September 19, 2023 • 35 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses the season-long impact of Nick Chubb’s devastating knee injury, which NFL quarterback has the worst contract: Deshaun Watson or Russell Wilson, and how bettors should approach Cincinnati Bengals-Los Angeles Rams in Week 3 given all the uncertainty surrounding Joe Burrow’s health.
Follow Jason on Twitter and Instagram. Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #Volume
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Tuesday,
September nineteenth. Oh my gosh, I'm absolutely spent from the
Monday night football. Can we call it a doubleheader when
the game's overlap? I personally like it. I had a
(00:31):
couple buddies texting me that this doesn't work for them.
You know, it's shuttling kids to volleyball practice. You got dinner,
and you've got multiple channels you gotta juggle with. You
don't know which game is going to halftime, end of
the quarter. Wacky night, all around, unfortunate night if you're
a Cleveland Browns fan, really sad night if you're a
Nick Chubb fan. Pittsburgh Sealer fans are.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Through the roof.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I don't even know how much time we'll spend on
the New Orleans Saints, who are somehow undefeated but gave
up a garbage touchdown that did not give us a win.
Anybody who had saying three yet to settle for a push.
But I think we got to start. Let's start with
Nick Chubb and the running back situation in the NFL
and we were on it all summer. We talked about
the running backs. A lot of people were like that,
it's not a story, they're just not getting paid, can't pay,
(01:14):
and blah blah blah. And you got the Jonathan Taylor
situation brewing in Indy, which Cleveland fans are probably gonna
want to talk about here shortly. So we finished two
weeks in the NFL, and this is just a partial
list of running backs who have gone down with injury.
Nick Chubb is done for the season. It's gruesome. It's terrible.
I feel awful for Chubb. He was dominating the Steelers
(01:37):
and he takes a just a kill shot to the
legs from Minka Fitzpatrick. I like Minka Fitzpatrick. I think
he felt awful. That's why he briefly pulled himself out
of the game. But the video the screen grabs. It's gruesome.
I feel awful for Nick Chubb. But it season's over.
He's gonna be turning twenty eight here soon, in the
last year of his deal. It sucks. It's terrible, but
(02:00):
he's not the only one. So Nick Chubb has done
for the season, which is really bad. Saquon Barkley's gonna
be out three weeks with his injury that he suffered
against the Cardinals. Okay, we saw David Montgomery of the Lions.
He got I think a twenty year contract, sorry, twenty
million dollar contract, not twenty year contract, Dave Montgomery. Don't
know how long he's gonna be out, Still waiting word
on that. We had Aaron Jones miss week two. Don't
know about his status for week three. It's a hamstree.
(02:21):
We had Austin Eckler miss week two. Don't know about
his status for week three. Folks, running backs are dropping
like flies all around the league. It's terrible and sad
to watch. It makes me depressed that these guys begging
to get paid, they don't get paid, and now they're
all getting injured. And I'm sure I forgot a couple guys, Rob,
(02:42):
did I forget any running backs? We've already gone down
here two weeks into the season. I'm trying to think,
is there anyone else?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I don't think so. I think you've hit all that
about hit so far.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, so you got two weeks in and you got six,
at least six running backs down for the count, and
we don't know what their status is coming back. It's
like when fans are like, hey, why is b Jon
Robinson not getting a ton of carries? Well, you don't
want to run him into the ground. You know, it's
week two. You gotta pace yourself at Derek Henry's now
splitting carries with Todd J. Spears, the young kid who
I like a lot. I hope you're grabbing him in fantasy.
(03:13):
It's just a weird situation for running backs and Chubb.
I feel awful for back when he was at Georgia,
he was one of the best running backs in the country,
had that gruesome injury versus Tennessee, and now he gets
the same leg injury in the NFL. It's been eight years,
he's clearly been healed, but now the rehab process is
not going to be fun. I mean, Nick Chubb. People
(03:34):
forget it was like Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb, and I
believe Gurley not graduated but left Georgia for the NFL,
and he was like the second leading sec rusher ever
after herschel Walker. Like Nick Chubb is a tremendous talent,
and it stinks because I don't know, I mean, we
saw Walter Payton play into his thirties. Emmitt Smith play
deep into his thirties. Now, good luck finding a running
(03:55):
back into his thirties. They're tough to find. It's just
awful all around. Like Nick Chubb, by all accounts a great guy.
Love watching the Instagram videos of him squatting a billion pounds.
Guy's a cyborg. And then he takes some shot low
And I was explaining to my kid, like, the crappy
thing is they tell you don't go for the head
because you don't want concussions. You know it's bad. Go
(04:16):
for the legs. Oh well, you go for the legs.
And now Nick Chubb's leg is just I mean, it
looked bad and you could Nick Chubb was on the
ground like reeling, and I guess in the stadium they
showed the replay and you hear the entire stadium wins,
and at that point I think it was bucket. Aikman
on the call said, we're not going to show you
the replay. It's pretty narly. It's bad. If you didn't
(04:40):
see it, don't worry, you're not missing you know. I'm
sure the screen grabs made it to your Instagram DM box,
but it's not pretty. And I feel awful for Chubb.
Compounding matters for Cleveland. They end up losing the game
in Pittsburgh. And I'm gonna put this one and I
know you lose your star running back, who's your best
offensive skilled player in Chubb, but you had to lead
(05:00):
and Deshaun Watson blew it. Deshaun Watson was abysmal on
the first play of the game, pick six. Now that
one's not on in it goes right through the hands.
It wasn't a pass that was on point, but it
goes through the hands of a tight end. A couple
of Steelers juggle it, and he runs it back. Nine
seconds into the game. The Browns are at a deficit,
but because Cleveland's got a great defense, they fight back.
You'll hold Kenny Pickett and check create turnovers. I mean,
(05:22):
they were awesome. The Cleveland defense is nasty as advertised.
Keep in the game, and the Browns eventually take a
leader in the fourth quarter. And then Watson, who folks,
He got sacked six times. Okay, this is a great
Pittsburgh front. It didn't look great against San fran I Digress.
Watson looked slow, he looked indecisive, he looked nervous. Like
(05:44):
he didn't want to make mistakes. Deshaun Watson four years
ago was easily a top ten quarterback in the NFL,
probably fringe top five. Remember he was getting Houston in
the playoffs every year. If memory serves, he was the
quarterback in Houston that took like a twenty four zero
lead against the Chiefs in a playoff game. It was like,
oh my gosh, what all this mahome zype? And then
(06:04):
it ended up like fifty one twenty four, So, I mean,
the Chiefs destroyed them, But for a moment, Deshaun Watson
like he was what Josh Allen was a couple years
Remember Josh Allen was like on the cusp of greatness
that was Deshaun Watson. He was gonna be as good, like,
you know, top five quarterback for the duration of his career.
He gets in the off the field nonsense, he messes
(06:26):
up his career, has to sit out a year and
a half essentially, and he doesn't look anything like the
guy he used to be. Deshaun Watson. He's only twenty
eight years old. He looks so slow and plotting in
the pocket and at anytime the pocket collapsed instead of
veteran quarterback chucking it out of bounds. Deshaun Watson's eating
sacks and then in the fourth instead of eating a sack,
(06:48):
he gets ragdalled by high Smith, loses the football, Watt
scoop and score and the Pittsburgh Steelers take the lead
and win the game. Like, this is not a great
Pittsburgh team, like Pickens without Deontay Johnson, the offense is
very limited the run game. You could hear the crowd
chanting fire Canada, Fire Canada, because he was so bad
(07:10):
that three and out that gave Cleveland a chance at
the end. Watson, of course couldn't couldn't finish the drive
to get the touchdown to win the game. But like
the fans don't like Canada, the OC. That was our
big concern coming in about Pittsburgh, Like the OC stinks. Oh,
he's gonna be a new guy. They look dynamic in
the preseason, and he's back to old habits. You know,
Kenny Pickett keeper on third and one, Like, what on
(07:32):
earth was that lost? Like five yards? Like it was terrible. Finally,
I remember, I don't know if you guys saw this.
In the third quarter, they pivoted from Naje Harris. You know,
I joked on on the Herd this summer when I
was talking about the Steelers, I was like, I really
like him, man, Nase Harris. I talked to a scout
who had this funny line about about a running back
(07:53):
coming out of college. You were like, he shakes, but
he doesn't bake. And I said that about Naje Harris
that I got so many people love that line. He
shakes but he doesn't bake. Naje hear shakes a lot,
you know, bake. He can't get separation. And they put
in war in the backup, who look really good, and
you know, ultimately like Pittsburgh's able to pull this game out.
They get to one in one, Cleveland drops to one
(08:14):
in one, and again it's only two games, and you
don't want to overreact, but I can't blame the rain
this time for Deshaun watson struggles. Okay, you blame the
rain against Cincinnati. He was flat out bad against Pittsburgh.
And you want to say Pittsburgh's defense is great, fine, Okay,
Well brock Purty went into Pittsburgh season opener and shredded
(08:36):
dominated them. It got me thinking, what is the worst
contract currently in the NFL, Deshaun Watson steal with the
Cleveland Browns fully guaranteed, or Russell Wilson's in Denver. Now
I teased yesterday Russell Wilson. I would not be surprised
(08:58):
if he ends up on the bed this weekend because
of poor play in Miami. It's gonna be a tough go.
Would not be shocked to see Stidham Russell Wilson thirty four.
I looked up the contracts, okay, and this is not
an easy one. So Watson's only twenty eight, but he's
only in year two of his deal. He has if
they try to get rid of him two hundred million
(09:19):
dead cap next year. You can't get rid of Watson,
no shot. Russell Wilson, you can get out, but you
got a wait three years, three years. He's thirty four.
Russe already doesn't look elusive. Sean Payton, listen, He's not
gonna make magic overnight with Russell Wilson. But it is
crazy how quickly some of these great quarterbacks have fallen again.
(09:41):
Four years ago Deshaun Watson one of the most electric
quarterbacks in league. Four years ago, Russell Wilson top ten
quarterback foe show. There's no debate about that. And here
we are now, and it's like neither of them looks
like they can sniff the top ten. Russell Wilson looks
exceptionally bad. He took six sacks and I think he
was hit fourteen times against Washington and Deshan Watson with
(10:04):
a great offensive line, I know they're missing. Conklin gets
dropped six times last night with a fumble, two fumbles,
by the way, and one of them was returned for
a touchdown. Rob It is crazy how far these two
good quarterbacks have fallen so fast.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Absolutely, And I know you don't want to go and
overreact me it's only week two, but in this case,
I'll do it for you. Deshaun Watson is done.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I have apologies to the Cleveland fans. I have no
a few of them personally, one of my good friends
in the media business as a tried and true Browns fan.
And it's over, okay, because it's not just this season,
and this season has obviously been really bad.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
But look, he's what.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
On the year, completing fifty five percent of his passes,
two touchdowns, two picks, passer rating right around seventy. All right,
he's been sacked, as you mentioned, nine times across two games.
Where you say, well, you know, it's two games. He
played Cincinnati in a rainstorm, and he played one of
the best defenses in football in Pittsburgh, and so you
might want to give him a passing and it's early, right,
So they say it's early. Look, this is just a
(11:06):
continuation of what he did last year. Last year across
what was this one, two, three, or six games, fifty
eight percent passing passer rating right around seventy nine, seven touchdowns,
five picks, Like this is the new reality for Dashaun Watson.
He is who he is at this point. Him and
(11:27):
Kenny Pickett are like right here their neck and neck.
There there's like Zach Wilson a gap and then these
two guys are right above them.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Like they are.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
You can't even call them game managers at this point
because they do so many dumb things, whether it's the
interceptions that the sacks at the bad time. You know,
in this case, Deshaun Watson is directly responsible for two
defensive touchdowns and the actual Browns defense I believe only
gave up one.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, So offense, it's It's just it's all bad right
now for Dashaun Watson. And it's because of that that
I believe that his contract is worse than Russell Wilson's
because as bad as Russell Wilson was last season, this
season very limited sample size again, it'll play the Raiders
and the Commanders, completing sixty eight percent of his passes,
(12:17):
five touchdowns, one pick, passer rating of one hundred and eight.
Right now, do you know what Browns fans would give
for Deshaun Watson to be completing sixty eight percent of
his passes and a passer rating of one away, Like,
it's a matter who you're playing Deshaun Watson right now.
He's a pitcher who's lost his fastball. He doesn't have
any confidence in what he's doing out there. You can
(12:37):
tell by the way he's playing. He's very hesitant. He's
unsure of himself. And I don't know why this wasn't
him in Houston, But how many times did we watching
last night's game, including the decisive, you know, game clinching
throw that lost in the game where he's just missing
guys by like seven eight yards. You know, in week
one he was skipping it to people like, well, maybe
(12:59):
it's the rain, you know, the bas slippery. There was
no condensation in Pittsburgh last night. Deshaun Watson, he just
he's broken, Like I don't know how else to describe it.
And at least with Denver, what you can say is
Russell Wilson is gonna get by based on his veteran smarts,
(13:20):
right Like he's he can game manage his way and
complete at a high percentage, which is what he's been doing
through the first two games for the most part, at
least in the first half of each of the first
two games. Is he can kind of work his way
around and be productive a little bit. Deshaun Watson doesn't
have that to lean against. He's been getting by on
(13:40):
his athletic prowess and his gifts throughout his career, and
it turns out missing a basically a season and a
half almost two seasons. I don't know if it sapped
him of what his physical gifts were, but he never developed.
At this point, it looks like to me that mental
side that you need to get by when you don't
have your best stuff, and he just doesn't have it.
(14:02):
And because of that, I would rather have Russell Wilson's contract.
They're both bad, but I'd rather have Russell Wilson's.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
He was always like the best athlete I'm sure when
he was growing up. Then he goes to Clemson and
remember he beat Nick Saban with an amazing performance. His
elusiveness is what made him special, ability to throw on
the run like he was a dual threat. He doesn't
look like a dual threat, does he. I mean, Rob,
I know he didn't play for a year and a half,
but like, I mean, you're a pro athlete. You got
(14:28):
a lot of money, fully guaranteed. Like shouldn't you have
like a you know, a chef making up your stuff?
You should have what Lebron has. Lebron's got his Lebron
garage to keep him going and a max efficiency working out.
I'm not putting anything in my mouth until I know
that my dieticians said I can eat it. Like Deshaun
(14:49):
Watson should have all the best people around him, give
it all his money if he wants to become a
lead again. And what's gonna make it tough is like, Okay,
Russell Wilson has Jerry Judy and Courtland Sutton and Watson
has you know, Amari Cooper and Djoku. Now Chubb's gone
and they're gonna be cash strapped, and you really have
to hit on these picks. Elijah Moore looks okay, former jet.
(15:13):
I imagine he thought he was getting out of the
Zach Wilson mess and then he was probably a little
jelly that Aaron Rodgers showed up and they didn't want him.
And now it's like, oh, I thought I had something
in Watson and maybe I don't. The thing about Russell
Wilson though, like we had, he wasn't injured, he didn't
have any off field controversy. He just like got old
(15:35):
and not good. Like I don't know, I'm not ready
to toss Watson completely, but man, that was a tough
watch and rob these Island games, Man, don't mess with
your head, you know, you know I don't want to.
We don't want to spend it too much time on
the on the New Orleans Saints, But like, did you
try to watch a lot of that game? Because Saints
are borderline unwatchable for three quarters and then finally in
(15:55):
the fourth, like they opened things up and Tasom Hill
becomes a factor and Tasom Hill really won them that game.
But they are just a tough watch, Like they don't
look like a team that could go to the playoffs
and win a playoff game, not with that brand of football.
I mean, they're barely getting by a garbage Carolina team
with Carolina's defense is kind of juiced up playing at home.
I get that, But everything I saw from Carolina was like,
(16:16):
we don't have any players. Bryce. They had two explosive
plays rob the entire game, Bryce Young scrambling for like
twenty six yards, and then they have one played to Mingo,
the young kid out of Oregon State. But like, they
don't have guys. And you look at the Saints and
they're gonna be getting Kamara back pretty soon. They got
this kid Jones who looked okay, two touchdowns. Jamal Williams,
who I drafted in fantasy. He's like the third guy
(16:38):
last night, Taysom Hill, who I thought again, I've been
a long time Taysom Hill fan. He came through in
the clutch, added a new dimension. I don't know, it's
weird that the Saints aren't better, but rob My pet
theory is their head coach is Dennis Allen, and he
thinks he's got a special defense, and they're pretty good. Again,
you face Ryan Tannehill and Bryce Young. But given the
(17:01):
schedule and I hyped the hell out of it during August,
they're not playing anyone all season, so there's a chance
this continues. I wonder if Dennis Allen, the head coach,
defensive guys saying, hey, guys, we got this. Let's get
the defense win a low scoring game, not make many mistakes.
You saw Carr put up that one pass. I joked
(17:21):
on Twitter that he threw it into a team meeting,
like three Carolina Panthers in the area. What are you
doing underthrown? It looked like a JV pass by car Panthers.
Didn't look good. We know that. But the Saints to
me unimpressive in victory.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Rub Yeah, it wasn't great.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
But one thing I will push back on you a
little bit is you say the Saints defense is good,
not great. They have now held their opponents to twenty
points or fewer in ten straight games, the longest streak
since the twenty eighteen Patriots, So their defense is elite.
Maybe because they don't have the brand names. I know,
Cam Jordan's not a sexy name, but you know that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Defense back on Monday Night Football.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Defense is the real deal, Holy Field, all right. And
the one thing that I will give the Saints a
pass on is this.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Derek Carr's red zone issues are well documented. I mean,
I'm a Raider fan, okay, like I know exactly where
the problem is. But one thing I think this is
something that was beating to us said by John Grudenen
is carrying over here with Dennis Allen and the Saints
is if we are in the red zone, the one
thing you absolutely cannot do is take points off the board.
So he is just as likely to throw it six,
(18:32):
you know, six rows into the stands as he has
to try to fit it into a window and give
his guys a chance. So that might prevent you from
winning big and winning in the postseason. I think that's
ultimately what's gonna happen here with New Orleans. But for now,
with this defense, they're gonna be able to win a
lot of ugly games because no one's gonna score enough
(18:53):
on them to, you know, to make it. So Derek
Carr has to make those kind of throws. And the
one thing he has working in his favor is unlike
you know, Deshaun Watson we just touched on and some
of these other quarterbacks who have kind of gotten to
a slow start.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Is he's working with.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
A whole new team, a whole new system, whole new
Google Ride receivers. I expect you're gonna see them come
together as the season goes on, and right now you're
seeing the early returns of you know, there's just no
chemistry right now. I mean, all their best plays are
Chris o'lave or Michael Thomas making ridiculous catches. It's not
(19:29):
because these guys are on the same page.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yes, exactly two weeks in a row. It's interesting they
go I think they go to Green Bay this week. Yeah,
they go to Green Bay and the line early is
green Bay by two. Here's my thing. We don't know
about Aaron Jones, we don't know about Watson, left tackle Bactiari,
like he didn't play last game. They nearly beat the
(19:53):
Falcons missing all those guys. So I don't know what
to make of this Packers team. I think we'll learn
more about the Saints and Derek Carry's got to go
outdoors again. Short week. That's going to be interesting. One
we're back with another week of football and DraftKings Sportsbook
is keeping us in on the NFL action with great
offers every single day. New customers can bet five dollars
(20:15):
and get two hundred dollars instantly in bonus bets. Throw
five down on any of this week's epic matchups to
walk away an instant winter and DraftKings isn't stopping there.
All customers can take advantage of two new offers every
game day this September. Football's more fun when you're in
on the action, so download the app now and sign up.
With code straight fire, new customers can bet just five
(20:36):
dollars and get two hundred dollars instantly in bonus bets
only on DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of
the NFL with code straight Fire. The Crown is yours
gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www
dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York
call eight seven seven eight hope and why or text
(20:57):
hope and why for six seven through sixty nine. In Connecticut,
help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight
seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of boot Hill
Casino and Resort licensee partner Golden Nugget Lake Charles twenty
one plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario, se
(21:21):
Sportsbook dot DraftKings dot com slash football terms for eligibility,
terms and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days
after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. Rob the other
thing that kind of popped up on Monday and I'm
looking for the game and I don't see it on Yeah,
so it's not you can't bet it right now. It's
(21:43):
this Joe Burrow Cincinnati game. So the Rams, oh wait,
maybe you can bet it. It's on Monday night football. Okay,
there is a line in a couple of books. It's
not widely available. So the Bengals are hosting the Rams
in a Super Bowl rematch Monday night four. Let's see,
there's two Mondon in football games Ers Eagles, Bucks, which
(22:03):
is kind of interesting. Two to two and oh teams
and then the Rams and the Bengals. Rams have been
an impressive one in one and the Bengals look just
freaking awful at oh and two. I do have a
number here for you. On teams that go oh and three.
Since two thousand and two, ninety nine teams have started
oh and three. Just one has made it to the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The years telling me there's a chance.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
The twenty eighteen Texas with Deshaun Watson made the playoffs.
Now that division a joke. Bengals division is not a joke.
This is must win. And Joe Burrow reaggravated the calf injury.
We don't know his status. I could tell he was
limpic I think I called it out watching the game.
(22:50):
I was like, what Burrows just does not look the same.
And the biggest tell is this was six and a
half on the look aheadline. You could bet it in
Vegas six and a half before the Game's just happened
this past weekend reopens at one and a half in Vegas. Okay,
somebody knows something about Joe Burrow's calf injury. Somebody has
(23:13):
to know something. It's one and a half now, Rob,
I did pick the Bengals to win the Super Bowl
if Burrow doesn't play. First of all, I don't even
know who their backup is. I'm gonna have to look
it up. Can they beat Matt Stafford with Joe Burrow's backup.
I gotta look this one up unless you know it
(23:33):
off the top of your head.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Who the heck knows the backup quarterback in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
That's a good Jeopardy question. By the way, I'm gonna
try to audition to be on Jeopardy. Oh, Jake Browning,
he went in week one.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
What an idiot? Washington legend. Jake Browning, Washington legend.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, he was in the height span for like eight seconds. Yeah.
Someone at Fox want to like the hair and makeup
ladies works on Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, and I'm like, oh,
I would love to be on one of those shows.
And she's like, oh, let me know, you know I can,
blah blah blah. She doesn't do it all the time.
I guess she works sometimes, so you know you eventually
(24:08):
you know people. So I'm hoping at one point, maybe
twenty twenty four, I can't do it during the NFL season,
I would love to get up. Which would you rather
go on? Rob Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Well, wheel of Fortune if it's easier. But my dream
for years has been family feud. Like I even have
my team I have my team already selected, and my
wife is pissed because she's not on it because I
don't think I don't think she would perform well enough
to be on my team for family feud.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
That's just full disclosure.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
She knows this, No, she her mind doesn't always think
of like the most obvious answers, and that's what family
Feud is.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
It's like the obvious thing you do.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
You watch Family Feud when it's on. I mean I'll
have it on in the background or something in the background.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Round.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah, interesting, I've seen some of the clips. It seems funny.
While I'm on Super Random, off the off the Wall
topics before we wrap up NFL. So Rob, you know
the men's basketball team, I'm on the men's basketball league.
So there's another league starting up even closer. And usually
we can't do fall because of football, but this league
plays on during the week. I'm not gonna say which
(25:11):
night plays during the week. And so I went around.
I would see guys at the gym and be like,
are you playing in the league. I want to just
see what the competition is like. And I saw former
Lebron teammate timofay Mosgolf who has played in some pickup games,
not with me, but with other guys that like, I
set up this pickup game, but now I'm on the herd,
I can't play in the pickup game. So Mosgof played
(25:32):
in the game, and he said, yeah, I'm gonna play
in the league, and so he's gonna be in the
league against us. This will be the first time I've
played against a former NBA player. Mosgof of course, the
seven foot center who made a bleap ton of money.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Former Laker team of former Laker that's right, him and
lou All Dang. Remember like in the summer.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Of what was that is that the Steve Nash team?
Speaker 3 (25:56):
No, it was like the twenty the Kevin Durant year
that he went to Golden State and everyone had money
because of the cap spiking and the twenty fifteen right
twenty fifteen the summer before, and the Lakers struck out
on everyone. So they're big signings were Tima Fay Mosgoff
and lou All Dang.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
They had to stretch provisions.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think they gave like one hundred
and fifty million of those two guys.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
WHOA, that's not good. Wow. Anyways, So Mosgow is in
the league. We are the favorites. We because we brought
our team. The other people it was like, we need
like forty guys and then they'll they'll pick the or
they'll divvy up the teams from those guys. We're like,
we've got our team. We don't we don't need any
free agents unless they screw us. But we'll have details
(26:41):
on that later, not that anybody cares, so, Rob, I
don't know, how do you feel about that? Owen three
stat Like teams that start oh to three, there have
been ninety nine of them since two thousand and two.
One has made the playoffs. That means it's pucker up
time for the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chargers, the Vitings. Now
the Vikings are interesting because look at that division. Lions
(27:04):
are one and one, offensive line is falling apart, defense
still non existent, Bears oh and two close to a disaster,
Packers one and one, tons of injuries. Vikings could go
oh and three and still come back and win the division.
I would say they're in the mix even if they
lose to the Chargers. And then there was one other
zero to two team that was good that I forgot
(27:24):
oh Broncos, but the division is brutal, and we don't
know if the Broncos are good, they will be going
oh to three unless they somehow beat Tua and the
juggernaut that is the Miami Dolphins. You want to put
a bow on a Week two Rob with any any
hot spicy takes other than Russell Wilson's contract at Watson,
which I think is incredibly spicy.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
I don't know if this is a super hot take,
but fees off what you just mentioned. If I'm Cincinnati,
I'm resting Joe Burrow. This Aaron Rodgers situation where the
calf suddenly becomes an achilles would scare me straight.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Well, if I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I think Rogers it was the right calf in the preseason,
I think it was the right calf. I don't think
it was the left. But I get your larger.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Point right, because Joe. They just gave Joe Burrow that
massive contract. He's now tweaked it twice in what six
weeks or seven weeks, and he tweaked it immediately after
coming back. And one thing we know about soft tissue
injuries like this is it's going to keep happening until
you get it. One hundred percent, and he said after
(28:29):
week one he wasn't a hundred percent, and so it
popped up again in week two. If it means putting
him on ir and starting the season you know two
and four or whatever it takes, Like you can't risk
a season ending injury to Joe Burrow. You just can't
do it that That roster has enough pieces. I think
(28:49):
Zach Taylor's a good enough coach where you can kind
of tread water a little bit.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I just I would not risk. I would not risk.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
So you know, us athletes, we get calf because I
had a calf thing going on and I was like terrified.
So I got a massage and then I got those
calf sleeves and I wore them when I played. I
took advil and I would, you know, shut it down
when I needed to. But I wasn't like playing every
(29:21):
day like Burrow's got to practice every day. And it
was fine, but it was like there was a moment
where I was nervous because the calf. You can't mess around.
I think Burrow's got a play. You just paid him, man,
you gave him all the He's the richest quarterback in
the league. Oh By the way. The other big news
Mahomes readjusted his deal. Rob would banged on the Chiefs
(29:43):
for so long. I can't believe Mahomes gave him my home.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I'm still banging on him.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I mean, listen, Rob was right, like, Mahomes shouldn't have
done that. But guess what, Hey, I won the Super Bowl.
Let me restructure. Oh sure, Pat, how could we help?
You know? And they just bet over backward. Now Mahomes
is the richest quarterback. It's like, I don't NFL feels
like funny money, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
It is funny money. I mean outside of the Deshaun
Watson contract because it was fully guaranteed, where they can't
just keep kicking the can down the road. You know,
you can finagle the salary cap any which way you
want to. In case of point Derek Carr, they were
sixty million dollars over the cap in New Orleans. Suddenly
they're able to restructure a bunch of guys that are
thirty million under the cap to sign Derek Carr outright
(30:26):
and then quickly Joe Burrow if they you know, put
him on a Let's say I are the worst case scenario, right,
next four games home against the Rams, at Tennessee at
Arizona home against Seattle, then a bye week.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I mean, I think they would go to It's not bad.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I think they could.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Arizona's plucky. I'll end with the spiciest take only for
the p one listeners. There you go, so that Browns
defense is good enough to get you to the playoffs
and stay is safe. Stefanski's job, it's nasty. I don't
think Watson. I know the kid Ford showed well. He
had an awesome, like seventy yard run that was spectacular,
(31:07):
and people saying, oh see see, running backs are interchangeable.
You know, they put up the Leonardo DiCaprio thing from
I've already forgotten the movie, but it was.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
A great one Once upon a Time in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yes, oh my guys, that's a good movie. By the way,
where he's pointing at the TV screen so you see
running backs don't matter looking forward. He had a seventy
yard carry. Okay, fine, wonderful. Do the Browns say we're
all in. Coach wants to keep his job. I like Stefanski.
(31:37):
We got Watson, Let's go get Jonathan Taylor. Let's see
what the presking price is maybe they've lowered it. Taylor
and Chubb pretty much were two of the best backs
in the league two years ago. No, I mean Jonathan
Taylor is an electrifying running back. He's a pass catching
weapon similar to Chubb. I'm sure he would want a
(31:59):
new I don't know how Keen Brown's is gonna want
to be to shell it out given what they just
saw happened a Chubb. I don't know, Rob, I just
all I know is this without Nick Chubb. I don't
think this is a playoff team. Can they Can they
push to maybe be a wild card? Sure anybody can
do that. Hell, the Tampa Bay Bucks might do that.
(32:19):
I just don't think they'll be able to pull it
off in that division. I mean, stranger things have happened.
Maybe Burrow sits out. This goes on ir or wherever.
Steelers their injuries seem to be mounting. Ravens are somehow too,
and oh they're only going to get healthier. But like,
I don't know, Jonathan Taylor to me is spicy enough.
(32:40):
I know people think running backs don't matter. You add
him to the Stefanski offense, Amari Cooper and Joku Jonathan Taylor,
you got some weapons, and I don't think you really
want to see what happens to Deshaun Watson when he
loses Nick Chubb. I think maybe it's just me, but
in the second half I didn't like what I saw
at all from Watson. The security blanket is chubbed. The
(33:01):
offensive line like, I think you need a running back,
I think, And again, maybe I'm being too aggressive and
thinking too nbaish rob, But with the Kirk Cousins, Jets
should kick the tires. And now with Jonathan Taylor, why
the hell not if you're the Cleveland Browns. Because I
know people don't want to hear this, but I do
believe if the Jets flounders six seven wins, there's a
(33:23):
really good chance Robert sala is gonna get fired. I've
talked to Eric Mangini about this countless times. He was
the Jets coach. He's talked about it, so I'm not
revealing state secrets here. He was the Jets coach. He
didn't want farv what hey, Johnson says, we're getting far
It's gonna be fine. Manganie's like, listen, I don't want
this to cost me all my job. No, No, you're good.
Don't worry, it's gonna be fine. We're going Fares on
(33:43):
a tear. They're like eight and three. Then Farv has
some injuries, didn't miss any time. Jets Spiral missed the playoffs.
Far of leaves Mangini fired. Like these guys get screwed.
These billionaire owners can do whatever the hell they want.
You can make all the promises to sall that you want.
He could be the nicest guy. If they won six
or seven games, missed the playoffs, he's probably gone. And
(34:04):
if you're the Cleveland Browns and you're Stefanski and you
know you went playoffs with Baker, you won a game,
and now you backslid, backslid, Now you have no Chubb,
It's like you don't, I don't think they're a playoff team.
And then you keep it Stefanski, Well, if you had
Nick Chubb, like, how's that gonna go over? I just
I would want to be aggressive. If I were the
Browns front office and I like Stefanski, I would say
(34:27):
let's go get Jonathan Taylor or pushed all our chips in.
Browns are a sneaky team. Rob that defense.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Hey, no, Joe, Yeah that Devin's is the real deal.
And to your point about Jonathan Taylor, well, bigger point
about the situation was Stefanski. They've invested so much already
into Shaan Watson, it's much easier from an ownership standpoint
to say Stefanski, you couldn't fix him, something's going on.
(34:55):
We'd think he's a great player. We gave him two
hundred and thirty million dollars. If you can't do it,
we'll find some one else who will, point blank period.
So your points are all taken absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
All right, guys, that's a lengthy podcast. We will get
back it. We had a couple of good guests booked
later in the week. I'll try to say this, a
former Notre Dame football player who spent a long time
in the NFL should be a really good guest later
in the week. And gambling with another guy who I
think has been on the podcast before. Actually the NFL
player hasn't, this other gentleman has, so it should be
(35:27):
a big week. Talk to you later.
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
This is straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up?
Straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre. Straight Fire for Tuesday,
September nineteenth. Oh my gosh, I'm absolutely spent from the
Monday night football. Can we call it a doubleheader when
the game's overlap? I personally like it. I had a
(00:31):
couple buddies texting me that this doesn't work for them.
You know, it's shuttling kids to volleyball practice. You got dinner,
and you've got multiple channels you gotta juggle with. You
don't know which game is going to halftime, end of
the quarter. Wacky night, all around, unfortunate night if you're
a Cleveland Browns fan, really sad night if you're a
Nick Chubb fan. Pittsburgh Sealer fans are.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Through the roof.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I don't even know how much time we'll spend on
the New Orleans Saints, who are somehow undefeated but gave
up a garbage touchdown that did not give us a win.
Anybody who had saying three yet to settle for a push.
But I think we got to start. Let's start with
Nick Chubb and the running back situation in the NFL
and we were on it all summer. We talked about
the running backs. A lot of people were like that,
it's not a story, they're just not getting paid, can't pay,
(01:14):
and blah blah blah. And you got the Jonathan Taylor
situation brewing in Indy, which Cleveland fans are probably gonna
want to talk about here shortly. So we finished two
weeks in the NFL, and this is just a partial
list of running backs who have gone down with injury.
Nick Chubb is done for the season. It's gruesome. It's terrible.
I feel awful for Chubb. He was dominating the Steelers
(01:37):
and he takes a just a kill shot to the
legs from Minka Fitzpatrick. I like Minka Fitzpatrick. I think
he felt awful. That's why he briefly pulled himself out
of the game. But the video the screen grabs. It's gruesome.
I feel awful for Nick Chubb. But it season's over.
He's gonna be turning twenty eight here soon, in the
last year of his deal. It sucks. It's terrible, but
(02:00):
he's not the only one. So Nick Chubb has done
for the season, which is really bad. Saquon Barkley's gonna
be out three weeks with his injury that he suffered
against the Cardinals. Okay, we saw David Montgomery of the Lions.
He got I think a twenty year contract, sorry, twenty
million dollar contract, not twenty year contract, Dave Montgomery. Don't
know how long he's gonna be out, Still waiting word
on that. We had Aaron Jones miss week two. Don't
know about his status for week three. It's a hamstree.
(02:21):
We had Austin Eckler miss week two. Don't know about
his status for week three. Folks, running backs are dropping
like flies all around the league. It's terrible and sad
to watch. It makes me depressed that these guys begging
to get paid, they don't get paid, and now they're
all getting injured. And I'm sure I forgot a couple guys, Rob,
(02:42):
did I forget any running backs? We've already gone down
here two weeks into the season. I'm trying to think,
is there anyone else?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I don't think so. I think you've hit all that
about hit so far.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, so you got two weeks in and you got six,
at least six running backs down for the count, and
we don't know what their status is coming back. It's
like when fans are like, hey, why is b Jon
Robinson not getting a ton of carries? Well, you don't
want to run him into the ground. You know, it's
week two. You gotta pace yourself at Derek Henry's now
splitting carries with Todd J. Spears, the young kid who
I like a lot. I hope you're grabbing him in fantasy.
(03:13):
It's just a weird situation for running backs and Chubb.
I feel awful for back when he was at Georgia,
he was one of the best running backs in the country,
had that gruesome injury versus Tennessee, and now he gets
the same leg injury in the NFL. It's been eight years,
he's clearly been healed, but now the rehab process is
not going to be fun. I mean, Nick Chubb. People
(03:34):
forget it was like Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb, and I
believe Gurley not graduated but left Georgia for the NFL,
and he was like the second leading sec rusher ever
after herschel Walker. Like Nick Chubb is a tremendous talent,
and it stinks because I don't know, I mean, we
saw Walter Payton play into his thirties. Emmitt Smith play
deep into his thirties. Now, good luck finding a running
(03:55):
back into his thirties. They're tough to find. It's just
awful all around. Like Nick Chubb, by all accounts a great guy.
Love watching the Instagram videos of him squatting a billion pounds.
Guy's a cyborg. And then he takes some shot low
And I was explaining to my kid, like, the crappy
thing is they tell you don't go for the head
because you don't want concussions. You know it's bad. Go
(04:16):
for the legs. Oh well, you go for the legs.
And now Nick Chubb's leg is just I mean, it
looked bad and you could Nick Chubb was on the
ground like reeling, and I guess in the stadium they
showed the replay and you hear the entire stadium wins,
and at that point I think it was bucket. Aikman
on the call said, we're not going to show you
the replay. It's pretty narly. It's bad. If you didn't
(04:40):
see it, don't worry, you're not missing you know. I'm
sure the screen grabs made it to your Instagram DM box,
but it's not pretty. And I feel awful for Chubb.
Compounding matters for Cleveland. They end up losing the game
in Pittsburgh. And I'm gonna put this one and I
know you lose your star running back, who's your best
offensive skilled player in Chubb, but you had to lead
(05:00):
and Deshaun Watson blew it. Deshaun Watson was abysmal on
the first play of the game, pick six. Now that
one's not on in it goes right through the hands.
It wasn't a pass that was on point, but it
goes through the hands of a tight end. A couple
of Steelers juggle it, and he runs it back. Nine
seconds into the game. The Browns are at a deficit,
but because Cleveland's got a great defense, they fight back.
You'll hold Kenny Pickett and check create turnovers. I mean,
(05:22):
they were awesome. The Cleveland defense is nasty as advertised.
Keep in the game, and the Browns eventually take a
leader in the fourth quarter. And then Watson, who folks,
He got sacked six times. Okay, this is a great
Pittsburgh front. It didn't look great against San fran I Digress.
Watson looked slow, he looked indecisive, he looked nervous. Like
(05:44):
he didn't want to make mistakes. Deshaun Watson four years
ago was easily a top ten quarterback in the NFL,
probably fringe top five. Remember he was getting Houston in
the playoffs every year. If memory serves, he was the
quarterback in Houston that took like a twenty four zero
lead against the Chiefs in a playoff game. It was like,
oh my gosh, what all this mahome zype? And then
(06:04):
it ended up like fifty one twenty four, So, I mean,
the Chiefs destroyed them, But for a moment, Deshaun Watson
like he was what Josh Allen was a couple years
Remember Josh Allen was like on the cusp of greatness
that was Deshaun Watson. He was gonna be as good, like,
you know, top five quarterback for the duration of his career.
He gets in the off the field nonsense, he messes
(06:26):
up his career, has to sit out a year and
a half essentially, and he doesn't look anything like the
guy he used to be. Deshaun Watson. He's only twenty
eight years old. He looks so slow and plotting in
the pocket and at anytime the pocket collapsed instead of
veteran quarterback chucking it out of bounds. Deshaun Watson's eating
sacks and then in the fourth instead of eating a sack,
(06:48):
he gets ragdalled by high Smith, loses the football, Watt
scoop and score and the Pittsburgh Steelers take the lead
and win the game. Like, this is not a great
Pittsburgh team, like Pickens without Deontay Johnson, the offense is
very limited the run game. You could hear the crowd
chanting fire Canada, Fire Canada, because he was so bad
(07:10):
that three and out that gave Cleveland a chance at
the end. Watson, of course couldn't couldn't finish the drive
to get the touchdown to win the game. But like
the fans don't like Canada, the OC. That was our
big concern coming in about Pittsburgh, Like the OC stinks. Oh,
he's gonna be a new guy. They look dynamic in
the preseason, and he's back to old habits. You know,
Kenny Pickett keeper on third and one, Like, what on
(07:32):
earth was that lost? Like five yards? Like it was terrible. Finally,
I remember, I don't know if you guys saw this.
In the third quarter, they pivoted from Naje Harris. You know,
I joked on on the Herd this summer when I
was talking about the Steelers, I was like, I really
like him, man, Nase Harris. I talked to a scout
who had this funny line about about a running back
(07:53):
coming out of college. You were like, he shakes, but
he doesn't bake. And I said that about Naje Harris
that I got so many people love that line. He
shakes but he doesn't bake. Naje hear shakes a lot,
you know, bake. He can't get separation. And they put
in war in the backup, who look really good, and
you know, ultimately like Pittsburgh's able to pull this game out.
They get to one in one, Cleveland drops to one
(08:14):
in one, and again it's only two games, and you
don't want to overreact, but I can't blame the rain
this time for Deshaun watson struggles. Okay, you blame the
rain against Cincinnati. He was flat out bad against Pittsburgh.
And you want to say Pittsburgh's defense is great, fine, Okay,
Well brock Purty went into Pittsburgh season opener and shredded
(08:36):
dominated them. It got me thinking, what is the worst
contract currently in the NFL, Deshaun Watson steal with the
Cleveland Browns fully guaranteed, or Russell Wilson's in Denver. Now
I teased yesterday Russell Wilson. I would not be surprised
(08:58):
if he ends up on the bed this weekend because
of poor play in Miami. It's gonna be a tough go.
Would not be shocked to see Stidham Russell Wilson thirty four.
I looked up the contracts, okay, and this is not
an easy one. So Watson's only twenty eight, but he's
only in year two of his deal. He has if
they try to get rid of him two hundred million
(09:19):
dead cap next year. You can't get rid of Watson,
no shot. Russell Wilson, you can get out, but you
got a wait three years, three years. He's thirty four.
Russe already doesn't look elusive. Sean Payton, listen, He's not
gonna make magic overnight with Russell Wilson. But it is
crazy how quickly some of these great quarterbacks have fallen again.
(09:41):
Four years ago Deshaun Watson one of the most electric
quarterbacks in league. Four years ago, Russell Wilson top ten
quarterback foe show. There's no debate about that. And here
we are now, and it's like neither of them looks
like they can sniff the top ten. Russell Wilson looks
exceptionally bad. He took six sacks and I think he
was hit fourteen times against Washington and Deshan Watson with
(10:04):
a great offensive line, I know they're missing. Conklin gets
dropped six times last night with a fumble, two fumbles,
by the way, and one of them was returned for
a touchdown. Rob It is crazy how far these two
good quarterbacks have fallen so fast.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Absolutely, And I know you don't want to go and
overreact me it's only week two, but in this case,
I'll do it for you. Deshaun Watson is done.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I have apologies to the Cleveland fans. I have no
a few of them personally, one of my good friends
in the media business as a tried and true Browns fan.
And it's over, okay, because it's not just this season,
and this season has obviously been really bad.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
But look, he's what.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
On the year, completing fifty five percent of his passes,
two touchdowns, two picks, passer rating right around seventy. All right,
he's been sacked, as you mentioned, nine times across two games.
Where you say, well, you know, it's two games. He
played Cincinnati in a rainstorm, and he played one of
the best defenses in football in Pittsburgh, and so you
might want to give him a passing and it's early, right,
So they say it's early. Look, this is just a
(11:06):
continuation of what he did last year. Last year across
what was this one, two, three, or six games, fifty
eight percent passing passer rating right around seventy nine, seven touchdowns,
five picks, Like this is the new reality for Dashaun Watson.
He is who he is at this point. Him and
(11:27):
Kenny Pickett are like right here their neck and neck.
There there's like Zach Wilson a gap and then these
two guys are right above them.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Like they are.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
You can't even call them game managers at this point
because they do so many dumb things, whether it's the
interceptions that the sacks at the bad time. You know,
in this case, Deshaun Watson is directly responsible for two
defensive touchdowns and the actual Browns defense I believe only
gave up one.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Yeah, So offense, it's It's just it's all bad right
now for Dashaun Watson. And it's because of that that
I believe that his contract is worse than Russell Wilson's
because as bad as Russell Wilson was last season, this
season very limited sample size again, it'll play the Raiders
and the Commanders, completing sixty eight percent of his passes,
(12:17):
five touchdowns, one pick, passer rating of one hundred and eight.
Right now, do you know what Browns fans would give
for Deshaun Watson to be completing sixty eight percent of
his passes and a passer rating of one away, Like,
it's a matter who you're playing Deshaun Watson right now.
He's a pitcher who's lost his fastball. He doesn't have
any confidence in what he's doing out there. You can
(12:37):
tell by the way he's playing. He's very hesitant. He's
unsure of himself. And I don't know why this wasn't
him in Houston, But how many times did we watching
last night's game, including the decisive, you know, game clinching
throw that lost in the game where he's just missing
guys by like seven eight yards. You know, in week
one he was skipping it to people like, well, maybe
(12:59):
it's the rain, you know, the bas slippery. There was
no condensation in Pittsburgh last night. Deshaun Watson, he just
he's broken, Like I don't know how else to describe it.
And at least with Denver, what you can say is
Russell Wilson is gonna get by based on his veteran smarts,
(13:20):
right Like he's he can game manage his way and
complete at a high percentage, which is what he's been doing
through the first two games for the most part, at
least in the first half of each of the first
two games. Is he can kind of work his way
around and be productive a little bit. Deshaun Watson doesn't
have that to lean against. He's been getting by on
(13:40):
his athletic prowess and his gifts throughout his career, and
it turns out missing a basically a season and a
half almost two seasons. I don't know if it sapped
him of what his physical gifts were, but he never developed.
At this point, it looks like to me that mental
side that you need to get by when you don't
have your best stuff, and he just doesn't have it.
(14:02):
And because of that, I would rather have Russell Wilson's contract.
They're both bad, but I'd rather have Russell Wilson's.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
He was always like the best athlete I'm sure when
he was growing up. Then he goes to Clemson and
remember he beat Nick Saban with an amazing performance. His
elusiveness is what made him special, ability to throw on
the run like he was a dual threat. He doesn't
look like a dual threat, does he. I mean, Rob,
I know he didn't play for a year and a half,
but like, I mean, you're a pro athlete. You got
(14:28):
a lot of money, fully guaranteed. Like shouldn't you have
like a you know, a chef making up your stuff?
You should have what Lebron has. Lebron's got his Lebron
garage to keep him going and a max efficiency working out.
I'm not putting anything in my mouth until I know
that my dieticians said I can eat it. Like Deshaun
(14:49):
Watson should have all the best people around him, give
it all his money if he wants to become a
lead again. And what's gonna make it tough is like, Okay,
Russell Wilson has Jerry Judy and Courtland Sutton and Watson
has you know, Amari Cooper and Djoku. Now Chubb's gone
and they're gonna be cash strapped, and you really have
to hit on these picks. Elijah Moore looks okay, former jet.
(15:13):
I imagine he thought he was getting out of the
Zach Wilson mess and then he was probably a little
jelly that Aaron Rodgers showed up and they didn't want him.
And now it's like, oh, I thought I had something
in Watson and maybe I don't. The thing about Russell
Wilson though, like we had, he wasn't injured, he didn't
have any off field controversy. He just like got old
(15:35):
and not good. Like I don't know, I'm not ready
to toss Watson completely, but man, that was a tough
watch and rob these Island games, Man, don't mess with
your head, you know, you know I don't want to.
We don't want to spend it too much time on
the on the New Orleans Saints, But like, did you
try to watch a lot of that game? Because Saints
are borderline unwatchable for three quarters and then finally in
(15:55):
the fourth, like they opened things up and Tasom Hill
becomes a factor and Tasom Hill really won them that game.
But they are just a tough watch, Like they don't
look like a team that could go to the playoffs
and win a playoff game, not with that brand of football.
I mean, they're barely getting by a garbage Carolina team
with Carolina's defense is kind of juiced up playing at home.
I get that, But everything I saw from Carolina was like,
(16:16):
we don't have any players. Bryce. They had two explosive
plays rob the entire game, Bryce Young scrambling for like
twenty six yards, and then they have one played to Mingo,
the young kid out of Oregon State. But like, they
don't have guys. And you look at the Saints and
they're gonna be getting Kamara back pretty soon. They got
this kid Jones who looked okay, two touchdowns. Jamal Williams,
who I drafted in fantasy. He's like the third guy
(16:38):
last night, Taysom Hill, who I thought again, I've been
a long time Taysom Hill fan. He came through in
the clutch, added a new dimension. I don't know, it's
weird that the Saints aren't better, but rob My pet
theory is their head coach is Dennis Allen, and he
thinks he's got a special defense, and they're pretty good. Again,
you face Ryan Tannehill and Bryce Young. But given the
(17:01):
schedule and I hyped the hell out of it during August,
they're not playing anyone all season, so there's a chance
this continues. I wonder if Dennis Allen, the head coach,
defensive guys saying, hey, guys, we got this. Let's get
the defense win a low scoring game, not make many mistakes.
You saw Carr put up that one pass. I joked
(17:21):
on Twitter that he threw it into a team meeting,
like three Carolina Panthers in the area. What are you
doing underthrown? It looked like a JV pass by car Panthers.
Didn't look good. We know that. But the Saints to
me unimpressive in victory.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Rub Yeah, it wasn't great.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
But one thing I will push back on you a
little bit is you say the Saints defense is good,
not great. They have now held their opponents to twenty
points or fewer in ten straight games, the longest streak
since the twenty eighteen Patriots, So their defense is elite.
Maybe because they don't have the brand names. I know,
Cam Jordan's not a sexy name, but you know that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Defense back on Monday Night Football.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Defense is the real deal, Holy Field, all right. And
the one thing that I will give the Saints a
pass on is this.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Derek Carr's red zone issues are well documented. I mean,
I'm a Raider fan, okay, like I know exactly where
the problem is. But one thing I think this is
something that was beating to us said by John Grudenen
is carrying over here with Dennis Allen and the Saints
is if we are in the red zone, the one
thing you absolutely cannot do is take points off the board.
So he is just as likely to throw it six,
(18:32):
you know, six rows into the stands as he has
to try to fit it into a window and give
his guys a chance. So that might prevent you from
winning big and winning in the postseason. I think that's
ultimately what's gonna happen here with New Orleans. But for now,
with this defense, they're gonna be able to win a
lot of ugly games because no one's gonna score enough
(18:53):
on them to, you know, to make it. So Derek
Carr has to make those kind of throws. And the
one thing he has working in his favor is unlike
you know, Deshaun Watson we just touched on and some
of these other quarterbacks who have kind of gotten to
a slow start.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Is he's working with.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
A whole new team, a whole new system, whole new
Google Ride receivers. I expect you're gonna see them come
together as the season goes on, and right now you're
seeing the early returns of you know, there's just no
chemistry right now. I mean, all their best plays are
Chris o'lave or Michael Thomas making ridiculous catches. It's not
(19:29):
because these guys are on the same page.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yes, exactly two weeks in a row. It's interesting they
go I think they go to Green Bay this week. Yeah,
they go to Green Bay and the line early is
green Bay by two. Here's my thing. We don't know
about Aaron Jones, we don't know about Watson, left tackle Bactiari,
like he didn't play last game. They nearly beat the
(19:53):
Falcons missing all those guys. So I don't know what
to make of this Packers team. I think we'll learn
more about the Saints and Derek Carry's got to go
outdoors again. Short week. That's going to be interesting. One
we're back with another week of football and DraftKings Sportsbook
is keeping us in on the NFL action with great
offers every single day. New customers can bet five dollars
(20:15):
and get two hundred dollars instantly in bonus bets. Throw
five down on any of this week's epic matchups to
walk away an instant winter and DraftKings isn't stopping there.
All customers can take advantage of two new offers every
game day this September. Football's more fun when you're in
on the action, so download the app now and sign up.
With code straight fire, new customers can bet just five
(20:36):
dollars and get two hundred dollars instantly in bonus bets
only on DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of
the NFL with code straight Fire. The Crown is yours
gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www
dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York
call eight seven seven eight hope and why or text
(20:57):
hope and why for six seven through sixty nine. In Connecticut,
help is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight
seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG
dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of boot Hill
Casino and Resort licensee partner Golden Nugget Lake Charles twenty
one plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario, se
(21:21):
Sportsbook dot DraftKings dot com slash football terms for eligibility,
terms and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days
after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. Rob the other
thing that kind of popped up on Monday and I'm
looking for the game and I don't see it on Yeah,
so it's not you can't bet it right now. It's
(21:43):
this Joe Burrow Cincinnati game. So the Rams, oh wait,
maybe you can bet it. It's on Monday night football. Okay,
there is a line in a couple of books. It's
not widely available. So the Bengals are hosting the Rams
in a Super Bowl rematch Monday night four. Let's see,
there's two Mondon in football games Ers Eagles, Bucks, which
(22:03):
is kind of interesting. Two to two and oh teams
and then the Rams and the Bengals. Rams have been
an impressive one in one and the Bengals look just
freaking awful at oh and two. I do have a
number here for you. On teams that go oh and three.
Since two thousand and two, ninety nine teams have started
oh and three. Just one has made it to the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The years telling me there's a chance.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
The twenty eighteen Texas with Deshaun Watson made the playoffs.
Now that division a joke. Bengals division is not a joke.
This is must win. And Joe Burrow reaggravated the calf injury.
We don't know his status. I could tell he was
limpic I think I called it out watching the game.
(22:50):
I was like, what Burrows just does not look the same.
And the biggest tell is this was six and a
half on the look aheadline. You could bet it in
Vegas six and a half before the Game's just happened
this past weekend reopens at one and a half in Vegas. Okay,
somebody knows something about Joe Burrow's calf injury. Somebody has
(23:13):
to know something. It's one and a half now, Rob,
I did pick the Bengals to win the Super Bowl
if Burrow doesn't play. First of all, I don't even
know who their backup is. I'm gonna have to look
it up. Can they beat Matt Stafford with Joe Burrow's backup.
I gotta look this one up unless you know it
(23:33):
off the top of your head.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Who the heck knows the backup quarterback in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
That's a good Jeopardy question. By the way, I'm gonna
try to audition to be on Jeopardy. Oh, Jake Browning,
he went in week one.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
What an idiot? Washington legend. Jake Browning, Washington legend.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, he was in the height span for like eight seconds. Yeah.
Someone at Fox want to like the hair and makeup
ladies works on Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, and I'm like, oh,
I would love to be on one of those shows.
And she's like, oh, let me know, you know I can,
blah blah blah. She doesn't do it all the time.
I guess she works sometimes, so you know you eventually
(24:08):
you know people. So I'm hoping at one point, maybe
twenty twenty four, I can't do it during the NFL season,
I would love to get up. Which would you rather
go on? Rob Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune?
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Well, wheel of Fortune if it's easier. But my dream
for years has been family feud. Like I even have
my team I have my team already selected, and my
wife is pissed because she's not on it because I
don't think I don't think she would perform well enough
to be on my team for family feud.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
That's just full disclosure.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
She knows this, No, she her mind doesn't always think
of like the most obvious answers, and that's what family
Feud is.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
It's like the obvious thing you do.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
You watch Family Feud when it's on. I mean I'll
have it on in the background or something in the background.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Round.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Yeah, interesting, I've seen some of the clips. It seems funny.
While I'm on Super Random, off the off the Wall
topics before we wrap up NFL. So Rob, you know
the men's basketball team, I'm on the men's basketball league.
So there's another league starting up even closer. And usually
we can't do fall because of football, but this league
plays on during the week. I'm not gonna say which
(25:11):
night plays during the week. And so I went around.
I would see guys at the gym and be like,
are you playing in the league. I want to just
see what the competition is like. And I saw former
Lebron teammate timofay Mosgolf who has played in some pickup games,
not with me, but with other guys that like, I
set up this pickup game, but now I'm on the herd,
I can't play in the pickup game. So Mosgof played
(25:32):
in the game, and he said, yeah, I'm gonna play
in the league, and so he's gonna be in the
league against us. This will be the first time I've
played against a former NBA player. Mosgof of course, the
seven foot center who made a bleap ton of money.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Former Laker team of former Laker that's right, him and
lou All Dang. Remember like in the summer.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Of what was that is that the Steve Nash team?
Speaker 3 (25:56):
No, it was like the twenty the Kevin Durant year
that he went to Golden State and everyone had money
because of the cap spiking and the twenty fifteen right
twenty fifteen the summer before, and the Lakers struck out
on everyone. So they're big signings were Tima Fay Mosgoff
and lou All Dang.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
They had to stretch provisions.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think they gave like one hundred
and fifty million of those two guys.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
WHOA, that's not good. Wow. Anyways, So Mosgow is in
the league. We are the favorites. We because we brought
our team. The other people it was like, we need
like forty guys and then they'll they'll pick the or
they'll divvy up the teams from those guys. We're like,
we've got our team. We don't we don't need any
free agents unless they screw us. But we'll have details
(26:41):
on that later, not that anybody cares, so, Rob, I
don't know, how do you feel about that? Owen three
stat Like teams that start oh to three, there have
been ninety nine of them since two thousand and two.
One has made the playoffs. That means it's pucker up
time for the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chargers, the Vitings. Now
the Vikings are interesting because look at that division. Lions
(27:04):
are one and one, offensive line is falling apart, defense
still non existent, Bears oh and two close to a disaster,
Packers one and one, tons of injuries. Vikings could go
oh and three and still come back and win the division.
I would say they're in the mix even if they
lose to the Chargers. And then there was one other
zero to two team that was good that I forgot
(27:24):
oh Broncos, but the division is brutal, and we don't
know if the Broncos are good, they will be going
oh to three unless they somehow beat Tua and the
juggernaut that is the Miami Dolphins. You want to put
a bow on a Week two Rob with any any
hot spicy takes other than Russell Wilson's contract at Watson,
which I think is incredibly spicy.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
I don't know if this is a super hot take,
but fees off what you just mentioned. If I'm Cincinnati,
I'm resting Joe Burrow. This Aaron Rodgers situation where the
calf suddenly becomes an achilles would scare me straight.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Well, if I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I think Rogers it was the right calf in the preseason,
I think it was the right calf. I don't think
it was the left. But I get your larger.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Point right, because Joe. They just gave Joe Burrow that
massive contract. He's now tweaked it twice in what six
weeks or seven weeks, and he tweaked it immediately after
coming back. And one thing we know about soft tissue
injuries like this is it's going to keep happening until
you get it. One hundred percent, and he said after
(28:29):
week one he wasn't a hundred percent, and so it
popped up again in week two. If it means putting
him on ir and starting the season you know two
and four or whatever it takes, Like you can't risk
a season ending injury to Joe Burrow. You just can't
do it that That roster has enough pieces. I think
(28:49):
Zach Taylor's a good enough coach where you can kind
of tread water a little bit.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I just I would not risk. I would not risk.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
So you know, us athletes, we get calf because I
had a calf thing going on and I was like terrified.
So I got a massage and then I got those
calf sleeves and I wore them when I played. I
took advil and I would, you know, shut it down
when I needed to. But I wasn't like playing every
(29:21):
day like Burrow's got to practice every day. And it
was fine, but it was like there was a moment
where I was nervous because the calf. You can't mess around.
I think Burrow's got a play. You just paid him, man,
you gave him all the He's the richest quarterback in
the league. Oh By the way. The other big news
Mahomes readjusted his deal. Rob would banged on the Chiefs
(29:43):
for so long. I can't believe Mahomes gave him my home.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I'm still banging on him.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I mean, listen, Rob was right, like, Mahomes shouldn't have
done that. But guess what, Hey, I won the Super Bowl.
Let me restructure. Oh sure, Pat, how could we help?
You know? And they just bet over backward. Now Mahomes
is the richest quarterback. It's like, I don't NFL feels
like funny money, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
It is funny money. I mean outside of the Deshaun
Watson contract because it was fully guaranteed, where they can't
just keep kicking the can down the road. You know,
you can finagle the salary cap any which way you
want to. In case of point Derek Carr, they were
sixty million dollars over the cap in New Orleans. Suddenly
they're able to restructure a bunch of guys that are
thirty million under the cap to sign Derek Carr outright
(30:26):
and then quickly Joe Burrow if they you know, put
him on a Let's say I are the worst case scenario, right,
next four games home against the Rams, at Tennessee at
Arizona home against Seattle, then a bye week.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I mean, I think they would go to It's not bad.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
I think they could.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Arizona's plucky. I'll end with the spiciest take only for
the p one listeners. There you go, so that Browns
defense is good enough to get you to the playoffs
and stay is safe. Stefanski's job, it's nasty. I don't
think Watson. I know the kid Ford showed well. He
had an awesome, like seventy yard run that was spectacular,
(31:07):
and people saying, oh see see, running backs are interchangeable.
You know, they put up the Leonardo DiCaprio thing from
I've already forgotten the movie, but it was.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
A great one Once upon a Time in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yes, oh my guys, that's a good movie. By the way,
where he's pointing at the TV screen so you see
running backs don't matter looking forward. He had a seventy
yard carry. Okay, fine, wonderful. Do the Browns say we're
all in. Coach wants to keep his job. I like Stefanski.
(31:37):
We got Watson, Let's go get Jonathan Taylor. Let's see
what the presking price is maybe they've lowered it. Taylor
and Chubb pretty much were two of the best backs
in the league two years ago. No, I mean Jonathan
Taylor is an electrifying running back. He's a pass catching
weapon similar to Chubb. I'm sure he would want a
(31:59):
new I don't know how Keen Brown's is gonna want
to be to shell it out given what they just
saw happened a Chubb. I don't know, Rob, I just
all I know is this without Nick Chubb. I don't
think this is a playoff team. Can they Can they
push to maybe be a wild card? Sure anybody can
do that. Hell, the Tampa Bay Bucks might do that.
(32:19):
I just don't think they'll be able to pull it
off in that division. I mean, stranger things have happened.
Maybe Burrow sits out. This goes on ir or wherever.
Steelers their injuries seem to be mounting. Ravens are somehow too,
and oh they're only going to get healthier. But like,
I don't know, Jonathan Taylor to me is spicy enough.
(32:40):
I know people think running backs don't matter. You add
him to the Stefanski offense, Amari Cooper and Joku Jonathan Taylor,
you got some weapons, and I don't think you really
want to see what happens to Deshaun Watson when he
loses Nick Chubb. I think maybe it's just me, but
in the second half I didn't like what I saw
at all from Watson. The security blanket is chubbed. The
(33:01):
offensive line like, I think you need a running back,
I think, And again, maybe I'm being too aggressive and
thinking too nbaish rob, But with the Kirk Cousins, Jets
should kick the tires. And now with Jonathan Taylor, why
the hell not if you're the Cleveland Browns. Because I
know people don't want to hear this, but I do
believe if the Jets flounders six seven wins, there's a
(33:23):
really good chance Robert sala is gonna get fired. I've
talked to Eric Mangini about this countless times. He was
the Jets coach. He's talked about it, so I'm not
revealing state secrets here. He was the Jets coach. He
didn't want farv what hey, Johnson says, we're getting far
It's gonna be fine. Manganie's like, listen, I don't want
this to cost me all my job. No, No, you're good.
Don't worry, it's gonna be fine. We're going Fares on
(33:43):
a tear. They're like eight and three. Then Farv has
some injuries, didn't miss any time. Jets Spiral missed the playoffs.
Far of leaves Mangini fired. Like these guys get screwed.
These billionaire owners can do whatever the hell they want.
You can make all the promises to sall that you want.
He could be the nicest guy. If they won six
or seven games, missed the playoffs, he's probably gone. And
(34:04):
if you're the Cleveland Browns and you're Stefanski and you
know you went playoffs with Baker, you won a game,
and now you backslid, backslid, Now you have no Chubb,
It's like you don't, I don't think they're a playoff team.
And then you keep it Stefanski, Well, if you had
Nick Chubb, like, how's that gonna go over? I just
I would want to be aggressive. If I were the
Browns front office and I like Stefanski, I would say
(34:27):
let's go get Jonathan Taylor or pushed all our chips in.
Browns are a sneaky team. Rob that defense.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Hey, no, Joe, Yeah that Devin's is the real deal.
And to your point about Jonathan Taylor, well, bigger point
about the situation was Stefanski. They've invested so much already
into Shaan Watson, it's much easier from an ownership standpoint
to say Stefanski, you couldn't fix him, something's going on.
(34:55):
We'd think he's a great player. We gave him two
hundred and thirty million dollars. If you can't do it,
we'll find some one else who will, point blank period.
So your points are all taken absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
All right, guys, that's a lengthy podcast. We will get
back it. We had a couple of good guests booked
later in the week. I'll try to say this, a
former Notre Dame football player who spent a long time
in the NFL should be a really good guest later
in the week. And gambling with another guy who I
think has been on the podcast before. Actually the NFL
player hasn't, this other gentleman has, so it should be
(35:27):
a big week. Talk to you later.
Host
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!