August 23, 2025 • 16 mins
A selection of the best Kyle Brandt cuts from the Week of August 18th:
- The vibe around Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson
- Dillon Gabriel speaking out?
- Jaxson Dart can play, but how long for Russell Wilson?
- The turnaround for Ashton Jeanty
- Baker Mayfield leading the Bucs
- Daniel Jones starting isn't a positive story
- Put a former QB with a current WR
- Trusting the Steelers
10 Takes with Kyle Brandt is part of the NFL Podcast Network
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 (00:04):
Ten Takes is a production of the NFL in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So if you didn't watch the game, Caleb played two drives.
The second one ended prematurely, at least for Bears fans,
not in no small part to the fact that Roma Dunes,
they had a big drop on the far sideline, a
drop that Caleb took responsibility for, even though we.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
All know that wasn't true, which is fine.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The headline here is Caleb and Ben Johnson look smooth,
They look efficient, they look comfortable, they looked good. Let's
put this in proper contexts. This is the first time
Caleb has ever played on an NFL field without an
interim coach or an ill suited coach with like a
proper coach to his skills. The last time he played
a game, it was seven months ago. He was with
his third coordinator, his second head coach. He's in Lambeau Field, winning,
(01:03):
by the way, But this is it's been a long
time coming. And listen. He hit both tight ends, he
hit the wide receivers. He hit the wide receiver. One
went to the wide receiver, two went to wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Three. It's something you can need. It was smooth.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Getting the play in and out of the huddle was smooth.
Everything was on time. They're trotting up to the line
of scrimmage with tons of time on the play clock,
and some of you winning teams, winning fans of winning
teams are.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Like, what the heck they get the playout on time.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yes, it's a big deal that the Bear's got the
playout on time.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Give them credit. It's baby steps.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You gotta crawl before you can run, and he definitely
crawled yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Now listen, I will say this for Bills fans, there.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Was nobody really out there, say for maybe two or
three guys out of twenty two, who are guys were
gonna matter for the Bills this year.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Sean McDermott did not.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Play really anybody on offense, on defense. It was true, true,
backup that the Bears ones were going against. So that's
why I was thirty eight to nothing. None of us
care about the score. We care about what we're watching
right here.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And I will end.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
By saying, there's this person out there, this character in
the preseason who is he will just scrooge anything positive
or happy that you have to say about what happens
on a football field. It's such an annoying Internet character
because for that person, this is the same person who's
making fun of Caleb a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Understand the laws right now in the.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
NFL preseason August twenty twenty five, if someone doesn't look
great in practice, they're a bust. But if someone makes
plays in an actual preseason.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Game, whoa chill out. It's just preseason. It means nothing.
Learn ball.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
This is useless. You gotta pick one. You can't have both.
I know you want to, but you can't. Caleb looks smooth.
The Bears look fine. We'll see how they look on
that same field opening night against the Vikings. One of
the most amusing observations from Bears Twitter last night is
that Ben Johnson is some sort of sociopath. He's up
(02:57):
thirty eight to nothing at home and he's not even
smiling like I'm The cutaways of him on the sideline
are dead serious, no level, no relief whatsoever. Let's remember,
like we're talking so much about Caleb, Caleb is way
more experienced at his job than Ben Johnson, isn't his
Caleb has a year under his belt.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
This was like positively, this look was amused.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
This was like one of his most happiest looks we
saw at thirty eight to nothing. Ben Johnson has never
called plays during a game. To Caleb, he's never been
the head coach saved for a preseason game last week,
and I thought what Caleb said after the game was
really interesting. All the Bears media was asking him what
was coach Johnson like during the game, what was he like?
And Caleb said, he's way calmer during the games than
(03:40):
he is during practice when he's on me in the headset.
In practice, it's a lot of yelling and volume and energy.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
In the game, it was just smooth and calm. That
is unusual. He should be amped.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
He's in front of the home crowd, he's got Caleb
out there. I think this is a different kind of guy.
Will it work or not, we'll see, but he does
have that like my pulse doesn't bounce. A fly could
land on my eyeball, and when Caleb's out, I'm not
even gonna blink.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I like that. It's icy as hell, and I think
there's going to be more of a coming.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Some of us remember about fifteen years ago, Cam Newton
came out when he was entering the league and said
he wants to be an entertainer and an icon, and
people's eyes rolled out of their head and then Cam had.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
To walk it back and say these things.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So that word has been around the block before, and
it's always very negative. It was just unfortunate I think
that Dylan landed on that. But to man size point, Look,
there's a million pieces of media commentary we can have
on this, and none of them are flattering. If you
really think that Dylan Gabriel has it in his DNA
to come out and take a direct shot at Shador
Sanders in his own quarterback room, then Dylan Gabriel some
(04:43):
kind of crazy maniac. I don't think that's what he
is about as a person. And also I agree man Si,
if you saw this and said that he's talking about
Shador and if you wielded it for whatever content on
whatever platform you're on, you're actually insulting Shadour by you're
the one saying he's an entertainer. Shadour is all about
work and on the field, keeping his mouth shut and
(05:04):
earning his teammates respects. Don't paint him with that entertainer
brush just because it's convenient, and you get clicks. Dylan
Gabriel did it by accident, don't do it on purpose.
Be better than that. But I know I'm talking to
a wall right now. It's a great example with Russ.
The perception of Russ at the time was this kind
of short guy from Wisconsin who played baseball too.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
He didn't have this big profile, and he showed up.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And just could ball, like immediately in practice, immediately in
the preseason games.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
He just had it. Matt flim net Flinn had.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Signed the contract and they said, I don't care. That
kid is so good, we can't keep him off the field.
I love that idea of history repeating itself, and Giants
fans are and should be really excited about Jackson Dark.
It's not just that he looks the part, that he
looks comfortable. He's got style to him, whatever you want
to call it, flair, panaj swag, or he just has it.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
He looks very cool out there. He's not going to
start the opener. It's not going to happen. I don't
care what he.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Does in the next preseason game. I don't know what
care what he does in practice. Let me explain why.
First of all, simple scheduling stuff. The Giants have a
brutal opening to the season at Washington at Dallas home
Kansas City on national television, Home Chargers. You want your
veteran out there. You do not want to throw the
rookie to the dogs.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
The other thing is history, guys.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
You have to remember, right, So, Brian David's been through
this before a little bit. Brian David with the Bills
offensive coordinator when they had another first round rookie and
it was Josh Allen who they traded up to get.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Josh Allen did not start.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
The opener in his first year for the Buffalo Bills.
Nathan Peterman did. Nathan Peterman was the starter. You can
look it up and Josh Allen athletic, big arm, everything.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no no. The only
way that Josh.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Allen got on the field was Peterman was out there
losing forty to nothing shortly into the season, and they said,
all right, put him out there, and then Alan revealed
themselves that was Nathan Peterman.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Do respect.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
This is Russell Wilson. He's not going to do that.
Russell Wilson is going to keep the train on the track.
He's going to run the offense. It's going to be
the starter. He was already asked afterwards. And I know,
I bet when Jackson Dart was scoring that touchdown, throwing
the ball all around the other day over the weekend,
I bet Dave was on the side and just a
little part of him was like, Oh, here we.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Go, here we go. I know these questions are gonna
start coming.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And sure enough he's asked right after the game, is
Jackson Darter can he play himself into the starting role
for the first seat for the first week. He immediately says,
Russ is our starter. We're gonna continue developing Jackson. Let's
remember that, guys, Giants fans for the next couple of weeks.
That's the SoundBite. Russ is our starter. We're gonna keep
developing Jackson. He will not start the opener no matter
what happens short of an injury. The question is, especially
(07:36):
with that gauntlet, guys that start. If the Giants are
one and two, if they're zero to three, do you say,
let's go, baby, let's ignite this thing.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I wonder what the leash is.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I think personally, Jackson Darts starting week over under is
about four point five. Week four point five before he's
out there. I just don't know if Rus still has it.
The schedule is tough and as good as Jackson Darts looking,
there'll be a pressure. Daniel Jones showed up and they're like, oh,
he's just psyche elized.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
This is perfect.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Jackson Dart's like, nah, I wear I black down one
of my eyes because it looks like Anakin Skywalker.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I'm cool.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I celebrate like my name is Jackson Dart. I am
like the opposite of everything they were supposed to.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Say in the archetype. I don't care, guys.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
If he shows up with a pink mohawk and wears
ashless chaps to camp, they don't care.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
He want him to just be able to play.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
If he's crazy rock star style, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
He can play. He's cool and he listen. Let's be honest.
He's everything Eli was that he lost everything. Russ is not.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Russ is this vagabond guy who shows up right now,
who's been all around. He's basically a bounty hunter. He's
been on his four team in four years. You have
no attachment to the Giants, fans or anything. This guy
is handpicked, home grown. There's going to be a pressure
to have him play again. I keep bringing it up.
It's not irrelevant. The Giants opening slate is terrible. There's
(08:57):
no rollout game, there's no warm up game. They're immediately
into the lions Den. They lose those games. Like Dart
thing is going to be really, really strong. We are
so into the upside down with preseason takes on players.
And it's one thing if you say, oh, this guy's
the greatest guy ever because he did this in a
preseason game. At least that's optimistic and positive.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The opposite side of.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
It a bus city, mid season form, midseason form guys,
the worst, bust guys even worse.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
And Ashton Genty was hearing it last.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Week after a game against the Seahawks and which he
ended a negative yard age so much so that it
wasn't just the idiots online, the actual Seahawks who they
played against got involved online and made jokes about Ashton Gentzy.
Here's the joke, So the seahawkstop Jenson the negative yards tasa.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Some people are saying George Rolani is the best running
back out of Boise State.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
George O Lani is a guy who they grabbed in
two thousand and four and signed out of Boise State,
and they're saying he's already better than Ashton Gentsy. Ha
ha ha. I could bring up a million tweets from
just Booger eating Lemmings online making jokes that Gentsy didn't
see competition like this at Boise State isn't big enough
for the game. Bus city, Bus city guys. It's not
only is it preseason, it's a running back deal. Running
(10:09):
mecks get tackled for loss all the time. Saquon did
a bunch of last year. It's just part of the game.
So finally he comes out into second preseason game, I say,
finally and just truck somebody. That's the guy that we're
looking for. That's the guy that we want. And I
think that's the guy that Pete Carroll has in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Thanks Dodd Bowles.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Baker Mayfield been through a lot more challenging things than
losing Canales or Cohen. I mean, this is Baker Mayfield
who was put on the rams for twenty minutes, went
out and played a game and won it.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
He's been through it all.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I would just say, also, Baker in this division, look
at his contemporaries in this division, it's him, it's Bryce Young,
it's Pennix Junior, and then it's whoever the Saints start,
which we don't even know. And it's August twentieth, so
you have a combination of tbds and a couple neophytes
and maybe some promising young guys.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
It should be the Bucks.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
They have by far, by far in this division the
best quarterback. Is there another division where the gap is
that big from the best quarterback to the second best quarterback,
don't maybe the AFC East, I don't know, but you're
sitting there, not to mention. You have the quarterback, you
have the coach, you have all the veteran weapons. When
it comes playoff picking time, it's difficult to try to
(11:18):
pick a team in the NFC South to win it
other than the Buccaneers, you know. I like the Panthers
this year and the Falcons there's this vibe, but maybe
they're as sending. But we haven't seen anything from Pennox
June or not starting a season, So to me, like listen,
this is one of the easy ones. There's very challenging
divisions to prognosticate on who's going to win It's unfathomable
for me to see that the Bucks do not do
(11:39):
very well in the NFC South this year, do mostly
to their quarterback.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
This is a negative story.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I don't think there's a lot of winners here the
way I mean, are you kidding me? Like the Anthony
Richardson part of this, the Daniel Jones part of this,
Anthony richards still twenty three years old now just riding
the bench after they drafted him in the top five, Like,
what did they expect.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
With Anthony Richardson? They knew this was going to be
long term, they knew it was going to be raw.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Let's be candid, guys, Like, find me fifteen people in
the United States who are super excited that Daniel Jones is.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
The starter for the Colts. Come on, let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I know we celebrate all thirty two teams, but there's
no one who's like, hell, yes, let's go now listen.
It's a negative story. I hate the Anthony Richison part
of it. Daniel Jones, sir, go get them. The way
you change the story is that you go and win,
and you win. You have two home games open the season.
You're playing against Miami and Denver, both times at home,
in front of your home crowd, in front of the dome,
(12:32):
go to it, Oh go do it, your very experienced
and then it's all of a sudden, nobody is clutching
pearls and crying for Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
No one's saying this is a shame, myself included. Go win.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
But I just there's so many things to be excited about, Like,
I just don't think a retread coming from the Giants
to start. For the Colts who take the job from
someone that they put a huge investment in and faith
and confidence behind who's now benched, That's not something that
gets me fired up. There's a lot of stories that do.
This to me is kind of a negative story. Listen,
ask me to pick some fun personalities, you know, I
(13:03):
want to see.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I want to see Jake Cutler and George Pickens.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I just feel like there's some spicy ingredients going at
in the fact that, like you look at Cutler and
people have picked apart.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
His relationship with Brandon Marshall.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
A bunch of times you look at Pickens, they pick
apart everything about him.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Cutler, I just didn't even see it till this morning
in the news.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Cycle right now for being on a podcast talking about
his divorce settlement with his wife.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
That's great. I'm sure his kids love that.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Cutler and Pickens absolutely just chucking it down the field
to Pickens on the sideline in the huddle. I just
want all the personality, or in Cutler's case, allegedly, all
the apathy, and just see how that soup cooks up.
That's just like I sat there, I'm like, gimme Cutler.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Cutler was the base ingredient.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I was always gonna go Cutler and the I'm like,
who I just add some spice in the league right now.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Tyreek would have been good.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
But George Pickens, He's such a mysterious player. Give me
these two. I mean I trusted implicitly. I look at
the logo, I look at the coach, and I guess
you could look at the quarterback. You don't really have
to Rogers is there. I believe that if they would
not have brought Aaron Rodgers, and if they would have
just rolled with Mason Rudolph, I still would have the
Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. It's one of the givens, guys,
when you pick your playoff teams, and I'm not talking
(14:13):
to you, I'm talking to everybody in the industry who.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Makes playoff picks.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
The Steelers are the free space in the middle of
the Bengo card. Just you get it, you get it
for free. Just pick the Steelers. They'll be there. They
probably won't do anything after that, but they will be there.
So yes, I look at them. But in the case
of Rogers, you know you talked about what I trust implicitly, Jamie.
I trust the Steelers' logo. What I do not trust, ever,
is Week one. I said it many times, I'll say
again this year. Week one is a liar. It is
(14:38):
not in a good indicator of how team seasons are
going to go. And I'll tell you this, I don't
expect much from Rogers Week one either. You might know
he's going back to met life, he's playing against the Jets.
And I say that because Aaron Rodgers is not a
great Week one player. Aaron Rodgers has not had a
great Week one in five years.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Look it up.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Even back with the Packers, twenty one got blown out
by the Jamis Winston Saints. Twenty two got beat handily
by the Kirk Cousins Minnesota Vice Picks twenty three. He
gets injured on the first series twenty four. Last year,
he loses.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
San Francisco on the road. Rogers does not come out
like Gangbusters week one.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Even during like Packers seasons in the city of his
MVP MVP seasons, he doesn't play great week one.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
That's fine. He comes back and gets it, makes it right.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
But I'm not expecting shock in awe week one from
the Pittsburgh Steelers. They may win, but the idea that
it's going to be Rogers for four touchdowns and DK
this and this, I don't. I just think it's going
to be a little bit of a slow start, and
based on what I saw in training camp, albeit two weeks.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Ago, I think they have a lot of work to do.
They'll get there.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
They're the Steelers, they always do, but I do not
expect a fast start from Rogers and the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Ten Takes is a production of the NFL in partnership
with I Heart Radio. For more iHeartRadio pods, go to
the iHeartRadio app, go to Apple go any where you like,
it'll be there.
Ten Takes is a production of the NFL in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
So if you didn't watch the game, Caleb played two drives.
The second one ended prematurely, at least for Bears fans,
not in no small part to the fact that Roma Dunes,
they had a big drop on the far sideline, a
drop that Caleb took responsibility for, even though we.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
All know that wasn't true, which is fine.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The headline here is Caleb and Ben Johnson look smooth,
They look efficient, they look comfortable, they looked good. Let's
put this in proper contexts. This is the first time
Caleb has ever played on an NFL field without an
interim coach or an ill suited coach with like a
proper coach to his skills. The last time he played
a game, it was seven months ago. He was with
his third coordinator, his second head coach. He's in Lambeau Field, winning,
(01:03):
by the way, But this is it's been a long
time coming. And listen. He hit both tight ends, he
hit the wide receivers. He hit the wide receiver. One
went to the wide receiver, two went to wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Three. It's something you can need. It was smooth.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Getting the play in and out of the huddle was smooth.
Everything was on time. They're trotting up to the line
of scrimmage with tons of time on the play clock,
and some of you winning teams, winning fans of winning
teams are.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Like, what the heck they get the playout on time.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yes, it's a big deal that the Bear's got the
playout on time.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Give them credit. It's baby steps.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
You gotta crawl before you can run, and he definitely
crawled yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Now listen, I will say this for Bills fans, there.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Was nobody really out there, say for maybe two or
three guys out of twenty two, who are guys were
gonna matter for the Bills this year.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Sean McDermott did not.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Play really anybody on offense, on defense. It was true, true,
backup that the Bears ones were going against. So that's
why I was thirty eight to nothing. None of us
care about the score. We care about what we're watching
right here.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
And I will end.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
By saying, there's this person out there, this character in
the preseason who is he will just scrooge anything positive
or happy that you have to say about what happens
on a football field. It's such an annoying Internet character
because for that person, this is the same person who's
making fun of Caleb a few weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Understand the laws right now in the.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
NFL preseason August twenty twenty five, if someone doesn't look
great in practice, they're a bust. But if someone makes
plays in an actual preseason.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Game, whoa chill out. It's just preseason. It means nothing.
Learn ball.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
This is useless. You gotta pick one. You can't have both.
I know you want to, but you can't. Caleb looks smooth.
The Bears look fine. We'll see how they look on
that same field opening night against the Vikings. One of
the most amusing observations from Bears Twitter last night is
that Ben Johnson is some sort of sociopath. He's up
(02:57):
thirty eight to nothing at home and he's not even
smiling like I'm The cutaways of him on the sideline
are dead serious, no level, no relief whatsoever. Let's remember,
like we're talking so much about Caleb, Caleb is way
more experienced at his job than Ben Johnson, isn't his
Caleb has a year under his belt.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
This was like positively, this look was amused.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
This was like one of his most happiest looks we
saw at thirty eight to nothing. Ben Johnson has never
called plays during a game. To Caleb, he's never been
the head coach saved for a preseason game last week,
and I thought what Caleb said after the game was
really interesting. All the Bears media was asking him what
was coach Johnson like during the game, what was he like?
And Caleb said, he's way calmer during the games than
(03:40):
he is during practice when he's on me in the headset.
In practice, it's a lot of yelling and volume and energy.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
In the game, it was just smooth and calm. That
is unusual. He should be amped.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
He's in front of the home crowd, he's got Caleb
out there. I think this is a different kind of guy.
Will it work or not, we'll see, but he does
have that like my pulse doesn't bounce. A fly could
land on my eyeball, and when Caleb's out, I'm not
even gonna blink.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I like that. It's icy as hell, and I think
there's going to be more of a coming.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Some of us remember about fifteen years ago, Cam Newton
came out when he was entering the league and said
he wants to be an entertainer and an icon, and
people's eyes rolled out of their head and then Cam had.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
To walk it back and say these things.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So that word has been around the block before, and
it's always very negative. It was just unfortunate I think
that Dylan landed on that. But to man size point, Look,
there's a million pieces of media commentary we can have
on this, and none of them are flattering. If you
really think that Dylan Gabriel has it in his DNA
to come out and take a direct shot at Shador
Sanders in his own quarterback room, then Dylan Gabriel some
(04:43):
kind of crazy maniac. I don't think that's what he
is about as a person. And also I agree man Si,
if you saw this and said that he's talking about
Shador and if you wielded it for whatever content on
whatever platform you're on, you're actually insulting Shadour by you're
the one saying he's an entertainer. Shadour is all about
work and on the field, keeping his mouth shut and
(05:04):
earning his teammates respects. Don't paint him with that entertainer
brush just because it's convenient, and you get clicks. Dylan
Gabriel did it by accident, don't do it on purpose.
Be better than that. But I know I'm talking to
a wall right now. It's a great example with Russ.
The perception of Russ at the time was this kind
of short guy from Wisconsin who played baseball too.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
He didn't have this big profile, and he showed up.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
And just could ball, like immediately in practice, immediately in
the preseason games.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
He just had it. Matt flim net Flinn had.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Signed the contract and they said, I don't care. That
kid is so good, we can't keep him off the field.
I love that idea of history repeating itself, and Giants
fans are and should be really excited about Jackson Dark.
It's not just that he looks the part, that he
looks comfortable. He's got style to him, whatever you want
to call it, flair, panaj swag, or he just has it.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
He looks very cool out there. He's not going to
start the opener. It's not going to happen. I don't
care what he.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Does in the next preseason game. I don't know what
care what he does in practice. Let me explain why.
First of all, simple scheduling stuff. The Giants have a
brutal opening to the season at Washington at Dallas home
Kansas City on national television, Home Chargers. You want your
veteran out there. You do not want to throw the
rookie to the dogs.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
The other thing is history, guys.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
You have to remember, right, So, Brian David's been through
this before a little bit. Brian David with the Bills
offensive coordinator when they had another first round rookie and
it was Josh Allen who they traded up to get.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Josh Allen did not start.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
The opener in his first year for the Buffalo Bills.
Nathan Peterman did. Nathan Peterman was the starter. You can
look it up and Josh Allen athletic, big arm, everything.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no no. The only
way that Josh.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Allen got on the field was Peterman was out there
losing forty to nothing shortly into the season, and they said,
all right, put him out there, and then Alan revealed
themselves that was Nathan Peterman.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Do respect.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
This is Russell Wilson. He's not going to do that.
Russell Wilson is going to keep the train on the track.
He's going to run the offense. It's going to be
the starter. He was already asked afterwards. And I know,
I bet when Jackson Dart was scoring that touchdown, throwing
the ball all around the other day over the weekend,
I bet Dave was on the side and just a
little part of him was like, Oh, here we.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Go, here we go. I know these questions are gonna
start coming.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And sure enough he's asked right after the game, is
Jackson Darter can he play himself into the starting role
for the first seat for the first week. He immediately says,
Russ is our starter. We're gonna continue developing Jackson. Let's
remember that, guys, Giants fans for the next couple of weeks.
That's the SoundBite. Russ is our starter. We're gonna keep
developing Jackson. He will not start the opener no matter
what happens short of an injury. The question is, especially
(07:36):
with that gauntlet, guys that start. If the Giants are
one and two, if they're zero to three, do you say,
let's go, baby, let's ignite this thing.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I wonder what the leash is.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I think personally, Jackson Darts starting week over under is
about four point five. Week four point five before he's
out there. I just don't know if Rus still has it.
The schedule is tough and as good as Jackson Darts looking,
there'll be a pressure. Daniel Jones showed up and they're like, oh,
he's just psyche elized.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
This is perfect.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Jackson Dart's like, nah, I wear I black down one
of my eyes because it looks like Anakin Skywalker.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I'm cool.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
I celebrate like my name is Jackson Dart. I am
like the opposite of everything they were supposed to.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Say in the archetype. I don't care, guys.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
If he shows up with a pink mohawk and wears
ashless chaps to camp, they don't care.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
He want him to just be able to play.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
If he's crazy rock star style, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
He can play. He's cool and he listen. Let's be honest.
He's everything Eli was that he lost everything. Russ is not.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Russ is this vagabond guy who shows up right now,
who's been all around. He's basically a bounty hunter. He's
been on his four team in four years. You have
no attachment to the Giants, fans or anything. This guy
is handpicked, home grown. There's going to be a pressure
to have him play again. I keep bringing it up.
It's not irrelevant. The Giants opening slate is terrible. There's
(08:57):
no rollout game, there's no warm up game. They're immediately
into the lions Den. They lose those games. Like Dart
thing is going to be really, really strong. We are
so into the upside down with preseason takes on players.
And it's one thing if you say, oh, this guy's
the greatest guy ever because he did this in a
preseason game. At least that's optimistic and positive.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
The opposite side of.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
It a bus city, mid season form, midseason form guys,
the worst, bust guys even worse.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
And Ashton Genty was hearing it last.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Week after a game against the Seahawks and which he
ended a negative yard age so much so that it
wasn't just the idiots online, the actual Seahawks who they
played against got involved online and made jokes about Ashton Gentzy.
Here's the joke, So the seahawkstop Jenson the negative yards tasa.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Some people are saying George Rolani is the best running
back out of Boise State.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
George O Lani is a guy who they grabbed in
two thousand and four and signed out of Boise State,
and they're saying he's already better than Ashton Gentsy. Ha
ha ha. I could bring up a million tweets from
just Booger eating Lemmings online making jokes that Gentsy didn't
see competition like this at Boise State isn't big enough
for the game. Bus city, Bus city guys. It's not
only is it preseason, it's a running back deal. Running
(10:09):
mecks get tackled for loss all the time. Saquon did
a bunch of last year. It's just part of the game.
So finally he comes out into second preseason game, I say,
finally and just truck somebody. That's the guy that we're
looking for. That's the guy that we want. And I
think that's the guy that Pete Carroll has in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Thanks Dodd Bowles.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Baker Mayfield been through a lot more challenging things than
losing Canales or Cohen. I mean, this is Baker Mayfield
who was put on the rams for twenty minutes, went
out and played a game and won it.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
He's been through it all.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I would just say, also, Baker in this division, look
at his contemporaries in this division, it's him, it's Bryce Young,
it's Pennix Junior, and then it's whoever the Saints start,
which we don't even know. And it's August twentieth, so
you have a combination of tbds and a couple neophytes
and maybe some promising young guys.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
It should be the Bucks.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
They have by far, by far in this division the
best quarterback. Is there another division where the gap is
that big from the best quarterback to the second best quarterback,
don't maybe the AFC East, I don't know, but you're
sitting there, not to mention. You have the quarterback, you
have the coach, you have all the veteran weapons. When
it comes playoff picking time, it's difficult to try to
(11:18):
pick a team in the NFC South to win it
other than the Buccaneers, you know. I like the Panthers
this year and the Falcons there's this vibe, but maybe
they're as sending. But we haven't seen anything from Pennox
June or not starting a season, So to me, like listen,
this is one of the easy ones. There's very challenging
divisions to prognosticate on who's going to win It's unfathomable
for me to see that the Bucks do not do
(11:39):
very well in the NFC South this year, do mostly
to their quarterback.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
This is a negative story.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I don't think there's a lot of winners here the
way I mean, are you kidding me? Like the Anthony
Richardson part of this, the Daniel Jones part of this,
Anthony richards still twenty three years old now just riding
the bench after they drafted him in the top five, Like,
what did they expect.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
With Anthony Richardson? They knew this was going to be
long term, they knew it was going to be raw.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Let's be candid, guys, Like, find me fifteen people in
the United States who are super excited that Daniel Jones is.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
The starter for the Colts. Come on, let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I know we celebrate all thirty two teams, but there's
no one who's like, hell, yes, let's go now listen.
It's a negative story. I hate the Anthony Richison part
of it. Daniel Jones, sir, go get them. The way
you change the story is that you go and win,
and you win. You have two home games open the season.
You're playing against Miami and Denver, both times at home,
in front of your home crowd, in front of the dome,
(12:32):
go to it, Oh go do it, your very experienced
and then it's all of a sudden, nobody is clutching
pearls and crying for Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
No one's saying this is a shame, myself included. Go win.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
But I just there's so many things to be excited about, Like,
I just don't think a retread coming from the Giants
to start. For the Colts who take the job from
someone that they put a huge investment in and faith
and confidence behind who's now benched, That's not something that
gets me fired up. There's a lot of stories that do.
This to me is kind of a negative story. Listen,
ask me to pick some fun personalities, you know, I
(13:03):
want to see.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I want to see Jake Cutler and George Pickens.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I just feel like there's some spicy ingredients going at
in the fact that, like you look at Cutler and
people have picked apart.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
His relationship with Brandon Marshall.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
A bunch of times you look at Pickens, they pick
apart everything about him.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Cutler, I just didn't even see it till this morning
in the news.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Cycle right now for being on a podcast talking about
his divorce settlement with his wife.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
That's great. I'm sure his kids love that.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Cutler and Pickens absolutely just chucking it down the field
to Pickens on the sideline in the huddle. I just
want all the personality, or in Cutler's case, allegedly, all
the apathy, and just see how that soup cooks up.
That's just like I sat there, I'm like, gimme Cutler.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Cutler was the base ingredient.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I was always gonna go Cutler and the I'm like,
who I just add some spice in the league right now.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Tyreek would have been good.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
But George Pickens, He's such a mysterious player. Give me
these two. I mean I trusted implicitly. I look at
the logo, I look at the coach, and I guess
you could look at the quarterback. You don't really have
to Rogers is there. I believe that if they would
not have brought Aaron Rodgers, and if they would have
just rolled with Mason Rudolph, I still would have the
Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs. It's one of the givens, guys,
when you pick your playoff teams, and I'm not talking
(14:13):
to you, I'm talking to everybody in the industry who.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Makes playoff picks.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
The Steelers are the free space in the middle of
the Bengo card. Just you get it, you get it
for free. Just pick the Steelers. They'll be there. They
probably won't do anything after that, but they will be there.
So yes, I look at them. But in the case
of Rogers, you know you talked about what I trust implicitly, Jamie.
I trust the Steelers' logo. What I do not trust, ever,
is Week one. I said it many times, I'll say
again this year. Week one is a liar. It is
(14:38):
not in a good indicator of how team seasons are
going to go. And I'll tell you this, I don't
expect much from Rogers Week one either. You might know
he's going back to met life, he's playing against the Jets.
And I say that because Aaron Rodgers is not a
great Week one player. Aaron Rodgers has not had a
great Week one in five years.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Look it up.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Even back with the Packers, twenty one got blown out
by the Jamis Winston Saints. Twenty two got beat handily
by the Kirk Cousins Minnesota Vice Picks twenty three. He
gets injured on the first series twenty four. Last year,
he loses.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
San Francisco on the road. Rogers does not come out
like Gangbusters week one.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Even during like Packers seasons in the city of his
MVP MVP seasons, he doesn't play great week one.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
That's fine. He comes back and gets it, makes it right.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
But I'm not expecting shock in awe week one from
the Pittsburgh Steelers. They may win, but the idea that
it's going to be Rogers for four touchdowns and DK
this and this, I don't. I just think it's going
to be a little bit of a slow start, and
based on what I saw in training camp, albeit two weeks.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Ago, I think they have a lot of work to do.
They'll get there.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
They're the Steelers, they always do, but I do not
expect a fast start from Rogers and the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Ten Takes is a production of the NFL in partnership
with I Heart Radio. For more iHeartRadio pods, go to
the iHeartRadio app, go to Apple go any where you like,
it'll be there.
Host
Kyle Brandt
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
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!