2025 NFL Week 2 AFC Preview

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we love a good revenge game.
I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westling podcast studio
with Jordan Rodrieg.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
And Patrick Claybahn.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Yes, a top of the rundown this week is a
Super Bowl rematch, but I found other spots in this
schedule where there's some good revenge games just sprinkled throughout.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
A thematic revenge week two as some teams looking to
bounce back.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
It's good a dabble of revenge.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, and I'm glad to discuss revenge with two people
that I have no vengeance with.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
No.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
We almost get along too well.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
I think like a little creative tension would be good
for the show, Jordan.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
So if you just want to tick some frits, I
get it.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
That's what you've been trying to do. I understand.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
So we're breaking up the preview this week, and we're
talking all the AFC teams, all the AFC games, and
AFC teams that have the home games first. And it
did feel weird to start anywhere else but the Super
Bowl rematch.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, the Philadelphia Eagles at the Kansas City Chiefs. The
Eagles got their revenge, and I guess now the Chiefs
are re revenging that situation. It is an over under
a forty seven and a half Kansas City giving up
a half a point at home. Kevin Burkhart, Tom Brady,
Tom Rinaldi and Aaron Andrews on the call. We saw
the Philadelphia Eagles passing game light up the night in

(01:24):
the Super Bowl. Greg, what does Jalen Hurts have for
Spacs's defense this time around?

Speaker 1 (01:28):
It is difficult when there's only been one game played
between that to not have that in your mind and
think something similar could happen again. And that's why I've
seen like the big Chiefs fans out there, like our
friend Nick right, like, you know, making it a big
cause that Wow, the Chiefs are underdogs at home. That's disrespectful.

(01:49):
I think the lines flipped the other way. Either way,
it's basically a toss up. But these teams are so different.
I already think a lot differently about these two teams
and how they're constructed right now. And the biggest takeaway
for me is on both sides, I'm not as confident
in their defenses.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Like for the Eagles and the Chiefs.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
I think, first and foremost, we do want to see
what this looks like when Jalen Carter's actually playing in
the game. So first and farms and that front, because
I mean, you have Jordan Davis playing what eighty seven
percent of snaps, which he's never done in his career before,
you have Moro Jomo playing a lot more. This is
a defensive front that's supposed to be predicated on having
Jalen Carter present. Obviously we all were aware of Spitgate

(02:29):
and his absence from their season opener. It completely changed
what they want to do with their defense. But your
point on questions is good, Greg, because after watching Adri
Jackson last week and Vic Fangio's hesitancy, but maybe has
to eventually put Cooper dejen outside because it's been sort
of a catastrophe out there. I do have questions about

(02:50):
the secondary still.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
And ultimately right, I think it's fair to have a
Dorri graded on a little bit of a curve. Yeah,
to go from playing Ceedee Lamb to playing what left
of the Chiefs wide receiver corps, I know Hollywood Brown
is going to get majority of opportunities that Andy Reid
said this week that surgery is not on the table
right now. For Xavier Worthy, which was scary to hear that.
Right now, caveat that's.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
That's as good as you can hope for. He's not
going on injured reserve.

Speaker 4 (03:15):
And right now from day to day, quote unquote, right
now again right now, I just I just.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Don't like hearing that that right now part. Travis Kelsey
also took the blame for Xavier Worthy's injury. Now that
that's going to make anything better or worse. But I
just looking back at the Super Bowl, there was so
much attention and rightfully so buy Spags in stopping Saquon Barkley,
that it's tough to imagine the game playing out that differently.

(03:41):
I know there's like there's some there's some parts of
the of the teams that have changed, and mostly on
the Philadelphia Eagles point of view. But just from that
standpoint of approaching this Eagles offense, I think the priority
is still Saquon, which leaves DeVante Smith, who is close
to one hundred yards a game in his career against
the Kansas City Chief of being a guy I thinks
is gonna have a good opportunity.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
And guess who maybe is in a great mood after
a game plan like that. But aj Brown, who by
the way, has never started and finished a game with
less than four targets in his entire career, So something's
gonna change in that regard after last week.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
It's a good call.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
And I just don't love the fact that they have
Trent McDuffie on the outside and Samari Connor as their
slot corner because I think it makes two of their
positions worse. And I think you can pick on Connor
a little bit, but I think one of the reasons
they signed Zadarius Smith and we haven't talked about that
on the show, that the Egles signed him and that
could turn out to be a great signing if they
get what he was a year ago. That's one of

(04:38):
the best third edge guys in the league. I'm assuming
he will be behind Jylex Hunt and who am I
forgetting Nolan Smith of course, who didn't have a QB
hit last week. Yeah, Like their pass rush was not great,
josh Ucha was by far their best pass rusher and
he was given me like two thousand and twenty two

(05:00):
on the Patriots josh U j vibes. So if suddenly
you have Oocha and Zadaria Smith coming off the bench.
That's a really interesting matchup against you boy, Josh Simmons
at left tackle and then Juwan Taylor at right tackle.
And I feel better about that pass rush. But it
was interesting to me that it was a very quiet
game from that perspective. I know Jailen Carter wasn't there,

(05:21):
but you.

Speaker 4 (05:22):
Know, yeah, and you know what, but even I know
there's like a right down the middle split between the
people that think that was a really, really big deal
and the people that don't think that should have been
that big of a deal. But I mean, if you
think about the amount of attention he commands and mathematically
the amount of just pure space, let alone matchups or
or blocking help or chipping or anything. If you just

(05:43):
account mathematically for the amount of space that's being dedicated
to stopping that guy and freeing the rest of the
people around him, including the people on the edges, I
mean that is and to your point, it is a
big deal for the two tackles because they struggled. I
thought that Josh Simmons, I thought his feet looked really good,
and I think he's going to get better as time passes,

(06:03):
and I think he's already pretty good. But the penalties,
the jumpiness, the settling into their frames and into the
cadence and timing of the offense, not getting freaked out
by the speed coming off the edges. Those are things
that still have to be cleaned up. And Juan Taylor's
had struggles with penalties every year, right.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
And their biggest problem really in that game was Sue Mattea,
who's the left guard, and you can you can get
you know, Carter over him at some points. And Jordan Davis,
I thought in retrospect when I rewatched the game, had
a good game. Actually it was probably one of Jordan
Davis's better.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
It looked like he was in shape.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, better games of his career.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
And then watching and I do want to get to
the Chiefs offense of it all, but watching Campbell and
Zach Bond and so this was, you know, the the first.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Game of the year.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
So I kind of have a tradition. You know, you
enjoy it, you go watch, you have the time. There's
not a ton of get you go rewatch that back
like the All twenty two And I just focused on
them and man them they have to be the best
duo in the league, and they can just muck up
everything there was. There was that stretch in the game
where they both had passes defense down the field, Bond
had a great tackle in space, and then Campbell helped

(07:11):
out on the force fumble. He got the credit probably
shouldn't have gone to him, but who cares. He made
a big play there, and Bond's two open field tackles
essentially saved the game, one, you know, running down Miles Sanders,
but another one to set up the fourth and three
that you know was the second to last play. I
don't want to just talk about last week, but when
I think about that versus the Chiefs, like where are
their playmakers? Like Patrick Mahomes went full playmaker. I loved

(07:34):
to that was the I've been asking for the old
Patrick Mahomes. It was back. It was three or four
big time throws. It was scrambling. It was him trying
to make plays. But does he have enough of the
guys around him that can also make plays.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
The plus side on that for the Eagles where the
upside for Johat Campbell was going to be the easy
stuff that you asked rookies to do, like occasionally rush
the passer, and here he's great on pass coverage. Right
against a locked in Dak Prescott, who I think the
pressure numbers a bit. Because the pressure was there, they
weren't able to finish the plays because Dak's pocket management

(08:05):
was incredible. He kind of got sold by his entire
receiving unit in that game. But it's I think things
will look better for this Eagles defense clearly, and we'll
see it's gonna have to be a lot of fifteen,
a lot of fifteen making plays.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
And I think when we talk about changing the math
with the Eagles front, we have we also think about
changing the math with the Chiefs receivers with and without
Xavier Worthy on the field, because obviously he does so
much for them, and he makes the defense accountable for
so much space, not just in front of the zones
but behind them as well, and so we'll kind of
have to see whether he's available. If he's not, it's

(08:39):
a big Travis Kelcey game. I know we say this
year over year over year, and especially if vic Fango
decides to pop Cooper Dejen out onto the outside or
the perimeter a little bit more, then if I am
Andy Reid and Matt Naggie, I'm sort of licking my
chops thinking, Okay, I'm gonna, now, you know, really spam
the tight end on the in the middle of the field.
But then that's where you're so lucky, And probably luck

(09:02):
is the wrong word if you're the freaking Eagles, because
you got two cover linebackers in there who are gonna
just maul the tight end. I just I love this.
I love all the counter possibilities in this game.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Mahomes was twelve for nineteen last week for eighty four yards,
again split safety coverage, and now he goes up against Fangio,
who helped to change the league in terms of the
coverages that has essentially strangled the Chiefs into being one
of the worst deep ball teams in the league. So
the matchup is fascinating and like logic leans Eagles. And

(09:34):
yet there is part of me that just I can't
imagine the Kansas City Chiefs being owing to I do
sometimes make picks based off of that, I just I.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Can't quite imagine it.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
And there is something about whenever you think that the
Chiefs are really in trouble, they just, you know, find
a way. And that's why fifteen is fifteen at home too.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
And that crowd at the Super Bowl, Greg. I mean,
I remember we turned to each other at one point.
We looked at each other and we were like, holy cow,
there's a lot of Eagles fans here, just like as
loud as I've ever heard any place ever. And so
the Chiefs fans, they're gonna want to show up for
this one, and they're going to want to try to
affect the game.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Get the revenge because the doubt and the disrespect, as
Mitch Holtis would say, is on the way up. We'll
see zero and two because they're trailing in the division
to literally everybody, including a team that's tied for first
place in the division. Our next game, the Denver Broncos
going on the road where they are giving up two
and a half points at the one to zero Indianapolis Colts,

(10:29):
the over runners forty two and a half. Kevin Harland,
Trent Green, and Melanie Collins on the call. Dimes came
out and he was spectacular. Jordan, the Dolphins had no answer.
What did the Denver Broncos do to stop Daniel Jones?

Speaker 4 (10:44):
I mean, they're a better defense, first and foremost, right,
So the things that were available perhaps for Daniel Jones
to attack and for Shane Dyke in the space that
shanees Dyke and was able to capitalize on, especially getting
Tyler Warren into space finding some of these voids, you're
going to have less of an easy time doing that.

(11:04):
With the caliber of Vance Joseph's defense. You're also getting
a better pass rush here. The Broncos were at a
fifty one percent pressure rate against kind of a shaky
Titans offensive line last week, and Daniel Jones only faced
a twenty four percent pressure rate in the opener, which
had a huge effect. Is the third lowest of his career,
and obviously he made the most of that time, all right.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
So Daniel Jones made some plays last week that looks familiar.
He took a couple of big hits, which makes you
worried if you're a Colts fan and you want this
success you saw in week one to continue. It just
seems like a matter of time until we see Anthony
Richards and if Danie Jones keeps being so unaware in
the pocket, which we've seen throughout his career, but well
we haven't seen. First of all, he was very good

(11:47):
against pressure against blitz is his numbers against the Blitz
last week were fantastic, and that to me is coaching.
He had good answers from Shane Steichen that they were
ready for. And you also saw some of the big
time throws back in Daniel Jones's game that we saw
as a rookie. And I know we didn't have a
throw of the Year candidate on the Sunday Show, but
I've got one that if you're watching us on YouTube,

(12:10):
you can you can catch Daniel Jones throwing deep down
the field. And I don't think when I went back
and watched games this week, I saw a better throw
than this whole shot to the sideline and Alec Pierce
catching it. And I do love the synchronicity of the
fact that Week one last year, Anthony Richardson, I believe,
had the best throw of the entire season and it

(12:31):
was to Alec Pierce and here's Daniel Jones just making it.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
And I did not think that Alec Peerce was going
to have an opportunity to do what Alec Pierce does
Daniel Jones at quarterback, But Daniel Jones has proved me wrong.
He's the best quarterback stat in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
I love that the roof was open and they didn't.
He didn't lose him in the shadow like I mean,
I think it pretty easy to lose him in the
shadow there of the like the crossbar coming over the top.
It was a great play, great throw. I'm hesitant on
giving Daniel Jones the you know throw of the.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
So far after a lot of football left deployer.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Well, I know that.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
But the point is we're supposed to have like the
candidates and the leaders in the clubhouse, and we just
keep adding to the list and I'm waiting. You know,
you guys are on the recap show, so I'm open
to any nominees that you see that have been better.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Matthew Stafford had a no luck win.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
That was and also the shot, the sideline shots, he
had two. They had a couple of which I did present,
but it seems to have just gone one one.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
Okay, So those those are two early you know what,
I early candidates.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
You know what I think is kind of cool about this,
And you pointed this out earlier in the year. The
an aurumassance, lou Anarumo's defense looked really, really good. They
were disrupting to a tonguele by los timing. They were
disrupting disrupting some of the timing on the routes that
were unfolding too, getting some of that those speed guys
off of their spots. Cam Binam and Xavion Howard turns
out they're pretty great, really entertaining safety duo that are

(13:51):
making plays on the ball. They're extremely active. Interception by
Cam Byinam and then a combined strip sack by Xavion
Howard and Kenny Moore. I mean, this defence is playing
the ball and they're playing the quarterback and I think
that's exciting.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
That was the one time Cam bart Binnam was targeted up. Yeah,
in Week one was the pass from two that he
picked off. Pretty effective sign don't.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
Throw at me, they stay went and he did this
totally insane backwards worm. Afterwards, I was like, oh, it's
Cam buying them with another reference to some like early
two thousand show that I've never heard of. And then
they asked him about it and he was like, no,
I don't know what I was doing. I just sort
of just made that up as I went along and
did a backwards worm and it was awesome. Unfortunately, the

(14:33):
Colts won't have Charvarius Ward. It sounds like Wednesday, he's
out of practice. He's in the concussion protocol. It is
very rare for someone in the concussion protocol on Wednesday
not practicing to play. And they already were thin at cornerback.
That's why they signed Zavian Howard in the first place.
Jalen Jones is out, And yeah, they are fresh though
the they I was looking at the snap like they

(14:53):
only played like like thirty eight forty four snaps on defense,
even the guys that were on the field for every steps,
they should be fresh. And and I think it's an
interesting matchup because bo Nicks is coming off one of
the worst games of his career.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, he had a bad game. And again, the way
that Luanroomo played to uh, specifically disrupting the timing plays
that is a Bonnick staple as well, is those timing
plays and those route combinations in accordance to specific cadences
and all of those motions and all those things. And
Anamo's guys were really really aggressive on that. They play

(15:27):
intelligent defense, and that is exactly where Bonnicks has really
got to bounce back this week. And it's a concern
because of you know, the week that he had in
Week one.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, there were some opportunities there. There are some throws
that bo Nicks left on the board, the wide open
touchdown that would have sealed the game on fourth and night,
or Courtland Sutton was by himself all alone. I do
think the difference between in this week for the Colts
defense is the Broncos aren't going to abandon the run. Yeah,
way that the Dolphins did was just even though the

(15:56):
Dolphins I think he was over eight yards carry still,
but it and it's not like the scoreboard was that
lopsided early on where they could have gone to the run.
The Broncos, I think, are going to run the ball
enough to keep Bonnicks a lot cleaner than to them. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:11):
I have a theory about Bonix after watching that game,
it felt like, you know, he had spent this whole offseason.
We've heard Bonnix is getting better, he's feeling himself, and
he put entirely too much dip on the chip, like
he was trying out all this stuff that it was
kind of like, you know, throws across his body while
running to the left, all about improv Like every other

(16:34):
throw that he made was an incredibly difficult try into
a small window, and that's partly why he had a
couple of interceptions. He had some really nice plays too,
but it was almost like he was trying to do
so much like showing it. It's like the guy who
comes back from school and he, you know, he went
to another country and he's just like practicing out the
new language and like the new clothes that he has,

(16:55):
Like he was trying to show everyone how much he Yes,
it's Rob Dillingham. No, I'm just making that. It was
just like it was a lot of boot.

Speaker 4 (17:06):
If you have a game like that, that's the coach
you want to be coached by, because Sean Payton will
nip that in the bud like now you know, like
he'll be like, ah, yeah, he will. He will say
some stern things. I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
The matchup also I want to see is Nick Bonino
versus Bernard Ryme. And I mean Nick Benino got that
contract last week and then it was just the best
player on the field against Tennessee and you just kind.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Of forget what a what an incredible player.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
He was first among everyone in the league at pass
rush win rate with over twenty you know, pass rush snap.
So they just have so much talent. It's hard to
start to lean Indianapolis. But it wouldn't It wouldn't shock me.
Riley Moss Hustle. I thought, after kind of a bad
second year, had a really nice first game last week.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Clearly after my fraudulent Survivor pick.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Will Oh, that's right, you took Miami. We will be
doing Survivor picks on Wednesdays.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
And I'll be watching you guys.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
You're wrong.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Our next matchup the want to Oh Buffalo Bills giving
up six and a half points to the division rival
New York Jets. The over under is forty five and
a half after Justin Fields and Company ran up and
down the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Jim,
Tony and Tracy on the call, Greg, do the Bills
have a trap game?

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Mmmm?

Speaker 3 (18:22):
I mean I don't believe in that.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
I don't know it should it shouldn't be a trap game.
If they're watching the Jets tape from a week ago.
I still can't move past that new sound drop. So
I guess I'm gonna's let's use it here. So if
I was talking to the week one version of myself
that was so confident the Jets were gonna pull off
the upset against the Steelers, I would hear back, You're wrong.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
It might be my new favorite.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
I'm sad that that that exists. I'm glad this is
a gym in Tony game. I'm shocked that the Bills
are favored by this.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
To me, it's a toss up.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
And I know it was against the Ravens, and I
know Josh Allen only plays for one of these teams,
so of course there they should be favored. But there
were a lot of concerning signs for the Bills last week.

Speaker 4 (19:11):
On the one hand, Josh Allen so happy for this
team that they have Josh Allen, so happy for all
of us on the planet that Josh Allen exists right.
On the other hand, Eric, especially on the other hand,
I think I was right to worry about the Bill's
defense coming into the season. Guys. I mean, I know
I got some, I got some, I got some talk
back on that one. But watching you know the Ravens,

(19:34):
and it's the Ravens, yes, watching them run all over,
especially the linebackers in the safeties, and the safeties were
taking bad angles to tackle and the linebackers were out
of position. They were getting moved off their spot. The
front line was just getting moved or boxed into these
bad like spatial areas where they couldn't shed their blocks,

(19:56):
and like it, just every single level of this defense
gave me cause for conser And that's not even talking
about the outside spots, which at corner, which still aren't
figured out.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
The secondary looks like a mess, and I think the
last team you want to play when you're the Bills,
who even against the Ravens are just sitting back in
that shell coverage and they're just running all over them.
And there's no right way to do it, because even
when they brought people up to try to stop Derrick
Henry in the playoffs, it didn't necessarily work that well.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
It is what they do.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
But I do think the Jets are a particularly difficult
matchup for that style of team based off all the
way they ran the ball.

Speaker 4 (20:30):
At Oliver can't do everything he tried. He had a
great game, but he needs some help. And the Jets
are tough because they are physical. We saw this last
last week. They're physical, they are running the ball really
really well. And they also had a number one receiver
who went almost one hundred and he went what ninety
five yards Garrett Wilson had ninety five yards, and the

(20:51):
kind of went quietly underneath the run game by Breze
Hall and how much that line was moving people around.
I mean, this could be dangerous.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
The one thing like that left off the screen to
me was because Mike Tomlin loved that defense. I know
that the projections for the twenty twenty five Pittsburgh Steelers
defense were significantly better than the offense. I was one
of those folks. And then AmAm Mimbu comes out his
first career NFL game, going up against t J Watt
and Cam Hayward and all those guys. Twenty six pass

(21:21):
blocking snaps with a time to pressure of three point
eight seconds, almost four seconds of pass protection from your
rookie in his first game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Where
and we saw just again there's so much that's a
Raven's asterisk with that. Yeah, first week that I understand
to concern.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
They were a mess. They were a mess in practice. Reportedly,
they were a mess in the preseason in terms of
whether it's Bishop or Damar Hamlin on the back end
at least.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
Yeah, and those those are concerns that we had on
the back end for a team that could have easily
gone to and won the Super Bowl a year ago.
There's only so many different ways you can get a
team together in the NFL in twenty twenty five. But
it's it is almost a josh An all Josh show.
And as you mentioned Ed Oliver, I know he can't
be everywhere, but so much is reliant on ninety one

(22:09):
to make a play and that's what he that's what
he was able to do. And the Bills just are
going to need just enough and get the ball into
seventeen's hands and have him make a play at.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
The end and get into Kean Coleman's hands too. Yeah,
I'm excited. He had one of those training camps where
if you're tracking like the daily coverage from your colleague
Joe bassaldlea who I think does a great job, you know,
it was like a rough start to camp. They're hoping
he bounces up and then you heard a steady drum
bee as it was ending that the light was kind

(22:40):
of turning on and in one of the catches that
he made, not the touchdown, which really was an incredible
individual play, And when I rewatched that, that really was
the intended target for Josh Allen. It was just I
think can catered knocks. Whoever it was that kind of
saw it and put his hand, but he was trying
to throw it to Coleman. But great concentration, but he
had to play up the sideline earlier. That to me

(23:02):
showed everything you want out of Keon Coleman. They have
to me more than enough weapons they did last year
to be the number one most efficient offense in league.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
My problem is, like with the.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Jets, Like, okay, asking the Jets to keep up in
a shootout is kind of a wild thing to expect,
But based on how their defense looked a week ago, yeah,
maybe that stuff they can fix because it felt like
a lot of coverage bust. Guys were just running wide open.
If that stuff is happening in like week six, that's
the type of defense you would say, Oh, that's not
a well coached defense right now. It was a lot

(23:33):
of just big time mistakes from the Jets defense.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
I would rather have that type of problem that's schematically correctable.
Then guys are not tackling at the right angle, Safeties
are not in the place that they need to be
to make the proper tackle on the running backs. Linebackers
are out of position to make the tackles on the
running backs. Running backs are just running through. That's where
I'm concerned, because if you can run the ball like

(23:57):
this this early in the year, if you're the Jets
and you're the Bills and you know you're gonna put
up a lot of points, you're still in trouble every
single week that this is not fixed on the defensive side.
Because yes, you can rely on your superhuman quarterback and
that will probably get you pretty far. But like I said,
if you're getting pushed around like this, the way that

(24:17):
the Jets did to the Steelers through a lot of
that game, and also the way that the Bills themselves
got pushed around for most of that game by the Ravens,
this is I'm worried about this team.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
I think, yeah, there's there is a real difference in
getting blown up and not being at the right position
at the start of the play. Baltimore Ravens and you
know Taylor rap trying to make a tackle on Derek
Henry in space, it's going to have a predicable outcome.
But when ben' Skeroonic and Calvin Austin are just running
down the field by themselves. Right, They're both, They're both
scamatic issues that desperately need to be addressed.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
Ben's Kronick erasure right, the.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
Pool old champion, no shade that Ben I love.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
Early in the season, and these teams are just figuring
themselves out. It's almost the first three four weeks. It
just we're we're just finding out who they are. But
it's hard. Patrick, as a member, a longtime member, I
would imagine of Justin Field's nation, which I consider myself
a member of, not to be excited about one of
the best games of his career.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
I don't think that's it in it, No, it's exaggerate.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
That is not a stretch, Like.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
In every single way that we talked about that we
thought they would maximize him, but it was really the
past the day passing. I thought that was impressive in
terms of the plan and the execution.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
Yeah, I agree, and I do think it kind of
went under narrated, I guess. But they lost, Yeah, because
they lost and then but also I mean, he had
he had time, he had space, but he also had
this confidence and he had this like the way that
he ran the offense. You could tell it has been
built for him in every phase, and I have to

(25:47):
believe that gives somebody confidence on the other side. And
I say it again, like, what are you going to
do against Josh Allen? Probably nothing honestly all season, and
he's going to have to do everything at least for
now and get the ball to his playmakers. But I
just I kind of think this could be a shootout.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
I love that. I mean, I would love if that.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
The Bills Jets rivalry in the year twenty twenty five
is an offense fueled game.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
As the Patriots disappear from view.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
I mean, the Patriots and the Dolphins barely exist this week.
But that's the power of Week two. You can just
completely flip it. We are going to take a quick break.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
We're just getting started with all these AFC.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Teams back on NFL Daily Fun slate of games. I
gotta say cam Ward last week had one of the

(26:48):
most exciting nightmarish games possible. Like his performance wasn't a nightmare,
but like the Titans overall team and the result was.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Kind of nightmarish. And yet going back to.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
Watch that like it was, I was, I was like,
give me sixteen more of these, obviously with more completions
and more productions.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
But I just want to watch this man play football.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Okay it please keep him safe?

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Must see TV for cam Ward on the road. He
and this Tennessee Titans get to be back at home
facing off against the man who was deprived of a
Throw of the Year candidate nomination, that is Matthew Stafford.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
I'll put it on, put it on. We gotta just
document it, Okay.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
To Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams, who are
a six point favorite at the Titans. The over unders
forty one and a half Iron Eagle TJ's brother and
Evan Washburn on the call as Greg these Rams seemingly
nine is healthy. He was standing very upright in his
postgame interview after a win. How do you feel about
them against the Tennessee Titans.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
I feel great, except the offensive line already looks like
it's going to be down. Two starters slipped a little
under the radar. Steve Abula and Kevin Dottson are both
listed as week to week, so that's their their starting
interior players and going up against the Titans defense that
I came up with after watching them against Denver, Like,

(28:04):
what would you guys describe them as if you if
you could do it in one word, because I think
I came up with the perfect one word to describe.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
The Titans defense.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
I want to see if you can tap me ibouly violent, violent, okay,
Jordan angry, angry.

Speaker 3 (28:17):
I was going to do creditable, Oh okay, Oh we
went with more.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Like professional would be another. I just was watching them
and I'm thinking, you know what, that's a that's a
creditable defense. Credible, creditable, that's a word, you know, just
like they're there, they're professional, like they they they do
credit to themselves.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
It's not going to be flashy.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
But it's just a lot of players without like a
lot of a lot of team speed overall, but a
lot of players who are just like rock solid and
yes a little a little violent.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Well they've got to carry a lot. That's why I
say angry. I would be if I not to do
my job like that.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
The rest it's a very polite way to say mid
for those.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Of you who know, see that's different.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
It's a creditable edible, but it's not like you have
me a question itself.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
Creditible public acknowledgement and praise, but not necessarily outstanding or successful.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
I mean, read a book, Jordan, come on, expand that
vocab okay, like this okay, So and when I think
about creditable angry, I mean Jeffrey Simmons is a little
beyond that, Like he is violent and he was yes,
and it was that's.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
The play that I'm thinking of, Jeffrey Simmons personal foul
that you could make the case cost the Titans a
legitimate shot at winning the game because it extended a
Broncos drive. Uh, that was the violence that I was thinking.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
I think they're just tough, Like if you go go
through the like Sebastian Joseph Day, like he's a pro
Defandre Sweat, He's a lot to deal with. They have
guys like like arden Key and shy Tittle who are
like coming off the bench. And then I thought it
was big for them. Lagarius Sneed was on a pitch count,
but while he was in there, he he looked like
Lagarious Snead And you think about this matchup, you know,

(30:03):
he's probably the guy who would draw DeVante that is
a much tougher, like he's gonna be the guy who's
going to go against the physical cornerbacks.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
I don't know if they're going to use him more.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
But you add up the players in that secondary, and
again it's not flashy, but Roger mccrue's like a good player.
Monti Hooker is a good player. They just gave a
contract doing. It's just like a lot of guys who
are solid, and maybe we see some year two growth
out of this defense and that would help cam Ward out.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
A couple of years ago, when the Rams hosted the Titans,
this was a really bad game for Matthew Stafford. This
was multiple hits, multiple turnovers. Jeffrey Simmons had his way
with the interior of that offensive line as well. Even
if you have Steve Avula and Kevin Dotson back on
the left and right side, they're dealing with respective leg, foot, ankle,

(30:47):
knee injuries, and so that's something that is definitely going
to factor in. Matthew Stafford did, in fact, not only
survive but thrive in this game. By the way, I
will note this is my survivor pick oo this week.
I could not bet against Matthew staff Watching the game
that he played this last week, I was really really

(31:10):
impressed with it. I did also win my Survivor pick
last week. I do take this game very seriously. Minnesota,
Now I believed in the entire time definitely was the
right pick. But in this in this game, I think
it's super interesting because you know, the Rams actually the defense,
the pass rush which is so outstanding and again put

(31:30):
on quite a show. You know, recovered that last force
fumble at the end of the game to ice out.
The Texans pressured CJ. Stroud quite a bit about a
fifty rate forty eight percent rate this last game. It's
they're also really susceptible to quarterbacks who can move. There
were a couple times where CJ. Stroud baited the over
rush where they lost their rush integrity because they are

(31:52):
young and they want to sect the quarterback. This happened
to them all last year. It's a coaching point that
they've reiterated over and over again, especially to those edge guys,
and they did see it right away at the beginning
of that game. So I think that cam Ward can
make some things happen against this front, even though I
do think over time this front will just wear on
you and that's going to ultimately decide the game. In

(32:13):
my opinion, but I think he'll make some plays against him.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
They were so much better against Houston when they didn't blitz.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
I think they were only able to convert about twelve
percent of their pressures when blitzing into sacks against the
Houston Texans. And so they just ultimately decided we're going
to utilize that talent and have in great plays in
the secondary. At cam Kinchen's had that turnover, and I
believe there was another interception that was from Kobe Durant.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
Kobe Durant, he snatched it right out of receivers, had.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
A stolen play where it's like, if you have those
guys in position to make plays, just get the extra
defender there. I really don't think coach Oula doesn't even
need to worry about the blitz. Just let these let
those four guys get out. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
I think that's the recipe for this team. Is the
defense improved significantly this year.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
Kind of sneaky though Darius Williams got benched, Emmanuel Forbes
and Kobe Durant were playing on the outside, and then
Kello Witherspoon was barely playing on the outside. He is
coming back from an injury but those two guys are
as about as healthy as they can be, which means
because if Darius Williams is their highest paid defensive player,
just someone to keep an eye on as the next

(33:19):
week's and potentially month and a half continues. But it
is really really interesting to me because they aren't asking
their secondary to do so much because their front seven
is doing everything and Chris Shula is mixing up his fronts.
He's got odd fronts, he's got even fronts. I mentioned
this last week. He's got Braden Fisk out wide as
a nine technique with a bunch of other guys who

(33:39):
are usually on the edge now on the inside. They're
sort of inverting their line in different ways. So they're
going to give this embattled Titans offensive line pretty much
everything it can handle. And so Cam Woard again, I
fear has to be have sort of that Superman game.
I think he'll make his plays, though.

Speaker 1 (33:54):
Dan Moore was a disaster for the Titans last week.
And you call the offensive line in battle if that
remains true.

Speaker 4 (34:00):
Was that the right word or should I thought you google?

Speaker 2 (34:02):
That's perfect? No, the wrong word was bet.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
You can't we can't say bet on NFL Media but
of course we kind of can because no one knows
it's no one knows it's true.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
I'm making a joke about you know, the let.

Speaker 4 (34:14):
You know when you want to google a word for
me again.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
Thanks, I mean creditable, I mean you had you had me.
I'm wondering because I was.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
I wasn't certain.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
I started to feel crazy. I was like, that is
a word.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
But their offensive line, that's what this whole team is
built around. Right, first round picks huge money to Dan Moore.

Speaker 5 (34:31):
J C.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Latham has a hip injury and we're not sure about
his status and Dan Moore had a nightmare game a
week ago, and so if they're not good, like this
team is not going to be good.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
I do want to have the cam word conversation quickly.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
I do love your Survivor pick too, so much so
that I actually texted Quob it's going to be my pick.
But now that I'm thinking out loud about it, I'm
changing my mind because I'm thinking we're giving these Survivor
picks for the people because we are not allowed to
b word, but the people out there are. But in reality,
we're also I guess having a competition within this room.

(35:07):
We want to have our Survivor picks against Judge, so
it does seem stupid to have the same one. So
I will hold off and come up with another one.
But just know, I do think it is absolutely a
great pick. I got some texts this week, Patrick from
our friend of the show, Kevin Clark, and the takeaways
from those texts was, have you know, have you watched

(35:27):
this game yet? It's it's cam Ward and ten bozos
out there. I now know how Justin Herbert feel.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Justin Herbert fan, noted Miami fan Kevin Clark.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
By the way, he's.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
Like, this is how he's like, I know how Justin Herbert.
You know fans feel. Over the last few years. It
was tough. It wasn't all perfect for cam Ward, but man,
he had a lot of great Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
There were drops. There were some in the in the
fourth quarter especially he was firing steam balls at two
hundred miles an hour, the Chigo Conkuo. We're like, I
understand not cashing those. But there was no There was
never this And if folks were watching the Monday Night
game where you saw JJ McCarthy kind of evolved as
the game went on and get that confident cam Ward

(36:11):
had that at the start of the game, at the
very start game, and to an extent where now I'm
wondering what he did to the schedule makers to start
with offensive line problems, to start Broncos, then Rams, and
then in two weeks they're the Texans.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
It's absolutely brutal, Like give the kid a break, please.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
It's brutal because he had some just wild man throws
to throw across his body from his own goal line,
which was money and just the things he was trying.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
This is a great quarterback matchup, this, you know. Adding
in a perfect.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
World, he would evolve into a Matthew Stafford like player.
And Stafford is already right there.

Speaker 4 (36:48):
Plays fearlessly like Stafford.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Right, He's just he's a walking advertisement for a mortal.
I think Jordan, and I don't want to put words
in your mouth. Jordan, who Stafford?

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Right?

Speaker 2 (36:58):
I mean, do you think a Mortal's going to go crazy?

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Now?

Speaker 4 (37:02):
I'm not giving them any more pops.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
Okay, fine, Jordan has gotten so much grief. I think
over the years of being you know, yeah, you've covered
the Rams, so you know we talk about the Rams.
I don't think we talked about them anymore that if anything,
we were Yeah, we were under selling that Stafford performance
last week, Like he just came back and he looked
my absolute peak Stafford. So for the record, I picked
them to win the division on NFL dot Com, like,

(37:24):
as long as it's a healthy Stafford, they're going to
be fine.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
And man, he looks health.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
Fourteen points did not tell the story either. Poor Jordan
Whittington could not catch a break, caught everything else, couldn't
catch a break. A huge special team's play called back
because of a penalty. Troy Reader rams fans, I know,
you know gets makes a catchdown field potentially puts them
in huge position to score actual points which they had

(37:51):
very little of, called back again due to a penalty.
And Jordan Whittington was playing a little fullback for them,
which is very intriguing sit in that position. And more
significantly more twelve personnel as well, which I think is
a factor, especially settling down their run game, especially taking
the teeth out of more fearsome defensive fronts. And they're
going to face another one this week.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
I'm not often conspiratorial, but as good as Matthew Stafford played,
and we mentioned a brand relationship, now I'm starting to wonder,
where are.

Speaker 4 (38:22):
We face that's what they want.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
We'll come back in like week five.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Now, that's going to have to be up there after
four games of getting hit in.

Speaker 2 (38:30):
Okay, we'll see. But he looked, he looked fresh.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Yeah, could be so it could be some magic beans.
Speaking of magic, let's get up to the Pacific Northwest,
where the Seattle Seahawks will be leaving this week to
fly to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers. These Steelers
are giving up two and a half points the over
unders forty and a half. Adam a Mean, Mark Sanchez,
and Christina Pink on the call. Jordan d Seahawks fans

(38:54):
saw little Sam Donald throwing the ball to JSN. Will
he throw the ball to other people in this game
against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 4 (39:00):
I mean he has to, right, but like if they
would like to win this game. Two matchups that I
really love in this game is DK Metcalf now Pittsburgh
Steeler versus his former team. Another little dabble of revenge,
Patrick trying to get those to you.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Also against the Jets.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Also this is Jalen Ramsey versus the former NFC West
team that he used to hate playing against or kind
of love playing against as well. This is former Super
Bowl teammates Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Cup potentially squaring off
a couple of times depending on where either of them
lines up. Jalen Ramsey was playing on the outside by
the end of that game because Joey Porter Junior got injured.

(39:42):
But this is kind of exciting. There's dabbles of revenge
all throughout the Aaron Rodgers was almost the Rams quarterback
if they couldn't get a deal done with Matthew Stafford.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Sam Donald was almost the Steelers quarterback. How about Aaron Rodgers'
revenge on Sam Darnold for him being like one of
the seventeen quarterbacks that Steelers wanted before they signed Aaron.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
Rodgers, and for being friends with Rayin Wilson. You know,
Aaron Rodgers love that.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
I didn't know any of that, but I do love that.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
I know. Yes, there's so much dabbling of revenge and intrigue.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Play action I think tells a story in this game.
So Rogers, famously throughout his career has not been play
action friendly, didn't want to do it that much, and
he ends up with ten of his attempts last week
in play action. Three of his touchdowns were in play action.
Was very effective. Looked a lot of like Arthur Smith
Doffens were. On the other side, we were sold to

(40:33):
bill of goods in the preseason with Clint Kubiak. We
think under center play action they had the lowest play
action rate in the league. It was almost like he
was Clint Kubiak trying to Jedi mind trick the forty
nine ers. We're not going to do what you think
we're going to do. We're going to do the total opposite.
And it didn't really work for the Seahawks. So that's
something I'm going to watch if they go back to
what we thought they were going to be.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
It's kind of strange too. And I saw a couple
of plays that were really outstanding by Fred Warner who
was reading his keys and really because he knows so
he knows the kettle of Kubiaks that we've ascertained is
going to be the name for the grouping of Kubiak
people that are in the league. And he really read
the fullback really, really well. So there's a lot of
things that the linebackers in San Francisco were doing to

(41:14):
sort of say, hey, we know what you're going to do,
which might have hamstrung uh kubiak as oc a little
bit and made him DEVI eight from what he wanted
to do. I have no doubt that they're going to
get try to get back to doing that. What I
thought was curious is that Aaron Rodgers didn't throw an
attempt past twenty air yards despite all that play action,
And I do wonder if they start to sling it
out a little bit more, it's going to be tough.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
It's kind of the new Aaron Rodgers at least that
we've seen over the last few years.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
But that's that's like the only the third time in
his career that that's happened, So you know, it's it's
going to be interesting because you have to get the
ball down the field. I don't know if they can
much against the Seattle defense, though.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
I think well as far as Tarik Willen's performance, because
I know Seahawks fans are going to look at a
couple of very glaring plays and plays a lot of
blame on Treiqu Willen. I don't necessarily think it was
all that bad considering how close the game was. This
was more of an issue with the Seattle offense, where
Sam Donald got pressured thirty two percent of his dropbacks,

(42:11):
higher than any game with the Minnesota Vikings. And I
say this not just to build up Gino, because we
said this at the onset. It's just a fundamentally different
situation for Sam Donald when the pressure is coming in
that way, especially the interior pressure, where it causes him
to not play like the peak Sam Donald that we've seen.
Interior pressure is going to bother a lot of quarterbacks,

(42:31):
but it seems to bother Donald more than others.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
I was curious when I put that game on to
see him, like how he struggled, and in the end
I thought Donald played fine. Actually these two quarterbacks, I
think Rogers was good but he wasn't as good as
the numbers. And Donald wasn't great, but he wasn't as
bad or as quiet as the numbers. I think he
did his job. They just had like the highest run

(42:55):
rate versus expected of any team in the league, and
they weren't that effective. It was a lot of sharp
and it was okay, but like there was no Arroyo
on the offense, there's no explosion on that offense. I
think Cooper Cup makes you a slow offense. I'm not
rooting against him, but you know, he led the team
and snaps and he kind of had a nightmare game.

(43:16):
He was a problem in the running game multiple times,
blowing his block on plays that got blown up and
obviously didn't give them much to their So they need
to get more out of them, and I'm glad you
mentioned Riek. Mike McDonald was asked about him on Wednesday
whether he will start this week, and he said, we'll see.

Speaker 4 (43:34):
So they might be speaking of coaches that are like
pretty honest, maybe without meaning to be at the podium.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
You know, we've had m McDonald.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
Yeah, we've had some moments we've seen we watched from him,
because yeah, they're they're depending on it seems like if
things aren't working, they're trying to depend on Jackson Smith
and Jigbus so much. And he's lining up over you know,
sixty percent of the time on the outside, and yes,
he's getting fed a lot of targets. But they need layers.
They need to mention in that passing game, and they

(44:03):
also need to get get off the ball better in
the run game because A good running back is not
going to fix your run blocking. It can compliment it,
it's not going to fix it.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
There's so many mystery box teams, almost every team is
at this stage of the season, but these two would
be in like my inner circle of the biggest mystery
box team. I would stay away from this game. I
have no idea who is going to win this game.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
It's an avoid, avoid at all costs, and maybe even eyeballs.
Just kidding, I am not averting my eyeballs from our
next game in any way whatsoever. I think this could
be a calculator game Jacksonville at Cincinnati, where the Bengals
are giving up three and a half points after feeling
like they were going to score three and a half
points last week. Greg Over under fifty and a half.

(44:48):
We love numbers. Chris Lewis, Logan, Ryan Tiffany Blackman on
the call. Do the Bengals bounce back and beat trevn
Company at home?

Speaker 1 (44:58):
I will pick them for I think, but I would
not go with the three and a half points that
the Jaguars were impressive enough, and I just think it's
a It's a coin flip game in general. And Zach
Taylor's struck a weird post to me, like the last
couple of weeks, like I like him in front of
the media.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
I've gotten to like him more as I've watched him more.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
But he was remarkably positive after last week's game after
they had negative eighteen yards in the fourth quarter, and
like he was like this was like he was just saying, like,
we're you know, this was great, this was amazing. They
had seven yards after halftime. And then this week, I mean,
he is really excited about this opportunity.

Speaker 3 (45:39):
What would it mean to win?

Speaker 2 (45:40):
It would be your first win in week two since
becoming head.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Yeah, I just want to be two.

Speaker 5 (45:44):
And oh, I know I haven't been too an os
something here bad, I can tell you.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
I mean I want them. I want him to aim higher,
you know.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
Then scraping out a win with negative negative eighteen yards
against the Browns.

Speaker 4 (45:57):
Yeah, three and out on their last four drives on
the positive for the Bengals. I mean, this is a
big question they'll find out this week against Liam Cohen
and Jacksonville and ETN and Basehel Touton and guys who
ran the ball really well last week against the somewhat
happiless Carolina Panthers if they can still run the ball
against the Bengals. My question is did the Bengals fix

(46:17):
their run defense because their run defense looked pretty dang
good last week.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
And Week two mix for those was that the Brown yes?
Or was that Bengals defense. I do think after watching
Joe Flacco get around two point eight four seconds per
throw and seeing Joe Flacco throw on the run and
play very well and look very very comfortable, I don't
see hmm. I know Trevor Lawrence had a bad underthrow

(46:45):
of Travis Hunter that got picked off by Jacon Horn,
one of the best plays in Week one. If the
pass rush is like this, the Jags will score forty points. Wow.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
I thought I thought the d line showed something a
little bit from Cincinnati side. I think Jamar Stewart I
think flashed a little bit. I'm like, Okay, he's going
to do some things inside. You mentioned they have bodies
where I'm like, at least you could look at it
and think there's room for improvement. I'm really worried about
their offensive line. You know, on the interior, the Bengals

(47:18):
were giving up pressure throughout and I know everyone's like
just throw it away. Burrow is always terrible in Week
one division opponent, the Brown Strog. I get that, but
I think this offensive line could be an issue all season,
and it's going up against a JAG's pass rush that
I think people.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Aren't going to be sleeping on much longer.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Heinz Allen and Chevon Walker and Eric Armstead while he's healthy.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
That's a difficult matchup.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
And I think I'd be a little worried about that
offensive line if I was a Bengals fan.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
If I am remembering correctly, wasn't Josh heinz Allen like
one of the highest.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Graded play I think he had the most pressures of
anyone in the league.

Speaker 4 (47:52):
Yeah, I mean he played, he jumped off the screen,
he played fantastic. It's like he kind of heard the
question mark surrounding that entire defense group and the structure
of it. And let's not forget it's all new coaches
over there, you know, offense, defense, special teams head coach.
To me, it's like, I see, I see the potential

(48:13):
of another strong start by the Bengals, but they could
not run the ball, which is going to really hurt them.
And then in the entire second half of the game
just completely deteriorated, deteriorated, no explosive plays, negative yardage. This
is an issue that I don't know. I mean, you
really expect more from Joe Burrow, a Joe Burrow and
Jamar Chase led team, and to me, it's again, is

(48:35):
Week one a liar kind of a thing.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Well, I think the liar might be the way we
feel about this team when they're not playing the Cleveland Browns,
like the.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Schwartz of it all, the Schwarts of it all.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
In hindsight, Yeah, this is what happens. The Cincinnati Bengles
play this defense and like Miles Garrett having sacks on
back to back plays like that, Yeah, that's something I'm
willing to chalk up and say that. Yeah, they're going
to play better on offense. But again, the defense got
zero pressures on Joe Flacco on the zero.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
So you would say to the Jaguars defense, like mad
the Schwartz be with you, absolutely everybody take take that
game plan.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
I can't say my favorite space Ball's quote.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
Run it back.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
I also want to just say I know people are
talking and like, how come Greg hasn't said anything about this,
Like what, what's happening. There's just a lot of whispers.
But as the president of Travis Hunter Nation, we are
not concerned that was.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Gonna be a touchdown that Jacon Horn picked off.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
We we are holding firm. You know, the offensive and
defensive Rookie of the Year predictions might have been like
a slight, you know, bit of extra dip on the
chip on the defensive side, but Liam Cohen said this
week they're gonna crank up his defensive snaps a little bit.
It's gonna take it might take a little bit of
time to for all to get integrated, but Hunter Nation

(49:54):
has no concerns whatsoever.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
Also, the number one thing the Jaguars wanted to do,
I mean, not only was it clear Bye. We talked
earlier this week about how a coach's script and then
consecutive plays kind of shows you what he wants to
do or what he wants you to think he's about.
They wanted to run the ball. They wanted to run
it down Carolina's throat, and they did, and they knew

(50:15):
that that was the easiest way, the best way to
probably dominate them. Even with all the questions that they've had,
They're not going to put an ordinate amount of pressure
on the quarterback or on the perimeter receivers before they
have to. So I have no doubt they're going to
ramp up his workload.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
M I might have to grab this game. We haven't
assigned games yet for the early window. I am very
intrigued about Jaguars Bengals. Let's take one last break here
on the podcast. We're going to wrap the show with
Patrick Claibon's Team, My Team, and a spicy Monday night
doubleheader back on NFL Daily, wrapping up the AFC Week

(51:07):
two slate. Patrick always announces the broadcasters for each game, right,
but I see it. It's on the sheet, and it
just occurred to me looking at this CBS crew doing
Brown's Ravens, Tom McCarthy, our friend of the show, Ross Tucker,
he's been a guest, and Amanda ballyonis.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
New friend of the show.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
That is, who's a new friend of the show.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
I was unaware of this, but one of our producers, Jason,
showed me an Instagram video she had put out on
her feed like a month ago. It was like a
day in the life, and she was hiking and she said,
now it's time to listen to my favorite NFL podcast,
and she just holds up NFL daily and even did
like the scroll thing where you actually saw the feed

(51:48):
of it. Shout out to Jpacosta. It was his episode
with me. So thank you, Amanda, wherever you are.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
Are you upset that she followed me on Instagram and
not you?

Speaker 1 (51:59):
I don't as as long as she's listening to the show,
I'm that's all I know.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
Whatever, thank you, Amanda, I see you.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
We appreciate you, Amanda. You and Tom and Ross get
a chance to see the Cleveland Browns visit the Baltimore Ravens,
who are an eleven and a half point favorite. This
Ravens team Jordan can beat anybody in the NFL. They
can also lose to anybody in the NFL. Its history
shows forty four and a half the over under. That's
a lot of points. But Baltimore did score a lot

(52:26):
of points against the Buffalo Bills. How do you think
they will perform against the Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 4 (52:30):
I mean, anything kind of goes in these ones, right
because I mean it's Ravens Browns, and the Browns defense
looked like the Browns defense, and I don't know that
the Ravens are going to be able to run the
ball as effectively against the Browns defense as they were
able to do against the Bills defense. I mean, how
are you kind of feeling about this? Are you getting
little nervous?

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Well? Yeah, I think in certain situations. Seeing the way
that JayR Alexander was covering Josh Palmer towards the end
of the game, and I know that both Tillman and
Jerry Judy had drops that led to Turner that ultimately
cost the Cleveland Browns the game, and Joe Flacco played well.
I think the Ravens front can get more pressure on
Joe Flacco than the Bengals did. But ultimately, yeah, I'm

(53:11):
a fan who has seen a team have catastrophic collapses
and losses, and so yeah, I come into this extremely
exceedingly negative. But then I see Greg's confidence and it
clears up the skies.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
It's not that high, but yes, I will take the
Ravens as my survivor.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Who mixed feelings.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
Now, I can't lose, because all you lose.

Speaker 4 (53:33):
What if I told you this? This is courtesy of
Mike Sando and his Pick six column at The Athletic
since two thousand, when leading by nine to sixteen points
in the fourth quarter. Over the last four seasons, seven
teams have done so twenty games total, thirteen losses. Baltimore

(53:55):
accounts for six of them.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
I'm not surprised. Yeah, this is what this team does. Have,
these catastrophic losses. Now, I wouldn't expect it two weeks
in a row. But I do think the Browns played
really well last week and they have a better chance
to be competitive than people think. I don't like that
eleven and a half. I don't like that it's a
division matchup. I don't like the idea that the Ravens
are going to try extra hard this week because they lost.

(54:20):
That should be a segment, by the way, that should
maybe be a sponsored segment, Patrick's try extra Hard game
of the Week, because the Ravens would be that team
this week if all of these teams actually really well.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
Also, again I've told the story waves too many times
on the pod. If you go to the facility in
Owings Mills and you look around and you see Ray Lewis,
you see jo you see all of these ed Rey
photos of everybody that's contributed, and then you're like, oh,
there's Joe Flacco. But it just so happens that Joe
Flacco is standing behind Marshall Yanda in the picture. Maybe
Joe Flacco is the one that's getting revenge. I guess

(54:51):
the team that didn't want him.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Let's listen to Joe Flacco. I do think it's amazing.
This is essentially a homecoming game for the Raven honoring
the Super Bowl championship team, and Joe Flacco just happens
to be, you know, coming into town.

Speaker 5 (55:09):
I got to play him a couple of years ago.
But going back to Baltimore is definitely a little bit
different story is It is somewhat surprising honestly that I've
been going for a decent amount of time now, so
you know, the fact that I haven't had a chance
to go back is a little surprising. I think I'm
very capable, capable of just seeing it as another division game,
But it will be cool to go back in that stadium.

(55:30):
I haven't had a chance to do it since I've
played there. I really love playing there. It's an awesome
place to play. It's an awesome venue, it's an awesome atmosphere.
They do a great job, so I love playing there.
So I think in that respect, it will be pretty
cool to go back.

Speaker 4 (55:43):
For sure, this is not a revenge game. Do not
put on the internet that this is a revenge game.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
Is he gonna go Rogers? And then after the game
be like, yeah, it was really good to beat the
Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
I think he genuinely likes the Ravens because they changed
his life in one of the I think one of
the top moments in NFL network history. I will never
forget it, just because I happened to have been watching
it live and I remember I wrote the article on
NFL dot com about it, like reacting to it. That night,
he sits on the tape you know, the dais with

(56:15):
Rich Eisen and everyone after winning that Super Bowl. One
of the very best playoff runs any quarterback has ever had,
like without any qualifiers. Joe Flacco had that, and he
had it in the middle of a contract run in
his contract year, and he said, Steve Bashatti told me,
if this happens, I can go pound on his desk
and really stick it to him. And That's exactly what

(56:37):
I'm gonna do. And I just remember being like, yes,
you're feeling yourself. Joe Flacco right after the Super Bowl
and he gave him like a market changing contract. He
was probably like a thirteenth best quarterback in the league,
and he was by far the highest paid quarterback.

Speaker 4 (56:49):
I love it, and he is not wrong. That is
one of the coolest places to play in the entire NFL.
It's one of the coolest home stadiums in their intros
and how gothic it is, and especially night game when
you know, when the sun goes down, like it just
gets so much fun there. I love it. I Also
what I also love is, you know, there's a lot
not to like about the Browns and how they've done
business over the last couple of years, But in terms

(57:11):
of this season and what it is, it's kind of,
you know, just playing for the future and developing young players.
And I know they want to be competitive. I'm not
ruling that out. Joe Flacco certainly wants to be competitive.
But you've got to feel really good watching some of
these young guys play this last week and their debuts
in the NFL. Greg and I talked about it a

(57:32):
little bit earlier this week on a previous show.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
It just good omens.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
It gets a good omen it to me, it's like
latch onto those guys, Watch those guys play and think
about twenty twenty, twenty twenty six and what you can
start to build out of this new core.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
You worried about the Ravens defense.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Nine guys last week specifically to this week played fifty
eight snaps, some of them eighty to ninety snaps. They
were on the field a lot. It's always on my raider.
Early in the season. You've got Chidobio Wuz starting over, Jyra,
Alexander and Diarrah.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
Case that's not even close.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
It's the right decision, right, Diarra Alexander really struggling the
pass rush other than Madam Week just wasn't there. This
is an easier matchup certainly in terms of their pass rush,
and there was a lot.

Speaker 4 (58:17):
Of buzz that Mike Green was going to come in
and make a difference off the edge, but you know,
you just got to.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
See it a little concerning. Yeah, it is concerning. They
won't be on the field as much. The rare only
Ravens problem of having an offense that was too explosive,
especially in the second half against the Buffalo Bills, where
you would like to see more of a constrictor. Sean
McVay type drive towards the end of a game to
grind things out where I don't think the home run

(58:44):
potentially against this Brown defense is as high as it
is against Buffalo, which is like, oh, no, bad news.
Maybe it's good news. See if Baltimore can slowly move
the ball, give those guys a break, A little bit
of time off to our next AFC match up. The
New England Patriots coming off a loss at home to
the Las Vegas Raiders. All the boys and all the
girls are begging to play Miami. They are one and

(59:07):
a half point favorites with an over under of forty
four and a half. Andrew cattel On, Charles Davis, Jason mccordy,
and aj Ross on the call, Greg, your squad gets
a chance to bounce back against the team whose vibes
are down horrendous?

Speaker 1 (59:21):
Yeah, wait, which team has the vibes down horrendous?

Speaker 3 (59:25):
Come on, go.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
To Foxborough, Go listen to Boston Sports Radio. I'll pass Greg,
I will too, but I'm just imagining it there.

Speaker 4 (59:36):
See if I can get to it on my long
long list of things. You know, I don't know, darn,
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
Gonna I think if you were just ranking.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
Just based off Week one performance, the Patriots would have
been one of the five worst teams in the NFL
only they were the only team to give up more
than five twenty plus yard plays. They gave up nine
guys were wide open in the secondary. They decided to
blitz a lot. Maybe that's gonna be their strategy. Seems
like a bad one against Gino Smith, who flamed them
last year. I know it's a different staff, but you

(01:00:06):
know he knew exactly what was happening. Bus All over
the back end, no one can really cover. Christian Gonzales
does not look like he is going to play in
this game because he missed on Wednesday. And then on
the offensive side, it was a little more cohesive, but
Drake May did not look good like He certainly didn't
look better than he was as a rookie. He looked

(01:00:27):
rather jumpy. So it doesn't surprise me that the Dolphins
are favored in this game. To me, it's just a
toss up of two teams that I just don't know
what we're going to get out of. One of them
could pop up this week and just look much better.
I just don't know. But to me, it seems equally
like he likely that it's the Dolphins that pop up
and look better yeah, than it is the Patriots, because
the Dolphins at least have some continuity and have been together.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:00:49):
And I can just almost guarantee, especially because you know,
the Miami defense did not look good. But I can
almost guarantee the Anthony Weavers looking at what Patrick Graham
did with that Raiders front. You make Drake may look
frazzled and look castled. They were mixing up odd and
even fronts. Patrick Graham does not play generally like a
four to three, but they were mixing up, you know,

(01:01:10):
presenting more even looks than maybe that they had done
in the past. They were doing a lot of different
types of zone coverages behind it. This is something where
you look at that and all of these things the
Dolphins defense is capable of doing. We have seen it
despite the fact that they've lost some players, even you know, upfront,
they actually got some guys back and healthy, so they
should be able to at least, you know, make Drake

(01:01:32):
may look confused, but it is kind of weird. It
was weird seeing it because when I and I know
I brought this up a lot to forgive me, but
when I was at that those joint practices and they
were going against a very confusing defense. They were using
Trevon Henderson as an outlet. They were calming Drake May down,
giving him a lot of options, giving him a lot
of pressure beater options, giving him a lot of just
things that settle a young quarterback. And then also you

(01:01:53):
know they were raining him in intentionally to not use
his legs at will. But if you're looking rattled like
you've got to just at a certain point, I mean,
what is it. You know he ran around four times
this last game. You've got to at least like say, okay,
if you're not feeling comfortable, go make some plays, Go
make something happen.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
It's a trend.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
So I don't listen to Boston Sports Radio, but I
do listen to Tom Kurrn, who's one of the best
in the game.

Speaker 4 (01:02:17):
And a great accent, also the best.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Outstanding, and Greg Bodard, and they both they made he
talked about on his podcast this week. They made a
comment like Drake May has been so accurate and so
calm and so good in every practice that they've watched,
just about and literally every time so far, and this
includes a preseason. I watch all the steps that you know,
there's been a scoreboard in referees. He's just throwing the

(01:02:42):
ball all over the place. Now, whether that's a coincidence
or not, it is a fact that he's kind of
been throwing the ball all over the place in terms
of his accuracy and his comfort in the pocket. And
they're not sure what to make of that really, other
than they just think this offseason it has been a
trend and may even alluded to it that he's been
a little hyped up for these games at the beginning

(01:03:02):
and these sailing passes. But you know, you would think
he would maybe settle into the game. If anything, it
got worse as last week went on. Doesn't mean he's
not going to get out of it, but right now
he's in that mode.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
But and I think Josh mcdaniels's reputation is to make
things harder on the quarterback even when things are stressful,
And so what if, hey, here's a concept, What if
you didn't do that. What if you make things easier
on the quarterback when you see things get stressful or
too much maybe for the quarterback to handle as capable
as Drake may has been, and that's very true, how
calm and like truly collected and just sort of like, Okay,

(01:03:35):
I don't have that option. I'm going to go here,
or I'm going to take it and run or whatever,
and very very poised. If you're not feeling that way,
don't stick and do the same things that you started
the game with. Make things easier, get the quarterback to
settle in, run the ball, you know, these types of
things that would really help.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
I think the run games stunk, and if it stinks,
they're not going to be a good team.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
And I think like your tendency to feel like, well, yeah,
Drake's got it, the problem might be everywhere else. I
don't think that's bias for you to feel that way.
I think the problems maybe more surrounding Drake may especially
on the sideline. Then Drake may himself like being in
these situations. And I think the spot here is a
spot where you can feel comfortable that things are going
to go just fine, because if you think that the

(01:04:17):
Fins are going to speed him up and blitz, especially
after last week when when Dimes was very very comfortable,
they're one of the like in the bottom half of
the league in blitz rate and success rate win blitzing today,
I don't think that's in the bag at all for them, Like,
I really don't think that that is a part of
the tools that they can utilize against Drake may So

(01:04:37):
as a Gill healthy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Game for you, I don't know, because the I think
if there's the biggest weakness, and there are a few
on this Patriots team, it's like linebacker and the back
end with cornerback, and then it's the offensive line until
proven otherwise. And I think the number one strength of
this dolpheninse team in theory is their pass rush, and
they were okay last week, but Danny Dimes was getting
it out so fast. His time to throw was just
like they had answers and everything was getting out out fast, fast, fast,

(01:05:01):
So I think that could be a mispatch on the
other side, though, Look, Milton Williams had a nice game,
Harrod Landry had a nice game.

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
They've got some players, certainly upfront.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
And the Dolphins lost two starting offensive linemen right off
the bat this season, or at least Austin Jackson's not
there yet, and then they lost James Daniel to an injury,
and then their rookie Jonah savonaa who supposedly they swiped
from the Patriots and then the Patriots ended up with
Travon Henderson instead. He's really been struggling seven as so

(01:05:32):
that's just something to keep an eye on. Also something
to keep an eye on is a comment from Brian McCarthy,
official PR spokesman for the NFL. We mentioned Tyreek Hill's
latest domestic violence allegations, which is part of a divorce
proceedings that TMZ obtained and those results are sealed, but

(01:05:54):
the Associated Press has written about it as well, and
they're out there and you can find specifically what they were.
We went over it on Monday night. But he just
says it's standard policy for the league to review a
matter such as this. So at this point, as far
as we know, Tyreek Hill is going to be available
for this game, But stay tuned.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
Let's go to the next matchup. It is a Houston
Texans team that lost in Sofar Stadium, playing host to
Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fresh off of
shutting down the Falcons run game and getting a closing
seconds win thanks to the efforts of a Mecca A
Buka forty two and a half is the number. Texans
again favored by three Chris Fowler, Dani Rolowski, Lewis Riddick,

(01:06:38):
Katie George, and our friend Peter Schreeger on the call
as well. Jordan, this Texans team went through a lot
and now they get to give a lot to Baker Mayfield.
How do you feel about their options at home?

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
Okay, so two things. One, I feel like this has
the potential to be a blood and guts Baker Mayfield
type of game because in watching this Houston Texans defense
in person, they're hitting guys, they're hitting and they look awesome.
And I mean, holding the Rams to fourteen points in
an opener in a McVeigh opener is kind of a

(01:07:13):
big deal, despite the fact that they the Texans offense,
got as much as they gave and were limited themselves.
That defense. They are aggressive, they are physical, They pressured,
They pressured Stafford. I mean he was hit three times.
One of them was kind of a weird bad snap
and he had to run back and get the ball
and all that. They pressured him quite a bit, especially

(01:07:35):
off that right side and especially when the guards came
out and got him in the interior and so I
think that when you're going up against kind of a
magical moment for this revamped Bucks offensive line, which we
didn't really talk about too much because it was kind
of a surprise. I missed that, and I will tell
you like it was a total surprise. So obviously we
know they're missing Tristan Wurfs and they will be for

(01:07:57):
another couple of weeks. But Todd Bowles pulled a fast
one off of what he was watching in practice when
they decided to move Graham Barton to left tackle from center,
and they tried him out for a couple of snaps
in practice like four four days ago, four days before
the opener, and then Todd Bowles was like, hey, that
looks pretty good. We should try that full time. So
then they moved him full time to left tackle from center.

(01:08:19):
Ben Brettison kicked inside from left guard to center. Michael
Jordan not that one a late summer edition elevated from
the practice squad, then played left guard and they fared okay,
they fared pretty pretty well good, not great. A lot
of pressure, not a lot of hits on Baker, but
a lot of pressure. It's like going against like a

(01:08:39):
bona fide defensive line, you know, and one that's proven.
The Falcons did get fifteen pressures, but this is a
very different This is a very different beast here with Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
I think you really saw it in the run game.
I mean, you saw those pressures, but the run game
was disjointed, and it reminded me so much of the
way last year started for the Bucks, which if you remember,
they were one of the worst running teams in the
league for about a month and then suddenly they were
like poetry in motion, like everything was clicking and Bucky
Irving is off to the races, and they were extremely disjointed.

(01:09:14):
Like it's just something you can see with your eyes
that they weren't all on the same page. It seemed
like one player was like blowing the block all the time.
They like they were working so hard against the Atlanta Falcons,
it does make you wonder how this week is going
to go against Texans. There was a sixteen play drive.
This always cracks me up that they had to kick
a forty seven yard field.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Goal and there was nothing there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
Whenever that happens, it's usually because you have a bunch
of penalties that you had to back up Nope. There
was one five yard penalty early in the drive. It
wasn't about that. It took ten plays to get to
the fifty. It took another like six to get to
the thirty. And it was just like that and that
that's not normal for this Bucks offense. So I think,
you know, maybe Todd Bowles was really hooting and hollering
because he knows he stole one at a time of

(01:09:57):
year where maybe they're just figuring some things out.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
It was almost three seconds for Baker Mayfield to throw. Yeah,
two point nine to five second time to throw against
the Falcons rushion and all that they've done. It's not
going to be three seconds against Texans, right the Houston Texans,
it's not. So whatever changes that they made late, especially
Baker hitting a Mecca Buka for that, I don't think
the wide open opportunities will be there, but perhaps a

(01:10:20):
chance to get more consistent in the ground game and
to adjust to the changes that they surprisingly made up
front right before the game started.

Speaker 4 (01:10:28):
And we know on the other side that Todd Bowles
is just going to pressure the crap out of you know,
c J.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Stroud, He's the same issue really out on either side.

Speaker 4 (01:10:36):
He's really going to do everything he can. You know,
there were some bright spots I think with how c. J.
Stroud specifically and some of the scheme we mentioned it
earlier in the show handled some of the pressure, baiting
the rushers and all of that. That's not always going
to work against the Todd Bowles defense, especially if they're
bringing extra pressure, they're bringing blitzes, things like that. I
think that the Texans can run the ball. I mean,

(01:10:58):
Nick Chubb looked really look good over fifty percent success right,
four point six yards per carry, and they didn't you
could argue they didn't run it enough like they they looked,
and Nick Chubb looked really solid running the ball.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
I get four unique combinations of offensive linemen. By the way,
did Nick Chubb look good? Like the Texas to be
having these problems already? Then, despite that Chubb being successful, I.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
Can hear like all the Claymates out there after Jordan
points out Chubb, He's like.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Patrick said that we could go. He said he was
gonna look good.

Speaker 4 (01:11:26):
And as they should. They should have pointed.

Speaker 1 (01:11:28):
The Claymates are absolutely they're both me by the way. Essentially, Yeah,
these two teams are kind of mirror images of each
other because I was wondering, why did Cam Robinson start
again at left tackle? That was a total flip of
everything that we heard, But it was because of an
injury at guard, and then they wanted to move Titus
Howard inside, so then they moved Ursery where he wasn't

(01:11:49):
at to right tackle and Robinson over the left. Then
their center got hurt. Then I think a guard got hurt,
and so it's like all jumbled up, and yeah, that's
concerning for the tech.

Speaker 4 (01:12:00):
Pam Robinson came back in, but Jake Andrews, the center,
did not come back in. So that's something definitely to watch,
especially with that interior pressure that the Bucks like to bring.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
One last quick point on this game is just I
think the old Antoine Winfield is back. One of the
biggest reasons why the Bucks defense was not as good
last year as he was the year before was because
of Antoine Winfield. And he had a play at the
end of that Falcons game where he absolutely lit up
Casey Washington, the Falcons receiver, and it was the second
to last play of that drive, and it reminded me

(01:12:30):
so much of the game winning plays near the goal
line that he made throughout that bucks running and.

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
He almost made one of those against Pinnocks where he
was out of bounds but he had stolen the ball
and was running the other way, and it's like, oh, well,
here goes Winfield Junior again, game wrecking.

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
Right in the end, they don't call him Antoine Lusefield.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
Guys, she was just waiting for that one.

Speaker 4 (01:12:50):
You could see me shaking my pen as excited.

Speaker 3 (01:12:52):
Let's get to our final game if our NFC preview
as excuse me as the AFC preview as the Las
Vegas Raiders get a chance to be at home in
Las Vegas where they are getting points three and a
half points against the one to zero division leading Los
Angeles Chargers and their quarterback Justin Herbert. It is Monday
Night Football. Joe Buck, Troy Yickman, Lisa Salters and Laura

(01:13:14):
Rutledge on the call. Greg, do the Chargers push to
a commanding lead in the West.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
I'll pick them to win. I'll probably pick them to
win by more than three and a half. It's just
the Raiders defense. I want to see it more. I
was amazed. I mean, they played really well.

Speaker 4 (01:13:32):
So much better than I think people expected them to
look and they talked about it postgame. They were very vocal.
They know what the expectation or lack thereof was, and
it's like, it's scheme and effort, and that's Patrick Graham
and Pete Carroll together, a balance of scheme and effort,
and that's what you need because you have a deficit
of talent on that side.

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
Right And I think that can go a long way,
and it means they can overachieve compared to expectation. But
we've only seen them matchup with one offense so far,
and it was an offense that was really disjointed. So
I'm as surprised as anyone that Devin White and Jamal
Adams absolutely were difference makers for a defense in twenty

(01:14:10):
twenty five last week, and so was Jermaine Pratt, like
they were all They all were out there making plays.
This will be a much tougher test against a charters
offense that maybe for the first time in the Herbert era,
but definitely for the most in the last few years,
like looks deep in terms of the amount of ways

(01:14:31):
they can beat you through the air and I think
eventually on the ground, but at least the diversity of
the type of players that Herbert is throwing to. Year
three Quinton Johnston is not year one and two Quinton
Johnson and Keenan Allen. This year is not Chicago Bears
Keenan Allen, Like he's like.

Speaker 4 (01:14:48):
I saw the other side and I dislike it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
And you have these rookies just like kind of waiting
on the bench are who are interesting too.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
It's late Lad mcconkey's yar too. It's it's a nice group.

Speaker 3 (01:14:58):
And it also felt like in the old and again
it was the opener against the Chiefs, but twenty twenty
five is Greg Roman. Isn't Greg Roman down We're so
pass heavy and and I think that's a that's a
credit to Greg Roman because like we don't get that
version of Quentin Johnston, like we don't get Lad being
very creative in terms like Lad was out there setting picks,

(01:15:18):
like it's like the team's far and away number one
is grinding so other guys can get open and colluding
a guy who's been getting maligned all the time. Like
I loved it. I love the Chargers offense in the opener.

Speaker 4 (01:15:28):
Yeah, and and their run past balance, especially early in
the down is like skewing now toward pass, which is crazy.
And and even when they ran Omrion Hampton look good.
They need to they need to, you know, run the
ball a little bit more efficiently, a little bit better.
But but they looked really good in both phases. They
look more balanced. To me, they're letting justin Herbert kind

(01:15:48):
of like, I think, just grow into himself a little
bit more of what we know he can be and
kind of build that confidence, do a little bit of
that spice.

Speaker 3 (01:15:56):
He was really feeling himself. Yeah, like the slide with
it was various at the end of the game, and
the fade away throwback across the field with Quentin Johnson
on that touchdown pass, like Herbo was feeling it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:07):
He's in like a celebrity relationship. Now he's literally in
first place. Like when have the Chargers ever been in
first place even for a week. I can't remember the
last time there was this much optimism about the Chargers.
And now I feel terrible about saying they're going to
cover three and a half, because like, that's the that's
the moment. If you're a Chargers fan, which I'm not
like a fan, but I'm definitely rooting for good things

(01:16:29):
for Herbo. That's the moment where it gets taken away
from you.

Speaker 4 (01:16:33):
I just I think that one of the things I
was most impressed with was even when they lost Rashaun
Slater and then Joe Alt moved over to the left side,
he looked incredible.

Speaker 5 (01:16:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:16:44):
I mean he looks like he's never going to relinquish
that spotting. All right, yeah, tackle that's over, yeah all yeah,
or all right, delete opposing edge russer rushers. And that's
that's tough because Max Crosby is kind of in a
solo shows for now. We'll see if someone else emerges
along that defensive line, but like it's going to be
basically Max Crosby trying to make something happen and Joe

(01:17:06):
All plus a cast that looked really impressive, that blocked
really well, a lot of really big skill guys chipping
all the time and making some of the heavier layers
when they want to go heavy pass or when they
want to go heavy run come to life. I was really,
like I said, I was really impressed with this Raiders defense.
But to me, I think it's the points game. I do.

(01:17:26):
I think it's points game because Gino is playing.

Speaker 1 (01:17:29):
Like Gno looks extremely comfortable too, so like Gino, these
are two of the best quarterback performances of Week one.
I know he had that interception, but he is not
afraid to make the tough throw. He has seen the
field well. For him to do it one week into
being with Chip Kelly is really promising. And if I
had one concern about the Chargers in this matchup, it

(01:17:49):
is their pass rush.

Speaker 3 (01:17:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:51):
I know Bosa wasn't healthy last year, but Mac and
that group overall interior on the edge, I think they're
hoping to be average. I don't think they're going to
be above average. I think in Week one they weren't great.
So I think that's if you give Geno time, he's
gonna cook it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:09):
Some of that was Mahomes, though. There was a play
where Khalil Mack won instantaneously and was chasing Mahomes, who
makes this back cross body throw to Hollywood Brown where
it's like.

Speaker 4 (01:18:21):
Yeah, I think some of that if I'm watching that,
some of that, I think they're trying not to, like
I mentioned before, overrush on a Mahomes who's just gonna
flush and escape and then make something insane happen downfield.
This will be a bigger and you know Gino can move,
but you know he's not Patrick Mahomes in terms of
making those like I'm parallel to the ground and still
somehow throwing the ball down the field kind of throws.

(01:18:43):
The thing that I'm worrying about is brock Bowers because
he told Tom Pelisarro at the game that he is fine.
He banged up his knee. He told him he was fine.
Pete Carroll you can check this right now, Greg if
you're able to. But Pete Carroll has said earlier this
week that he's day to day. This is something where
their offense runs through this guy, and as it should.

(01:19:03):
He's incredible. He's playing incredibly like he's picking up right
where he left off. Just something, a little something to
keep an eye on.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
Yeah, they get an extra day to recover, so their
Wednesday is an actual Thursday. We are taping these preview
shows on Thursday, so especially with the Monday night games.
But it's true, really, of all of them, you got
to keep you on top of the injury situations because he,
other than Gino, is the most important. Yeah, I mean,
he's the most important player I think in the entire franchise.

Speaker 2 (01:19:32):
He really is.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
And this is one with Max Crosby, but I would
put Brock ahead of him. So they need him out
there because everything kind of feeds off of him. Suddenly
Michael Mayer is open. I really liked what I saw
of Trey Tucker. I've always liked him, but in a
week when he's getting better, it's your two brock Bowers.
They Oh, this is fun. I love that they got
They're both undefeated too. They could have easily both been

(01:19:53):
zero to one. But this is a Monday Night capper
with Joe Buck. This has to be one of the
bigger Raiders games. Yeah, since the Raiders Chargers game where
Derek Carr ripped out Justin Herbert's.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
So that was the back and forth to both of
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:20:09):
Yes, and and Justin Herbert played like, oh, he's never
played well in a big game. That was one of
the best games of his career. But you know, the
Charges defense couldn't hold it on for him.

Speaker 4 (01:20:17):
I'll be there Monday night for the athletic and I
texted Greg earlier this week and I asked him if
he was jealous I was going to go see Gino
play in person.

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
He's like, no, I'm not mad. Don't put in the
paper that I'm mad. What a show. Love it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:32):
So we're we're all done with the AFC, but we're
not done here just yet. We wanted to find a
way to cover each one of your teams even more so,
like we are going deeper on these previews, all the
NFC teams that are playing in home games this week.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
It is in your feed.

Speaker 1 (01:20:52):
We have our NFC preview also up and I'm excited
because if you, if you give us a chance to
just like honk a little more, throw, throw a few
more puns. I think our puns per minute ratio is
just like I know through the roof right now, I.

Speaker 4 (01:21:08):
Had a brock Bowers one. I'll save it.

Speaker 1 (01:21:10):
Though, Okay, tune in next week or even Sunday night
when when you join us again for the recap show
brock Bowers pun. But for now, just hang tight and
go check out the rest of the preview with the
NFC

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Gregg Rosenthal

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