Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where they would never make up
Speaker 1: an injury about us before putting us on injured reserve
Speaker 1: for the season. I'm Greg Rosenthal and I'm here in
Speaker 1: the Chris Westling podcast studio with Patrick Claybon and Cynthia Freeland.
Speaker 1: We never had this trio as a podcast, but we
Speaker 1: have done a television show together for a few years.
Speaker 2: Game debut spoiler alert, it comes back. There we go
Speaker 2: the Thursday, so the Friday, Friday whatever, the day after
Speaker 2: the first game of the season.
Speaker 3: I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1: That's a show where we pick games, where we go
Speaker 1: through every games. I like to think of it as
Speaker 1: man versus model. Ye in the model being Cynthia's computer. See,
Speaker 1: I thought it was just me you as well, and
Speaker 1: I've gotten too old for that now.
Speaker 4: That is the way the characters the show.
Speaker 5: Not warranted and conclusion, sorry the description of the show,
Speaker 5: because I have not model.
Speaker 3: Man versus model and Patrick's there too.
Speaker 4: Sorry.
Speaker 2: Actually, actually Patrick could be a model, so it works out.
Speaker 2: He's a really good actor. We've seen, remember, all of
Speaker 2: us are really good actors. We were in a really
Speaker 2: fun commercial together.
Speaker 3: That that was fun.
Speaker 1: Little Little Caesars come back at us if you're if
Speaker 1: you're involved in twenty four seasons.
Speaker 5: Still want to be a part of the family like
Speaker 5: you enjoy Little Caesars.
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 5: I have been in contention in all of these seasons,
Speaker 5: but then I really go on tilt at some point
Speaker 5: and it just goes horribly wrong.
Speaker 3: And yeah, Cynthia and I have done this show.
Speaker 1: I think this is either the fifth or sixth season now,
Speaker 1: and I was not a competitor. I was not even
Speaker 1: close to what the first three, but I'm a back
Speaker 1: to back defending champions for the model got to step up.
Speaker 1: We're going to be doing some math today. Actually, I
Speaker 1: mean it's going to be more fun than that.
Speaker 3: We did a power bawl fine where we each.
Speaker 1: Submitted our power rankings and in Cynthia's case it's her
Speaker 1: wind projection model, which is even more exciting to me,
Speaker 1: and we average them all together, and we decided kind
Speaker 1: of going into the season, this is the last week
Speaker 1: really before our Week one schedule, and I just kind
Speaker 1: of wanted to say, where are we how do we
Speaker 1: view the league right now, and then we can look
Speaker 1: back on it at the end of the year. That's
Speaker 1: how we looked at it, so we have some fun
Speaker 1: exercise this week. We have an AFC and NFC preview
Speaker 1: also coming up. I'm going to be going over all
Speaker 1: the cuts, and a few of them started on Monday,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, they're going to be happening
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. So I'll do that with Evan Silva. But
Speaker 1: before any of that, let's do some news. Ceedee lamb,
Speaker 1: it's done. It happened. He has signed with the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: And if you had to guess what day would it
Speaker 1: possibly happen.
Speaker 3: I would have guessed the Monday.
Speaker 1: Uh, you know, almost two weeks before the season start,
Speaker 1: because that just gives you enough time to sign. That
Speaker 1: was my guest for Trent Williams. That one hasn't happened yet.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in a second. But the financials, frankly,
Speaker 1: aren't that interesting. It's just justin Jefferson, but a little less,
Speaker 1: which if I'm in the Cowboys front office, I'm just
Speaker 1: thinking like, well, why didn't we just do that three
Speaker 1: months ago? Just take justin Jefferson's contract, which was four
Speaker 1: for one forty with one hundred and ten guaranteed, and
Speaker 1: then say to CD you're great. You haven't produced quite
Speaker 1: as much as justin Jefferson. Let's go four for one
Speaker 1: thirty six, one hundred guaranteed and that gets the deal done, Cynthia.
Speaker 2: I mean, but he got a summer off. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 2: sure he did fun things, you know, like, no, he
Speaker 2: didn't have to go to camp out here in California.
Speaker 2: He didn't even he didn't have to do anything ox Start.
Speaker 3: It's nice though.
Speaker 2: Oxnard is hot. It's like it's smoking up there. Sometimes
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, it's like I've been there and it's
Speaker 2: been like swampy.
Speaker 1: It's like a twenty men ride from the beach. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna cook, you know, stay up or or something.
Speaker 1: They're not allowed to.
Speaker 5: But he's been there before. Yeah, yes, he's been there before.
Speaker 5: He's done all of this. I'm with you, Greg, they
Speaker 5: needed you in the room. Apparently I would have hopped
Speaker 5: in there. CD could have given me a little bit
Speaker 5: of a percentage think to say, hey, why not do
Speaker 5: this because the price isn't going down. The price is
Speaker 5: never going to go down. But it was, like Colleen
Speaker 5: prophesied last week, maybe all these things happen and we
Speaker 5: do dak right as the Chiefs for getting their Super
Speaker 5: Bowl rings before the game on Thursday. Maybe that that's
Speaker 5: how it all goes.
Speaker 1: I guess that that's the bigger question. And Dak's been
Speaker 1: practicing this whole time. And yeah, they gave thirty eight
Speaker 1: million dollars on the signing bonus for CD so that
Speaker 1: they could call it a record when the insiders report
Speaker 1: that it was a record signing bonus. Every agent wants
Speaker 1: some sort of record, and there's a way to slice
Speaker 1: it eight different ways.
Speaker 3: So he got that record and it's well deserved.
Speaker 1: Look, they've done a great job identifying talent in the draft,
Speaker 1: so you got to give Cowboys credit for that. It's
Speaker 1: one reason why I'm not as worried about the Deron
Speaker 1: Bland injury because they've done a good job drafting cornerbacks
Speaker 1: and they have another guy ready to step in. I
Speaker 1: don't think Dak wants to sign with the Dallas Cowboys
Speaker 1: long term. I think he wants to push this into
Speaker 1: the future. What do you think is he going to
Speaker 1: be a team you likes quarterback. I don't know who
Speaker 1: he's gonna be, but I think he wants to see
Speaker 1: what the world looks like next February in March.
Speaker 4: That's all.
Speaker 1: It's right, he's reached this far that he's annoyed enough
Speaker 1: with the situation and knows he can make more money
Speaker 1: by just kind of kicking the can.
Speaker 2: Well, he's an athletes first person. You know. They are
Speaker 2: located in Newport Beach, just saying so, I do know.
Speaker 2: I mean obviously Asians can be anywhere and they go
Speaker 2: for any team. But I don't know. I just feel
Speaker 2: like I'm with you. I don't think we see I
Speaker 2: don't think we see Dak there next year. But that's
Speaker 2: not it's just informed by tea leaves, not by math
Speaker 2: or data.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and there's no need for bombas from Dak. Like
Speaker 5: what he said about previous quarterbacks and going to other teams,
Speaker 5: I think it's entirely true. I think he would be
Speaker 5: just as comfortable being a Dallas cowboy as he would
Speaker 5: not being a Dallas cowboy.
Speaker 3: And Rar is really mature now, and like, I feel
Speaker 3: like it'd be more comfortable to be a quarterback of
Speaker 3: any team than the Dallas cout. That's just me. This
Speaker 3: doesn't seem comfortable.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mentioned Trent Williams before there was a
Speaker 1: report from ESPN Jeremy Fowler that Trent Williams is willing
Speaker 1: to skip games if he doesn't get his contract fixed,
Speaker 1: which almost goes without saying that's what a holdout is.
Speaker 1: But I think just the fact that that's getting pushed
Speaker 1: to the front right now on a day that I
Speaker 1: thought he might be signing maybe tells you there he's
Speaker 1: not as close to signing.
Speaker 3: And he would be.
Speaker 1: The rare player that I believe would push it into
Speaker 1: the regular season just because he's made enough money where
Speaker 1: that the money he's losing maybe isn't going to bother
Speaker 1: him that much. And he knows he's one of the
Speaker 1: greatest players of all time and he's thirty six years old.
Speaker 3: That's a big part.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's already signed, sealed, delivered to Canton no
Speaker 2: matter what happens now, right, But I'm looking at the
Speaker 2: opportunity for him. And I watched that Raiders and Niners game,
Speaker 2: and I've said this now Patrick's had to hear three
Speaker 2: times today, but Brock pretty sliding was scary to me, Like,
Speaker 2: and that was the.
Speaker 1: Wait, why three times you did Fantasy Live earlier? Everyone
Speaker 1: should check that out. It's on air now every day
Speaker 1: of the week. Yeah, to check it out at six pms.
Speaker 2: And then we were sitting in the green room talking
Speaker 2: about it, and I brought it up again because you
Speaker 2: guys are just.
Speaker 3: All about ball. It's all ball in the green all ball.
Speaker 1: I was just sitting by myself alone at the huddle,
Speaker 1: just eating.
Speaker 2: You know, why did you text us?
Speaker 3: Well, I texted you the news rundown was going to be.
Speaker 3: I didn't know.
Speaker 4: That's when I was for not being like, hey Greg,
Speaker 4: we're downstairs.
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, the cool kids.
Speaker 3: So you didn't like you didn't like brock pretty sliding.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it scared me. It scared me. It didn't
Speaker 2: look natural. I mean, it just was not a baseball slide.
Speaker 2: It was like it was like my dogs pulled me
Speaker 2: down and I was little.
Speaker 1: You know, because this should almost go without saying, But
Speaker 1: if you had to choose, as a forty nine Ers fan,
Speaker 1: which player is more necessary to have the top shelf
Speaker 1: offense that we need on the field, Auk or Trent
Speaker 1: william It's Trent Williams, just because of how great a
Speaker 1: player in the position he plays.
Speaker 5: Yes, And I don't get the logic that like, well,
Speaker 5: if we do this with Trent, you don't like, you
Speaker 5: don't have to treat anybody else like Trent, Like Cynthia said,
Speaker 5: Trent's going to the Hall of Fame, right. Trent had
Speaker 5: people mess with his money throughout his career, had a
Speaker 5: team in a GM like Massaga, cancer diagnosis, like Trent's
Speaker 5: been through a lot. Like just give Trent his money,
Speaker 5: get him on the football field, and Tront to win
Speaker 5: in Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: It seems weird. Ayuk stuff is weird to me. The
Speaker 4: Trent stuff is even weirder to me.
Speaker 1: And Ayuk was at that game traveling with the team
Speaker 1: to the Raiders. It really seems to me like that
Speaker 1: is just a matter of time. All Right, We're gonna
Speaker 1: go quickly through the rest of the news, but there
Speaker 1: were some just interesting nuggets. The Dolphins, their head coach
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel said, Bradley Chubb, Isaiah Winn going to the
Speaker 1: pup list. Odell Beckham's uncertain, so they're not putting him
Speaker 1: on it now, which to me says they're hopeful. I
Speaker 1: think that he plays in the first few weeks of
Speaker 1: the season, but they also literally have not seen him
Speaker 1: practice yet, and he didn't practice on Monday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was a little I mean the Dolphins. If
Speaker 2: you look at their team as like a healthy team,
Speaker 2: it's a good team. With all of these injuries, it
Speaker 2: starts to become a little less the picture becomes a
Speaker 2: little less rosy, you know, especially in the AFC East,
Speaker 2: which is a weirdly volatile It's a very volatile division.
Speaker 1: I gotta start looking at the lines for Week one
Speaker 1: because Dolphins Jaguars, like the Dolphins to me are the classic.
Speaker 1: Like man, they're a tough Week one team to talk
Speaker 1: about because of the injuries you talked about, but also
Speaker 1: because like Mike McDaniel has now a two year history
Speaker 1: of cooking up some insane stuff Week one that just blasted.
Speaker 2: Who do you trust more Mike McDaniel architecting plays are
Speaker 2: Press Taylor, That's the question.
Speaker 1: I would go Mike McDaniel in that Jaguar another Chubb.
Speaker 1: Bradley's brother Nick will also be on PUP. But the
Speaker 1: Browns activated it though.
Speaker 2: That's not new.
Speaker 1: I mean we no, we kind of knew that, but
Speaker 1: it's official now. But it's just checking the back. I
Speaker 1: was pleasantly surprise Jalen Phillips his back practicing close to
Speaker 1: full right now. In my play week one sounds like
Speaker 1: you will, which is great news for the Dolphins. But yes,
Speaker 1: Nick Chubb to pup was not a surprise, and they
Speaker 1: activated a four pack of starters though, Dalvin Tomlinson, Judgeak Wills,
Speaker 1: Jack Conklin, and Greg Newsom.
Speaker 3: So that that's.
Speaker 2: Bills and conklind to me and Greg Newsom too. But
Speaker 2: in the back, like that's a great defense. But like,
Speaker 2: let's that O line is a big deal because we
Speaker 2: have I don't know what I'm looking at with that
Speaker 2: Browns offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I and we don't know if they're gonna be
Speaker 1: ready for Week one. Well we'll get there next week.
Speaker 1: But that's just kind of checking box on a story.
Speaker 1: In terms of the Browns that we followed a lot.
Speaker 1: The Seahawks lost Uchenna Nuosu. He only played a handful
Speaker 1: of snaps. He was gonna play one series in that
Speaker 1: last preseason game. Unfortunately got injured. Hurt his knee. He's
Speaker 1: a candidate for injured reserve. The prognosis is two to
Speaker 1: six weeks. They just traded away a pass rusher and
Speaker 1: so then they just traded back for a pass rusher.
Speaker 1: So they traded Darrel Taylor to the Bears. But then
Speaker 1: they get Patrick Trevis Gibson from the Jaguars. You just
Speaker 1: kind of hate to see them lose who I would say,
Speaker 1: if you had to choose one, is maybe their most
Speaker 1: important edge rusher and maybe just defensive lineman.
Speaker 3: Period of Chedna Newils.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't think it was a probably about it.
Speaker 5: And then we saw last year because Mike Max defense
Speaker 5: was so good, Like the contributions from Genevian Clowney, especially
Speaker 5: like early on in the season, were so key, and
Speaker 5: like that edge piece is such a key part. And
Speaker 5: now they're clearly scrambling to do a replacement where just
Speaker 5: at a time where these guys aren't available, like there's
Speaker 5: nobody to go get off the couch or in a
Speaker 5: deal if they're valuable, unless of course it's somebody maybe
Speaker 5: in New York that maybe they don't want to pay
Speaker 5: and maybe we can, Oh, that.
Speaker 1: Would be fun, but they've already traded for Trevis Gibson.
Speaker 3: They traded.
Speaker 5: I don't know if Trevis Gibson precludes you from.
Speaker 3: From doing that move. I guess you're right. That was
Speaker 3: like a late run pick.
Speaker 1: And if the Jaguars are giving up on you as
Speaker 1: an edge guy. It's probably not a great sign, but
Speaker 1: he's been a backup for the Bears before.
Speaker 3: That is a rare case.
Speaker 1: People always say like, hey, you're putting the tape out
Speaker 1: there for the all the other thirty two teams, but
Speaker 1: you actually don't actually see that. Many players get claimed
Speaker 1: off waivers or things happened. But Travis Gibson had like
Speaker 1: a great preseason game right before this trade, and so
Speaker 1: that probably helped him. Yeah, Juju Smith Schuster is back
Speaker 1: with the Chiefs. It was a little surprised about this.
Speaker 1: I guess it's or she Rice insurance.
Speaker 2: I think it's more familiarity with the scheme because now
Speaker 2: you've got you know, Hollywood, You've got Xavier Worthy, you
Speaker 2: have some injuries, and then now you've got a guy
Speaker 2: who knows how to run like he knows the playbook.
Speaker 2: I'm not suggesting it's helpful from the standpoint of fantasy,
Speaker 2: or he's not gonna be catching a bunch of touchdowns,
Speaker 2: but I just think it creates a little bit more
Speaker 2: depth and you don't have to teach someone something they
Speaker 2: already know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, especially considering like Hollywood's had the health concerns this
Speaker 5: preseason as well. You get some you get a guy
Speaker 5: who knows where to go and how to play within.
Speaker 2: The Travis Kelsey still there. They're fine.
Speaker 1: It's I think they're fine, but the vibe, it might
Speaker 1: be maybe it's more vibes too, Like I can't imagine
Speaker 1: Jujus Smith Schuster is active on game day for the Chiefs.
Speaker 3: This is a good wide receiver group.
Speaker 1: And Jujus Smith Schuster did not get cut from the
Speaker 1: Patriots because like he was a problem. It was because
Speaker 1: he couldn't play football anymore. Like his body. Unfortunately. I
Speaker 1: think all those blocks and the way he played football
Speaker 1: kind of like a young heinz Ward.
Speaker 3: It happens in football.
Speaker 1: The body just broke down, where by all accounts in
Speaker 1: Patriots camp is he couldn't move, he couldn't separate, and
Speaker 1: they owed him eight million dollars guaranteed and they still
Speaker 1: cut him.
Speaker 3: So we'll see.
Speaker 1: I guess it's just insurance. Maybe he's someone that really
Speaker 1: is there in case Rashid Rice gets hurt.
Speaker 3: That's my theory. All right.
Speaker 1: Two other weird stories I mentioned Artist Jones the show
Speaker 1: with Nick is on the trade block from the Rams.
Speaker 1: It was clear it came from the team, not from
Speaker 1: the player, just a little update that he's not even
Speaker 1: with the Rams anymore at practice, and Sean McVay was
Speaker 1: uncertain if he ever would be again, and so that
Speaker 1: that says to me, they've just kind of decided they're
Speaker 1: going to trade this dude for whatever reason. We can
Speaker 1: get into another time when it actually happens, but the
Speaker 1: fact he's away from the team tells me it's it's
Speaker 1: probably it for him, which is interesting. He had a
Speaker 1: nice run, was a team captain, helped them win a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. And I think they're going to end up
Speaker 1: starting this undrafted kid, Omar Spate, who they're really high
Speaker 1: on at middle linebacker. And then finally, this is minutia
Speaker 1: that not many shows who would bother to cover, but
Speaker 1: I found it interesting. Did you see the third quarterback
Speaker 1: rule story today? Cynthia, Okay, how do we explain this?
Speaker 1: We thought, because the owners approved a rule that you
Speaker 1: could bring a guy from your practice squad as your
Speaker 1: third quarterback to the active roster for games, that it
Speaker 1: would be easier for teams to kind of keep a
Speaker 1: third quarterback and then you keep activating them.
Speaker 3: It's very small minutia. I didn't know this was a thing.
Speaker 1: But the NFLPA, the Players Assocition Association, had to approve that,
Speaker 1: so it really wasn't a rule, and the Players Association
Speaker 1: said no. The takeaway for me is just that teams
Speaker 1: are more likely to keep quarterbacks right now when they're
Speaker 1: cutting down their players to fifty three this week, right
Speaker 1: it just means.
Speaker 2: They're on the active as opposed to on the practice squad. Yes,
Speaker 2: they're trying to. I think the spirit of it is
Speaker 2: to not hold people on your practice squad, But now
Speaker 2: you're just gonna hold them on your fifty three like
Speaker 2: there aren't thirty two greats, Like there aren't thirty two
Speaker 2: amazing quarterbacks, let alone sixty four or ninety six. Like
Speaker 2: you know. It's it's it's hard to find to get
Speaker 2: quarterback right, especially with injuries.
Speaker 3: And I find this stuff interesting. I guess the.
Speaker 1: Reason they pushed against this, most likely is they just
Speaker 1: want the active roster to be bigger. Stop pretending to
Speaker 1: practice squad is your active roster for people who don't
Speaker 1: pay attention to this type of stuff, which is ninety
Speaker 1: nine percent of the people that you know love.
Speaker 2: In the world.
Speaker 1: They've really changed the practice squad significantly, year after year
Speaker 1: after year where it's this huge thing that you really
Speaker 1: have a seventy man run and you can do all
Speaker 1: these elevations and that I kind of like, but just
Speaker 1: just make it active and so that's going to all
Speaker 1: be part of like the next CBA and making the
Speaker 1: eighteenth game if they re sign stuff. But it never
Speaker 1: made sense to me, like, why can't we have more
Speaker 1: than forty eight players active on a game day?
Speaker 3: Patrick, I don't know.
Speaker 5: Let's carve it out right now, let's carve it out right. Now,
Speaker 5: Let's make this particular point and negotiation and let's go
Speaker 5: from fifty three to something else. Because I definitely understand
Speaker 5: the PA's position in this where we're doing all this
Speaker 5: manipulation with the practice squad and the elevations. Let's just
Speaker 5: pay somebody, right.
Speaker 1: And they do get paid if they're on the active roster, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: when they elevate them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, active has a minimum. Practice does not.
Speaker 3: And then yeah, it's very it's very.
Speaker 2: It's truth the other you know, that's the other thing
Speaker 2: I will say, just to put a point on like
Speaker 2: things people don't like look at. I think the extra
Speaker 2: Coach's Challenge flag is the same thing nobody's thinking about
Speaker 2: we're all talking about the new kickoff rule. Blah blah blah,
Speaker 2: kick off rule. Kickoff rule. Well, now you don't have
Speaker 2: to get both of your challenges right to have the
Speaker 2: third challenge, So you just have three. Like before you
Speaker 2: had to get your both challenges right. You just have
Speaker 2: to get one of the two right now to earn
Speaker 2: your to your earn a third challenge. That's going to
Speaker 2: take certain coaches who are very smart with it up
Speaker 2: a level. They're gonna get another time out basically.
Speaker 1: And then eventually, and I hope too, and plan to
Speaker 1: be doing this NFL Daily Show a long time.
Speaker 2: So if well it's day so you have to do
Speaker 2: it every day, right, right?
Speaker 1: If if we can somehow remember this Eric in the
Speaker 1: year twenty twenty six, when this comes true, eventually, they're
Speaker 1: going to just let you have as many challenges as
Speaker 1: you want if you keep being right.
Speaker 3: Because it's still stupid.
Speaker 1: There will be one game where some coach goes three
Speaker 1: for three and then there's another fourth call, and then
Speaker 1: when after that game happens, then they'll change the rule.
Speaker 3: What do they always wait for like a dumb reason?
Speaker 5: What if hypothetically, yeah, we just we just fix all
Speaker 5: the mistakes without anybody being involved.
Speaker 1: That would be fun too. I'll be without the challenges, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be done. That could have happened sometimes too, that
Speaker 1: would be from the eye.
Speaker 2: But think about it though now. But in the way
Speaker 2: it currently is, you only to be right on half
Speaker 2: of those two childes, why wouldn't you take one that's dicey?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you should get it extra time.
Speaker 1: It's going to be annoying to slow down the game, yes,
Speaker 1: a little bit, but that's how it alwayshould have been anyway.
Speaker 3: So I like it.
Speaker 4: We're not breezing through any of these games.
Speaker 3: Anywhere, I know, Patrick, but Pacer.
Speaker 4: We're sitting there. We're sitting there the entire day on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Pace of Sports. You can feel it.
Speaker 1: It matters that the three to zero one length game,
Speaker 1: it feels way better than three fourteen. I just especially
Speaker 1: as someone that's been watching We've been watching football our
Speaker 1: whole lives. If you're a fan, like the two point
Speaker 1: fifty five game feels great, the three twenty game doesn't
Speaker 1: feel good.
Speaker 3: I'm just telling you. It makes it.
Speaker 5: I could not tell you the length of any particular
Speaker 5: football game that I enjoyed.
Speaker 1: Greg well after the fact, no, but while you're watching it,
Speaker 1: that's what matters. You know what else matters a lot
Speaker 1: is our power pol I mean, this is going to
Speaker 1: determine who's mad and who's happy among all the fan bases.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break and yes, we're gonna
Speaker 1: come back and reveal who are the best teams in
Speaker 1: the worst teams in the NFL.
Speaker 4: Because we know we should get a physical power Pole
Speaker 4: Planet place.
Speaker 3: Back on NFL Daily.
Speaker 1: With my two co hosts of Game Debut, but my
Speaker 1: two coasts of NFL Daily more importantly and uh two
Speaker 1: cost but only once celebrated a birthday this weekend.
Speaker 3: Thanks Happy birthday to Cynthia Freely. Thanks what did you do?
Speaker 2: Nothing too crazy? You know, went to the beach, hung out,
Speaker 2: a little bit chilled out. The dogs were especially nuts.
Speaker 2: So we have two now, two rescue dogs. One came
Speaker 2: from the draft. His name's Clyde. He's getting settled.
Speaker 1: You got one of the dogs that were on the
Speaker 1: stage at the draft or in that from them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty incredible because I think if you know, our
Speaker 1: listeners watched the draft, they saw the whole the dog
Speaker 1: things a thing now at the and you have one
Speaker 1: of them.
Speaker 3: Does that make them more valuable, like more lovable?
Speaker 2: Yeah, people, he's the most level. I mean they're both
Speaker 2: the most little. But here's the thing I don't think,
Speaker 2: you know, Like the cool part of the draft is
Speaker 2: all the wood and like the materials from the draft
Speaker 2: they made into a homeless shelter and a span neuter set,
Speaker 2: So pretty cool, like recycling effort of that huge thing
Speaker 2: that they built. And its not gonna lie like Clyde
Speaker 2: just stole my heart. And I didn't even you know,
Speaker 2: didn't didn't ask Kyle, just showed showed up at.
Speaker 3: Home significant other. Here's not your other dog?
Speaker 2: No, well I didn't ask Gordy Ei though, yes, just
Speaker 2: wanted to clarify. I just showed up.
Speaker 1: But Cynthia, I gotta say, you know her a long time.
Speaker 1: She's doing La right.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: Patrick and I are close. We love our families. We're
Speaker 1: close ish to the beach. But just to live like
Speaker 1: right there in the beach town. If you're gonna live
Speaker 1: in La, just just do it all the way.
Speaker 3: And you do.
Speaker 2: And so you guys at are right because like you
Speaker 2: had your children at like a normal age.
Speaker 3: Well I'm not getting into the children part. Of it.
Speaker 3: I'm more getting into the location.
Speaker 2: We're like what I think we're called like dinks?
Speaker 3: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: Dum heads? Okay, so dinks? Is that a little easier
Speaker 2: to live at the beach?
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like that phrase because it's just sounds negative.
Speaker 1: You're no, it's a great thing. I'm happy for that
Speaker 1: bunch of Eventually I'll steal one of your kids breaking news.
Speaker 3: They're getting too old for that. They'll be they'll be
Speaker 3: in college where you're.
Speaker 2: Difficult to give them back for them, because that's that
Speaker 2: sounds expensive.
Speaker 3: So we each submitted our power pool.
Speaker 1: We did it a little differently because I just thought,
Speaker 1: I know how Cynthia's mind works, and her mind works
Speaker 1: through the machine, through the model, and so I just
Speaker 1: asked for her win projections because the amount of numbers
Speaker 1: and everything that goes into those projections are more significant,
Speaker 1: I would say than Patrick and I just doing it
Speaker 1: off the top of our head. So why don't we
Speaker 1: take those numbers and combine them with what Patrick and
Speaker 1: I ring off the top of our head and create
Speaker 1: an ultimate poll that can't be wrong. So we're going
Speaker 1: to go through in a bunch of different tiers I
Speaker 1: name the Tears, and the first tier we're gonna go
Speaker 1: bottom to top is called the season ends in week eighteen. Now,
Speaker 1: in general, we're not saying these are predictions exactly, it's
Speaker 1: just where they're at right now. But I just decided
Speaker 1: that these eight teams, it would be very surprising if
Speaker 1: they made the playoffs. And the NFL we're selling hope
Speaker 1: at this time of year, and so when I think hope,
Speaker 1: I think you got a chance.
Speaker 3: To make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And look the teams on this list, they have a chance.
Speaker 1: But to me, they are the eight teams how I
Speaker 1: would categorize it. If they made the playoffs, I personally
Speaker 1: would be surprised. Number thirty two the Patriots, Wow, sad
Speaker 1: times thirty one, the Panthers, number thirty Giants, this is
Speaker 1: a nice music. Number twenty nine the Broncos.
Speaker 4: Music is perfect.
Speaker 3: Number twenty eight the Titans.
Speaker 2: I like how you said that Titans.
Speaker 1: I drop that tea offense now I'm trying to h Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I like it. The Raiders are twenty seven. Commanders at
Speaker 1: twenty six a little higher than would in twenty five Cardinals,
Speaker 1: a little higher than I would have expected.
Speaker 3: So maybe I'll start there. You guys are a.
Speaker 1: Little higher on the Commanders than I was when I
Speaker 1: when I looked at all of our boards that you know, putting.
Speaker 2: On another twenty five, like why the other team in
Speaker 2: your division also appears on that list. It just makes
Speaker 2: it a little bit easier.
Speaker 3: Okay, that helps.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the significant gap there.
Speaker 5: And I already said I was irrationally a little too
Speaker 5: high on the Washington Commanders, and I'm sticking with that.
Speaker 5: Uh I, A couple of those teams are significantly below
Speaker 5: where I had the Commanders, and so that that's it.
Speaker 3: You had him twenty five, by the way, and Cynthia
Speaker 3: had him twenty four overall, so you were pretty much aligned.
Speaker 3: I was the only one, you know, I had a
Speaker 3: bottom three. I was.
Speaker 1: I just look at everything but Jaden Daniels and Terry
Speaker 1: McLaurin and think, yeah, I don't know, doesn't look very
Speaker 1: good in the defensive tackles and maybe the you know,
Speaker 1: coaching staff as a whole. I like Dan Quinn, like
Speaker 1: as a as a whole, and maybe on defense, no,
Speaker 1: I think as a guy who maybe can well yeah
Speaker 1: he's bring a team together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think I'd flipped the Broncos and the
Speaker 2: and the Raiders.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you brought up Broncos. Yeah, you were on
Speaker 3: the sidelined.
Speaker 2: Bronco preseason, but I would flip them. And I also
Speaker 2: went to Raiders camp too, so I've seen them both
Speaker 2: driving up close and in person. But I think I
Speaker 2: would flip the Broncos and the I actually had the
Speaker 2: Broncos much higher than the two of you, which surprised me.
Speaker 2: You had him second to last, Patrick, you were in
Speaker 2: between me and I didn't think I had him that high.
Speaker 2: But I guess Patrick, you're not really buying or feeling
Speaker 2: the positive preseason vibes. I feel like no fan base
Speaker 2: in the entire league has better vibes just based off
Speaker 2: the last month where they suddenly they think they are contenders.
Speaker 5: And most importantly the last three weeks of those months. Yeah,
Speaker 5: because when I was at Broncos joining camp, it was
Speaker 5: not pretty. It was decidedly not pretty. I remember on
Speaker 5: this show I said I thought Jared Sidham was gonna
Speaker 5: win the job. I told that Santhia Sting was like, no, Patrick,
Speaker 5: this is bo Nix's job. And apparently Bo really got
Speaker 5: a whole lot better after I left and I'm glad
Speaker 5: that he did, but I still don't like just looking
Speaker 5: at the rest of the roster and the way things are,
Speaker 5: it's tough for me to have them that much higher
Speaker 5: than everybody else that we had.
Speaker 4: In that group.
Speaker 2: I just I think that the I think that the
Speaker 2: the thing with the thing that the Broncos have going
Speaker 2: for them is they're all rowing in the same direction
Speaker 2: this year. You know, they're a really young team. Uh,
Speaker 2: they're very like they decided to be Bill Parcell's model.
Speaker 2: They have big pass catchers, they're all huge, like you know,
Speaker 2: don't even let their names for you. Little Jordan Humphrey,
Speaker 2: he is massive, right, So all big receivers, big targets.
Speaker 2: Greg Dolcic is back who you know, you know, a
Speaker 2: Sean Payton offense executes best when there's a really great
Speaker 2: tight end. And Boonix listens to what his coach wants
Speaker 2: him to do and does it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, as oppose to the last quarterback. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it could be an upgrade.
Speaker 2: But he's like a Hall of Fame like.
Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, Vance Joseph you know, just hasn't had a
Speaker 1: I will say defense in a while.
Speaker 2: Not list you put a white corner in and I
Speaker 2: love you Riley Moss.
Speaker 3: Baby, he might be Cooper Degene.
Speaker 2: To uh oh, I think hell, I haven't seen starting lineup,
Speaker 2: but Riley Moss actually played really really well, Like it
Speaker 2: was really impressive to watch. And I mean Patzertan is
Speaker 2: quietly should be getting paid, like quietly not saying all
Speaker 2: the things that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, Sean Payton when he's asked about Patrick
Speaker 1: Sirtan is a little cagey that like, hey, he's.
Speaker 3: Kind of good. He kind of is like he's got
Speaker 3: to prove it to me. Then he is.
Speaker 1: He's downing Is a year ago. It's just a small thing.
Speaker 1: I have to admit though, Patrick, I hate this. This
Speaker 1: is the problem with the preseason because I was very
Speaker 1: down on this Broncos team as just like they're not talented.
Speaker 2: They're fun though, they're having fun on the sideline.
Speaker 1: And this this whole vibes thing. Plus Sean Payton is
Speaker 1: just telling you he like can't lose more than nine games.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of been proven so far and last
Speaker 1: year even last year he did and so then now
Speaker 1: it's like now I kind of see it. So I
Speaker 1: was the one who ranked him higher than you I
Speaker 1: just had him like twenty fourth or whatever. But I
Speaker 1: just thought, Okay, maybe they're just gonna be seven and
Speaker 1: nine again. Maybe I was wrong, but I hate falling
Speaker 1: for the vibes in this month.
Speaker 2: Okay, but the run game. You don't have to fall
Speaker 2: for the vibes. But the run game and stopping the
Speaker 2: runner to Baron Browning is starting this season not injured.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of good things going on. I mean,
Speaker 2: Malcolm Roach came in there with all of it. He's
Speaker 2: like the most fun I want to have.
Speaker 3: Okay, Broncos employee, I get it.
Speaker 2: I'm just telling you what I saw firsthand, and it
Speaker 2: was good things. And by the way, fantasy players, we
Speaker 2: do fantasy whatever. Javonte Williams looks great, and so does
Speaker 2: Audric Estimate. Audrick Estimate, Notre Dame. His biceps are the
Speaker 2: size of like tree trunks.
Speaker 3: Shook like Nick Shook.
Speaker 2: There, they look like Nick Schuk's arms. And he's not
Speaker 2: as tall as Nick Shook. Nick Schok's much bigger man
Speaker 2: than Audrey.
Speaker 5: I'm like Geez, which is even more impressive for Shook
Speaker 5: that he's a chair.
Speaker 4: He's got the pythons like that at his.
Speaker 2: Height, it's incredible. It's incredible, but it's anyway.
Speaker 3: We finally didn't wear a tank top on our Sunday
Speaker 3: night show. Why it was nice to me.
Speaker 1: Let's talk Titans before we get out of by the way,
Speaker 1: let's just rest in Peaceton, New England.
Speaker 3: Patriots just that.
Speaker 1: Okay, they're they're dead last, and they're the Vegas favorite
Speaker 1: for the first overall pick, and everyone's just like, yep,
Speaker 1: I had them twenty I I had a fourth to
Speaker 1: last Patriots fans out there, But these two.
Speaker 5: Guys, these before I saw the offensive line in the
Speaker 5: preseason game, I wish there was a thirty three.
Speaker 1: One thing I'll say about that offensive line is almost
Speaker 1: none of those players are going to be playing the
Speaker 1: same position in Week one. Now that's a problem in itself, yes,
Speaker 1: but they were trying something and didn't work.
Speaker 3: It didn't work.
Speaker 2: They're just not showing us any Let's put a positives fat.
Speaker 2: They're not showing us anything, you know.
Speaker 1: I like their quarterback better than a lot of this
Speaker 1: bottom tier. I will say that, like I said, Cardinals,
Speaker 1: Commanders Raiders, yea Cardinal's getting a little bit of love
Speaker 1: up towards the top of this Raiders, Titans, Broncos, Giants, Panthers, Patriots.
Speaker 1: Let's just talk Titans very quickly, because I feel like
Speaker 1: they are the team I have not talked about.
Speaker 2: Like lost in the sauce, Like I feel like I
Speaker 2: don't hear as much about them either.
Speaker 1: I am hopeful that Brian Callahan and his pops can
Speaker 1: create watchable off because of the offensive line just improving
Speaker 1: that much. If you go from thirty second, thirty first
Speaker 1: offensive line to thirteenth or fourteenth through scheme, then suddenly
Speaker 1: the guys they have can look a lot better.
Speaker 3: And litl Levis is a little fun. Do you have
Speaker 3: any hope for the.
Speaker 1: Is there anyone in this group, by the way, where
Speaker 1: you you think they do have a playoff chance?
Speaker 3: A real playoff chance.
Speaker 2: I'm looking, I'm trying to remember the group again.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm I'm not gonna sit here and say that
Speaker 4: they have no chance.
Speaker 3: Like I pay you would be surprised.
Speaker 4: I would be significantly surprised. I have them just behind
Speaker 4: a few teams.
Speaker 5: That I also don't think are going into the playoffs,
Speaker 5: But I don't think Titans.
Speaker 4: They're not.
Speaker 5: They're not in my bottom tier where it's like I
Speaker 5: would be shocked.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I look the Titans, if they can, if they can,
Speaker 2: I just have a lot of questions, right, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously DeAndre Hopkins not playing in the beginning, Like that's
Speaker 2: a big loss, big target there. It's a Calvin Ridley's
Speaker 2: team now, like.
Speaker 3: What like that and some weird reports about Calvin Ridley
Speaker 3: in practice.
Speaker 2: But right, that's what I mean, Like you've been hearing
Speaker 2: all these conflicting things and then you have some like
Speaker 2: pieces on the defense like maybe we're all not seeing
Speaker 2: anything right, Maybe maybe we just have no idea. Tough division,
Speaker 2: too tough division, very exciting division, up and coming division.
Speaker 2: So I don't know, Like that's not the one I
Speaker 2: would pick on that list that had the better.
Speaker 1: Okay, shout out to the Cardinals just for getting to
Speaker 1: twenty five. Yeah, I think they've got They've got some
Speaker 1: uphill uphill climb here to be a good team. But
Speaker 1: the fact that they're twenty five, hete helps when we
Speaker 1: have a quarterback. We believe in you Cardinals. All right,
Speaker 1: our next group and this is the smallest one that
Speaker 1: we have. Oh I called this trapped in the nether world. Yes,
Speaker 1: number twenty four Vikings, number twenty three Chargers and number
Speaker 1: twenty two Saints. These are the teams that are just
Speaker 1: kind of like in the bermu To triangle of like
Speaker 1: the NFL. To me right now, Vikings, Chargers, Saints. Where
Speaker 1: are they?
Speaker 3: We don't know. They're trapped in the nether world Fitzpatrick.
Speaker 4: And also I love them use the nether world sounds fighting.
Speaker 5: It's it's creeping me out, literally, Yeah, especially considering the
Speaker 5: quarterback in this particular group, like one of them being
Speaker 5: Sam Donald, and so there's a Sam Darnald factor there.
Speaker 5: But between Carr and Herbo, like, these guys have won
Speaker 5: a lot of games, and you wonder what the particular I.
Speaker 1: Thought you were gonna say one quarterback really stands out
Speaker 1: out of these three.
Speaker 5: Yes, well, yeah, for sure he does.
Speaker 4: But everything that changed. They lose so much talent, and.
Speaker 5: I'm not necessarily the biggest Greg Roman fan or believer,
Speaker 5: and so that's where I had them there. I'm a
Speaker 5: little surprised that you guys kind of felt the same
Speaker 5: way I did about the Chargers, but with so much
Speaker 5: talent leaving, like, where's where's it coming from?
Speaker 2: I understand that they want run the foot. I don't
Speaker 2: think they've made any I mean clearly, and I think
Speaker 2: taking Joe out was a great decision. It doesn't make
Speaker 2: this year easier though, And is lad McConkie going to
Speaker 2: be your lead receiver? Like, I don't know, even if
Speaker 2: he's awesome, that's still a rookie and rookies notoriously have
Speaker 2: a hard time against these NFL defenses. They're not easy
Speaker 2: to pick up right away. And you're in the AFC
Speaker 2: West for goodness sake.
Speaker 1: Also was a guy that was like a role player
Speaker 1: more or less in college. I mean, he just wasn't
Speaker 1: like a one you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying confusing right Like like I like him.
Speaker 2: I think for fantasy he could be a great pick,
Speaker 2: like for a later round guy like cool, but for
Speaker 2: real football to hard to distinguish it. I actually thought
Speaker 2: that those Saints were going to be down in that
Speaker 2: not making the playoff's division.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to separate these three because well, like
Speaker 1: it's how the numbers spit him out too.
Speaker 3: But I thought they fit well together because.
Speaker 2: So they do for sure.
Speaker 1: I think I think they could make the playoffs if
Speaker 1: in fact we have. We haven't done our predictions here,
Speaker 1: but I look at this exercise power ranking as different
Speaker 1: than predictions. If you're telling me the Chargers get that
Speaker 1: last day spot because they have a great coach and
Speaker 1: a great quarterback and they scheme up their defense a
Speaker 1: little bit, that to me wouldn't be that surprising if it,
Speaker 1: like the Saints, they won nine games last year, and
Speaker 1: there's a reason to believe they're the same essentially, and
Speaker 1: and the Vikings are actually sneaky talent.
Speaker 2: Well, so here's the one thing, the little trick of
Speaker 2: the schedule. Yeah, this NFC South plays the AFC West,
Speaker 2: So it would be more likely in my view that
Speaker 2: the Chargers would make it than the Saints because it then,
Speaker 2: you know, like the the Chargers get to play perhaps
Speaker 2: you know some other teams that appear like the Panthers,
Speaker 2: right like so, and I know that the Saints do too,
Speaker 2: but that Saints also have to play like.
Speaker 1: It's just I'm debating between Chargers and Jags maybe as
Speaker 1: like my surprisey.
Speaker 2: Is it with the Jags. We're surprid.
Speaker 1: I don't know, no one's paying attention to them. That's
Speaker 1: all definitely not okay, what do you mean, I'll just
Speaker 1: kidd it frisky.
Speaker 5: It's yeah, it's I feel the Jags defensive doubts have
Speaker 5: been strong in your mind for a company.
Speaker 3: Yes, let's go to the next one, because the Jacks
Speaker 3: are in it.
Speaker 1: It's called frisky, and these are just these are just
Speaker 1: the teams that I conder prisky twenty one, The Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay Buccaneers yep, number twenty, The Chicago Bears not as
Speaker 1: much love as I expected, number nineteen, The Steelers number eighteen,
Speaker 1: the Colts number seventeen, the Jaguars number sixteen, the Seahawks
Speaker 1: number fifteen, the Browns now Patrick. You mentioned Jacksonville. I've
Speaker 1: had doubts about that, Devens. I gotta say, having John
Speaker 1: Shipley on the show and hearing about Ryan Nielsen, sometimes
Speaker 1: scheme can make up a big difference.
Speaker 3: Trevon Walker's a little better.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm a little more thinking about Okay, this could
Speaker 1: be a good year for Trev and people are kind
Speaker 1: of forgetting about them. But I really like the Colts too.
Speaker 1: I had a hard time separating those two teams. I
Speaker 1: had them both, both of them. I had actually a
Speaker 1: little higher than this seventeen eighteen ranking. Wow, the Bucks
Speaker 1: are the last group, the last team in this frisky
Speaker 1: I think they're frisky, and they're not even in the
Speaker 1: same category as the Falcons because of you guys.
Speaker 5: It's no love for the Bucks. It's no anti it's
Speaker 5: not being anti Bucks's. I appreciate those teams that are
Speaker 5: ahead of them. I too like the Colts and the Jags.
Speaker 5: I think being in the division with the Texans makes
Speaker 5: things a little more difficult for them.
Speaker 1: But as far as the over you can say that,
Speaker 1: but you can also rank them twentieth when I ad
Speaker 1: them sixteen.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm just saying the results may not ultimately reveal
Speaker 5: like my particular rankings. Okay, but that's because the results
Speaker 5: don't always indicate how good the actual football team.
Speaker 1: You have the Jags, though, Patrick, and then we'll move
Speaker 1: to you, Cynthia. Yeah, significantly higher than the Cults. So
Speaker 1: between those two teams, why do you like the Jags?
Speaker 1: Why do you put them a little higher?
Speaker 5: I think experience as well as continuity, and I like
Speaker 5: you value what John says about the Jags, and I
Speaker 5: think they're getting better.
Speaker 2: My only rank, like, the reason that the Bucks end
Speaker 2: up becoming low for me is because my model doesn't
Speaker 2: love the South in general, So it's very narrow between
Speaker 2: who comes out of it, between the Falcons and the Bucks.
Speaker 2: I think it's hard when you don't have We have
Speaker 2: yet to see them have like a very consistent run game,
Speaker 2: and no matter what quarterback you are, that is hard
Speaker 2: to do. I do love that Mike Evans and Chris
Speaker 2: Godwin both seem to be healthy, and Godwin's back in
Speaker 2: the slot. That is good, but it's very hard to consistently.
Speaker 2: But they've got a lot of turnover on their defense.
Speaker 2: And I know Todd Bowles is a defensive minded head coach,
Speaker 2: but I still need to see it all kind of
Speaker 2: put together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in this exercise, again, it's a power ranking. It's
Speaker 1: not exactly like our predictions. Now this season, we see
Speaker 1: the Browns as a mid level team and we.
Speaker 2: Well, the Browns, no, no, no, they're an elite defense,
Speaker 2: best defense one two maybe. But I don't know what
Speaker 2: am I looking at with offense and when will Nick
Speaker 2: chop me back? I love Nick Chubb, but like I'm confused.
Speaker 2: I want to know what I'm looking at in the offense.
Speaker 2: I want consistency.
Speaker 1: Someone pointed out now I forget who it was a
Speaker 1: stat that shook me. I'm was it me down on
Speaker 1: the Browns relatively because of their defense, not because they
Speaker 1: won't be good, but just because they won't be as good.
Speaker 1: And I think it was that they gave up twenty
Speaker 1: nine plus points per game on the road last year.
Speaker 1: I just like, man, that's half the season. They were
Speaker 1: a bad defense. They were literally one of the worst defenses.
Speaker 1: So that there, and they were so dominant and they
Speaker 1: would it's just kind of random and its schedule and
Speaker 1: backups and so yeah, like them and the Seahawks to
Speaker 1: me were perfect teams to be fifteen and sixteen because
Speaker 1: if you each of those teams, I think they certainly
Speaker 1: have a chance to make the playoffs. I think each
Speaker 1: of those teams have a chance to win the division, yep,
Speaker 1: if everything goes right, because the talent that they do
Speaker 1: have is like top tier talent, and that's what defines
Speaker 1: a frisky team.
Speaker 3: Do you think of my title of.
Speaker 5: The Yeah, I love frisky because those teams. Every team
Speaker 5: that's within frisky has a propensity, has a quarterback that
Speaker 5: they can put that can put points on the board
Speaker 5: and maybe he can be a round it yeah, like
Speaker 5: Baker could light it up with anybody.
Speaker 1: But also Caleb too, I think Caleb, Caleb's gonna be
Speaker 1: I'd rather have Caleb than Baker obviously even this year
Speaker 1: by by a decent amount. And yet I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna have some magical games and he'll have some learning
Speaker 1: moments to this, you know, probably lower today than they
Speaker 1: would have been if we did this exercise a month ago.
Speaker 1: I think they are taking a little bit of heat,
Speaker 1: a little bit up, but maybe even unfair just recency
Speaker 1: bias because just the preseasons left a bad taste in
Speaker 1: her mouth.
Speaker 3: Let's go.
Speaker 1: And so all those teams, we think, at least for me,
Speaker 1: I'm speaking for myself, that if they made the playoffs
Speaker 1: wouldn't be that big of a So we're like, we
Speaker 1: have about twenty one of those teams where I think
Speaker 1: their fans would be kind of disappointed if they didn't
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. So that's why, Yep, it's tough. The
Speaker 1: next one, it's more definitive. If these five teams don't
Speaker 1: make the playoffs, it kind of equals problems, whether that
Speaker 1: means changes in staff in terms of coaching, or just
Speaker 1: criticism oh from their fan base, like their fans expect
Speaker 1: them to make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Let's take a look at it.
Speaker 1: Number fourteen, the Falcons number thirteen, the Jets number twelve,
Speaker 1: the Rams number eleven, the Cowboys and how about the
Speaker 1: Dolphins sneaking in the top ten here? But I was
Speaker 1: a little harsh and decided to cut the tier. Lie
Speaker 1: right there. I wasn't gonna put them in the tier above,
Speaker 1: even though the numbers kind of said I should have.
Speaker 1: So that's where you can just put your finger on
Speaker 1: the scale if you host the freaking show.
Speaker 2: Cynthia, I like it. The Dolphins, to me, a lot
Speaker 2: of that comes down to injuries. Yes, Like I mean,
Speaker 2: and look, I'm gonna be I'm not going to be
Speaker 2: popular for saying this, but do we really seeing the
Speaker 2: Cowboys are that good?
Speaker 3: We had them eleventh?
Speaker 1: I mean, all fans expect them to be twelve games
Speaker 1: in the last two years, so they've they have a
Speaker 1: great quarterback. Yes, and they have and CD if I
Speaker 1: you know, to me, the best defensive player in the world,
Speaker 1: if I had to choose one, agreed.
Speaker 2: So, but I'm really worried about their O line and
Speaker 2: Ezekiel Elliott forecasts to be their starting right back. I'm
Speaker 2: just saying, like, I'm just a little like that one's
Speaker 2: a little that one's a little high for me.
Speaker 3: Okay, but they get to play. I mean, I'm pushing
Speaker 3: back on you.
Speaker 1: And yet when it comes to predictions, like I might
Speaker 1: not I might just have them out of the playoffs
Speaker 1: because I feel like I need to have a few
Speaker 1: teams in and out and I'm not picking them the
Speaker 1: win the division. So like there's a chance there that
Speaker 1: it falls apart a little bit power rankings wise, when
Speaker 1: you just look at experience, coaching staff, the roster that
Speaker 1: they have, I'm even feeling a little better about these
Speaker 1: rookie offensive linemen.
Speaker 3: What what stands out to you out of that group?
Speaker 5: Patrick, It's the Dolphins. I have the Dolphins significantly higher
Speaker 5: than that. I understand that there's been Oh.
Speaker 1: That was you were the one that did it, so
Speaker 1: you had yeah Dolphins six. Yeah, you were the one
Speaker 1: that did it, and I had them twelve. So I
Speaker 1: have a high too. It's just all it's all about injuries.
Speaker 3: Okay, six, that's awesome.
Speaker 5: Like why just I think time together continuities was the
Speaker 5: biggest part of the way that I put my list together. Multimately,
Speaker 5: you've you've seen the Chiefs went back to back Super Bowls.
Speaker 5: They they've been able to maintain continuity among key parts
Speaker 5: of the staff and the team, And I just think
Speaker 5: the longer you keep a group together, the better the
Speaker 5: results get. As other teams, like some of that we'll
Speaker 5: talk about coming up here, are getting worse. Like I
Speaker 5: think there's some title contenders that are actually getting worse.
Speaker 5: And if those teams are getting worse, then you've got
Speaker 5: teams that are up and coming that get better. And
Speaker 5: I think Miami falls into that. But oh, I know,
Speaker 5: we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 3: How things got a lot of questions though offense.
Speaker 2: I feel like this line agreed. I think these of
Speaker 2: all the divisions the AFC East comes down to people's availability.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of injured players on the Bills. There's
Speaker 2: a lot of injured players on the Dolphins. There's a
Speaker 2: lot of injured players, or the Jets maybe don't have
Speaker 2: people come in.
Speaker 3: The Jets tenth which is higher than Patrick by a
Speaker 3: good amount. Patrick Adam in the middle.
Speaker 1: I was kind of between you two, and then I
Speaker 1: notice you have Bill's Dolphins, Jets eight nine tens, so
Speaker 1: you see those three AFC.
Speaker 2: Sorry, what happens is when you do projections, when things
Speaker 2: are close. It gets close to point five, right, So
Speaker 2: I don't have anyone in that division having like zero
Speaker 2: point six wins, meaning sixty sixty percent of the time
Speaker 2: they win. And you know how finnicky the model is.
Speaker 2: You both do, so I think like it's going to be.
Speaker 2: It's very volatile, like the stock market the past few weeks,
Speaker 2: a lot of vics. The vix is high here.
Speaker 1: Rams I think would have gotten a little more pop
Speaker 1: coming into this season. They're twelfth here, Falcons are fourteenth.
Speaker 1: If it wasn't for the preseason injuries, just dimming them,
Speaker 1: just the little.
Speaker 2: Injuries they were, it was a totally like that number
Speaker 2: significantly changed.
Speaker 1: They're the A lot of these teams to me are
Speaker 1: boomer busts. Actually, I should have called that this section
Speaker 1: not just no playoffs equals problems boomer bus because Dolphins, Cowboys, Rams, Debts,
Speaker 1: Falcons for me high ceiling also could easily miss the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and that wouldn't shock me. I'm not as high on
Speaker 1: the Falcons as you guys. I just got to see it.
Speaker 1: To me, a lot of questions on the defense and
Speaker 1: even the offense, which has a lot of name value.
Speaker 1: I gotta see it, although I looked at their schedule
Speaker 1: and man, after their bye, if you were trying to
Speaker 1: create and who knows how it's going to work out,
Speaker 1: if you were trying to create like the easiest six
Speaker 1: or seven games slate you possibly could, That's what the
Speaker 1: Falcons are after their by.
Speaker 2: If the Falcons don't win, that's the biggest, no problem,
Speaker 2: like like if they is it.
Speaker 3: Like they pushed Oh here's the thing that's a new
Speaker 3: staff and.
Speaker 2: Uh, it's it's I don't know, people have gotten fired
Speaker 2: after one year before in life.
Speaker 3: Like all they got to do is like win nine games.
Speaker 2: I just think, No, I just think if they don't
Speaker 2: somehow make the playoffs, it's going to be.
Speaker 3: Well, that's true.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true of the Jets and the Cowboys, certainly
Speaker 1: of this tier. All right, let's take a quick break
Speaker 1: and then we'll hit the final two tiers back on
Speaker 1: NFL Daily Waited all show to find out who are
Speaker 1: the nine teams nine that are the very best in
Speaker 1: the NFL. And this next tier is five of them
Speaker 1: that I'm calling just it wouldn't be a shock if
Speaker 1: we made the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: I'm using that word shock.
Speaker 1: If you see these teams in the super Bowl, it
Speaker 1: wouldn't be that surprising.
Speaker 3: So let's start at number nine. The Packers, who I
Speaker 3: expect is.
Speaker 1: Gonna get are going to get a lot of like
Speaker 1: they make the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: Love.
Speaker 1: I was thinking of going that way. Number eight Bengals,
Speaker 1: Number seven Eagles.
Speaker 2: You were thinking of picking the Packers to win the.
Speaker 1: Super Bowl all off season. I thought I was going
Speaker 1: to and then I'm coming off of it now. Uh,
Speaker 1: six Bills, five Texans. How about the Texans being in
Speaker 1: the top five after being thirty two in this exercise
Speaker 1: if we did it a year ago.
Speaker 3: That's an awesome group. And uh, where do you want
Speaker 3: to start?
Speaker 1: How about the Bengals, Cynthia, You had him number five,
Speaker 1: I believe, so that was the highest of the three
Speaker 1: of us, and I wanted you to.
Speaker 4: Talk about it.
Speaker 2: Fourth place schedule, baby, Yeah, that's a huge deal. Fourth
Speaker 2: place schedule for Joey b and his guy Jamar Chase,
Speaker 2: who I fully expect to be all good. He's practicing now, Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's practicing, which means likely playing. And I'm not breaking
Speaker 2: new yet because we don't know. But you know, I
Speaker 2: think it's very interesting how things like these small those
Speaker 2: three unique games can make such a big difference, especially
Speaker 2: in the North where that's the most difficult division football
Speaker 2: in my decimation, So that's truly Yeah.
Speaker 1: You had them ahead of the Ravens by a tiny time,
Speaker 1: and in this exercise, Patrick and I and it to
Speaker 1: me it's power rankings too, as the best team where
Speaker 1: they're at now, we had a pretty big gap between
Speaker 1: the Ravens, and.
Speaker 2: I know you power ranked it, but I did it
Speaker 2: by winter. I know, and I'm just saying I think
Speaker 2: I think the Ravens are a better team, but I
Speaker 2: think the Bengals have a better schedule.
Speaker 3: It's a good combo.
Speaker 1: You had them at a tenth, which is relatively low,
Speaker 1: but I guess not. They finished eighth, and they're in
Speaker 1: this group where you wouldn't be surprised to be covering
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow in New Orleans.
Speaker 5: Oh not at all. And I think they are a
Speaker 5: better team than they were last year. That would be
Speaker 5: fun even even without right the Burrow Joe being back.
Speaker 5: It is something I talked about all last season. We
Speaker 5: were actually talked about it earlier today that the Bengals
Speaker 5: lost like ninety six percent of their snaps at safety
Speaker 5: and then they come into last season and it looked
Speaker 5: bad on the back end, and so they go get you,
Speaker 5: you know, stone von Bell comes back. It seems like
Speaker 5: an admission. Okay, we need that. Yeah, And so I
Speaker 5: feel better about the the team as a whole.
Speaker 4: And I think Andre Jose of us looked.
Speaker 3: Incredible, complete player.
Speaker 4: I think the whole time that.
Speaker 5: I was there for Bengals camp, and so I believe
Speaker 5: in the offense, think the defense is better.
Speaker 4: I think they're a good team.
Speaker 1: It's funny the Texans finished fifth, None of them, none
Speaker 1: of us actually had them as high as five, but
Speaker 1: it was just six seven six. We all see them
Speaker 1: in that group. Just the talent's pretty overwhelming. Eagles was
Speaker 1: a team that I thought I'd be the highest on
Speaker 1: idem seventh.
Speaker 3: Cynthia had him second love it.
Speaker 2: They might they might be my super Bowl team. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't do this, but I have to look and
Speaker 2: see how everything shakes out once all these fifty three
Speaker 2: are set.
Speaker 1: But I kind of wanted to. I'm thinking about them.
Speaker 1: I picked them to the super Bowl the last two years.
Speaker 1: One year that was a fiasco, one year it was fantastic.
Speaker 2: So well, no, I mean the way that I this
Speaker 2: one's interesting because I think they're super boom or bust,
Speaker 2: like if things start to go a little teeter tottery
Speaker 2: for them, like that could be the ones who, like
Speaker 2: I think that they're just by talent alone exactly really
Speaker 2: really strong team. But so if something did go wrong,
Speaker 2: I do see this as being like like that would
Speaker 2: be terrible. So but you know what, the Niners, who
Speaker 2: are the other class of the division or the class
Speaker 2: of the NFC. To me, they're seemingly in a lot
Speaker 2: of question marks too. So who's unquestion mark?
Speaker 1: Ye, no, buddy, that's a great question. I had the
Speaker 1: Bills higher than you guys. I would have had them
Speaker 1: in my first tier. I just I don't get the
Speaker 1: I don't know if doubts the right word, but you
Speaker 1: have the Dolphins ahead of the Bills, for instance, Patrick,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I To me, it's just like they
Speaker 1: are the closest thing to the Chiefs in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I know they haven't won the Super Bowls and he's not,
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes, he's not, but they are the other team
Speaker 1: forty nine ers obviously, I meant in the AFC, just
Speaker 1: like they're so consistent. They I just know who they
Speaker 1: are on defense in terms of the schematic advantage McDermott provides.
Speaker 1: And I know who Josh Allen is, and I'm not
Speaker 1: really worried about anything else.
Speaker 2: I'm worried about the defense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, I'm gonna Matt.
Speaker 2: Malano not being there. Their safeties are complete.
Speaker 1: You guys have them eighths, not like you have them buried,
Speaker 1: but you do have them a tier lower than they
Speaker 1: probably would have been the last few years.
Speaker 2: In the sex or so right now, I mean, this
Speaker 2: is the first time we'll see the no mic Micah
Speaker 2: Hyde or Jordan Poyer at safety in however many years.
Speaker 2: That's a big thing. And they're two starting corners, and
Speaker 2: they're three starting corners. The best one was probably Tron Johnson. Like,
Speaker 2: that's scary, man, I'm.
Speaker 5: Gonna need somebody on the defensive side of the ball
Speaker 5: to be closer to Chris Jones before I say that.
Speaker 4: They're the closest thing to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 2: What about fun Miller.
Speaker 5: No, I mean we got we got twenty twenty fourteen
Speaker 5: Vaughn like busting through. You're right, yeah, but it's just
Speaker 5: it's all Josh, and I love Josh, but it can't
Speaker 5: just all be Josh. At this point, it seems.
Speaker 1: Like good line, good system. I think good depth throughout
Speaker 1: the depth chart. Maybe a wide receiver, not as many startes.
Speaker 1: I no, I disagree. I think I think they're deep
Speaker 1: enough in the at least at cornerback and at wide receiver.
Speaker 1: Maybe not, maybe not top shelf talent, but like enough
Speaker 1: be enough B level play.
Speaker 2: I hope, like see I look to me, Josh cares
Speaker 2: a lot of evils, and that old line cares a
Speaker 2: lot of evils as well. I think the way you
Speaker 2: navigate this is, can they solidify the run game, Because
Speaker 2: if they have a really solid run game that's not
Speaker 2: just Josh, that'll be fine because they can control the clock.
Speaker 2: If they can't, they can put themselves in more manageable
Speaker 2: downs and distances, anticipate what passes are coming against them.
Speaker 2: But I would really feel better if Matt Malana were there.
Speaker 1: Agree, And I think Bill and he might be by December.
Speaker 1: So they just got to stay in the mix and
Speaker 1: we'll see the final group.
Speaker 3: We went shocking.
Speaker 1: It's the teams that were in the final four, but
Speaker 1: it's a power pool. It's the favorites. The Lion's fourth
Speaker 1: so that should make you feel better, Cynthia, that they're
Speaker 1: not higher. That's right, Lions fourth, Ravens third, forty nine
Speaker 1: or second, Chiefs first. So basically how the last season,
Speaker 1: and that's fine. It's a power pool and there's really
Speaker 1: not huge reasons to go against any of these teams.
Speaker 1: The forty nine ers maybe in the short term, but
Speaker 1: in the long term, it's kind of hard to argue
Speaker 1: with who they've been and I'm finding, at least for
Speaker 1: this exercise, not a lot of juice here, not a
Speaker 1: lot of disagreement. We all had the Chiefs first, none
Speaker 1: of us had the forty nine Ers anywhere lower than third,
Speaker 1: and the others were pretty consistent too.
Speaker 3: We were basically in agreement on these teams.
Speaker 1: If there was a team here, I'm going to just
Speaker 1: go hard because I'd be surprised if any of these
Speaker 1: teams didn't make the playoffs. But if you had to
Speaker 1: choose one of these four teams that did not make
Speaker 1: the playoffs, I actually think I would choose the.
Speaker 5: Forty nine ers.
Speaker 4: We're lock solid.
Speaker 2: Day.
Speaker 5: We talked about all the weird stuff that's going on.
Speaker 3: In the division and the schedule.
Speaker 2: I mean, think about it first, games against the Jets.
Speaker 2: That's like a hard first one if things aren't put
Speaker 2: back together, and like once that like, it's hard to
Speaker 2: get things back together if you don't get the you
Speaker 2: don't get the chemistry going. And you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I also just trust quarterbacks more, and I think the
Speaker 2: quarterbacks and those other teams are just significantly more trustable.
Speaker 1: I find it interesting how the Chiefs look on paper
Speaker 1: when the last couple of years on paper going into
Speaker 1: the year, there was actually more concerns about them, yep,
Speaker 1: and you know, they won the Super Bowl both.
Speaker 3: Of those years.
Speaker 1: This year it feels like there's less and I don't know,
Speaker 1: there's not really many things to pick apart with them.
Speaker 3: Maybe the corner back then.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we do kind of handwave away lugarious need in
Speaker 5: his department a little bit.
Speaker 4: But it's hard to overlook.
Speaker 3: To me, it's more human nature.
Speaker 1: I got into it with Pete Sweeney and Arrowhead Pride
Speaker 1: that to me, it's more just like human nature. And
Speaker 1: even that might not be or just like the luck
Speaker 1: of the draw that like, hey, you just might not
Speaker 1: get through this single elimination tournament unscathed again, just because
Speaker 1: it's hard to do.
Speaker 2: That's that's kind of the way I feel like when
Speaker 2: I close my eyes and think of the difference between
Speaker 2: the AFC and the NFC. It's like the NFC, those
Speaker 2: teams should make the playoffs and they're probably kind of
Speaker 2: gonna fall the way we see them after week four.
Speaker 2: But in the AFC we see mix and it's like
Speaker 2: a single elimination tournament could roll the dice either way.
Speaker 2: That's where it gets more difficult.
Speaker 1: They also are, you know, the most likely team to
Speaker 1: have the one seede, just because the schedule is not
Speaker 1: that tough in the divisions.
Speaker 2: But even even so, I still think that two games
Speaker 2: they would have to play really tough people. It's not like, no,
Speaker 2: it doesn't like the AFC team like do you want
Speaker 2: to play C. J. Stroud? Do you want to play
Speaker 2: the Bengals? Do you want to play the Ravens?
Speaker 4: Do you like?
Speaker 2: The answers kind of know like for all of that, So.
Speaker 1: We're not exactly putting all of our predictions out here.
Speaker 1: We will have an AFC NFC preview wall so have
Speaker 1: a game day view season preview where we get into
Speaker 1: the numbers of it all and try to pick who's
Speaker 1: making the Super Bowl there too, And.
Speaker 2: I have a I have a request, Yes, can your
Speaker 2: kids pick their Super Bowl favorites too? They need to
Speaker 2: be in the mix for that.
Speaker 3: I'll ask, I will ask. I mean, I feel like
Speaker 3: Ellen in a.
Speaker 2: Few years will get yours too.
Speaker 1: There's ls will pick the Rams. She's not really into
Speaker 1: the other thirty one teams.
Speaker 2: Who cares?
Speaker 3: And I think the Walker picked the Texans, which would
Speaker 3: be a fun.
Speaker 2: But I think Walker is like he's really on it.
Speaker 2: He's on it now, He's he would be there, can
Speaker 2: be coming for your job.
Speaker 1: Walker might be caring. It's hard. You know, this is
Speaker 1: a daily show we need. Yeah, Well, if.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be there, goer better be training for this.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 1: Every day forever includes Wednesday at least Wednesday morning, where
Speaker 1: we'll be recapping all the cuts around cut on Down.
Speaker 1: Actually tweet at me, let me know we've been putting
Speaker 1: up the podcast at the exact same time every day.
Speaker 1: Let me know on Twitter if for Cutdown Day, you
Speaker 1: wanna get it out there sooner. My instinct is, actually, okay,
Speaker 1: it's all the cuts, and I know it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be like crazy huge news, but this is a day,
Speaker 1: as someone who's into just like how teams are formed.
Speaker 1: I'm really into. So I'm thinking about just putting that
Speaker 1: one out when it's ready. So let me know if
Speaker 1: that if you want that, if you don't, we should
Speaker 1: tweet for the older U or if you want to
Speaker 1: hold it for overnight.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Eric. Let's play the music.
Speaker 1: For Patrick Claybon Yeah, catch him, Cynthia and Fantasy Live.
Speaker 2: MH.
Speaker 3: Like I said, game debut.
Speaker 1: Will start a week from Friday, Week one on NFL Network.
Speaker 1: But it was it was a pleasure to have you guys.
Speaker 3: Till next time.
Speaker 2: I love you guys.
Speaker 1: Mm hm