a role.
Speaker 1: And then I think we hit peak preseason late Thursday
Speaker 1: when it was Joe Milton and Hendon Hooker out there,
Speaker 1: both playing, And this is what the preseason's all about.
Speaker 1: If you forget Hendon Hooker was an intriguing quarterback prospect,
Speaker 1: got taken in the third round, but was coming off
Speaker 1: of torn acl Some people thought he might challenge Jared
Speaker 1: Goff at some point for the starting job. Now he's
Speaker 1: just trying to fight for a backup job behind Goff,
Speaker 1: of course, and Nate Sudfeld is the backup right now.
Speaker 1: And Hooker showed some moves and looked okay in a
Speaker 1: game where Drew Locke for the Giants took a bunch
Speaker 1: of big hits, left with an injury pretty early, but
Speaker 1: Joe Shane their GM said it wasn't anything serious. He
Speaker 1: could have come back into the game. And that's about
Speaker 1: it for my preseason takeaways. We'll hit more on your
Speaker 1: Monday morning show with Nick Chuck all the rest of
Speaker 1: the game's all fourteen games. But before I go, I
Speaker 1: do want to point out that during that Giants game,
Speaker 1: they were testing out the Hawkeye system for first down measurements,
Speaker 1: so close measurements.
Speaker 2: Is it a first down or not? Or is it
Speaker 2: a fourth down? Stop?
Speaker 1: Let's listen to Phil Simms as part of the Giants
Speaker 1: broadcast crew with Bob Poppa in the preseason.
Speaker 2: I don't know about what we're doing. What'd you call it?
Speaker 4: When we're gonna now? But how are we going to
Speaker 4: use it?
Speaker 2: If it takes this law?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 2: You know, we just run the chains out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, the lasers taking as long as they would
Speaker 4: if they were longer. It's a virtual animation, Yeah, bringing
Speaker 4: the Backsley family and get the chains out there. Well, yeah,
Speaker 4: it's preseason trial the new stuff in the NFL. I understand.
Speaker 4: I'll look at it is okay, there you.
Speaker 1: Go, okay, And yeah, if you're watching it on YouTube,
Speaker 1: you can see they actually have a graphic for it,
Speaker 1: kind of like they do in tennis when you put
Speaker 1: up the Hawkeye graphic and the ball was way short.
Speaker 1: I think they just wanted to test it out. Hopefully
Speaker 1: they work out the kinks there. That is not a
Speaker 1: system that was ready to go clearly, uh for prime time,
Speaker 1: but they're just trying it out in the preseason. It
Speaker 1: is apparently not going to be part of our regular season,
Speaker 1: But how about Phil Simmons back in the booth for
Speaker 1: a preseason game. It's a circle of life, like you,
Speaker 1: probably started out that way, worked his way up, did
Speaker 1: a bunch of Super Bowls, and now he's back with
Speaker 1: Big Blue. We're going to come back after the break.
Speaker 1: I know it's early for a break. This is our
Speaker 1: only one of this show, which I'm excited about, but
Speaker 1: we're going to take a quick break and on the
Speaker 1: other side, I'm going to talk to Ali Connolly, one
Speaker 1: of the smartest football heads out there, and we're going
Speaker 1: to do a deep dive on the Falcons offense and
Speaker 1: why I'm just a little skeptical, a little worried about
Speaker 1: how Kirk Cousins is going to look this season. Okay,
Speaker 1: we are welcoming in Ali Connolly to the show. I'm
Speaker 1: excited about this, not just because he's wearing a Red
Speaker 1: Sox hat over in the UK, and not just because
Speaker 1: he hasn't slept at all in two weeks, because he's
Speaker 1: covering the US team in the Olympics for The Guardian.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry for giving you extra work.
Speaker 4: Ali, right now when you're cranking then well, there's nothing
Speaker 4: gets me more excited than discussing Kirk Cousins. So what
Speaker 4: a wonderful moment to take out of my life to
Speaker 4: dig into Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you said, like, why can't you be covering some
Speaker 1: other team? The US is just like racking up these medals.
Speaker 1: But it's been a lot of fun. This is gonna
Speaker 1: be fun. Ali is one of my favorite voices in
Speaker 1: American football. Although he covers football football for The Guardian
Speaker 1: overseas and obviously the Olympics these couple of weeks, but
Speaker 1: you can't check out his American football content at his newsletter,
Speaker 1: the Read Optional Newsletter. And he also does podcasts with
Speaker 1: John Ledyard, who we've had on the show before too,
Speaker 1: and I really love their podcast, so I really recommend.
Speaker 1: I don't pay for like a lot of sports content,
Speaker 1: but I pay for that and it's really good.
Speaker 2: So check out Ali.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to have him on this show because
Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, he'd be a fun guy to hit
Speaker 1: a one issue topic. You know, they have like one
Speaker 1: issue campaign, like a one issue politician. This is a
Speaker 1: one issue show in theory, and that one issue is
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins. And I do have some issues with Kirkcuons.
Speaker 1: But before I get to that, I did want to
Speaker 1: just mention that Nick Foles announced that he is going
Speaker 1: to retire an Eagle at their home opener, and having
Speaker 1: you on the show, you always have good takes on quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to get your view of Nick Foles
Speaker 1: and where that two game run the NFC Championship against
Speaker 1: the Vikings and then the Super Bowl against the Patriots
Speaker 1: ranks in your mind of football you watch, because weirdly,
Speaker 1: I almost think it's underrated. People remember the Philly Special,
Speaker 1: and what I remember is a bunch of throws into
Speaker 1: pretty good coverage that Nick Foles should never have been hitting,
Speaker 1: like throw after throw after throw, one of the greatest
Speaker 1: performances in Super Bowl history. After putting up a forty
Speaker 1: burger in the NFC Championship. Just want to give Nick
Speaker 1: Foles some love.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what stands out to me. I just have
Speaker 4: this image burned in my mind of the greatest defensive
Speaker 4: mind in the history of the sports, brain melting on
Speaker 4: the sideline. He couldn't figure out why am I double
Speaker 4: brightening people? And Nick fo Foles is throwing seeds all
Speaker 4: over the field and his brain just folding away. I mean,
Speaker 4: there's never been anyone have that kind of run obviously
Speaker 4: where you come from. You know, if you think back
Speaker 4: in twenty thirteen, he played Dynamite under chip Kelly. Then
Speaker 4: he comes back after the Sam Bradford trade and they
Speaker 4: just reinstall a bunch of the chip Kelly stuff. And
Speaker 4: it always makes me laugh because almost the two things
Speaker 4: that are remembered of the Philly special you mentioned, then
Speaker 4: people talk about, oh, Doug Peterson, the RPOs. They brought
Speaker 4: the RPOs, And I was covering college football at the time,
Speaker 4: and I was speaking to a bunch of college coaches
Speaker 4: just laughing at how rudimentary these RPOs were and how
Speaker 4: scrambling all these NFL guys who had been to all
Speaker 4: these college programs to figure out how to stop this stuff,
Speaker 4: and it was just the most basic things ever they
Speaker 4: couldn't deal with. But when you go back and watch him,
Speaker 4: that stuff is there, and it's relevant and it keeps
Speaker 4: stuff moving. But he's mostly just driving things all over
Speaker 4: the field, like you sent, a tight coverage, just completely
Speaker 4: out of his mind for like a six week stretch,
Speaker 4: particularly those two games you mentioned that. I just don't
Speaker 4: know if we'll ever see someone put that together against
Speaker 4: that kind of competition again.
Speaker 1: Right, That's the thing that gets me with football that
Speaker 1: you can't tell me that Joe Montana or Brady And
Speaker 1: that was one of his best Super Bowls too.
Speaker 2: It wasn't as flashy, but he was awesome in that game.
Speaker 1: You can't tell me that any quarterback played any better,
Speaker 1: in particular in the two biggest game stretch.
Speaker 2: Like I was there.
Speaker 1: I happen that happened to be a year where they
Speaker 1: were sending me around to cover the playoff game, so
Speaker 1: I was there for all three. I'll always remember Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan missing Julio Jones one on one with a chance
Speaker 1: to beat the Eagles at the end of that game,
Speaker 1: I think was first or second down, and like, you
Speaker 1: never know what would have happened. And then yeah, being
Speaker 1: at those games they had, he just had magic and
Speaker 1: he was so good. I always thought the first half
Speaker 1: of Raven's forty nine ers was as good as I've
Speaker 1: seen a quarterback play in one half of a game
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco, but I think Foles would top him. So
Speaker 1: I just wanted to give a little love and that'll
Speaker 1: be a fun night on the home opener for the Eagles.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get to our one issue. It's Kirk.
Speaker 1: I gave you a couple options of what to do,
Speaker 1: but I thought you might be a fun one for
Speaker 1: this show.
Speaker 2: We haven't done a show quite like that.
Speaker 1: And yes, it's a one issue show, and the one
Speaker 1: issue is Kirk Cousins. And the question that I'm posing
Speaker 1: is what if the bad Kirk Cousins shows up this year?
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna lay this out almost like a prosecutor.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely coming from the angle that this is more
Speaker 1: possible than people think. I don't know if you have
Speaker 1: an opinion on it going into it, Ali, So I'll
Speaker 1: let you start with just like your experience with Kirk
Speaker 1: over the years.
Speaker 4: Oh, my experience over the year, I think is the
Speaker 4: same as everyone where it's just like that you get
Speaker 4: these strange three week moments where you look at yourself
Speaker 4: and goes, Kirk Cousins really good. You don't want to
Speaker 4: tell anyone. You kind of texting your friends, be like
Speaker 4: should I say this out loud? Kirk Cousins may be incredible?
Speaker 4: And then he inevitably disappoints you and you go, why
Speaker 4: is a team sticking with Kirk Cousins, This makes no sense.
Speaker 4: Why are they giving him so much money every year?
Speaker 4: And there's a weird thing with him where there's not
Speaker 4: really one thing you hang your hounds like. He does
Speaker 4: this at a special level. You can go through everything,
Speaker 4: you can break down everything grunually and says that one
Speaker 4: thing he just bosses at and it doesn't really exist.
Speaker 4: He's pretty good a lot of things. Most notably, I
Speaker 4: would say, is like sack of voidance when pressured, which
Speaker 4: is huge for a guy coming off the injuries, coming
Speaker 4: off with an achilles. But even that then gets into okay.
Speaker 4: So if that drops a little bit, whether it's you know,
Speaker 4: goods timing, whatever it is, it just don't lets them
Speaker 4: to move and navigate the pocket. So let's say in
Speaker 4: your scenario worst case Snart that drops by five, six
Speaker 4: seven percent. It's like, okay, the one thing this guy
Speaker 4: was like really above average app comes back to average
Speaker 4: and the rest of it is just like pretty good.
Speaker 4: It's it's quite scary, and I think they've got so
Speaker 4: many questions everywhere else the Falcons. I think this idea
Speaker 4: that they were all for years and years, there are
Speaker 4: a quarterback away they spent all these high draft pics
Speaker 4: and all these talented guys playing on the perimeter. I
Speaker 4: just don't think that's quite that true.
Speaker 1: Yes, that was part of the issue with me, is
Speaker 1: when everyone was like, well he's joining the super Bowl
Speaker 1: ready roster, this is ready to go, I don't see it.
Speaker 2: And we'll get to that and then the other part
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: And I gotta say, if anyone wants to check this
Speaker 1: out on YouTube, you know, like subscribe, we're trying to
Speaker 1: build it. I mean, you don't not look like Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: I mean just a little bit with like a hab
Speaker 1: and that's a compliment. I mean his team America. He's
Speaker 1: a good looking guy.
Speaker 4: I get this three times a week. When the Netflix
Speaker 4: documentary happened my life, I didn't leave the house and
Speaker 4: I knew when you text me, I was like, I
Speaker 4: can't believe this guy asked me to do this. I
Speaker 4: kind of believe of all that he's like, you know
Speaker 4: who I thought off the guy who looks just like
Speaker 4: Kirk Cousins, good time.
Speaker 2: I didn't know.
Speaker 1: I got to admit Ali, I mean i've seen you.
Speaker 1: I think you know your profile and like a Twitter page,
Speaker 1: and but we've never we've never spoken, we've never met.
Speaker 2: It is good to talk to you.
Speaker 1: So I had no idea, but yeah, you and Kirk,
Speaker 1: there's a real resemblance. And I love it. I love
Speaker 1: it for you and for our audience. So everyone and
Speaker 1: you got to it right away. Everyone thinks of Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins as this consistent quarterback because at the end of
Speaker 1: the year, you think, okay, he's not quite top five
Speaker 1: or eight, but he's better than average. And he's just
Speaker 1: been this steady presence. And I think about back to
Speaker 1: our around the NFL days with Chris Wesseling, who always
Speaker 1: really believed in Kirk, and I think he was proven
Speaker 1: right over time that he was a better quarterback than
Speaker 1: the rest of us thought that. And he would always
Speaker 1: make this case that you see five, six, seven game
Speaker 1: stretches where he's brilliant, where he's you know, one of
Speaker 1: the best quarterbacks in the league. And what I kind
Speaker 1: of came to in the end was he's one of
Speaker 1: the streakiest quarterbacks in the league. That maybe it's a
Speaker 1: feel thing, maybe it's a confidence thing. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it is, but if you go and look throughout
Speaker 1: his career, he has some really incredible streaks positively, some
Speaker 1: incredible streaks negatively, and sometimes it's within games, sometimes it's
Speaker 1: within seasons.
Speaker 2: It depends.
Speaker 1: And we happened to end last season on the best
Speaker 1: he's ever played, I would say, or certainly up there
Speaker 1: as the best.
Speaker 2: So that's the last thing that.
Speaker 1: We remember and you think, Okay, well, maybe he's just
Speaker 1: turned a corner and he's a different Kirk now, And
Speaker 1: I think, like, well, when was the last bad streak?
Speaker 1: And I think, oh, most of the season before, Like you,
Speaker 1: if you look at weeks two through seventeen, I know
Speaker 1: I'm cherry picking here, but pff, like most of that
Speaker 1: season he was twenty aeth out of thirty nine and
Speaker 1: PFF grades. I know they aren't perfect, but had a
Speaker 1: lot of late comebacks. Wasn't really playing that well this year.
Speaker 1: I remember in the twenty twenty season, like a disastrous
Speaker 1: start to that season where people just thought he was
Speaker 1: done and then he ends up finishing the season really strong,
Speaker 1: And it just got me thinking about like that, Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 1: it's a little different than how people think about him now.
Speaker 1: And if they happen to start the season with bad
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins and he's coming off inn Achilles and he's
Speaker 1: in a new system.
Speaker 2: What does that look like?
Speaker 1: Does panics set in with Michael Pennix there and everything
Speaker 1: around him in Atlanta?
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think it's strange with him because I
Speaker 4: think kind of what the general possession be is at
Speaker 4: his best right, triggering off on play action, turning them
Speaker 4: out play action. That's what people think of as Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 4: I personally think he's at his mess when he's got
Speaker 4: the whole field in front of him. We get into him,
Speaker 4: do we get guys out and he can just dice
Speaker 4: people and play matchable. He just picks it and goes
Speaker 4: with it. And when you dig into the numbers, he
Speaker 4: is one of the best empty quarterbacks the league is
Speaker 4: see in the past five six years. He just crushes
Speaker 4: people out of empty, and yet no one ever gives
Speaker 4: him a decent dose of empty. Now they see him
Speaker 4: a ton, they watch all the film with him there
Speaker 4: around him more, they see all the flaws of the roster.
Speaker 4: Maybe can limit how much you would want to run
Speaker 4: of that stuff, But he's always been able to average
Speaker 4: against the blitz. When you run empty, it limits what
Speaker 4: you can do blitz wise. It limits what you can
Speaker 4: do coverage wise. It's why you know, people get upset
Speaker 4: when they see rookies in empty and why they're not
Speaker 4: giving them protection. Well, it makes the game a lot
Speaker 4: easier for him. You can just pick and go. It
Speaker 4: limits the defensive shell, It limits what they can run
Speaker 4: in terms of blitz pads. It makes the game a
Speaker 4: lot simpler for the quarterback. I look at that Falcons
Speaker 4: roster and I think, would they not just be best
Speaker 4: saying we are kind of a tempoee from the gun.
Speaker 4: You know, if you're a turn the back play action team,
Speaker 4: that is a lot more talk on moving and rolling
Speaker 4: and all those kinds of things. With the injury, but
Speaker 4: just no one's ever had enough faith in him to
Speaker 4: say we play five out consistently and you just pick
Speaker 4: can go. And it would be a funny thing to
Speaker 4: say to a franchise and a fan base, like, hey,
Speaker 4: all season rests on way putting Kirk in the gun
Speaker 4: thirty five times twenty and empty. I'm going to try
Speaker 4: and pick people up out the Super Bowl. That's stuff
Speaker 4: the Peyton Mounting does. That's suff the Matthew Stafford does.
Speaker 4: That's not really what we think of as Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 4: But that's when I dig through his game, that's where
Speaker 4: I like him the most.
Speaker 1: This is why I wanted you on because that is
Speaker 1: a really fascinating way to think about it. And that's
Speaker 1: part of you know, if I'm building this case against Kirk,
Speaker 1: and I again, I have nothing personal against Kirk. I
Speaker 1: think he'll be a better than average starter, but I
Speaker 1: think they're needing him to potentially be more than that.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I even went back and looked. Actually, you know,
Speaker 1: we do the QB Index on NFL dot Com. I
Speaker 1: did it most years, and Chris did it, and Mark
Speaker 1: did it one year two and I went and looked,
Speaker 1: and I know we're not perfect, but he only finished
Speaker 1: one year in the top ten. So it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: it was always like twelve thirteen. He hit one year
Speaker 1: where he was eighth. Last year he was certainly on
Speaker 1: his way. What you say is fascinating because Zach Robinson
Speaker 1: was part of I guess if you're making a case
Speaker 1: some question marks for him. I looked back at some
Speaker 1: games where he did struggle because I just wanted to
Speaker 1: remember sort of what went wrong when he did struggle.
Speaker 1: And I think he's a quarterback that relies a lot
Speaker 1: on timing, a lot on anticipation, that really counts on
Speaker 1: his receivers to be on his same page, and a
Speaker 1: lot of times when things go wrong, it's because he
Speaker 1: trusted them almost too much, and he was working with
Speaker 1: young receivers which were pushed off their spot or they
Speaker 1: weren't in the right spot, and he just is throwing
Speaker 1: to an area. And I think about Zach Robinson and
Speaker 1: everyone says, Okay, this is going to be great because
Speaker 1: he was in this Kevin O'Connell offense.
Speaker 2: It's similar.
Speaker 1: Zach Robinson is coming from Los Angeles, he's really been
Speaker 1: in this offense his whole career. Kyle Shanahan, Jay Gruden,
Speaker 1: it's all similar. But I do think it's a first
Speaker 1: time coordinator, a first you know, joining two new teams,
Speaker 1: and I think Kirk is at his best and maybe
Speaker 1: you saw this. This is year what three with O'Connor,
Speaker 1: last year year two rather right, and he was getting
Speaker 1: comfortable in that offense. Is some concern first time coordinator,
Speaker 1: brand new playmakers, a lot of young guys and a
Speaker 1: new coordinator, and I don't think Zach Robinson is going
Speaker 1: to have the confidence to do it as old boss
Speaker 1: Sean McVay did with with Matthew Stafford, and yeah, go
Speaker 1: out of shotgun and just start and letting him cook.
Speaker 2: Although that would be fun.
Speaker 1: Now if that happens week one, I will remember this conversation.
Speaker 4: I think, you know, it's funny people are excited about
Speaker 4: Zach Robinson. The reality is because Zach Robinson, for his
Speaker 4: friends of all the SMALLTI football writing notes from his
Speaker 4: days back at PFF. So everyone knows in text, everyone's
Speaker 4: in the text chain. It's like, oh, this is exciting.
Speaker 4: One of us made it true.
Speaker 2: This is my corner.
Speaker 1: Get on the coaches who kiss up to the writers too.
Speaker 1: So in this case, I don't think it was intentional.
Speaker 1: He just literally worked at PFF, so everyone loves him
Speaker 1: for it. Yeah, and he got there really quick.
Speaker 4: And it's you know, I think people are just saying ultimatic, Well,
Speaker 4: he's going to bring the show. McVay offfense. We have
Speaker 4: no idea. He has no track record outside of writing
Speaker 4: about football and then working with one of the smartest
Speaker 4: people in the game to know what is his own
Speaker 4: idea of football and is the guy who comes in
Speaker 4: with a philosophy. He's going to implant it no mind.
Speaker 4: What is he a guy who will adjust to the
Speaker 4: quarterback or just to the rest of the roster. Will
Speaker 4: he find that through the season? Is a guy who
Speaker 4: you know, offensive coaches are all different. Some of them
Speaker 4: have a huge playbook and trim down. Some of them
Speaker 4: start with very little and build up. We have no
Speaker 4: idea with him which way he is. So that's going
Speaker 4: to be fascinating to see. And they just have so
Speaker 4: many question marks on how these pieces actually fit together.
Speaker 4: And going back to the LA days, the thing with
Speaker 4: O'Connell that was really interesting to that empty point. They
Speaker 4: completely remade how they ran empty. It was different than
Speaker 4: anyone else in the league when he was in LA
Speaker 4: and he was responsible for that under Shaw McVeigh. I
Speaker 4: don't want to bore people too much of the granular details,
Speaker 4: but they ran it differently to everyone else. Zach Robinson
Speaker 4: continued that, and his main thing was redoing the wrong game.
Speaker 4: They kind of spent two seasons doing two different things.
Speaker 4: We want to remake the passing game. They built this
Speaker 4: different empty system, then we'll remake the wrong game. It's
Speaker 4: all from eleven. It's all different stuff with receivers than
Speaker 4: we've done before. So is he bringing that whole thing
Speaker 4: in one with him with Kirk to Atlanta? And you've
Speaker 4: got to imagine they spoke about it before and right,
Speaker 4: is he bringing Kevin's playbook from the year before or
Speaker 4: is he bringing the updated one from last season that
Speaker 4: has both of them fused together. It's to me the
Speaker 4: most interesting kind of like big picture offensive thing the
Speaker 4: league is what exactly does Zach Brombinson think is the
Speaker 4: right idea for football? Because he's had two of the
Speaker 4: best playbooks, I would say, of the past two seasons,
Speaker 4: and now he's got all these different players who again
Speaker 4: the kind of like right to nerds like me get
Speaker 4: excited it's positionless football, and then when you boil it down,
Speaker 4: it's like I would like to have three good players
Speaker 4: who line up in three spots and play really well.
Speaker 4: I don't really need them to move around a lot.
Speaker 4: What you end up with is Bijon is your primitive receiver,
Speaker 4: London in the slow where we putting pits and it
Speaker 4: all falls down because it's just nice sometimes to have
Speaker 4: a true above average X receiver.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look I think they do with Drake London.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to have a great season. I
Speaker 1: don't see why he would in Pitts just has to
Speaker 1: be healthy and at least I think he can be
Speaker 1: a positive contributor. What the ceiling is there, I think
Speaker 1: that's a question. Now Bajan is there. That's like they
Speaker 1: do have weapons. I'm curious how you think this personnel group.
Speaker 1: And one thing I always keep an eye on is
Speaker 1: offensive lines that had been playing well. I tend to
Speaker 1: just not assume anything when a new staff comes in
Speaker 1: because it's just the position group to me that depends
Speaker 1: the most on coaching and scheme and v Robinson you
Speaker 1: mentioned it is coming from a great scheme and that's
Speaker 1: that's a point in his favor that Raheem Morris chose
Speaker 1: this guy. And Raheem Morris has been around and that
Speaker 1: was his choice and I give him. I give Raheem
Speaker 1: Morris benefit of the doubt hera that he's choosing a
Speaker 1: good guy. But how do you think this Atlanta group
Speaker 1: that they have there, you know, under Arthur Smith doing
Speaker 1: all that crazy run blocking that they were doing, how
Speaker 1: do you think it fits with with this scheme?
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's well they brought a bunch of that
Speaker 4: friends too, like if you go through the Falcons offensive staff,
Speaker 4: there's like just like four advises hanging around to it
Speaker 4: with the rohms lush year. This is random guys, so
Speaker 4: I do ask game specialist stuff. And it was with
Speaker 4: the Rams for three years, so they brought a bunch
Speaker 4: of people with them too. It's not just Zach Robinson
Speaker 4: coming with Rahiem. I think what they ran last year.
Speaker 4: Arthur Smith, I've said this many times. I think he's
Speaker 4: one of the great RUNG game design frauds of our era.
Speaker 4: I think he runs two cool things. There's like a
Speaker 4: weird wind back block that goes viral and people get
Speaker 4: all excited and say, Wow, this guy really schemes up
Speaker 4: cool stuff. I think when you dig through it, most
Speaker 4: of it's nonsense. Forty percent of that offense last year
Speaker 4: was midzone forty percent. That's just like as poorly constructed
Speaker 4: a RUNG game in twenty twenty three as you could
Speaker 4: even imagine. And that stuff works when you have Derreck
Speaker 4: Henry running over everyone and people say, this guy really
Speaker 4: knows how to scheme up a run game. Running four
Speaker 4: percent mid zone with a running back like Jon Robinson
Speaker 4: is just incorrect. Let's say not good coaching. So they've
Speaker 4: got a lot of work to do in the rung game,
Speaker 4: and I've got no idea exactly how they're going to
Speaker 4: draw that up. You know what they do with the
Speaker 4: rams so well is they run out of ten, they
Speaker 4: run out of eleven. They're able to cheat to way,
Speaker 4: which is the kind of meta trend in all of football.
Speaker 4: How can I run two back football without putting two
Speaker 4: backs on the field and how close can I get?
Speaker 4: What is the trade off of the best possible receiving option.
Speaker 4: Who's a good enough blocker? Is that a tight second
Speaker 4: tight end? Or do I have Cooper Cup? And if
Speaker 4: I have Cooper Cup bought a cheeko if we win
Speaker 4: a bunch of games like that's what everyone's looking for.
Speaker 4: And when you run through the falcons, I think that
Speaker 4: line is a really really solid interior double in climb,
Speaker 4: but a dent in the front and let someone go
Speaker 4: to work. And so that makes sense to me with
Speaker 4: what the Rams did. But where it falls down slightly
Speaker 4: is so we have pits and he's in line, not
Speaker 4: going to happen. Drake London I think works best as
Speaker 4: a power slot personally. Does he want to dig someone
Speaker 4: out inside. Is Ray McLeod going to go in and
Speaker 4: dig someone out inside? So they find themselves in this
Speaker 4: situation where if you're not going to have those guys
Speaker 4: play inside and we're running the ball from a smaller
Speaker 4: personnel grouping, now you have to try and find a
Speaker 4: way to move people and that does not over the
Speaker 4: athletic line. They are a forward facing line. They double
Speaker 4: and they go. I think Bergeron has a chance, but
Speaker 4: he moved inside last year, struggled a little bit. He's
Speaker 4: rarely springy, but he's not a huge flyer. So again
Speaker 4: they come down to what is our philosophy versus what
Speaker 4: can I actually do with the personnel we have. I
Speaker 4: think there's a world where you can make it fit.
Speaker 4: But I think it's telling they brought in the Titans
Speaker 4: from San Francisco. They're like, we need more beef.
Speaker 2: Charlie Guy, Charlie Werner.
Speaker 1: It's Ross Dwelly because yeah, you look at the receivers
Speaker 1: and I don't know if you want if Drake London
Speaker 1: can do some of the Cooper Cup type stuff. I
Speaker 1: mean he's at least a bigger frame, certainly, But they
Speaker 1: lose Rondell Moore to what sounded like a serious injury.
Speaker 1: He was going to be part of the offense. Darnell Mooney,
Speaker 1: you know, I like too laningrad like myself, but not
Speaker 1: a guy you would want out blocking on the edge
Speaker 1: by any means. And yeah, there's gonna be an adjustment.
Speaker 1: And that kind of gets to, you know, the next
Speaker 1: part of my case here, which is more than just
Speaker 1: x as and o's and it's something Kirk Cousins has
Speaker 1: talked about and maybe he has overcome what he thought
Speaker 1: was his biggest issue as a pro, which you could
Speaker 1: sometimes see on the field that he thought he was
Speaker 1: almost so critical of himself, always seeking perfection so much
Speaker 1: as as a quarterback. And again my friend Wes wrote
Speaker 1: about this too, that sometimes he kind of fritz out,
Speaker 1: and people remember him lining up behind the guards in
Speaker 1: big moments, but the whole Kirk can't play that well
Speaker 1: and the clutch thing or primetime was like a little overstated,
Speaker 1: but there were moments where he absolutely fritzed out in
Speaker 1: a way that top level quarterbacks don't. And I'm just thinking,
Speaker 1: and maybe this is going too far psychologically and just
Speaker 1: the situation that they're in, the Expectations are very high.
Speaker 1: They drafted Michael Pennock's number eight overall, he was not
Speaker 1: expecting that. He's made it clear he's not a fan
Speaker 1: of that. Who would be a fan of that. If
Speaker 1: you're Kirk Cousins and their defense, we don't need to
Speaker 1: spend time on their defense. But I just think it's
Speaker 1: safe to say a talent wise, it's a bottom five unit.
Speaker 2: They could be trailing in a lot of game.
Speaker 1: The schedule is pretty difficult early defense of the defenses
Speaker 1: they face Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Saints, Bucks. You know
Speaker 1: those are tough defenses early. To me, just add all
Speaker 1: that stuff up together and a guy who wants to
Speaker 1: be comfortable and it's a lot of new things, and
Speaker 1: I think, is there a chance here where it just
Speaker 1: becomes very difficult on Kirk Cousins, the human on top
Speaker 1: of just Kirk Cousins that the football player.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you mentioned it. With how his game goes.
Speaker 4: When he gets baddie gets really grim, he has a
Speaker 4: chance to create a you'll just have quotes's way, like
Speaker 4: what just happened in the third quotes was he was
Speaker 4: dealing people up. Its weird. So if that could sustain
Speaker 4: over two to three weeks, that could be pretty ugly.
Speaker 4: The only thing that I would say, I guess his
Speaker 4: defense is he didn't choose this. He had every possibility
Speaker 4: just roll back to minnesot It's an easy keep it rolling.
Speaker 4: I'm working with Justin Jefferson, I got Kevin O'Connell. No
Speaker 4: one's going to criticize me whatever. He chose this in
Speaker 4: partnership with this offensive coordinator, basically saying that these guys
Speaker 4: have better weapons. Overall, I think this gives me a
Speaker 4: better chance and I get all this money. It would
Speaker 4: be peculiar. I think to go in there and then
Speaker 4: kind of like receid back from the ownership of like
Speaker 4: this is what I wanted. It's like, well, this is
Speaker 4: why he didn't walk in thinking this defense is good.
Speaker 4: The fact they were able to cobbles mean to again
Speaker 4: last year was a mining miracle with the way they
Speaker 4: played to even try and run in again saying hey,
Speaker 4: we're a man coverage team without a pass rush. Next season,
Speaker 4: it's like you are going to get smoked all over
Speaker 4: the place. They need to. I think pretty bad rookies
Speaker 4: to actually play well this season. This is not going
Speaker 4: to happen. They didn't play well in college so yeah,
Speaker 4: he's going to be down in games he picked it for.
Speaker 4: I'm guessing personal relationships and the chance to play with
Speaker 4: those receivers and probably a slightly better offensive line that
Speaker 4: that's kind of touch and go, I'd say so, and
Speaker 4: the division so but to your point, yeah, when it
Speaker 4: goes was bad with Kirk Cousins, it gets grim quick.
Speaker 1: That's sort of where this all started for me, that
Speaker 1: there are just a lot of ingredients for a difficult
Speaker 1: start or a difficult.
Speaker 2: Season, and then you just think of it.
Speaker 1: I think the pressure on him, not just just football wise,
Speaker 1: that county on him to be as good as making
Speaker 1: this a Super Bowl contender.
Speaker 4: And the problem he's got too, Greg is Penix is
Speaker 4: probably going to light it up in pre season. He
Speaker 4: is going to rip through trading camp. I refuse to
Speaker 4: follow the way you have to do for work. All
Speaker 4: the different reports, I guarantee without looking blind taste says
Speaker 4: that there is every report out there that, oh my god,
Speaker 4: Penix looks so special. It's been a little quiet, I
Speaker 4: gotta say I have.
Speaker 1: It actually has been a little quiet, to the point
Speaker 1: where I was like, is he struggling down there? I
Speaker 1: need to talk to someone they also have a quiet
Speaker 1: media contingent in general. But I have been looking in
Speaker 1: some of the numbers and stuff. It's been a lot
Speaker 1: more positive on Kirk. So there's a point in favor.
Speaker 4: For there we go, but he can spin it and
Speaker 4: the flaws that I think grim Penix Penix's game who
Speaker 4: I would never have taken the first round on let
Speaker 4: alone where they did it with the situation. They had
Speaker 4: just a bizarre decision then and even worse in hindsight,
Speaker 4: I think. And if it torches the building to your point,
Speaker 4: because they knocked the confidence of a fragile guy before
Speaker 4: he even walked through the door, would be an all
Speaker 4: time bag fumble from a team who just gave him
Speaker 4: that much money. That could be one lingering thing. If
Speaker 4: Pennix is just a great practice player because he's not
Speaker 4: being touched and he can just rip it all over
Speaker 4: the place, that could add to the burden.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: I just think this team is you said it in
Speaker 1: terms of the scheme, questions of how they're gonna run it,
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by. I'm not rooting against Kirk Cousins because
Speaker 1: of this podcast. It's just one of those situations that
Speaker 1: I feel like has a lot of variability and people
Speaker 1: are assuming too much of what's going on there and
Speaker 1: it could be a struggle and it could just be
Speaker 1: one of these stories we're tracking. As much I loved
Speaker 1: having you on Olly Connolly, it's like come for the
Speaker 1: Kirk Cutter his cousins analysis and you know, mild criticism
Speaker 1: and stay for the total side swaye by Arthur Smith,
Speaker 1: just killing my optimism about like, hey, maybe Justin Field's
Speaker 1: running a bunch of read option stuff.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be fun and in Pittsburgh. I love that
Speaker 2: you just killed it. You mince no words.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I minced no woods around all the Smith Matt
Speaker 4: kind of did. The guys who I think are fraudulent
Speaker 4: people and somehow get huge media reputations for reasons that
Speaker 4: remain unclear to me. Then I'm happy to be the
Speaker 4: guy who will stund up of the stunning in front
Speaker 4: of the shopnel to take out all the Smith. I
Speaker 4: think I've been proven right by by history on that one,
Speaker 4: and I will be this season.
Speaker 1: Like like I said, everyone should check out read Optional
Speaker 1: and the podcast that he does with John and the writing,
Speaker 1: and honestly it's almost humiliating how well you do it
Speaker 1: and how much you know when it's your side gig
Speaker 1: at this point, you're like, you're covering soccer as we
Speaker 1: would call it at this point.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I always says people like when people are
Speaker 4: watching Done to the Dragons, I am just cranking Coastal
Speaker 4: Carol the film that is, like, I get a glass
Speaker 4: of wine on on Sunday nine tonight, just watch Coast
Speaker 4: like Carolina. I'm I'm a side guy, Greg, but I'm
Speaker 4: able to do podcasts and take you show to auth
Speaker 4: the Smith.
Speaker 2: So that's that was great.
Speaker 1: Having you, Ali, and I hope we can do it again.
Speaker 1: That is it for this week's worth of NFL Daily.
Speaker 1: Will we be back, first thing in your feed on
Speaker 1: Monday morning with Nick Schuck breaking down all the winners,
Speaker 1: the losers, the notes from the rest of the weekend,
Speaker 1: the first full preseason weekend. Yeah, enjoy, you're watching You're
Speaker 1: watching Olympics athletics at the highest level.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I'm watching, you know, the Sean Clifford Michael Pratt battle
Speaker 1: and getting super into it.
Speaker 2: So enjoy.
Speaker 1: I'll see you later, Ali, Thanks for having me, all right,
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.
Speaker 2: On NFL Daily