Saturday Sickos: All-Underrated Offense

Gregg Rosenthal and Ollie Connolly give you their All-Underrated Offensive Team starting with the running back position followed by wide receiver (16:00), tight end (20:10), quarterback (27:35) and offensive line (37:30). The show is wrapped up with the Week 14 Sicko Spotlight talking about what the Cardinals defense can do to disrupt the Rams offense (50:20).

Note: time codes approximate. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a tough sports not for everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
You gotta be a little sick to love this game.

Speaker 1 (00:03):
And we got some sicos.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Welcome to NFL Daily where yes, it is a Saturday
Sickos Show, Episode two. Thank you to Josh Allen for
introducing us each and every Saturday. It's me and it's
Ali Connolly over in Manchester, England. He has been grinding
the tape and we got a fun show. Ali. We

(00:27):
are doing an all underrated team only on the offense
today because we decided we would go too long to
try to stick in an entire team.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, even just defense. My eyes naturally with my background,
go to the defensive side of the bowl. We would
probably spend two hours just on linebackers. And I know,
I'm so happy the cicicos can all join us. All
the people doing the Saturday commutes tridging into wood seeing
we need daily on the weekends sickos can unite here
we are.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
I love it. So wait, did you scout defense more
when it was your job or that's just naturally what
you like?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yes, six years exclusively as a linebackers scout just linebackers
and then yeah, you filter everything through what the linebacker
just kind of feeds into everything else, and how people
attack them is kind of how I view the offensive
side of the game. So yes, more defense than offense.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
That really outlines some of your analysis over the years.
You've been good on like Edgerrin Cooper, and you do
just the light goes on in your eyes when you're
talking linebackers. We'll get to the defense, well, I think
we'll do that next week because I love this exercise.
We'll go through the offensive positions. Ali's going to carry
me on the offensive line. I don't want to start
with quarterback because that was the toughest one for me,

(01:36):
and I don't just want to start where I struggled.
So why don't we start with the running back position?
And I will let you go first, like we can
give extra people their flowers. So if you know, if
you want to mention the honorable mentions that you consider that,
that's totally fine. But start off with who is your
all underrated running back?

Speaker 1 (01:56):
This is difficult because it's difficult to know where to
place the what is rated pop Where does some more
fall in the underrated versus overrated? Because I feel as
Devon ay Chan's season is kind of been underrated. His
start just graze underrated almost historically, and the play style
is different. The guy I just keep returning to is
being like, I think this guy really really has the
goods is Kyle Manongai. And it's tough to throw a

(02:19):
rookie onto an all underrated team, but I feel like
we're overlooking at us so slightly. How impressive he's been
as a fifth round pick stepping into that offense.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
That is great, and I would I would like to
go back to h and for a little so Managui
runs with a ton of juice. What else do you see?
Just you know from like learning the position perspective that
that's impressed you as a rookie.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
The aggressiveness is the thing that just pops of, like whoa.
This guy attacks the line like very few people. And
when you see DeAndre Swift, who is way more hesitant,
he's got more top end speed, he's more of the
home run hitter, Manonguy just comes down with violence like
very few guys you see walk the league and just
like pop people on first contact. As a rookie, you
don't see that all that often. And it's really the
pass pro stuff you get the real downside with DeAndre Swift,

(03:05):
so much of the more complicated protections, particularly in the
play action game. The way they build it is like
there's one standalone bag. He has a full scan read
at the field. So it's a difficult assignment because you
got to read the entire thing and be kind of
the plus one ad into protection, but you also get
a full panoramic view of what's happening in front of you,
and you go through the DeAndre Swift snaps, it's like, well,
this thing is a roller coaster. He's in the wrong

(03:26):
spot all the time. Then Kalamanunga rolls on the field.
He's in the right spot every single time, and he
makes a bunch of mistakes there and he whiffs. But
to just be in the correct place as a rookie
walking into the league is like a really difficult step
for a lot of these guys to get to you.
So I am really really bullish on what his future
looks like.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
So you think they have found their version of David
Montgomery for lack of a better comp They've kind of
found the thunder that's gonna be there, and you think, like,
what is the ceiling for this guy in this Ben
Jonson offense over the next few.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Years, probably being like the frustrating fancy guy because the
exciting player isn't on the field as much as you
want and he vulges all the touchdowns in the red zone.
Is what I imaged is he's gonna be Whiles Ben Jones, Like,
I'm never letting this guy leave the building. He's just
the f Like eight years running contract off to contract
is what I see him looking like.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, and he's OK. Hey, if if David Montgomery is
the ceiling, that's a pretty good ceiling, even for fantasy.
By the way, like he helped my son Walker to
a couple titles a couple of years ago. And yeah,
there is something about running backs where like you you
can't teach there's no metric exactly for runs his face

(04:36):
off per snap, but manung guy is super high and
very often it is the young running backs that lead
the league in that h Chan is a different style
of runner. I don't know why I've like maybe been
too low on him compared to consensus over the years.
Is the year that he won me over. He should
have won it before. But as like a totally complete back,

(04:57):
what have you seen just in terms of his development,
if we're going I give him an honorable mention.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, I think him just being viewed as a speed
guys become like slightly outdated over the past eighteen months.
That he really does have toughness between the tackles. It's
not like he's gonna do the manunguy stuff as you mentioned,
kind of just run through people's faces, but there is
real wiggle and vision and creativity in the hole and
making guys miss and you can bounce to the outside
and go make plays. But having started in the interior
line where it used to be, Yeah, they would just

(05:22):
kind of try and throw it to him in the flow,
or they try and get mut a toss something towards
the permits. They do feature him a lot more between
the tackles now, and you still see the crazy juice.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Okay, So I considered a few people, though they were
not among them. I kind of like yours. I was like,
is Jalen Warren still underrated? I've always loved Jalen Warren.
I think he's been as good or better this year
than ever. He just forces miss tackles. Javonte Williams is
such a big story this season, but it's almost like
he's gotten thrown in with the entire Cowboys offense. He's

(05:54):
he's better, I think than he's ever been, and better
than I thought he could be. I mean, this is
a guy. When I was at Cowboys training camp, everyone
there was telling me Miles Sanders was gonna be the
way I want to start. It's like, what, but I'm
gonna go with a second year player, quibanie Videll. I
love me a and you look very surprised, and I
like that. I love me a guy that can do

(06:15):
everything well as like a late round draft pick. And
maybe I'm a little, you know, too much of a
prisoner of the moment coming off a game against the
Raiders where you know, he busted a million miss force tackles.
But when I went back through like his tape, he's
forced a ton of miss tackles all year. He's in

(06:35):
the top you know, five or six in terms of
miss tackles force per. You know, run and he presses
the hole like he's pretty patient. But when he makes
a decision to go like he goes. He's good in
pass protection, Like I did watch a decent amount of that,
and I was trying to think of like a comparison
there was. There was a play against Devin Lloyd against

(06:56):
the Jaguars where he just does a stutter and go,
and so he was like a little more juice than
I expected. He is not a guy to build an
entire running game around, but whatever they wanted out of
Naja Harris, to me, he can be a long term,
really good one bee, so to get that out of
your sixth round pick, and I think he is my

(07:18):
kind of guy. I was trying to think of a
comp for him long term, maybe not exactly playing style,
but a bigger guy who almost plays in some ways
like a smaller guy more agile, like a Chester Taylor
type who was the backup to Jamal Lewis and then
became the guy for a year or two in Minnesota.
But it's just good in a tandem. I like kimani
Vidal and I know the Chargers like him a lot,

(07:39):
and I think he's gonna be there as a nice
one bee behind Hampton over the next couple of years.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
I think that's a really fun, good shout the past person.
I'm not as there with you on that. So he's
an interesting one where the f is all out. I
can't quite tell if he knows he's blocking the right
guy or not, and it's hot to tell with that
group anyway. The whole thing is just like shell within
two seconds. So it's just demolition derby in the backfield
and you can't figuret who was supposed to be picking

(08:05):
up who. I got a sense based on some of
the post hit reactions that guys look at him going
where will you? Why you stood over there? So he actually,
like one on one, is he willing? Does he wants
he up for the fight? I will co sign that.
The picking things up and being in the right positions
I think is still a challenge. But hey, the profile
you just kind of read out at the player is

(08:25):
what everyone is looking for. And that's why people don't
go and spend the sixth overall pick on running backs
because you can pick up a commandy via the later
in the draft.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Right. And he's not a guy, And I know he
had the fifty yard touchdown and he's had some big plays,
but I don't think of him as some sort of
speed guy. But so many of his good plays this
year is where he reads the play correctly that he
should just bounce it right away and he does beat
everyone to the edge in the In the Steelers game,
for instance, that was more up the middle, but Patrick

(08:53):
Queen must have missed four tackles against him.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
And I know Patrick Queen, Yeah, that's not the craziest
thing I know, but that was one game, Like he
literally could not tackle kimani bydel So I just feel
like he hasn't gotten a lot of poppy.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Was not a guy I thought had much upside. I'm
not even sure the Chargers did either, because he bounced
around on their practice squad and he was not in
the plans for this year, but I liked him a lot.
Quinshawn Juggins is another guy who's who I just think,
in a better system, would would be living it up.
We saw him live and like, who would you take
right now? Between Judkins and Ashton gent Y long term?

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Not close. I would take Queen Shawn Judkins. I honestly
think that if Queen Shawn Judkins just played behind a stable,
okayish offensive line, that he would already be considered like
the fullth or fifth best back in the league. Behind
those guys you can just do everything. He's not gonna
be the guy who can do everything for you. But
in terms of everyone, every single fan base going, why
don't we have a guy like that on all team?

(09:50):
I think he just put down in a stable group.
That's why he'd be out already.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
So he he could probably fit because I do not
think that the average fan and he just hasn't got
a lot of popping and the numbers even for fantasy
like for instance, haven't been great of late. But I
totally agree. I am convinced he is going to be
a real deal top ten back for a while. So
he's underrated as well. But I figured for the exercise,
let's give some shouts to some lesser known guys. Let's

(10:13):
go to receiver, give me your well, let's just start
with one receiver each. We'll go back and forth.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
I'm gonna go with Kaishambuti, who I feel is almost
been He's almost being tossed in as like part of
what we've seen with Drake May, people will throw into
the conversation. I know you love a conversation is like
Drake May's downfield targets. An outrageous look how out of
control Drake May is throwing the ball down the field,
and it's not quite added on at the end of sentence,
how good Kaisham Boti is being to complete that stuff.

(10:42):
These are tight, tight window throws. He does not create
a ton of separation, but he's got unbelievable hands, late hands,
separates really late in the route, which is the way
to do it down the field, and you just go
through his like epay per target figures and he's putting
monster production. It's like him and then JSN every filthy,
but it's him at JSN and everyone knows what a

(11:02):
dominant season Jaysn is having. But I feel like Booty's
kind of getting almost hamstrung as though it's because of
Drake may As opposed to his own excellence.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Yeah, he was one of my two receivers as well.
Some of the numbers are crazy. I mean, he's only
had forty two targets this year. He did miss some
time with an injury. Of those thirty catches that first
of all he's catching, he caught thirty out of forty
two passes, which you know, it's over seventy percent and
the average up the target is seventeen yards down the field.
That is just an insane combination. So he has sixteen

(11:32):
explosives and you're right, Like if he ever separates, it's
like in the last half second, like whether he somehow
uses his physicality to get away from the receiver. We
do have if you're watching on YouTube, we love you,
like the touchdown against the Dolphins, and this is nothing
more than like when the ball's in the air, he
really locates it well. And this is one where he

(11:54):
like almost ducks under the defender at the last second.
So I don't know why it's an underrated skill, like
how good you are at literally catching the ball? But
he is excellent at that. He beat kool aid mckinnistry
a couple of times in the Saints game with some
tough grabs, and I'm with you. You know what's sninky
about him too. He's only twenty three years old, so
like he came into the season, I think they believed

(12:16):
he would be the guy that he is. He was
kind of their starting X from the first day of
training camp and they said, no, really, he is going
to be that guy. And yeah, I think part of
it is he is younger than people realize and maybe
has a higher ceiling than people realize.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
And funny because he's drafted almost in the Belichick you
mold member, Bill, you slove taking the guys who are
like high school superstars and the creer wasn't quite what
you wanted to be in college. And he's like, I'll
bet on the athlete, the lethleticism, and we'll coach it up,
and we'll draft Dominic Geazley with no knees in the
first round. It feels like that kind of throwback with Booty.
What's interesting is forty percent of his route to go bulls.

(12:50):
But and that puts me in the bracket of like
a Marvin Mims and a Taekwon Thulton, where it's just
a true down the field berner to create space for
everyone else. And Yeah, I think he's just way more
advanced developed in that. I think the late Hans stuff
that grabs the tight window catches. He almost has more
of an all around Jordan Nunnison type mold frame, but
just plays the ball infinitely better, and I think with

(13:11):
more tenacity and aggression than out the side does.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
Yeah. I looked at like the contested catch numbers because
I just figured they would be good. He actually had
less targets than I expected. He was five for seven,
which is an incredible percent According to PFF, and those
numbers can be a little wonky. And one thing I
noticed is like like half of the top receivers in
the league were Patriots, like to Mario Douglass was somehow
near the top of that list. Mac Collins has been

(13:36):
been good, so May puts it in a good spot,
and his receivers have been doing a good job for
m all right, that was one of my two receivers.
I'm gonna go with the more obvious, like underrated, but
it's it's been a tweet that I've just we retweeted
of myself every once in a while this season. So
that's what you know, you really are putting your flag
on the ground. It's Alan Alec Pierce because I my

(13:58):
line is, no matter how good you think al Pierce is,
he's still probably better. And you know he started the season.
He only had one catch in Week one and it
was a throw I remember that I put up as
a Throw of the Year nominee against I think it
was the Dolphins. But the catch is so awesome too.
And one thing you notice looking at Pierce's film is

(14:21):
how quickly he beat so many cornerbacks right off the snap,
So he is good at releases like he beat Razia
Douglas on that play. He turns inside the balls to
his outside. It's a good ball by Daniel Jones to
get away from Minka Fitzpatrick, and he locates it so
well in the air, like in terms of size and
speed in ball skills. To me, he's just everything you want.

(14:44):
So I'm gonna be fascinating to see what kind of
money he gets if the Colts let him get to
the free agent mark. I just don't think they will.
They'll have to franchise tag him if they don't give
him a monster contract.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
I was going to ask you about that because you
have to put your annual freezens lists together and it's
a pretty shallow pool if you go look at it
this season, and so I imagine his agent, he's gonna
be twenty six going to next season. You can't teach
that kind of size and speed blend. They go hunting
for these guys and they draft every single season. You
end up with Dante Thornton not getting a single snap
essentially for the Raiders. You can go and build in

(15:15):
a ready made I mean he has if you go
through some of the next gym figures on like average speed.
He's like the second quickest guy in the NFL on
a per step basis, so to be able to go
and find that kind of production, I do wonder if
they're gonna have a tough time bringing him back. If
they've got to do the Jones contract, I guess that
pot committed because they're gonna have to bring Joe's back.
They did the Sauce deal. But if he does hit
the markets, it's probably gonna be a pretty tasty deal.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
Well, Ady Mitchell was supposed to be. I think the
backstop to probably well, we probably can't play pay Alec Pierce.
You know they want Josh Downs is another guy that
should be there long term. They've already paid Pittman. But
now that you traded Adie Mitchell and that didn't work out,
I think that has to work. What have you seen
out of him becoming a little more of a complete

(15:59):
receiver now the routes where he does do different things,
like he has a good contested catch against her tan
going across the middle, like he like stand out to me.
But then when I went back for this exercise and
went through it, maybe he wasn't quite as versatile as
he thought. He still was a little more like he
does moss people. That's what he does best and and

(16:20):
that is the most exciting part of his game. What
do you think about how he's developed in his career.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yeah, I don't see any of that development. I think
sometimes we tried to pat ourselves in the back to
the like we know ball and we watch more film
than other people. It's like, no, really, he does just
do the go deep stuff.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
Less of it. There was way less of it than
I expected. But when when he does it, it does
it great. There was another play last week which are
our Ace producer Eric has Ready, where he beats Kamari
Lassiter for the tough Again. It's it's just so fast
and so that that's the combination where it's not like

(16:54):
he's a stiff coming off the line of scrimmage. Uh.
He wins like immediately and makes catch. I love me
some Alex Pierce. All right, give me your second wide
receiver on your team, assuming you're at least lining up
two wide receivers. You're not going to go in like
a three tight end formation or anything. I really wanted to.
Then I looked at my tight ends on my We're
gonna be pretty slow. I don't know how we're gonna

(17:16):
move the ball. I'm gonna stay with the Colts and
go with Josh Downs. I know he's like incredibly well
known and he's almost become almost a meme of like
could you get more production out of him? I just
think there's so much more to his game than they
even use him. They are kind of pigeonholed with pierces
the go shut guy. Downs is coming off the field
slightly more now because they want to get some more
two tighten stuff. It limits what he can do with

(17:36):
the top of their route in out twitch in the
middle of the field. I just think he is so
true vintage what we used to have as a slot receiver.
Now everyone's a power slot and it's straight London. It's
these big guys, it's Puka Nakua.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
And he just to me is in the old school
moll of Julian Edelman. You line him up in the slot,
they get a two way go on a slot guy,
liquid hips. No one can keep up with him and
he's just opened consistently.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Liquid hips. Is that like a new term or I
probably stole.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
That from DJ in like twenty twelve.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
I imagine liquid liquid hips. I wish someone would tell
me I had liquid hips. That's amazing. Yeah, I love
me some Josh Downs. I fell way more in love
with him actually when I was studying Drake May in
college and I realized, like, like, the biggest difference between
one year to the next is he doesn't have Josh Downs.

(18:24):
And Josh Downs is incredible. Not that I didn't love
him in the NFL, but you really saw his potential
there at UNC and he makes a ton of catches
away from his frame. This isn't just like I mean,
there's the one against the Texans, which is probably the
most common one that people will have seen, which is
the sideline grab where it's over the shoulder and he
goes and gets it off the sideline essentially.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
But he plays so much bigger than he actually is.
He is not typically my kind of guy. I like
my receivers who come in and do the dirty work
and they get involved in the action. Someone like Puck
who's really invested in the blocking game, someone like Drake London,
Jacoby mayas those kind of guys typically where I look
with the underrated A think justh Downs is a real
gravitational pull on a defense and yet they don't quite

(19:03):
scheme around him in that kind of way. I think
they leave a bunch of production on the field with him.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
So Booty was my number two on this team. The
other guy just want to give a shout out and
not saying like you're going to build an offense around him.
But how about Wandell Robinson just being in the top
ten of receivers in the NFL. How about Wandell Because
when I watched them the last few years and they
like it almost became a joke how he was their
entire offense last year a seven yard pass to Wandel

(19:31):
Brom But I always thought like, well, that's not his
fault and he can play a role for a good
team and they're asking him to do more. But the
fact that like he's doing a little more downfield, he
has had a few more contested catches, it's not a
great idea to do that. He has gotten leveled on
some throws from Jackson Dart and Jamis Winston this year
and he hasn't come up with all of them, but

(19:51):
he has held on to a different amount. I just
like he is maximizing the guy that I think Wandell
Robinson can be he's gonna end up with like a
twelve hundred yards season thrown into his career. So shout
out to Wander Robinson, just give.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
My guy in that carrier will be Jacoby Mayas, who
I know you've discussed a bunch on the show. He
gets an addo amount of love on NFL Daily for
that that kind of player, but his toughness in the
middle of the field and him joining the Jackson Them saying,
now our offense is built around you and Brenton Strange.
That is the offense. Forget Brian Thomas Junior. Travis Hunter's
gone down. Liams like, I finally have my guy. It
was Jacoby Mayas all along and now the offense works.

(20:28):
That to me is pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Okay, Wait, so is Brenton Strange one of your tight
ends because he is one of mine.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
I feel like he almost has to be. Because the
underrated aspect is that Leam Cohen got to Jacksonville. We're
all excited about them trading up for Travis Hunter. Them
having Brian Thomas Junior, who just looks so sensational as
a rookie, was completely uncoverable as a rookie, was basically
open every other play when he was like investing in
running what they're asked him to do. Liam Cohen gets says, like,
I am, I'd be in the lab. I'm one of
the geniuses of the league, and I've decided to design

(20:56):
my entire offense around Brenton Strange. That was what he
came up without it and it worked. And then Brentan
Strange goes down and the offense doesn't work. He returns,
it works again.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
So when you say they design their entire offense out
of Brenton Strange, maybe explain for the listeners how you
mean that. Because even though he has been productive and
he you know, he missed that month with the injury
and immediately productive when he comes back, it's not like
off the charts production. So when you say the whole
offense is kind of a round Strange, what do you
mean by that?

Speaker 1 (21:26):
What they do with formationally, with the strength of the formation,
how they get to their base run game, or the
pulling of movement and creativity they want to do is
based on him being the guy who can pin and
play like a tackle, so you can pull a move
guys around him as though you had no lineman in
the then you get the overlay of the play action
and being pretty neutral and balanced in your drop back
game because you feel like he can threaten the seam too.

(21:47):
And it's the exact same description of Kate. Often it's
can you block on the move? Can you sit and
pin like an offensive tackle when we're up with the
line of scrimmage, and can you slice across the formation
of what people on the move? Those are usually two
separate skill set with tight ends. The NFL is either
the big guys who blog and can drive people vertically,
or you get more of the Dallas Gotta who is
an unbelievable blocker on the move. Those are two distinct

(22:09):
skill sets. Typically, he can do it all and so
it opens up every single thing you want to do
as an offense is only viable because one guy can
do three key functions for the entire like build of
the offense.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Yeah, and he was my first thought for this too,
So I started looking like, are they using him differently
than a year ago? Now? In terms of him being
like in line or in the slot, it's about the same.
He's sixty percent in line, he's twenty five percent in
the slot. You know, they put him in the backfield
or out wide a significant amount of plays. But certainly
he's not majoring in that, and it wasn't that different before.

(22:42):
But he's moving. He just moves really fluid.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
He is.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
He has great ball skills. I mean, Trevor Lawrence's percentage
is throwing to Breton Strange are so much higher than
anyone else. And they're not all short passes like he's
come up with some ground balls. He's come up with
some high throws from Trevor Lawrence. So he's good at that.
And you know, to my eye, he is a good blocker,
like a very good blocker in the running game that
I've seen, and it's just maybe the prototype of like, yeah,

(23:09):
tight ends take take a minute to really develop. It's
such a hard position and I've loved watching him this year.
Give me another one of your tight ends.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
Has to be Aj Barner with the Seahals, which is
a very similar thing with Cohen and Strange, as with
Kubiak and bon Who gets to Seattle and they've got
all the fun pieces on the permitter and he's like,
I'm going to design the offense around Aj Bonner. The
we have to have tight ends staying to block a
hoole bunch. They developed this true undescented drop back passing game,
trying to throw it back to like the nineties every

(23:39):
single time. For the first eight weeks this season, they
dropped back from one ascent to which was a decent amount.
Donald's eyes were immediately on AJ Barnett. That was all
they were looking to do, is the payoff play of
us selling that it's even going to be play action.
So there's like a bit of a delay in what
we're going to do as a defense or fitting up against.
The room was just to try and find AJ Bonne
down the scene. That's like the entire point of the offense.

(24:00):
I would just would not have expect to go into
a year that that would have been one of their
like a plus game planances we gotta find Bonner. That's
just not what you would have thought. No, not at all.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
So I'm curious at the comparison of these two guys
because maybe I'm overstadi it. But if I made a list,
is Breton strange to me? Just quality? He might be
a top ten all around tight end. Now I think
he is. Is AJ Barner potentially getting to that level
of overall play possibly?

Speaker 1 (24:32):
I think strangers significantly better running off the ball on
the blocking game. You can do more with him in
the blocking game was with Bonn and they tried to
get him some kind of help or the tried to
cheat the mechanics to get him out of there as
quickly as possible. Whereas I just think there's more on
the menu with Brenton Strange as sentence, I never thought
I would say it's like everything is on the menu
because Brenton Strange is on your team. I think Bonn

(24:53):
is a little bit more limited. But still if you
look at the top ten guys, to me, it's a
distinction of do we have a play making guy. That's
the number one thing anyway, I don't care if we
can do everything. If we've got a better guy than
they have, I'd Robert has have Trey McBride, l sem
Lapoult or something just gonna make plays the way some
of these other guys won't be able to do. If
you get into that all around cat degree, which I
think is a distinctive CT degree, then for this season alone,

(25:16):
Bond would be in the top five.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
So if I'm and I am putting two tight ends
on the field. Sorry Wan Dale, My other options would
be Ronde gatst and who is somehow having like one
of the most monstrous rookie tight end seasons ever, and
yet I feel like he's underrated just so I just
wanted to give him a shout. And he's certainly not
that all around guy, but Danny moves well like he

(25:40):
is an incredible weapon for that offense. Hunter Henry just
for being old, reliable, and a lot of their offense.
I think what you're saying about building it and not
like it's built around Hunter Henry, but he he is
a foundational piece of one of the best offenses in
the league. He would finish. And then I don't know
if we've now gassed up Darnel Washington enough. He doesn't
even qualify here, but we at least got to give

(26:01):
him a shout out.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
That is the concern. You know. I love don I'll
wash him more than some members of my family. He's
really important to just my life and my well being.
But I feel like he's become almost like a meme
at this point that he's like close to maybe being
slightly overstated for his impact. I do think he's a guy.
If you gave him to Josh McDaniels would be like,
we'd be talking about something really special. He's stuck with

(26:22):
Art the Smith and he's throwing John nib out there
all the time.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
All right, who would you throw out there? Then? I agree,
he doesn't really fit the exercise between Gadsden and and
Hunter Henry all reliable.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
I mean, Tunges hasn't played as much. Tounges looks really
really impressive, like really impressive, Yeah, really impressive. Who else
would I throw?

Speaker 3 (26:47):
No, I wanted I was asking, I'm not putting you
out spot to choose between Gadston and Henry for my second.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
I can't go with Hunter Henry. I understand what you're saying.
They do design an awful lot of around him, but
he's also like the fail point from all that base
of you, all those rushing figures being a disaster, not
just because the offensive line isn't good enough, Like there's
a lot of fail that happens when he's up at
the point of attack. So maybe lean Gadston, but no,
he has no idea the kind of all around him.
Back Now, if you're doing two tight ends, we need

(27:17):
the playmaking guy. So then you throw he throw Gatston
on the team.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
He is that playmaking guy. He is my slot. I
like my team so far. Let's take a quick break.
We're gonna come back and we're gonna do the quarterbacks
and Ali is gonna run through his all underrated offensive

(27:40):
back on NFL Daily Hope. And Ali is not too
mad at me for including Mari Lassiter in the Alec
Pierce dunk on him Highlight Crew. Real. I know, I
know you're a big Lassiter fan. You can throw him
out there for the for the defensive team.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
We'll get the the only negative play he's had all season.
You managed to find the film.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
It's brutal. It's fair, that's fair. Okay, let's get to quarterback.
I didn't know where to go. I guess it's partly
because of the position, like what is underrated at quarterback.
I could have chosen a million quarterbacks here, or it
was very difficult to choose just one. So I'll put
you on the hot seat to start.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
Yeah, I found this the toughest one just because I
feel like it's covered so well as a position that
everyone feels well slotted. There's still an element of me
about how many years can I go on saying that
I feel like Jared Goff is under discussed for an
undervalued for what he does. Jordan Love I just feel
is so special, yet still gets thrown into a camp
of like, is he isn't he? And I just think
that he is, so I toyed with that. The one

(28:41):
I settled on was Bryce Young in the sense that
I think he's an NFL calibristart, and yet there's still
conversation of should they pick up the options, should they
not pick up the option? What will the extension look like?
And it's pretty hard to find NFL caliberstats is even
with the number one overall pick, it's pretty tough to do.
You go look at the recent history of that thing.
It's not strung. And I think that Bryce's development has

(29:03):
been fascinating this season in a bunch of like under
the hoodways that give me some confidence that he can
at least be league average for a sustained degree of
his career. And that's no poll thing. And so I
think he's become slightly underrated for the actual player he is.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
That's that's fascinating to me, because I know you've had
your doubts about him. I have given up listening to
the read optional for lent or no just for this show,
for the Saturday Sico show. But everyone should check out
Ali's great podcasts with John Ledyard. It is worth signing
up for his sub stack for the writing and for
the podcast. And you've wondered, you know, in the offseason,

(29:43):
whether Bryce Young was really like a great fit for
what this Dave Canalis offense was trying to be when
it was trying to be so traditional. And it has
been an up and down year for Young, Like the
good games have been incredible. The bad games, especially early
in the season, like some of his first quar orders
were just disastrous. What has he done in terms of

(30:04):
development under the hood you're talking about that you've seen
that gets him on this list.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
I just think the level of mental and physical toughness
is like the super skill he has people. When I've
already talked about Bryshuing, I wrote this giant column in
the off season about Bryshung where I effectively have like
a mental breakdown trying to figure out a player I
just couldn't understand. I just couldn't get with what was
happening with him in his development. And I've got asked
when I've done the podcast rounds about that piece of well,
what is the super skill? And I think the super

(30:30):
skill is the intellect and the toughness. And there's been
plenty of guys who've had unbelievable careers where those are
the two super skills, And so his ability to stay
composed on the fire has limited. There have still been
disaster plays. You go and watch the Niners game. This
disaster plays everywhere. I get it, but it's less than
it used to be. And he's still in an ill
fitting setup, which gives me belief that if it was

(30:50):
slightly more well suited to his natural game, which is
in the gun playing point guard, which they can't do
at the moment because the team around him and because
the way the coach wants to play, that he could
have a stronger crime, be a viable start, which is
just not where certainly I was at at the end
of even less season.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
I don't think the fifth year option decision is that difficult.
I did say a month ago on the show that
I thought it was going to be an important that
was coming off his worst game of the year. It
was going to be an important stretch run for him,
because if he threw in a lot more games like that,
and it didn't show development. Would they bring in competition
in the offseason for him. He's had some of his

(31:29):
best games of the season since then, so that I
think is going to put that to bed, and the
fifth year option decision to me is less difficult even
if they ever wanted to bring another quarterback there. It's
twenty six point five million dollars at this point. That's
pretty low for like a starting quarterback. Even if you
don't low like love him, you just have to kind

(31:50):
of get used to what the salary cap numbers are.
That's low, Like he could not even have his starting
job going into his fifth year, and that's not that
crazy or be battling you. You got to see the development.
And you know, I've been compying him to Alex Smith
his whole career in terms of what his career art
could be, especially with that brutal rookie year bounce back

(32:11):
to just stable second year, and I think he's sort
of still on that path, even if they're different players.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
And I think it's it's a weird one because I
was so down and dower on Dave Kanala's and how
he kind of viewed the game and went about coaching
get particularly how he approached Bryce early on. Then I
was really impressed with how he completely overall this systant
to be like, I just got to accept who my
quarteback is and I'm going to roll with that that
I've now pivoted to being if you had to pick
one of the two of them, I would pick Canalas

(32:38):
over Bryce Shung, and I would be all for bringing
competition and saying, for example, if they had cam Ward
in that system right now, would be I think better
and a way better long term fit. But I just
think that Bryce's skill set has showed me that if
he went and he was the Cardinals quart back next
season or whatever it was, that he would be a
viable starter, even with the concerns people have. I think

(32:58):
the touch, the downfield throw a no false script creativity.
He has a super process in his head. He just
sees things and reacts so quickly to everything that's happening
that he could have a Alex Smith career is a
great example that he could have in eight years. He
gets with his wife, his version of Andy Reid is
and the team is really good and competitive, but he's
just never going to quite be one of the fifty

(33:19):
twelve best quotesbacks in the league on a given season.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
And if he's twenty four years old and he's got
that super processor in his head, that's going to get better,
and that advantage could become a bigger advantage as he
has more time in the league. So I like that
shout out. I like Dak was where I started to land,
and I might get there. I'm going to just talk
it through with you and we'll decide, because I just

(33:44):
think he's been incredible this year's he's having a peak
that year, which means he's as good as any quarterback
in the entire NFL. And so to me, that is
for how he's talked about, he is underrated lower on
the list. There are some options now the way I've
heard people talk about Mac Jones of like, hey, you

(34:06):
could trade for mac Jones and make them the guy
in New York. It's like, Okay, he is no longer underrated.
That it's a terrible idea, But for what he did,
I always kind of wonder, well, what would have happened
if Kyle Shannon actually had We found out, you know what,
he's second in success rate this year. He's behind Sam Darnold.
He is ahead of Stafford May, Daniel Jones, Like go

(34:29):
through all the names, he's literally ahead of everyone else.
Even if you're looking for more like big play type
of numbers EPA per play, it's almost identical to what
Purdy is there and at QBR And I do think
Perty is a better player. And the way I've now
like Mac is getting elevated to like he's that next
Daniel Jones, I'm not so sure, but I was glad

(34:49):
I got to watch him in this offense. I think,
do do a few things. What did you see out
of Mac Jones that tell me I'm not just crazy
that it's not all the system that he did something
in this system that were impressive.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
No, he throw he rips balls down the field all
the time. That's too. He was at Alabama, he was
the best deep thrower in the country. You would throw
with all this loft on the day. I mean they
had like a you know, Heisman room of receivers when
he was at Alabama, So you just throw it up
somewhere down there and those guys would find it. But
they were running a really difficult, complicated offense Alabama at
the time, and he would rethink so well. And I
always though with him when he was with the Pages,

(35:23):
it worked well with McDaniels. When mcdanial's on the stood
the asign which was this guy is like an eighteen
pass attempts, a game type player, and he's probably gonna
give us two absolute moonshots down the field when we
want it. But we cannot put the ball on this
guy's hands to decide games and point guard us down
the field as though we've got Brady or something. I
think you saw that mow of Shane. There were games
the Ramsey and where the balls in his hands a lot,
and then you get the two you know, brain thoughts

(35:44):
or errors. But if you put him on the Vikings
next season and it's like we're just gonna throw the
ball twenty times and if you can just have one
mistake and two you know, absolute hero shots down the field,
we feel pretty good about that.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
That's a good landing spot. If he was going to
move on to another team, I think the forty nine
ers will have zero interest in trading him except for
for a huge price. And I don't think anyone's gonna
want to give him a huge price. They've got him
under contract for a low cost perty has had his
share of injuries, like that's very valuable to them. All right, Well,
Eric kind of made the decision for me. Mac Jones Baby,

(36:18):
if you're watching, if you're watching on YouTube, he put
mac Jones Baby as my all underrated QB. I you know,
I was still debating between him and then I did
want to give a shout out to one of Chris
Westling's favorite quarterbacks back in the day, Marcus Mariota just
getting it done, like runs that offense. Well, I actually
was surprised some of his under the hood numbers weren't
like as great as I thought, because to me, he's

(36:40):
passing the eye test. But he is doing his job.
He is everything you want as out of a backup quarterback.
So I love him kind of realizing his his best
self here with the commanders.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
And if you look at you know, I mentioned how
shallow the fragant pool is. Those all these teams saying
do we bring in a veteran to compete to we
go and find a bridge guy, Go look at the
veteran quill at the box going to be availab in
the all season. It is absolute nightma fuel mugs. Mario
is gonna get paid really really well to come in
and compete for someone next season.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
Sneaky young somehow, still only thirty two years old. Don't
let the don't let the gray hair fool you. And
it is funny because I think about West all the time.
With Mariota and Winston, we just for some reason spent
half of our you know, three of a three year
period debating between the two, and here are they are
still sort of on these twin tracks and now they're
just these fun backups that are that are playing well

(37:30):
and elevating their teams when they do play. All right,
let's go to the offensive line. We will wrap there,
and I'm leaning on you here. I have one thought,
but I'm actually gonna see the floor. Let's start at
the tackle position. Give me your two tackles you have
on the all underrated team.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
So I went left them right tackle, as you should
do with teams. You should put them in their perferent positions.
So and left tackle. To me, it's it's a straight
shootout between menad Ryman and Paris Johnson. I went with
Paris Johnson. I did enjoy. He had a quote about
a month ago about how much better life is essentially
with your Cobrasett in the building and not having to
deal with Kayla Murray about how much easier it is

(38:09):
to fight and be engaged in football. So that's been
fun to watch when he's in there. I think he's
still only twenty four. He's really figuring things out now
that he's not quite I don't think as athletically gifted
to be one of the five best in the league
for a prolonged stretch of his career with a sixth
through overall pick, you really hope you can go and
get yourself someone with the physical capabilities of like a Milata,

(38:30):
But he just plays with such veteran savvy. It's as
basically as like, just stay in front of the guy,
stick on and try and sustain through the block as
best as you can. And that really is the best
you can hope for with when we've had so many
duds who have like the right athletic profile coming into
the league, and he was built as a super athlete,
he just doesn't quite move that way with the springs
to keep up with the dominant guys. I mean, he
got crushed by Mike cah Parsons crushed by Josh heinz Allen.

(38:53):
So against the tier one guys, he just can't sink
and bend with their true great ones, but he'll shut
down the B tier rushers, which a really similar profile
to Bernard Ryman, where you really want to have a
top five left tackle in the league, but it's really
viable to have one of those guys six through twelve.
And I think that Paris Johnson's has made his way
into that group.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yeah, you, because when I watch him, he does seem
to move and have basically every everything that you want.
But you're seeing him because he is young as like
closer to I'm trying to think of like the level
of career, like a Jake Matthews type of career, than
possibly being a top five type of guy.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, well you look up and you're like, that guy's
been there for twelve years? Has he been in the
league that long? But he says you can't find a replacement.
It's dumbed to go and chase something better. But yeah,
he's not Trent Williams and you just have to live
with that. And it's really valuable even when you go
through some of his pressure figures. I went through and
I looked at some of the pressures and I think
a lot of the stuff is just not on him.
It's really hard to tabulate the pressures, particularly if it's
one of the chip ones where it's like database on

(39:52):
how close they are to the quarterback. A lot of
that is Kyla moving into pressure. A lot of guys
like blown blocking mechanics where he's in the right spot
and then he gets dinged with the pressure because it's
off his side, but he's you know, blocking up correctly
based on the line coal. So I think if you
go through like true pressure's way he struggled. It's really
only being against the TI one players, and most guys

(40:12):
struggle with those guys. I just watched Trent Williams, good is,
you know, get whooped by Miles Kara over and over again.
That's what happens against the great plays.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Yeah, and when Jacoby Presett is holding the ball for
about three and a half seconds, that's that is Jacoby.
I love how man. If he could just not be
like inexplicably inaccurate on about four throws a game, he's
freaking awesome. I guess that's been a case for him
because he just hangs in there. But man, he is

(40:41):
holding the ball forever and he's making it harder on
his offensive line, and you know they've been better some
weeks than another. Bernard Ryman is a good shout out too.
I I thought, you know, for this extra like I
thought when Zach Tom signed that big contract, then everyone
was going to start just talking about him as one
of the best, you know, right tackles, the best players
in the league. And from what I've watched, I think

(41:03):
he's having a great season. But still I don't think
he's really getting that left. So I throw Zach Tom
out there still as underrated somehow, despite other money.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
I would always throw Zach Tom in there. If you
saw putting together the list of best right tackles, you
get to his name like third in line, Like he's
just right there. He is, even if you just go
by skill set, the slick feet, the base, everything is
as good. The fluidity, he's as good as anyone going.
He's just not quite in that A plus tier of
like Eline Johnson, where it's like, oh, here's a Hall
of Fame in their prime doing it at the highest level.

(41:33):
He's another guy who I remember last season when he
had Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, and he was just in
an absolute blend. He's like, I Am not as physically
capable as these guys, but you put him against all
the other a minus B plus cause he just locks
down the really really good plays in the league. And
he is an absolute killer in the run game, to
which the rest of the group is just, you know,
pretty much a travesty. And that only ever flows when

(41:55):
it goes through through Zach Tom.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
It is funny because you're you're saying how it's not
easy to tackles and yet you know, switching back to Ryman,
who you mentioned the left tackle for the Colts, they
did find like the Anthony Costanzo like replacement exactly after
and so it's not hard for Chris Balladin. It's had
a good job with that. And I went to look,
I remembered he signed that contract last offseason, four years,

(42:17):
one hundred million dollars, sixty million dollars guaranteed. They kind
of got ahead of it with Ryman, and that's going
to age very well I think for the Colts. All right,
let's go to the interior line. Who are your guards?

Speaker 1 (42:29):
My gods, we have to start with Damian Lewis from
the Panthers, who might now be my favorite player in
the NFL. Wow. An absolutely bowling ball of a human being.
He is the tiniest, squattest interior lineman we have and
he just is out there to take souls. And what
can you not love about an interial linman who it's
just out there. Krishianvone who rarely ever loses one on

(42:51):
one in pass Pro. I've watched him go up against
Milton Williams and Dane Walker, Zach Sila, Josh Einzell, and
we mentioned the Trayvon Walka went up against both those
guys one on one. He just nails people immediately at
the point of contact and the rep is just over
not as quick moving side to side in passbo, but
in the wrong game he is just an absolute killer.
He's so low to the ground he just gets open

(43:13):
under people, immediately gets into position, can twist and control
anyone that you like, crazy crazy grip strength despite having
these really tiny arms. He just locks into people and
can maneuver even the best in the game and can
reset the line on the zone. The Packers film is
like all time, like just going watch one guy on
his own mall a front one on one. They keep

(43:34):
sending different bodies out and like someone else get the
Lewis assign and he's like, I'm good, I'm gonna go
reck that guy's afternoon. So, Damian Lewis, I have just
fallen in love with.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
I love that you set me a clip that I
guess is common on tables. He's just like four yards
down the field blocking his guy. You're seeing that a lot.
That's turned into a great free agent pickup. I think
that was one of Dan Morgan's first signings that was
kind of there what they planted their flag doing, and
it it got some side eyes, I think for people

(44:03):
in the media and around the league, and it sounds
like it's worked out incredibly well.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
He used to be very oddly flailing. I don't know
if he was concerned about having short throws who just
kind of flail out there. Now he's just like, I'm
just gonna go and set the terms myself as if
I get in someone's face. The snap is of which
is why, as you said, you get there the snaps way,
He's three hours ahead of the rest of the line
of soul throwing up on themselves and panicking and he's
just out there hanging and chilling.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
Yeah. They I was trying to think who else. Who
is the other guy that they signed that they gave
the huge money to is Robert Hunt who's been on
injured reserve this year. But it did, it did give
them a bit of an identity really the last two years,
certainly last year running the ball. And that's a good
shout out. Give me your other first team guard.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
I'm gonna go with Mike On when who who just
come in and being as rediscovered himself, I would say
as a stable force. He does not quite move people
in the roong game the way he did when he
was peaked Mike on Winu And it used to be
he was this imposing Rombloca and what considers is you
have the feet to really move. In past pro, you
have to hide him and sneak him around. Now it's

(45:07):
kind of flipped where he looks a little bit stiff
getting off the ball, and it's not always sweet and
exactly what you won. But in pass pro he's gone
up against some of the best in the league toe
to toe and taken on Dex Lawrence and Vite Devey
or Malik Collins and Jeffrey Simmons and just looked everyone down.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
So Michael Wanu with the Patriots. Of course, it's a
dangerous spot here. First of all, you know there's a
lot of Patriots talk here on this underrated team, so
we could be accused by second, I should have I
should have mentioned for for the listeners, Damian Lewis is
a Panther, was on the Seahawks. I know he's not
a household name. So so next time you're watching the Panthers, uh,

(45:43):
check out Damian Lewis road grading for for Rico Dawdle
there in the backfield. Owenu is interesting because so many
people form their opinions on offensive linemen based on PFF,
and I feel like he has been a PFF darling,
but he's also have been very up and down in
his career, kind of an unpredictable career arc where it's

(46:06):
like year to year, position to position. You know, he
has moved around quite a bit, but you kind of
feel like he's stabilized and like he's gonna be on
this team because it's funny. In the preseason, there was
some talk that he might be on the way out,
kind of like Kyle duggar, but instead here he is
on Ali Connelly's all underrated team whatever.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
And I will say the right Gods spot is a
little tough because Sam coused me has miss time with
health and I feel like he's still underrated. An and
Dominic Pooney, who was like the I thought he was
gonna be really really specialists, had a pretty difficult second
year in the league. It's hot to say he's he's
underrated this point. So he kind of looking through and going, well,
everyone knows Quinn Minus is the best right guard in league.
He just is. So you get to this almost like

(46:47):
second team All Pro, and you're looking around like the
John Travolta meme, like okay, where are my right gods
that we can try and throw into this team? And
I just feel like when I think having Morgan Moses
having a stable presence to the right side is what
has allowed him to be so strong and passed port
just having some degree certainty like, Okay, we're not gonna
win every single rep with Mogan Moses, but at least
I know that guy knows where he's gonna be. He's

(47:08):
gonna know who to pick up. And it's not like
me looking around and panicking because the thing on Wendy
strugs with the most is when there's some kind of
exchange and he's got a look one way and then
reset and go the other way, if at least have
some degree certainty the event understands the assignment. I think
you can just play quicker and that's why he's improved
this season.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
There are so few values in free agency, especially on
the offensive line, but you can find this on the
defensive line too. You can, like the one place you
can find value is like the thirty four thirty five
year old just like get us through a season Morgan
Moses type. Like those guys keep being out there. They
don't get paid that much and they play as well

(47:45):
or better than guys paid a lot more that are
a lot younger, and they get you by for a season.
Let's wrap up with your center choice.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
This is a tough one. This is like a head
and hot situation for me, because I think the Luke
waltimbag with the Broncos is maybe the most underrated to
play it. But I'm sure to some people like who
is that person? Who is Luke Wattenberg? Is that a
realized that a lull for them. Is that a guy
who plays in the NFL. So yeah, he's one of
the best centers playing in the NFL. But I have
to say it's Aaron brew with the Dolphins, who I
think should probably even be Creed. It's always tough, but

(48:18):
he's got a real shout for being the first team
All procentto this season.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
Wow, that is a great shout out, you know, by
the way, on Wattenberg, who agrees with you. A contract
that we did not hit on this show was a
four year, forty eight million dollar, only thirteen million dollar
guaranteed contract by the Broncos a couple of weeks ago,
or maybe even just a week ago. Sean Payton did
it again, like he has a way of finding these
interior guys and getting them signed for way too little money,

(48:44):
like Jarry Evans, like those guys back with the Saints
were like some of those underpaid players in the league
for a while because they signed these early contracts. So
Wattenburg could go down like that. Tell me more about
Brewer though, And I know you like Patrick Paul's development
too for Miami, But Brewers do that that's unique among centers.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Just the explosiveness he might be the twitchiest guy out
of his stants in the league. The snap and ghost
stuff is like not an easy skill for a lot
of these players to figure out. You go and watch
someone like Zach Frazen. He comes to anyone's like, this
is the greatest center prospect in years. You go and
watch the first year film. He struggles to snap and
then move. It's like pretty difficult when you're trying to
figure out all these giant bodies in front of you
and remember what the rum mechanics are. And we've got

(49:22):
a lot of plays. It's not college football. You watch
Brewer go, he just moves at a different speed and
tempo to everyone else. He rarely loses one on one
in pass Pro, so you get all kind of like
the Lindabaum run game upside with the speed and the
strength and the intellect without any of the like, let's
just take giant El's every third drive in pass Pro.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
And yeah, I was gonna say, speaking of taking giant El's,
poor Chris Beard. Chris Greer like this was a giant
w for him and he's not still around to enjoy it.
So shout out to Chris Greear for this.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
The other thing I love about Brewer is he knows
how much better he is than other people in the league,
and he plays with like a real disday. When he's
played the Bills this season, there are so many instances
of him looking around like sick at how bad the
competition is. After the play, he's like, how dare you
step to a field with me? I'm Aaron Brewer and
I'm great.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
That's awesome. Uh, and not comforting if you're like Eric
Roberts is producing here a Bills fan. Let's wrap up
with Eric's idea. He just wanted one matchup here, Ali
that you're looking to. We're heading into what I think
is the most interesting slate of the season. We've got,
you know, three really important intriguing games in the early

(50:35):
window on Sunday. All the primetime games are gonna be
really huge in terms of playoff leverage. What is just
like a matchup, whether it's a player, you know, a
passing offense, whatever it is that you're you're most looking
forward to this weekend.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Uh, this might be a little off the wall, so
I apologize, but seeing how the Cardinals defensively want to
get after the Rams because that staff more than most
in the league, puts the fun film the ev one
goes and steals. Now, they don't have the talent to
compete necessarily at the level everyone else does, but seeing
what they cook up against Sheil McVeigh, they are the
ultimate like bespoke game plan staff, we didn't have the holess,

(51:10):
we didn't have the talent. Let's try and figure out
something crazy we can do to steal a couple of possessions.
Does not always work, as we see by the record
and the late game collapses. But I have a feeling
they'll put some stuff down against the Rams that works
to steal a drival to the other people will then
go and steal moving into the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
That's really interesting. And they play them twice down the
stretch here, and I brought it up on the show.
I wasn't sure how much to put into it, but
they they did hold the Rams to a combined twenty
three points last year, and the talent's probably better overall.
And even the defense, like the numbers will tell you,
this is like a borderline Top ten defense. It still
has been a good Cardinals defense. They're one of the best.

(51:49):
You know, damning with fan praise. Three nine teams I've
ever seen in my life. They will make the Rams
offense work. So that's a fascinating shout out, Like what
have you as we wrap up, what have you liked
about this Cardinals defense this year?

Speaker 1 (52:03):
Not an awful lot. Frankly, I'm not with you on
them being one of the best three and nine teams.
I think now to their credit, they've had so many
injuries in the secondary. They're rolling guys in and out
all the time trying to.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
Figures about I'm just saying they're a five or six
win team. They could easily be six and six, and it.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
Would be like they should be six and six they
had not blown games, they would be six and six.
My number one thing with the Cardinals where I'm like, oh,
I do not like this. This is not good for
my soul is the decline of Buddha, who is the
perennial all underrated player off just like the Hall of
Fame guy, like you don't realize we had Troy Polamal
who return to the league and he's just playing out
in Arizona. On the teams. It's really unfair to see

(52:42):
us a dip in Buddha's form, And I'm wondering can
we get him maybe to another team where there's like
a second resurgence in a second life. Would they allow
him to try and do that or is it just
once the decline comes for that position, that's just a
problem and a lot of stuff. They do their most
creative stuff, and they are probably the one defense in
the NFL is this is the coverage shell. Here's where

(53:03):
everyone is. And then Buddha, you just go and do
what you want to do. You just figure it out
on your own. That works really well when he's at
peak athleticism, peak mentality, can read the game quicker than
anyone else. When that takes even a three percent ding,
you get all kinds of issues and coverage.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
We put you on the spot, and you delivered like
Buddha Baker does so often. They gave him an extension
in December last year. It's always a weird time for
an extension, and so he's probably not going anywhere that
would be tough to trade. But he is one of
those players I agree with you that i'd like to
see in a different uniform at at some point in

(53:41):
the spotlight making playoff runs. They're not doing that anytime soon.
All Right, that's it for the all underrated team on offense.
I enjoyed doing it. I think we should do the
defense next week and then we don't even have to
come up with another idea. Another Saturday with for the Sikos.
Thank you Ali, Thanks great, will be back. The Saturday
obviously are the last time before you hear us before

(54:03):
the recap show. Jordan rod Rieg, who's been away on assignment,
should have mentioned at some point this week for the athletics,
we'll be back in the studio with myself in Patrick
Clayband and Nick Chook in Cleveland or the recap show,
we'll see them