Speaker 1: Now Rogers finally has some time and it's gonna air
Speaker 1: it out deep down field and at the twenty seven
Speaker 1: yard line. Then is Mark is about this scanty first
Speaker 1: and goal, Rogers hangs in the pocket, throwing into a
Speaker 1: lot of trapping in his cart with a touchdown by
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham, and just like that, the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: take the lead. That took him a minute and thirty
Speaker 1: five seconds. You go seventy four yards to be the
Speaker 1: final play before the two minute warning. Third and ten,
Speaker 1: Trubisky to the ends one and it's gonna be picked off.
Speaker 1: It's Adrian Amis who comes back to haunt his old team.
Speaker 1: Fourth and eighth whiskey, and he's gonna get sacked. Preston
Speaker 1: Smith comes in and that really puts an excel nation
Speaker 1: point on a tremendous Packer. Be finished your performance. It
Speaker 1: was that kind of night for the Chicago Bears, the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers and a dominating defense of showing take
Speaker 1: out the defending division champions ten to three at Soldier
Speaker 1: Field in the NFL one kickoff. Yes, the Packers with
Speaker 1: Aaron everyone talking, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Lafleur, Mark more like
Speaker 1: Matt Labore, how about Matt the flower flower not blooming?
Speaker 1: It wasn't It wasn't about Aaron Rodgers. It was about
Speaker 1: Mike Petton and the Packers defense ten to three season
Speaker 1: opening win. Just like the big game last year in
Speaker 1: Week one, the Packers break the Bears hearts and that's
Speaker 1: how it all starts. Dan Hands, as of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast, joined in the backyard of what is it?
Speaker 1: What do we call in this place? Wests wester ros
Speaker 1: that's pretty good in along the could be dated in
Speaker 1: a few years, but for now, I love it Western Rows.
Speaker 1: We're here in the backyard. I'm with of course Greg
Speaker 1: Rosenthals to my left, Mark Sessler next to me in
Speaker 1: west and La Keisha is here, Tara Deaker, and it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful night in southern California, and we sat outside.
Speaker 1: Crickets are chirpin ambiance sounds. That's all of Mr Biskus fans. Yes,
Speaker 1: and exactly exactly. So let's get into talking about this game, um,
Speaker 1: because listen, I don't think we were expecting a shootout, Greg,
Speaker 1: but no one expected a game at this level. And
Speaker 1: we could dissect, um how poorly the Bears played, but
Speaker 1: give it up for the Packers defense, which balled out here.
Speaker 1: A lot of people had great nights, Goody was one
Speaker 1: of him. Brian the Packers general manager, brings in Preston Smith,
Speaker 1: who gets three QB hits in this game, including the
Speaker 1: game finisher, Zadarius Smith, who I think had an even
Speaker 1: bigger impact. He brings Adrian Amos And who has the
Speaker 1: key interception, his half picks Darnell Savage, and I think
Speaker 1: the two safeties they have, Savage and a Most are
Speaker 1: gonna let Mike Petton do a lot of crazy stuff
Speaker 1: back there. He loves having five six defensive backs. They're
Speaker 1: not going to dominate like this every week. But you
Speaker 1: could just see Aaron Rodgers after the game how happy
Speaker 1: he is that he's going to have a difference making defense.
Speaker 1: And I think they can be a top you know,
Speaker 1: seven to eight ten defense all season. I don't think
Speaker 1: there's a fluke. I mean, I think part of it
Speaker 1: is the offense you played tonight in Chicago that seems
Speaker 1: like a work in progress. And you know a lot
Speaker 1: of those players did not operate in the preseason and
Speaker 1: very measured compared to what you were saying during Well. No,
Speaker 1: I mean I I would say this. You know, I
Speaker 1: get kind of credit because I think Mike Petton, you know,
Speaker 1: and he you you got some of these games back
Speaker 1: when he was Cleveland's coach in the one good season
Speaker 1: they had, and when he was the Jets coach when
Speaker 1: he started his court kind of feel himself. In the
Speaker 1: second quarter with this defense, they got aggressive and they
Speaker 1: took chances and they were able to against the Bears offense.
Speaker 1: And in the second half, I'll never forget this drive
Speaker 1: where it's at one point it's first and forty, then
Speaker 1: it's second and forty, then it third and forty, and
Speaker 1: I you know, for all the people who want to
Speaker 1: tug Mitch Robinsky into this conversation of franchise quarterback, I've
Speaker 1: not seen someone with that label look is lost consistently
Speaker 1: on third down as he did tonight. There seemed to
Speaker 1: be no plan for this offense where he could not
Speaker 1: pull them out of the trouble they got into. And
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a long week for him. I know
Speaker 1: logically not to overreact to Week one, especially after the
Speaker 1: quarterback didn't play in the preseason, but there is a
Speaker 1: there's a feeling of liberation just throwing mits Drabinsky by
Speaker 1: the wayside. This is the big breaking news. Midway through
Speaker 1: the second quarter, Chris west Lane is out. You gave
Speaker 1: up on Rabinsky. Guys girled pizza on the big Green egg,
Speaker 1: and he's counting out. Mitch. Life is too short to
Speaker 1: stick with a bad quarterback. And it's we know he
Speaker 1: can have good games. He can he and he looks athletic,
Speaker 1: and he can roll out, and he can do all
Speaker 1: these things. But when you are that inaccurate, when you
Speaker 1: hold the ball that long and make that many bad decisions,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. If every third game you have a
Speaker 1: really impressive game, you have a Super Bowl. I was
Speaker 1: more impressed with the Bears defense than the Packers defense.
Speaker 1: And I liked what I saw out of David Montgomery
Speaker 1: even though it was unlimited doses. I liked what I
Speaker 1: saw out of Allen Robinson. And when your quarterback is
Speaker 1: holding you back, like I said, only one game, but
Speaker 1: we've seen enough bad games out of him to know
Speaker 1: that what's going on here is the quarterback is holding
Speaker 1: back this team. Let me let me just let me
Speaker 1: just say one thing, and I agree with you. And
Speaker 1: he was a very hard watch in this game. He
Speaker 1: wasn't ready for prime time. He had the look in
Speaker 1: his eyes like a guy remind me a little bit
Speaker 1: of Uh. Although Trumisky is a better player, I think
Speaker 1: Mark Sanchez when as Jets fans like, oh wait, this
Speaker 1: isn't the guy, and you're trying to make it happen.
Speaker 1: You want it to happen, and maybe it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: But this is one thing I'll say, this is a
Speaker 1: different era of the NFL. Week one is a totally
Speaker 1: different ball game than it was even five years ago.
Speaker 1: These offenses are just getting their feet wet in these
Speaker 1: games and against the potentially this could be a really
Speaker 1: good Packers defense. It's not a unforgivable mortal sin to
Speaker 1: look bad in Week one, so I guess I would
Speaker 1: reserve judgment for a few more weeks. But this was
Speaker 1: not a good way to start the season. There's no
Speaker 1: way around that. I mean, obviously, I think Trabisky was
Speaker 1: on my radar last year, but I would say that
Speaker 1: this is not like a break from the norm entirely
Speaker 1: with Trabisky, and I think he's going to have a
Speaker 1: bounce back game at some point here where you can
Speaker 1: get back on track. But what happens to a team
Speaker 1: if this offense stays mire to some degree like this,
Speaker 1: where you have six or seven sacks from the Bears
Speaker 1: defense night, they were sensational. They gave up two and
Speaker 1: fifty yards. I mean they the Bears outgained the Packers
Speaker 1: by four. This splits the locker room when you're when
Speaker 1: you when their defense, it looks like it just they
Speaker 1: picked up right from where they were a year ago.
Speaker 1: Having to carry this. We've seen it before, Rex Grossman,
Speaker 1: Kyle Orton, Craig Krenzel or whatever his name was. We've
Speaker 1: seen the Bears have to carry their quarter the Bears.
Speaker 1: The Bears rushing game was not there to pick it
Speaker 1: up either. Fifteen carries forty six yards three point one
Speaker 1: yards an attempt, and on on the Packer side, Greg
Speaker 1: circling back the big smile Rogers had on his face
Speaker 1: when he's being interviewed by Michelle Defoi. And by the way,
Speaker 1: NBC a nice thought I I see it came up
Speaker 1: in the production meeting June and it's like, well, that's
Speaker 1: the one us. So what if we all dressed like
Speaker 1: flappers and and and then Chris and al Let's have
Speaker 1: them dressed like paper boys. I get it, I get
Speaker 1: the angle, but somebody should have thrown up the red
Speaker 1: flag sometime around augustin Matt Naggie's George Hollis Fedora. That works,
Speaker 1: hot take. You made a little more buy in from
Speaker 1: Alan Chris when you do something like that. And they
Speaker 1: were not they yeah, they just were along for the ride.
Speaker 1: Not But what I was gonna say was Rogers whether
Speaker 1: whether you think Rogers gets let off the hook a
Speaker 1: little bit and he plays the blame game, uh, even
Speaker 1: if it's subliminally sometimes or um not directly. That was
Speaker 1: the relief of, oh wait, what happens when I don't
Speaker 1: have to do everything by myself? And he knows they
Speaker 1: didn't have a great day on offense and the Bears defense,
Speaker 1: which we know is excellent even in the post of
Speaker 1: Fagio era. Um, Rogers didn't win the game. The defense
Speaker 1: won the game. And if he and the offense can
Speaker 1: improve going forward, which they will with Matt Lafleur, the
Speaker 1: Packers are dangerous and they don't have to play the
Speaker 1: Bears every week. I mean that that's crucial. They will
Speaker 1: get up to speed. I mean, really, they didn't do
Speaker 1: anything all night except for that one drive where suddenly
Speaker 1: they picked up the tempo. Rogers made a big play
Speaker 1: down the field. You know they do it in four plays,
Speaker 1: but there were even though he took a bunch of sacks,
Speaker 1: there were a number of plays where his guards played
Speaker 1: really poorly. Tonight got steamrolled and he made a couple
Speaker 1: of plays on his own to keep drives alive, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, extending plays, and he didn't make that big
Speaker 1: throw down the field. So that's kind of the difference
Speaker 1: between him and Drabinsky in this game. And both of
Speaker 1: their lines did not play well. Both defenses played great,
Speaker 1: and Rogers at least made a couple. The one quick
Speaker 1: thing I'd say is I feel like every year there's
Speaker 1: a lot said after Week one and Week two equalizes
Speaker 1: and brings a lot of things back to earth. And
Speaker 1: it's not I'm not giving up on Chicago's offense yet,
Speaker 1: but there a lot They have a lot to prove.
Speaker 1: Another big night. By the way, for one more person,
Speaker 1: the writer of making the leap the Packers defense back
Speaker 1: in July, you thought that series was over. Nope, it
Speaker 1: was back. I was amazed at how invested you are
Speaker 1: and you're making the leap and drove your rooting interest
Speaker 1: throughout the boy, and you picked the Packers to in
Speaker 1: your sports you have to pick a side when you're
Speaker 1: watching the game. And Mark, this game moved on a
Speaker 1: nice clip for you too. I I enjoyed that very much,
Speaker 1: you know. I think from the very beginning you could
Speaker 1: tell this was gonna move like that old Packers Chicago
Speaker 1: Steeles game. It's uh, five minutes left in the first quarter.
Speaker 1: Greg and Hire just settling it, and Mark, it's like,
Speaker 1: look at the clip. This game's movement like this is
Speaker 1: the first quarter of the first game. Hey, it held true.
Speaker 1: Games to go. Mark, all right, we have a lot
Speaker 1: more to get to, including previewing the rest of the
Speaker 1: week run game, so let us throw it to ourselves.
Speaker 1: Let's have some fun. Be Around the NFL Podcast Can't
Speaker 1: split the uprights from sixty three yards. Welcome to another
Speaker 1: edition of the Around the NFL Podcast. My name is
Speaker 1: Dan hans As. I'm joined in the the room that's filled
Speaker 1: with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wesley and Great Roseal. What
Speaker 1: is up? Boys? Hey? Dan, there it is. You just
Speaker 1: heard us the top of the show recapping fare as
Speaker 1: Packers and we are just getting warmed up as we
Speaker 1: go through each of the week one games, laying out
Speaker 1: at laying out the preview of each of those matchups,
Speaker 1: and also hitting some big news that's occurred since we
Speaker 1: last had you in your ears, since we were lasting
Speaker 1: your ear something like that, Mark, how are you? I mean,
Speaker 1: I think you nailed that from a body parts standpoint.
Speaker 1: Mostly I was thinking, Mark, By the way, before we
Speaker 1: get into this, the um new for you, the nice
Speaker 1: steak Um. Now that our last show, I certainly was
Speaker 1: taken aback a little bit. I know, the fellows to
Speaker 1: my right and left, we're a little upset about it.
Speaker 1: Some of the listeners piped in about you maybe not
Speaker 1: being so excited about the start of the season, and um,
Speaker 1: I just want maybe just to throw it out there,
Speaker 1: Mark that I understand the constern nation. But again, it's
Speaker 1: this is the Browns Hope season. This is it is
Speaker 1: that where this is all coming from. Ultimately, I I
Speaker 1: think that that was ratcheted up in a ridiculous fashion
Speaker 1: last week because you threw in the middle of it
Speaker 1: that you were going to be looking for my replacement
Speaker 1: a year from now, which suddenly felt personal and attached
Speaker 1: to my career and you know, my health insurance and earnings.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you you turn it, you turn the switch
Speaker 1: up on that. I I find that I love football
Speaker 1: more than ever, but there are when it is in
Speaker 1: your face all day long every day. I need balance.
Speaker 1: I need other things in my life, and maybe it
Speaker 1: might have been a time when I was yearning for
Speaker 1: something else. Today I'm back in the groove. I feel good.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming the Packers and Bears game went well. How
Speaker 1: do I know people already found out? I don't know.
Speaker 1: There's a big difference between loving football and loving the
Speaker 1: cottage industry surrounding football. Thank you, West gets at West.
Speaker 1: See West with age comes a little wisdom and you
Speaker 1: and Greg will get there to at some point. I
Speaker 1: am much younger than you, that's true. Um, But here
Speaker 1: we are two thousand nineteen, Greg, and um, you're excited.
Speaker 1: I know you are. Of course, I know you're excited.
Speaker 1: You got pockets square in. Oh yeah, well, finishing necessarily
Speaker 1: peeking out, you're finishing the suit. You know, Daddy Hansas
Speaker 1: was on air earlier this week and he you know,
Speaker 1: he's calling people out with it with his pocket square
Speaker 1: game finished the suit, said the nice people and more.
Speaker 1: You know that he was rising wardrobe helped out with that.
Speaker 1: They offered, why not say yes, oh it's their pocket square. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was only because I went in there I didn't
Speaker 1: have a tie, and so then they asked if I
Speaker 1: wanted to throw that on, and you know, go for it.
Speaker 1: I mean, what a day. We got all these previews,
Speaker 1: We've got bigger news than normal and like a Thursday,
Speaker 1: it's a lot's happening. Yeah. Well, I think we all
Speaker 1: picked up when the man said it. The drunk man
Speaker 1: said it to us, it's more of a philosophy for
Speaker 1: life than just a comment on your sartorial choices. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you nailed us. As always, let's get into some of
Speaker 1: the big news before we get to the previews. Yes,
Speaker 1: we usually don't do it on our our Thursday preview show,
Speaker 1: but things have conspired, things have happened. We need to
Speaker 1: get to it. So let's do some news. Ricky. I
Speaker 1: bring accountability, you know I bring. I bring I bring actions,
Speaker 1: you know, not what I say, what I do? You
Speaker 1: know how I approach things. That was Antonio Brown at
Speaker 1: his press conference after joining the Oakland Raiders earlier this year.
Speaker 1: And things have changed. I think it's fair to say,
Speaker 1: uh and things have changed quickly. On Thursday, explosive situation
Speaker 1: now around the Raiders. The Raiders are planning to discipline
Speaker 1: Antonio Brown, stemming from a verbal altercation with general manager
Speaker 1: Mike Mayock. Uh. This coming from Ian Rappaport. ESPN first
Speaker 1: had it. Rapp Board added that Mayok was frustrated with
Speaker 1: Brown for posting that fine letter on Instagram on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure if you follow the league you knew
Speaker 1: that Brown put on his instant story the letter um
Speaker 1: that Mayok sent him with a fine for missing practices
Speaker 1: and being away from the team without an excuse. The
Speaker 1: two got into a heated exchange on the practice field
Speaker 1: UH later on Wednesday, witnessed by players. Things did not
Speaker 1: get physical, according to rapping Board, but after a screaming match,
Speaker 1: Brown told Mayak that he would hit him in the face,
Speaker 1: and I hit him and then he punted a football
Speaker 1: before telling the GM find me for that. Greg. Well, now,
Speaker 1: what what a world we live in that Vont's perfect
Speaker 1: could be holding back Antonio Brown from punching Raiders general
Speaker 1: manager Mike Mayock in the face. What a sentence to
Speaker 1: say even a year ago that would have blown anyone's mind.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be excited about this because I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna result in one of the NFL's great players not
Speaker 1: playing and making the Raiders much more interesting. Right now,
Speaker 1: we don't know if he's officially about one of the
Speaker 1: more annoying storylines. We have the track now with real
Speaker 1: football that that's totally fair to that that Chris Westling
Speaker 1: walked in the office today looking lighter, frankly, I think
Speaker 1: just like happier. And I thought it was the boyish
Speaker 1: glee that he had from receiving a NFL one football
Speaker 1: from Roger Goodell when he got to his desk, which
Speaker 1: was a very nice it was very Santa move from Rock.
Speaker 1: We come to our desks and everybody has an official
Speaker 1: UH the Duke ball with the NFL, So I thought
Speaker 1: maybe that's the reason, But now I think about it,
Speaker 1: it's because you know, west has just been proven so
Speaker 1: right about the Antonio Brown saga, and all the fantasy
Speaker 1: UH players that listened to him and did not draft
Speaker 1: him would definitely be well. I think the whole scenario
Speaker 1: that Greg just laid out everything about it was in
Speaker 1: his head like he's he's wrestling with this whole thing.
Speaker 1: Why is West happier today, and I think I walked
Speaker 1: into the office with the same you know bearing that
Speaker 1: I always have. You know, we may we're a narrative business.
Speaker 1: When you're born at thirty two, you're still learning how
Speaker 1: to perceive people's actions and behaviors. It didn't it didn't
Speaker 1: have much to do with the Goodell football, which a
Speaker 1: very nice gesture. But it is kick off Thursday, and
Speaker 1: it's not It should be time for football, not time
Speaker 1: for soap operas. But Antonio Brown has proven to be
Speaker 1: literally unmanageable. We've tried to manage him in several different
Speaker 1: ways and none of them work. May I told reporters
Speaker 1: that Brown won't practice Thursday. He didn't, He wasn't at
Speaker 1: the team facility. UH. And then John Gruden spoke briefly
Speaker 1: to the media also kind of steered clear of it
Speaker 1: and Mark during this whole thing. And we've been seeing hints,
Speaker 1: not so subtle hints that this is the same Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown that got himself run out of Pittsburgh because he's
Speaker 1: impossible to deal with UH in two thousand nineteen. But
Speaker 1: Gruden had been playing the good cop, Mac the bad cop.
Speaker 1: But it's at a certain point you wonder if everyone
Speaker 1: on the Raiders is now going to turn against this guy,
Speaker 1: and if they're going to come after his money and
Speaker 1: the idea was he ever gonna play and make it
Speaker 1: to Vegas? Is he ever gonna play a game period
Speaker 1: for the Raiders? All this is now in play. You
Speaker 1: tweeted the question about Vegas two days ago, and how
Speaker 1: little could any of us known that twenty four hours
Speaker 1: later it would have felt like the absolute that the
Speaker 1: question has a much more clear answer than we would
Speaker 1: have thought, because I don't think and any level he
Speaker 1: gets to Vegas, and who would have thought that, you know,
Speaker 1: hours before kickoff that you've come so far full circle
Speaker 1: with the Antonio Brown that I now view the Steelers
Speaker 1: as competent disciplinarians for keeping a lid on Brown for
Speaker 1: all those years, outside of a few things here and there.
Speaker 1: I mean, this has blown up absolutely in Oakland's face.
Speaker 1: And it's rare that we have behind the scenes kind
Speaker 1: of impression or idea of an NFL general manager that
Speaker 1: takes the job. But we do with Mayok to some
Speaker 1: degree just by working. And I wouldn't say with him
Speaker 1: because I don't think he even knows who at least
Speaker 1: three out of four of us are, But in general,
Speaker 1: he has an idea of that we work with him,
Speaker 1: and the guy is a serious dude, and I think
Speaker 1: that he has an entire team to look at the
Speaker 1: same way that the Cults when they lose Andrew Luck
Speaker 1: have to circle the wagons to say, we're still a
Speaker 1: team that has to play games, and you have to
Speaker 1: move forward. In a more disaster scenario case, It's the
Speaker 1: same with Antonio Brown. Do you do you continue to
Speaker 1: coddle to him and show that to your players, especially
Speaker 1: when it would happen. You know, this week happened. You've
Speaker 1: got to move forward, and I think that he's out
Speaker 1: the door. We don't Yeah, we don't know yet. Mike Silver,
Speaker 1: who has connections in the Bay Area and the Raiders
Speaker 1: front office, he's not reporting this, but he came on
Speaker 1: our network and said, I think the relationship is unsalvageable
Speaker 1: and I'll be shocked if he ever plays a down
Speaker 1: for the Raiders. I think Mack was playing a role
Speaker 1: because Gridden with Goring to keep his relationship with Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown and make sure that Antonio Brown was fired up
Speaker 1: to play for Gruden, and that Mayak was kind of
Speaker 1: being the bad cop. But Brown has not acted like
Speaker 1: a well person. I mean, he's acted like someone who
Speaker 1: it doesn't take that much to set him off, and
Speaker 1: that I don't know that the unmanageable is a good word.
Speaker 1: We we know all about obviously, about the frost bite
Speaker 1: on the feet, We know about the helmet drama and
Speaker 1: everything through that. When you look at this timeline, ESPN
Speaker 1: Paul Goodier has put out a timeline of Brown's drama
Speaker 1: around the Raiders this summer. I mean they completely kept
Speaker 1: it hidden on Hard Knocks and people like, oh, I
Speaker 1: wish Hard Knocks was still there for this week. Well,
Speaker 1: they were the Raiders were going to continue to bury
Speaker 1: this story if they could did. Were you guys aware
Speaker 1: that that when they had a play on that E. D.
Speaker 1: Yard Field and Canada against the Packers, he skipped a
Speaker 1: mandatory walk through that day as well. Yes, I heard
Speaker 1: that somewhere else. I mean, even when he's back with
Speaker 1: the team and he's smiling and you see him on
Speaker 1: Hard Knocks talking to players and the coach and joking
Speaker 1: around with John Gruden, he was still playing the game
Speaker 1: or being a professional by his own rules and for
Speaker 1: a team that's very young, filled with rookies and undrafted
Speaker 1: free agents. He is just not a system match there.
Speaker 1: And then the question becomes, greg is he as system
Speaker 1: match anywhere? Uh? And if the Raiders do wiggle out
Speaker 1: of this contract, which is a three year deal, and
Speaker 1: there is some language in the contract we're hearing that
Speaker 1: the Raiders have might have a real chance to get
Speaker 1: out of this. Does someone do we have an operation
Speaker 1: paying pony situation here? Shaping up? Mark the Patriots as
Speaker 1: anybody decided to take a chance after two teams ran away.
Speaker 1: I mean everyone you know quick quickly linked the Brown
Speaker 1: to the Patriots, because the Patriots seemed like a team
Speaker 1: that takes odd characters and then suddenly they became, you know,
Speaker 1: productive citizens that operate on a sixteen game schedule and
Speaker 1: take New England to the super Bowl. It would be
Speaker 1: to me almost unfair if Brown went somewhere else and produced.
Speaker 1: I don't I have to see how this plays out,
Speaker 1: but it feels like he shouldn't be able to go
Speaker 1: to another team and just do well. The delay in
Speaker 1: announcing the potential suspension or what the Raiders are doing,
Speaker 1: in my mind is likely them getting whatever legal procedural
Speaker 1: ducks into a row in there into a row and
Speaker 1: that if they're going after his money, that's a whole process.
Speaker 1: But if they are going after his money and he's
Speaker 1: no longer part of the team, yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think of course the other teams are going to be interested.
Speaker 1: It's just finding, uh, you know, are they going to
Speaker 1: pay them? And if they're not paying him, as Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown really gonna want to play for like three or
Speaker 1: four million dollars because he might not get a great offer,
Speaker 1: All right, let's move on. Of course, we're going to
Speaker 1: continue to follow that story as it develops. Um, the
Speaker 1: Cowboys and Ezekiel Elliott get a deal done. The two
Speaker 1: sides agreed to a six year, ninety million dollar extension.
Speaker 1: In all, it's one and three million over eight years
Speaker 1: with and here's the important number, fifty million guaranteed. The
Speaker 1: contract extension makes Elliott the top paid running back uh
Speaker 1: Leaf Frog's Todd Gurley his fourteen point three seven five
Speaker 1: million per year. He's also the first Cowboys running back
Speaker 1: to eclipse one hundred million in total earnings in his career.
Speaker 1: Wes Elliott was limited at practice on Wednesday. Jason Garrett,
Speaker 1: the head coach, of the Cowboys said he's in good shape,
Speaker 1: his weight's good, all that, but again, it hasn't been
Speaker 1: He hasn't been practicing against pro football players. So it
Speaker 1: makes you wonder how much he'll play against the Giants
Speaker 1: on Sunday. But he's back and he's paid, and that's
Speaker 1: the most important thing. Yeah, I think the word is snaps.
Speaker 1: That that has a way of changing once the game
Speaker 1: starts and it's a close game. We've seen this happen
Speaker 1: with holdouts to come in the first week and the
Speaker 1: coach says, I'm only gonna give him X amount of snaps,
Speaker 1: and then the game happens and it gets more. I
Speaker 1: think one thing that we've seen out of this once
Speaker 1: again the Cowboys. We're used to them being so star
Speaker 1: heavy and not having much depth. This team is depth.
Speaker 1: Tony Pollard is there behind Zeke Elliott. They've got Devin Smith,
Speaker 1: former Jets guy wide receiver. They got depth on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, depth on defense. This is one of the
Speaker 1: deepest teams in the league. And bringing Ezeliel Ezekiel Elliott
Speaker 1: back just is another reason to believe that I got
Speaker 1: no problem with this contract. Too much honking of breaking
Speaker 1: down that is it too much? Is it too little?
Speaker 1: Like like, okay, if it's two million dollars less a year,
Speaker 1: than everyone's fine with it. That's that's one percent of
Speaker 1: of a huge cap. He's one of their best players.
Speaker 1: It is easy to get out of after the first
Speaker 1: two to three years, which makes sense, I think for
Speaker 1: just about any running back. So you you're rewarded one
Speaker 1: of your best players. And it was smart of Zeke
Speaker 1: to hold out because now I think other players are
Speaker 1: going to do this with two years left on Other players.
Speaker 1: Aren't Ezekiel Elliott that other great players? Yeah? Because see
Speaker 1: I agree with you, Greg, Melvin Gordon is not the
Speaker 1: beating heart of the Los Angeles Chargers offense. Tony Pollard is.
Speaker 1: It looks great but that, But we don't know Tony
Speaker 1: Pollard over a sixteen game. We know Ezekiel Elliott over
Speaker 1: his career, and he's playing at Jim Brown levels and
Speaker 1: putting up those kind of number. Is in a past
Speaker 1: happy era where the Cowboys center their attack around him
Speaker 1: and he continues to produce. I wouldn't be surprised to
Speaker 1: see him run for three first half touchdowns against the
Speaker 1: Giants and then they might yank him. Then but at
Speaker 1: this snaps, we'll see. I I think that if anything,
Speaker 1: would go in the opposite in a way against the
Speaker 1: terrible Giants defense where they come out of the gates
Speaker 1: heavy and blow them away with Ezekiel Elliott Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm no Jennifer Garner and draft day, I'm not a capologist,
Speaker 1: but I just wonder what the team and yes, their
Speaker 1: depth is excellent. But if you make Zeke the highest
Speaker 1: paid running back, and I know that again, I'm no capologist,
Speaker 1: I'm no Jim Garner. But if you make Zeke the
Speaker 1: highest paid running back and you dwarf how everyone else
Speaker 1: pays the running backs and then Dak Prescott is it's
Speaker 1: probably gonna play out. You would think how it always
Speaker 1: plays out with these quarterbacks where he gets near top
Speaker 1: of the market money and you're handed out money to
Speaker 1: Mary Cooper I imagine and Jalen Smith. At what point
Speaker 1: are they going to run into a little bit of
Speaker 1: trouble by paying all this top of the market money
Speaker 1: out to their stars. It seems like that could be
Speaker 1: a challenge, especially with the stack thing still lingering the Cooper.
Speaker 1: Maybe Cooper doesn't get that money, you know, maybe he
Speaker 1: gets franchise like I would have prioritized Jalen Smith and
Speaker 1: Ezekie Ellie over Cooper too, and who knows, maybe that's
Speaker 1: what happens. So if you're not Jennifer Garner and drafting,
Speaker 1: are you more? You know, Jennifer Garner and dude Wears
Speaker 1: My Car? Like? What that is a Dan Fielter low
Speaker 1: level role on that. I don't know if you remember
Speaker 1: who would be uh, definitely not going on thirty was
Speaker 1: the one I was trying to think of it. I couldn't,
Speaker 1: but yeah, she did great work in both jenn Garner
Speaker 1: and Dude Wears My Car is not bad? Can I
Speaker 1: pipe in for a second? Um, My good friend Katie,
Speaker 1: who you guys all know, she texted me about an
Speaker 1: hour ago saying that she just walked by Jennifer Garner
Speaker 1: in the Atlanta airport. That's who I am. I'm jenn
Speaker 1: Garner in the Atlantic. But isn't that weird that you
Speaker 1: guys are just talking about that randomly odd small world
Speaker 1: psychics by race? All right, you're ready? Um, last bit
Speaker 1: of news contracts stuff. Jared Goff agrees to four year,
Speaker 1: one dred and thirty four million dollar extension with the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams, a dred and ten million in guarantees.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about. That's what that's gonna be
Speaker 1: looking for. Year old golf now holds the NFL record
Speaker 1: in most guaranteed money, putting him right ahead of his
Speaker 1: former draft mate Carson Wentz, who made about a hundred
Speaker 1: and eight with his most recent deal with the Eagles.
Speaker 1: Mark former number one overall pick, has really blossomed with
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh, of course, and become one of the more
Speaker 1: productive quarterbacks in the league. And yet there are people
Speaker 1: that are barking and honking that this wasn't the right
Speaker 1: contract to give out, that he's not worth the money.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts about that? I I just think
Speaker 1: if Sean McVeigh was totally on board with this, good
Speaker 1: enough for me. If I'm a RAMS fan. I mean,
Speaker 1: do it that these quarterbacks, every one of them, unless
Speaker 1: you're one of these mid tier guys, which it doesn't
Speaker 1: even seem like that market exists. You keep eclipsing the
Speaker 1: quarterback pay with every one of these new contracts. I
Speaker 1: don't think they were ever going to try to low
Speaker 1: ball Jared Goff. I have some questions about Jared Goff
Speaker 1: the player, but not enough to be concerned about the
Speaker 1: steal of Sean mcveigh's on board. It seemed like maybe
Speaker 1: they want to bolster his confidence after coming off the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. I don't want to let him enter the
Speaker 1: season without a new contract. I don't know, but to me,
Speaker 1: it's a safe contract because Golf showed incredible accuracy and
Speaker 1: most of his starts last year, and he has Sean McVeigh.
Speaker 1: And no one can convince me that Jared Goff's deserves
Speaker 1: to make more money than Sean McVeigh. I just don't
Speaker 1: believe that at all. That's an interesting thought. Sean McVeigh
Speaker 1: is worth way more than Jared, not even no doubt.
Speaker 1: But if anything is, I mean, they're not remotely even
Speaker 1: in the same And yet if you're starting a franchise,
Speaker 1: you are taking McVeigh over Golf every time. It's well
Speaker 1: that that might it may be a case for the
Speaker 1: best coaches in the league. Belchi they are ammatically underpage
Speaker 1: if they hires Chris Wesley as his new agent. Here's
Speaker 1: what do you guys disagree? I really don't, But I
Speaker 1: don't think they did it for his confident. I think
Speaker 1: they were always going to do it um as long
Speaker 1: as he kept playing well. They they said it as
Speaker 1: early as last offseason that they pay him this offseason.
Speaker 1: They basically telegraphed, largely because Sean McVeigh has made it
Speaker 1: clear to the Rams publicly and I'm sure privately too,
Speaker 1: they I don't want to be your I don't want
Speaker 1: to be your coach unless Jared Goff is my quarterback.
Speaker 1: That's how strong he's been about it, like this is
Speaker 1: my quarterback. There's no questions asked. I think that's his
Speaker 1: message and it's been incredibly consistent and it's what he believes.
Speaker 1: And so to your point, McVeigh, is that valuable. It's
Speaker 1: not like they have to think hard about it. If
Speaker 1: that's mcveigh's guy, then they just do it. Man. I
Speaker 1: would love to see somebody like Matthew Stafford with with
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh. Goff's twenty four years old, which I do
Speaker 1: think gets underrated, Like you think of guys in terms
Speaker 1: of experience sometimes instead of their age. He's barely older
Speaker 1: than Deshaun Watson and Baker Mayfield. And I think that
Speaker 1: that's where year old quarterbacks if you go back to
Speaker 1: the eighties and before are You weren't even asking them
Speaker 1: to start games at that point. And yes, he had
Speaker 1: a terrible Super Bowl, but he wasn't alone. They were
Speaker 1: basically outclassed from head to toe in that job. By
Speaker 1: the way, exactly, it's it's a team thing in golf.
Speaker 1: To me, he was. He was in the m v
Speaker 1: P conversation for a portion of last season. I played
Speaker 1: Drew Brees in the NFC Championship. I mean, he's had
Speaker 1: his moments, didn't He have four interceptions in Chicago and
Speaker 1: the cold. He's not perfect us well, but Mark, that's
Speaker 1: what's happening in the news. All right. Now, it's time
Speaker 1: to dig in. We're gonna do it every week through
Speaker 1: January and into February for Super Bowl fifty four, previewing
Speaker 1: all the games on this special uh episode of the
Speaker 1: Around the NFL podcast, Ricky as per tradition, get us going.
Speaker 1: Professional football in America is a special game, a unique
Speaker 1: game played nowhere olas on. It is a rare game.
Speaker 1: The men who play it making so oh yes, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: dig it. Of course. That is the great John send up,
Speaker 1: Sam Spence on music NFL Films. That is some classic
Speaker 1: stuff with That's what it's all about Sam Spence. Sam Spence,
Speaker 1: I do love NFL films, I mean the stable, but
Speaker 1: it's great, it's fun. It's like take the baton for me,
Speaker 1: thank you. No, I don't this narrative. I'm not a
Speaker 1: huge NFL films music guy. I'm not sure. I mean,
Speaker 1: Dan like so much. He's dvard America's Game two thousand
Speaker 1: eighteen Patriots and do your job three. We're up to
Speaker 1: do your job three. There's more do your jobs like
Speaker 1: problem child three. I mean, this is amazing. Well, why
Speaker 1: do we need to have to keep reminding them to
Speaker 1: do their job? How about the message received without doing
Speaker 1: your job? And it's gonna get you know, it's you know,
Speaker 1: Harry and Jack around the fire this weekend. Then let's
Speaker 1: let's watch two hours of Patriots. Like you know, everyone
Speaker 1: is so like sick of the Patriots that even NFL
Speaker 1: Films isn't even trying anymore. Like what are we calling
Speaker 1: it this year? Uh? Run back whatever the title was
Speaker 1: last year. It's time for new blood greg in Super
Speaker 1: Bowl Football. So let's do it. Let's get to the games.
Speaker 1: And you know what, we're changing things up a little
Speaker 1: bit this year. We're still locking it up. Everybody, have
Speaker 1: your locks locked and loaded. Mark, the two two time
Speaker 1: defending champion. I bring that up because, uh, well you're
Speaker 1: just beating Mark to the punch. He brings it up
Speaker 1: every show, every show. I bring it up when I
Speaker 1: need to, when it has impact, and when it is needed. Alright,
Speaker 1: we we forget about those two years when we used
Speaker 1: to pick every games. I mean that should count somewhere. Yeah,
Speaker 1: back champs and that and that, and then I tried
Speaker 1: to kill the game. I actually I won one of
Speaker 1: those two, by the way, I did. You won the
Speaker 1: first time. I want the oral history of why Greg
Speaker 1: tried to kill that game. I know, and you only
Speaker 1: made it stronger. You ever think about that? Well, it
Speaker 1: did go away for a year or two. We stopped
Speaker 1: picking every game, okay, but now you're writing a picks
Speaker 1: column four nim hill dot Com. Yeah, the man, it's
Speaker 1: all confusing. You gotta mix it up every few years,
Speaker 1: all right. So I bring up that Marks, the back
Speaker 1: to back picks champion, because yes, he asked me to
Speaker 1: privately before today show, alright, but also because uh, we
Speaker 1: are going to essentially draft the games that that we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about. Uh, and Marks because he's the
Speaker 1: picks Champ got the number one overall pick, which means
Speaker 1: he has fifteen games to choose from to get us going,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna we're gonna do this. Guy's like a
Speaker 1: snake draft, all right. So Mark's gonna pick one West, two,
Speaker 1: Zeus or three Greg. Four and five not bad, Greg.
Speaker 1: Now it's nice to be in the back sometimes because
Speaker 1: you get that double bang. It's a lot of work
Speaker 1: over there going to be doing their four and five
Speaker 1: double bang, Greg out of work. I think two is
Speaker 1: too is where I'd like to be. Sorry if the
Speaker 1: seating right that Mark take the Browns. And then it's
Speaker 1: like I got my first pick, you know, which means
Speaker 1: Zeus or six, West, seven and then Market and these
Speaker 1: are the games that we're going to be assigned to
Speaker 1: on Sunday. So it's really eight and nine I have Okay,
Speaker 1: that's you have one, eight and nine, so be ready,
Speaker 1: be prepped. I know you are all right, And these
Speaker 1: are this is my pride. This is my prize for
Speaker 1: winning that first pick. Okay, first overall pick. What else
Speaker 1: do you want to say? I want other things, but
Speaker 1: I will take this for now. And then these are
Speaker 1: the games that when we wrap up on our flagship
Speaker 1: show on Sunday night. Um, these are the games will
Speaker 1: be tracking from the newsroom, Mark, get us go? What
Speaker 1: is the first game we're previewing in our first preview
Speaker 1: episode of the season and what? Well? So, why get
Speaker 1: too cute here? Because you know it's been this long
Speaker 1: journey through the off season and you you know I
Speaker 1: could pull a fast one here and talk about Bengals Seahawks,
Speaker 1: But why go all this way with all that's happened
Speaker 1: to the team that I've suffered with for so long
Speaker 1: on this podcast and for a decade plus before that
Speaker 1: and another five years before that. Since they actually want
Speaker 1: a playoff game, the Cleveland Browns hosting the Titans feel
Speaker 1: like reach it one. I don't know, it was not
Speaker 1: It's the Sky Sports game of the week on on Sunday.
Speaker 1: It's Tony. He's not going to Cleveland to watch Dean
Speaker 1: pas No, he is not. He is not putting Dean
Speaker 1: ps at the top of his last And if it's
Speaker 1: good enough for Tony Romo, it is good enough for me.
Speaker 1: And it is a fascinating game because this is a team,
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns, that have swallowed up so much airtime
Speaker 1: for the past five or six months. I think there's
Speaker 1: enormous pressure on them to come out hot. I don't
Speaker 1: think you can go out and lay a dud to
Speaker 1: a team that most people accused of as having zero
Speaker 1: real identity at this point. That said, the Titans, I
Speaker 1: think they have a couple of sneaky things going for them.
Speaker 1: They had the number three scoring defense last year, and
Speaker 1: I think they've gotten stronger on defense. You add Cameron Wake,
Speaker 1: they have guys like Harold Landry, and you're going up
Speaker 1: against the Brown's line that is a somewhat suspect, and
Speaker 1: there is concerned about that. I think that's the number
Speaker 1: one thing for me to look at. But to counter that,
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to see what Miles Garrett and Olivier
Speaker 1: Vernon and the rest of the Browns defensive line can
Speaker 1: do against a Taylor Luan free. Titans line also has
Speaker 1: the right tackle coming off an a c L injury.
Speaker 1: There are issues and if you look back at that
Speaker 1: hideously dull Steelers Titans regular season tune up, there were
Speaker 1: what seven sacks of the Titans quarterbacks in that game.
Speaker 1: That was a mess. I'm not saying that's exactly what
Speaker 1: real life's gonna look like on Sunday. But Cleveland's defensive
Speaker 1: line went out and absolutely terrorized Jamis Winston when he
Speaker 1: was on the field over the course of a quarter
Speaker 1: and a half in Tampa Bay. So for me, this
Speaker 1: game comes down to safety of quarterback and what happens
Speaker 1: from there. I do think that Cleveland their early schedule,
Speaker 1: you have three primetime games you have you're going to
Speaker 1: be the center of attention if you get out to
Speaker 1: a one in four start. This isn't the Ravens and Steelers.
Speaker 1: The difference here, and I know this seem if you
Speaker 1: read um the the article that came out by Done
Speaker 1: on Bleacher Rip or on on the Athletic about Cleveland.
Speaker 1: He wrote a great feature about the mental toughness on
Speaker 1: that team right now. It is different than anything I've seen.
Speaker 1: And I think the difference is remember how I used
Speaker 1: to talk about stand up and be braggy enough with
Speaker 1: the uh, the nice charity things you're doing all week
Speaker 1: and on one fIF team, they have been practicing in
Speaker 1: pads as much as any team in the league all August.
Speaker 1: I think that is to create a mental toughness factor
Speaker 1: that they've not had in Cleveland for a long time.
Speaker 1: I want to see it show up on Sunday, and
Speaker 1: I'll now throw it to you. But I will say
Speaker 1: one last thing when we say when we say that
Speaker 1: I don't care about football or I'm tired of it,
Speaker 1: what I really am, honestly going to say is that
Speaker 1: I am nervous about this Cleveland experience because I'm not
Speaker 1: able to just go shut it down the rest of
Speaker 1: the week and go to some job in a hulked
Speaker 1: out building and behind a computer in a room where
Speaker 1: no one else. I'm around people all week long talking
Speaker 1: about the Browns, and if it goes negative, it concerns
Speaker 1: me about what it will do to me over the
Speaker 1: next month or two. It's too close, it's too hot.
Speaker 1: I need them to be good. I need it. You
Speaker 1: know what. The Browns are here though for you. This
Speaker 1: Brown's team Mark is here to fix you. Well, we'll
Speaker 1: see you not when the lawsuit to cut that quick
Speaker 1: before Chris Martin comes out to us. But this is
Speaker 1: the team Mark. That's what I was trying to say
Speaker 1: the top of the show, that all your reasons are
Speaker 1: being nervous are all understandable. But this, this squad is
Speaker 1: gonna be fun to watch. And I mean I was
Speaker 1: joking around with you about the reach at number one
Speaker 1: that was more a fantasy bit, like I get why
Speaker 1: you would pick this number one and why you can't
Speaker 1: wait to see them, But I also agree with you
Speaker 1: win this football game. Gotta win it, right and there,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be that surprising if the Titans win it
Speaker 1: because it's the NFL, and this is a team that's
Speaker 1: won nine and they've gone nine and seven three street years,
Speaker 1: because they're just kind of a nine and seven type
Speaker 1: of team. And and their linebackers that you mentioned, their
Speaker 1: defensive play caller, you know I mentioned DPS earlier. They
Speaker 1: have a secondary that at least can put bodies and
Speaker 1: numbers throwing at you. Malt and Butler. They hope is
Speaker 1: a little better this year. Like I think Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: can make that offensive line look better and then that
Speaker 1: doesn't become nearly as a problem. But I don't see
Speaker 1: this as some like dramatic thing where the Browns should
Speaker 1: be viewed as heavy favorites in a game against the Titans.
Speaker 1: Who I guess I gotta see it. I guess I
Speaker 1: gotta see. To me, they're pretty even teams, and yeah,
Speaker 1: how am I give the Browns an edge? Sure, they're
Speaker 1: fairly even. I fully expect the Browns to blow them
Speaker 1: out of the building in this game. I think they
Speaker 1: announced their presence with authority, and everyone's gonna see what
Speaker 1: Baker may feel. The Odell Beckham means, I know about
Speaker 1: the hip injury. If he's if he's suiting up and
Speaker 1: he's playing, I'm expecting big place throughout that game. I
Speaker 1: don't love the sound what you're hearing about Beckham, though
Speaker 1: he's said he's telling the media that he hasn't quote
Speaker 1: opened up yet. It's like an extremely fast car. Listen,
Speaker 1: Andrew Luck, I remember when Randy Moss went to the Patriots,
Speaker 1: didn't play at all in the preseason because of a hamstring,
Speaker 1: and came out and just blew the doors off. What
Speaker 1: you want to happen doesn't necessarily mean it will happen.
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you, and what you say doesn't announce. No,
Speaker 1: I'm saying what Beckham is saying. I hear he's he's
Speaker 1: suiting up, though, Let's listen to what it's like an
Speaker 1: extremely fast car with the alignment off. The car can
Speaker 1: still go, but it's dangerous. I'm just saying a guy
Speaker 1: that has missed a lot of time and it's a
Speaker 1: hip injury, an explosive athlete. I'm a little nervous. Sixty
Speaker 1: five snaps. I would. I did the damnit check Show
Speaker 1: and he was going through each team and talking Jenga
Speaker 1: pieces and Taylor Lawan might be the one for Tennessee
Speaker 1: and they're missing him. As as Mark mentioned, that's a
Speaker 1: pretty big deal. Well, especially with the way Mariota has
Speaker 1: handled pressure the last year. So if you're their new
Speaker 1: offensive caller, Arthur Smith, you're gonna run the ball all
Speaker 1: the time in this game, Smith, it's a deep Dan
Speaker 1: P's revenge game, by the way, Well, I mean isn't
Speaker 1: every game? Yes, you're use someone named Uden peas well?
Speaker 1: Who Yeah, who is he? Who is he? Need revenge?
Speaker 1: And every game is a Dean Peens game. That's the
Speaker 1: way the guy is. He's a killer, all right. With
Speaker 1: the number number two overall picked Chris Westling, get us going, baby,
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots. Nice
Speaker 1: nice choice. Two Super Bowl contenders, two teams whom I
Speaker 1: think are better now, way better now than I thought
Speaker 1: they were during the off season, after seeing what happened
Speaker 1: in training camp in preseason and the way things are
Speaker 1: coalescing for both of these teams legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Speaker 1: And I don't think that we always thought Pittsburgh would
Speaker 1: be there. I couldn't agree more. And I think it's
Speaker 1: a game where the defenses should be ahead of the offenses.
Speaker 1: He hesitate to say that September football scoring is usually higher.
Speaker 1: You know, you have to Hall of Fame quarterbacks and
Speaker 1: good offensive coaches. But the Steelers have shown they can
Speaker 1: stop New England. Like that narrative, which there's reasons for it,
Speaker 1: but they did an amazing job last December in a
Speaker 1: game that absolutely mattered, in a game that should have
Speaker 1: knocked the Patriots out of a bye and and maybe
Speaker 1: could have propelled the Steelers to a division title. They
Speaker 1: held Tom Brady to ten points. And I think it's
Speaker 1: because they're really bounced. They've got a really good defensive
Speaker 1: line who's healthy, They've got a pretty deep secondary, and
Speaker 1: the Patriots are always working on things in September, and
Speaker 1: this is a September where they have George Josh Gordon,
Speaker 1: d Marius Thomas and Julian Edelman who might be their
Speaker 1: top three receivers, barely played in August, barely took any
Speaker 1: practice snaps, and they're a team that thrives on getting
Speaker 1: information and using that information against the opponent. You don't
Speaker 1: have much information in Week one? Am I crazy to
Speaker 1: simply say, because this game is in Foxbor that I
Speaker 1: give Pittsburgh literally no chance to win this? Yeah? No chance.
Speaker 1: I'd say that's crazy if you had to pick, you know,
Speaker 1: if it's you're about how about then that's we've seen it.
Speaker 1: I think it was as recently as two years ago
Speaker 1: the Chiefs went to New England right and smacked around
Speaker 1: the Patriots in Week one in a high leverage, prime
Speaker 1: time game. I think this, for me, this is the
Speaker 1: game if I had to bet my life, we don't
Speaker 1: bet if I had a prop in my life. Uh,
Speaker 1: what game is gonna come down right to the wire
Speaker 1: and it's going to be a Week one game, a
Speaker 1: classic one we remember. I feel like this is gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of fun to watch because, I you know,
Speaker 1: we talk about the Patriots and maybe it's a little
Speaker 1: bit overblown because how slow can these starts be? If
Speaker 1: they go twelve and four and thirteen and three every year,
Speaker 1: but I mean they were one and two last year
Speaker 1: and they were It is a thing like if you
Speaker 1: look if you look at the Patriots, they don't always
Speaker 1: start on fire. And the Steelers I think are a
Speaker 1: team that's very dangerous in the a f C because
Speaker 1: I think as an organization they have a lot to
Speaker 1: prove here. I think Mike Tomlin has a lot to prove.
Speaker 1: I think Ben Roethlisberger has a lot to prove. I
Speaker 1: feel like um Antonio Brown and Levy on Bell both
Speaker 1: being gone, that they want to show that we're we're
Speaker 1: we've risen above all that drama. I think this is
Speaker 1: the a f C East Champion against the a f
Speaker 1: C North Champion and maybe even the a f C
Speaker 1: Championship preview and yes would be a big tiebreaker scenario.
Speaker 1: So this is such an important game in early September.
Speaker 1: I think like a lot of stuff, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's beaks pre week one, So you get these packages
Speaker 1: of information based on stuff that happened last year, and
Speaker 1: it's like it you just toss because it just doesn't
Speaker 1: carry over. But when it comes to Belichick and and
Speaker 1: stuff carrying over with Bell Belichick, I look at last
Speaker 1: year that they held the following receivers, they took them
Speaker 1: out of the game or held them under a hundred yards.
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins, Stefon Diggs, Antonio Brown and Juju Smith Schuster,
Speaker 1: Davante Adams and Adam Feeling. Two of those are pairs
Speaker 1: on the same team, so it's not just one guy.
Speaker 1: And I just think that Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh is gonna have
Speaker 1: to find a way to do it through someone other
Speaker 1: than just Juju Smith Schuster. All right, let's move on list.
Speaker 1: Anybody that has something else, move it the third overall pick.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't usually like to take what you
Speaker 1: would do a sleeper this early, so yeah, this might
Speaker 1: be a bit of a reach, but I love the game.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna talk the Atlanta Falcons traveling to Minneapolis
Speaker 1: to face the Minnesota Vikings, and on paper, just on
Speaker 1: what happened last year, it's a block matchup as seven
Speaker 1: and nine against eight seven, the two dome teams off
Speaker 1: the list, Mom and I don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: it against eight seven and one. But it's a glass dome.
Speaker 1: Does that help at all? It's a little sun here,
Speaker 1: the beautiful place we were there for the super Dome
Speaker 1: is is I will say this, it's for me. It's
Speaker 1: a game pass thing. It looks beautiful and the green
Speaker 1: is a natural bright green where some of these dull
Speaker 1: gray greens are just unwatchable. Mercedes Benz Stadium, that's you
Speaker 1: know that we were there for another Super Bowl that
Speaker 1: was not a bad facility. The lighting on TV looks
Speaker 1: almost dull gray, okay for the term. But today at
Speaker 1: the Georgia Dome against the Metrodome, but I agree with
Speaker 1: you that the this is the best dome to watch
Speaker 1: a game. All right, here we go, so yes on
Speaker 1: paper seven and nine verse eight seven one. But these
Speaker 1: teams I think are both very interesting this year. Would
Speaker 1: it stun me if both of them had a similar
Speaker 1: record in twenty nineteen, Well, maybe the Vikings would surprise me,
Speaker 1: because I'm I'm very high. I'm in Soota. I think um,
Speaker 1: some organizations do not handle um, the idea of expectations. Well,
Speaker 1: the Vikings shrunk last year, and I think there's a
Speaker 1: little heat off him this year. And like I said
Speaker 1: earlier this week, uh, I think their offense has a
Speaker 1: really high ceiling and then a Falcon's offense that also
Speaker 1: has a very high ceiling um, so I think there's
Speaker 1: a possibility of a shootout here. But I also I
Speaker 1: wonder if the Vikings West laid a SmackDown potentially in
Speaker 1: their building against Matt Ryan and company. It would not
Speaker 1: surprise me at the Vikings throttle Atlanta here, uh, that
Speaker 1: that would That's my early thought on this game. I
Speaker 1: agree with all of your analysis in this game, and
Speaker 1: I think the Vikings are getting the Falcons at the
Speaker 1: right time. Better to get them in week one when
Speaker 1: Jlio Jones is giving answers to questions as if he's
Speaker 1: not sure if he's gonna play or not, if he's
Speaker 1: not sure if it's because of the money or the injury,
Speaker 1: or what's going on, because you're offensive line has two
Speaker 1: rookies and you're not sure what you're getting there. The
Speaker 1: Falcons just have a lot more question marks to me
Speaker 1: right now than the Vikings do, and maybe that won't
Speaker 1: be the case a month from now. I expect Julio
Speaker 1: Jones to sign a contract between now in game time,
Speaker 1: if you read the entire transcript, he made it pretty
Speaker 1: clear he's playing, but also made it clear he fully
Speaker 1: expects to have signed his new contract by then I
Speaker 1: think they expected it to happen before today. Arthur Blank
Speaker 1: said as much earlier this week that it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: So I'm not worried about Julio, but I am worried
Speaker 1: if I'm the Falcons. That my defense. It just hasn't
Speaker 1: been tough under Dan Quinn in terms of stopping the run,
Speaker 1: and now with Gary Kubiak in Minnesota, I think they're
Speaker 1: going to be able to run. I think this Vikings team,
Speaker 1: unlike old Vikings teams, are built to win a shootout,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's what it takes to win this game.
Speaker 1: And I think they will, and that's why I'm gonna lock.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of trying to sneak one in there.
Speaker 1: That's good. That is a gutsy lock. I like it
Speaker 1: to um go ahead, Mark. I've already conceded this year's
Speaker 1: title to Greg because I can tell the tone that
Speaker 1: he's setting. No, gregs, are you gonna lock up? It's
Speaker 1: a puppet show. The rest of us are just involved
Speaker 1: this psychological game. This is but I agree with And
Speaker 1: the Falcons are up to fourteen and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I I kind of I don't know if I totally
Speaker 1: look at Mike Zimmer and say, I just totally admire
Speaker 1: the fact that you're pressing in so hard to uh
Speaker 1: an offense that looks so counter to the rest of
Speaker 1: the league. That you fired your past heavy coordinator last
Speaker 1: year and Cousins attempts dropped by fourteen a game once
Speaker 1: the Filippo was out the building. And I think Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cooks looks great. But you built the whole thing around
Speaker 1: what you want to be an old school offense, and
Speaker 1: that works or it doesn't. But I for me, the
Speaker 1: Vikings last year, what I want to see change is
Speaker 1: they absolutely laid gigantic, stinking eggs when it mattered most
Speaker 1: against the Patriots, against the Seahawks, they lost twice to
Speaker 1: the Bears down the stretch. What team are you because
Speaker 1: I don't see a lot that has changed in terms
Speaker 1: of leadership, in terms of the key characters. Yes, you
Speaker 1: went and made your center first round pick, the highest
Speaker 1: rank or drafted center in like twenty years or something.
Speaker 1: If that hits, that's the difference. Their line was a
Speaker 1: total disaster that deep sixth Kirk Cousins wired to wire
Speaker 1: last year. That's gotta change. You've got to be a
Speaker 1: tougher team. I do like the Vikings in this game.
Speaker 1: I'm a little worried off four of us when we agree. Yeah,
Speaker 1: two things before we move on. You mentioned the Vikings
Speaker 1: offensive line. I want to see that remade Falcon's offensive line.
Speaker 1: And also the backfield between Dalvin Cook and Devant to Freeman.
Speaker 1: Is cooking a breakout? Are we gonna see the Cook
Speaker 1: that everyone expects. Is Freeman gonna return to form? I'll
Speaker 1: be watching if Xavier Rhodes gets just destroyed by these receivers,
Speaker 1: because that is a big time concern for the Vikings
Speaker 1: that Xavier Rhodes is no longer a huge asset because
Speaker 1: he wasn't really last regular season. All right, right, it's you.
Speaker 1: I'm so I'm so happy because you're right you. You
Speaker 1: said the number four pick could have been juicy. I
Speaker 1: get my number one overall draft pick. Anyways, at the
Speaker 1: fourth spot. It's because the season really starts in full,
Speaker 1: you know, ten am for us Sunday morning, so that
Speaker 1: first game you're watching that is important. And I wanted
Speaker 1: Panthers Rams because I thought these are the two teams
Speaker 1: that I'm coming into the year with a lot of
Speaker 1: information on them. Anyway, I expect them to be in
Speaker 1: the mix among the top two NFC teams. Uh. And
Speaker 1: there're two coaches who have been very successful. Ron Rivera defensively,
Speaker 1: I think was reverly smart to adjust that he's no
Speaker 1: longer just a four three team. They're gonna show three
Speaker 1: four looks. Brian burn is probably gonna start have a
Speaker 1: little bit more variety. I'm curious to see if Sean
Speaker 1: McVeigh will also have a little more variety this year.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll see like a little less play action, a
Speaker 1: little more to running backs, a tight ends on the field.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but either way, I think these are
Speaker 1: just like two great teams, UH that should be ready
Speaker 1: to go Week one. Cam Newton is fully healthy and
Speaker 1: it just to me looks like the best game of
Speaker 1: the morning. It's great that Cam is not even on
Speaker 1: the injury report this week because it was not looking
Speaker 1: a little grim when he suffered that foot foot injury,
Speaker 1: and you were worried that he was gonna limp into
Speaker 1: a new season after ending last year, and I are
Speaker 1: now you get full strength. Cam. We've talked about it,
Speaker 1: Um West, I I feel like I don't know if
Speaker 1: you agree with me that the Panthers are lying in
Speaker 1: the weeds a little bit in the NFC, and that's
Speaker 1: always a good thing. I liked them in this game.
Speaker 1: This was my hardest game to pick. We have to
Speaker 1: do I now I am writing those picks online, uh,
Speaker 1: every week, and this was the one I didn't feel
Speaker 1: good about, no matter what, no matter who I picked. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a hard game to pick. I agreed Dan. The Panthers.
Speaker 1: I think everybody gets caught up in that injury last
Speaker 1: year with with Cam Newton, and their defense did fall
Speaker 1: apart a little bit, but they were a playoff team
Speaker 1: before Cam Newton's injury. I think the question I have
Speaker 1: this year for as much love as Curtis Samuel and
Speaker 1: d J. Moore are getting, there's not much depth there
Speaker 1: behind them. When Jerry's right or Chris Hogan is your three,
Speaker 1: and then you've got Ray Ray mc out in, Brandon
Speaker 1: Zilstra who you picked up for special teams, you better
Speaker 1: hope that Curtis Samuel really does have a breakout here
Speaker 1: and stays healthy. I'm a little concerned or I want
Speaker 1: to see. I think there's the Rams have so many
Speaker 1: offseason long questions. Obviously there is golf there is Girley.
Speaker 1: There is what's gonna happen for me on the offensive line?
Speaker 1: Where you lost Roger Roger Staffold, you lost John Sullivan,
Speaker 1: you're replacing them with two guys Brian Allen and Joseph
Speaker 1: note Boom, kind of like that guy's last name. Witworth
Speaker 1: is not going to knock on the door. And forty
Speaker 1: at this point, so he's you know, he's up there.
Speaker 1: He's almost the same age as West and I only
Speaker 1: seven or eight years off, and they've played about a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty snaps in their lifetime. So you know
Speaker 1: you need the same way we look at the Falcons
Speaker 1: or the Vikings and say these Lion Elements or the
Speaker 1: Titans and Browns need to check out for us to
Speaker 1: believe in these teams. This is where I think the
Speaker 1: Rams issues could come if the suddenly something happens there's
Speaker 1: some sort of sinkhole on the front five. I want
Speaker 1: to see how Top Gurley looks. Yeah, Sean McVeigh said
Speaker 1: he's not going to be on a pitch count and
Speaker 1: Justice since I get from people who have reported from
Speaker 1: their team and the way they've talked about him, that
Speaker 1: they're not really is worried about him as everyone else's.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I'm just excited that I got this
Speaker 1: fourth spot. I don't know if we're moving on now
Speaker 1: I got I'm getting my first I'm getting my first
Speaker 1: pick at ten am, and I'm getting my first nervous
Speaker 1: you're gonna take my pickure, I think, I am. It's
Speaker 1: the cults, it's the Charger was Oh, actually I should
Speaker 1: have known that. Yeah, you could have probably stolen that
Speaker 1: at it. Yeah, I know you're taking the Alan Chris Invitational.
Speaker 1: That's how bad that Giants are so bad they're not
Speaker 1: even on Sunday Night Football with the Cowboys for the
Speaker 1: first time in the seventeen years. The Colts charges, to me,
Speaker 1: is just a fun game that you're not sure where
Speaker 1: you're gonna get out of these two teams in Week one.
Speaker 1: They're not quite the teams we expected two months ago.
Speaker 1: We know about Luck, we know about Derwin James and
Speaker 1: Russell o'kung and Melvin Gordon, and I'm I know you're
Speaker 1: almost talking straight to me, Dan. I saw your hit.
Speaker 1: You did a great job talking power rankings on NFL
Speaker 1: Now and you said people were in their field lanes
Speaker 1: about the cults. Maybe that's me because whatever, maybe it's
Speaker 1: Chris Ballard really and Frank Reich and and Jacoby Precent
Speaker 1: and t Y Hilton's your favorite type of fraud. They're
Speaker 1: really in their feelings. Um, but I'm buying what they're selling.
Speaker 1: The Hilton did, I I didn't read the whole story
Speaker 1: that did he say this is the best team he's
Speaker 1: ever been on? He did? I mean, what are we
Speaker 1: doing here? I'm buying what they're selling. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: And maybe it's just because I want to see how
Speaker 1: many teams is t Y has he've ever been on
Speaker 1: a good team. I mean, they've made playoffs. So he's
Speaker 1: saying this team is better than I would argue from
Speaker 1: top to bottom. It may be the best Cults team
Speaker 1: minus the luck situation, but it is with that if
Speaker 1: he but he also think, if he super believes in
Speaker 1: the current quarterback, it is the best head to toe
Speaker 1: Cults team in a long time. And this is a
Speaker 1: match of the two narratives. The other narrative to me
Speaker 1: is the Chargers regression. They were so good in close games,
Speaker 1: They're already missing players, their line isn't really great, And
Speaker 1: maybe those those two narratives clash here and we get
Speaker 1: a nice little cults upset. I'm with you because I
Speaker 1: think they are five and one in those close games
Speaker 1: and you have a twelve and four record, and you're
Speaker 1: just a lot went right in terms of them. I
Speaker 1: thought they were a good team that's surged down the stretch.
Speaker 1: They smacked a couple of playoff teams, you know, heading
Speaker 1: towards the playoffs. But how many chances do you get
Speaker 1: and you go into the season missing all these key guys.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, it's the only thing is
Speaker 1: you know, And and also I don't like a team.
Speaker 1: And I know we're not really even supposed to talk
Speaker 1: about this half the time, but you're playing in a
Speaker 1: stadium where you're one year, you're one year away from
Speaker 1: moving into a massive well. I have been, and I
Speaker 1: have been talked to, you know, specifically about stuff that
Speaker 1: I put in Well, I didn't think I it's on
Speaker 1: my radar because I've been talked to about it before.
Speaker 1: But they you're in a you're in a small stadium
Speaker 1: where you can out week after week. I feel any
Speaker 1: hint of a home field, and I don't know if
Speaker 1: players can shut that out or not, or if it
Speaker 1: matters to disadvantage. It just feels like, at some point,
Speaker 1: if you're a player, you're thinking, please someone gather around us.
Speaker 1: Since you brought it up, can we talk about the
Speaker 1: name of their fields? As if it couldn't get worse?
Speaker 1: It is now Dignity Health Sports Park. That is not
Speaker 1: the black Hole. Wait, and when I hear that name,
Speaker 1: it feels like you need to go to the hospital
Speaker 1: to have your dignity worked on or your colon cleansed.
Speaker 1: I don't know who's supposed to this. Did that come from?
Speaker 1: I was surprised to hear Greg say being an upset
Speaker 1: if the Colts win, that's well, well, the Charges are
Speaker 1: one of the biggest favorites of the week. Actually, that's surprising,
Speaker 1: desert surprising to me too. Interesting people people believe in
Speaker 1: the Charges because the Chargers, even after taking those players away,
Speaker 1: they still have more frontline talent than the Colts. That's true.
Speaker 1: Are you worried at all about the Chargers the entire defense,
Speaker 1: the entirety of their defense they run, their ability. No,
Speaker 1: it's the other side of the ball that concerns me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if anything, I'm worried about You know now that I'm
Speaker 1: backing Brisett this year that Ingram, the Ingram and Bossa
Speaker 1: are gonna do what they do, and that's the worry,
Speaker 1: all right. The snake now comes the other direction, the
Speaker 1: old zeus or I had a locked in loads my
Speaker 1: number two seeds, so I'm pretty pumped about it. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I didn't talk about it. First. Here we
Speaker 1: go the Kansas City Chiefs, who were we are still
Speaker 1: still waiting for Patrick Holmes to get back on the field.
Speaker 1: It didn't happen. In overtime of the v C Championship game,
Speaker 1: the Chiefs lost the coin toss and then threw up
Speaker 1: all over themselves and Tom Brady marched down the field
Speaker 1: and the Pats went back to the Super Bowl and
Speaker 1: you know how that ended. Well. Now they travel to
Speaker 1: Jacksonville to face the Jags, and uh, I just love
Speaker 1: this game because, um, we we know all about the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and especially Patrick Mahomes, the reigning m v P,
Speaker 1: and um all the weapons they have and how this
Speaker 1: is a team that, yes, if you, if things break right,
Speaker 1: can average thirty five points a game. Like It's that
Speaker 1: type of special offense. The what's the X factor in
Speaker 1: this game, Wes is the Jaguars Uh. For me, and
Speaker 1: specifically that defense in their building Week one fans going crazy.
Speaker 1: A Jaguars team that a bit of a Murphy's last
Speaker 1: season last year. Um, that has a lot to prove
Speaker 1: and I imagine with a chip on its shoulder. Uh.
Speaker 1: I think the Chiefs are in for a bit of
Speaker 1: surprise when it comes to moving the football. I think
Speaker 1: the Jaguars are gonna play tough at home, and this
Speaker 1: is gonna be a game I'd love to see a
Speaker 1: little chaos just to throw everyone off. Um. I think
Speaker 1: it's just assumed that the Chiefs are gonna score thirty
Speaker 1: five or forty every week, if not fifty. And I
Speaker 1: think the only thing working against your theory, Dan is
Speaker 1: that even if the Jaguars played them tough last year,
Speaker 1: nobody held the Chiefs under twenty six points. In eighteen games,
Speaker 1: they were never held under twenty six points. And I
Speaker 1: don't think the Jaguars can get there on that basically
Speaker 1: did in terms of their offense. They scored on a
Speaker 1: pick six last year in that game, so they did
Speaker 1: a pretty nice job holding the Chief's offense twenty three points.
Speaker 1: But you're right that that's like even the best that
Speaker 1: you can do, and they gave up a ton of
Speaker 1: long drives like they I remember that game. I I was.
Speaker 1: I covered that game and and it was a bunch
Speaker 1: of they decided to force Mahomes to just take checkdowns
Speaker 1: all day, and you know what, he did it and
Speaker 1: had a bunch of eight year picked him off twice. Well,
Speaker 1: now they've got some new weapons on that chief's offense,
Speaker 1: maybe he doesn't have to take checkdowns all game. I see,
Speaker 1: I do want to watch this one early on game pass.
Speaker 1: If I'm not I'm assuming I'm not assigned to it.
Speaker 1: If Dan has already picked it to watch, there's notion.
Speaker 1: That's it. Bro, I'm locked and loaded in the game.
Speaker 1: And now and then, oh, you talk about trades, I
Speaker 1: mean we could who knows what could happen? What if
Speaker 1: you got one of your little sea colds and one
Speaker 1: were able to show up on Sunday and suddenly you know,
Speaker 1: West and Greg and Mark are having to triple up
Speaker 1: on the game. Old I'm cal ripkin, baby, I'm here
Speaker 1: every show. That's true. Well, then I will be watching
Speaker 1: on a game I just want to see. And I
Speaker 1: know we've talked about it before. Is that again? It
Speaker 1: comes to John d Philippos. Well, I don't know about
Speaker 1: that strong. That is very strong. I mean, do you
Speaker 1: have another family reunion to go to? Let's see if
Speaker 1: you know, let's there maybe more time for that. Did
Speaker 1: I miss the show? Huh? Go on? Go on? I
Speaker 1: need that would get you? Well, you've missed shows this year? True?
Speaker 1: I mean, I just I am loving a show where
Speaker 1: there's a lot of back and forth here and I'm
Speaker 1: not involved in any of it. There's plenty of time,
Speaker 1: There's plenty of time. I just I'm not convinced that
Speaker 1: this the way this roster is set up for Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: that it's an easy, uh paradigm for Nick Foles to
Speaker 1: to thrive in early. You are a team with no
Speaker 1: proven tight end at this point, no one that's actually
Speaker 1: done it for more than a couple of weeks. And yes,
Speaker 1: I guess Leonard four Nette arrow up in terms of
Speaker 1: the reports on him this preseason, but you're meant to
Speaker 1: be an RPO Eagles looking passing type team, and outside
Speaker 1: of D. D. Westbrooks, you know flowery reports, there's not
Speaker 1: much going on. So I if you get into a
Speaker 1: shootout right away, I want to see what happens to
Speaker 1: the Jaguars that they're down by two touchdowns or ten points,
Speaker 1: and Nick Foles suddenly as to wonder what happened to
Speaker 1: those two fascinating tight ends I was working with in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: It's the best defense in the a f C, I think,
Speaker 1: in the best offense. I mean, it isn't It isn't
Speaker 1: nice Week one matchup. So maybe it comes down to
Speaker 1: which of the other two sides that are kind of
Speaker 1: newly rebuilt, you know, are going to get there a
Speaker 1: little faster. And I want to make it clear. I
Speaker 1: see maybe seventeen game that goes either way, and then
Speaker 1: I see the Chiefs dropping the fifty burger on the
Speaker 1: Raiders the black hole next week. I'm not worried about
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. I just I just can see Jacksonville coming
Speaker 1: out hot here. All right, West, you're up up as
Speaker 1: down left is right, Cats are chasing Dogs, Dan choosing
Speaker 1: a f C South teams. I'm going to NFC East
Speaker 1: Giants and Cowboys right stunning even well, I mean, I
Speaker 1: can talk myself into the Giants because I'm on Eli Manning,
Speaker 1: yank Watch, yank Watch. I'm going yank watch there, so
Speaker 1: get him. Ruston Wells, get Danny dimes in. I want
Speaker 1: to see what what Eli's got left. I have a
Speaker 1: good idea, but I want to see what. But then
Speaker 1: also you want to be there for the funeral. It's
Speaker 1: the sneaky team in westl on the other side of
Speaker 1: the Yesterday. It's been a three year funeral that I've
Speaker 1: been watching, so I feel like I've been a part
Speaker 1: of it. Yes, a sneaky team of the Cowboys ever
Speaker 1: since Mauri Cooper Trade have been one of my favorite
Speaker 1: teams to watch. They are fun. So I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: what Ezekiel Elliott has in the first game. We're gonna
Speaker 1: see how these new pieces fit in. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think that the Cowboys should be considered a favorite,
Speaker 1: maybe not the favorite, but a super Bowl favorite. Puss.
Speaker 1: You get Troy and Joe, and I feel like we've
Speaker 1: come around, not just on this podcast but just nationally
Speaker 1: at some point. Yes, I think everyone's come around to
Speaker 1: kind of like, oh, actually, Troy and Joe a great
Speaker 1: duo to watch. Bra I've always liked. But but there's
Speaker 1: been critique, no doubt. I mean, yeah, buck Buck had
Speaker 1: some issues earlier in his career. The Randy Moss mooning
Speaker 1: situation to name one. But I shouldn't put you guys,
Speaker 1: and this has been my journey that I have taken,
Speaker 1: I mean now, and we support you in your journey,
Speaker 1: but I I don't necessarily share the same journey. So
Speaker 1: he didn't have a great call on the helmet catch
Speaker 1: in Super Bowl forty two. Joe hasn't always been on fire,
Speaker 1: but I feel like he has gotten better and better.
Speaker 1: I mean there's others days where he's like, had to
Speaker 1: call a baseball playoff game than eight hours later do
Speaker 1: football or vice versa. I think he's you know, seems
Speaker 1: like he works pretty hard. To me, I've been I've
Speaker 1: been wondering about the Cowboys in Week one for for
Speaker 1: a while now, and they're all practicing. It's crazy Like
Speaker 1: Byron Jones had a hip surgery, didn't practice at all
Speaker 1: till this week. Same thing with de Marcus Lawrence. Zack
Speaker 1: Martin is maybe the only one that's actually questionable for
Speaker 1: this game. Who Tyrone Crawford's coming back, Zeki Elliott's limited.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna have to go to Dallas, I feel
Speaker 1: like this might be a good week to do it well.
Speaker 1: I think there's another world where let's say this Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore offense takes off and confuses a Giants very suspect
Speaker 1: Giants defense, and they do the thing I mentioned were Zeke.
Speaker 1: They get him off to a hot Jerry Jones leads
Speaker 1: start where he has Zeke running. He basically dials down
Speaker 1: to the sideline, which if your Ray Farmer would have
Speaker 1: gotten you suspended for four games. You basically tell the
Speaker 1: coaching staff you get Zeke in that end zone, over
Speaker 1: and over. I want him jumping in that red pot,
Speaker 1: even though it's not Christmas time. And then I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what else is gonna happen. Because we have a
Speaker 1: sandwich bet on this game. Potentially I could be out
Speaker 1: a sandwich unless this happens. I told you that Daniel
Speaker 1: Jones would take over in week one mid game and
Speaker 1: be starting by week two. So I need that nice
Speaker 1: twenty one to nothing first half situation where Eli Manning
Speaker 1: throws a killer pick six that has happened last week. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's what That's what I put on on show tape. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, let's move on, Mark. Oh, it's my turn
Speaker 1: back up. You got a double? All right, So here's
Speaker 1: where I'm gonna stay in the NFC East and that
Speaker 1: is a little game. That is a little game between
Speaker 1: the Redskins and the Eagles. And we know Dan and
Speaker 1: I were on the Rich Eyes and Show today and
Speaker 1: I cannot find for this, but I have found it.
Speaker 1: He asked us point blank right out of the gate,
Speaker 1: what who we thought the best team in the NFC was,
Speaker 1: And I I had to think about it for one
Speaker 1: second because it's a top heavy conference, but I think
Speaker 1: it's the Eagles. I really do. And I've mentioned a
Speaker 1: couple of times. I think the Cowboys and Eagles are
Speaker 1: gonna get off too super hot starts, and that's going
Speaker 1: to be a fascinating division because of those two teams.
Speaker 1: On the flip side, the Redskins, to me, have a
Speaker 1: lot of issues. And it's kind of crazy to think
Speaker 1: that Jay Gruden is in year six of coaching this team,
Speaker 1: because I don't know exactly what's kept him there except
Speaker 1: for essentially the owner maybe thinking he can't find anything
Speaker 1: better at this point. You look at what they're lining
Speaker 1: up at wide receiver, you look at what they have
Speaker 1: going on really everywhere except what I like is their
Speaker 1: their defensive line with Jonathan Allen and Deron Payne. I
Speaker 1: don't know how the Redskins go into this game. This
Speaker 1: is another game where maybe you have a rookie starting.
Speaker 1: If the panic button is pulled by the third quarter,
Speaker 1: I would not be shocked to seeing Dwayne Haskins get
Speaker 1: snaps in this game if it goes as poorly as
Speaker 1: I think it will, if the if the Eagles play
Speaker 1: up to what they are right now, I think this
Speaker 1: is a thirty six to seven type romp M. I
Speaker 1: can't argue. I think I I have a theory like
Speaker 1: there's almost nothing that's an upset in Week one, just
Speaker 1: about because you don't really know. But this, this to me,
Speaker 1: would be a massive upset if the Redskins are even
Speaker 1: if they went in Landover, maybe you could see a game,
Speaker 1: but not. And they've had really good injury news to
Speaker 1: the Eagles who had They have a ton of players
Speaker 1: coming back from injuries that happened last year that happened
Speaker 1: this offseason, and almost all of them except for Gugier
Speaker 1: Hill there linebackers seemed to be back for this game.
Speaker 1: One note on the Redskins running backs, Jake Gruden says
Speaker 1: that Darius Guys is gonna start and he's still deciding
Speaker 1: whether Adrian Peterson is going to be in the mix
Speaker 1: for this game or not. I can't get out of
Speaker 1: the they might be inactive he he hinted that Adrian
Speaker 1: he hasn't decided what role Adrian Peter is going to
Speaker 1: play if he plays one at all, because he doesn't
Speaker 1: have special teams and playing the role of the pouting
Speaker 1: former superstar. I think we've seen that with Sean Payton,
Speaker 1: haven't we. Drian Peterson on the sideline yelling at him. Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, that y'all heard around the world West last
Speaker 1: week when you said you didn't believe in Darius. Guys,
Speaker 1: it's still in my head. It's rattling around. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: interested to see how he looks in this game. My
Speaker 1: point was on a half dozen carries, whatever we saw,
Speaker 1: like everybody went crazy like it was some impressive performance,
Speaker 1: and I thought, why aren't you beating the linebacker to
Speaker 1: the edge now, my I My thing just was that
Speaker 1: he was out there, that he was playing because at
Speaker 1: whatever he did in that game, I'm expecting him to
Speaker 1: be significantly better three or four weeks later. That it's
Speaker 1: a fair point. He didn't do anything. It wasn't It
Speaker 1: was like everybody went crazy about it. It was like,
Speaker 1: what I didn't see that. I think part of it
Speaker 1: is the idea of coming back from that a stated jury.
Speaker 1: All right, Mark, hold hold on the next game because
Speaker 1: I have to let you guys know that foot All
Speaker 1: is back. You knew that though, right, Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: it seems like something that's been watch live local and
Speaker 1: the primetime NFL games for free all season long with
Speaker 1: a Yahoo Sports app or the official app of the
Speaker 1: NFL on your phone or tablet plus get all your
Speaker 1: latest breaking news, highlights and more. Download the NFL app
Speaker 1: or the Yahoo Sports app in your app store or
Speaker 1: at NFL dot com slash mobile today. Certain restrictions and
Speaker 1: data rates may apply. Proof football is a mirror of
Speaker 1: earlier more reflecting toughness, courage himself denying. All right, Mark,
Speaker 1: take us into the second half, everybody. I just want
Speaker 1: to listen to this for a second. West Hate not
Speaker 1: Sam Spence. Batman's a musician. Just thinking all the music
Speaker 1: available to me. I don't really want to spend it
Speaker 1: listening to that. Spence. It's a good plug West B
Speaker 1: Band mus Go ahead. I'm gonna travel out west to
Speaker 1: Seattle for my second game. There was this pretty great
Speaker 1: article written by Mike Sandoe of The Athletic, because apparently
Speaker 1: everyone who writes sports now works for the Athletic except
Speaker 1: for the four of us at this point, right, But yes,
Speaker 1: he went and visited with Pete Carroll, and he showed
Speaker 1: him a chart, a study that of every team last
Speaker 1: year in the first twenty eight minutes of a game,
Speaker 1: when you essentially could be categorized as having a choice
Speaker 1: to run or pass because you're not down. It's you know,
Speaker 1: you're not down by forty eight points, and it's not
Speaker 1: the last it's not the two minute warning in the
Speaker 1: first half, and it's not the second half where things
Speaker 1: get out of control. That the Seahawks ran with such
Speaker 1: a perversion at such a crazy rate that they ran
Speaker 1: more than any team into a higher degree than in
Speaker 1: this through me the two thousand and eleven Denver Broncos,
Speaker 1: the Tim Tebow Broncos, that no team since then has
Speaker 1: run the ball with such ferocity and much choice since
Speaker 1: that team back then. And did Carol think, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: I know what everyone's doing in the league, and everyone's
Speaker 1: telling you if you're not passing on first and second down,
Speaker 1: you need to be thrown out. With the trash. Well,
Speaker 1: he basically got totally giddy and said, this is what
Speaker 1: we do, this is what we are. And where I
Speaker 1: get a little suspicious of the Mike Zimmers doing this,
Speaker 1: and I kind of love what Pete Carroll's doing. He
Speaker 1: basically says, our whole philosophy and the way we were
Speaker 1: when we won those Super Bowls was long, punishing drives
Speaker 1: where we control the ball. I think they've got the
Speaker 1: personnel to do it. I love that they strengthened the
Speaker 1: defensive line. I don't like this game for the Bengals
Speaker 1: at all, and I know that I ripped on the
Speaker 1: Bengals too much, but I had this question. I cannot
Speaker 1: think of a team, even the Redskins to me, have
Speaker 1: an identity, and it's not a good one. I have
Speaker 1: no idea who the Bengals head coaches at this point.
Speaker 1: I have no read on him. So I'm saying, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm invited, inviting to show me. I mean, I know
Speaker 1: the name, but it's by the way hands Hank hit
Speaker 1: me up on Slack today. Oh I don't name that
Speaker 1: client z a C, give us a K, give us
Speaker 1: an h don't just hanging leave us hanging with the
Speaker 1: C and that's a parental issue his parents. Wasn't there
Speaker 1: a running back named Zack Stacey? Who is z a C?
Speaker 1: There was? And what happened to him? I don't really
Speaker 1: can he go Bengal Well? So the Bengals twenty nine
Speaker 1: against the run last year. I don't know what they
Speaker 1: added on defense to tell you they're gonna get a
Speaker 1: whole lot better. I just don't like to set up
Speaker 1: for them. Is not doing it for you. I need
Speaker 1: to figure out who this team is. This is a
Speaker 1: great of all the teams mark that have a nice
Speaker 1: set up for Week one. The Seahawks are right near
Speaker 1: the top of the list at home healthy, and you
Speaker 1: get a Cincinnati team that's trying to figure itself out,
Speaker 1: that doesn't have its best player on the field day
Speaker 1: J Green's out for weeks with his ankle injury. Um
Speaker 1: and you know how hard it is to play in
Speaker 1: Seattle for any team factor in Week one and all
Speaker 1: the amped up vibes that go with that, this does
Speaker 1: feel like a two score game they and they are
Speaker 1: one of the big I don't think it's a bad
Speaker 1: first week for the Bengals, that it's a bad option.
Speaker 1: You get Jadevan Clowney who's not really up to speed.
Speaker 1: You you have Jared Reid is suspended, you have DK
Speaker 1: Metcalf coming off an injury. They cut Jern Brown, which
Speaker 1: we never mentioned on this show. And so that receiver
Speaker 1: group is so thin that the Seahawks invite close games
Speaker 1: because of this running style. And I think the Bengals
Speaker 1: are going to be the biggest dink and dunk team
Speaker 1: in the league. Like all they want to do is
Speaker 1: go up and down the field with six yard Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton pass. You know who loves throwing six yard passes?
Speaker 1: Andy freaking Dalton. So it's in the The Seahawks love
Speaker 1: giving up six yard passes. It's kind of their thing. Ben,
Speaker 1: But don't break he plays in front of him. I
Speaker 1: could just see this. Let's just wait till the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter and let Russell Wilson win the game for us
Speaker 1: at the end, which he will, but that it would
Speaker 1: be an actually entertainment. What does that mean that I
Speaker 1: am now watching this game? Yeah, in Bro, you drafted it.
Speaker 1: I need to figure I need to have been smart
Speaker 1: about the rules of this. Why did I do that?
Speaker 1: How do you feel about everything you just said? All
Speaker 1: that analysis and big old Andre Smith maybe starting at
Speaker 1: left tackle because Corny Glenn is concussed and not practicing.
Speaker 1: It's a problem. They have nobody on the offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's a problem. They've had guys retire the first round pick,
Speaker 1: not pin. They've had pretty bad. You have no AJ
Speaker 1: Green and the golden stats with no AJ Green or
Speaker 1: not fun, they've been under the radar as maybe having
Speaker 1: the worst um injury luck and off season of any team.
Speaker 1: Losing Green and your first round left tackle is pretty
Speaker 1: I'd say that goes back about five decades. Did like
Speaker 1: a homeless man on the street tell you to pick
Speaker 1: that game. I can't even blame it on anyone. I
Speaker 1: just I did it. You're locked in. You know one thing.
Speaker 1: I'm just realizing as you're saying this, when you make
Speaker 1: your draft picks, you got a factory in when the
Speaker 1: games played as well you want to yourself, I was,
Speaker 1: I've also picked Red the Redskins. Yeah, you have to
Speaker 1: be with thinking about the time I was on top
Speaker 1: of this. I mean when West went for the Sunday
Speaker 1: night football game right off the best. Thank you, buddy,
Speaker 1: We're all watching that one. I know. I don't even
Speaker 1: have to cover it. Actually, let's be honest, though, here's
Speaker 1: the great strategy that I have picked the two best
Speaker 1: shot for major blowouts. Easy narrative, easy to describe on
Speaker 1: the podcast that night, I could click into you know,
Speaker 1: strategy something even better. Since you had the first overall pick,
Speaker 1: it's not making it back to you're done, baby. I
Speaker 1: mean I've done this perfectly. I'm backing around now that
Speaker 1: was the second West, You're up. With all that in mind,
Speaker 1: I've got quite the conundrum here. I can either pick
Speaker 1: another four o'clock Eastern game, or I can bang Dan
Speaker 1: and take Bill's Jets. You can't do that, But why
Speaker 1: didn't you take them? Earl? Here? I was letting it. Well,
Speaker 1: this is just like fantasy. You just you let it
Speaker 1: lie and then you you figure you could grab it.
Speaker 1: This is it. This isn't the you can do it?
Speaker 1: You can really, Josh Allen, Yeah, this isn't the j
Speaker 1: Smith Jets. This Jets team is watching do what you
Speaker 1: want West, and I'm really buy into the Cardinals, but
Speaker 1: um it would be I'm watching the Jets either way.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to be known if you wanted to
Speaker 1: grab this game, grab it, I'd be bringing bad karma
Speaker 1: on me. So I'm gonna take Lions Cardinals. I know,
Speaker 1: I feel you could take it doesn't make sense for
Speaker 1: the for the show, I think Cardinals. Here's what shocks
Speaker 1: me about the Detroit Lions. Football outsiders running their playoff
Speaker 1: odds and has them by just a slim, slim margin
Speaker 1: winning the NFC North Division. They have projected wins all
Speaker 1: four teams between eight wins and nine wins, and they
Speaker 1: had the Lions by the slimmest margin as they division favorite.
Speaker 1: And I guess I could talk myself into Matthew Stafford
Speaker 1: finally having a running game, three healthy receivers, a tight end,
Speaker 1: maybe an offensive line, so you know. And then you
Speaker 1: go over to the defensive line with dray Trey Flowers
Speaker 1: and Mike Daniels joining some interesting parts. I just don't
Speaker 1: see them as as strong as I guess every other
Speaker 1: team in that division. And yet this is a perfect
Speaker 1: matchup for Week one. What better way to establish your
Speaker 1: running game and your offense and against this Cardinals defense.
Speaker 1: What better way for this defensive line of Detroit. Who
Speaker 1: should be the identity of the team. I think Matt
Speaker 1: Patricia is hoping that, uh, they're pretty deep on upfront
Speaker 1: that they get after Kyler Murray and ultimately this is
Speaker 1: one of only a couple of games that I'm with you,
Speaker 1: s I. I don't know if you you're saying the
Speaker 1: lines are gonna win comfortably, but one of the only
Speaker 1: games where I was like, Okay, I think they should
Speaker 1: be favorites, even on the road. They should win. You
Speaker 1: know what, West if you want to And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying you think they're the playoff team, but he does.
Speaker 1: If you're a Lions fan, if you don't win this game,
Speaker 1: and I know you're on the road, and unless you're
Speaker 1: a really good team, every road game is tough. But
Speaker 1: then you got home Chargers that won't be easy, at
Speaker 1: Philly home against the Chiefs by and then at lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: You gotta you gotta be Cliff Kingsbury in company in
Speaker 1: week one. I'm talking must win week one. Don't get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. I don't think they're a playoff team myself,
Speaker 1: but I agree that this if you have any hopes,
Speaker 1: this is a team the worst team in the league
Speaker 1: last year should be a team that you beat this year.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised Cessler didn't take this game after talking you
Speaker 1: know up Kingsbury and and this offense all offseason. I am,
Speaker 1: I am intrigued. I'm a lot more intrigued by this
Speaker 1: game than it's just there's too total unknowns. Breaking news.
Speaker 1: You got take out your gm mapp because this game
Speaker 1: is already on the trade block. Well, so if you
Speaker 1: want to dig into developing news, but wait developing like
Speaker 1: you guys all talk yourselves into Kyle Murray for the
Speaker 1: next few days, come knocking on my door. The next
Speaker 1: level of this game is deciding what you're going to
Speaker 1: have to watch on game Pass in the days following.
Speaker 1: And I have removed the Bengals and the Redskins from
Speaker 1: my game Pass repertoire, and I'm adding the Lions and
Speaker 1: the Cardinals again. I am over here operating on the
Speaker 1: level that you only wish you could operate on. I
Speaker 1: can't get into all the details because that would not
Speaker 1: be fair to this individual, But I just wanted everyone
Speaker 1: to know that uh Spice Rack West's former Desert Desert Consigliari,
Speaker 1: now a Los Angeles resident, a little bit basic now
Speaker 1: doesn't have that same hook anymore, but a really nice
Speaker 1: guy who we all like, is very very down on
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury could not that for the For the record,
Speaker 1: spite this is one of the few college opinions of
Speaker 1: Spice racks that it has not influenced me in any way,
Speaker 1: shape or form. But I am shocked at how down here.
Speaker 1: I can't we cannot tell you the details of the
Speaker 1: text chain, but just know he is extremely, extremely down
Speaker 1: on the cliff kings very era in the NFL. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'll leave it there, all right. I gotta go grab
Speaker 1: I gotta go up and get the Jets and Bills
Speaker 1: because I don't trust Greig. I don't trust it was
Speaker 1: you as far as I could throw. You're gonna take
Speaker 1: it from me. You would spite me. You do it
Speaker 1: well at this it's a good game. I thought, this
Speaker 1: is like the best ac This is the best a
Speaker 1: f C schame that did involve the Patriots in maybe
Speaker 1: fifteen years. Uh, when was the last time you're excited
Speaker 1: watch the division game between two a f C East
Speaker 1: basically a combination of Jets, Bills and and Dolphins. This
Speaker 1: is when it was the last time you're excited to
Speaker 1: watch those two teams played each other. It was fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago. It was Pennington and Drew Bledsoe. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I didn't even know. This is better
Speaker 1: than that Eric Moulds was playing. It's been Eric Moles, peerless,
Speaker 1: Price was on the outside all right. Jets Bills very
Speaker 1: interesting speaking of very important Week one games that could
Speaker 1: dictate the flow of your entire season. The Jets need
Speaker 1: to take care of business at home because Week two,
Speaker 1: yes they're still in their building, but they get a
Speaker 1: very tough matchup with the Browns in prime time. Then
Speaker 1: they go to Foxborough, then they have thereby then they're
Speaker 1: at Philly, home to Dallas, home to New England at Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: It's a brutal first half. Things really using up in
Speaker 1: the back half. But the whole goal I think for
Speaker 1: the Jets this season not to spend too far forward
Speaker 1: is get to the midway point of the season, around
Speaker 1: four and four, and you're gonna have a shot. It's
Speaker 1: gonna you know, it's not gonna be a great shot,
Speaker 1: but you have a shot. And the Bills to me,
Speaker 1: are not a team to look past though, and that's
Speaker 1: why I think this is going to be a very
Speaker 1: uh potentially entertaining game because what you have in Buffalo
Speaker 1: is um a defense that can get after you and
Speaker 1: can make plays. And even a bad to mediocre Bills
Speaker 1: team last year lit up the Jets at the Meadowlands
Speaker 1: last year, And it can happen. It can happen quickly.
Speaker 1: Uh Adam Gaze and Sam Donald and Levy on Bell
Speaker 1: at Robbie Anderson and Jamison Crowder. For the first time
Speaker 1: in years talking about this with Rich Eyes and today,
Speaker 1: I said to Rich who goes way back with the
Speaker 1: Jets once, the last time you could say that the
Speaker 1: Jets have an offense that excites you, I threwout Brett Farve.
Speaker 1: He he shot that down. I threw out Pennington's breakthrough year.
Speaker 1: He shot that down. You might have to go back
Speaker 1: all the way to Vinny in ninety eight with Keyshawan
Speaker 1: and Wayne Corbett and Curtis Martin. This is revision his history.
Speaker 1: That Brett Farve team was so fun to watch. I
Speaker 1: agree until he ruptured his bicet. That's exactly what I said, Rich.
Speaker 1: Rich did not agree, But uh, that's beside the point.
Speaker 1: The Jets have a potential to have a really exciting offense.
Speaker 1: This holds all over that defense. So what does Josh
Speaker 1: Allen do with that? That's another subplot, Josh Allen year
Speaker 1: to leave Greg who is a very exciting guy to track. Uh,
Speaker 1: what do you think? Yeah, it's the quarterbacks that make
Speaker 1: it interesting. But ultimately I trust McDermott in year three
Speaker 1: of his defense, maybe being a little ahead of where
Speaker 1: Adam Gaze is gonna be in in game one of
Speaker 1: his offense, and that they'll they'll do enough. They'll they'll
Speaker 1: put a lot of pressure on Donald in terms of
Speaker 1: in his new center, Ryan Khalil, who's you know, just
Speaker 1: getting up to speed kind of identifying what they're gonna
Speaker 1: do because they've been together for a while and now
Speaker 1: you can really be creative. You can do a lot
Speaker 1: of things to try to confuse them and cause turnovers people.
Speaker 1: I think it matters a little bit that we haven't
Speaker 1: seen lev On Bell in nineteen plus months, and so
Speaker 1: I guess you can say that they're gonna use time Montgomery,
Speaker 1: who it sounds like he at least has a role
Speaker 1: in the first couple of weeks to ease Bell in.
Speaker 1: But I don't like this opening defensive draw for the Jets.
Speaker 1: I think the Bills defense, it's if you're following it
Speaker 1: every week, you know the Bills defense is very good,
Speaker 1: but in general, the Bills are overlooked just because they're
Speaker 1: the Bills and they haven't really pressed through in that division.
Speaker 1: But I think this Donald, this we're gonna find out
Speaker 1: a lot about how he has to play under pressure,
Speaker 1: and they're that running game is gonna be a big
Speaker 1: part of this. It's been a summer of great uh,
Speaker 1: anticipation and hope around Donald. Well, now he gets the Bills,
Speaker 1: who a lot of people probably didn't even pay attention
Speaker 1: at the second ranked defense in the league last year,
Speaker 1: first against the past, third in yards per play. This
Speaker 1: is a unit that's gonna be dangerous. But listen, it
Speaker 1: is hope season again, Jets fans, and I am on
Speaker 1: the hope train. Oh no, because I'm locking it up.
Speaker 1: We're getting and we are believe. Don't hurt me, don't
Speaker 1: hurt me. And I attempted to play psychological warfare with
Speaker 1: the Brown's Jets game with Dan on the rich Eyes
Speaker 1: and shown it did not go too well. Wait, you
Speaker 1: didn't lock up the Browns. Oh yes I did. I
Speaker 1: was just waiting for time to do what I forgot
Speaker 1: to do it during that during that segments, perfect, of course,
Speaker 1: I lowed them up. Well done, all right, little easter
Speaker 1: egg there the first overall, he says, of course I
Speaker 1: locked up if we knew that's what he was thinking
Speaker 1: that He's like, holiday, didn't I did? I not say
Speaker 1: over all? I am client that I was planning. I'm
Speaker 1: planning of a shaky first draft is GM. Mark, You're
Speaker 1: a little all over the place. I'm coming out of
Speaker 1: here with like market less responsibility than any of you.
Speaker 1: On Sunday, I have to track three games to which
Speaker 1: are gonna be Titanic level. Have no idea what you're
Speaker 1: doing yet you have painted this picture as you are
Speaker 1: operating on a whole different should do. All right, let's
Speaker 1: keep movings. Wait, Greg, excuse me, sip Greg's double banger,
Speaker 1: Double bang. Greg, you're covering like nine games. The funniest thing, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know. The funniest thing is when you said we're
Speaker 1: going to get out of here in one hour show today.
Speaker 1: Not even I'm glad you left me Ravens Dolphins. Okay,
Speaker 1: good morning. But to me, that's a nice backup game.
Speaker 1: I took a great primary one o'clock game, primary morning game.
Speaker 1: It goes with pure logic, while Mark goes with your
Speaker 1: k and I you know, I know that Dolphins aren't
Speaker 1: expected to be competitive and they should be overmatched, and
Speaker 1: it's a very difficult Week one, drawed out baby have
Speaker 1: to go up against this Ravens rushing attack. But there's
Speaker 1: there is kind of a mystery factor with just what
Speaker 1: heck this Dolphins team is going to be. And I've
Speaker 1: talked enough about Lamar Jackson and how interesting I think
Speaker 1: this Ravens offense is going to be. On a week
Speaker 1: to week basis, it's still spicy Week one game for me.
Speaker 1: They're all beautiful babies. This Week one they start, you know,
Speaker 1: after after Week one it's like, okay, this one doesn't
Speaker 1: sleep through the night, or this one kind of a
Speaker 1: jerk to me, you know whatever. But in Week one,
Speaker 1: they're all beautiful. You know, Greg, you have I think
Speaker 1: forgotten about or at least you didn't mention the twenty
Speaker 1: thousand simulations the ESPN ran where the one thousand seven
Speaker 1: twenty first derivation had the Dolphins winning the division or
Speaker 1: at least making the playoffs. I mean, you can they
Speaker 1: have them winning this game handily? Can't you just smell
Speaker 1: this game? Like the Dolphins being up one point early
Speaker 1: in the third quarter. The game's not over here, and
Speaker 1: everyone on Twitter going look so much for taking this
Speaker 1: is crazy? It's fits magical. Yes, what football? The teams
Speaker 1: aren't that that different? And then they are because I
Speaker 1: trust like the infrastructure, But where is the Ravens true frontline,
Speaker 1: top level talent. I guess it's Earl Thomas. Their entire secondary.
Speaker 1: It's a good secondary. I think they're really well coach.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be good. I just don't think
Speaker 1: they can go on the road and expect to blow
Speaker 1: the doors off anything. The parallel I withdraw is that
Speaker 1: a year ago, who of us were sitting here saying, yes,
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Buccaneers are going to go out
Speaker 1: and shock the Saints in Week one and he's gonna
Speaker 1: throw for like four hundred yards and four touchdowns. I
Speaker 1: think I did well. I'm sure you did West. The
Speaker 1: other three of us didn't nail that one, apparent. I
Speaker 1: think I got tweets during that game saying well done,
Speaker 1: well I did not. We have left for the Monday
Speaker 1: night games, right, so I think we have three games?
Speaker 1: Don't were Houston, New Orleans and Denver, Oakland? Well, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go Denver Oakland. We already, we already talked, we
Speaker 1: already we took the team of West. I mean, ultimately,
Speaker 1: it's it's the Monday night football game. We'll be talking
Speaker 1: about it on on Tuesday. I think this is like
Speaker 1: the White why we should have a nice doubleheader every week,
Speaker 1: because these guys wouldn't be in primetime all the time.
Speaker 1: And I want to see what Vic Fangio does. And
Speaker 1: I mean especially without Antonio Brown on the field, Having
Speaker 1: Von Miller and Chubb together, if Chubb does make the leap,
Speaker 1: is just a gift for a play caller like Fangio,
Speaker 1: who's basically known for disguising coverages and scrambling the minds
Speaker 1: of feeble quarterbacks better than any coordinator in the league.
Speaker 1: And that's when he doesn't already have just two game
Speaker 1: wrecking pass rushers on the edge doing the work for him,
Speaker 1: so he can just get wild in the back end.
Speaker 1: It's it's a nice little spot here for Denver to
Speaker 1: try to get a division road win right off the bat. Well,
Speaker 1: Dan took his Jets, Mark took his Browns. I'm locking
Speaker 1: up my Broncos. Okay, you're all in, and it's a
Speaker 1: West went four years ago and then slowed down. That's
Speaker 1: not I think that cost cancer. All right, it's a
Speaker 1: nice timing here, obviously for death forth, Antonio Brown out
Speaker 1: of the lineup, and just chaos around. Now, is there
Speaker 1: a potential for Bill Simmons once coined ewing theory potential
Speaker 1: here with Antonio Brown being added the picture for perhap
Speaker 1: Nick's drafted you and he never played for them and
Speaker 1: then he started winning. Maybe it's a reach I'm trying
Speaker 1: to sell her, of course. I mean everybody thinks that
Speaker 1: the Raiders are so much more talented even without they
Speaker 1: are more talented there, Ago, I just think their offensive
Speaker 1: line is what Mark, how did you describe it? Flaming
Speaker 1: trash is what you called the Redskins was along those lines.
Speaker 1: This is like flaming trash on a barge floating down
Speaker 1: the river. That is the Raiders offensive line. And what
Speaker 1: the Broncos are gonna do to them? Oh, I have
Speaker 1: to I mean I have to disagree there. They have
Speaker 1: Trent Brown, who shouldn't be the highest paid right tackle
Speaker 1: on the leak, They have maybe the best center in football,
Speaker 1: and when I got the other three positions, that's fair.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying both of their starting guards are out.
Speaker 1: Their left tackle was abused all year last year and
Speaker 1: got Frank Clark paid. So whoever, Yeah, they and Chubb
Speaker 1: and Miller changed side. So whoever is going up against
Speaker 1: Colton Miller? That that's a matchup to watch. One sandwich
Speaker 1: prop that I had written down and then forgot about,
Speaker 1: but I wish I didn't. Was Chubb and Vaughan the
Speaker 1: one to sack masters by teammates this season and you
Speaker 1: guys get the field, Um, I do like your boy
Speaker 1: Miles Guard and Olivier, maybe they would be, but I
Speaker 1: think those guys I would saying, Ingram if everybody can stay,
Speaker 1: but I think they were Chubbing von Miller would be heavy.
Speaker 1: Chubb von Miller. They already did it last year. When yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's getting and I think it's totally accurate,
Speaker 1: Like Defensive Player of the Year Buzz Baldi picked him
Speaker 1: for that in our little NFL. I mean. The Bracco's
Speaker 1: offense in this game, though, is a total mystery, and
Speaker 1: you know, this should be a nice matchup for them.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a team in the league
Speaker 1: that has less of a pass rush than the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and they don't really scare you in the secondary, like
Speaker 1: if Joe Flacco is going to get a rolling, this
Speaker 1: is perfect. Where are we with Courtland Sutton at this point?
Speaker 1: How So? I don't know. I just think like, do
Speaker 1: they have a bona fide weapon or in the passing
Speaker 1: game that we that we can say this is the
Speaker 1: big threat. Yeah, he looks good, but I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I need something more than Emmanuel Sanders. I
Speaker 1: think he's a huge wild card. He sort of has
Speaker 1: that Josh Doxon skill set where you're a jump ball artist.
Speaker 1: You have to win enough jump balls to do that.
Speaker 1: In other stadium naming rights news, um, after a three
Speaker 1: year squabble to get it all worked out, there's a
Speaker 1: bankruptcy involved. Um. The Broncos now play at Empower Field
Speaker 1: at Mile High. So I think this a little note
Speaker 1: for you guys. It was like a mighty year deal though,
Speaker 1: So I feel like this stadium has changed every couple
Speaker 1: of years for a long time, and it's it's just
Speaker 1: mile High though. That's whatever. That's why it's not a
Speaker 1: sound business deal by the people that in power. Everyone
Speaker 1: just says, oh, they're playing a mile High possibly the
Speaker 1: most underrated atmosphere in the NFL to watch a game,
Speaker 1: and I will be calling it mile high from it.
Speaker 1: I have always in will continued um just a total
Speaker 1: steal by the old jus or late in the draft
Speaker 1: here coming. It's like, it's so funny, you guys are
Speaker 1: so funny with this Texas team that uh that at
Speaker 1: eleven and five division champion against the thirteen and three
Speaker 1: division champion. I mean, if this wasn't Monday Night, I
Speaker 1: would have taken well. And I'm grabbing him in the
Speaker 1: twentieth round. Will be real about this like this would
Speaker 1: suggest and with these Sunday games, which if you look
Speaker 1: at it, we each actually have the same amount of
Speaker 1: Sunday games in theory, Greg is not watching my Sunday
Speaker 1: game very closely or at all. But are you suggesting
Speaker 1: that we're going to turn our televisions off because you're
Speaker 1: covering the Monday night game? I'm suggesting that you will
Speaker 1: take that suggesting. What I've suggesting is that you all
Speaker 1: be rooting your gonna be rooting very hard against the
Speaker 1: road team, which is the Texans who have a they
Speaker 1: have a Am I wrong? That would be honest? Am
Speaker 1: I wrong? I mean? I I will go along with
Speaker 1: whatever you're like fireworks show right here. It's it's a
Speaker 1: fun matchup. It's the Texans that obviously we're in the news,
Speaker 1: uh for the Clowney trade and getting the left tackle
Speaker 1: and uh Sean Payton for what it's worth today, maybe
Speaker 1: a butter up job. So that Tunsil is like one
Speaker 1: of the great left tackles in football. So as much
Speaker 1: as you want to say, um, you know the Texans
Speaker 1: botched last weekend, the number one thing we were all
Speaker 1: on fire about, um was how could you not have
Speaker 1: a left tackle? And now they do and that's gonna
Speaker 1: change things potentially for their offense. Now, going to New
Speaker 1: Orleans to face the Saints, absolutely, I imagine. Although they've
Speaker 1: done a good job, it's been the anti Mattnege situation
Speaker 1: in New Orleans where n can't get over what happened
Speaker 1: in the playoff. It seems like the Saints, as a
Speaker 1: veteran team led by h Drew Brees, have processed the screwjob,
Speaker 1: the New Orleans screw job of last January in the
Speaker 1: NFC title game and have moved on. I love the
Speaker 1: Saints team. I think they are gonna again be in
Speaker 1: that twelve win thirteen one win territory and for that
Speaker 1: reason alone. And I know, yes, we just talked about
Speaker 1: the Bucks went to the Superdome and beat up on
Speaker 1: the Saints last year in Week one. Anything could happen.
Speaker 1: But I just love the Saints in this game. And
Speaker 1: I think the Texans, uh will get right next week
Speaker 1: against the Jaguars. But I think the Saints gonna cruise
Speaker 1: here the Gulf of Mexico. We're gonna lock up your
Speaker 1: against your team. But you already you already, No, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I am with you. There's not really logical
Speaker 1: reasons to pick against the Saints in general this year.
Speaker 1: They're all just kind of illogical ones. Just hey, it's football,
Speaker 1: because the rosters just about perfect. I don't love Hey,
Speaker 1: it's football as a reason right now. I think that
Speaker 1: is a reason. But that's what I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: good reason. And like, hey, maybe the regular season doesn't
Speaker 1: matter to them anymore. Are they gonna be able to
Speaker 1: get up? But I I have I think that's a
Speaker 1: fan thing. I don't think that's a players thing, that
Speaker 1: they're not gonna be properly motivated. I think Saints fans
Speaker 1: are heartbroken from the last couple of years. It's I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's under the radar. I mean that
Speaker 1: they should be. They're heartbroken, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of them want to give up football or like none
Speaker 1: of this matter. I think they're gonna like nothing matters
Speaker 1: for this Saints teams from a fan perspective on some
Speaker 1: level until the playoffs, They've done it all under shun
Speaker 1: Sean Payne. They've done it now for this could be
Speaker 1: their third straight year in this window where they're really
Speaker 1: really good. So it's just a build up and anything
Speaker 1: less than a playoff run is a huge disappointment. But
Speaker 1: I don't think it affects their players. They're loaded. I
Speaker 1: don't think the players even think the way that we're talking.
Speaker 1: And also, you like, let's be real, you've got a
Speaker 1: year or two left with Drew Brees based on how
Speaker 1: things go, and why even think about the past. You're
Speaker 1: here again and the regular season. You don't take it off.
Speaker 1: It matters entirely. And the reason Dan that I'm not
Speaker 1: rooting against the Texans is that I give Bill O'Brien credit.
Speaker 1: He has made them for me totally fascinating. I think
Speaker 1: that he has he is embracing I don't think that.
Speaker 1: He probably sees himself as a human villain, but he
Speaker 1: is in a role that he is playing well right now,
Speaker 1: and I think the NFL needs five or six of
Speaker 1: those at every turn, and I like it k QT
Speaker 1: might be ready for this game if he is. Here's
Speaker 1: Sue Watson's throwing too, Hopkins, will Fuller, Kenny Stills, QT,
Speaker 1: and uh Duke Johnson. At times last year, only one
Speaker 1: of those guys was available to just SHN Watson. That's
Speaker 1: a pretty big difference where they could just I think
Speaker 1: this game is a perfect Monday Night double Hadder starter
Speaker 1: where it's forty two to thirty seven and it's just bonkers.
Speaker 1: That is a fair point, and I would I would
Speaker 1: just say that the difference between these two teams is
Speaker 1: that the Saints have one of the deepest secondaries in
Speaker 1: the NFL and the Texans secondary. I say, they keep
Speaker 1: kidding themselves about the holes on the roster. Their secondary
Speaker 1: is not good. It's just flat out and not good.
Speaker 1: And whenever J. J. Watton Clowney didn't get to the
Speaker 1: past or last year, they were exposed. I just like
Speaker 1: it's Michael Thomas, it's DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins last year a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty receptions without a drop. It's two totally
Speaker 1: unstoppable wide receivers going at each other. Um, Chris westling.
Speaker 1: By the way, as we tape this on NFL network,
Speaker 1: Erica tamp posse as part of her Fantasy one program
Speaker 1: League on League one, she is on television wearing makeup.
Speaker 1: Wait really, I missed it. Yeah that's pretty cool. You
Speaker 1: look beautiful. Thank you? Just in there now too, really
Speaker 1: good on the TV. Look really good. Um, no, you're
Speaker 1: always beautiful. Now it's getting weird all right now, the
Speaker 1: Week one equivalent of Mr Irrelevant, West's realized I'm getting
Speaker 1: banged with three four o'clock games. It's a trial and error.
Speaker 1: You guys are killing my strategy, which is just a dream.
Speaker 1: I'll be out ordering pizza at that point. Is beautiful.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like Week one. A lot of mistakes
Speaker 1: are made people. I'm cleaning up. Greg tweeted early this week,
Speaker 1: or maybe it was yesterday. Jimmy g and Jamis Winston
Speaker 1: are in a similar boat this year as quarterbacks who
Speaker 1: need to win to keep their jobs. And I kind
Speaker 1: of think that Jamis Winston's in his own boat and
Speaker 1: Jimmy G's keeping that job no matter what. But I
Speaker 1: I see your point that both of these offenses are
Speaker 1: huge question marks this year. And I think with the
Speaker 1: Bucks it starts with their coaching staff too, bringing in
Speaker 1: a new system. Bruce Arians not calling to plays. I
Speaker 1: know I keep bringing that up, but how will this
Speaker 1: offense work without the quarterback whisper running the show? It's
Speaker 1: a big that's a big question. I mean that he
Speaker 1: came back. It sounds like in part because he loved
Speaker 1: all the staff members that he's hired and wanted to
Speaker 1: get them work. I listened to an interview with him
Speaker 1: this week, he admitted I wasn't pining to coach again.
Speaker 1: I wasn't pining, but I got my staff together. When
Speaker 1: Bulls was available, he was like, all right, I got
Speaker 1: I got the band back together. Let's do this. You
Speaker 1: get the sense Arians is perfect scenario would be two
Speaker 1: seasons with the Bucks, maybe even one and they're both
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and then he like hands it off
Speaker 1: the Byron Leftwich how like that would be his ideal scenario.
Speaker 1: I think you're dead on. I think that it's about
Speaker 1: a two year map with an you know, continue and
Speaker 1: c planned to hand it off to someone that he
Speaker 1: trusts and someone that the way he has three he
Speaker 1: has three coordinators of ethnicity and he has two females
Speaker 1: on his coaching stuff. I think that is his legacy.
Speaker 1: That's been something he's done in Arizona and here, and
Speaker 1: I don't think he's planning to hang around for five years.
Speaker 1: That said, if you're a Bucks fan, you don't want
Speaker 1: to really hear that from your head coach. If they
Speaker 1: if they actually do get to the playoffs, then it's fine,
Speaker 1: you know, if if it's if it's how he envisions it,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a nice Week one matchup. I
Speaker 1: mean there's two mystery teams, really, I mean four of
Speaker 1: the buck take the defenses out. Which offense do you
Speaker 1: trust more? Well, I think that they It sounds take
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston over Jimmy g right now. Well, I don't
Speaker 1: know about that, but I think that the Chris Godwin
Speaker 1: hype is real based on what has happened two players
Speaker 1: playing that position in the Bruce Arians offense in the past.
Speaker 1: He's a good player regardless of that. I just think Jimmy,
Speaker 1: Jimmy started ten games, and I just think sometimes when
Speaker 1: you haven't seen a body of work. We give a
Speaker 1: little too much credit to what could be. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's two years older than Jamis Winston. Give me the
Speaker 1: guy who's played fifty five games already and has done
Speaker 1: some good things, and it's with a good coach. He's
Speaker 1: turning the ball over at a pace touched only by
Speaker 1: Blake Bortles. I think that that is a big issue
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And he's not shaking that his team
Speaker 1: has been irrelevant for his entire career. Alright, boys, nice
Speaker 1: preview work, West. I will take it, will still be
Speaker 1: your game in record. But you guys like me to
Speaker 1: take one of those four pms lash one. We have
Speaker 1: to work out a trade because it just doesn't work
Speaker 1: that way. It can't work. We have to We'll have
Speaker 1: to figure out. Do you see what happened here? My
Speaker 1: strategy was so sound that I'm reducing people to have
Speaker 1: to not even can keep their own commitments. Sure, I'll
Speaker 1: trade you for the Browns Titans go away, all right?
Speaker 1: Before we go, I want Super Bowl picks, yes, final
Speaker 1: and the score Mark Sessler score. I'm this is the
Speaker 1: real thing. This is the real thing. Well, you made
Speaker 1: it on NFL Dot com You gotta stay consistent, right.
Speaker 1: I don't remember who I picked on on this from
Speaker 1: the NFC side. I know who I picked from the
Speaker 1: a f C. And you can call me a fool,
Speaker 1: but I'm just gonna dream. I picked the Browns to
Speaker 1: go to the Super Bowl as a wild card team.
Speaker 1: They're going to score twenty one points in the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl and it's going to be against the quarterback. Everyone
Speaker 1: killed them for years for not picking Carson Wentz, Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield and the Browns over the Eagles. You're one of
Speaker 1: three people to vote for the Browns to win the
Speaker 1: Super Well, look with two of the others were the
Speaker 1: same amount of people voted for the Patriots, but look
Speaker 1: at the other more than the Eagles. The other two
Speaker 1: people to pick for the Browns were Tom Blair, who
Speaker 1: was one of our editors who was a Browns fan.
Speaker 1: The third was NFL media new higher Joe Thomas. So
Speaker 1: there may be some some feelings, as you would say,
Speaker 1: attached to the West. Let's take this back to the seventies,
Speaker 1: where I'm much more comfortable a man out of time.
Speaker 1: We're going with the Dallas Cowboys over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh,
Speaker 1: I like that I'll go Kansas City Chiefs over the
Speaker 1: Hump thirties seven over the Eagles. I I gotta stay consistent.
Speaker 1: I went Steelers to win it over the Eagles. No
Speaker 1: one picked the Patriots. That means they're gonna I think
Speaker 1: it was just doing one of those things, is like,
Speaker 1: which are the four or five teams that I think
Speaker 1: have the best chance? Is no one picking on NFL
Speaker 1: dot Com take the Steelers? Alright. I didn't ask for
Speaker 1: a score, but I'm gonna go twenty nine to great game. Finally,
Speaker 1: Ricky behind the glass, I'm not gonna pay the Patriots.
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't just because every time I always
Speaker 1: have to keep my head down and pray and close
Speaker 1: my eyes and not think about it. I'm not going
Speaker 1: to say them out of principle. Plus, you're on TV now,
Speaker 1: so they would crush you if they don't win there.
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's so many great teams in the NFC.
Speaker 1: You're on television now, we need it. I think the
Speaker 1: Browns will get there, alright. Alright, just gonna go out
Speaker 1: on a limb, all right, I just say that, say
Speaker 1: that they will, and you know what a lot of
Speaker 1: weight on that limb. There's there's a lot of weight
Speaker 1: on that limb, and I feel like, I don't know
Speaker 1: it might be might be the Bears. Bears Brown's final
Speaker 1: score twenty six to seventeen. Who wins? It's like Bears?
Speaker 1: What I love? I love that you turn it back
Speaker 1: to the forties. The seventies weren't back for enough for
Speaker 1: you Browns and Bears. Alright, exactly, Well, alright, guys, nice
Speaker 1: tight show today. She's a fantasy analyst. She's not really
Speaker 1: into the whole Next next time you hear from us,
Speaker 1: we'll be recapping all the games we just previewed, So
Speaker 1: make sure you check that on Sunday night. And it
Speaker 1: is also for the first time, it will be streaming
Speaker 1: on NFL dot Com. The show will also be streamed
Speaker 1: live on YouTube. How about that? So if you want
Speaker 1: to watch our gorgeous mugs talk about these games, you
Speaker 1: can do it. Uh. It will go, you know, shortly
Speaker 1: after the Sunday night game wraps up will be Um,
Speaker 1: the video will be out and then the audio version,
Speaker 1: of course, will be out, hopefully in time for your
Speaker 1: morning commute. So um, idea for the people upstairs, put
Speaker 1: that on our television station. Oh I like that. Let's
Speaker 1: take Let's go to the third floor right after today
Speaker 1: and do that. Let's do it right now, al right, everybody,
Speaker 1: it's time to get into the season. There's glory in
Speaker 1: the legends of this hard muscle life, and there's poetry,
Speaker 1: and each season made of swept and strife. But now
Speaker 1: is the time to work and strain and a sport
Speaker 1: but tests the spirit and challenges the brain lets.