September 15, 2021 • 28 mins
In the fourth episode of the NFL Inside Report podcast, Rhett Lewis is joined by Steve Wyche to breakdown the Las Vegas Raiders emotionally thrilling win over the Baltimore Ravens in overtime; and James Palmer to share his insiders perspective surrounding the Deshaun Watson situation in Houston!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm Bred Lewis, and this is the NFL Inside Report.
Taylor claus On, Rene hits Amman, Donna takes it across
rock and roll touchdown. Houston quarterback Tyron Taylor, not Deshaun Watson,
leads the Texans to a Week one win. He's on
the roster. He's on our team again. What does that
mean moving forward? Again? It's a one day at a time.
(00:34):
I would say, a proposition and endeavor and that's how
we're gonna handle him. Watson is reporting for work in meetings,
helping Taylor, but not practicing. He's on the roster, third
on the depth chart, but not playing. Everybody from ownership
down believes that he will never take another snap for
the Houston Tasts. James Pullman with inside of the most
awkward quarterback situation in football, plus for lens of one
(01:00):
on a touchdown pass of thirty one yards on the
verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the
Raiders persevere and just to see that sideline at home
in front of all of these fans, it was one
of the most incredible emotional experience that I've had in
doing this for almost thirty years. Steve Whitch with what
(01:23):
the wind means for an organization trying to break through,
And we'll begin with that Raiders fan base that nearly
broke down the new walls of Allegiance Stadium after a
dramatic overtime sequence the leatherwood false start leads to a
car tipball interception that gives the Ravens an opportunity for
a win, but Vegas would not be denied. They got
(01:46):
the ball back and then walked off with win number
one of the season. And Steve Whitch got to see
it live. Well, Steve, you watched what was almost like
every other fan inside of Allegiance Stadium in Las Vegas
last night, the most Raiders loss ever, except they one
(02:08):
from the false start, the interception and overtime and they
get the ball back and Say Jones ends up walking
it off with a win. Put that ending for the
Raiders in particular into words for us, right, Seriously, it
was like ten minutes of Okay, you've come down the
ski jump. You know you've landed safely. Oh wait, there's
(02:30):
another two yards I've got to go down again. You know,
it was because it looked like Brian Edwards, who didn't
have a catch in the thirty seconds or left in
the game. He scores right the touchdown, they review it,
he's short. Then he said they get the fall start penalty.
I'm standing on the Raiders sideline. All these fans are
(02:51):
just cussing it over killing them, killing Gruden, killing may Act.
They were just killing them. They're lucky they weren't in
a black hole. They were like the gray hole. Then now,
so there's the pick car throws a vine drive into
the end zone. It's the funds up. So now everybody
is sick because you're like, okay, now the Ravens are
(03:13):
gonna come down March and fifty yards and Justin Tucker
is gonna be automatic. And then with Karl Nassy punch
the fumble, our Jackson is fumbled at the off Baltimore,
that sideline and that stadium, it was. It was absolutely incredible,
(03:34):
and so you're like, okay, they're gonna do this aligning
from the field goal. Oh wait, we're gonna offensive back out.
So everyone in the sidelines like like what are we doing?
Oh my god, kick the fieldicle you run a play,
Because as soon as they got the ball back, I
was like, kick it, don't risk a turn over, don't
risk a penalty kick it. They run a play set
(03:58):
out the field goal team and then I'm like, uh,
they're running the offense back out here. John Gruten's out there. Delay. Yeah, delay,
kickers not ready to kick. They back it up. Offense
comes back out and walk off. Winter Cars gonna get
the shotgun. Snap they plipped from the side. It's picked up.
There's an arching passed on the side that's come with
(04:20):
the five touchdown. St. John's just to see that sideline
and the oh we actually did it at home in
front of all of these fans. It was one of
the most incredible emotional experiences I've had in doing this
from with thirty years. That means something right there, and
(04:41):
it means and it means something, Steve, for the Raiders
to do it in front of their fan base that
they've kind of been a part of but not really
Like think about how awkward it had been for the
Raiders moving to Las Vegas yet not getting to play
a single game in front of their fans for an
(05:04):
entire year, essentially like they really moved this year. Like
that's that's almost what it felt like, right, Steve. Yeah,
I mean, look right, You've got kids, right, so it's
like waiting until there to to baptize them. Yeah, an
interesting analogy. So so you know that that's kind of
like how it was because the fans were into it.
(05:26):
You know, we live in l A. I flew from
l am my whole plane with Raiders fans um, so
you know, you had the l A contagient, a lot
of folktion to bay there and then to come out
and play a game like they did. Right. The starters
didn't pay off preseason, so they were really off kilter
in the first half, especially on offense. But Derek Carr
was very inaccurate. But the defense kept playing and I
gotta tell you unique and got way with Max Crosby,
(05:51):
the smoke that they were bringing off the edges and
what that did for that interior. You know, I spoke
to us Bradley a couple of days before that. He's like,
Steve R. D Line is gonna be pretty good. You know,
he's a he's at Crosby and got with the effort
and then with Nasad rotating in the three effort. Guys,
it's insane because so much, especially a game like this
and getting sacks. It's the second effort. It's not the
(06:14):
initial play. It's when you know, Lamar steps up or
something like that and they make a play and we
saw it at the end. One States continue to disrupt
this offense. Um, that's to me is like the biggest
takeaway for the Raiders at this defense, especially at front,
might actually be something. Let's keep in mind. The expectation
has always been just just win baby, right. Everyone knows
(06:35):
that from from Al Davis on on down, and you
know when you know when he coined that legendary phrase,
you know, years and years ago. But um, they haven't steve.
They have not one. They have not one when it mattered,
and they still have not one you know, or made
it to the playoffs in John Gruden two point oh
in this era. So what does this game mean for
(06:57):
progress on that front or made to be seen? You know,
as we know, week one is fool's gold, right, some
teams that look really good, they're gonna they're gonna they're
gonna level down. And some teams that look crappy and
sloppy and you know, turnover prone and penalty prone, they're
gonna level up. So by week three or week four,
I really know, but I think what was promising was
(07:19):
Derek Carr was clean right that that Ravens events in
front did not get to him. You know, the pass rush,
Gus Bradley. I knew he was gonna bring something to
that defense, you know, more of simplistic communication and just
to you know, get after the passer. You know that's
gonna help. But can they be consistent with it? This
win could plan a seed, you never know, but you
(07:42):
just can't put too much into week one. We've got
sixteen more of these now. Yeah, Well, the thing that
I think you could pull things from it that are encouraging.
As you mentioned the defense for one and then second
half game on the line had to have a field
goal to send it to overtime, and Derek Carr might
(08:05):
have come up with two of the best throws of
his career, fitting those into Brian Edwards that last time,
fitting that ball into that tight window when they when
the when the Ravens knew exactly where you know, they
they knew exactly what the Raiders were trying to do,
and somehow Carr found a way. Steve Yeah, and like,
(08:27):
you know, look, that's not new for Derek Carr. I mean,
but usually he's finding a way because the defense has
let him down and there in total desperation mode. This
was where they really seem to have a rhythm and
they're offensively for much of the second half. Um but Edwards,
like I said, they had thrown the ball to him
and until thirty seconds we're left in that game, he
(08:49):
makes the four biggest catches to proceed this a Jones touchdown, right,
So it was just beautiful execution. Derek Carr, you could
say what you want about him. One t settled in.
He was on point in that offense was so good
and just so efficient throughout a game against a very
good team. Yeah. And then the other piece of this is,
(09:11):
you know, when when you're trying to gauge progress for
franchise that's trying to get over the hump get themselves
into the postseason, you know, you look back on on personnel,
and you look back on on players they've brought in,
players they've drafted, and look the jury. As much I
love Mike Mayock as much as anybody, Um, he's a
great friend, but the jury is still out on really
(09:32):
four of his first five first round draft picks, and
and maybe the book is closed on Cleveland Farrel who
is inactive and you know, right, he's inactive number four overall,
pick a couple of years ago. Josh Jacobs is the
is the the you know, he's the winner out of
that bunch. Jonathan Abram, you know still I think still
trying to figure it out. And then Damon Arnett and
(09:53):
Henry Ruggs. But Rugs comes up with a huge catch
at the very end when they needed his speed and
he found a way. So like figuring out those players
progress is kind of a way to judge the team's
progress in a sense as well. Yeah, absolutely, And you know,
the leadership has had to be imported for the most part.
You talk about, you know, in got way and some
(10:16):
players like that. But look, Match Crosby, that dude a
stud man. Yeah he's he's a player. Ye you look
at kJ Right, hold up real quick, Yeah, how the
hell are they gonna give him bow Jackson's number? I
mean when he made a play that thirty four. I mean,
(10:37):
I know the Raiders can't retire everyone's number, but a
great play, But I mean bringing a guy like kg
Right is gonna help. He's been there, and look, I
think having a coach at Gus Bratt is gonna help
out Abrams. He's coached a few good safeties in his career. Yeah,
(10:57):
the scheme, the scheme is gonna work, right, So you know,
we'll see they're they're trying everything they can. They know
they have to win. And the thing is, look at
the division they're in. The Chiefs are still the benchmark,
and and so it's gonna be tough. But the NFL
is better when the Raiders are good. Right, Yeah, everyone
in that division one this week, just like the NFC
(11:18):
West four and oh teams out West getting it done.
Um and uh, you know, look, let's just finish with
this because I think it's powerful considering the players that
John Gruten has coached. When he says Darren Waller is
the is the best player he's ever coached, that's a
that's a pretty lofty statement, Steve, you buying it? I
(11:39):
think what I think John was caught in the moment
and maybe he's thinking and maybe he's thinking offensive players. Right,
I'm sure offensive because there's some defensive Hall of famers
over there. You've got John Lynch, Warntsapp, Derek Brooks, Charles
kind of like John, what's your Brett farrest position. Coach, Yeah,
(12:00):
is that too. Look, Waller's great, Waller's great right hive
yards in a touchdown. But there's some hyperbole in there,
but I think it just it paints the picture of
how vital he is to this team, because without Waller
then they don't have they don't have anything through the air.
At this point, it doesn't work. And I agree with
(12:20):
what he said after the game because Victor for the
Athletic asked him, Hey, uh, you know, while it was
targeted nineteen times, and John was like, we're threw it
sixty that guy twenty times. Look. I was at a
game last year, an empty Legion stadium when they're playing
the Dolphins, and the Dolphins are put Eric row on Waller,
(12:42):
which is what they do right. Eric Roe is their
tight end stopper, and he was all over Waller but
he couldn't stop him. And I'm like, why don't they
throw the ball to him at least twenty times? Because
he's that good, He's that effective, he's that fast, he's
that good when he catches it and runs with it.
And you know, first grade is like Kittle and Kelsey,
(13:03):
are you know, Waller is more of a wide receiver type,
and I think that's what the Falcons are looking for
when they drafted Kyle Pitts fourth overall. It's more of
Karen Waller type than that Kelsey type. Yeah, that's an
interesting distinction. But but you make a good point, right,
Good shooters got to get their shots, even if they're
not going down, you gotta take them and look, a
good receiver tight end like Waller is like, you gotta
(13:25):
get him his targets for him for him to make
an impact in this game. Uh, you made an impact
for us, Steve White, Sticks are spending some time with
this pal. You got it right. Still to come on
NFL Inside Report. What if they came to him and
they said, we want to start you week week two
or week three, Deshaun think you would do it? We
only have a couple of ways we can slice this, right,
we slice into the most unique quarterback situation in the league.
(13:49):
Deshaun Watson and the Texans under the spotlight. Next, if
you thought the Aaron Rodgers Jordan's Love Packers fiasco this
(14:10):
offseason was an awkward situation, let me welcome you to Houston,
where one of the best quarterbacks in football is third
on the depth chart, James Palmer helping us make sense
of it all. JP. What's happening, brother? What's up? Ratt?
How are we doing? I like the garage, Yeah, yeah,
here we are um living lavishly in the garage here,
(14:33):
and like I feel like that's kind of where the
Texans have been stashing DeShawn Watson um over the course
of the last few weeks. I mean, this is just
so weird. What has it been like for the Texans
and for Watson really since training camp ended and we
kind of stopped getting these visuals of DeShawn. Yeah, I
(14:54):
think that's the best way to start this is right
layout the facts of where everything stands, and then we'll
start there. And it really is dates further back than
what you said, just dates back to the start of
training camp. He hasn't missed a day to my understanding,
since the start of training camp. He's been even though
you don't see him out on the practice field at times,
he came and went throughout camp. He was there every
(15:14):
single day fast forward to the start of the season.
He's essentially I'll put this in two parts, part of
the fifty three man roster and part of the Texans
and also not at the same time, if that makes
any sense. How he is part of the team is this.
I'm told he shows up every single day, he puts
(15:34):
his work in, his workouts in, he goes to meetings.
Um Brandon Cooks, their wide receiver, who I spoke to
last week, said, you know, he sees things other quarterbacks
don't see. That's why he's one of the best quarterbacks
in the league right now. So him talking with Tyrod Taylor,
our starting quarterback, is not a terrible thing during the
week in preparation for game day, But then when game
(15:56):
day rolls around, he is inactive. He is an there.
He did not travel to their preseason games to my understanding,
and he does not practice throughout the week. So he's
essentially part of the fifty three man roster ret and
not at the same time. And what I'm told is
everybody from ownership down believes that he will never take
another snap for the Houston Texas and what they're doing
(16:20):
with this day to day approach and how they're handling
it in the way I laid it out, they're expected
to do that throughout the duration of the season unless
something changes with one of the investigations which is either
the FBI s Houston Police Department or NFL's or as
Ian rapport reported he's traded before the deadline if none
of those things change, which with the investigations, it doesn't
(16:40):
appear anything is going to change. This is going to
be status quo through the rest of the season. So
let me ask you just digging into that here a
little bit and talking about those investigations into the allegations
that we talked about for uh, you know, a bunch
during the summer months, in the spring of the allegations
of sexual misconduct, as you mentioned, kind of a try
fold of investigations going on. Those do not happen quickly, um,
(17:03):
and they will be thorough as we've seen, and so
we'll continue to follow those. In the meantime. Though he's
eligible to play, he is not playing. He is inactive,
as you've been saying. So is that decision to make
him inactive do you feel like that's more at Deshawn's
request or is that more of the team's way of
(17:23):
handling this weird situation which kind of began with the
trade request months ago. Yeah, so this part is more
of my opinion, and I would say that is how
the team and de Shawn, which their general manager Nicko Sorio,
has has been open about this. He talks to him regularly.
He's not exiled and you know there's no communication with him.
He's on the roster. He's on our team again. What
does that mean moving forward? Again, it's a one day
(17:45):
at a time. I would say, proposition and endeavor and
that's how we're going to handle it. My assumption would
be that this is from both parties. A because the
Texans don't want to put him out on the fields
where potentially he could be injured in practice or in
a game. If they're trying to trade him is remember
he is as Cassar is trying to change this their
biggest trade commodity, their biggest chip out there to change
(18:09):
this rebuild. They know he's not going to play for them,
so he needs to get the most possible. The Texans
don't want to jeopardize that. At the same time, he
does not want to play for them. What if they
came to him and they said we want to start
you week week two or week three, to Sean, I
think you would do it. Then his money comes into play.
(18:29):
It is because that, I mean, we only have a
couple of ways we can slice this right. One is
the way that they're going about it too, is they
trade him. Three is they tell him, hey, you're playing,
yeah if he If he says no, then he is
jeopardizing his his financial status, and then they can start
(18:49):
finding him and start incurring asking for money back. Hey
we want you to play and you're not playing, and
they can go down that road. When I did the
TV report of this with Jim Trotter, Jim had an
interesting stance where he talked to some people within the
players association in the league to where there is a
thought maybe if you do that, you would maybe be
(19:10):
causing the riff in the locker room that it appears
the Texans have been avoiding so far to where he is.
And I'll be honest, he is still very well liked
to a number of players I've talked to over the
last week. And Justin Reid told you that it's not
a distraction, right like this having him around but not
playing is not a distraction exactly. He had a weird analogy, um,
(19:32):
and I'll give it to you, but I'd say I
probably talked to a dozen players at the game on Sunday,
and not one of them said he's been a distraction
or it's been a distraction. Um. And if anybody kind
of knows, he's a bit of an introvert and and
and keeps to himself a lot. So I can see
that being the case, and I can see him not
wanting to cause a distraction. But justin Ree's analogy was
he was like, hey man, it's kind of like COVID.
(19:53):
I was like, I don't put this together. Um, And
he goes last year with COVID, all of this came about,
all these new procedures, all these new protocols, and all
of the stuff we had to do to get through
a season. It eventually just became the new norm. And
this is now just our new norm. You know. The
other hypothetical that kind of comes to mind, James is,
(20:15):
you know, let's say God forbid, something happens, you know,
to their starting quarterback, with that be Tyrod Taylor, Um,
you know, and Davis Mills gets promoted to the starting job. Like,
would they go get another quarterback to be the backup?
Or are you going to see Deshaun Watson sitting there,
you know, holding the tablet on the sidelines, because that's
like a roster construction deal, you know it is, and
(20:37):
right now everybody's going, I mean, he is taking up
a spot on theft that they are essentially playing this
season with fifty two players, right they're playing this year
with one fewer player than everybody else. Has the liberty
of the reason I think they would not put him
out there is there's a reason you don't see him
at practice outside probably of the injury situation. He's the
(21:00):
best quarterback in the building and he's the top five
quarterback and just talking talent in the NFL, that's got
to be bizarre when the third string guys out there
just slaying it, and do we understand, like is he
going through is he is he leading the scout team?
Like is he taking reps in practice that we know of?
He is not. He does not attend practice nothing, and
it is not and they they're very open about non
(21:21):
injury related did not attend practice. So he's not even
there and he's not there for the games. I think
that part of the distraction aspect shows you um that
they probably would go with another player on the roster
of something happened at Tyrod Taylor then put him on
the sideline throughout the course of a game, because think
about it. I mean I was there Sunday. It really
(21:43):
was kind of like out of sight, out of mind,
Like I don't know what the broadcast had, but I
don't think he was discussed a whole lot. Imagine if
he's standing on the sideline, Oh, the optics of that
would be insane. And then just kind of like ending
this this discussion, kind of where this thing began for
to Shaun, with his issues within the organization, mostly had
(22:06):
to deal with non Nick Kisserrio related items, right, like
this was wanting to be a part of a potential
GM search, wanted to be a part of the potential
head coach search. Not that he necessarily had anything against
David Culley as the head coach or against Nick Kissario
as the GM, right exactly. I think some I mean
outside of this is all prior to the twenty two
(22:28):
sexual misconduct and correct, you know, all allegations that are
out there that he denies any wrongdoing too, but this
is prior to that. I wouldn't advise anybody to go
back and listen to his final press conference of the season,
where he was beyond emphatic about how excited he was
about building a new foundation to this organization they were
going to start over, how much he wanted to be
(22:50):
a part of that, how much he wanted to rebuild something.
He wanted offensive coordinator Tim Kelly to stay, as well
as his quarterback coach t J. Yates, because if you
look at what he did in year four of that
offensive system, outside of the four wins, he had almost
an m v P type season he led the NFL
and dancing. He was remarkable on a very very bad team.
The point I'm taking is at that point you could
(23:11):
see how bought in he was to the organization, and
then you fast forward to it wasn't the people that
were picked, it's how the process went down. And to
my understanding, his beef an issue and refusing to ever
play for the organization again comes from his issue with
ownership and not his issue with Nick Cassario or David Culley.
(23:32):
How do you kind of gauge the way that Cassio
and Cully have have handled this whole thing that they
just kind of stepped into right right, And it's kind
of funny. I was talking to remember the organization in
the tunnel after the game walking over to go see
Urban Myers press conference and how that was going to
go down forty minutes after the game end. I think
that's a violation. But um our conversation was this, I
(23:57):
don't know how many games the Texans are going to
win this year, but they might have the right coach
and the right quarterback to handle this awkward situation. There
aren't too many players I've talked to that have said
anything other than David Culley has a tremendous pulse on
this locker room and feel for our group and feel
(24:18):
for how this situation is being handled. First of all,
let me tell you this about the noise. The only
noise it matters to this franchise and his team is
the noise inside this building, in this room, and that's
the only noise this mattered to us. That's the reason,
as I said before, when we went out and played
this game to day, if we did things the right way,
we'd have a chance to win the game. And we
did that today and we won. That has been a big,
big advantage the players feel like for how they've been
(24:40):
able to go about their business because of the way
their head coach has handled it. And obviously because of
the way Tyrod has handled it, because it's gotta be
a weird feeling going out there as the starting quarterback
knowing the third string quarterback is one of the best
players on the planet at quarterback, and and they have
a pretty good relationship from my understanding, um de Shaw
and Tyrod. So I think those two as well as
(25:03):
the way Nick has handled it, because I think the
worst thing you could do in this as a general
manager and being the voice of the organization for this,
because cal McNair hasn't really said anything on it is
we're taking it day by day because you can't say
anything in stone about this situation that is so much
in flux. So I do think they're handling it as
(25:23):
awkward as it is, in a pretty decent manner so far,
considering all things considered. Because they don't know that much.
They don't have any answers either as an organization. By
the way, you run into the quarterback whose last name
is Taylor for the Houston Texans, Are you calling him Tyrod?
Are you calling him to Rod? Listen. I had this
discussion again pregame and I said, he apparently has recently
(25:47):
told people in the building, it's Tyrod, and I know
that there is a clip saved at NFL network headquarters
of him making sure we all call him to Rod.
I don't know there to go with this, because if
he's gonna be the starting quarterback, I want to know
how to say his name, you know what I mean?
And his mom, I do know this to his mom
(26:08):
calls him Tyrod. I see, I thought that was the
origination of Tarad. Was the was from the broken row back,
is the guy who is what they remember back in
the Browns hard knocks situation. So so I just tried
to say his first name as fast as possible. Hey five,
So the biggest issue with uh James. With all the
hard hitting journalism, Thanks Budd, still to come the news
(26:33):
you need to know from around the league. Here's some
news we're following the Saints dealing with a cluster of
COVID nineteen cases. Multiple Saints assistants, all vaccinated, and White
receiver Michael Thomas, who's on the physically unable to perform list,
(26:55):
all testing positive for COVID. Following the positive tests, the
Saints entered the Enhanced COVID nineteen Mitigation Protocol per league policy.
Which includes a mask mandate and daily testing for all
players and staff, regardless of vaccination status. The week to
match up, though against the Panthers, is still on as scheduled.
Saints also expected to be without a number of starters.
(27:16):
Cornerback Marshawn Lattimore, center Eric McCoy, and defensive end Marcus Davenport,
all dealing with injuries and in Orchard Park, New York.
In compliance with the Erie County Department of Healths directive,
The Buffalo Bills and high Mark Stadium announcing Tuesday that
all guests aged twelve and older will be required to
provide proof of COVID nineteen vaccination to attend Bills home games.
(27:38):
For the games on September and October three, fans will
be permitted to enter with one dose of a COVID
nineteen vaccine beginning with the October thirty first game, though
guests must be fully vaccinated or entry. And the forty
Niners placing running back where he mosted and cornerback Jason
Burrett on i R with season ending knee injuries. In
(27:59):
a corresponding move, the team signed veteran corner Drake Kirkpatrick
Niners head to Filly to take on the Eagles in
Week two, and we're back with you on Friday with
a look back to Monday Night and ahead for the
Ravens Sunday night matchup against the Chiefs as they continue
to deal with turnover in their running back group after
season ending injuries to their top two running backs j K.
(28:22):
Dobbins and Gus Edwards. For producers Thomas Warren and Tim Parashka,
i'm reet Lewis, thanks so much for being with us.
We'll see you next one. NFL Inside Report is the
production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio.
For more official podcasts from the NFL, visit the i
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Bred Lewis, and this is the NFL Inside Report.
Taylor claus On, Rene hits Amman, Donna takes it across
rock and roll touchdown. Houston quarterback Tyron Taylor, not Deshaun Watson,
leads the Texans to a Week one win. He's on
the roster. He's on our team again. What does that
mean moving forward? Again? It's a one day at a time.
(00:34):
I would say, a proposition and endeavor and that's how
we're gonna handle him. Watson is reporting for work in meetings,
helping Taylor, but not practicing. He's on the roster, third
on the depth chart, but not playing. Everybody from ownership
down believes that he will never take another snap for
the Houston Tasts. James Pullman with inside of the most
awkward quarterback situation in football, plus for lens of one
(01:00):
on a touchdown pass of thirty one yards on the
verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the
Raiders persevere and just to see that sideline at home
in front of all of these fans, it was one
of the most incredible emotional experience that I've had in
doing this for almost thirty years. Steve Whitch with what
(01:23):
the wind means for an organization trying to break through,
And we'll begin with that Raiders fan base that nearly
broke down the new walls of Allegiance Stadium after a
dramatic overtime sequence the leatherwood false start leads to a
car tipball interception that gives the Ravens an opportunity for
a win, but Vegas would not be denied. They got
(01:46):
the ball back and then walked off with win number
one of the season. And Steve Whitch got to see
it live. Well, Steve, you watched what was almost like
every other fan inside of Allegiance Stadium in Las Vegas
last night, the most Raiders loss ever, except they one
(02:08):
from the false start, the interception and overtime and they
get the ball back and Say Jones ends up walking
it off with a win. Put that ending for the
Raiders in particular into words for us, right, Seriously, it
was like ten minutes of Okay, you've come down the
ski jump. You know you've landed safely. Oh wait, there's
(02:30):
another two yards I've got to go down again. You know,
it was because it looked like Brian Edwards, who didn't
have a catch in the thirty seconds or left in
the game. He scores right the touchdown, they review it,
he's short. Then he said they get the fall start penalty.
I'm standing on the Raiders sideline. All these fans are
(02:51):
just cussing it over killing them, killing Gruden, killing may Act.
They were just killing them. They're lucky they weren't in
a black hole. They were like the gray hole. Then now,
so there's the pick car throws a vine drive into
the end zone. It's the funds up. So now everybody
is sick because you're like, okay, now the Ravens are
(03:13):
gonna come down March and fifty yards and Justin Tucker
is gonna be automatic. And then with Karl Nassy punch
the fumble, our Jackson is fumbled at the off Baltimore,
that sideline and that stadium, it was. It was absolutely incredible,
(03:34):
and so you're like, okay, they're gonna do this aligning
from the field goal. Oh wait, we're gonna offensive back out.
So everyone in the sidelines like like what are we doing?
Oh my god, kick the fieldicle you run a play,
Because as soon as they got the ball back, I
was like, kick it, don't risk a turn over, don't
risk a penalty kick it. They run a play set
(03:58):
out the field goal team and then I'm like, uh,
they're running the offense back out here. John Gruten's out there. Delay. Yeah, delay,
kickers not ready to kick. They back it up. Offense
comes back out and walk off. Winter Cars gonna get
the shotgun. Snap they plipped from the side. It's picked up.
There's an arching passed on the side that's come with
(04:20):
the five touchdown. St. John's just to see that sideline
and the oh we actually did it at home in
front of all of these fans. It was one of
the most incredible emotional experiences I've had in doing this
from with thirty years. That means something right there, and
(04:41):
it means and it means something, Steve, for the Raiders
to do it in front of their fan base that
they've kind of been a part of but not really
Like think about how awkward it had been for the
Raiders moving to Las Vegas yet not getting to play
a single game in front of their fans for an
(05:04):
entire year, essentially like they really moved this year. Like
that's that's almost what it felt like, right, Steve. Yeah,
I mean, look right, You've got kids, right, so it's
like waiting until there to to baptize them. Yeah, an
interesting analogy. So so you know that that's kind of
like how it was because the fans were into it.
(05:26):
You know, we live in l A. I flew from
l am my whole plane with Raiders fans um, so
you know, you had the l A contagient, a lot
of folktion to bay there and then to come out
and play a game like they did. Right. The starters
didn't pay off preseason, so they were really off kilter
in the first half, especially on offense. But Derek Carr
was very inaccurate. But the defense kept playing and I
gotta tell you unique and got way with Max Crosby,
(05:51):
the smoke that they were bringing off the edges and
what that did for that interior. You know, I spoke
to us Bradley a couple of days before that. He's like,
Steve R. D Line is gonna be pretty good. You know,
he's a he's at Crosby and got with the effort
and then with Nasad rotating in the three effort. Guys,
it's insane because so much, especially a game like this
and getting sacks. It's the second effort. It's not the
(06:14):
initial play. It's when you know, Lamar steps up or
something like that and they make a play and we
saw it at the end. One States continue to disrupt
this offense. Um, that's to me is like the biggest
takeaway for the Raiders at this defense, especially at front,
might actually be something. Let's keep in mind. The expectation
has always been just just win baby, right. Everyone knows
(06:35):
that from from Al Davis on on down, and you
know when you know when he coined that legendary phrase,
you know, years and years ago. But um, they haven't steve.
They have not one. They have not one when it mattered,
and they still have not one you know, or made
it to the playoffs in John Gruden two point oh
in this era. So what does this game mean for
(06:57):
progress on that front or made to be seen? You know,
as we know, week one is fool's gold, right, some
teams that look really good, they're gonna they're gonna they're
gonna level down. And some teams that look crappy and
sloppy and you know, turnover prone and penalty prone, they're
gonna level up. So by week three or week four,
I really know, but I think what was promising was
(07:19):
Derek Carr was clean right that that Ravens events in
front did not get to him. You know, the pass rush,
Gus Bradley. I knew he was gonna bring something to
that defense, you know, more of simplistic communication and just
to you know, get after the passer. You know that's
gonna help. But can they be consistent with it? This
win could plan a seed, you never know, but you
(07:42):
just can't put too much into week one. We've got
sixteen more of these now. Yeah, Well, the thing that
I think you could pull things from it that are encouraging.
As you mentioned the defense for one and then second
half game on the line had to have a field
goal to send it to overtime, and Derek Carr might
(08:05):
have come up with two of the best throws of
his career, fitting those into Brian Edwards that last time,
fitting that ball into that tight window when they when
the when the Ravens knew exactly where you know, they
they knew exactly what the Raiders were trying to do,
and somehow Carr found a way. Steve Yeah, and like,
(08:27):
you know, look, that's not new for Derek Carr. I mean,
but usually he's finding a way because the defense has
let him down and there in total desperation mode. This
was where they really seem to have a rhythm and
they're offensively for much of the second half. Um but Edwards,
like I said, they had thrown the ball to him
and until thirty seconds we're left in that game, he
(08:49):
makes the four biggest catches to proceed this a Jones touchdown, right,
So it was just beautiful execution. Derek Carr, you could
say what you want about him. One t settled in.
He was on point in that offense was so good
and just so efficient throughout a game against a very
good team. Yeah. And then the other piece of this is,
(09:11):
you know, when when you're trying to gauge progress for
franchise that's trying to get over the hump get themselves
into the postseason, you know, you look back on on personnel,
and you look back on on players they've brought in,
players they've drafted, and look the jury. As much I
love Mike Mayock as much as anybody, Um, he's a
great friend, but the jury is still out on really
(09:32):
four of his first five first round draft picks, and
and maybe the book is closed on Cleveland Farrel who
is inactive and you know, right, he's inactive number four overall,
pick a couple of years ago. Josh Jacobs is the
is the the you know, he's the winner out of
that bunch. Jonathan Abram, you know still I think still
trying to figure it out. And then Damon Arnett and
(09:53):
Henry Ruggs. But Rugs comes up with a huge catch
at the very end when they needed his speed and
he found a way. So like figuring out those players
progress is kind of a way to judge the team's
progress in a sense as well. Yeah, absolutely, And you know,
the leadership has had to be imported for the most part.
You talk about, you know, in got way and some
(10:16):
players like that. But look, Match Crosby, that dude a
stud man. Yeah he's he's a player. Ye you look
at kJ Right, hold up real quick, Yeah, how the
hell are they gonna give him bow Jackson's number? I
mean when he made a play that thirty four. I mean,
(10:37):
I know the Raiders can't retire everyone's number, but a
great play, But I mean bringing a guy like kg
Right is gonna help. He's been there, and look, I
think having a coach at Gus Bratt is gonna help
out Abrams. He's coached a few good safeties in his career. Yeah,
(10:57):
the scheme, the scheme is gonna work, right, So you know,
we'll see they're they're trying everything they can. They know
they have to win. And the thing is, look at
the division they're in. The Chiefs are still the benchmark,
and and so it's gonna be tough. But the NFL
is better when the Raiders are good. Right, Yeah, everyone
in that division one this week, just like the NFC
(11:18):
West four and oh teams out West getting it done.
Um and uh, you know, look, let's just finish with
this because I think it's powerful considering the players that
John Gruten has coached. When he says Darren Waller is
the is the best player he's ever coached, that's a
that's a pretty lofty statement, Steve, you buying it? I
(11:39):
think what I think John was caught in the moment
and maybe he's thinking and maybe he's thinking offensive players. Right,
I'm sure offensive because there's some defensive Hall of famers
over there. You've got John Lynch, Warntsapp, Derek Brooks, Charles
kind of like John, what's your Brett farrest position. Coach, Yeah,
(12:00):
is that too. Look, Waller's great, Waller's great right hive
yards in a touchdown. But there's some hyperbole in there,
but I think it just it paints the picture of
how vital he is to this team, because without Waller
then they don't have they don't have anything through the air.
At this point, it doesn't work. And I agree with
(12:20):
what he said after the game because Victor for the
Athletic asked him, Hey, uh, you know, while it was
targeted nineteen times, and John was like, we're threw it
sixty that guy twenty times. Look. I was at a
game last year, an empty Legion stadium when they're playing
the Dolphins, and the Dolphins are put Eric row on Waller,
(12:42):
which is what they do right. Eric Roe is their
tight end stopper, and he was all over Waller but
he couldn't stop him. And I'm like, why don't they
throw the ball to him at least twenty times? Because
he's that good, He's that effective, he's that fast, he's
that good when he catches it and runs with it.
And you know, first grade is like Kittle and Kelsey,
(13:03):
are you know, Waller is more of a wide receiver type,
and I think that's what the Falcons are looking for
when they drafted Kyle Pitts fourth overall. It's more of
Karen Waller type than that Kelsey type. Yeah, that's an
interesting distinction. But but you make a good point, right,
Good shooters got to get their shots, even if they're
not going down, you gotta take them and look, a
good receiver tight end like Waller is like, you gotta
(13:25):
get him his targets for him for him to make
an impact in this game. Uh, you made an impact
for us, Steve White, Sticks are spending some time with
this pal. You got it right. Still to come on
NFL Inside Report. What if they came to him and
they said, we want to start you week week two
or week three, Deshaun think you would do it? We
only have a couple of ways we can slice this, right,
we slice into the most unique quarterback situation in the league.
(13:49):
Deshaun Watson and the Texans under the spotlight. Next, if
you thought the Aaron Rodgers Jordan's Love Packers fiasco this
(14:10):
offseason was an awkward situation, let me welcome you to Houston,
where one of the best quarterbacks in football is third
on the depth chart, James Palmer helping us make sense
of it all. JP. What's happening, brother? What's up? Ratt?
How are we doing? I like the garage, Yeah, yeah,
here we are um living lavishly in the garage here,
(14:33):
and like I feel like that's kind of where the
Texans have been stashing DeShawn Watson um over the course
of the last few weeks. I mean, this is just
so weird. What has it been like for the Texans
and for Watson really since training camp ended and we
kind of stopped getting these visuals of DeShawn. Yeah, I
(14:54):
think that's the best way to start this is right
layout the facts of where everything stands, and then we'll
start there. And it really is dates further back than
what you said, just dates back to the start of
training camp. He hasn't missed a day to my understanding,
since the start of training camp. He's been even though
you don't see him out on the practice field at times,
he came and went throughout camp. He was there every
(15:14):
single day fast forward to the start of the season.
He's essentially I'll put this in two parts, part of
the fifty three man roster and part of the Texans
and also not at the same time, if that makes
any sense. How he is part of the team is this.
I'm told he shows up every single day, he puts
(15:34):
his work in, his workouts in, he goes to meetings.
Um Brandon Cooks, their wide receiver, who I spoke to
last week, said, you know, he sees things other quarterbacks
don't see. That's why he's one of the best quarterbacks
in the league right now. So him talking with Tyrod Taylor,
our starting quarterback, is not a terrible thing during the
week in preparation for game day, But then when game
(15:56):
day rolls around, he is inactive. He is an there.
He did not travel to their preseason games to my understanding,
and he does not practice throughout the week. So he's
essentially part of the fifty three man roster ret and
not at the same time. And what I'm told is
everybody from ownership down believes that he will never take
another snap for the Houston Texas and what they're doing
(16:20):
with this day to day approach and how they're handling
it in the way I laid it out, they're expected
to do that throughout the duration of the season unless
something changes with one of the investigations which is either
the FBI s Houston Police Department or NFL's or as
Ian rapport reported he's traded before the deadline if none
of those things change, which with the investigations, it doesn't
(16:40):
appear anything is going to change. This is going to
be status quo through the rest of the season. So
let me ask you just digging into that here a
little bit and talking about those investigations into the allegations
that we talked about for uh, you know, a bunch
during the summer months, in the spring of the allegations
of sexual misconduct, as you mentioned, kind of a try
fold of investigations going on. Those do not happen quickly, um,
(17:03):
and they will be thorough as we've seen, and so
we'll continue to follow those. In the meantime. Though he's
eligible to play, he is not playing. He is inactive,
as you've been saying. So is that decision to make
him inactive do you feel like that's more at Deshawn's
request or is that more of the team's way of
(17:23):
handling this weird situation which kind of began with the
trade request months ago. Yeah, so this part is more
of my opinion, and I would say that is how
the team and de Shawn, which their general manager Nicko Sorio,
has has been open about this. He talks to him regularly.
He's not exiled and you know there's no communication with him.
He's on the roster. He's on our team again. What
does that mean moving forward? Again, it's a one day
(17:45):
at a time. I would say, proposition and endeavor and
that's how we're going to handle it. My assumption would
be that this is from both parties. A because the
Texans don't want to put him out on the fields
where potentially he could be injured in practice or in
a game. If they're trying to trade him is remember
he is as Cassar is trying to change this their
biggest trade commodity, their biggest chip out there to change
(18:09):
this rebuild. They know he's not going to play for them,
so he needs to get the most possible. The Texans
don't want to jeopardize that. At the same time, he
does not want to play for them. What if they
came to him and they said we want to start
you week week two or week three, to Sean, I
think you would do it. Then his money comes into play.
(18:29):
It is because that, I mean, we only have a
couple of ways we can slice this right. One is
the way that they're going about it too, is they
trade him. Three is they tell him, hey, you're playing,
yeah if he If he says no, then he is
jeopardizing his his financial status, and then they can start
(18:49):
finding him and start incurring asking for money back. Hey
we want you to play and you're not playing, and
they can go down that road. When I did the
TV report of this with Jim Trotter, Jim had an
interesting stance where he talked to some people within the
players association in the league to where there is a
thought maybe if you do that, you would maybe be
(19:10):
causing the riff in the locker room that it appears
the Texans have been avoiding so far to where he is.
And I'll be honest, he is still very well liked
to a number of players I've talked to over the
last week. And Justin Reid told you that it's not
a distraction, right like this having him around but not
playing is not a distraction exactly. He had a weird analogy, um,
(19:32):
and I'll give it to you, but I'd say I
probably talked to a dozen players at the game on Sunday,
and not one of them said he's been a distraction
or it's been a distraction. Um. And if anybody kind
of knows, he's a bit of an introvert and and
and keeps to himself a lot. So I can see
that being the case, and I can see him not
wanting to cause a distraction. But justin Ree's analogy was
he was like, hey man, it's kind of like COVID.
(19:53):
I was like, I don't put this together. Um, And
he goes last year with COVID, all of this came about,
all these new procedures, all these new protocols, and all
of the stuff we had to do to get through
a season. It eventually just became the new norm. And
this is now just our new norm. You know. The
other hypothetical that kind of comes to mind, James is,
(20:15):
you know, let's say God forbid, something happens, you know,
to their starting quarterback, with that be Tyrod Taylor, Um,
you know, and Davis Mills gets promoted to the starting job. Like,
would they go get another quarterback to be the backup?
Or are you going to see Deshaun Watson sitting there,
you know, holding the tablet on the sidelines, because that's
like a roster construction deal, you know it is, and
(20:37):
right now everybody's going, I mean, he is taking up
a spot on theft that they are essentially playing this
season with fifty two players, right they're playing this year
with one fewer player than everybody else. Has the liberty
of the reason I think they would not put him
out there is there's a reason you don't see him
at practice outside probably of the injury situation. He's the
(21:00):
best quarterback in the building and he's the top five
quarterback and just talking talent in the NFL, that's got
to be bizarre when the third string guys out there
just slaying it, and do we understand, like is he
going through is he is he leading the scout team?
Like is he taking reps in practice that we know of?
He is not. He does not attend practice nothing, and
it is not and they they're very open about non
(21:21):
injury related did not attend practice. So he's not even
there and he's not there for the games. I think
that part of the distraction aspect shows you um that
they probably would go with another player on the roster
of something happened at Tyrod Taylor then put him on
the sideline throughout the course of a game, because think
about it. I mean I was there Sunday. It really
(21:43):
was kind of like out of sight, out of mind,
Like I don't know what the broadcast had, but I
don't think he was discussed a whole lot. Imagine if
he's standing on the sideline, Oh, the optics of that
would be insane. And then just kind of like ending
this this discussion, kind of where this thing began for
to Shaun, with his issues within the organization, mostly had
(22:06):
to deal with non Nick Kisserrio related items, right, like
this was wanting to be a part of a potential
GM search, wanted to be a part of the potential
head coach search. Not that he necessarily had anything against
David Culley as the head coach or against Nick Kissario
as the GM, right exactly. I think some I mean
outside of this is all prior to the twenty two
(22:28):
sexual misconduct and correct, you know, all allegations that are
out there that he denies any wrongdoing too, but this
is prior to that. I wouldn't advise anybody to go
back and listen to his final press conference of the season,
where he was beyond emphatic about how excited he was
about building a new foundation to this organization they were
going to start over, how much he wanted to be
(22:50):
a part of that, how much he wanted to rebuild something.
He wanted offensive coordinator Tim Kelly to stay, as well
as his quarterback coach t J. Yates, because if you
look at what he did in year four of that
offensive system, outside of the four wins, he had almost
an m v P type season he led the NFL
and dancing. He was remarkable on a very very bad team.
The point I'm taking is at that point you could
(23:11):
see how bought in he was to the organization, and
then you fast forward to it wasn't the people that
were picked, it's how the process went down. And to
my understanding, his beef an issue and refusing to ever
play for the organization again comes from his issue with
ownership and not his issue with Nick Cassario or David Culley.
(23:32):
How do you kind of gauge the way that Cassio
and Cully have have handled this whole thing that they
just kind of stepped into right right, And it's kind
of funny. I was talking to remember the organization in
the tunnel after the game walking over to go see
Urban Myers press conference and how that was going to
go down forty minutes after the game end. I think
that's a violation. But um our conversation was this, I
(23:57):
don't know how many games the Texans are going to
win this year, but they might have the right coach
and the right quarterback to handle this awkward situation. There
aren't too many players I've talked to that have said
anything other than David Culley has a tremendous pulse on
this locker room and feel for our group and feel
(24:18):
for how this situation is being handled. First of all,
let me tell you this about the noise. The only
noise it matters to this franchise and his team is
the noise inside this building, in this room, and that's
the only noise this mattered to us. That's the reason,
as I said before, when we went out and played
this game to day, if we did things the right way,
we'd have a chance to win the game. And we
did that today and we won. That has been a big,
big advantage the players feel like for how they've been
(24:40):
able to go about their business because of the way
their head coach has handled it. And obviously because of
the way Tyrod has handled it, because it's gotta be
a weird feeling going out there as the starting quarterback
knowing the third string quarterback is one of the best
players on the planet at quarterback, and and they have
a pretty good relationship from my understanding, um de Shaw
and Tyrod. So I think those two as well as
(25:03):
the way Nick has handled it, because I think the
worst thing you could do in this as a general
manager and being the voice of the organization for this,
because cal McNair hasn't really said anything on it is
we're taking it day by day because you can't say
anything in stone about this situation that is so much
in flux. So I do think they're handling it as
(25:23):
awkward as it is, in a pretty decent manner so far,
considering all things considered. Because they don't know that much.
They don't have any answers either as an organization. By
the way, you run into the quarterback whose last name
is Taylor for the Houston Texans, Are you calling him Tyrod?
Are you calling him to Rod? Listen. I had this
discussion again pregame and I said, he apparently has recently
(25:47):
told people in the building, it's Tyrod, and I know
that there is a clip saved at NFL network headquarters
of him making sure we all call him to Rod.
I don't know there to go with this, because if
he's gonna be the starting quarterback, I want to know
how to say his name, you know what I mean?
And his mom, I do know this to his mom
(26:08):
calls him Tyrod. I see, I thought that was the
origination of Tarad. Was the was from the broken row back,
is the guy who is what they remember back in
the Browns hard knocks situation. So so I just tried
to say his first name as fast as possible. Hey five,
So the biggest issue with uh James. With all the
hard hitting journalism, Thanks Budd, still to come the news
(26:33):
you need to know from around the league. Here's some
news we're following the Saints dealing with a cluster of
COVID nineteen cases. Multiple Saints assistants, all vaccinated, and White
receiver Michael Thomas, who's on the physically unable to perform list,
(26:55):
all testing positive for COVID. Following the positive tests, the
Saints entered the Enhanced COVID nineteen Mitigation Protocol per league policy.
Which includes a mask mandate and daily testing for all
players and staff, regardless of vaccination status. The week to
match up, though against the Panthers, is still on as scheduled.
Saints also expected to be without a number of starters.
(27:16):
Cornerback Marshawn Lattimore, center Eric McCoy, and defensive end Marcus Davenport,
all dealing with injuries and in Orchard Park, New York.
In compliance with the Erie County Department of Healths directive,
The Buffalo Bills and high Mark Stadium announcing Tuesday that
all guests aged twelve and older will be required to
provide proof of COVID nineteen vaccination to attend Bills home games.
(27:38):
For the games on September and October three, fans will
be permitted to enter with one dose of a COVID
nineteen vaccine beginning with the October thirty first game, though
guests must be fully vaccinated or entry. And the forty
Niners placing running back where he mosted and cornerback Jason
Burrett on i R with season ending knee injuries. In
(27:59):
a corresponding move, the team signed veteran corner Drake Kirkpatrick
Niners head to Filly to take on the Eagles in
Week two, and we're back with you on Friday with
a look back to Monday Night and ahead for the
Ravens Sunday night matchup against the Chiefs as they continue
to deal with turnover in their running back group after
season ending injuries to their top two running backs j K.
(28:22):
Dobbins and Gus Edwards. For producers Thomas Warren and Tim Parashka,
i'm reet Lewis, thanks so much for being with us.
We'll see you next one. NFL Inside Report is the
production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio.
For more official podcasts from the NFL, visit the i
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com