September 12, 2025 • 27 mins
Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook recap Week 2's Thursday Night Football action between the Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders. If there is one takeaway, it's that the Packers defense is LEGIT! Micah Parsons and the Green Bay pass rush pasted Jayden Daniels and the Commanders offense, moving the Packers to 2-0 after the 27-18 win. A breakdown of Thursday's game, and much more, on the latest from NFL Daily!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shot gunslot left man faking the handoff, Love rolls right
those hen Shock stuck on touchdown t lambaud leak to
the north end zone stand Saepete Will Harris Ton up.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Jutiful bayfet by Jordan Love.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Tucker Craft eight yard touchdown reception.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That was Wayne Larovy, one of our favorites on w
r n W. Tucker Kraft scores the final touchdown for
the Packers on Tucker Craft Night at lambeau Field. The
Packers win twenty seven to eighteen in a score that
(00:43):
absolutely flatters the Washington Commanders. I'm Greg Rosenthal in the
Chris Wesleyan podcast studio talking to my friend Nick Shook.
Across the country in Cleveland. It was about as one
sided a twenty seven to eighteen victory could be with Kraft.
I lean up six catches for one hundred and twenty
four yards and a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Chuck.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
If you didn't realize before tonight that Tucker Craft was
getting closer and closer to top five territory among all
tight ends in the league, certainly in that mix, you
know now you're looking skeptical, SHOOKI No, I.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Mean that catches me a little bit. By surprise. But
when you put up numbers like that, I mean, it
puts you in line for a sponsorship Mac and Cheese
Craft Mac and Cheese. Let's go, let's pair up with
this guy. He had a hell of a night. Let's
get him a deal.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Okay, last season, I would say if you look at
his explosiveness, his versatility, and like the different types of
routes that he can run, but he can also block.
I mean, he is a big dude that moves so well,
only twenty four years old from South Dakota State, a
third round pick and seven hundred and seven yards last
year and seven touchdowns. And I know he had a
(01:52):
quiet Week one, but I think he's awesome. And yet
I don't want to start with Love, who is trying
to solve the the a DOC crisis in the league.
That's average depth of target all by himself, like everyone's
d Dnkin Duncan and he's just bombing away. I just
don't I don't think we can start that way. We
have to start with the defense again, Like you trade
(02:13):
for one of the greatest edgreshers I've ever seen in
my life two weeks before the season, and then in
back to back weeks, you play two teams that made
the Divisional Round a year ago in these NFC playoffs,
two of the big contenders that the Packers are going
to have to get through to get to where they
want to be.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And the games really aren't competitive.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
They're in a different class in these two games than
the Lions and the Commanders. And the number one reason
is the defense.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
What stuck out to you, Well, I mean, we spent
a lot of time talking about how Parsons, you know,
builds up this defense, strengthens it. But what I really
think he does is he completes it. And he's not
out there on every play basis, but he's out there enough,
and obviously he shows him in the box score. But
watching this game tonight, I felt as if Parsons addition
allowed Jeff Halfley the full agency to do whatever he wanted.
(03:04):
And there were multiple instances. Everybody talks about disguis and defenses,
and let me tell you, in the first half especially,
he disguised like crazy. I'm sitting there. I wish every
game was in prime vision, by the way, because it's
a lot easier to look at what the defense is
doing from that angle than the traditional broadcast angle. So
I'm watching in prime vision. I'm dragnosing coverages pre and
post snap, and every snap I'm going, oh, it's six.
(03:25):
Now it's six downs, three, six outs. Two. Well, this
looks like two, man, I'll they just roll the three like.
That's what they did the whole first half, and Ja
Daniels just took what was there, which wasn't much because
of Jeff Haffley's scheme. And the reason he can do
that is because of guys like Parsons. And there was
an example in the second half where there's a two
play sequence. Parsons rushes outside on Connery, Connolly kind of
shields them away, ball gets out. Next play, maybe two
(03:47):
snaps later, Parsons fakes outside, drills inside, hits Daniels. It's
a quick pressure, it's a sack. It's a one of
those game changing plays. And then there's another instance in
which they chip him with Austin Eckler and honorly and
Edge Cooper's coming from the other side. This is a
complete defense. This defense is going to cause problems for
any offense they faced. The Washington Commanders could do nothing tonight.
(04:09):
I don't care who was the quarterback, who was at receiver.
The Packers defense is for real.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I'm so glad you pointed out that that two play sequence.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I thought about that too.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
And he did play more tonight, forty four snaps, essentially
the same amount of snaps as the other defensive lineman
in this game. I mean, they rotated him out, but
that's typical. He definitely was a bigger factor tonight. And
you know, we say like it doesn't all show up
in the box score, and that's true. He drew a
(04:39):
penalty on the play that he had a sack, another
holding penalty that helped to kill a drive, and a
false start on Larrymytunzel who was trying to jump out
of his stance to try to stop Michael Parsons. And yeah,
he does show up in the stat sheet too. Two
quick pressures, eight quarterback pressures over twenty percent pressure rate,
which is sky high. And you mentioned the sack where
(05:00):
he got inside of Connerly, we've got that sack.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Quarterback waiting for the signal.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Now here's the snap rush on Daniel step top penalty
and Arker down twn your test stup back outside the
thirty yard line. Make up Parsons a right down the
scene I drank Cooper, what's also there?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Love that play by Parsons.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know you're a beast when the other team gets
called for a hold and you still finish the play
like the Commanders. The Commanders had the lowest yards two
hundred and thirty in the Jayden Daniels era, despite having
a lot in garbage time there with that last touchdown drive.
Really the whole second half almost felt like garbage time.
Although this game was much closer than it should have been,
(05:44):
and based on the results of some primetime games last week,
I guess you can never say it's totally garbage time.
And they also only had two explosive plays out of
sixty five, and that would have been the lowest explosive
play rate I think of any team in a game
last year, which is crazy to think about. And so
(06:05):
he just had to get rid of the ball so
quickly Jayden Daniels and obviously Parsons was the number one
reason why. But we're seeing production from a lot of
the guys you mentioned, Edgar and Cooper, him and kuway
Walker have looked good together. Lucas van Ness had a
couple of nice moments tonight. Rareshaun Gary had a sack,
and the front seven is so good. Remember there were
questions about the cornerbacks. It's all I was talking about
in training camp, Like this defense is proving like you
(06:28):
don't need stars at cornerback if all the other positions
are so good.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
No, they're winning the trench battle. They won on both
sides of the ball tonight, and it really limited what
Washington could do. Like I said, Daniels was reading coverage
properly and getting the ball. It's just there were no options. Now,
there were some errant throws, of course, but that's all
produced by a sped up quarterback because he knows he
can't trust that he's going to have, you know, more
than two and a half seconds to survey and find
somebody to throw to. And they played pretty sticky coverage too.
(06:53):
Most of those balls that he got in there were
tight windows. I think their tight window number was like
incredibly low. Like I think Daniels threw a eleven passes
into tight windows tonight. That's pretty high. That indicates that
nobody's getting open. Because the defense is so good and
so like I said, they are, this defense is going
to travel. This defense is going to be their Hallmark.
We can talk about how well Jordan Love and everybody
else in the offense is playing, which we can get
(07:14):
to because they're playing very well, but the final score
kind of tells the story of how I think a
lot of the season is going to go, which is
they don't really need to put up a ton of
points if the defense continues to play like this and
Jeff Haffley's allowed to do whatever he wants, which is
exactly what he did tonight.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
The crazy thing is you get twelve quarterback hits in
four sacks, which is very difficult on Jaden Daniels, but
it's not like he was holding onto the ball noever.
He was trying to get rid of it pretty quickly.
And that speaks to the eight passes defense. That's such
a huge number. The cornerbacks are so confident that the
pressure is going to get there quickly that you saw
(07:48):
Keishawn Nixon, especially, who had an incredible game five passes
defense in one game that might end up being tops
of the entire season. It'll certainly be like the top
five cornerback pass defense game of the entire season.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
He was great.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
What a What a career arc for this guy who
was a backup and a great return man and then
develops into a nickel and now he's in every down
player who's really playing well for them. So it's all
coming together for this team. Their defense is the scariest unit,
maybe for any team early in this season. I know
this is only the first game in Week two, but man,
(08:22):
they're good. They have two road games before a Week
five by at Cleveland and at Dallas, so a chance
there for the Packers looking ahead to get to four
and oh and I feel so good about that because
it is a complete team. On a night, they were
missing two offensive linemen nick that made a combine hundred
and sixty five million dollars in contracts this offseason. That
(08:44):
was their guard Aaron Banks and then their right tackle
Zach Tom, both out with injuries. In the short week.
You wouldn't have known. I mean, they were moving the
ball up and down the field. Sometimes they couldn't quite
finish drives. They could have had even more points, but
ultimately they were making and receivers open as long as
Love got a little protection, they basically were hitting shots
(09:05):
down the field.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Yeah, we're looking at total success rates near fifty percent
drop back success rate over fifty two percent. And what
I really think it comes down to on both sides
of the ball was a coaching performance that was just
very lopsided. And that's no shot at dan Quinn. I
just think that with what Hafley did defensively and the
ability to do whatever he wanted. And then Matt Lafleur,
who by the way, got into a bit of a
(09:27):
rut I think early in that fourth quarter when he
was essentially on a put away drive where he was
throwing the ball a little too much, and I think
he caught himself and the way he centered himself was
so fascinating because most coaches would just turn back to
a traditional run. Now he goes wildcat and gets into
a receiver who goes around the left end for a
first down. It might have been more if he hadn't slipped.
And then you know they continue from that they run
(09:49):
a jet sweep in the opposite direction, like he's opening
up the playbook. He's going into his bag and pulling
some things out that we haven't seen yet. When they
finished that off with a touchdown pass to Tucker Craft,
which kept his perfect night, it was just a great
example how a team is so much more prepared than
I anticipated, so much more prepared than the average NFL team,
and then they go out and execute because they have
the personnel. And this is a team also that we
(10:09):
were worried about their receiver position because of the injuries
that they were dealing with. Turns out, it's not that
big of a deal when you limit an opposing offense
and you're able to put up enough points to win. Well.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
The receivers aren't like individually putting up huge numbers. Yeah,
the first play that you mentioned with the receiver in
Wildcat with save On Williams, who moves just a little
bit different and it's a fun type of play that
you can get him involved in. They might need him
more because Jaden Reid left this game with what they're
calling a shoulder injury.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I have not seen anything yet.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
We tape this right after the game of a post
game update from the coaching staff. I watched the game
here at NFL Network with instant injury diagnosis expert Maurice
Jones Drew who just immediately thought it was a collar bone.
I'm not saying it is, but that's what he thought,
and he was in a lot of pain and they're
(10:59):
calling I knit a shoulder injury.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Either way.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Concerning for Jaden Reid, Saveon Williams is a young player
who can maybe do some of the gadgety stuff that
Jayden Reid can do, but certainly isn't as complete a
receiver down the field. That spot will go more to
their rookie Matthew Golden. They're really splitting up their reps
quite evenly. At receiver. Golden was quiet for the second
straight game. He did not even have a catch tonight.
(11:24):
He had two targets, but he got wide open down
the field, and that's what I'm talking about where this
night could have even been bigger, Like Love missed that
shot okay to Golden, which could have been a monster play,
maybe even a long touchdown. And then the throw that
he made to Jaden Reid was an absolute dime that
Reid made a great catch on, but Reed got tackled
(11:46):
out of bounds, he hurts his shoulder and there was
a penalty on the Packers right tackle Belton that ended
up nullifying the play. So you just hate to see
that all around, But it was a reminder Loves deep
passes are prettier than anyone and again when he was
not pressured in this game. I'm bringing up the stats
(12:07):
right here. It's just absolutely outrageous. Fifteen for seventeen for
two hundred and twenty four yards, thirteen yards per attempt,
a couple of touchdowns, and for the game. You know,
I was talking about average up the target shook like
the rest of the league, and Patrick Mahomes is like
going under, you know, six seven yards. We saw you know,
Aaron Rodgers was under five yards for the game.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I'm trying to find it here. Where is it? Give
me the A dot. It was at.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Fourteen and a half yards per throw tonight. I mean
that's outrageous, even including the garbage type. Averaging fourteen and
a half down the field is just bananas.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Yeah, that was one of the standout things. But again
I hate to sound like a broken record. The guys
were open all night. Yeah, it's a matter of just
getting the ball to him, and Love did that for
the most part. Like we could point to Malik Heath
making that incredible catchdown the sideline to extend that drive
that ends up in a touchdown. That was a huge
play early in this game. Guys are gonna make plays
because they're getting open because they're getting schemed open and
(13:04):
they're athletic enough to do it, and they have the quarterback.
That's the key. You can you can go win games
with a receiving core that isn't overly impressive when you
have a quarterback that can put it on them and
do it athletically. Because there were times where he got pressured.
The pressure rate for Washington was actually pretty decent tonight.
It was they had sixteen pressures from near fifty percent,
and it didn't really matter at the end of the day.
(13:24):
I mean, you can look at their third down percent
you'd be like, oh, they didn't have they didn't convert
a lot of third downs. They were five for twelve,
they had too many penalties. It still didn't matter because
for the most part, Jordan Love made the plays that
he needed to make to extend these drives and get
big chunk plays. And he's not afraid to throw the football.
That's the beauty of it is he knows he has
an arm and Lafleor's given him the agency to go
throw it down the field no matter who's running these routes,
(13:46):
because he's going to scheme them open. And that's really
makes them dangerous because we talk about the defense, their
offense has that capability on a week by week basis,
They're gonna be a tough competition for anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
How about how about Jordan Love rushing the ball.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
I mean early in the game, key sweet sequence, he
lowers his shoulder to run and pick up a first
down and he absolutely truck sticked Trey Amos the I
think that was who he ran.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Over the Commanders.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, young cornerback who was one of many I
think guys in the secondary who had a great Week
one when you're playing the Giants and had a rough
night tonight. Kwan Martin gave up a big play. Marshaun
Latimore had a bunch of penalties early. So their growth
on defense from week one, it's a short week, you're
on the road. It definitely took a big stap step
(14:34):
back today. Bobby Wagner I also thought, you know, was victimized.
Whenever you see one of these McVeigh coaching tree. You know,
teams go up against this Washington team, they always are
attacking that slot up the middle of the field. Tucker
Craft had a monster catch early which really set the tone.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Receiver to the right Saveon Williams snapped at Jordan Love
shotgun looks under a blitz throws.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Right side, He's cut Tucker crap forty thirty twenty five
twenty cut down of the fun side inside the twenty
here's a nineteen of Washington plon Martin lings him down.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Tucker crap.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Why up it for fifty eight yards to foot the field?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, Matt Leaflair just he just puts so much eye
candy for you, so many different things for you to
deal with, and yeah, the middle of the coverage there
just gets absolutely confused. At one point, Bobby Wagner almost
looked like I'm too old for this.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Like, yeah, talk about that. That was the prevailing themes.
That was a prevailing theme for me, Not just on
that play, because that's like a variety of verts in
which you think they're going to attack downfield and you're
just at a position, But that was the one of
the themes of the night for me, which is my god,
I knew the Commander's defense was old. They look really
old tonight. Lattimore are getting dusted all night, even Bobby
(15:52):
Waggoner not being able to make much of a difference,
even when guys went up front the second levels not
making plays. They're getting cooked in the back end. They
just look like a defense. At one point, Ol Michael's goes,
I don't know if they're just worn down and tired,
like it is a short week, but this is like
the defense you want to face on a short week
because they're just an older group and they looked the
part tonight. Latimore's numbers were horrendous. I don't want to
see his PFF grade later in this week. He had
(16:14):
a lot of catch rate of overexpected of plus thirty
five point two percent on five targets. Not good. Passer
rating win target is nearest defender nearly one hundred and twenty.
Not good when that's your best corner, that's what you're
leaning on. It's not a good sign for how things
might go for you defensively.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Well, you know, the PFF has like the instant grades
up at least for a little bit. And yeah, he's
the lowest graded guy on the team at a thirty,
which is not pretty. Von Miller's been total no show
in the first two weeks of the season.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I'm not going to panic now.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I was down on the Commanders versus consensus going into
the season, but it's also two weeks, and I really
do believe that these seasons, especially when you're playing the
first Thursday night game of the year, you haven't played
any real football at all, and then you have to
play all these snaps and back to back weeks. You're
just kind of trying to manage things, get some wins early,
(17:05):
and figure out where you're good where you're not. Right now,
their offense isn't as good as it was a year ago, certainly,
and the defense tonight was concerning. The number one concern
I would say tonight for the Commanders were injuries. Noah
Brown left with a groin injury. John Bates, who is
a one of the best tight end blockers in the
(17:26):
entire league, left with a groin injury, I believe as well.
Dietrich Wise, who they signed from the Patriots to start
for them, looked like a serious lower leg injury. I
don't want to speculate, but they're calling it leg ankle,
and it looked serious. And then unfortunately Nick at the
very end of the game, Austin Eckler, who was playing
(17:48):
a ton in this one because he's their third down guy,
and it felt like they were playing in catchup mode
and they were in like third down mode but basically
the whole game. And he's playing a lot of snaps
and he goes down with an achilles injury late in
the game, carted off nothing you know, officially confirmed, but
they did call it an achilles. So you worry about
(18:08):
Austin Ekeler and his future as a veteran, and you'll
probably be seeing Jeremy McNichols more in that backfield. So
really a disastrous night for the Commanders, especially on the
injury front. What did you see from the offense in
general and Jaden Daniels, Like, how did you think they
were operating?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
I mean, I thought it was fine. I just felt
like they were overmatched. Daniels rarely had a lot of
time to throw. We talked about his time to throw earlier.
I looked it up. It was relatively quick two point
eight four seconds average time to throw. That's not long
by comparison Jordan Love three point one four Like that's
a pretty significant gap between the two. He just didn't
have time to throw. He like I said before, he
was deciphering coverage, so he was getting the ball out
(18:49):
on time. There just weren't many options. It was a
lot of checkdowns because nothing else was open, and it
just kind of spoke to the frustration that I felt
watching this offense the entire night. I also didn't like
the way Cliff Kingsbury necessarily went about calling plays certain scenarios.
There were just like interesting formations where you saw an advantage,
you saw a light box and they end up passing
and then they come out in a formation that condenses
the field and they try to run out of it,
but they don't have you know, blockers in there. They're
(19:11):
condensing the field in like a shotgun tight bunch formation
or like you know, twins on each side really tight
as well. It's like not spreading the field giving yourself
natural running lane. So I think that there's some things
that they need to correct there, but more than anything,
they just got to do Jade Daniels some favors. They
did not go to Terry McLaurin early. That's a pretty
consistent theme, and especially in a game like this, if
a defense is going to get after you and also
take away your best target, they're taking away Terry McLaurin
(19:33):
and asking you to beat them with somebody else. Deebo
Samuel catches a touchdown on the fourth quarter, but you know,
he's made some plays here and there. That was kind
of the story for him in week one as well.
So they just have a lot of things to fix.
I think they have to kind of look in the
mirror a little bit schematically and say, where are our strengths,
Where can we get better right now? What do we
need to work on in the long term. How can
we turn this around into a productive unit? Because Daniel's
(19:54):
a great scrambler, had no opportunity to scramble all night
because of that pass rush and also because of the
city suations he found himself in. So I think against
another team, they'll probably have more success. We're gonna look
back in this game and think that might have been
the first or second example that we could point to
as Wow, this Packers defense is for real. So I
don't really, you know, criticize the Commanders too much for
their struggles tonight, but they do need to get on
(20:15):
track right.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
But you probably have lost Eckeler here, and he's a
good role player for them. You lost Teterrick Wise, who
is going to be a good role player for them.
You're now counting on Bill Merritt, Bill Krossky Merritt, who
didn't have a lot of action tonight just as a
pure running back, and Daniels has just been like a
little bit off. So the changes that they want in
(20:37):
the offense, they'll now get to reset a little bit. McLaurin,
as you mentioned, was quiet until garbage time for the
second straight week. I think Deebo Samuel has looked like
the old Debo in these two weeks.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
That's a positive.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Zach Ertz is still a good football player somehow, like
the guy who was drafted in the same class as
Travis Kelcey. Is still getting it done like Travis Kelcey.
But otherwise, man, there was not a lot to feel
real positive about. And I love what you mentioned that
he couldn't scramble it. It's because this Packers defense is
the most athletic defense in the league. I mean Edrin
(21:11):
Cooper and Rashaun Gary backing up these edges.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It is just awesome.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Going into the fourth quarter, the Commanders had not been
in the red zone. Their offense had subsisted of Matt
Gay kicking three different field goals of over fifty yards
at least attempting them and missing two of them. That
was their offense. The numbers were so one sided into
the fourth quarter when the Commanders did put together a
couple of drives, So bully to the Packers. Definitely gonna
(21:40):
be a top a lot of power rankings. I suspect
after week two, and that's without seeing any other Week two.
Action Commanders now at one and one before we go shook.
You know, we tape our preview show pretty early Wednesday
and appreciate everyone checking out the dueling preview shows. We
got a little loopy at the end. I hope you
(22:00):
enjoyed it. The AFC NFC was a lot of fun.
We appreciate all the responses to it, and if you're
watching us on YouTube, we really appreciate you subscribing and
liking and giving us a review on iTunes as well,
telling your friends. We're trying to grow this thing and
we're loving the momentum. Before we go, you know, it's
been so long since that show. We do have a
(22:22):
little bit of news and I just feel weird being
in this studio and not mentioning it. Dron Bland, the
Cowboys Cornerback is gonna miss two to three weeks with
a foot injury that happened in practice. I'm like, can
we just eradicate practice injuries? I feel like this keeps happening.
Let's just stop this. Why is this happening?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
I know I would love to, but you can't. You
got to ear reps in as you prepped. You can't
be on ice all week. You come out rusty on
Sunday that everyone's gonna be like you're back on the
practice field. They don't go hard like.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
They used to.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
But it does suck like it Just as a football fan,
it's unfortunate that a player like him or anybody gets
hurt in practice when you're not, you know, putting your
body on the line during a game. But this is
also a Cowboys team that has already been subject to
enough adversity. This is gonna make a little bit more
challenging for them.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I know, watching the Cowboys Week one and then watching
Parsons out there tonight, I was like, the Cowboys could
be contenders with Micah Parsons. It is really a little
mind blowing. And I don't mean contenders like winning the NFC.
We got a long way to go. I'm just saying
if they had a decent defense with that offense, like
they could be interesting and you just see what a
(23:28):
force multiplier Parsons is. Bland, who just got a big contract,
is right now their best cornerback. They're trying to get
Trayvon Diggs back going from injury. He should be playing
Week two. A couple other injury news. Jalen Johnson is
back at Bears practice. They are expecting him to return
to the field, so that is good news for them.
In that Lions game, Dallas Godder has been out of practice.
(23:50):
A little bit of a surprise there for the Eagles.
We'll see what his status is on Friday. Juan Jennings
is one of the many forty nine ers out of practice.
We've already reported. You know that Mac Jones is going
to be starting that game. George Kittle is out, but
they also might be short. Juan Jennings, Man, I'm really
struggling to pick this game.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Shook for game debut.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
You know, I went with the forty nine ers, but
as it's getting closer and I'm hearing more forty nine
ers out. I mean, if the Saints are going to
win let's say four games this year, wouldn't one of
those games be at home against Mac Jones in the
forty nine ers. I feel like, if the Saints can't
win this game, They're not going to win any games.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
This is an example of one of those weird spots
we find ourselves in the first month of the season,
which is that we have one week of tape to
rely on, so the contextual analysis is very thin, and
I just think about what happened Sunday with the Saints
and the Cardinals. Like Spencer Radler had them in position
to tie the game. In fact, he threw a touchdown
pass to the Tyler game it just got dropped, and their
(24:51):
defense played well enough to keep them in That game.
Really kind of frustrated the Cardinals and Kyler Murray, especially
in the second half. I could see them doing the
same thing against the forty nine ers, especially if they
don't have Jennings. They already don't have Rockberty, they don't
have George Kittle. They do have Christian McCaffrey, though. That
could be a tide turner for them, so I could
see it. I can definitely see it, but I don't
think that should sway your pick. The Saints are team.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Ron Jennings, definitely should not sway my pick, but I'm
an emotional person who just reacts to the last thing
that I see.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
You believe in the agenda, you gotta have Rattler come
out on top at least once.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I just believe that there's not nearly as much difference,
despite you know, tonight, between the good teams and the
bad teams in the NFL. It's true, and I don't
necessarily think the forty nine ers with Mac Jones at
quarterback without George Kittle is a good team. That's an
average team, so there's not a big difference. I don't
think between those two teams. Xavier Worthy, by the way,
(25:44):
was at practice for the Chiefs. Very surprising after that
shoulder injury. I think there's still some skepticism he might
play this week, but it indicates that they're going to
give him a shot at some point.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Can we talk about this for sure?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I saw you rare and a go yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Dislocated shoulder. I see an image of him on the
practice field today with a very clear shoulder brace on.
I once suffered a shoulder injury and had to wear
a similar brace. I didn't play receiver, I played offensive line,
and even I can tell you it restricts your movement.
You can only go about this far out and like
this far back, Like if you're watching on YouTube, you'll
(26:20):
see it. But it's it's a range of motion.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
You're getting your money, whereas with that shook forearm right
in your face.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, oh yeah, No, it's like it's a limited range
of motion and for a receiver, it's going to hinder you.
So I don't know how he's going to play this week.
I just found it kind of shocking that he'd be
at least on the practice field trying to give it
a go so quickly.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
A couple other items. Black Bowers unsure if he'll play
on Monday night. I don't know where that came from.
I know he got hurt and was in and out
of the Raiders game, but they said he could have
finished it if it was a big game, And maybe
they were just letting us on a little bit, which
coaches are known to do. So keep an eye on that.
But that would be big for the Chargers if Bowers
does not suit up and then Ed Oliver seen in
(27:00):
a walking boot at Bill's practice on Thursday. They did
a walk through on Thursday, which is rare. I've got
an eye on that Bill's Jets game. We've got our
PIC show with Cynthia Freeland, which will be coming up
Friday afternoon. What a tease, What a transition. I think
that's it, shook. I just think that means it's time
for us to go.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
I agree. I'm waiting for the music to come up
because I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Let's bona, let's go.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
We got the we got the tats on the on
the show here, let's go.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Oh yeah, let's show it.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I'll be back in the feed Friday afternoon, Cynthia Freeland
and I making picks against the spread, our three favorite
of the week.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Shook your beauty. We'll see you Sunday,
Shot gunslot left man faking the handoff, Love rolls right
those hen Shock stuck on touchdown t lambaud leak to
the north end zone stand Saepete Will Harris Ton up.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Jutiful bayfet by Jordan Love.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Tucker Craft eight yard touchdown reception.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That was Wayne Larovy, one of our favorites on w
r n W. Tucker Kraft scores the final touchdown for
the Packers on Tucker Craft Night at lambeau Field. The
Packers win twenty seven to eighteen in a score that
(00:43):
absolutely flatters the Washington Commanders. I'm Greg Rosenthal in the
Chris Wesleyan podcast studio talking to my friend Nick Shook.
Across the country in Cleveland. It was about as one
sided a twenty seven to eighteen victory could be with Kraft.
I lean up six catches for one hundred and twenty
four yards and a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Chuck.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
If you didn't realize before tonight that Tucker Craft was
getting closer and closer to top five territory among all
tight ends in the league, certainly in that mix, you
know now you're looking skeptical, SHOOKI No, I.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Mean that catches me a little bit. By surprise. But
when you put up numbers like that, I mean, it
puts you in line for a sponsorship Mac and Cheese
Craft Mac and Cheese. Let's go, let's pair up with
this guy. He had a hell of a night. Let's
get him a deal.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Okay, last season, I would say if you look at
his explosiveness, his versatility, and like the different types of
routes that he can run, but he can also block.
I mean, he is a big dude that moves so well,
only twenty four years old from South Dakota State, a
third round pick and seven hundred and seven yards last
year and seven touchdowns. And I know he had a
(01:52):
quiet Week one, but I think he's awesome. And yet
I don't want to start with Love, who is trying
to solve the the a DOC crisis in the league.
That's average depth of target all by himself, like everyone's
d Dnkin Duncan and he's just bombing away. I just
don't I don't think we can start that way. We
have to start with the defense again, Like you trade
(02:13):
for one of the greatest edgreshers I've ever seen in
my life two weeks before the season, and then in
back to back weeks, you play two teams that made
the Divisional Round a year ago in these NFC playoffs,
two of the big contenders that the Packers are going
to have to get through to get to where they
want to be.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And the games really aren't competitive.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
They're in a different class in these two games than
the Lions and the Commanders. And the number one reason
is the defense.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
What stuck out to you, Well, I mean, we spent
a lot of time talking about how Parsons, you know,
builds up this defense, strengthens it. But what I really
think he does is he completes it. And he's not
out there on every play basis, but he's out there enough,
and obviously he shows him in the box score. But
watching this game tonight, I felt as if Parsons addition
allowed Jeff Halfley the full agency to do whatever he wanted.
(03:04):
And there were multiple instances. Everybody talks about disguis and defenses,
and let me tell you, in the first half especially,
he disguised like crazy. I'm sitting there. I wish every
game was in prime vision, by the way, because it's
a lot easier to look at what the defense is
doing from that angle than the traditional broadcast angle. So
I'm watching in prime vision. I'm dragnosing coverages pre and
post snap, and every snap I'm going, oh, it's six.
(03:25):
Now it's six downs, three, six outs. Two. Well, this
looks like two, man, I'll they just roll the three like.
That's what they did the whole first half, and Ja
Daniels just took what was there, which wasn't much because
of Jeff Haffley's scheme. And the reason he can do
that is because of guys like Parsons. And there was
an example in the second half where there's a two
play sequence. Parsons rushes outside on Connery, Connolly kind of
shields them away, ball gets out. Next play, maybe two
(03:47):
snaps later, Parsons fakes outside, drills inside, hits Daniels. It's
a quick pressure, it's a sack. It's a one of
those game changing plays. And then there's another instance in
which they chip him with Austin Eckler and honorly and
Edge Cooper's coming from the other side. This is a
complete defense. This defense is going to cause problems for
any offense they faced. The Washington Commanders could do nothing tonight.
(04:09):
I don't care who was the quarterback, who was at receiver.
The Packers defense is for real.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I'm so glad you pointed out that that two play sequence.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I thought about that too.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
And he did play more tonight, forty four snaps, essentially
the same amount of snaps as the other defensive lineman
in this game. I mean, they rotated him out, but
that's typical. He definitely was a bigger factor tonight. And
you know, we say like it doesn't all show up
in the box score, and that's true. He drew a
(04:39):
penalty on the play that he had a sack, another
holding penalty that helped to kill a drive, and a
false start on Larrymytunzel who was trying to jump out
of his stance to try to stop Michael Parsons. And yeah,
he does show up in the stat sheet too. Two
quick pressures, eight quarterback pressures over twenty percent pressure rate,
which is sky high. And you mentioned the sack where
(05:00):
he got inside of Connerly, we've got that sack.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Quarterback waiting for the signal.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Now here's the snap rush on Daniel step top penalty
and Arker down twn your test stup back outside the
thirty yard line. Make up Parsons a right down the
scene I drank Cooper, what's also there?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Love that play by Parsons.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You know you're a beast when the other team gets
called for a hold and you still finish the play
like the Commanders. The Commanders had the lowest yards two
hundred and thirty in the Jayden Daniels era, despite having
a lot in garbage time there with that last touchdown drive.
Really the whole second half almost felt like garbage time.
Although this game was much closer than it should have been,
(05:44):
and based on the results of some primetime games last week,
I guess you can never say it's totally garbage time.
And they also only had two explosive plays out of
sixty five, and that would have been the lowest explosive
play rate I think of any team in a game
last year, which is crazy to think about. And so
(06:05):
he just had to get rid of the ball so
quickly Jayden Daniels and obviously Parsons was the number one
reason why. But we're seeing production from a lot of
the guys you mentioned, Edgar and Cooper, him and kuway
Walker have looked good together. Lucas van Ness had a
couple of nice moments tonight. Rareshaun Gary had a sack,
and the front seven is so good. Remember there were
questions about the cornerbacks. It's all I was talking about
in training camp, Like this defense is proving like you
(06:28):
don't need stars at cornerback if all the other positions
are so good.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
No, they're winning the trench battle. They won on both
sides of the ball tonight, and it really limited what
Washington could do. Like I said, Daniels was reading coverage
properly and getting the ball. It's just there were no options. Now,
there were some errant throws, of course, but that's all
produced by a sped up quarterback because he knows he
can't trust that he's going to have, you know, more
than two and a half seconds to survey and find
somebody to throw to. And they played pretty sticky coverage too.
(06:53):
Most of those balls that he got in there were
tight windows. I think their tight window number was like
incredibly low. Like I think Daniels threw a eleven passes
into tight windows tonight. That's pretty high. That indicates that
nobody's getting open. Because the defense is so good and
so like I said, they are, this defense is going
to travel. This defense is going to be their Hallmark.
We can talk about how well Jordan Love and everybody
else in the offense is playing, which we can get
(07:14):
to because they're playing very well, but the final score
kind of tells the story of how I think a
lot of the season is going to go, which is
they don't really need to put up a ton of
points if the defense continues to play like this and
Jeff Haffley's allowed to do whatever he wants, which is
exactly what he did tonight.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
The crazy thing is you get twelve quarterback hits in
four sacks, which is very difficult on Jaden Daniels, but
it's not like he was holding onto the ball noever.
He was trying to get rid of it pretty quickly.
And that speaks to the eight passes defense. That's such
a huge number. The cornerbacks are so confident that the
pressure is going to get there quickly that you saw
(07:48):
Keishawn Nixon, especially, who had an incredible game five passes
defense in one game that might end up being tops
of the entire season. It'll certainly be like the top
five cornerback pass defense game of the entire season.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
He was great.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
What a What a career arc for this guy who
was a backup and a great return man and then
develops into a nickel and now he's in every down
player who's really playing well for them. So it's all
coming together for this team. Their defense is the scariest unit,
maybe for any team early in this season. I know
this is only the first game in Week two, but man,
(08:22):
they're good. They have two road games before a Week
five by at Cleveland and at Dallas, so a chance
there for the Packers looking ahead to get to four
and oh and I feel so good about that because
it is a complete team. On a night, they were
missing two offensive linemen nick that made a combine hundred
and sixty five million dollars in contracts this offseason. That
(08:44):
was their guard Aaron Banks and then their right tackle
Zach Tom, both out with injuries. In the short week.
You wouldn't have known. I mean, they were moving the
ball up and down the field. Sometimes they couldn't quite
finish drives. They could have had even more points, but
ultimately they were making and receivers open as long as
Love got a little protection, they basically were hitting shots
(09:05):
down the field.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Yeah, we're looking at total success rates near fifty percent
drop back success rate over fifty two percent. And what
I really think it comes down to on both sides
of the ball was a coaching performance that was just
very lopsided. And that's no shot at dan Quinn. I
just think that with what Hafley did defensively and the
ability to do whatever he wanted. And then Matt Lafleur,
who by the way, got into a bit of a
(09:27):
rut I think early in that fourth quarter when he
was essentially on a put away drive where he was
throwing the ball a little too much, and I think
he caught himself and the way he centered himself was
so fascinating because most coaches would just turn back to
a traditional run. Now he goes wildcat and gets into
a receiver who goes around the left end for a
first down. It might have been more if he hadn't slipped.
And then you know they continue from that they run
(09:49):
a jet sweep in the opposite direction, like he's opening
up the playbook. He's going into his bag and pulling
some things out that we haven't seen yet. When they
finished that off with a touchdown pass to Tucker Craft,
which kept his perfect night, it was just a great
example how a team is so much more prepared than
I anticipated, so much more prepared than the average NFL team,
and then they go out and execute because they have
the personnel. And this is a team also that we
(10:09):
were worried about their receiver position because of the injuries
that they were dealing with. Turns out, it's not that
big of a deal when you limit an opposing offense
and you're able to put up enough points to win. Well.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
The receivers aren't like individually putting up huge numbers. Yeah,
the first play that you mentioned with the receiver in
Wildcat with save On Williams, who moves just a little
bit different and it's a fun type of play that
you can get him involved in. They might need him
more because Jaden Reid left this game with what they're
calling a shoulder injury.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I have not seen anything yet.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
We tape this right after the game of a post
game update from the coaching staff. I watched the game
here at NFL Network with instant injury diagnosis expert Maurice
Jones Drew who just immediately thought it was a collar bone.
I'm not saying it is, but that's what he thought,
and he was in a lot of pain and they're
(10:59):
calling I knit a shoulder injury.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Either way.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Concerning for Jaden Reid, Saveon Williams is a young player
who can maybe do some of the gadgety stuff that
Jayden Reid can do, but certainly isn't as complete a
receiver down the field. That spot will go more to
their rookie Matthew Golden. They're really splitting up their reps
quite evenly. At receiver. Golden was quiet for the second
straight game. He did not even have a catch tonight.
(11:24):
He had two targets, but he got wide open down
the field, and that's what I'm talking about where this
night could have even been bigger, Like Love missed that
shot okay to Golden, which could have been a monster play,
maybe even a long touchdown. And then the throw that
he made to Jaden Reid was an absolute dime that
Reid made a great catch on, but Reed got tackled
(11:46):
out of bounds, he hurts his shoulder and there was
a penalty on the Packers right tackle Belton that ended
up nullifying the play. So you just hate to see
that all around, But it was a reminder Loves deep
passes are prettier than anyone and again when he was
not pressured in this game. I'm bringing up the stats
(12:07):
right here. It's just absolutely outrageous. Fifteen for seventeen for
two hundred and twenty four yards, thirteen yards per attempt,
a couple of touchdowns, and for the game. You know,
I was talking about average up the target shook like
the rest of the league, and Patrick Mahomes is like
going under, you know, six seven yards. We saw you know,
Aaron Rodgers was under five yards for the game.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
I'm trying to find it here. Where is it? Give
me the A dot. It was at.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Fourteen and a half yards per throw tonight. I mean
that's outrageous, even including the garbage type. Averaging fourteen and
a half down the field is just bananas.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Yeah, that was one of the standout things. But again
I hate to sound like a broken record. The guys
were open all night. Yeah, it's a matter of just
getting the ball to him, and Love did that for
the most part. Like we could point to Malik Heath
making that incredible catchdown the sideline to extend that drive
that ends up in a touchdown. That was a huge
play early in this game. Guys are gonna make plays
because they're getting open because they're getting schemed open and
(13:04):
they're athletic enough to do it, and they have the quarterback.
That's the key. You can you can go win games
with a receiving core that isn't overly impressive when you
have a quarterback that can put it on them and
do it athletically. Because there were times where he got pressured.
The pressure rate for Washington was actually pretty decent tonight.
It was they had sixteen pressures from near fifty percent,
and it didn't really matter at the end of the day.
(13:24):
I mean, you can look at their third down percent
you'd be like, oh, they didn't have they didn't convert
a lot of third downs. They were five for twelve,
they had too many penalties. It still didn't matter because
for the most part, Jordan Love made the plays that
he needed to make to extend these drives and get
big chunk plays. And he's not afraid to throw the football.
That's the beauty of it is he knows he has
an arm and Lafleor's given him the agency to go
throw it down the field no matter who's running these routes,
(13:46):
because he's going to scheme them open. And that's really
makes them dangerous because we talk about the defense, their
offense has that capability on a week by week basis,
They're gonna be a tough competition for anybody.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
How about how about Jordan Love rushing the ball.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
I mean early in the game, key sweet sequence, he
lowers his shoulder to run and pick up a first
down and he absolutely truck sticked Trey Amos the I
think that was who he ran.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Over the Commanders.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, young cornerback who was one of many I
think guys in the secondary who had a great Week
one when you're playing the Giants and had a rough
night tonight. Kwan Martin gave up a big play. Marshaun
Latimore had a bunch of penalties early. So their growth
on defense from week one, it's a short week, you're
on the road. It definitely took a big stap step
(14:34):
back today. Bobby Wagner I also thought, you know, was victimized.
Whenever you see one of these McVeigh coaching tree. You know,
teams go up against this Washington team, they always are
attacking that slot up the middle of the field. Tucker
Craft had a monster catch early which really set the tone.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Receiver to the right Saveon Williams snapped at Jordan Love
shotgun looks under a blitz throws.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Right side, He's cut Tucker crap forty thirty twenty five
twenty cut down of the fun side inside the twenty
here's a nineteen of Washington plon Martin lings him down.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Tucker crap.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Why up it for fifty eight yards to foot the field?
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Yeah, Matt Leaflair just he just puts so much eye
candy for you, so many different things for you to
deal with, and yeah, the middle of the coverage there
just gets absolutely confused. At one point, Bobby Wagner almost
looked like I'm too old for this.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Like, yeah, talk about that. That was the prevailing themes.
That was a prevailing theme for me, Not just on
that play, because that's like a variety of verts in
which you think they're going to attack downfield and you're
just at a position, But that was the one of
the themes of the night for me, which is my god,
I knew the Commander's defense was old. They look really
old tonight. Lattimore are getting dusted all night, even Bobby
(15:52):
Waggoner not being able to make much of a difference,
even when guys went up front the second levels not
making plays. They're getting cooked in the back end. They
just look like a defense. At one point, Ol Michael's goes,
I don't know if they're just worn down and tired,
like it is a short week, but this is like
the defense you want to face on a short week
because they're just an older group and they looked the
part tonight. Latimore's numbers were horrendous. I don't want to
see his PFF grade later in this week. He had
(16:14):
a lot of catch rate of overexpected of plus thirty
five point two percent on five targets. Not good. Passer
rating win target is nearest defender nearly one hundred and twenty.
Not good when that's your best corner, that's what you're
leaning on. It's not a good sign for how things
might go for you defensively.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Well, you know, the PFF has like the instant grades
up at least for a little bit. And yeah, he's
the lowest graded guy on the team at a thirty,
which is not pretty. Von Miller's been total no show
in the first two weeks of the season.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I'm not going to panic now.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
I was down on the Commanders versus consensus going into
the season, but it's also two weeks, and I really
do believe that these seasons, especially when you're playing the
first Thursday night game of the year, you haven't played
any real football at all, and then you have to
play all these snaps and back to back weeks. You're
just kind of trying to manage things, get some wins early,
(17:05):
and figure out where you're good where you're not. Right now,
their offense isn't as good as it was a year ago, certainly,
and the defense tonight was concerning. The number one concern
I would say tonight for the Commanders were injuries. Noah
Brown left with a groin injury. John Bates, who is
a one of the best tight end blockers in the
(17:26):
entire league, left with a groin injury, I believe as well.
Dietrich Wise, who they signed from the Patriots to start
for them, looked like a serious lower leg injury. I
don't want to speculate, but they're calling it leg ankle,
and it looked serious. And then unfortunately Nick at the
very end of the game, Austin Eckler, who was playing
(17:48):
a ton in this one because he's their third down guy,
and it felt like they were playing in catchup mode
and they were in like third down mode but basically
the whole game. And he's playing a lot of snaps
and he goes down with an achilles injury late in
the game, carted off nothing you know, officially confirmed, but
they did call it an achilles. So you worry about
(18:08):
Austin Ekeler and his future as a veteran, and you'll
probably be seeing Jeremy McNichols more in that backfield. So
really a disastrous night for the Commanders, especially on the
injury front. What did you see from the offense in
general and Jaden Daniels, Like, how did you think they
were operating?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
I mean, I thought it was fine. I just felt
like they were overmatched. Daniels rarely had a lot of
time to throw. We talked about his time to throw earlier.
I looked it up. It was relatively quick two point
eight four seconds average time to throw. That's not long
by comparison Jordan Love three point one four Like that's
a pretty significant gap between the two. He just didn't
have time to throw. He like I said before, he
was deciphering coverage, so he was getting the ball out
(18:49):
on time. There just weren't many options. It was a
lot of checkdowns because nothing else was open, and it
just kind of spoke to the frustration that I felt
watching this offense the entire night. I also didn't like
the way Cliff Kingsbury necessarily went about calling plays certain scenarios.
There were just like interesting formations where you saw an advantage,
you saw a light box and they end up passing
and then they come out in a formation that condenses
the field and they try to run out of it,
but they don't have you know, blockers in there. They're
(19:11):
condensing the field in like a shotgun tight bunch formation
or like you know, twins on each side really tight
as well. It's like not spreading the field giving yourself
natural running lane. So I think that there's some things
that they need to correct there, but more than anything,
they just got to do Jade Daniels some favors. They
did not go to Terry McLaurin early. That's a pretty
consistent theme, and especially in a game like this, if
a defense is going to get after you and also
take away your best target, they're taking away Terry McLaurin
(19:33):
and asking you to beat them with somebody else. Deebo
Samuel catches a touchdown on the fourth quarter, but you know,
he's made some plays here and there. That was kind
of the story for him in week one as well.
So they just have a lot of things to fix.
I think they have to kind of look in the
mirror a little bit schematically and say, where are our strengths,
Where can we get better right now? What do we
need to work on in the long term. How can
we turn this around into a productive unit? Because Daniel's
(19:54):
a great scrambler, had no opportunity to scramble all night
because of that pass rush and also because of the
city suations he found himself in. So I think against
another team, they'll probably have more success. We're gonna look
back in this game and think that might have been
the first or second example that we could point to
as Wow, this Packers defense is for real. So I
don't really, you know, criticize the Commanders too much for
their struggles tonight, but they do need to get on
(20:15):
track right.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
But you probably have lost Eckeler here, and he's a
good role player for them. You lost Teterrick Wise, who
is going to be a good role player for them.
You're now counting on Bill Merritt, Bill Krossky Merritt, who
didn't have a lot of action tonight just as a
pure running back, and Daniels has just been like a
little bit off. So the changes that they want in
(20:37):
the offense, they'll now get to reset a little bit. McLaurin,
as you mentioned, was quiet until garbage time for the
second straight week. I think Deebo Samuel has looked like
the old Debo in these two weeks.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
That's a positive.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Zach Ertz is still a good football player somehow, like
the guy who was drafted in the same class as
Travis Kelcey. Is still getting it done like Travis Kelcey.
But otherwise, man, there was not a lot to feel
real positive about. And I love what you mentioned that
he couldn't scramble it. It's because this Packers defense is
the most athletic defense in the league. I mean Edrin
(21:11):
Cooper and Rashaun Gary backing up these edges.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It is just awesome.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Going into the fourth quarter, the Commanders had not been
in the red zone. Their offense had subsisted of Matt
Gay kicking three different field goals of over fifty yards
at least attempting them and missing two of them. That
was their offense. The numbers were so one sided into
the fourth quarter when the Commanders did put together a
couple of drives, So bully to the Packers. Definitely gonna
(21:40):
be a top a lot of power rankings. I suspect
after week two, and that's without seeing any other Week two.
Action Commanders now at one and one before we go shook.
You know, we tape our preview show pretty early Wednesday
and appreciate everyone checking out the dueling preview shows. We
got a little loopy at the end. I hope you
(22:00):
enjoyed it. The AFC NFC was a lot of fun.
We appreciate all the responses to it, and if you're
watching us on YouTube, we really appreciate you subscribing and
liking and giving us a review on iTunes as well,
telling your friends. We're trying to grow this thing and
we're loving the momentum. Before we go, you know, it's
been so long since that show. We do have a
(22:22):
little bit of news and I just feel weird being
in this studio and not mentioning it. Dron Bland, the
Cowboys Cornerback is gonna miss two to three weeks with
a foot injury that happened in practice. I'm like, can
we just eradicate practice injuries? I feel like this keeps happening.
Let's just stop this. Why is this happening?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
I know I would love to, but you can't. You
got to ear reps in as you prepped. You can't
be on ice all week. You come out rusty on
Sunday that everyone's gonna be like you're back on the
practice field. They don't go hard like.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
They used to.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
But it does suck like it Just as a football fan,
it's unfortunate that a player like him or anybody gets
hurt in practice when you're not, you know, putting your
body on the line during a game. But this is
also a Cowboys team that has already been subject to
enough adversity. This is gonna make a little bit more
challenging for them.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I know, watching the Cowboys Week one and then watching
Parsons out there tonight, I was like, the Cowboys could
be contenders with Micah Parsons. It is really a little
mind blowing. And I don't mean contenders like winning the NFC.
We got a long way to go. I'm just saying
if they had a decent defense with that offense, like
they could be interesting and you just see what a
(23:28):
force multiplier Parsons is. Bland, who just got a big contract,
is right now their best cornerback. They're trying to get
Trayvon Diggs back going from injury. He should be playing
Week two. A couple other injury news. Jalen Johnson is
back at Bears practice. They are expecting him to return
to the field, so that is good news for them.
In that Lions game, Dallas Godder has been out of practice.
(23:50):
A little bit of a surprise there for the Eagles.
We'll see what his status is on Friday. Juan Jennings
is one of the many forty nine ers out of practice.
We've already reported. You know that Mac Jones is going
to be starting that game. George Kittle is out, but
they also might be short. Juan Jennings, Man, I'm really
struggling to pick this game.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Shook for game debut.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
You know, I went with the forty nine ers, but
as it's getting closer and I'm hearing more forty nine
ers out. I mean, if the Saints are going to
win let's say four games this year, wouldn't one of
those games be at home against Mac Jones in the
forty nine ers. I feel like, if the Saints can't
win this game, They're not going to win any games.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
This is an example of one of those weird spots
we find ourselves in the first month of the season,
which is that we have one week of tape to
rely on, so the contextual analysis is very thin, and
I just think about what happened Sunday with the Saints
and the Cardinals. Like Spencer Radler had them in position
to tie the game. In fact, he threw a touchdown
pass to the Tyler game it just got dropped, and their
(24:51):
defense played well enough to keep them in That game.
Really kind of frustrated the Cardinals and Kyler Murray, especially
in the second half. I could see them doing the
same thing against the forty nine ers, especially if they
don't have Jennings. They already don't have Rockberty, they don't
have George Kittle. They do have Christian McCaffrey, though. That
could be a tide turner for them, so I could
see it. I can definitely see it, but I don't
think that should sway your pick. The Saints are team.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Ron Jennings, definitely should not sway my pick, but I'm
an emotional person who just reacts to the last thing
that I see.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
You believe in the agenda, you gotta have Rattler come
out on top at least once.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
I just believe that there's not nearly as much difference,
despite you know, tonight, between the good teams and the
bad teams in the NFL. It's true, and I don't
necessarily think the forty nine ers with Mac Jones at
quarterback without George Kittle is a good team. That's an
average team, so there's not a big difference. I don't
think between those two teams. Xavier Worthy, by the way,
(25:44):
was at practice for the Chiefs. Very surprising after that
shoulder injury. I think there's still some skepticism he might
play this week, but it indicates that they're going to
give him a shot at some point.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Can we talk about this for sure?
Speaker 2 (25:57):
I saw you rare and a go yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Dislocated shoulder. I see an image of him on the
practice field today with a very clear shoulder brace on.
I once suffered a shoulder injury and had to wear
a similar brace. I didn't play receiver, I played offensive line,
and even I can tell you it restricts your movement.
You can only go about this far out and like
this far back, Like if you're watching on YouTube, you'll
(26:20):
see it. But it's it's a range of motion.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
You're getting your money, whereas with that shook forearm right
in your face.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, oh yeah, No, it's like it's a limited range
of motion and for a receiver, it's going to hinder you.
So I don't know how he's going to play this week.
I just found it kind of shocking that he'd be
at least on the practice field trying to give it
a go so quickly.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
A couple other items. Black Bowers unsure if he'll play
on Monday night. I don't know where that came from.
I know he got hurt and was in and out
of the Raiders game, but they said he could have
finished it if it was a big game, And maybe
they were just letting us on a little bit, which
coaches are known to do. So keep an eye on that.
But that would be big for the Chargers if Bowers
does not suit up and then Ed Oliver seen in
(27:00):
a walking boot at Bill's practice on Thursday. They did
a walk through on Thursday, which is rare. I've got
an eye on that Bill's Jets game. We've got our
PIC show with Cynthia Freeland, which will be coming up
Friday afternoon. What a tease, What a transition. I think
that's it, shook. I just think that means it's time
for us to go.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
I agree. I'm waiting for the music to come up
because I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Let's bona, let's go.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
We got the we got the tats on the on
the show here, let's go.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Oh yeah, let's show it.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I'll be back in the feed Friday afternoon, Cynthia Freeland
and I making picks against the spread, our three favorite
of the week.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Shook your beauty. We'll see you Sunday,
Host
Gregg Rosenthal
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