September 18, 2023 • 50 mins
On today’s episode of The NFL Report, Steve Wyche and James Palmer discuss how quickly Lamar Jackson is picking up the Ravens new offense, and if the 0-2 Bengals are just off to a slow start or in real trouble. They also discuss Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones’ impact in his season debut. Sara Walsh joins us to talk Desmond Ridder and the 2-0 Falcons, as well as Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers 2-0 start. Jeffri Chadiha details the improbable comebacks from Week 2, and answers some of the burning questions. We’ll let you know if Sean Payton can turn around the Broncos and discuss the Rams record-setting rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Week two of the NFL Report is here. I'm see
White and my guy James Palmer rocking the terra cotta
right there as he is back in Denver after a
long flight back from.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Cincinnati this week.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Jpe, we got a lot going on because you're usually
Week two is a.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Much more truth teller than week one.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Right, we can kind of read the tea leaves, and
I think we can see what some teams like Cincinnati
and Miami might be. He's like, Dallas, do we really
know they're too?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well know how good they are? Wet? Still a ton
of unanswered questions?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, see, how about this if we're telling the truth.
What's your take on Skyline Chili in Cincinnati?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Skyline Chili is good.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm also but I'm probably a bigger gold Star fan myself.
But I don't want to insult anybody in our audience.
You know that there's there's a lot of touchy feelings
about that. Do you like chili on spaghetti?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
JP?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
No, I skip halftime meal in the press box when
I'm there at Peay Course Stadium. I'm not gonna lie.
A double up pregame pre game was good. I double
up pre game, get a little something extra. There was
sticky buns up there this time, even though I told
that's a Philly thing when you say sticky buns too often,
cinnamon roll, whatever you want to call it. I call
them all sticky buttons. But I had an extra one
of those, so I wouldn't do the skyline stuff at halftime,
I'll be honest.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And and everybody watching and listening, they're like, oh, these
sports writers, they get fed. They don't I don't want
to hear them complain about anything. Well, you know that's
part of the issue. I'm sure you want to complain
about the fact that we also get to watch football
for a living.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Shame me.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
We saw a fantastic display of what this Ravens offense
could look like when they went and they beat Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I mean, this was a huge game.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
You heard John Harbaugh talk about it's a big game,
players talking about how how sweet it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Was to send the Bengals to an zero and two start.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
You were there, and you were texting me during the game, like, man,
Lamar looks really good.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
This offense is serious stuff. Tell us a little bit
about what you.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Saw, man, Yeah, pregame, Steve and I think I was
on with you pregame. Also, when I was talking to
that commend members of the coaching staff and they're like, listen,
Lamar is not comfortable in this offense. Shed We're not
sure how long it's gonna take. We're gonna see how
the process goes. But obviously this is very different. He
didn't play in the preseason, so Week one was really
our first opportunity to see him go out there and
operate in it. We didn't see him run at all.
(02:15):
I thought it was really interesting. When I talked to
Zay Flowers, the rookie wide receiver, he was like, no, no, no,
that was the plan for Lamar not to run. The
plan was for him to sit back there, get comfortable, Steve,
get a feel for this offense, sitting in the pocket,
because why, he knows he can run right, he knows
you can find ways to go out there and create
and make plays. He wanted to sit back there and
feel it. And what did we see in week two?
(02:36):
We saw him go out there and have an extremely
balanced attack. I think that's the difference. When I talked
to Mark Andrews after the game, he was like, now
that we have these receivers on the outside, life's easier
for him in the middle. You have explosive players on
the outside. You saw after the interception bang right to
a fifty two yard reception by Jay Flowers to go deep.
Lamar Jackson was accurate. He was comfortable. If they're wondering
(02:59):
how long it's going to take him to get comfortable offense,
I don't know. Week three. Now, they're so balanced because
at the back end of this game, what did they do?
They just kept the Bengals off the field. Lamar ran
the football. They ran the football even when Cincinnati knew
they were going to run the football. I think this
is a really fun, interesting offense to watch now because
of the balance it has.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And what's interesting about that is they were down two
starting offensive linemen right the center, Tyler Linderbaum.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Center.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, I mean this was this was we were wondering
before the game, you want a pregame show with me.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
JP were like, well, Lamar.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Is gonna be on his horse all day because these
these Bengals rushers are going to be all over him.
He was on his horse on scalded runs and because
that's what may have opened up because this offensive line
held up well, that is a positive sign because we
know left tackle Ronnie Stanley has had injury issues to
his legs for years. So if they can have somebody
come in and feel incapably, that's fantastic. But the balance,
(03:53):
that's when the Ravens work right. When they have to
rely you know, one dimensional running too much or throwing
too much, that's not them. But also, and I want
to get this back to you, Zay Flowers. You saw
Odell Beckham go out with an ankle injury. We don't
know how significant that is, but the rookie wide receiver
out of Boston College seems to open up this offense,
open up the.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Field for Mark Andrews across the middle.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
What impact could he make because they have not had
not only a deep threat like him, but a route
runner like him, maybe a Lamar's tenure.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
That's the thing, And there's already such a it looks
like chemistry and connection between him Lamar Jackson's nine catches
in the first week like from a rookie wide receiver.
The interesting part about Zay real Quick is that he
already can line up in every single receiver spot they have.
He can play the X, he can play the Y.
He can be a different member of a trips group,
you know, the number two of the three. He can
line up in the backfield. His versatility in that sense
(04:46):
and understanding of the offense and being able to do
that is extremely important and really impressive this early. But
what they're impressed with Steve is how strong he is
for his size for a little Yeah, guys on the
coaching staff, they were like, you know what he can do.
He can't get tackled, and that's pretty important. Is he's
hard to tackle and I look like he's gonna be
that explosive player to add into making this a layered
(05:09):
offense with Mark Andrews as well. As we talk about offenses,
talk about explosive plays. That's usually what we talk about
with the Cincinnati Bengals, but we have not seen that
very much. We saw them get better offensively in the
second half, but what we also saw in the second
half was Joe Burrow reaggravating that calf injury. I was
in the press room to hear him say this postgame.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Well, when when your quarterback missus camp, it's it's tough
to it's tough to start fast, it's it's not an
ideal situation. Yeah, I'm still confident. I feel really confident
in all the guys we have in that room. Now,
Like I said, we're gonna have to see how that
feels the next couple of days. It's pretty sore right now,
(05:54):
but no telling how it's gonna feel sorrow. I think
we're gonna take it day by day.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Steve. This is a team that we were not very
concerned with starting oh to one. Now they're zero in two,
which is what they did, I believe last year. So
what's your take watching this game? Watching a Super Bowl
contender start not just oh and two, oh and two
in the division?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, I mean JP.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Normally i'd be like, you know, they're gonna be fine.
This seems a little different. There's a feel to it.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And you were there, not me, but in pregame again,
you were on the pregame.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Show with us on our game day preview show with
Andrew Ciliano and me, and you said, I have been
watching him warm up and he doesn't look right.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
That calf did not look right. You saw that pregame.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Then he aggravates it during the game, and then we're
seeing him and for those of you listening on the podcast,
he's got the thera gun kind of gunning and trying
to get it loose, you know, after he's staying this,
you know, the injury, the aggravation.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
This seems like it might be something that could linger.
And so you say to yourself, well, will they shut
him down?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You know, because Burrell said, we have to figure wait
a couple days to see what's going on.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That's not Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Joe Burrow is usually not that open about how he
physically feels.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And when you hear a.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Lot of athletes like that talk about that they know something,
they know something, and so maybe they have to shut
him down or maybe this is gonna be an issue
for several weeks, if not for longer, that he has
to work through. And we know, if Joe Burrow is
not at full strength with some of the pressure that
they allow on him, this could be something where the
folks in Cincinnati, and the words of the great animated
(07:39):
legend Scooby Doo say rut Row.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah, yeah, say it again, Steve Row. There we go. Listen.
This was a dejected locker room. There was definitely a
lot of confidence after the first loss. This one was
a little bit different, and I don't think it's because
they're Row and two. When I had side conversations with players,
(08:03):
it was Steve, I have a fear that this is
going to linger, like that's my concern, that this calf
thing is going to linger with Joe Burrow and that's
going to impact our ability to get out of this
own two start. I don't think anybody in that locker
room doubts Joe Burrow as a player, doubts that he's
one of the best quarterbacks and players in football, that
this offense can still be one of the best offenses
in football. We've just seen too much success out of
(08:25):
this group, right, That's not their concern. Their concern in
these conversations I was having in the locker room were man,
I hope this doesn't linger like I feel like that
might be the case. And that is the major concern
because you saw them in the second half. Steve, after
a slow start, I talked to Orlando Brown Junior, is like,
we wanted to get out to a quick start. They
barely had the ball. They had the ball for eighteen
plays and that first half the Ravens had forty seven
(08:48):
plays in the first half. The second half, they started
stringing together some drives. They really did, and then this happened.
So that's where really, to me, the major concern is
everybody says Joe Burrow is the next peg down, and
I believe they say Steve from Patrick Mahones, who on
his birthday goes out and gets his sixty fifth career
(09:08):
win over the Jags, a game that I thought was
going to be a shootout and it was just the opposite.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Well, and that's in part JP because this Kansas City
Chiefs defense, which typically slow plays it's development into being
very good, is off to a great start. I mean,
they get Chris Jones back and he plays thirty four
plays and none of us really thought he was going to,
you know, completely dominate.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well he did. He did. And once again, to go.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Back to our pregame conversation, that's where I said. One
thing about Chris Jones when we talk about his dominance
is he does it at the right times.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
He does it in key moments. He does it on
third line.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
This is a three man rush we're watching right here,
and he bats it down, just.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Absolutely works the left tackle.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Here's one where we three man rush again gets to
Trevor Lawrence. This is one on one This is impact football.
This is getting Trevor Lawrence to think, oh my god,
there's ninety five coming off the edge from a five technique,
not even a seven technique, and I can't get away
from him.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Part of that's the coverage downfield and James. This speaks
to the bigger issue of Chris Jones' impact. It effects
all three levels of what the Chiefs are doing. They
could cloud the deep past and from behind drop their
linebackers to cover the intermediate stuff because they know Chris
Jones can be that disruptive. That's what we saw over
and over again in this game.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And you saw him rush from different spots. He was
out there on the edge. Remember when they toyed without
a couple of years ago, he dropped some weight and
they were like, may maybe he's an edge rusher. Now
he's doing it at his current dominance and his current
strength that he has in the middle of the defensive
line seat, but also can rush from the outside. They
always love moving him around finding advantages. But you mentioned it.
He's a drive ender, a game ender. You saw him
do that on fourth down. You see how he's able
(10:57):
to get their defense off the field to put the
best player football back on the field and what's happening
with this defense? And when I spend some time Darren
Camp there, I was talking to safety Justin Reid and
he was like, everybody now understands our system in the secondary.
He's like, I was teaching everybody my role and their
role throughout all of the season last year. So many
(11:17):
new faces. Now they're to year two into the system,
and this group as a defense, which usually starts slow,
is playing really well early on and helping out this
offense that struggle a little bit. I have to put
this out there. As we talked about Patrick Mahomes. This
was a nice birthday present from the Chiefs. This is
this is from rap sheet right now while we're recording.
This a new deal for Patrick Mahomes. In the restructured deal,
(11:41):
he now receives two hundred and ten point six million
between twenty twenty three and twenty twenty six, the most
in NFL history over a four year span. We knew
this was coming, Steve, it is now here and who
the offense is sputtered a little bit, but.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I might hold on, hold on, okay, okay, Now everybody
who's watching and listening, this is how like TV and
all this works. Thirty seconds before we are coming on
to tape this show, James and I are talking about
this Mahomes deal is gonna get done pretty soon. Don't
believe all this hype where Patrick says he doesn't need
all this money. There's been conversations going on for months
(12:23):
about getting this restructure done, and now you are saying
he's getting two one hundred How does Marshawn Lynch put
it two hundred grips two hundred thousand.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Ten million, two hundred ten million, two d two hundred
and ten millions.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
This this is cash dollars. I'm assuming this is guaranteed
bread that is get per in.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Listen to this. Steve Mahomes has now received over two
hundred and seventy three million in guarantees since the deal
was originally signed in twenty twenty, an NFL record that's unbelievable.
But I mean this, and this is this is how
this team is operating, Steve. And it's interesting when we
talked about this whole Chris Jones situation and everything that
(13:07):
was going on and Chris Jones wanting this new deal,
We've talked about how this team has looked to build
moving forward, they move on from Tyreek Hill to make
other money. They look how they're moving everything forward with
Patrick Mahomes in line. How does that change everything else
We're going to find out this offseason.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, and let's let's also not let people forget Wow,
Patrick Mahomes is getting all this money, this and that
in hard cash dollars. The amount of money he took
in the first three years of that ten year, four
hundred and.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Fifty million dollars deal was minimal. Isn't a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I want to say it was around sixty million. Now
minimal to NFL players, It's a lot for you and I.
But the fact that he was willing to sinimal for
Steve Wych, yeah right, damn right if you took that
little money, when you see some of this other upfront
cash these players got, this is this is a just
reward for him to get to two Super Bowls. Plus
(14:01):
it's going to allow, as crazy as the sounds, the
Chiefs to create cap space along the way, so maybe
they can get Chris Jones done depending on how the
structure of it is. We're not going to get into
all of that good stuff right there, all right, JP
you're gonna get the final word before we move on
to the B block.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Yeah, I'll say this, they were just waiting for Joe
Burrow's deal to get done before they really pushed this
things forward. Once they had those numbers, they were able
to readjust everything they wanted to do moving forward. Now,
as we move forward with this show, Steve Wera have
Jeff Schadea on to talk about a couple of these comebacks.
Who is gift rapped of victory and who had to
go out there and actually earn it More coming up
on the NFL Report. Welcome back to the NFL Report.
(14:49):
James Palmer, Steve White, John by Jeff Chadea.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Who.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
I'm not sure how close, Jeff, you lived to Patrick Mahomes,
but you might want to swing by and see what's
happening over there at Mahomes Manor. It's been redone and
now they have some more money for future upgrades, even
though it's all Brent spanking nouah.
Speaker 6 (15:06):
Yeah, we're not in the same neighborhood. I can promise
you that.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Come on, yeah up to see where he's You're adjacent.
You're adjacent, right.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Not the right right word to use.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
I'm more like he's up here and I'm way down
here with the other peons. But yeah, you know, look,
I think one thing that we knew when he signed
his first big extension was that that was not going
to last for ten years. The numbers sounded great, half
a billion dollars, but at the end of the day,
he took a team friendly deal with a discount, and
(15:37):
they weren't going to allow Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson
and Deshaun Watson and everybody else, you know, justin Herbert,
all these their quarterbacks to be paid more than the
best quarterback, the best player in the league. So this
was definitely not a surprise. The numbers aren't surprising. I
think James in the break we talked about just the
possibility and then looking at this again in four years
(15:59):
and redoing it. But they're always going to make sure
that he's at the top of the pay list, and
they're also going to try to make sure he has
his money. But they have the flexibility to keep making
moves to keep this team going.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And yeah, real quick, explain that because people who may
not necessarily know how to finesse the cap say, wow,
he's getting you know, two hundred ten million dollars over
the next three years.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We're going to be hamstrung.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
But that money, when it's amortized over the length of
the deal, it actually creates cap space.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
But it does, it does, and really, and they've been
doing this for the last couple of years where they
don't want to get into this world and I don't
want to go too deep into the weeds and how
NFL contract works, but they don't want to go into
this world where they're always trying to borrow money, get
players restructured, and try to get create salary cap space.
They feel like having him at a number that's manageable
for them, they're able to go to him and create
(16:50):
cast spaces when they want to. But they also know
he's getting paid as well, so this number will be
spread out over the course of the deal. I don't
know exactly all the details involved, but even though it's
a big number, it's really more about the years and
the way that the escalators are set up, the way
that they can actually spread it out, uh, you know,
(17:10):
pay to pay it to him over the course of
that deal. So a lot of ways to work and
make it flexible, which.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Is big for a general manager Breadfeach. And with that said, Jeff,
look at what they have to do this offseason. You
have to pay the two guys that are right there
in front of Patrick Mahomes and centered Creed Humphrey and
their left guard, right right right guard.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
The guard guard, his guard.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You know, those those are two of the best guys
that their positions right now in football, and they want
to hang on to the interior portion of that offensive line.
And both of those guys, Steve are up uh and
looking for for some cash of their own.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
And you've got to pay some of those guys if
if you're gonna build all this around Patrick Mahomes, protecting
Patrick Mahomes is a big part of it as well.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
So as you guys know, that's that's when you have
guys in the roster like, hmm, I'll be thirty two
the time of this next deal. I've got two years
left on my contract. Honey, let's go ahead and put
the house up for sale because we will not be
here next year. One guy who will be in placed
for a long time is Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who,
(18:16):
like Patrick Mahomes, signed a big deal this offseason, not
for as much bread. But here's Brian Dayball talking about
his quarterback and his team rallying from three touchdowns down.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yesterday to beat the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Belief.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
But you can talk about it till you're blue in
the face, pat belief, it's got to happen. You have
to see tangible results too. So I think we have
some mentally tough players on our team and coaches.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's not always easy to be mentally tough.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
When you're you know whatever, it is, sixty to nothing
after a game and a half.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, mentally tough. You better be because, like he just said,
like Brian Dayball has said, Jet, you have not scored
after being outscored sixty to nothing after a game and
a half. You're playing the Arizona Cardinals, who I'm sorry,
aren't really that team.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You gotta do something.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And JP and I were talking about this before the show,
the coaching that Brian Daball and that staff had to
do not only to motivate those guys, but to scheme
them back.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And to get them rolling again.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Jeff, what about being able to come back from a
game like that when they really were reeling?
Speaker 6 (19:31):
Yeah, you know, I do. The first three column every week,
and I thought about writing about this team. The Giants
are what to make of them for what you just said,
which is, you've got a team that got destroyed by Dallas.
You got a team that couldn't score a point against
the worst team in the league for the first half,
and then they have this great comeback. And then they
(19:52):
also by the way Sakuon Barkley gets hurt, you don't
know how his ankle is going to respond. I feel
as if the Giants are a little bit of a
mess right now, and I think you have to do
all this work to beat the Cardinals. You've got some problems,
and I'm a big fan of Brian Dable, and you
(20:13):
can say that they did a great job of coming
back in this game, but I also feel like they
got away with a lot of stuff last year, got
some things that break their weight. They're not doing it
to happen now, and I just feel this is more
of a team that's going to end up being around
six seven wins than a real playoff contender.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, Jeff, you just said something that has been talked
about kind of behind the scenes for a while, and
so I mean, even speaking with folks of the Giants.
They'll tell you last year they won, but they did
it with smoking mirrors and some optical illusions because they
were not a fast team, right They did not have
a ton of speed, and they had to upgrade their
speed to be able to compete. And I don't know
(20:49):
if they necessarily did that by adding Darren Waller and
this and that. They've got to be tougher and better
at some of the positions of the coaching job Brian
dave Ball did last year was worthy of him winning
the Coach of the Year honors. But Jay, you know again,
you look at this team. They play Thursday night against
the Niners. Saquon we don't know if he's gonna be
able to go because of that ankle.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know, I'm with Jeff.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
I mean, you just don't know what to make of
this team right now because we still don't know what
their identity is and I don't know if anybody still
is really sold on Daniel Jones.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Well, part of that identity seed was gonna be you
bring in Darren Waller to be really probably your number
one target, and you don't know how his season's gonna
go with the hamstring right now, and how that's gonna
move forward, especially with some of the offensive line issues
that they have, and what we saw on the second half, Yes,
that was the most yards, by the way, Daniel Jones
has ever thrown four and a half. I think it
was two hundred and fifty nine, most he's ever done
(21:41):
in a half. But it was essentially him and Saquon.
I'd like that they got Jalen Hyatt kind of like
into the mix of sense, maybe you can find ways
to stretch the field a little bit, Jeff, because you're
gonna need to do that if that's your offense. Essentially
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley trying to somehow half run it,
half throw it as a because there are definitely some concerns,
(22:02):
but I do agree that once again, what I saw
was a locker room that kind of believes, and that
was a definite defining moment. When you get embarrassed in
Week one and then you're going, well, we have the
Cardinals and then you're getting embarrassed when you walk into halftime,
that might be a defining moment to where this season
somewhat salvage. But I think their margin for error, Jeff,
(22:23):
is really really thin. If they think they're a playoff.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
Team, Yeah, certainly. And look the money that Daniel Jones
got paid this offseason. Sometimes when you pay a guy
that usually usually when you pay a guy that kind
of money, you want to turn him into somebody who
can justify that kind of payment. I agree that this
was a big moment for him and this team, But again,
if you have to be down twenty to nothing in
every game you play against bad teams to find yourself,
(22:49):
I just don't think that's a great place to be
and discover your identity. They did a great to have
a coaching this team up last year, but weapons wise,
they're still lacking in a lot of ways. And by
the way, no one really talks about this, but came on,
Tipada's gonna start doing something it.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah he doesn't. You're right, You're right, Yeah, you're right.
I mean, he's got he's got to start making it.
And here's the other part.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You know, we're talking about the Giants and them rallying,
they're still probably, uh probably they are the worst team in.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
The NFC East because the Washington.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Commanders folks are two and oh the team we thought
that was gonna be busterrific is two Sam right now,
and because they had a big time comeback against the
Denver Broncos. Jeff, We're gonna talk about the Broncos a
little bit later on, and some great stuff you wrote
in your column at NFL dot com slash Jadia. But
what about the Commanders right now and the fact that
(23:41):
Sam Howell, who you wrote about, looks like a real dude.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
The biggest surprise of the week for me. And I
was certainly a doubter and Sam Howell did not see
him being a prime time player. But you know, I
watched a little bit in the preseason game when they
played against Baltimore, and he showed some of that savvy
and that and kind of that cavalier style of play.
But to do it in week two, when you're on
the road and you're down and you have to forget
(24:06):
a lot of bass that's happened and still deliver big
plays for you. I was mesmerized by what he did,
and not just the throws, but leading the offense, keeping
things together. I feel like he and Eric Bienemy right now,
this tandem is it's almost like Dangiel Jones and Brian
Dabole last year. Like they are surprising people with the
way the enemy's coaching him and the way Howell's responding.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I love that you brought up eb I mean, I'm
not gonna say that the Chiefs are struggling offensively because
Eric Vienemy is not in the building, but I'll say
that the Washington Commanders as an offense that definitely have
some weapons. I talked to Patrick Sardan in the locker
room last Wednesday before this game, and he was like,
Terry mccluurin is the most underrated receiver in the NFL.
That's in Pat's mind. He's like, I don't understand why
(24:50):
he doesn't get attention. He can do everything. But he
also told me Johan Dotson is an up and coming
star in his eyes. That's one of the best cornerbacks,
maybe arguably the best cornerback in Football's opinion of these
wide receiver duo, let's let's just remember this Steve before
we get to break they had, they were down eighteen
on the road, Sam Howse first ever WROT start in
the NFL, and then they really go on a thirty
(25:12):
two to three run in a stretch in the middle
of this game. That is just ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
I mean, who the hell would have thought that Eric
b Enemy might be able to coach up a quarterback. Jeff,
We're going to see you a little bit later in
the show as we get ready, as we move on
to the next block, Chef A Baker, We've got Jordan
Love and a new dog in Atlanta, the Beijon Freeze
here on the NFL.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
Report does just can you just talk about how that
game was?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
It was so crazy.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
You guys looked like you were, you know, kind of
down for the count, and then you come back and
you just kind of take us through never done.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
When you see the nflcons out there, will never be
down for the count. We're gonna fight until that clock,
kids zero. So you know that's what I'm proud of
this team and everyone on this team for not giving up,
not you know, and just keep going out there and
just fighting so that clock kids zero.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I thought Stockings quarterback Desmond Ritter is now James and
I are joined by Sarah, And I gotta tell you, like,
if you're if you're a teammate of Desmond Ridder and
you see that, you're like, that's my quarterback, especially after
the way he just played. I mean, they made some
fourth down conversions. He made some really gritty like run
type place and big throws to Mac Collins and Drake
London down there as they come back from twelve down,
(26:39):
Sarah to beat the Packers and to move to two
and zero atop the NFC South. And you were telling
me earlier that you know, you had a conversation with
the team owner just by a chance, by the way, about.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
The optimism first circles. Does Sarah run in like just
hunting this Sarah gets down?
Speaker 9 (26:59):
Yeah, guys, I just you know, I didn't make it
to the owners meetings, the fancy owners meetings that you
get to go to. So I was just playing around. No,
I was actually in Atlanta. I was at Mercedes Benz
Stadium on Saturday for a different kind of football, soccer
related because Arthur Blank, as you know, owns Atlanta United
as well, and so he has just given the US
Soccer Federation a fifty million dollar check. They're going to
(27:19):
break ground and have US Soccer's training facility in Atlanta.
I also cover soccer. Again, everything, as you know in
life is a very very small world. So I was
up there. I was at their stadium on Saturday, with
Arthur Blank and obviously the season is very young, there's
a lot of optimism. And I was actually standing out
on the field, which was the soccer pitch at that time,
because they were about to play a game after this.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Press conference, no message, no.
Speaker 9 (27:44):
There were people yelling at me, and I was like,
you guys, don't think I wanted Messi to be here.
I was doing this. I was doing an unrelated press
conference announcement, and then Messi was supposed to be playing
thirty minutes later. So I was staying I was all
in on this thing, and like fans are yelling at me,
I'm like, yo, I want him out on the field
just as much as you do. I actually don't know
if Arthur Blink wanted him on the field because it
was better for his Atlanta United anyway. But they're so
(28:07):
excited and this is it. It was crazy because we're
standing out on this field and I was talking to
a team in play and I'm like, it's insane to
think that since this stadium was built, there's been a
Super Bowl there and there has not been a The
Falcons have not hosted a playoff game in that stadium,
which feels like it's been around for a while now,
(28:28):
so to think that you erected this beautiful stadium at
host Super Bowls, Peach Bowls, all these exciting games, like
they are clamoring for a playoff game to be in
Atlanta in that stadium, and it hasn't happened yet. And
you know, I saw the Falcons last year too, and
they were knocking on the door, as you could say
about every single team in that division, right because they
were all separated by one game with the box and
then everyone else's tied, so it could have gone either way.
(28:50):
But look, they've shored up that defense. They need Desmond
Rudder to not make mistakes. He needs to make the
plays when he needs to make them, and we saw
him do that in a really gritty, gritty win. I
think to the sense about Arthur Smith is, you know,
this hasn't been like the most when you look at
wins and losses. Hasn't been the best start right of
anyone's coaching career when you come in and like you
(29:11):
want to go right away, right to the postseason, and
that hasn't happened for him. But anyone you talked about
Arthur Smith, there's just so much respect for him around
the league and how smart he is, and there's always
just been this sense like they are going to get
it on track, and it sort of felt like they
were really putting the pieces in place this offseason and
you're starting to see this. I mean, look, he's doubled
down on Desmond rd Or this offseason when they could
have looked elsewhere, and he was like, Nope, this is
(29:32):
our guy. And that was the first time I saw
his comment, Steve in that press conference and when I
was sitting here when he was saying that and cut
off their porterns like nope, never doubt. I'm like, yeah,
like I'm in. I get it, like I'm in. So
I think this is a Falcon team that's certainly heading
in the right direction. I'm not surprised by that. To
enough start.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Listen, not everybody's sporting a mustache, but this team has
Arthur Smith's identity all over it, Steve like, they are
physical in every way that they play on both sides
of the football. I found it interesting talking to people
in that building this morning after their win. One of
the most interesting things that said that was said to
me was we really love Drake London and Mac Collins
as a one to two. You're like, Matt came in
(30:13):
as an afterthought. He leads this team in receiving right now,
and they really like those as a one two wide
receiver combo. Now you're looking at it and going like, well,
that's kind of interesting. But they like that matchup, Steve,
because of all the other pieces they have as well. Right,
they are wowed by Bjeon Robinson and what they can
do with him. He's their second leading receiver honestly, and
where they can put him all over the field. I
(30:33):
was told we're just scratching the surface about what we
can do with Bijeon, and and you're seeing this is
right now. I know we're two weeks in. This is
probably offensive Rerookie of the Year materials so far, this
is what we're looking at. I mean, I think Andrews
and Siliano hosting that show with you, Steve said his
moves have moves, which is essentially the way Bijeon plays,
but he also plays physical. I think that's the other
(30:54):
aspect of it. I'm curious how Kyle Pitts fits into
this coming off with the knee, does he become another
added element. We'll see if that happens. But what I
like is they have enough talent Steve where they do
think Desmond Ritter is making mistakes, but they feel like
he's making rookie mistakes because they do consider him still
a rookie. They have enough talent around him right now
(31:15):
in a physical enough defense to where if he doesn't
make rookie mistakes that cost you games, they're still in
a very good spot as he grows.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, and look, I spoke to Terry font No years
ago and they were building this and twice passed and
two drafts passed on quarterbacks, and he said, look, we
want to build our rosters.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
And when we get to the point where we find
a quarterback, he has got a nice landing spot. He'll
have time to develop. He's got land Ron who can
carry this seat.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
So they've got those types of players. You know who
else is two and oh in this division? Though, the
team that nobody thought was gonna be two and oh, Sarah,
those are the Bay Buccaneers who just put a absolute
waxing on the Bears.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
You were there, You.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Saw that game at Baker Mayfield. Two and oh for
the first time in his career. What is transition from
Brady to Mayfield not only done for Baker, but kind
of the rest of the guys.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
You're saying, yeah, we can win without Tommy.
Speaker 9 (32:10):
I think what's interesting is that it's not that Tom
is his own entity, right, Tom is his own universe
in the football world and even bigger than the football world.
And as soon as Tom was gone, these expectations change.
And I don't necessarily think that it has to be
in a bad way, because when I say the expectations
(32:31):
of change, like, no one expects them to win. Everyone's
saying that they're going to fish last in the division.
And while you would go, wow, is that a good thing,
it just took pressure off these guys. They have been
under the spotlight every single game since the day that
Tom Brady announced he was coming to Tampa Bay. And
then you win a Super Bowl. That doesn't lower the expectations.
And so I just think that that starts to wear
(32:54):
on you in a different way. And look, expectations are
a privilege. You hear pressures of privilege, all those things. Yeah,
that's great and all, but this is a team that's like, Okay,
nobody's looking at us, nobody cares about us. Like that's fine,
We're just gonna go out have a good time. And
I do think it's sort of changed this mentality of
the team where they're just kind of out there having
a good time. I know, Steve, you and I talked
(33:15):
about it when I was in Minnesota last week and
I was in the room right next to where the
box their locker room. I've never heard them screaming and
hollering after a game the way they did when they
beat Minnesota take out the Super Bowl. That's a different thing.
But like, this is a team that's just operating in
a different manner because one people discounted them. But I
think that they're enjoying that. I think they're enjoying being
(33:36):
out of the spotlight. Every little thing that this team
has done in the last three years has been picked
apart and scrutinized in every single way imaginable. And if
you don't have that on you, it's almost like it's
a relief. And like, let's be honest, Chicago came to
town and after they're terrible Week one, the pressure's on Chicago.
I mean everyone's looking at like the sky is falling
in Chicago, whereas in Tampa they're like, hey, great Week
(33:57):
one win.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We surprised.
Speaker 9 (33:58):
We went to Minnesota and like no one thought we'd
come win, And now we're down here and no one
still expects us to win, and they win again, and
they've done it in a myriad of ways. The defense
has been really good, really lights out, and Baker Mayfield
one of them. I know you guys are on a
stat show, but tell me if this surprises you, because
it surprises me. Baker Mayfield is leading the NFL right
now in third down completion percentage number one, and like
(34:19):
that was something they struggled out last year. Do you
have Is that not surprising to you?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
I surprised.
Speaker 9 (34:25):
It's unbelievable he's been He's he's converted eighty seven percent
of the time on third down. I mean that's like insane.
And this is a new offense to him, a new team,
and so I think they're just really enjoying themselves here
in Tampa right now.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah, it's I think Sarah that's been the biggest surprise
I think for all of us. Everybody's seeing.
Speaker 9 (34:43):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
I think Baker. Let me do the math here. My
math's not as good as yours, but I think he's
played for fourteen teams in the last twelve months, and
he goes out there and he plays the way that
he's gone out and played, specifically on third downs protecting
the football, which I think, I will say this Steve,
everybody's kind of waiting for that Baker stretch to happen,
where you go, what was that throw? Right? But it
(35:04):
hasn't happened yet. It hasn't happened yet. And I do
think that there's something between him and Mike Evans specifically
when plays breakdown, and I think Mike is, you know,
definitely that type of player, and Sarah you know him
well in terms of being able to make plays when
things are off script, with the size that he has,
the speed that he has. We'll still see ingim going
out there just being one of the best receivers in
all of football. But Baker is the one who's making
(35:24):
this go. In terms of all of us being surprised
because this is a talented roster, Vidavea and Twine Winfield Junior,
I mean the linebackers. I mean they have Tristan Wurf's
on the offensive line. I mean they have a lot
of talent and one of those guys that I didn't mention, right,
there is a pass rusher in Shaq Barrett's there. Yeah,
and hey he goes out, and he goes out and
makes an unbelievable play to seal that game. But what
(35:47):
happened in the end zone just on another level compared
to the play that he made.
Speaker 9 (35:53):
Yeah, here's the thing. And for people that aren't aware,
and I think most people are shocked. First of all,
it's coming back from a tour Achilles that happened I
think in week eight of last season, so he's just
trying to make his way back right. And then horrific,
horrific tragedy this off season, his little two year old daughter,
Ariah drowns in the family pool. So what he has
had to endure over the last several months of his
(36:16):
life are it's just incomprehensible. And he talked about it
yesterday that before the first game of the season in Minnesota,
that he just sat in his locker room and started
crying because it hits him in different moments. And yet
he stepped to the podium yesterday and he was so joyful,
and I had this like I actually had this anxiety
of like, oh my god. So he just has this
pick six end of the game seals the deal. But
(36:36):
he's going to get asked about his daughter and what
it means and like, this poor guy, because he's now
he's going to get up there, like how is he
going to handle it? And he had the biggest smile
on his face. He had this huge, blinged out necklace
that was a heart and it was his little daughter
on it, and he was so joyful though, and he
was like, I was so happy that happened because I
blew her a kiss and like it brought the spotlight
(36:56):
back to my daughter. And which was like a very
way of thinking about it, because I mean this he's
he's going through it and he's going to be going
through this for a long time. And Todd Bowles was
asked about, you know, how do you see Shack being
able to maneuver what he've been able to maneuver through
not you know, he has an injury that he's still
working his way back from. And he said it's unbelievable.
(37:17):
I mean it's it's unbelievable what he has been going
through on and off the field. And so to have
that finish, the people that know that story behind that,
to have the finish that he had yesterday. It was
just crazy, and it's been a very an amazing start
for a Buccaneers team that there were a lot of
question marks about. And then of course, you know the
Eagles are coming to town for Monday night football. Soever
(37:37):
and goes, okay, here's here's the test now, so we'll
see what happens on Monday night.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Yeah, exactly, And Sarah, just real quick, yeah, yeah, just
just we're all parents here, and so the respect for
Shaq Barrett to continue to wear a smile on his
face going through what he's going through just immeasurable.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Thank you so much, Sah.
Speaker 9 (37:58):
Community is just devastated.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
One of the best dudes in the league, man, one
of the best people in the league covered him for
a long time. Unbelievable. Yeah, all right, Sarah, appreciate it.
We're gonna move back onto the football field a little bit.
A couple of legendary coaches, Steve in terms of Sean Payton,
Bill Belichick, both Owen two, how about Brandon Staley Owen two,
whose seed is the hottest? Well, Jeff tod is gonna
come back and tell us.
Speaker 10 (38:29):
Russell in the pocket now bounces around set it throws
the ball up in the air, the ball.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Deflected Johnson, good Cook Logan, Well, I mean the hell
Mary did not get to the end zone. Steve Jeffett
did not reach the goal line, but somehow it was
caught in the end zone Brandon Johnson. That was the
(38:56):
hell Mary from Russell Wilson to Brand Johnson, but no
two point conversion. Some debate about a penalty in the
end zone, there wasn't called, and the Broncos fall shorts
and lose thirty five thirty three. But it wasn't that
hell Mary, even though we saw Russell Wilson play a
little bit better. Sean Payton still having some issues with
the operation. Sound familiar, Here's Peyton.
Speaker 10 (39:20):
There's a number of drives you know where we're late
with personnel getting out of the huddle. We took a while.
I mean, that's got to change. We had to burn
timeouts in the first half and I'm not used to doing.
We got to be better, and I've got to be better.
Russ's got to be sharper with get getting the play
out and then we got to look at how much
we have in But you know, if we need to
(39:42):
riskband it, we will.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Well you know, one too long ago when Sean Payton
was talking about Nathaniel Hackett and the bad operation because
he was a bad head coach Jeff. Now he's getting
it kind of a reality check, talking about going to
wrist bands get personnel out today. On Monday, he said
he had to shorten the verbiage now of the play
calls so they can get to the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Quicker.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
I mean they're they're searching for answers already, my man.
Speaker 6 (40:11):
Yeah, building a glass house over there is what Sean
Payton's doing. It's easy to throw stones when you're watching
from a farm, but once you're actually in there dealing
with the quarterback, things get a little bit different. I
thought it was ironic that he was talking about these
kinds of challenges because I thought Russell Wilson played fairly,
played fairly well, and Russell Wilson even said they played
their best half of offensive football this year in that game.
(40:34):
First of all I see with this team right now
is that all the talk about culture and teaching people
how to win and getting the right people in the room,
it just it takes a while to make this kind
of stuff work. And I will say this. The Broncos
are probably a better team right now with Sean Payne
coaching them, but the numbers game is not working in
their favor because when you lose two games against teams
(40:56):
you should beat at home, and you have the Dolphins
coming up next, a couple weeks down the road, you
get the Chiefs and the Bills and the Packers and
the Chiefs again, it's starting to look like this team
is going to end up being two and six, you know,
two and five as they near the midpoint of the season,
and that's just not going to get it done in
a crowded AFC. So I understand the concerns and Sean
(41:17):
Payton desire and make Russell Wilson as good of a
quarterback as he possibly can be. But you're up twenty
one three at home. You got to win that game.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Hold up, John, if they're two and five. If they're
two and five, what do they do a quarterback?
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Because you know people are going to be screaming for
Jared Sidham or whoever.
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Oh man, it's I think part of it depends on
how it looks, because you can be you can play well.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
Yeah, this the second half that squandered this one.
Speaker 6 (41:43):
Away, thank you, thank you. No one wants to talk
about that part of it. But defensively, they're not the
same team they were a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah, And I want to chime in a little bit
before we move on about this whole situation that is
being talked about here in Denver at nauseum on Monday,
the play calling and about it taking too long in
the operation first point. I was told repeatedly after Sean
Payton's initial comments to jare Belle and USA today this
offseason texts from multiple members of that coaching staff from
(42:13):
a year ago that just kind of all had the
same sentiment, wait till Sewan starts working with Russ. We
had these issues constantly last year. I was told repeatedly
that there are issues about plays getting in too slow,
and that blame kept going on Nathaniel Hackett and the
offensive coaching staff. And now we're seeing the same issues
with a new coaching staff coming in. And I remember
(42:35):
at the beginning, maybe third of training camp, I asked
Sean Payton about that communication between both sides, Steve, and
he said to me, ninety percent of it is on
the play caller when things go wrong, it's usually the
play caller's fault. That is not where he's coming from.
Right now, it looks like it is the same quarterback
with two different play callers, that this is an issue
(42:56):
with the verbiage. Now, the interesting part with the wristband
was Russ was wearing a spand on Sunday, So I
guess they're gonna change some aspects of the wristband, change
some of the verbiage. This has been an issue with
Russell Wilson his entire career. This was a big issue
in Seattle. They just work ways to work around it.
Michael Robinson has talked on our air at nauseum about
(43:17):
the help that he gave in the huddle to Russell
Wilson at times. So it's finding ways around it, which
my last point. I know I'm going home with this,
but I'm fascinated by it. During training camp, you always
see right the play caller with the with the walkie
talkie and they're talking to the guy. They're talking to
the quarterback. That did not happen during training camp here
in Denver, Sean Payton was in the huddle giving the plays.
(43:41):
What I'm curious about was are we not practicing this
or is there an aspect of this to where this
is slowing down our operation in training camp. So we
just have to make sure I get the play in
so the rest of the other ten guys aren't affected.
Jeff like, we have to get work on this. We
can't let this slow us down to camp. I'm curious
to try to get to the bottom of this because
apparently it is an issue in Denver.
Speaker 6 (44:03):
Yeah. I have a hard time understanding how a quarterback
who's played as long as Russell Wilson's played can't understand
verbiage or can't get play calls in. It seems like
it should be second nature, right, It's it's a miss draggery.
It's it's hard to understand it, and it's happened so
many times now that it's easy to say, oh, it's
the play caller, but it's got to be the quarterback.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Yeah, look, look and the guy. Let's let's not forget
about this. He has had tremendous success in his career,
but for things.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
That kind of wine always told me, Steve, not everybody's perfect.
Somebody everybody has everybody has a flaw in their game.
This is something russell'sn't been great.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Hey James, what is it about being in Denver and
bringing up how mama has raised you. I'm just talking
about Colorado, I should say, not Denver. That's a part
of the whole Colorado State Colorado thing, all.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Right, Hey, Jeff. Another coach who who Sean Payton supposedly was.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Going to replace before he got to Denver's Brandon Staley
with the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
As we know, this team is loaded.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
They spend all their money on defense, I mean tons
of it on defense, other than on their quarterback.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
They're owing to. They've lost games the same ways. It's
tough teams. Now well to Miami and then well Washington.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
They're doing all right, but they just keep you know,
they just keep getting I'm sorry the charge loss of
Tennessee beat on the deep ball. Defensively, they're not affecting
the quarterback the way they're paying people to do that.
And Brandon Staley is a defensive coach. We know last
year there are roamings about his job security. The way
this team has started. Are you concerned about this?
Speaker 9 (45:36):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (45:37):
No, without without a doubt. You're talking about again, a
team that was supposed to be pushing the Chiefs every
year we hear this right. The Chiefs owned the AFC
West for the last seven years, But the Chargers are
always that team that's snipping at their heels and getting
close and on the version of a huge breakthrough. And
I just don't get it. Brandon Staley is a I
(45:59):
like him as a coach, I like him as a person,
but he's supposed to be a defensive guy, and the
defense has never been good since he's been there. There
was a great stat that I read earlier today that
said the Chargers as a team have given up more
pass completions of over thirty yards than any team in
the league since Stateley became the head coach. And you're
(46:20):
talking about a secondary that has Derwin James, that has
j C. Jackson, that passed for us is Khalil Mack
and you know.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
Joey Bosa, all these guys, and it just never seems
to work.
Speaker 6 (46:29):
Again, oh to two with against teams that they're good
enough to beat. You can't do that in a crowded AFC,
and certainly when you're chasing the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
Yeah, that's the one that blows me away. And the
other part is if you look at the numbers, the
way Ryan Tannehill has closed out games with the Tennessee
Titans that are in overtime. He's five and one. If
you look at what's happened with Justin Herbert in these
late games, the stats are not the same. A lot
of times, guys, that's coaching right, what happens down the stretch.
(47:01):
And a lot of times also we think one guy's
gonna win Rookie of the Year, Steve. Maybe another guy,
a sleeper already through two weeks, could be the rookie
of the year. We'll tell you who Steve has his
eye on. Coming up next on the NFL Report.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Are back with a final block here at the NFL
Report And JPI was at the Rams Niners game yesterday.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
A fantastic game, Trucky.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
The Rams are a lot better than we give them
credit for their very physical upfront. Matthew Stafford looks absolutely reborn.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
You saw that in joint practices with the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
But rookie wide receiver Puka Nakua, a fifth round draft pick,
the latest mid to late round draft pick the Rams
had that have been developed by wide receiver coach Eric Yarber,
who is the secret sauce to this offense no one
talks about.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
He went for.
Speaker 1 (47:59):
Fifteen catches against the Niners. He's got twenty five over
the first two games, the most by a rookie. First off,
the fifteen catches the most by a rookie in the game.
Twenty five most by a rookie over two games. But
you know, I'm speaking of Niners players. After the game,
Talaa Hufona was like, oh, I know his brother.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Well, I'm tight with his brother. But I always knew
Pookap was a dog.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
And they said in the first half he was their
zone buster, right, and they saw it on film against
Seattle the week before that. He saw the seams in
their zones and was killing them. So in the second
half they went up, they pressed him a little bit more,
they put a little more traffic.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
In front of him.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
He had eight catches in the second half after having seven.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
In the first, so he was better. He's a real dude.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
And here's the thing, when Cooper Cup comes back, because
right now he's playing Cooper Cup's role, I mean lining
up at flanker, cracking guys like Nick Boges at the
line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (48:47):
When Cup comes back, he may change roles a little bit,
but he clearly.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Is trusted by Stafford, as you can tell by the
twenty targets James he received against the forty nine ers.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
Yeah, we should make it abundantly clear with Cooper Cup
comes back, this is not just like all right, Cela
ter Pooka that that is not the case. He's definitely
gonna have a major role in this offense. And when
they had those two joint practices in Denver and I
was there, I was just like, this guy is torching
a secondary that's supposed to be very, very good. Now
through the first two games, we haven't really seen it
plays women at that level, but he was really the
(49:19):
dominant player in those two games. And I love that
we bring up Cooper Cup repeatedly because that's what I
love about Team Steve is this guy drops in the
draft due to concussion due to speed. He was like
a four to five guy. You know who else was
a speed guy that dropped. A guy that dropped because
of his speed, Cooper Cup. And this is a team
that has not really been focused on the speed aspect
(49:39):
of it. It's understanding defenses, understanding space, understanding ways to
get open. And this is just a great example, just
like Cooper Cup to go out there and be a
dominant player when the whole league apparently is based off
of speed.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
JP he's got football speed because they were using him
on jet sweeps and things like.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
That as well. They were getting the ball in his hands,
speaking of speed.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
This edition of the NFL Report, it flew by j Peb.
You want to thank Sarah Watash and Jeffshediah NFL dot com.
Slash first read for more on Jeff and We'll be
back on Thursday. Also listen to the podcast
Week two of the NFL Report is here. I'm see
White and my guy James Palmer rocking the terra cotta
right there as he is back in Denver after a
long flight back from.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Cincinnati this week.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Jpe, we got a lot going on because you're usually
Week two is a.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Much more truth teller than week one.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Right, we can kind of read the tea leaves, and
I think we can see what some teams like Cincinnati
and Miami might be. He's like, Dallas, do we really
know they're too?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well know how good they are? Wet? Still a ton
of unanswered questions?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, see, how about this if we're telling the truth.
What's your take on Skyline Chili in Cincinnati?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Skyline Chili is good.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm also but I'm probably a bigger gold Star fan myself.
But I don't want to insult anybody in our audience.
You know that there's there's a lot of touchy feelings
about that. Do you like chili on spaghetti?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
JP?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
No, I skip halftime meal in the press box when
I'm there at Peay Course Stadium. I'm not gonna lie.
A double up pregame pre game was good. I double
up pre game, get a little something extra. There was
sticky buns up there this time, even though I told
that's a Philly thing when you say sticky buns too often,
cinnamon roll, whatever you want to call it. I call
them all sticky buttons. But I had an extra one
of those, so I wouldn't do the skyline stuff at halftime,
I'll be honest.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
And and everybody watching and listening, they're like, oh, these
sports writers, they get fed. They don't I don't want
to hear them complain about anything. Well, you know that's
part of the issue. I'm sure you want to complain
about the fact that we also get to watch football
for a living.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Shame me.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
We saw a fantastic display of what this Ravens offense
could look like when they went and they beat Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I mean, this was a huge game.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
You heard John Harbaugh talk about it's a big game,
players talking about how how sweet it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Was to send the Bengals to an zero and two start.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
You were there, and you were texting me during the game, like, man,
Lamar looks really good.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
This offense is serious stuff. Tell us a little bit
about what you.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Saw, man, Yeah, pregame, Steve and I think I was
on with you pregame. Also, when I was talking to
that commend members of the coaching staff and they're like, listen,
Lamar is not comfortable in this offense. Shed We're not
sure how long it's gonna take. We're gonna see how
the process goes. But obviously this is very different. He
didn't play in the preseason, so Week one was really
our first opportunity to see him go out there and
operate in it. We didn't see him run at all.
(02:15):
I thought it was really interesting. When I talked to
Zay Flowers, the rookie wide receiver, he was like, no, no, no,
that was the plan for Lamar not to run. The
plan was for him to sit back there, get comfortable, Steve,
get a feel for this offense, sitting in the pocket,
because why, he knows he can run right, he knows
you can find ways to go out there and create
and make plays. He wanted to sit back there and
feel it. And what did we see in week two?
(02:36):
We saw him go out there and have an extremely
balanced attack. I think that's the difference. When I talked
to Mark Andrews after the game, he was like, now
that we have these receivers on the outside, life's easier
for him in the middle. You have explosive players on
the outside. You saw after the interception bang right to
a fifty two yard reception by Jay Flowers to go deep.
Lamar Jackson was accurate. He was comfortable. If they're wondering
(02:59):
how long it's going to take him to get comfortable offense,
I don't know. Week three. Now, they're so balanced because
at the back end of this game, what did they do?
They just kept the Bengals off the field. Lamar ran
the football. They ran the football even when Cincinnati knew
they were going to run the football. I think this
is a really fun, interesting offense to watch now because
of the balance it has.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And what's interesting about that is they were down two
starting offensive linemen right the center, Tyler Linderbaum.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Center.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah, I mean this was this was we were wondering
before the game, you want a pregame show with me.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
JP were like, well, Lamar.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Is gonna be on his horse all day because these
these Bengals rushers are going to be all over him.
He was on his horse on scalded runs and because
that's what may have opened up because this offensive line
held up well, that is a positive sign because we
know left tackle Ronnie Stanley has had injury issues to
his legs for years. So if they can have somebody
come in and feel incapably, that's fantastic. But the balance,
(03:53):
that's when the Ravens work right. When they have to
rely you know, one dimensional running too much or throwing
too much, that's not them. But also, and I want
to get this back to you, Zay Flowers. You saw
Odell Beckham go out with an ankle injury. We don't
know how significant that is, but the rookie wide receiver
out of Boston College seems to open up this offense,
open up the.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Field for Mark Andrews across the middle.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
What impact could he make because they have not had
not only a deep threat like him, but a route
runner like him, maybe a Lamar's tenure.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
That's the thing, And there's already such a it looks
like chemistry and connection between him Lamar Jackson's nine catches
in the first week like from a rookie wide receiver.
The interesting part about Zay real Quick is that he
already can line up in every single receiver spot they have.
He can play the X, he can play the Y.
He can be a different member of a trips group,
you know, the number two of the three. He can
line up in the backfield. His versatility in that sense
(04:46):
and understanding of the offense and being able to do
that is extremely important and really impressive this early. But
what they're impressed with Steve is how strong he is
for his size for a little Yeah, guys on the
coaching staff, they were like, you know what he can do.
He can't get tackled, and that's pretty important. Is he's
hard to tackle and I look like he's gonna be
that explosive player to add into making this a layered
(05:09):
offense with Mark Andrews as well. As we talk about offenses,
talk about explosive plays. That's usually what we talk about
with the Cincinnati Bengals, but we have not seen that
very much. We saw them get better offensively in the
second half, but what we also saw in the second
half was Joe Burrow reaggravating that calf injury. I was
in the press room to hear him say this postgame.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Well, when when your quarterback missus camp, it's it's tough
to it's tough to start fast, it's it's not an
ideal situation. Yeah, I'm still confident. I feel really confident
in all the guys we have in that room. Now,
Like I said, we're gonna have to see how that
feels the next couple of days. It's pretty sore right now,
(05:54):
but no telling how it's gonna feel sorrow. I think
we're gonna take it day by day.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Steve. This is a team that we were not very
concerned with starting oh to one. Now they're zero in two,
which is what they did, I believe last year. So
what's your take watching this game? Watching a Super Bowl
contender start not just oh and two, oh and two
in the division?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, I mean JP.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Normally i'd be like, you know, they're gonna be fine.
This seems a little different. There's a feel to it.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
And you were there, not me, but in pregame again,
you were on the pregame.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Show with us on our game day preview show with
Andrew Ciliano and me, and you said, I have been
watching him warm up and he doesn't look right.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
That calf did not look right. You saw that pregame.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Then he aggravates it during the game, and then we're
seeing him and for those of you listening on the podcast,
he's got the thera gun kind of gunning and trying
to get it loose, you know, after he's staying this,
you know, the injury, the aggravation.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
This seems like it might be something that could linger.
And so you say to yourself, well, will they shut
him down?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
You know, because Burrell said, we have to figure wait
a couple days to see what's going on.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
That's not Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Joe Burrow is usually not that open about how he
physically feels.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
And when you hear a.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Lot of athletes like that talk about that they know something,
they know something, and so maybe they have to shut
him down or maybe this is gonna be an issue
for several weeks, if not for longer, that he has
to work through. And we know, if Joe Burrow is
not at full strength with some of the pressure that
they allow on him, this could be something where the
folks in Cincinnati, and the words of the great animated
(07:39):
legend Scooby Doo say rut Row.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah, yeah, say it again, Steve Row. There we go. Listen.
This was a dejected locker room. There was definitely a
lot of confidence after the first loss. This one was
a little bit different, and I don't think it's because
they're Row and two. When I had side conversations with players,
(08:03):
it was Steve, I have a fear that this is
going to linger, like that's my concern, that this calf
thing is going to linger with Joe Burrow and that's
going to impact our ability to get out of this
own two start. I don't think anybody in that locker
room doubts Joe Burrow as a player, doubts that he's
one of the best quarterbacks and players in football, that
this offense can still be one of the best offenses
in football. We've just seen too much success out of
(08:25):
this group, right, That's not their concern. Their concern in
these conversations I was having in the locker room were man,
I hope this doesn't linger like I feel like that
might be the case. And that is the major concern
because you saw them in the second half. Steve, after
a slow start, I talked to Orlando Brown Junior, is like,
we wanted to get out to a quick start. They
barely had the ball. They had the ball for eighteen
plays and that first half the Ravens had forty seven
(08:48):
plays in the first half. The second half, they started
stringing together some drives. They really did, and then this happened.
So that's where really, to me, the major concern is
everybody says Joe Burrow is the next peg down, and
I believe they say Steve from Patrick Mahones, who on
his birthday goes out and gets his sixty fifth career
(09:08):
win over the Jags, a game that I thought was
going to be a shootout and it was just the opposite.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Well, and that's in part JP because this Kansas City
Chiefs defense, which typically slow plays it's development into being
very good, is off to a great start. I mean,
they get Chris Jones back and he plays thirty four
plays and none of us really thought he was going to,
you know, completely dominate.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Well he did. He did. And once again, to go.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Back to our pregame conversation, that's where I said. One
thing about Chris Jones when we talk about his dominance
is he does it at the right times.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
He does it in key moments. He does it on
third line.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
This is a three man rush we're watching right here,
and he bats it down, just.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Absolutely works the left tackle.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Here's one where we three man rush again gets to
Trevor Lawrence. This is one on one This is impact football.
This is getting Trevor Lawrence to think, oh my god,
there's ninety five coming off the edge from a five technique,
not even a seven technique, and I can't get away
from him.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Now.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Part of that's the coverage downfield and James. This speaks
to the bigger issue of Chris Jones' impact. It effects
all three levels of what the Chiefs are doing. They
could cloud the deep past and from behind drop their
linebackers to cover the intermediate stuff because they know Chris
Jones can be that disruptive. That's what we saw over
and over again in this game.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And you saw him rush from different spots. He was
out there on the edge. Remember when they toyed without
a couple of years ago, he dropped some weight and
they were like, may maybe he's an edge rusher. Now
he's doing it at his current dominance and his current
strength that he has in the middle of the defensive
line seat, but also can rush from the outside. They
always love moving him around finding advantages. But you mentioned it.
He's a drive ender, a game ender. You saw him
do that on fourth down. You see how he's able
(10:57):
to get their defense off the field to put the
best player football back on the field and what's happening
with this defense? And when I spend some time Darren
Camp there, I was talking to safety Justin Reid and
he was like, everybody now understands our system in the secondary.
He's like, I was teaching everybody my role and their
role throughout all of the season last year. So many
(11:17):
new faces. Now they're to year two into the system,
and this group as a defense, which usually starts slow,
is playing really well early on and helping out this
offense that struggle a little bit. I have to put
this out there. As we talked about Patrick Mahomes. This
was a nice birthday present from the Chiefs. This is
this is from rap sheet right now while we're recording.
This a new deal for Patrick Mahomes. In the restructured deal,
(11:41):
he now receives two hundred and ten point six million
between twenty twenty three and twenty twenty six, the most
in NFL history over a four year span. We knew
this was coming, Steve, it is now here and who
the offense is sputtered a little bit, but.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I might hold on, hold on, okay, okay, Now everybody
who's watching and listening, this is how like TV and
all this works. Thirty seconds before we are coming on
to tape this show, James and I are talking about
this Mahomes deal is gonna get done pretty soon. Don't
believe all this hype where Patrick says he doesn't need
all this money. There's been conversations going on for months
(12:23):
about getting this restructure done, and now you are saying
he's getting two one hundred How does Marshawn Lynch put
it two hundred grips two hundred thousand.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Ten million, two hundred ten million, two d two hundred
and ten millions.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
This this is cash dollars. I'm assuming this is guaranteed
bread that is get per in.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Listen to this. Steve Mahomes has now received over two
hundred and seventy three million in guarantees since the deal
was originally signed in twenty twenty, an NFL record that's unbelievable.
But I mean this, and this is this is how
this team is operating, Steve. And it's interesting when we
talked about this whole Chris Jones situation and everything that
(13:07):
was going on and Chris Jones wanting this new deal,
We've talked about how this team has looked to build
moving forward, they move on from Tyreek Hill to make
other money. They look how they're moving everything forward with
Patrick Mahomes in line. How does that change everything else
We're going to find out this offseason.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Well, and let's let's also not let people forget Wow,
Patrick Mahomes is getting all this money, this and that
in hard cash dollars. The amount of money he took
in the first three years of that ten year, four
hundred and.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Fifty million dollars deal was minimal. Isn't a lot.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
I want to say it was around sixty million. Now
minimal to NFL players, It's a lot for you and I.
But the fact that he was willing to sinimal for
Steve Wych, yeah right, damn right if you took that
little money, when you see some of this other upfront
cash these players got, this is this is a just
reward for him to get to two Super Bowls. Plus
(14:01):
it's going to allow, as crazy as the sounds, the
Chiefs to create cap space along the way, so maybe
they can get Chris Jones done depending on how the
structure of it is. We're not going to get into
all of that good stuff right there, all right, JP
you're gonna get the final word before we move on
to the B block.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Yeah, I'll say this, they were just waiting for Joe
Burrow's deal to get done before they really pushed this
things forward. Once they had those numbers, they were able
to readjust everything they wanted to do moving forward. Now,
as we move forward with this show, Steve Wera have
Jeff Schadea on to talk about a couple of these comebacks.
Who is gift rapped of victory and who had to
go out there and actually earn it More coming up
on the NFL Report. Welcome back to the NFL Report.
(14:49):
James Palmer, Steve White, John by Jeff Chadea.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Who.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
I'm not sure how close, Jeff, you lived to Patrick Mahomes,
but you might want to swing by and see what's
happening over there at Mahomes Manor. It's been redone and
now they have some more money for future upgrades, even
though it's all Brent spanking nouah.
Speaker 6 (15:06):
Yeah, we're not in the same neighborhood. I can promise
you that.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Come on, yeah up to see where he's You're adjacent.
You're adjacent, right.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Not the right right word to use.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
I'm more like he's up here and I'm way down
here with the other peons. But yeah, you know, look,
I think one thing that we knew when he signed
his first big extension was that that was not going
to last for ten years. The numbers sounded great, half
a billion dollars, but at the end of the day,
he took a team friendly deal with a discount, and
(15:37):
they weren't going to allow Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson
and Deshaun Watson and everybody else, you know, justin Herbert,
all these their quarterbacks to be paid more than the
best quarterback, the best player in the league. So this
was definitely not a surprise. The numbers aren't surprising. I
think James in the break we talked about just the
possibility and then looking at this again in four years
(15:59):
and redoing it. But they're always going to make sure
that he's at the top of the pay list, and
they're also going to try to make sure he has
his money. But they have the flexibility to keep making
moves to keep this team going.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
And yeah, real quick, explain that because people who may
not necessarily know how to finesse the cap say, wow,
he's getting you know, two hundred ten million dollars over
the next three years.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
We're going to be hamstrung.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
But that money, when it's amortized over the length of
the deal, it actually creates cap space.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
But it does, it does, and really, and they've been
doing this for the last couple of years where they
don't want to get into this world and I don't
want to go too deep into the weeds and how
NFL contract works, but they don't want to go into
this world where they're always trying to borrow money, get
players restructured, and try to get create salary cap space.
They feel like having him at a number that's manageable
for them, they're able to go to him and create
(16:50):
cast spaces when they want to. But they also know
he's getting paid as well, so this number will be
spread out over the course of the deal. I don't
know exactly all the details involved, but even though it's
a big number, it's really more about the years and
the way that the escalators are set up, the way
that they can actually spread it out, uh, you know,
(17:10):
pay to pay it to him over the course of
that deal. So a lot of ways to work and
make it flexible, which.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
Is big for a general manager Breadfeach. And with that said, Jeff,
look at what they have to do this offseason. You
have to pay the two guys that are right there
in front of Patrick Mahomes and centered Creed Humphrey and
their left guard, right right right guard.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
The guard guard, his guard.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
You know, those those are two of the best guys
that their positions right now in football, and they want
to hang on to the interior portion of that offensive line.
And both of those guys, Steve are up uh and
looking for for some cash of their own.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
And you've got to pay some of those guys if
if you're gonna build all this around Patrick Mahomes, protecting
Patrick Mahomes is a big part of it as well.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
So as you guys know, that's that's when you have
guys in the roster like, hmm, I'll be thirty two
the time of this next deal. I've got two years
left on my contract. Honey, let's go ahead and put
the house up for sale because we will not be
here next year. One guy who will be in placed
for a long time is Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who,
(18:16):
like Patrick Mahomes, signed a big deal this offseason, not
for as much bread. But here's Brian Dayball talking about
his quarterback and his team rallying from three touchdowns down.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Yesterday to beat the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Belief.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
But you can talk about it till you're blue in
the face, pat belief, it's got to happen. You have
to see tangible results too. So I think we have
some mentally tough players on our team and coaches.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
It's not always easy to be mentally tough.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
When you're you know whatever, it is, sixty to nothing
after a game and a half.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, mentally tough. You better be because, like he just said,
like Brian Dayball has said, Jet, you have not scored
after being outscored sixty to nothing after a game and
a half. You're playing the Arizona Cardinals, who I'm sorry,
aren't really that team.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You gotta do something.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
And JP and I were talking about this before the show,
the coaching that Brian Daball and that staff had to
do not only to motivate those guys, but to scheme
them back.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
And to get them rolling again.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Jeff, what about being able to come back from a
game like that when they really were reeling?
Speaker 6 (19:31):
Yeah, you know, I do. The first three column every week,
and I thought about writing about this team. The Giants
are what to make of them for what you just said,
which is, you've got a team that got destroyed by Dallas.
You got a team that couldn't score a point against
the worst team in the league for the first half,
and then they have this great comeback. And then they
(19:52):
also by the way Sakuon Barkley gets hurt, you don't
know how his ankle is going to respond. I feel
as if the Giants are a little bit of a
mess right now, and I think you have to do
all this work to beat the Cardinals. You've got some problems,
and I'm a big fan of Brian Dable, and you
(20:13):
can say that they did a great job of coming
back in this game, but I also feel like they
got away with a lot of stuff last year, got
some things that break their weight. They're not doing it
to happen now, and I just feel this is more
of a team that's going to end up being around
six seven wins than a real playoff contender.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Yeah, Jeff, you just said something that has been talked
about kind of behind the scenes for a while, and
so I mean, even speaking with folks of the Giants.
They'll tell you last year they won, but they did
it with smoking mirrors and some optical illusions because they
were not a fast team, right They did not have
a ton of speed, and they had to upgrade their
speed to be able to compete. And I don't know
(20:49):
if they necessarily did that by adding Darren Waller and
this and that. They've got to be tougher and better
at some of the positions of the coaching job Brian
dave Ball did last year was worthy of him winning
the Coach of the Year honors. But Jay, you know again,
you look at this team. They play Thursday night against
the Niners. Saquon we don't know if he's gonna be
able to go because of that ankle.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know, I'm with Jeff.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
I mean, you just don't know what to make of
this team right now because we still don't know what
their identity is and I don't know if anybody still
is really sold on Daniel Jones.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Well, part of that identity seed was gonna be you
bring in Darren Waller to be really probably your number
one target, and you don't know how his season's gonna
go with the hamstring right now, and how that's gonna
move forward, especially with some of the offensive line issues
that they have, and what we saw on the second half, Yes,
that was the most yards, by the way, Daniel Jones
has ever thrown four and a half. I think it
was two hundred and fifty nine, most he's ever done
(21:41):
in a half. But it was essentially him and Saquon.
I'd like that they got Jalen Hyatt kind of like
into the mix of sense, maybe you can find ways
to stretch the field a little bit, Jeff, because you're
gonna need to do that if that's your offense. Essentially
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley trying to somehow half run it,
half throw it as a because there are definitely some concerns,
(22:02):
but I do agree that once again, what I saw
was a locker room that kind of believes, and that
was a definite defining moment. When you get embarrassed in
Week one and then you're going, well, we have the
Cardinals and then you're getting embarrassed when you walk into halftime,
that might be a defining moment to where this season
somewhat salvage. But I think their margin for error, Jeff,
(22:23):
is really really thin. If they think they're a playoff.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
Team, Yeah, certainly. And look the money that Daniel Jones
got paid this offseason. Sometimes when you pay a guy
that usually usually when you pay a guy that kind
of money, you want to turn him into somebody who
can justify that kind of payment. I agree that this
was a big moment for him and this team, But again,
if you have to be down twenty to nothing in
every game you play against bad teams to find yourself,
(22:49):
I just don't think that's a great place to be
and discover your identity. They did a great to have
a coaching this team up last year, but weapons wise,
they're still lacking in a lot of ways. And by
the way, no one really talks about this, but came on,
Tipada's gonna start doing something it.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah he doesn't. You're right, You're right, Yeah, you're right.
I mean, he's got he's got to start making it.
And here's the other part.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
You know, we're talking about the Giants and them rallying,
they're still probably, uh probably they are the worst team in.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
The NFC East because the Washington.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Commanders folks are two and oh the team we thought
that was gonna be busterrific is two Sam right now,
and because they had a big time comeback against the
Denver Broncos. Jeff, We're gonna talk about the Broncos a
little bit later on, and some great stuff you wrote
in your column at NFL dot com slash Jadia. But
what about the Commanders right now and the fact that
(23:41):
Sam Howell, who you wrote about, looks like a real dude.
Speaker 6 (23:45):
The biggest surprise of the week for me. And I
was certainly a doubter and Sam Howell did not see
him being a prime time player. But you know, I
watched a little bit in the preseason game when they
played against Baltimore, and he showed some of that savvy
and that and kind of that cavalier style of play.
But to do it in week two, when you're on
the road and you're down and you have to forget
(24:06):
a lot of bass that's happened and still deliver big
plays for you. I was mesmerized by what he did,
and not just the throws, but leading the offense, keeping
things together. I feel like he and Eric Bienemy right now,
this tandem is it's almost like Dangiel Jones and Brian
Dabole last year. Like they are surprising people with the
way the enemy's coaching him and the way Howell's responding.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I love that you brought up eb I mean, I'm
not gonna say that the Chiefs are struggling offensively because
Eric Vienemy is not in the building, but I'll say
that the Washington Commanders as an offense that definitely have
some weapons. I talked to Patrick Sardan in the locker
room last Wednesday before this game, and he was like,
Terry mccluurin is the most underrated receiver in the NFL.
That's in Pat's mind. He's like, I don't understand why
(24:50):
he doesn't get attention. He can do everything. But he
also told me Johan Dotson is an up and coming
star in his eyes. That's one of the best cornerbacks,
maybe arguably the best cornerback in Football's opinion of these
wide receiver duo, let's let's just remember this Steve before
we get to break they had, they were down eighteen
on the road, Sam Howse first ever WROT start in
the NFL, and then they really go on a thirty
(25:12):
two to three run in a stretch in the middle
of this game. That is just ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
I mean, who the hell would have thought that Eric
b Enemy might be able to coach up a quarterback. Jeff,
We're going to see you a little bit later in
the show as we get ready, as we move on
to the next block, Chef A Baker, We've got Jordan
Love and a new dog in Atlanta, the Beijon Freeze
here on the NFL.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
Report does just can you just talk about how that
game was?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
It was so crazy.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
You guys looked like you were, you know, kind of
down for the count, and then you come back and
you just kind of take us through never done.
Speaker 8 (26:00):
When you see the nflcons out there, will never be
down for the count. We're gonna fight until that clock,
kids zero. So you know that's what I'm proud of
this team and everyone on this team for not giving up,
not you know, and just keep going out there and
just fighting so that clock kids zero.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I thought Stockings quarterback Desmond Ritter is now James and
I are joined by Sarah, And I gotta tell you, like,
if you're if you're a teammate of Desmond Ridder and
you see that, you're like, that's my quarterback, especially after
the way he just played. I mean, they made some
fourth down conversions. He made some really gritty like run
type place and big throws to Mac Collins and Drake
London down there as they come back from twelve down,
(26:39):
Sarah to beat the Packers and to move to two
and zero atop the NFC South. And you were telling
me earlier that you know, you had a conversation with
the team owner just by a chance, by the way, about.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
The optimism first circles. Does Sarah run in like just
hunting this Sarah gets down?
Speaker 9 (26:59):
Yeah, guys, I just you know, I didn't make it
to the owners meetings, the fancy owners meetings that you
get to go to. So I was just playing around. No,
I was actually in Atlanta. I was at Mercedes Benz
Stadium on Saturday for a different kind of football, soccer
related because Arthur Blank, as you know, owns Atlanta United
as well, and so he has just given the US
Soccer Federation a fifty million dollar check. They're going to
(27:19):
break ground and have US Soccer's training facility in Atlanta.
I also cover soccer. Again, everything, as you know in
life is a very very small world. So I was
up there. I was at their stadium on Saturday, with
Arthur Blank and obviously the season is very young, there's
a lot of optimism. And I was actually standing out
on the field, which was the soccer pitch at that time,
because they were about to play a game after this.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Press conference, no message, no.
Speaker 9 (27:44):
There were people yelling at me, and I was like,
you guys, don't think I wanted Messi to be here.
I was doing this. I was doing an unrelated press
conference announcement, and then Messi was supposed to be playing
thirty minutes later. So I was staying I was all
in on this thing, and like fans are yelling at me,
I'm like, yo, I want him out on the field
just as much as you do. I actually don't know
if Arthur Blink wanted him on the field because it
was better for his Atlanta United anyway. But they're so
(28:07):
excited and this is it. It was crazy because we're
standing out on this field and I was talking to
a team in play and I'm like, it's insane to
think that since this stadium was built, there's been a
Super Bowl there and there has not been a The
Falcons have not hosted a playoff game in that stadium,
which feels like it's been around for a while now,
(28:28):
so to think that you erected this beautiful stadium at
host Super Bowls, Peach Bowls, all these exciting games, like
they are clamoring for a playoff game to be in
Atlanta in that stadium, and it hasn't happened yet. And
you know, I saw the Falcons last year too, and
they were knocking on the door, as you could say
about every single team in that division, right because they
were all separated by one game with the box and
then everyone else's tied, so it could have gone either way.
(28:50):
But look, they've shored up that defense. They need Desmond
Rudder to not make mistakes. He needs to make the
plays when he needs to make them, and we saw
him do that in a really gritty, gritty win. I
think to the sense about Arthur Smith is, you know,
this hasn't been like the most when you look at
wins and losses. Hasn't been the best start right of
anyone's coaching career when you come in and like you
(29:11):
want to go right away, right to the postseason, and
that hasn't happened for him. But anyone you talked about
Arthur Smith, there's just so much respect for him around
the league and how smart he is, and there's always
just been this sense like they are going to get
it on track, and it sort of felt like they
were really putting the pieces in place this offseason and
you're starting to see this. I mean, look, he's doubled
down on Desmond rd Or this offseason when they could
have looked elsewhere, and he was like, Nope, this is
(29:32):
our guy. And that was the first time I saw
his comment, Steve in that press conference and when I
was sitting here when he was saying that and cut
off their porterns like nope, never doubt. I'm like, yeah,
like I'm in. I get it, like I'm in. So
I think this is a Falcon team that's certainly heading
in the right direction. I'm not surprised by that. To
enough start.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Listen, not everybody's sporting a mustache, but this team has
Arthur Smith's identity all over it, Steve like, they are
physical in every way that they play on both sides
of the football. I found it interesting talking to people
in that building this morning after their win. One of
the most interesting things that said that was said to
me was we really love Drake London and Mac Collins
as a one to two. You're like, Matt came in
(30:13):
as an afterthought. He leads this team in receiving right now,
and they really like those as a one two wide
receiver combo. Now you're looking at it and going like, well,
that's kind of interesting. But they like that matchup, Steve,
because of all the other pieces they have as well. Right,
they are wowed by Bjeon Robinson and what they can
do with him. He's their second leading receiver honestly, and
where they can put him all over the field. I
(30:33):
was told we're just scratching the surface about what we
can do with Bijeon, and and you're seeing this is
right now. I know we're two weeks in. This is
probably offensive Rerookie of the Year materials so far, this
is what we're looking at. I mean, I think Andrews
and Siliano hosting that show with you, Steve said his
moves have moves, which is essentially the way Bijeon plays,
but he also plays physical. I think that's the other
(30:54):
aspect of it. I'm curious how Kyle Pitts fits into
this coming off with the knee, does he become another
added element. We'll see if that happens. But what I
like is they have enough talent Steve where they do
think Desmond Ritter is making mistakes, but they feel like
he's making rookie mistakes because they do consider him still
a rookie. They have enough talent around him right now
(31:15):
in a physical enough defense to where if he doesn't
make rookie mistakes that cost you games, they're still in
a very good spot as he grows.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah, and look, I spoke to Terry font No years
ago and they were building this and twice passed and
two drafts passed on quarterbacks, and he said, look, we
want to build our rosters.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
And when we get to the point where we find
a quarterback, he has got a nice landing spot. He'll
have time to develop. He's got land Ron who can
carry this seat.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
So they've got those types of players. You know who
else is two and oh in this division? Though, the
team that nobody thought was gonna be two and oh, Sarah,
those are the Bay Buccaneers who just put a absolute
waxing on the Bears.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
You were there, You.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Saw that game at Baker Mayfield. Two and oh for
the first time in his career. What is transition from
Brady to Mayfield not only done for Baker, but kind
of the rest of the guys.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
You're saying, yeah, we can win without Tommy.
Speaker 9 (32:10):
I think what's interesting is that it's not that Tom
is his own entity, right, Tom is his own universe
in the football world and even bigger than the football world.
And as soon as Tom was gone, these expectations change.
And I don't necessarily think that it has to be
in a bad way, because when I say the expectations
(32:31):
of change, like, no one expects them to win. Everyone's
saying that they're going to fish last in the division.
And while you would go, wow, is that a good thing,
it just took pressure off these guys. They have been
under the spotlight every single game since the day that
Tom Brady announced he was coming to Tampa Bay. And
then you win a Super Bowl. That doesn't lower the expectations.
And so I just think that that starts to wear
(32:54):
on you in a different way. And look, expectations are
a privilege. You hear pressures of privilege, all those things. Yeah,
that's great and all, but this is a team that's like, Okay,
nobody's looking at us, nobody cares about us. Like that's fine,
We're just gonna go out have a good time. And
I do think it's sort of changed this mentality of
the team where they're just kind of out there having
a good time. I know, Steve, you and I talked
(33:15):
about it when I was in Minnesota last week and
I was in the room right next to where the
box their locker room. I've never heard them screaming and
hollering after a game the way they did when they
beat Minnesota take out the Super Bowl. That's a different thing.
But like, this is a team that's just operating in
a different manner because one people discounted them. But I
think that they're enjoying that. I think they're enjoying being
(33:36):
out of the spotlight. Every little thing that this team
has done in the last three years has been picked
apart and scrutinized in every single way imaginable. And if
you don't have that on you, it's almost like it's
a relief. And like, let's be honest, Chicago came to
town and after they're terrible Week one, the pressure's on Chicago.
I mean everyone's looking at like the sky is falling
in Chicago, whereas in Tampa they're like, hey, great Week
(33:57):
one win.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We surprised.
Speaker 9 (33:58):
We went to Minnesota and like no one thought we'd
come win, And now we're down here and no one
still expects us to win, and they win again, and
they've done it in a myriad of ways. The defense
has been really good, really lights out, and Baker Mayfield
one of them. I know you guys are on a
stat show, but tell me if this surprises you, because
it surprises me. Baker Mayfield is leading the NFL right
now in third down completion percentage number one, and like
(34:19):
that was something they struggled out last year. Do you
have Is that not surprising to you?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
I surprised.
Speaker 9 (34:25):
It's unbelievable he's been He's he's converted eighty seven percent
of the time on third down. I mean that's like insane.
And this is a new offense to him, a new team,
and so I think they're just really enjoying themselves here
in Tampa right now.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah, it's I think Sarah that's been the biggest surprise
I think for all of us. Everybody's seeing.
Speaker 9 (34:43):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
I think Baker. Let me do the math here. My
math's not as good as yours, but I think he's
played for fourteen teams in the last twelve months, and
he goes out there and he plays the way that
he's gone out and played, specifically on third downs protecting
the football, which I think, I will say this Steve,
everybody's kind of waiting for that Baker stretch to happen,
where you go, what was that throw? Right? But it
(35:04):
hasn't happened yet. It hasn't happened yet. And I do
think that there's something between him and Mike Evans specifically
when plays breakdown, and I think Mike is, you know,
definitely that type of player, and Sarah you know him
well in terms of being able to make plays when
things are off script, with the size that he has,
the speed that he has. We'll still see ingim going
out there just being one of the best receivers in
all of football. But Baker is the one who's making
(35:24):
this go. In terms of all of us being surprised
because this is a talented roster, Vidavea and Twine Winfield Junior,
I mean the linebackers. I mean they have Tristan Wurf's
on the offensive line. I mean they have a lot
of talent and one of those guys that I didn't mention, right,
there is a pass rusher in Shaq Barrett's there. Yeah,
and hey he goes out, and he goes out and
makes an unbelievable play to seal that game. But what
(35:47):
happened in the end zone just on another level compared
to the play that he made.
Speaker 9 (35:53):
Yeah, here's the thing. And for people that aren't aware,
and I think most people are shocked. First of all,
it's coming back from a tour Achilles that happened I
think in week eight of last season, so he's just
trying to make his way back right. And then horrific,
horrific tragedy this off season, his little two year old daughter,
Ariah drowns in the family pool. So what he has
had to endure over the last several months of his
(36:16):
life are it's just incomprehensible. And he talked about it
yesterday that before the first game of the season in Minnesota,
that he just sat in his locker room and started
crying because it hits him in different moments. And yet
he stepped to the podium yesterday and he was so joyful,
and I had this like I actually had this anxiety
of like, oh my god. So he just has this
pick six end of the game seals the deal. But
(36:36):
he's going to get asked about his daughter and what
it means and like, this poor guy, because he's now
he's going to get up there, like how is he
going to handle it? And he had the biggest smile
on his face. He had this huge, blinged out necklace
that was a heart and it was his little daughter
on it, and he was so joyful though, and he
was like, I was so happy that happened because I
blew her a kiss and like it brought the spotlight
(36:56):
back to my daughter. And which was like a very
way of thinking about it, because I mean this he's
he's going through it and he's going to be going
through this for a long time. And Todd Bowles was
asked about, you know, how do you see Shack being
able to maneuver what he've been able to maneuver through
not you know, he has an injury that he's still
working his way back from. And he said it's unbelievable.
(37:17):
I mean it's it's unbelievable what he has been going
through on and off the field. And so to have
that finish, the people that know that story behind that,
to have the finish that he had yesterday. It was
just crazy, and it's been a very an amazing start
for a Buccaneers team that there were a lot of
question marks about. And then of course, you know the
Eagles are coming to town for Monday night football. Soever
(37:37):
and goes, okay, here's here's the test now, so we'll
see what happens on Monday night.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
Yeah, exactly, And Sarah, just real quick, yeah, yeah, just
just we're all parents here, and so the respect for
Shaq Barrett to continue to wear a smile on his
face going through what he's going through just immeasurable.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Thank you so much, Sah.
Speaker 9 (37:58):
Community is just devastated.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
One of the best dudes in the league, man, one
of the best people in the league covered him for
a long time. Unbelievable. Yeah, all right, Sarah, appreciate it.
We're gonna move back onto the football field a little bit.
A couple of legendary coaches, Steve in terms of Sean Payton,
Bill Belichick, both Owen two, how about Brandon Staley Owen two,
whose seed is the hottest? Well, Jeff tod is gonna
come back and tell us.
Speaker 10 (38:29):
Russell in the pocket now bounces around set it throws
the ball up in the air, the ball.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Deflected Johnson, good Cook Logan, Well, I mean the hell
Mary did not get to the end zone. Steve Jeffett
did not reach the goal line, but somehow it was
caught in the end zone Brandon Johnson. That was the
(38:56):
hell Mary from Russell Wilson to Brand Johnson, but no
two point conversion. Some debate about a penalty in the
end zone, there wasn't called, and the Broncos fall shorts
and lose thirty five thirty three. But it wasn't that
hell Mary, even though we saw Russell Wilson play a
little bit better. Sean Payton still having some issues with
the operation. Sound familiar, Here's Peyton.
Speaker 10 (39:20):
There's a number of drives you know where we're late
with personnel getting out of the huddle. We took a while.
I mean, that's got to change. We had to burn
timeouts in the first half and I'm not used to doing.
We got to be better, and I've got to be better.
Russ's got to be sharper with get getting the play
out and then we got to look at how much
we have in But you know, if we need to
(39:42):
riskband it, we will.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Well you know, one too long ago when Sean Payton
was talking about Nathaniel Hackett and the bad operation because
he was a bad head coach Jeff. Now he's getting
it kind of a reality check, talking about going to
wrist bands get personnel out today. On Monday, he said
he had to shorten the verbiage now of the play
calls so they can get to the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Quicker.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
I mean they're they're searching for answers already, my man.
Speaker 6 (40:11):
Yeah, building a glass house over there is what Sean
Payton's doing. It's easy to throw stones when you're watching
from a farm, but once you're actually in there dealing
with the quarterback, things get a little bit different. I
thought it was ironic that he was talking about these
kinds of challenges because I thought Russell Wilson played fairly,
played fairly well, and Russell Wilson even said they played
their best half of offensive football this year in that game.
(40:34):
First of all I see with this team right now
is that all the talk about culture and teaching people
how to win and getting the right people in the room,
it just it takes a while to make this kind
of stuff work. And I will say this. The Broncos
are probably a better team right now with Sean Payne
coaching them, but the numbers game is not working in
their favor because when you lose two games against teams
(40:56):
you should beat at home, and you have the Dolphins
coming up next, a couple weeks down the road, you
get the Chiefs and the Bills and the Packers and
the Chiefs again, it's starting to look like this team
is going to end up being two and six, you know,
two and five as they near the midpoint of the season,
and that's just not going to get it done in
a crowded AFC. So I understand the concerns and Sean
(41:17):
Payton desire and make Russell Wilson as good of a
quarterback as he possibly can be. But you're up twenty
one three at home. You got to win that game.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
Hold up, John, if they're two and five. If they're
two and five, what do they do a quarterback?
Speaker 1 (41:28):
Because you know people are going to be screaming for
Jared Sidham or whoever.
Speaker 6 (41:32):
Oh man, it's I think part of it depends on
how it looks, because you can be you can play well.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
Yeah, this the second half that squandered this one.
Speaker 6 (41:43):
Away, thank you, thank you. No one wants to talk
about that part of it. But defensively, they're not the
same team they were a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah, And I want to chime in a little bit
before we move on about this whole situation that is
being talked about here in Denver at nauseum on Monday,
the play calling and about it taking too long in
the operation first point. I was told repeatedly after Sean
Payton's initial comments to jare Belle and USA today this
offseason texts from multiple members of that coaching staff from
(42:13):
a year ago that just kind of all had the
same sentiment, wait till Sewan starts working with Russ. We
had these issues constantly last year. I was told repeatedly
that there are issues about plays getting in too slow,
and that blame kept going on Nathaniel Hackett and the
offensive coaching staff. And now we're seeing the same issues
with a new coaching staff coming in. And I remember
(42:35):
at the beginning, maybe third of training camp, I asked
Sean Payton about that communication between both sides, Steve, and
he said to me, ninety percent of it is on
the play caller when things go wrong, it's usually the
play caller's fault. That is not where he's coming from.
Right now, it looks like it is the same quarterback
with two different play callers, that this is an issue
(42:56):
with the verbiage. Now, the interesting part with the wristband
was Russ was wearing a spand on Sunday, So I
guess they're gonna change some aspects of the wristband, change
some of the verbiage. This has been an issue with
Russell Wilson his entire career. This was a big issue
in Seattle. They just work ways to work around it.
Michael Robinson has talked on our air at nauseum about
(43:17):
the help that he gave in the huddle to Russell
Wilson at times. So it's finding ways around it, which
my last point. I know I'm going home with this,
but I'm fascinated by it. During training camp, you always
see right the play caller with the with the walkie
talkie and they're talking to the guy. They're talking to
the quarterback. That did not happen during training camp here
in Denver, Sean Payton was in the huddle giving the plays.
(43:41):
What I'm curious about was are we not practicing this
or is there an aspect of this to where this
is slowing down our operation in training camp. So we
just have to make sure I get the play in
so the rest of the other ten guys aren't affected.
Jeff like, we have to get work on this. We
can't let this slow us down to camp. I'm curious
to try to get to the bottom of this because
apparently it is an issue in Denver.
Speaker 6 (44:03):
Yeah. I have a hard time understanding how a quarterback
who's played as long as Russell Wilson's played can't understand
verbiage or can't get play calls in. It seems like
it should be second nature, right, It's it's a miss draggery.
It's it's hard to understand it, and it's happened so
many times now that it's easy to say, oh, it's
the play caller, but it's got to be the quarterback.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Yeah, look, look and the guy. Let's let's not forget
about this. He has had tremendous success in his career,
but for things.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
That kind of wine always told me, Steve, not everybody's perfect.
Somebody everybody has everybody has a flaw in their game.
This is something russell'sn't been great.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
Hey James, what is it about being in Denver and
bringing up how mama has raised you. I'm just talking
about Colorado, I should say, not Denver. That's a part
of the whole Colorado State Colorado thing, all.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Right, Hey, Jeff. Another coach who who Sean Payton supposedly was.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
Going to replace before he got to Denver's Brandon Staley
with the Chargers.
Speaker 2 (45:00):
As we know, this team is loaded.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
They spend all their money on defense, I mean tons
of it on defense, other than on their quarterback.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
They're owing to. They've lost games the same ways. It's
tough teams. Now well to Miami and then well Washington.
Speaker 1 (45:13):
They're doing all right, but they just keep you know,
they just keep getting I'm sorry the charge loss of
Tennessee beat on the deep ball. Defensively, they're not affecting
the quarterback the way they're paying people to do that.
And Brandon Staley is a defensive coach. We know last
year there are roamings about his job security. The way
this team has started. Are you concerned about this?
Speaker 9 (45:36):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (45:37):
No, without without a doubt. You're talking about again, a
team that was supposed to be pushing the Chiefs every
year we hear this right. The Chiefs owned the AFC
West for the last seven years, But the Chargers are
always that team that's snipping at their heels and getting
close and on the version of a huge breakthrough. And
I just don't get it. Brandon Staley is a I
(45:59):
like him as a coach, I like him as a person,
but he's supposed to be a defensive guy, and the
defense has never been good since he's been there. There
was a great stat that I read earlier today that
said the Chargers as a team have given up more
pass completions of over thirty yards than any team in
the league since Stateley became the head coach. And you're
(46:20):
talking about a secondary that has Derwin James, that has
j C. Jackson, that passed for us is Khalil Mack
and you know.
Speaker 3 (46:27):
Joey Bosa, all these guys, and it just never seems
to work.
Speaker 6 (46:29):
Again, oh to two with against teams that they're good
enough to beat. You can't do that in a crowded AFC,
and certainly when you're chasing the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
Yeah, that's the one that blows me away. And the
other part is if you look at the numbers, the
way Ryan Tannehill has closed out games with the Tennessee
Titans that are in overtime. He's five and one. If
you look at what's happened with Justin Herbert in these
late games, the stats are not the same. A lot
of times, guys, that's coaching right, what happens down the stretch.
(47:01):
And a lot of times also we think one guy's
gonna win Rookie of the Year, Steve. Maybe another guy,
a sleeper already through two weeks, could be the rookie
of the year. We'll tell you who Steve has his
eye on. Coming up next on the NFL Report.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Are back with a final block here at the NFL
Report And JPI was at the Rams Niners game yesterday.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
A fantastic game, Trucky.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
The Rams are a lot better than we give them
credit for their very physical upfront. Matthew Stafford looks absolutely reborn.
Speaker 2 (47:40):
You saw that in joint practices with the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
But rookie wide receiver Puka Nakua, a fifth round draft pick,
the latest mid to late round draft pick the Rams
had that have been developed by wide receiver coach Eric Yarber,
who is the secret sauce to this offense no one
talks about.
Speaker 2 (47:58):
He went for.
Speaker 1 (47:59):
Fifteen catches against the Niners. He's got twenty five over
the first two games, the most by a rookie. First off,
the fifteen catches the most by a rookie in the game.
Twenty five most by a rookie over two games. But
you know, I'm speaking of Niners players. After the game,
Talaa Hufona was like, oh, I know his brother.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Well, I'm tight with his brother. But I always knew
Pookap was a dog.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
And they said in the first half he was their
zone buster, right, and they saw it on film against
Seattle the week before that. He saw the seams in
their zones and was killing them. So in the second
half they went up, they pressed him a little bit more,
they put a little more traffic.
Speaker 2 (48:32):
In front of him.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
He had eight catches in the second half after having seven.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
In the first, so he was better. He's a real dude.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
And here's the thing, when Cooper Cup comes back, because
right now he's playing Cooper Cup's role, I mean lining
up at flanker, cracking guys like Nick Boges at the
line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2 (48:47):
When Cup comes back, he may change roles a little bit,
but he clearly.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Is trusted by Stafford, as you can tell by the
twenty targets James he received against the forty nine ers.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
Yeah, we should make it abundantly clear with Cooper Cup
comes back, this is not just like all right, Cela
ter Pooka that that is not the case. He's definitely
gonna have a major role in this offense. And when
they had those two joint practices in Denver and I
was there, I was just like, this guy is torching
a secondary that's supposed to be very, very good. Now
through the first two games, we haven't really seen it
plays women at that level, but he was really the
(49:19):
dominant player in those two games. And I love that
we bring up Cooper Cup repeatedly because that's what I
love about Team Steve is this guy drops in the
draft due to concussion due to speed. He was like
a four to five guy. You know who else was
a speed guy that dropped. A guy that dropped because
of his speed, Cooper Cup. And this is a team
that has not really been focused on the speed aspect
(49:39):
of it. It's understanding defenses, understanding space, understanding ways to
get open. And this is just a great example, just
like Cooper Cup to go out there and be a
dominant player when the whole league apparently is based off
of speed.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
JP he's got football speed because they were using him
on jet sweeps and things like.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
That as well. They were getting the ball in his hands,
speaking of speed.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
This edition of the NFL Report, it flew by j Peb.
You want to thank Sarah Watash and Jeffshediah NFL dot com.
Slash first read for more on Jeff and We'll be
back on Thursday. Also listen to the podcast
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