August 11, 2025 • 44 mins
On the latest episode of the Move the Sticks podcast, Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks share their biggest takeaways from Week 1 of the preseason, from Jaguars kicker Cam Little’s 70-yard field goal to Shedeur Sanders’ debut, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up, everybody? Welcome to move the sticks? DJ, Buck
with you? Buck? How you doing? Man?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Men of good DJ, first preseason game in the books,
you've had one. So I feel like making a call
on the Jaguars game, trying to shake off the rust
and get to it. But it was great to be back.
It was great to be back in the seat. It
was great to be back in the stadium. The energy
and the buzz and all of that, like it was,
it's pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
That's awesome, dude. I've got two in the books now,
Hall of Fame game. Man, I'll take that. I'll take
that extra check. By the way. I mean, I'm not
mad at you. I'm not mad at you. What man,
I'll say that I've called two games, two Charger wins.
You know, it's all backups, but some good things to
see there from those depth pieces that they have. I
can tell you one thing I haven't done. I haven't
(00:53):
called a seventy yard field goal. That's not on my list.
Haven't got that done it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Okay, Like, let's talk about that because I feel like
I was set up all right, So The Playboy Player
got Brian Sexton Like, as we're beginning to drive, He's like,
what do you think the range is? And I'm like, like,
conventional method is get the ball to the thirty five
yard line maybe forty, that's what you're talking about, and
so it's too many situations. I was like, you got
(01:18):
to get the ball thirty five forty. Cam little has
range or whatever, and he's kind of playing quill like
I don't know, you know, I don't know. And so
we get to it and the ball is sitting on
like like the fifty almost to the fifty backs up
and I was like, and I'm sitting here and I'm like,
there's no way. So the scouting me and the coaching
(01:41):
me is thinking, okay, preseason game. I don't want them
to blow his hamstring out right, like what like are
we really going to try this? And sumashin Janikowski baby, right,
So they put it down DJ and I'm sitting there
like in my head, I'm like, what are we doing?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
There's no outcome.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So I'm looking as you should you look at you
paying the film, like, well, hey man, there are a
lot of things you got to talk about, like the
field goal team needs to cover because they put somebody back.
It's a returnable situation. I'm thinking kick six any of that.
Pittsburgh doesn't put anybody back. So DJ he kicks it
and I'm like, about halfway through, I'm like, hey, this
(02:20):
got a shot. Like the way that it goes it
is the equivalent to being on the golf course with
a buddy.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You just you hear the whack and you're like, hey,
man that I might get there.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, And then I'm looking and it goes over and DJ,
when I say it goes over, it doesn't just clear
the bar. It is like the guy in the back
catches it with like backing up, and I'm like yo,
And the only thing that I can think is like,
holy smokes, Like because you can get you on a
broadcast that you like.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
He made that?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Now, little did they? They forget out?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
They didn't tell me that in practice he was kicking
seventy two yarders league game. Yeah, so they said during
the practice week, like Thursday or something, he had nailed
a seventy two yard kick. Now, if you tell me that,
then I would approach the thing differently, like, hey, you
know this, this might be a good shock range. Yeah,
I build it a little differently. They held it until later.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I was like, it's like, it's made it more fun.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, but he he drilled it. But I said this
on the thing. It's a game changer when you have
a long distance kicker. And we've seen it for years
in Baltimore when they had Justin Tuck and he was
at his best.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It shrinks the feel.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
If you tell me I only need to get to
the forty yard line to get three points, it's a
game changer. When I was with the Carolina Panthers and
the year we went to Super Bowl thirty eight, we
had John Casey, John Casey had one of his best
years and John Fox knew that if we got the
ball to the thirty five to forty it was an
automatic three points. And so you changed the way that
you call the game. When you have a kicker that's
(04:04):
a scoring threat like that, you can dowlla the in.
You can say we can be more aggressive, let's get
it here, we get here, we know we have points.
It's it's a game changing. I mean, hasts off the
cam little that was the hell of a kick man.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, no question. I did not anticipate with the first
full week of preseason action that we were going to
lead off the show talking about a kicker, but it's
the craziest thing I saw all week, and Buck had
a great call Holy smokes. That's fantastic. Holy like holy smokes.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And so the other part of the game that everyone's
going to talk about is Travis Hunter, right, Travis Hunter
playing both ways. So he ended up playing ten snaps
on offense, eight snaps on defense, and the goal going
in was to get ten and ten. Ten on offense,
ten on defense. How they're going to play him, play
them on defense on you know, the guy to have
it moments. They're planning a lot of his own and
those things, and what you saw early is the conversation
(04:57):
that we had in the production meetings, which is always insightful.
He's playing in the slot right now. Eventually they would
like him to be able to expand his portfolio when
he goes from slot to being able to play outside,
because if they're better, they'd like to be able to
go some heavy personnel sets, have him on one side,
Brian Thomas Junior on the other.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Side, and he can play the whole game.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Playing either in the slider outside makes for more interchangeable
work on defense. Because they play so much zone, they
feel like it's easy to get him, get him in.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Here's the thing DJ that came out of it.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
There's a coach that is dedicated to Travis Hunter, like
an assistant coach that is with him at all times
to kind of navigate going on offense defense. There is
a person upstairs keeping the data, the GPS and all
that to monitor his plays and the usage rate and
all of those things. So I'm laughing because in high school,
(05:51):
all you do is you turn to your best player.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You're like, yo, you good.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
If you're good, you need one, tell me, just tap
me on the thing before you run in, so I
know we can get somebody up. But in Jacksonville, it
is really a very sophisticated approach that they're using to
make sure that they maximize his talents. We're not over
using him and trying to give him the best chance
to play.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, I've thought that it wouldn't be even as much
of a physical strain on him as it is going
to be a mental strain, you know, in terms of
what he's having to do, especially defensively, just with I
know you're playing zone and that can simplify things buck,
but still you're seeing different route combinations and different scheme
every week, and how they're trying to attack you like
(06:33):
that requires some study.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Dj I would think the same thing, but everyone to
a man head coach, and Travis Hunder himself said, it's
the offensive playbook that he's having to spend more time.
And because you played quarterback, you'll understand this better than some.
So Liam Korn prefers to run a system that is
(06:57):
heavy and verbiage. Right, So let's just use a sound
play call. Let's go red right, Z right twenty two
scat hank right. That'd be like how the play call
comes in. Red would be the formation. Right is the
way it's set. Z wright is like motion to it.
Twenty two is the protection. Scat hank is a part
(07:18):
of the protection plus the route or whatever. That's That's
what it is. And so in the huddle you need
to listen in the huddle to get your part of
it before you break and go to your spot. Well,
this is for Trevor. Trevor's operated off wristbands, and so
operating off the wristband, you normally would get the call
a red five. You look at your wristband and then
(07:38):
you spart it out. They're not using wristbands. They're putting
the whole thing in his head, the whole thing in
his head. So Trevor's having to memorize all this stuff
and spit it out. But Travis, coming from college where
you used to looking to the sideline, looking at the
placards seeing Elmer Fudd. Elmer Fudd means I do X,
Y and Z. Well, now DJ, You're auditory processing is up.
(08:02):
You're having to here slows you down and.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
The huddle slow you down or whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And so part of why he's spending more of his
time in the offensive meetings and part of practice is
because to get that part of it together and having
grown up, because you and I grew up in the
area where was the huddle like that. I was like, okay, well,
like that's what we've always done. But so much of
this generation has grown up. No huddle, wristbands, sideline signals.
(08:30):
It's an adjustment. And Travis, I said, well, how much
different is it from what you did in Colorado? He said,
one in Colorado he played in packages. So if you
can imagine, hey, you in this package. Just know these
eight plays and then away you go. That's different. Now
the lead you're trying to give him the entire playbook,
so he's having to learn far more information than he
(08:51):
had to before. And then when you add the defensive part,
it is a lot of not physical assertion, it's the
mental thing that you have from to juggle and make
sure because he talked about just having to be locked
in and stay in the playbook.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And do those things.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It it's a harder thing than I anticipated based on
my experiences looking at like high school kids and pop
warn kids and how they do it naturally. Because think
about when you go see your son play in high school,
you see a bunch of guys go both ways.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
It doesn't standard thing. Yeah, but in.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
The pros, as we escalate, more information makes it a
more complex thing than it appears on the surface.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, And again I think that's why it's the mental thing,
you know, of the taxing mental side of it will
be interesting. I remember when I was two different college
programs I played. At the first we were a hybrid
of UH signals, so just signaling the whole which was
a lot. It was a lot of signals just to
the quarterback. Nobody else got it, but I was the
one who I just had to know all the different signals.
(09:50):
And there was no posters obviously, so it was all
the signals. I got to translate that then spit it out.
Then we also had we had wristband, so you know,
there's a certain number of plays where and it would
just be like I think he would just like he
would tap his wrist and then he had a signal
for numbers, so it's like a wristband. Okay, that's thirty
eight on the wristband. Okay, whoop, and then do that.
And then when I went to app State, we were
we were run to play in So god, that's old school.
(10:13):
Old school I was at butol. Fuck, you don't know
what it's like when you got a freshman receiver that
comes in. It's like translating a language. You're like, oh,
it's like a game of telephone. I like the coach
told him the long call. He brought it in. He
knows like like maybe like two thirds or maybe like uh,
(10:34):
you know, two fifths of the playbook. And I'm like,
so wait a second, that doesn't make sense what you
just said. Okay, No, I gotta flip that, Okay, this, this, this,
and then get it out. That was tough. That's how
you know how they used to diagnose concussions back in
our day when you when you were the quarterback and
you couldn't spit out what he just told you. Oh yeah, yay,
(10:55):
he somethings out, He's somethings off with him. Get him
out of here.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
It is funny how that whole thing operates and does that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
But it was interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
But let me tell you something else, because we kind
of operating on the fly. So before the game, Pittsburgh
still is in town, got a chance.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
To watch Aaron Rodgers workout. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Now, I'll be the first to admit I hadn't been
a huge Aaron Rodgers fan of late this and that.
But I'm gonna tell you, DJ the number eight that
ran out of the tunnel is a different number eight
than the one that I've seen the last couple of
years in terms of just the level of engagement. He
is out before the game and it's about a thirty
to forty five minute workout and he's going it's him,
DK Metcalf and Pat Friremouth throwing the ball around the
(11:39):
yard and he is when.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I say going it is a workout.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
It is almost like those Pro day workouts where you
see the guy make two or three passes and they
sprint to the other end come back.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
It was that kind of pacing of the workout.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And I'm being honest with you. Ball was coming out
not only on time, went on target, but it had
a little zip to it that you're like, Okay, this
is interesting or whatever. So then I decided to hey, man,
walk down to the field and talk to some coaches
and do some stuff or whatever. I see a buddy
of mine have played at Carolina and Beker he's one
(12:14):
of the offensive assistant. He was like, hey, it's a
lot different having a Hall of Fame quarterback in the
hall now DJ keep in.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Mind at Russell Wilson, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And justin fields And so when when when they started
talking like that, I'm like, wait a minute, is it
is it that?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Is it that different?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So even in there they feel like there's a difference
their levels to this as we talk about quarterback play.
So then I keep walking. I go and talk to
Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlins like, yeah, you know, we feel
good about the process and what we're doing. And all
this other stuff, and they needed to get as you said.
He kind of confirmed me, said, and get some of
(12:54):
our edge back. Yeah, some of our stuff. So we
talked about Aaron, but then he talked about Jalen Ramsey.
So I had a chance to see Jayalen Ramsey early
in the day and Jalen was excited and happy and
those things, and you and I had this conversation because
we've been around great players. But the thing that you
have to do with great players you have to keep
them from being bored. So you have to challenge them,
(13:15):
engage and so the challenge that they've done with Jalen
is he's playing every position in the defensive backfield DJ from.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Outside corner to slot to true post safety to being
able to do it. And what Tomlin talks about is
his ability to communicate and understand and process information is
next level, and that it is not only what he's
doing individually as a player, but the example that he's
(13:43):
showing for Joey Porter Junior. So in a room where
you have Joey Porter Junior, Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey,
Joey Porter Jr. Now has two living examples in terms
of what an all Pro Pro Bowl type corner should
look like.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And then he said, Jaden Ramsey has embraced the role
of being big brother, meaning he's pushing the little guy
and no, no, no, no, come on, we got to get
this work in to get it done.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
And it is almost.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Like like some new life in that locker room. To
get them going to the final thing that they said
we needed some championship pedigree in the room. Jenden Ramsey
won the Super Bowl, and Rogers won a Super Bowl.
Darius Slays won a Super Bowl. And so when you
begin to talk about that, because sometimes when you look
(14:34):
at the coach, the coach can be like the old
man on the lawn. Yeah, coach, you want, but you
want so long ago. Now they got some players who
wanted who can begin to talk about a we've been close,
but if we're gonna get to where we need to go, hey,
we need to go up a notch. So it's interesting
to watch that play out. And you know that rivalry
better than anything. So I don't know, I'm not saying
(14:57):
the Stellers are going to be that, but I feel like,
you know how you've been in it.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
They walking, they're walking with a different.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Kind of swag.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's what I'll say, like like they know something that
the rest of the football world doesn't know.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I was looking up the numbers I was watching tape
this morning. I like to go on PFF ultimate sort
the video and do it by rookies, right, So it
just pulls up the rookie numbers. So if you look
at it, Jack Sawyer had four pressures in that game.
Rookie out of Ohio State, Derek Harmon had three pressures.
So those are two pieces of that, you know, again
(15:33):
adding guys with the physicality and a toughness, a little
edge to them. Those young guys played well, so I
think they've changed that. You know, it's a it's a
mixture of kind of the old Steelers, you know, kind
of the pedigree, the their style, all those things kind
of exist, but I feel like they've infused it with
some young players and veterans who add all EDGs man
(15:55):
all physicality. They've they've kind of changed the mindset a
little bit while also kind of embracing this the old
school Steeler way they have.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Any other thing is you know how we always talk
about it when we were scouting the importance of getting
winners right now. Important that pedigree is because when you
bring winners into the building, they understand the extra part
of what is needed to get to that level consistently.
And so when you talk about jack saw your national
champion winning, talking about Derek Harmon and what they're the
(16:23):
bigger than in Oregon DJ. There is something too where
some of these old school coaches they still believe winners win.
If you want to change the culture, change the environment,
or sustain success, you got to have guys that are
used to winning. I don't want to have to teach
you how to quote unpot Went. I want you to
come in knowing this is rest with what is required
(16:47):
and what is expected. And as they say, the standard
is the standard. So it's interesting being there in watching
it play out in real time.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
All Right, there's more preseason stuff we're going to get
to here. We're gonna talk about some other stands to
talk about geting Shire Sanders and Jackson Dart and uh
what we saw from a rookie with the New York Giants.
To me, it was limited snaps, but it was eye opening. Uh.
So we'll get some of these rig performances. But there's
one of the topic. I'm gonna squeeze in between that
and that is a college football topic. We'll get to
that right after this. All right, Buck, it's time for
(17:20):
Hot or Not, brought to you by with Sabbi hot
Cloud Storage again. We'll have more pre season stuff, some
more reactions to what we saw, and uh, including pretty
incredible performance debut by the by the highly touted edgeresser
out of Penn State, Abdual Carter. We'll get to that
in a minute. But I don't know if you've had
a chance to see because you're traveling, You've got the
high school thing, You've got a million jobs. Have you
(17:41):
seen any given Saturday this secuh on Netflix? Not?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I have not, but it's on the Things to Do.
As you know, my daughter's going to Texas, so she's like,
we gotta watch this stuff because she's getting ready, like random, Yeah,
we're about we're about to go.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah. So that's cool. So I've got I think I've
watched three episodes and I have this trip to Brazil
with the Chargers and I'm going to try and put
a pause on it because i want to watch the
rest of them when we get on the plane. Give
me that a kill. Some time. Hey, it's so well done.
Hats off to the schools to being open to it
and the production is next level. It is a phenomenal series.
If you haven't seen, you got to see it. But
(18:17):
I was thinking about this from a from our perspective,
from a scouting perspective. You know, we had the thing
with what was the what was the show was? Like QB,
what was it? What was it called? Where you had?
H uh? You know, I think Rattler was on it,
like you could follow these guys QB one, thank you
And I never even saw those. But this is kind
(18:39):
of my first exposure to really behind the scenes with
college kids and really paying attention to this. And I'm
sitting here going, man, if you're so many of these
schools now they've gotten such big media departments and they're
trying to really you know, get their brand out there
that that you have more access. So in an era
where it's harder to get information out of schools because
you get kind of the company line, these schools give
(19:00):
in the full access like this, Like if you're a
scout and that's in your area, you better watch. You
better watch. It's unbelievable, man, Like, look I'm watching it
in like, to me, I'm coming up with questions of
when these guys are gonna come out. I'm already saying, hey,
I want to ask them about this situation because I'm
seeing behind the scenes what it was like before this game.
I'll just tell you right now, like there's some quarterbacks
(19:21):
that you're watching in there, and I'm like, man, I
don't know if this guy's got kind of the confidence
or like that alpha male thing to him, like he
kind of was a little shaky. And then I'll tell you,
I don't know. I haven't watched stitch of tape on him,
and I know I guess he's under five foot ten.
But I'll take Diego Pave on my team. He can
be my third string quarterback any day the week, and
he might just fight his way up to being being
(19:42):
the starter. That dude is a warrior. And the uh
behind the scenes thing like he's out to dinner and
there's this one scene book and this guy asked him
I think it was stours. They're tight. End goes h
and they're kind of just casually hanging out and he
goes like, how are you a Yankees fan? Like why
do you like the Yankees. He goes, because I'm a
fuck I swear to you clean it up. But he says,
(20:03):
because I'm a freaking winner. That's that's love it, absolutely
love it. He gets so much edge to him, man,
and uh, and I'm sitting there watching this going like
this is what a glimpse like You can't get that
from a coach can tell you this kid's competitive or
he's got an edge to him like that doesn't You're
seeing it actually real time, seeing the seeing how his
(20:25):
week of preparation goes, how hard he works, how he
is around his teammates, Like this is going to be
a huge part of scouting going forward, watching this stuff, and.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It should because any scout that is worth as salt.
You're trying to find all the information as much as
you can. And I remember going back to we talked
about QB one. I remember watching Justin Fields and Spencer Radler.
I think Jake FROMM was a part of it, and
there were others. And what it did is it gave
you a behind the scenes look all access on who
they were or whatever and DJ most of the time
(20:52):
people don't change like they are what they are and
their habits that they have. They only become even more
ing as they get older and as they get more
money in those things, And so that's behind the scenes
access that you're talking about. It is what you want
because as a scout, we all want access to the
secret sauce. Because it's one thing to have the liaison
(21:14):
tell you about the kid. It's another thing to watch
it firsthand for yourself. And it's even more when you're
able to sit and observe over time before they become
seniors and everyone is on their best behavior to how
do they add this freshman sophomores all of that stuff,
Like what is the patterns of behavior they exhibited because
(21:34):
those patterns are going to continue when they get into
the National Football League.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, I mean even just hearing the kids talk a lot,
you know, you just well a lot of times, especially
on our side of things, you know, we're scouting. We're
not at the school visits doing those things. We don't
get a chance to interact with the kids. Like the
first time I hear a lot of these kids talk
is at their combine interview. You know, like I just
I don't know what they even sound like or how
they are around their teammates. This is a great it's
(21:58):
a great look inside that. And also if you're you know,
and the general manager path or it's a great way
to evaluate coaches like you wonder, you know, how does
a coach in the meeting room? Does he have presence?
Does he control the room? You know, what's his what's
his Uh? You know what's his style? Shoot, you can
figure that out watching this thing. I mean, there's vastly
(22:18):
different styles. And that's what SEC is so entertaining. They
have a lot of personalities with coaches. They're all different.
The one, the one that cracked me up the most,
I thought was Sam Pittman at Arkansas, who you have
a lot of these raw rah speeches, right, and a
lot of these coaches are very intense and uh and
he gets up there and they're getting ready to play.
That's the Tennessee game where Tennessee's top five in the
(22:39):
country in the game that they ended up winning, it
was a huge win for him and uh and again,
I'll just clean it up how he says it. But
like the kind of we're ready to go, man, We're
just just just do what we need to do. All right,
Let's go whip their tail and then turn around and
just walk look out of the building. That was it.
All right, let's just let let's go whip their tail,
let's get out of here.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I mean, sometimes it takes what it takes when it
comes to that, Like some guys, if you've done all
the work, you don't have to do a whole bunch
of robber. But it is funny because Sam Pittman is
a bit of that aw shucks home personality and wrapped
up in your hait.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
The offensive line guy. Man, there's an offensive line guy.
So I wanted to sneak that in. I know we'll
get to the preseason, but I just that was so
impressive watching what I've seen of that show. If you haven't,
you got to watch it. It's freaking awesome. That was
this week's Hot or Not segment, brought to you by
with Sabi Hot Cloud Storage, store more and do more
with your data. Try them for free at wassabi dot com.
All right, Buck, we get to the quarterbacks in a second.
(23:34):
But I don't know if you if you saw it
was it wasn't a long time. Abdul Carter wasn't there
for a long time, but he was there for a
good time, Buck, because I mean it was three rushes,
it was on the edge, it was him against guards
is gonna be a nightmare. I mean, like you got
no shot blocking that, dude. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Overall, I'm gonna be honest with you, like the New
York Giants does. Like the Giants, particularly on defense, when
you go back and you close your eyes and you
envision what a Giants defense is supposed to be, It's
supposed to be about that front line being able to
get out after and when you add Abdual Carter to
a front line that already has dexter lawrence and you
think about Brian Burns and cave On Timberdough and on
and on and on, like, this is a team that
(24:10):
now looks like they have the recipe that has successfully
worked for this.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Team for years.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
And that is why when we talk about the scouting business,
it's so important when we talk about taking the best
player available, like, don't complicate it regardless of what you have,
what is in the cupboard. If the best player available
is sticking there on your board and it's whatever, you
can't have enough good players. And Abdual Carter has some
of that X factor to him when it comes to
(24:35):
being a pass rusher. That man, this is gonna be
a lot of fun for the Giants defensive coordinator Shane
Bowne to try and figure out a way to really
attack upon this because that front line now is kind
of scary.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Good. Yeah, he is. He's a problem man, and he
can win with speed. He's got a feel. People forget
he was rushing with one arm, you know, in that playoff,
which he was still dominant, but he looked he looked
like a dude. Man. There was some I don't say
this lightly, especially knowing the guy I'm talking to played
with him, but god, he looked like Derek Thomas, just
(25:06):
the way he was.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Moving coming off the ball, coming off the ball, snap
look first ep quitting this snapcount anticipation. When you have
that DJ man, you are playing with house money, particularly
when you're at home. When you're at home and you
have the home crowd behind you, and the offense, particularly
the edge blockers, don't have the luxury of really hearing
(25:29):
the hood up or the go and they're kind of
on their heels. It's a difference maker. And after Carter's speed,
Brian Burns the speed, Dexter Lawrence's power, I mean they
can come at you in a bunch of different ways.
And when they start having the fun stuff, when it
comes to their NASCAR package that everyone has, when they
put all the pass versus on the field, they can
be handful. It's gonna be a problem for some teams.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
No doubt. I was on uh, I was with you
on Thursday night with TV and then you had to
take off the Jacksonville So Friday night MJD was in
there with with Ret and Eye and that was the
shitt Or Sanders game. And I can before we get
into what we saw from the tape, which was good,
I can't recall when was the last like this, the
(26:14):
player that was this polarizing. Whereas I'm doing pre half
in posts and all my mentions are you're loving this,
You're over the top loving this guy up too much,
or you're just a hater and you hate on him
and that d D like there is no And maybe some
of that is social media is going to be the extremes, right,
but the the volume of it in terms of people
(26:37):
that are interested in this dude and have very strong
opinions one way or the other. I can't remember a
guy that was this Maybe this polarizing.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
No, I can't remember, but hass off the NFL network
picking up all three preseason games with Dr Sanders. Even
better yet, thanks Cleveland Browns for somehow finding a way
to make him the starter in that game, because now
it's become musty TV.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Oh, I haven't seen the rainy yet, but I guarantee
you it is massive.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It's a number.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And here's what I said about before we even get
to the performance, Like, what we're always doing when it
comes to putting young guys on the field and in
the game is we're always trying to assess how they're
going to play in these big moments, whether they're in college,
whether they're playing in their regular season games or bowl
games or conference championships or whatever. We're trying to see
(27:25):
how they're going to handle the magnitude of the moment
at the next level. Even though this was a preseason game,
there was so much hype, pomping circumstance around this game
because as you talked about the polarizing opinions, you had
some people who were already saying, Oh, they're setting them.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Up to field, which was so crazy to me.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You have other guys and I've been just like it
takes what it's take.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I mean, let's go play ball, football, go play ball hard.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Things are hard, and in fact, the majority of people
that are playing on that field, this is what it's like.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
You gotta go and prove.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And so to me, I was interested in seeing what
was going to happen. And I said this, and I
think we talked about it. They actually did him a
favor because they gave my heads up. He had two
days to know that.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
He was going to be the start.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
It was like you walked into the stadium and then
they're like, oh, by the way, you're starting. So he
had two days to get ready, and so to me,
I wanted to see how he would handle the pressure. Look,
he had a solid overall game DJ. But to me,
the guy that I saw in that game is the
same guy that I saw in Colorado, good, bad or whatever.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
That is the same player that I saw at Colorado. Yeah,
I thought he was good man. I thought I thought
there was nothing in there that really surprised me. Again,
this guy, he was my twentieth rated player in the
draft that gave him a first round grade. He went
out there and quitted himself like a like a first
round quarterback should and he's not playing with starters. He's
(28:51):
not playing against starters. Okay, you can say things are
simplified all those things. To me, I push all that
to the side. The game looked, didn't look fast, asked.
He threw the ball with accuracy, anticipation. There was an
escape that was great where he created plays with his legs,
which I saw. We saw this stuff at Colorado, and
there was a couple of plays where he drifted and
(29:12):
retreated and you know, played with some fire. A little
bit on that in terms of, you know, putting himself
at risk of a big loss on sacks. So again,
stuff he can continue to focus on. I I it's
hard with him to even use context as an example.
Like to me, I went back and I pulled I
pulled all the numbers of because I have worked for
(29:34):
the Cleveland Browns for two years. I know the history
since they came back with Tim Couch that they've been
searching for this guy for over twenty twenty five years.
They've been trying to find this guy for twenty five years.
And so I've seen people, I've seen the hype train
leave the station before and I so I pulled up
all the numbers of like Deshan Kaiser and Manzell and
(29:55):
and you know, like you go through Brandon Whedon, like
all these guys they've had over the years, Brady Quinn,
Brady Quinn at a heck of a first preseason game,
and and a lot of those guys played really well
in their first preseason game. But everything is so everybody
wants to fight on him so much that I'm like,
I'm not this is if I put this out there,
if I just said, hey, he did what he was
supposed to do. It was really solid. But like this,
(30:17):
this is not everybody's saying, oh, he's got it, he's
the starter now, and all this kind of like let's say,
let's just he's learning, he's given, he's earning more opportunities
to play with with twos and eventually with ones, he
earned more reps. And that is that is outstanding. He
did his job. But people are freaking so far on
the high end and the low end. Buck like I
feel like this, yeah, like find a middle ground in
(30:38):
here somewhere, people.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah, and I saw where telling you our research and
put out those numbers and he compared them. I think
those numbers were either Baker Mayfield's numbers he compared to
Baker Mayfield's numbers on Twitter, which is which is fine.
And I think DJ, what you said is how you
should keep it in context and perspective. We talk about
playing the long game. From a scouting perspective. What SHOULDR
(31:01):
Sanders did is exactly what you said. He played well
enough to earn himself another opportunity to get reps with
maybe the twos in the next game they played the
field there for Eagles Kevin.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Joint practice right now, maybe this week give him a
couple of pops against those dudes.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And Kevin Sevanski said, like, he'll get more reps against
the Eagles. And we had talked and I think even
on Thursday night, I said, look to me, this has
some Russell Wilson vibes in terms of like he set
the foundation where if he plays well, yeah, you have
that conversation at the end of the preseason. But right now,
what he did is he earned additional opportunities based on circumstances. Now,
(31:37):
what's unfortunate for Kenny Picking and Dylan Gabriel. And this
is the thing that we talked about in training camp. Man,
you have to stay on the field because you don't
want to crack the door open for somebody behind you.
And what they did is they left the door a
jar for him to get more reps. And those reps
are gonna come at their expense. But what Kenny Picking
and Dylan Gabriel have is they got an opportunity to
(31:58):
halt some of that momentum based on their own play.
But with only two games left, everything has to happen
quickly for everybody before we make decision.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I still Spade Joe Flack Goo to be the.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Starter, but those battles, it just intensifies for the guys
behind them because the clock is the time is dwindling.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
On way we can make a decision with only two
games left. Yeah, I said it on the on the
air on Friday night. I said, look, I know one thing,
Shodor Sanders has won one job. The job that he's
won is the trainer because he just magically healed two
hamstrings with one.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Hey, but I don't know if you're gonna be able
to keep sitting out.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Because I know you're not a hundred. I know you're
not a hundred, But if you're if you're sixty, if
you're north of sixty. We gotta get we gotta get
back of practice.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah, because because as we said, DJ, literally you have
two games left and now these joint practices help both traxes.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Or even I would argue would even be more important
than what we're seeing in the games. But I've said this, like,
to me, the thing that makes the most sense for
the Browns, and I think I've been on record with
this before. It makes the most sense for me with
Joe Flacco to start game one and whether that buys
you two weeks, four weeks, eight weeks, like I want
(33:10):
to see. To me, at should or I had such
a higher grade on him than Dylan Gabriel, so me,
I want to evaluate him this year, so I want
to see him play. But to me, I think it's
easier to start with Flacco and go to Shador than
to throw Shador out there week one and if man,
it gets pretty bad, if he struggles and it's too
much like then going to Flacco, I think you kind
of lose Shador. I think by allowing him, you know,
(33:32):
to sit in regular season at the beginning of the
year and see what a weak preparation looks like, seeing
game speed, watching Flacco play, even if it's for two weeks,
three weeks, four weeks. I think that's going to give
him a better shot of being successful when you do
hand him the keys. But make no mistake, if they
go through this whole year and he doesn't play at
all and they don't see him in game action, man,
I think that's a mistake. You got to see what
(33:52):
you have.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, and the all the aps you got to put
by that is if Joe Flacco is ball and this
team is playing well, then I will understand if they
don't put him on the field.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
See, but if it's a situation.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Where they're not playing and they're not in playoff contention,
at some point, he has to give him a field
because you have to see him, see what he looks like,
see if he potentially could be a future option at
quarterback or if you have to go back into twenty
twenty sixth draft and find that next guy. But it's interesting,
But let's say this, because we're talking about you doing,
we're gonna talk about these other quarters. I'm gonna say this,
(34:22):
I'm really impressed, and I know it's only game one.
I'm really impressed by the rookie class and quarterbacks right
and looking at cam Ward and looking at Jackson Dart
who I think we let's talk cam Ward because because
he was number one, I want to give him his due.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
He didn't play a ton. But what do you see
look man? Like?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Here's what I like when it comes to it. I
like guys that are true to the tape that we
watched in college. I like guys that show what we
saw in college. Is the same guy that shows up
in the pros. Cam Ward, same guy showed up. And
I would say, first thing that stands out to me
is the alpha dog demeanor when they're going no huddle
up tempo and he is in cont roll. I was like,
(35:01):
that's the cam Woard that I saw, not only in Miami,
but the same one I saw Washington State.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
To take charge. All of that leadership stuff. I loved it.
The off platform throws, the tight window throws, all of that.
He has all of that in space. Now.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I don't know how good that team is going to be,
but I do know he is as advertised.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
When it comes to the alpha dog leader that we
talked about coming out of Miami, Yeah, to me, it's
they're gonna be chasing points a lot, And to me,
if you're gonna be on a team that has to
chase points, I want somebody that's fun to watch and
chase mode. And they're gonna be it's gonna be fun
to watch him really Ridley out there make plays for him,
like they're gonna be fun to watch, chasing chasing people.
But I and I don't think they're gonna want a
(35:43):
ton of games down there in Tennessee this year. But
I think he's gonna be exciting to watch. I'm I'm
curious to see how much they give him in these
last couple of games, if they give him a little
more work just to kind of get him ready, or
if they feel like they're gonna you know, he got
if he's good, Yeah, yeah, that'll be. It's tough to
figure out how to use Ricky quarterbacks if or if
you're playing on starting them, how much do you give
him in the preseason, that's a tricky one to me.
(36:04):
Jackson Dart was excellent. I thought, you know, I knew
he'd be able to run the ball and shows his
athleticism and toughness that was on display. I thought he
showed a really nice feel and touching the screen game,
which is going to give them opportunities whenever he does
get on the field. And I do think we see
him this year. I've said it. I think Russell Wilson
goes for a little bit and then I think they're
gonna see that that kind of hits his head on
(36:26):
the ceiling a little bit, and they're gonna want to
see what Jackson can do. And we're going to see
him play this year. But having a young quarterback who's
really really good in the screen game and can run
buck Man, we can start with a game plan just
with that little foundation, and we can build out from there.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
I'm gonna say this man like, and because I'm looking
at my notes as we're talking about Scheduor, I'm looking
at my notes on Jackson Dark and DJ.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
I was a fan.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
I was a fan coming in and I was really
a fan, and I think we've had these experiences before
when you meet people in person. The humility that he
displayed when we were in person, I was like, man,
that's that's pretty pressive that this guy wants to do it.
And I had him as a first round grade and
I remember talking about his arm, his zip, his velocity,
big play hunter all those things. I thought he was
(37:09):
great as an athlete. Worked the entire field in DJ
and watching that game, I could see where Brian day
ball went. You know, in the garage where you keep
your old files. I saw him go to the Josh Allen.
I saw him pull out the folder like, oh yea hey,
I use some of the stuff with Josh. Using him
in the run game.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Just a little bit, just a little taste.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
It changes the equation for the defense. And because Jason
Dark was so comfortable doing it, I was like, Oh,
this is hey, this is you can start getting excited
about how they can utilize him and how they can
put it together, and they can do it without the
pressure of having to put him on the field week one.
I could see where this could look later in the
year and even next year as they slowly build upon it.
(37:56):
So nice debut for him. A lot of things to
get you excited about, which is what you want to
see from your rookie quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Yeah. I also thought I like quarterbacks that match their environment.
They matched the stadium, the weather, the division, Like there's
a ruggedness that I think you need to have to
play in that in that building, in that division. So
I thought that that was encouraging to see. And this
is a team, man, this offensive line can stay healthy,
they're going to be you know, they're going to be
above average on the offensive line. Those guys can all
(38:23):
stay healthy, continue to develop, and they've got some pieces there.
Think about them on the defensive side of the ball.
We've already talked about Abdul Carter on the defensive front.
And then they win if they kind of hang around
and then all of a sudden he were to get
in there all of a sudden. Now you're looking up
for all the grief that Joe Shane has taken. Man,
you go, man, this team's headed in the right direction.
(38:45):
They got a chance to be a much better team
than people anticipate.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Now, I'm gonna go back to a conversation that I
had doing Brian dave Balls first season when they went
to the playoffs, and I talked to him and he
talked about how they were able to win games with
a roster they might have been limited at the time,
and he talked about, hey, we have to play a
certain way.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
To get the game in the margins.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
We have to run the football, we have to trick
people in some unbalanced situations, find a way to make
the quarterback make some plays but not put him at risk,
play good defense, and in the fourth quarter, we got
to make those plays to win. DJ there's a path
for the New York Giants to be able to win
with their roster as presently constructed. Right now, we've been
raving about the defense in Abdul Carter. It literally is
(39:28):
Brian dave Ball putting more on the defense. I mean,
you guys got to keep this number down. If you
can keep this number to eighteen to twenty, we can
manufacture enough points to win games in the fourth quarter. Honestly,
I believe more pressure should be applied to the defense
to play well so our offense can find a way
to sneak it. But if they are able to get
games kind of like on their terms. There's absolutely a
(39:52):
path for the Giants way because we've seen it. We
saw it in his first season on the job, so
we know that he can do it a certain way.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Kind of believe he has the pieces in.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Place to be able to do it because Jackson Dart
is a better version Daniel Jones in terms of the
athlete and playmaker from the pocket.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah, that's a great point. I think there's a formula
out there that exists the challenges. Jade Daniels wasn't in
Washington when they when they made that run. The Eagles
coming off a super Bowl, and I can tell you
the Cowboys they might be they might be trying to
just say, let's just try and see if we can
reel in the Dallas Cowboys this year. See what happens.
But there are gonna be a They're gonna be a
(40:29):
fun team to watch. Any all right, that we could
go on forever on preseason buck, but any other any
other interesting takeaways before we jump out here.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
I want to get your take because you got a
chance to tell the ship in person.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
How do you what did you think? Because I know
the charge pick six early, Yeah, pick six early, But
I thought he looked in control. Cal Moore did a
good job of giving him some shot plays which he
hit a big one on a double move. And then
they love that little what do you guys call that?
Uh little little swing screen where you've got a buddy
in front of you. What do you what do you
(40:59):
guys label that? We saw it in the NFL a
lot last year where you'll like have a tight end
out front of the back o the little swing screen
and stuff like that. Yeah, they did something that I
call it like a buddy screen, just because you got
a little buddy out there in front of you. But
they did a lot of that stuff and then he
can move around. He's athletic, the arm look good. I mean,
he still can get a little scattered at times, but
(41:20):
I mean Spencer Ratler didn't didn't really do a whole
heck of a lot. And to me, at Chuck's age,
you know, as a twenty five year old rookie, man,
if it's close, I think he's got more He's got
more tools. I would just I don't think they're going
to be very good Buck, But I'd rather just roll
with him all year long and just see, let see
if he can develop and get better. And I think
he'll provide some excitement. I don't see that team winning
(41:42):
a whole lot of football games. It's not a lot
of talent. No, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
And if we talked about a quarterback competition, to me,
when he started, Spencer Rall, Spencer Radit needs to seize
the job right away.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
He needs to have like a game that made you
kind of pause. If not. If it's close, it certainly
should go to the young guy has tools and young
young Yeah, they should go to the rookie.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
We saw the big play down the field, and I'm
gonna say some of the same things that showed up
on tape showed up in this game. Got hit, a
little bit, knocked around or whatever. But I give him
credit for bouncing back from the early pick six because
that was a doozy.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
But he came back and played week two. I need
to see more from it.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I would like to see him get more opportunities so
we can kind of assess him versus whatever. But he
should be in my mind, he should be the starter
when they open it up and we won.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
You know, it's interesting watching that game Trey Lance. You know,
for second week in a row, it's played well. Trey
Lance and Tyler Shuck, same age Trey Lance is in
year five. Think about that.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Think about that, speaking of because you see.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
It every week.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Isn't it amazing what some quarterback gurus can do with
a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I'm looking up and I see dj Ukle drop a bot. Man.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
I'm just sitting here and I'm just sitting here. God dog,
it like that Harbor and Greg Roman got a magic potion.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Sometimes perfect Well, he's their perfect big, athletic, strong guy.
I mean buck you know him, I mean I saw him.
I saw him a lot more in high school, and
I thought, this guy is gonna be one of the
top five quarterbacks in the NFL. This guy looks like
this is a sophomore in high school. Now, three different
colleges had their shot to figure it out. Nobody was
able to figure it out. And maybe it's one of
those things where it's kind of like good from far
(43:24):
but far from good, you know, where you kind of
you see him in the little little segments and maybe
you know, you get carried away. Man, I've been out there.
I've seen him at practice. I've seen him and briefly
in a couple of preseason games. He looks, he looks
the part man, and he's made a couple of nice throws. Yeah,
a couple of nice throws. That bomb was was certainly impressive.
So good for him.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Man, like someone locally who has an opportunity to make
it out.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
That's cool, yep, no question. All right, let's let's wrap
this thing up. This has been a fun one today. Again,
it's a lot easier to do the shows when we've
got preseason to chat about. So we'll be together. Are
you in studio at all this week? Buck for preseason?
I don't think so. I think I'm done. I think
I'm done with all stuff. I don't think. Okay, I
know I gotta go back in there. I'll give you
(44:07):
the date here. I'm in there Friday. So I don't
know who's playing Friday at the moment, but uh, I
will be in there. It's a long one. And then
I've got Chargers Rams on Saturday. Who the Jags got
this week?
Speaker 3 (44:19):
Miami, Miami on Saturday night in Miami.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
So you are hopscotching back and forth. Man, all right,
we appreciate you guys hanging with us. We'll see you
next time. Right here on, move the sticks.
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
What's up, everybody? Welcome to move the sticks? DJ, Buck
with you? Buck? How you doing? Man?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Men of good DJ, first preseason game in the books,
you've had one. So I feel like making a call
on the Jaguars game, trying to shake off the rust
and get to it. But it was great to be back.
It was great to be back in the seat. It
was great to be back in the stadium. The energy
and the buzz and all of that, like it was,
it's pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
That's awesome, dude. I've got two in the books now,
Hall of Fame game. Man, I'll take that. I'll take
that extra check. By the way. I mean, I'm not
mad at you. I'm not mad at you. What man,
I'll say that I've called two games, two Charger wins.
You know, it's all backups, but some good things to
see there from those depth pieces that they have. I
can tell you one thing I haven't done. I haven't
(00:53):
called a seventy yard field goal. That's not on my list.
Haven't got that done it.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Okay, Like, let's talk about that because I feel like
I was set up all right, So The Playboy Player
got Brian Sexton Like, as we're beginning to drive, He's like,
what do you think the range is? And I'm like, like,
conventional method is get the ball to the thirty five
yard line maybe forty, that's what you're talking about, and
so it's too many situations. I was like, you got
(01:18):
to get the ball thirty five forty. Cam little has
range or whatever, and he's kind of playing quill like
I don't know, you know, I don't know. And so
we get to it and the ball is sitting on
like like the fifty almost to the fifty backs up
and I was like, and I'm sitting here and I'm like,
there's no way. So the scouting me and the coaching
(01:41):
me is thinking, okay, preseason game. I don't want them
to blow his hamstring out right, like what like are
we really going to try this? And sumashin Janikowski baby, right,
So they put it down DJ and I'm sitting there
like in my head, I'm like, what are we doing?
Speaker 1 (01:58):
There's no outcome.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
So I'm looking as you should you look at you
paying the film, like, well, hey man, there are a
lot of things you got to talk about, like the
field goal team needs to cover because they put somebody back.
It's a returnable situation. I'm thinking kick six any of that.
Pittsburgh doesn't put anybody back. So DJ he kicks it
and I'm like, about halfway through, I'm like, hey, this
(02:20):
got a shot. Like the way that it goes it
is the equivalent to being on the golf course with
a buddy.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
You just you hear the whack and you're like, hey,
man that I might get there.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah, And then I'm looking and it goes over and DJ,
when I say it goes over, it doesn't just clear
the bar. It is like the guy in the back
catches it with like backing up, and I'm like yo,
And the only thing that I can think is like,
holy smokes, Like because you can get you on a
broadcast that you like.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
He made that?
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Now, little did they? They forget out?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
They didn't tell me that in practice he was kicking
seventy two yarders league game. Yeah, so they said during
the practice week, like Thursday or something, he had nailed
a seventy two yard kick. Now, if you tell me that,
then I would approach the thing differently, like, hey, you
know this, this might be a good shock range. Yeah,
I build it a little differently. They held it until later.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I was like, it's like, it's made it more fun.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, but he he drilled it. But I said this
on the thing. It's a game changer when you have
a long distance kicker. And we've seen it for years
in Baltimore when they had Justin Tuck and he was
at his best.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It shrinks the feel.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
If you tell me I only need to get to
the forty yard line to get three points, it's a
game changer. When I was with the Carolina Panthers and
the year we went to Super Bowl thirty eight, we
had John Casey, John Casey had one of his best
years and John Fox knew that if we got the
ball to the thirty five to forty it was an
automatic three points. And so you changed the way that
you call the game. When you have a kicker that's
(04:04):
a scoring threat like that, you can dowlla the in.
You can say we can be more aggressive, let's get
it here, we get here, we know we have points.
It's it's a game changing. I mean, hasts off the
cam little that was the hell of a kick man.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah, no question. I did not anticipate with the first
full week of preseason action that we were going to
lead off the show talking about a kicker, but it's
the craziest thing I saw all week, and Buck had
a great call Holy smokes. That's fantastic. Holy like holy smokes.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And so the other part of the game that everyone's
going to talk about is Travis Hunter, right, Travis Hunter
playing both ways. So he ended up playing ten snaps
on offense, eight snaps on defense, and the goal going
in was to get ten and ten. Ten on offense,
ten on defense. How they're going to play him, play
them on defense on you know, the guy to have
it moments. They're planning a lot of his own and
those things, and what you saw early is the conversation
(04:57):
that we had in the production meetings, which is always insightful.
He's playing in the slot right now. Eventually they would
like him to be able to expand his portfolio when
he goes from slot to being able to play outside,
because if they're better, they'd like to be able to
go some heavy personnel sets, have him on one side,
Brian Thomas Junior on the other.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Side, and he can play the whole game.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Playing either in the slider outside makes for more interchangeable
work on defense. Because they play so much zone, they
feel like it's easy to get him, get him in.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Here's the thing DJ that came out of it.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
There's a coach that is dedicated to Travis Hunter, like
an assistant coach that is with him at all times
to kind of navigate going on offense defense. There is
a person upstairs keeping the data, the GPS and all
that to monitor his plays and the usage rate and
all of those things. So I'm laughing because in high school,
(05:51):
all you do is you turn to your best player.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You're like, yo, you good.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
If you're good, you need one, tell me, just tap
me on the thing before you run in, so I
know we can get somebody up. But in Jacksonville, it
is really a very sophisticated approach that they're using to
make sure that they maximize his talents. We're not over
using him and trying to give him the best chance
to play.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah, I've thought that it wouldn't be even as much
of a physical strain on him as it is going
to be a mental strain, you know, in terms of
what he's having to do, especially defensively, just with I
know you're playing zone and that can simplify things buck,
but still you're seeing different route combinations and different scheme
every week, and how they're trying to attack you like
(06:33):
that requires some study.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
So here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Dj I would think the same thing, but everyone to
a man head coach, and Travis Hunder himself said, it's
the offensive playbook that he's having to spend more time.
And because you played quarterback, you'll understand this better than some.
So Liam Korn prefers to run a system that is
(06:57):
heavy and verbiage. Right, So let's just use a sound
play call. Let's go red right, Z right twenty two
scat hank right. That'd be like how the play call
comes in. Red would be the formation. Right is the
way it's set. Z wright is like motion to it.
Twenty two is the protection. Scat hank is a part
(07:18):
of the protection plus the route or whatever. That's That's
what it is. And so in the huddle you need
to listen in the huddle to get your part of
it before you break and go to your spot. Well,
this is for Trevor. Trevor's operated off wristbands, and so
operating off the wristband, you normally would get the call
a red five. You look at your wristband and then
(07:38):
you spart it out. They're not using wristbands. They're putting
the whole thing in his head, the whole thing in
his head. So Trevor's having to memorize all this stuff
and spit it out. But Travis, coming from college where
you used to looking to the sideline, looking at the
placards seeing Elmer Fudd. Elmer Fudd means I do X,
Y and Z. Well, now DJ, You're auditory processing is up.
(08:02):
You're having to here slows you down and.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
The huddle slow you down or whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And so part of why he's spending more of his
time in the offensive meetings and part of practice is
because to get that part of it together and having
grown up, because you and I grew up in the
area where was the huddle like that. I was like, okay, well,
like that's what we've always done. But so much of
this generation has grown up. No huddle, wristbands, sideline signals.
(08:30):
It's an adjustment. And Travis, I said, well, how much
different is it from what you did in Colorado? He said,
one in Colorado he played in packages. So if you
can imagine, hey, you in this package. Just know these
eight plays and then away you go. That's different. Now
the lead you're trying to give him the entire playbook,
so he's having to learn far more information than he
(08:51):
had to before. And then when you add the defensive part,
it is a lot of not physical assertion, it's the
mental thing that you have from to juggle and make
sure because he talked about just having to be locked
in and stay in the playbook.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
And do those things.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It it's a harder thing than I anticipated based on
my experiences looking at like high school kids and pop
warn kids and how they do it naturally. Because think
about when you go see your son play in high school,
you see a bunch of guys go both ways.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
It doesn't standard thing. Yeah, but in.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
The pros, as we escalate, more information makes it a
more complex thing than it appears on the surface.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, And again I think that's why it's the mental thing,
you know, of the taxing mental side of it will
be interesting. I remember when I was two different college
programs I played. At the first we were a hybrid
of UH signals, so just signaling the whole which was
a lot. It was a lot of signals just to
the quarterback. Nobody else got it, but I was the
one who I just had to know all the different signals.
(09:50):
And there was no posters obviously, so it was all
the signals. I got to translate that then spit it out.
Then we also had we had wristband, so you know,
there's a certain number of plays where and it would
just be like I think he would just like he
would tap his wrist and then he had a signal
for numbers, so it's like a wristband. Okay, that's thirty
eight on the wristband. Okay, whoop, and then do that.
And then when I went to app State, we were
we were run to play in So god, that's old school.
(10:13):
Old school I was at butol. Fuck, you don't know
what it's like when you got a freshman receiver that
comes in. It's like translating a language. You're like, oh,
it's like a game of telephone. I like the coach
told him the long call. He brought it in. He
knows like like maybe like two thirds or maybe like uh,
(10:34):
you know, two fifths of the playbook. And I'm like,
so wait a second, that doesn't make sense what you
just said. Okay, No, I gotta flip that, Okay, this, this, this,
and then get it out. That was tough. That's how
you know how they used to diagnose concussions back in
our day when you when you were the quarterback and
you couldn't spit out what he just told you. Oh yeah, yay,
(10:55):
he somethings out, He's somethings off with him. Get him
out of here.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
It is funny how that whole thing operates and does that.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
But it was interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
But let me tell you something else, because we kind
of operating on the fly. So before the game, Pittsburgh
still is in town, got a chance.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
To watch Aaron Rodgers workout. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Now, I'll be the first to admit I hadn't been
a huge Aaron Rodgers fan of late this and that.
But I'm gonna tell you, DJ the number eight that
ran out of the tunnel is a different number eight
than the one that I've seen the last couple of
years in terms of just the level of engagement. He
is out before the game and it's about a thirty
to forty five minute workout and he's going it's him,
DK Metcalf and Pat Friremouth throwing the ball around the
(11:39):
yard and he is when.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
I say going it is a workout.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
It is almost like those Pro day workouts where you
see the guy make two or three passes and they
sprint to the other end come back.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
It was that kind of pacing of the workout.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And I'm being honest with you. Ball was coming out
not only on time, went on target, but it had
a little zip to it that you're like, Okay, this
is interesting or whatever. So then I decided to hey, man,
walk down to the field and talk to some coaches
and do some stuff or whatever. I see a buddy
of mine have played at Carolina and Beker he's one
(12:14):
of the offensive assistant. He was like, hey, it's a
lot different having a Hall of Fame quarterback in the
hall now DJ keep in.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Mind at Russell Wilson, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
And justin fields And so when when when they started
talking like that, I'm like, wait a minute, is it
is it that?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Is it that different?
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So even in there they feel like there's a difference
their levels to this as we talk about quarterback play.
So then I keep walking. I go and talk to
Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlins like, yeah, you know, we feel
good about the process and what we're doing. And all
this other stuff, and they needed to get as you said.
He kind of confirmed me, said, and get some of
(12:54):
our edge back. Yeah, some of our stuff. So we
talked about Aaron, but then he talked about Jalen Ramsey.
So I had a chance to see Jayalen Ramsey early
in the day and Jalen was excited and happy and
those things, and you and I had this conversation because
we've been around great players. But the thing that you
have to do with great players you have to keep
them from being bored. So you have to challenge them,
(13:15):
engage and so the challenge that they've done with Jalen
is he's playing every position in the defensive backfield DJ from.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Outside corner to slot to true post safety to being
able to do it. And what Tomlin talks about is
his ability to communicate and understand and process information is
next level, and that it is not only what he's
doing individually as a player, but the example that he's
(13:43):
showing for Joey Porter Junior. So in a room where
you have Joey Porter Junior, Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey,
Joey Porter Jr. Now has two living examples in terms
of what an all Pro Pro Bowl type corner should
look like.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
And then he said, Jaden Ramsey has embraced the role
of being big brother, meaning he's pushing the little guy
and no, no, no, no, come on, we got to get
this work in to get it done.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
And it is almost.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Like like some new life in that locker room. To
get them going to the final thing that they said
we needed some championship pedigree in the room. Jenden Ramsey
won the Super Bowl, and Rogers won a Super Bowl.
Darius Slays won a Super Bowl. And so when you
begin to talk about that, because sometimes when you look
(14:34):
at the coach, the coach can be like the old
man on the lawn. Yeah, coach, you want, but you
want so long ago. Now they got some players who
wanted who can begin to talk about a we've been close,
but if we're gonna get to where we need to go, hey,
we need to go up a notch. So it's interesting
to watch that play out. And you know that rivalry
better than anything. So I don't know, I'm not saying
(14:57):
the Stellers are going to be that, but I feel like,
you know how you've been in it.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
They walking, they're walking with a different.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Kind of swag.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's what I'll say, like like they know something that
the rest of the football world doesn't know.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
I was looking up the numbers I was watching tape
this morning. I like to go on PFF ultimate sort
the video and do it by rookies, right, So it
just pulls up the rookie numbers. So if you look
at it, Jack Sawyer had four pressures in that game.
Rookie out of Ohio State, Derek Harmon had three pressures.
So those are two pieces of that, you know, again
(15:33):
adding guys with the physicality and a toughness, a little
edge to them. Those young guys played well, so I
think they've changed that. You know, it's a it's a
mixture of kind of the old Steelers, you know, kind
of the pedigree, the their style, all those things kind
of exist, but I feel like they've infused it with
some young players and veterans who add all EDGs man
(15:55):
all physicality. They've they've kind of changed the mindset a
little bit while also kind of embracing this the old
school Steeler way they have.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Any other thing is you know how we always talk
about it when we were scouting the importance of getting
winners right now. Important that pedigree is because when you
bring winners into the building, they understand the extra part
of what is needed to get to that level consistently.
And so when you talk about jack saw your national
champion winning, talking about Derek Harmon and what they're the
(16:23):
bigger than in Oregon DJ. There is something too where
some of these old school coaches they still believe winners win.
If you want to change the culture, change the environment,
or sustain success, you got to have guys that are
used to winning. I don't want to have to teach
you how to quote unpot Went. I want you to
come in knowing this is rest with what is required
(16:47):
and what is expected. And as they say, the standard
is the standard. So it's interesting being there in watching
it play out in real time.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
All Right, there's more preseason stuff we're going to get
to here. We're gonna talk about some other stands to
talk about geting Shire Sanders and Jackson Dart and uh
what we saw from a rookie with the New York Giants.
To me, it was limited snaps, but it was eye opening. Uh.
So we'll get some of these rig performances. But there's
one of the topic. I'm gonna squeeze in between that
and that is a college football topic. We'll get to
that right after this. All right, Buck, it's time for
(17:20):
Hot or Not, brought to you by with Sabbi hot
Cloud Storage again. We'll have more pre season stuff, some
more reactions to what we saw, and uh, including pretty
incredible performance debut by the by the highly touted edgeresser
out of Penn State, Abdual Carter. We'll get to that
in a minute. But I don't know if you've had
a chance to see because you're traveling, You've got the
high school thing, You've got a million jobs. Have you
(17:41):
seen any given Saturday this secuh on Netflix? Not?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I have not, but it's on the Things to Do.
As you know, my daughter's going to Texas, so she's like,
we gotta watch this stuff because she's getting ready, like random, Yeah,
we're about we're about to go.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah. So that's cool. So I've got I think I've
watched three episodes and I have this trip to Brazil
with the Chargers and I'm going to try and put
a pause on it because i want to watch the
rest of them when we get on the plane. Give
me that a kill. Some time. Hey, it's so well done.
Hats off to the schools to being open to it
and the production is next level. It is a phenomenal series.
If you haven't seen, you got to see it. But
(18:17):
I was thinking about this from a from our perspective,
from a scouting perspective. You know, we had the thing
with what was the what was the show was? Like QB,
what was it? What was it called? Where you had?
H uh? You know, I think Rattler was on it,
like you could follow these guys QB one, thank you
And I never even saw those. But this is kind
(18:39):
of my first exposure to really behind the scenes with
college kids and really paying attention to this. And I'm
sitting here going, man, if you're so many of these
schools now they've gotten such big media departments and they're
trying to really you know, get their brand out there
that that you have more access. So in an era
where it's harder to get information out of schools because
you get kind of the company line, these schools give
(19:00):
in the full access like this, Like if you're a
scout and that's in your area, you better watch. You
better watch. It's unbelievable, man, Like, look I'm watching it
in like, to me, I'm coming up with questions of
when these guys are gonna come out. I'm already saying, hey,
I want to ask them about this situation because I'm
seeing behind the scenes what it was like before this game.
I'll just tell you right now, like there's some quarterbacks
(19:21):
that you're watching in there, and I'm like, man, I
don't know if this guy's got kind of the confidence
or like that alpha male thing to him, like he
kind of was a little shaky. And then I'll tell you,
I don't know. I haven't watched stitch of tape on him,
and I know I guess he's under five foot ten.
But I'll take Diego Pave on my team. He can
be my third string quarterback any day the week, and
he might just fight his way up to being being
(19:42):
the starter. That dude is a warrior. And the uh
behind the scenes thing like he's out to dinner and
there's this one scene book and this guy asked him
I think it was stours. They're tight. End goes h
and they're kind of just casually hanging out and he
goes like, how are you a Yankees fan? Like why
do you like the Yankees. He goes, because I'm a
fuck I swear to you clean it up. But he says,
(20:03):
because I'm a freaking winner. That's that's love it, absolutely
love it. He gets so much edge to him, man,
and uh, and I'm sitting there watching this going like
this is what a glimpse like You can't get that
from a coach can tell you this kid's competitive or
he's got an edge to him like that doesn't You're
seeing it actually real time, seeing the seeing how his
(20:25):
week of preparation goes, how hard he works, how he
is around his teammates, Like this is going to be
a huge part of scouting going forward, watching this stuff, and.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It should because any scout that is worth as salt.
You're trying to find all the information as much as
you can. And I remember going back to we talked
about QB one. I remember watching Justin Fields and Spencer Radler.
I think Jake FROMM was a part of it, and
there were others. And what it did is it gave
you a behind the scenes look all access on who
they were or whatever and DJ most of the time
(20:52):
people don't change like they are what they are and
their habits that they have. They only become even more
ing as they get older and as they get more
money in those things, And so that's behind the scenes
access that you're talking about. It is what you want
because as a scout, we all want access to the
secret sauce. Because it's one thing to have the liaison
(21:14):
tell you about the kid. It's another thing to watch
it firsthand for yourself. And it's even more when you're
able to sit and observe over time before they become
seniors and everyone is on their best behavior to how
do they add this freshman sophomores all of that stuff,
Like what is the patterns of behavior they exhibited because
(21:34):
those patterns are going to continue when they get into
the National Football League.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yeah, I mean even just hearing the kids talk a lot,
you know, you just well a lot of times, especially
on our side of things, you know, we're scouting. We're
not at the school visits doing those things. We don't
get a chance to interact with the kids. Like the
first time I hear a lot of these kids talk
is at their combine interview. You know, like I just
I don't know what they even sound like or how
they are around their teammates. This is a great it's
(21:58):
a great look inside that. And also if you're you know,
and the general manager path or it's a great way
to evaluate coaches like you wonder, you know, how does
a coach in the meeting room? Does he have presence?
Does he control the room? You know, what's his what's
his Uh? You know what's his style? Shoot, you can
figure that out watching this thing. I mean, there's vastly
(22:18):
different styles. And that's what SEC is so entertaining. They
have a lot of personalities with coaches. They're all different.
The one, the one that cracked me up the most,
I thought was Sam Pittman at Arkansas, who you have
a lot of these raw rah speeches, right, and a
lot of these coaches are very intense and uh and
he gets up there and they're getting ready to play.
That's the Tennessee game where Tennessee's top five in the
(22:39):
country in the game that they ended up winning, it
was a huge win for him and uh and again,
I'll just clean it up how he says it. But
like the kind of we're ready to go, man, We're
just just just do what we need to do. All right,
Let's go whip their tail and then turn around and
just walk look out of the building. That was it.
All right, let's just let let's go whip their tail,
let's get out of here.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I mean, sometimes it takes what it takes when it
comes to that, Like some guys, if you've done all
the work, you don't have to do a whole bunch
of robber. But it is funny because Sam Pittman is
a bit of that aw shucks home personality and wrapped
up in your hait.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
The offensive line guy. Man, there's an offensive line guy.
So I wanted to sneak that in. I know we'll
get to the preseason, but I just that was so
impressive watching what I've seen of that show. If you haven't,
you got to watch it. It's freaking awesome. That was
this week's Hot or Not segment, brought to you by
with Sabi Hot Cloud Storage, store more and do more
with your data. Try them for free at wassabi dot com.
All right, Buck, we get to the quarterbacks in a second.
(23:34):
But I don't know if you if you saw it
was it wasn't a long time. Abdul Carter wasn't there
for a long time, but he was there for a
good time, Buck, because I mean it was three rushes,
it was on the edge, it was him against guards
is gonna be a nightmare. I mean, like you got
no shot blocking that, dude. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Overall, I'm gonna be honest with you, like the New
York Giants does. Like the Giants, particularly on defense, when
you go back and you close your eyes and you
envision what a Giants defense is supposed to be, It's
supposed to be about that front line being able to
get out after and when you add Abdual Carter to
a front line that already has dexter lawrence and you
think about Brian Burns and cave On Timberdough and on
and on and on, like, this is a team that
(24:10):
now looks like they have the recipe that has successfully
worked for this.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Team for years.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
And that is why when we talk about the scouting business,
it's so important when we talk about taking the best
player available, like, don't complicate it regardless of what you have,
what is in the cupboard. If the best player available
is sticking there on your board and it's whatever, you
can't have enough good players. And Abdual Carter has some
of that X factor to him when it comes to
(24:35):
being a pass rusher. That man, this is gonna be
a lot of fun for the Giants defensive coordinator Shane
Bowne to try and figure out a way to really
attack upon this because that front line now is kind
of scary.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Good. Yeah, he is. He's a problem man, and he
can win with speed. He's got a feel. People forget
he was rushing with one arm, you know, in that playoff,
which he was still dominant, but he looked he looked
like a dude. Man. There was some I don't say
this lightly, especially knowing the guy I'm talking to played
with him, but god, he looked like Derek Thomas, just
(25:06):
the way he was.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Moving coming off the ball, coming off the ball, snap
look first ep quitting this snapcount anticipation. When you have
that DJ man, you are playing with house money, particularly
when you're at home. When you're at home and you
have the home crowd behind you, and the offense, particularly
the edge blockers, don't have the luxury of really hearing
(25:29):
the hood up or the go and they're kind of
on their heels. It's a difference maker. And after Carter's speed,
Brian Burns the speed, Dexter Lawrence's power, I mean they
can come at you in a bunch of different ways.
And when they start having the fun stuff, when it
comes to their NASCAR package that everyone has, when they
put all the pass versus on the field, they can
be handful. It's gonna be a problem for some teams.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
No doubt. I was on uh, I was with you
on Thursday night with TV and then you had to
take off the Jacksonville So Friday night MJD was in
there with with Ret and Eye and that was the
shitt Or Sanders game. And I can before we get
into what we saw from the tape, which was good,
I can't recall when was the last like this, the
(26:14):
player that was this polarizing. Whereas I'm doing pre half
in posts and all my mentions are you're loving this,
You're over the top loving this guy up too much,
or you're just a hater and you hate on him
and that d D like there is no And maybe some
of that is social media is going to be the extremes, right,
but the the volume of it in terms of people
(26:37):
that are interested in this dude and have very strong
opinions one way or the other. I can't remember a
guy that was this Maybe this polarizing.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
No, I can't remember, but hass off the NFL network
picking up all three preseason games with Dr Sanders. Even
better yet, thanks Cleveland Browns for somehow finding a way
to make him the starter in that game, because now
it's become musty TV.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Oh, I haven't seen the rainy yet, but I guarantee
you it is massive.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
It's a number.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
And here's what I said about before we even get
to the performance, Like, what we're always doing when it
comes to putting young guys on the field and in
the game is we're always trying to assess how they're
going to play in these big moments, whether they're in college,
whether they're playing in their regular season games or bowl
games or conference championships or whatever. We're trying to see
(27:25):
how they're going to handle the magnitude of the moment
at the next level. Even though this was a preseason game,
there was so much hype, pomping circumstance around this game
because as you talked about the polarizing opinions, you had
some people who were already saying, Oh, they're setting them.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Up to field, which was so crazy to me.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
You have other guys and I've been just like it
takes what it's take.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I mean, let's go play ball, football, go play ball hard.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Things are hard, and in fact, the majority of people
that are playing on that field, this is what it's like.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
You gotta go and prove.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
And so to me, I was interested in seeing what
was going to happen. And I said this, and I
think we talked about it. They actually did him a
favor because they gave my heads up. He had two
days to know that.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
He was going to be the start.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
It was like you walked into the stadium and then
they're like, oh, by the way, you're starting. So he
had two days to get ready, and so to me,
I wanted to see how he would handle the pressure. Look,
he had a solid overall game DJ. But to me,
the guy that I saw in that game is the
same guy that I saw in Colorado, good, bad or whatever.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
That is the same player that I saw at Colorado. Yeah,
I thought he was good man. I thought I thought
there was nothing in there that really surprised me. Again,
this guy, he was my twentieth rated player in the
draft that gave him a first round grade. He went
out there and quitted himself like a like a first
round quarterback should and he's not playing with starters. He's
(28:51):
not playing against starters. Okay, you can say things are
simplified all those things. To me, I push all that
to the side. The game looked, didn't look fast, asked.
He threw the ball with accuracy, anticipation. There was an
escape that was great where he created plays with his legs,
which I saw. We saw this stuff at Colorado, and
there was a couple of plays where he drifted and
(29:12):
retreated and you know, played with some fire. A little
bit on that in terms of, you know, putting himself
at risk of a big loss on sacks. So again,
stuff he can continue to focus on. I I it's
hard with him to even use context as an example.
Like to me, I went back and I pulled I
pulled all the numbers of because I have worked for
(29:34):
the Cleveland Browns for two years. I know the history
since they came back with Tim Couch that they've been
searching for this guy for over twenty twenty five years.
They've been trying to find this guy for twenty five years.
And so I've seen people, I've seen the hype train
leave the station before and I so I pulled up
all the numbers of like Deshan Kaiser and Manzell and
(29:55):
and you know, like you go through Brandon Whedon, like
all these guys they've had over the years, Brady Quinn,
Brady Quinn at a heck of a first preseason game,
and and a lot of those guys played really well
in their first preseason game. But everything is so everybody
wants to fight on him so much that I'm like,
I'm not this is if I put this out there,
if I just said, hey, he did what he was
supposed to do. It was really solid. But like this,
(30:17):
this is not everybody's saying, oh, he's got it, he's
the starter now, and all this kind of like let's say,
let's just he's learning, he's given, he's earning more opportunities
to play with with twos and eventually with ones, he
earned more reps. And that is that is outstanding. He
did his job. But people are freaking so far on
the high end and the low end. Buck like I
feel like this, yeah, like find a middle ground in
(30:38):
here somewhere, people.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah, and I saw where telling you our research and
put out those numbers and he compared them. I think
those numbers were either Baker Mayfield's numbers he compared to
Baker Mayfield's numbers on Twitter, which is which is fine.
And I think DJ, what you said is how you
should keep it in context and perspective. We talk about
playing the long game. From a scouting perspective. What SHOULDR
(31:01):
Sanders did is exactly what you said. He played well
enough to earn himself another opportunity to get reps with
maybe the twos in the next game they played the
field there for Eagles Kevin.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Joint practice right now, maybe this week give him a
couple of pops against those dudes.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And Kevin Sevanski said, like, he'll get more reps against
the Eagles. And we had talked and I think even
on Thursday night, I said, look to me, this has
some Russell Wilson vibes in terms of like he set
the foundation where if he plays well, yeah, you have
that conversation at the end of the preseason. But right now,
what he did is he earned additional opportunities based on circumstances. Now,
(31:37):
what's unfortunate for Kenny Picking and Dylan Gabriel. And this
is the thing that we talked about in training camp. Man,
you have to stay on the field because you don't
want to crack the door open for somebody behind you.
And what they did is they left the door a
jar for him to get more reps. And those reps
are gonna come at their expense. But what Kenny Picking
and Dylan Gabriel have is they got an opportunity to
(31:58):
halt some of that momentum based on their own play.
But with only two games left, everything has to happen
quickly for everybody before we make decision.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I still Spade Joe Flack Goo to be the.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Starter, but those battles, it just intensifies for the guys
behind them because the clock is the time is dwindling.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
On way we can make a decision with only two
games left. Yeah, I said it on the on the
air on Friday night. I said, look, I know one thing,
Shodor Sanders has won one job. The job that he's
won is the trainer because he just magically healed two
hamstrings with one.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Hey, but I don't know if you're gonna be able
to keep sitting out.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Because I know you're not a hundred. I know you're
not a hundred, But if you're if you're sixty, if
you're north of sixty. We gotta get we gotta get
back of practice.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Yeah, because because as we said, DJ, literally you have
two games left and now these joint practices help both traxes.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Or even I would argue would even be more important
than what we're seeing in the games. But I've said this, like,
to me, the thing that makes the most sense for
the Browns, and I think I've been on record with
this before. It makes the most sense for me with
Joe Flacco to start game one and whether that buys
you two weeks, four weeks, eight weeks, like I want
(33:10):
to see. To me, at should or I had such
a higher grade on him than Dylan Gabriel, so me,
I want to evaluate him this year, so I want
to see him play. But to me, I think it's
easier to start with Flacco and go to Shador than
to throw Shador out there week one and if man,
it gets pretty bad, if he struggles and it's too
much like then going to Flacco, I think you kind
of lose Shador. I think by allowing him, you know,
(33:32):
to sit in regular season at the beginning of the
year and see what a weak preparation looks like, seeing
game speed, watching Flacco play, even if it's for two weeks,
three weeks, four weeks. I think that's going to give
him a better shot of being successful when you do
hand him the keys. But make no mistake, if they
go through this whole year and he doesn't play at
all and they don't see him in game action, man,
I think that's a mistake. You got to see what
(33:52):
you have.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, and the all the aps you got to put
by that is if Joe Flacco is ball and this
team is playing well, then I will understand if they
don't put him on the field.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
See, but if it's a situation.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Where they're not playing and they're not in playoff contention,
at some point, he has to give him a field
because you have to see him, see what he looks like,
see if he potentially could be a future option at
quarterback or if you have to go back into twenty
twenty sixth draft and find that next guy. But it's interesting,
But let's say this, because we're talking about you doing,
we're gonna talk about these other quarters. I'm gonna say this,
(34:22):
I'm really impressed, and I know it's only game one.
I'm really impressed by the rookie class and quarterbacks right
and looking at cam Ward and looking at Jackson Dart
who I think we let's talk cam Ward because because
he was number one, I want to give him his due.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
He didn't play a ton. But what do you see
look man? Like?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Here's what I like when it comes to it. I
like guys that are true to the tape that we
watched in college. I like guys that show what we
saw in college. Is the same guy that shows up
in the pros. Cam Ward, same guy showed up. And
I would say, first thing that stands out to me
is the alpha dog demeanor when they're going no huddle
up tempo and he is in cont roll. I was like,
(35:01):
that's the cam Woard that I saw, not only in Miami,
but the same one I saw Washington State.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
To take charge. All of that leadership stuff. I loved it.
The off platform throws, the tight window throws, all of that.
He has all of that in space. Now.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
I don't know how good that team is going to be,
but I do know he is as advertised.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
When it comes to the alpha dog leader that we
talked about coming out of Miami, Yeah, to me, it's
they're gonna be chasing points a lot, And to me,
if you're gonna be on a team that has to
chase points, I want somebody that's fun to watch and
chase mode. And they're gonna be it's gonna be fun
to watch him really Ridley out there make plays for him,
like they're gonna be fun to watch, chasing chasing people.
But I and I don't think they're gonna want a
(35:43):
ton of games down there in Tennessee this year. But
I think he's gonna be exciting to watch. I'm I'm
curious to see how much they give him in these
last couple of games, if they give him a little
more work just to kind of get him ready, or
if they feel like they're gonna you know, he got
if he's good, Yeah, yeah, that'll be. It's tough to
figure out how to use Ricky quarterbacks if or if
you're playing on starting them, how much do you give
him in the preseason, that's a tricky one to me.
(36:04):
Jackson Dart was excellent. I thought, you know, I knew
he'd be able to run the ball and shows his
athleticism and toughness that was on display. I thought he
showed a really nice feel and touching the screen game,
which is going to give them opportunities whenever he does
get on the field. And I do think we see
him this year. I've said it. I think Russell Wilson
goes for a little bit and then I think they're
gonna see that that kind of hits his head on
(36:26):
the ceiling a little bit, and they're gonna want to
see what Jackson can do. And we're going to see
him play this year. But having a young quarterback who's
really really good in the screen game and can run
buck Man, we can start with a game plan just
with that little foundation, and we can build out from there.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
I'm gonna say this man like, and because I'm looking
at my notes as we're talking about Scheduor, I'm looking
at my notes on Jackson Dark and DJ.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
I was a fan.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
I was a fan coming in and I was really
a fan, and I think we've had these experiences before
when you meet people in person. The humility that he
displayed when we were in person, I was like, man,
that's that's pretty pressive that this guy wants to do it.
And I had him as a first round grade and
I remember talking about his arm, his zip, his velocity,
big play hunter all those things. I thought he was
(37:09):
great as an athlete. Worked the entire field in DJ
and watching that game, I could see where Brian day
ball went. You know, in the garage where you keep
your old files. I saw him go to the Josh Allen.
I saw him pull out the folder like, oh yea hey,
I use some of the stuff with Josh. Using him
in the run game.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Just a little bit, just a little taste.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
It changes the equation for the defense. And because Jason
Dark was so comfortable doing it, I was like, Oh,
this is hey, this is you can start getting excited
about how they can utilize him and how they can
put it together, and they can do it without the
pressure of having to put him on the field week one.
I could see where this could look later in the
year and even next year as they slowly build upon it.
(37:56):
So nice debut for him. A lot of things to
get you excited about, which is what you want to
see from your rookie quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
Yeah. I also thought I like quarterbacks that match their environment.
They matched the stadium, the weather, the division, Like there's
a ruggedness that I think you need to have to
play in that in that building, in that division. So
I thought that that was encouraging to see. And this
is a team, man, this offensive line can stay healthy,
they're going to be you know, they're going to be
above average on the offensive line. Those guys can all
(38:23):
stay healthy, continue to develop, and they've got some pieces there.
Think about them on the defensive side of the ball.
We've already talked about Abdul Carter on the defensive front.
And then they win if they kind of hang around
and then all of a sudden he were to get
in there all of a sudden. Now you're looking up
for all the grief that Joe Shane has taken. Man,
you go, man, this team's headed in the right direction.
(38:45):
They got a chance to be a much better team
than people anticipate.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Now, I'm gonna go back to a conversation that I
had doing Brian dave Balls first season when they went
to the playoffs, and I talked to him and he
talked about how they were able to win games with
a roster they might have been limited at the time,
and he talked about, hey, we have to play a
certain way.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
To get the game in the margins.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
We have to run the football, we have to trick
people in some unbalanced situations, find a way to make
the quarterback make some plays but not put him at risk,
play good defense, and in the fourth quarter, we got
to make those plays to win. DJ there's a path
for the New York Giants to be able to win
with their roster as presently constructed. Right now, we've been
raving about the defense in Abdul Carter. It literally is
(39:28):
Brian dave Ball putting more on the defense. I mean,
you guys got to keep this number down. If you
can keep this number to eighteen to twenty, we can
manufacture enough points to win games in the fourth quarter. Honestly,
I believe more pressure should be applied to the defense
to play well so our offense can find a way
to sneak it. But if they are able to get
games kind of like on their terms. There's absolutely a
(39:52):
path for the Giants way because we've seen it. We
saw it in his first season on the job, so
we know that he can do it a certain way.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Kind of believe he has the pieces in.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Place to be able to do it because Jackson Dart
is a better version Daniel Jones in terms of the
athlete and playmaker from the pocket.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah, that's a great point. I think there's a formula
out there that exists the challenges. Jade Daniels wasn't in
Washington when they when they made that run. The Eagles
coming off a super Bowl, and I can tell you
the Cowboys they might be they might be trying to
just say, let's just try and see if we can
reel in the Dallas Cowboys this year. See what happens.
But there are gonna be a They're gonna be a
(40:29):
fun team to watch. Any all right, that we could
go on forever on preseason buck, but any other any
other interesting takeaways before we jump out here.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
I want to get your take because you got a
chance to tell the ship in person.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
How do you what did you think? Because I know
the charge pick six early, Yeah, pick six early, But
I thought he looked in control. Cal Moore did a
good job of giving him some shot plays which he
hit a big one on a double move. And then
they love that little what do you guys call that?
Uh little little swing screen where you've got a buddy
in front of you. What do you what do you
(40:59):
guys label that? We saw it in the NFL a
lot last year where you'll like have a tight end
out front of the back o the little swing screen
and stuff like that. Yeah, they did something that I
call it like a buddy screen, just because you got
a little buddy out there in front of you. But
they did a lot of that stuff and then he
can move around. He's athletic, the arm look good. I mean,
he still can get a little scattered at times, but
(41:20):
I mean Spencer Ratler didn't didn't really do a whole
heck of a lot. And to me, at Chuck's age,
you know, as a twenty five year old rookie, man,
if it's close, I think he's got more He's got
more tools. I would just I don't think they're going
to be very good Buck, But I'd rather just roll
with him all year long and just see, let see
if he can develop and get better. And I think
he'll provide some excitement. I don't see that team winning
(41:42):
a whole lot of football games. It's not a lot
of talent. No, that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
And if we talked about a quarterback competition, to me,
when he started, Spencer Rall, Spencer Radit needs to seize
the job right away.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
He needs to have like a game that made you
kind of pause. If not. If it's close, it certainly
should go to the young guy has tools and young
young Yeah, they should go to the rookie.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
We saw the big play down the field, and I'm
gonna say some of the same things that showed up
on tape showed up in this game. Got hit, a
little bit, knocked around or whatever. But I give him
credit for bouncing back from the early pick six because
that was a doozy.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
But he came back and played week two. I need
to see more from it.
Speaker 2 (42:24):
I would like to see him get more opportunities so
we can kind of assess him versus whatever. But he
should be in my mind, he should be the starter
when they open it up and we won.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
You know, it's interesting watching that game Trey Lance. You know,
for second week in a row, it's played well. Trey
Lance and Tyler Shuck, same age Trey Lance is in
year five. Think about that.
Speaker 3 (42:45):
Think about that, speaking of because you see.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
It every week.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Isn't it amazing what some quarterback gurus can do with
a quarterback.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
I'm looking up and I see dj Ukle drop a bot. Man.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
I'm just sitting here and I'm just sitting here. God dog,
it like that Harbor and Greg Roman got a magic potion.
Speaker 1 (43:03):
Sometimes perfect Well, he's their perfect big, athletic, strong guy.
I mean buck you know him, I mean I saw him.
I saw him a lot more in high school, and
I thought, this guy is gonna be one of the
top five quarterbacks in the NFL. This guy looks like
this is a sophomore in high school. Now, three different
colleges had their shot to figure it out. Nobody was
able to figure it out. And maybe it's one of
those things where it's kind of like good from far
(43:24):
but far from good, you know, where you kind of
you see him in the little little segments and maybe
you know, you get carried away. Man, I've been out there.
I've seen him at practice. I've seen him and briefly
in a couple of preseason games. He looks, he looks
the part man, and he's made a couple of nice throws. Yeah,
a couple of nice throws. That bomb was was certainly impressive.
So good for him.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Man, like someone locally who has an opportunity to make
it out.
Speaker 1 (43:46):
That's cool, yep, no question. All right, let's let's wrap
this thing up. This has been a fun one today. Again,
it's a lot easier to do the shows when we've
got preseason to chat about. So we'll be together. Are
you in studio at all this week? Buck for preseason?
I don't think so. I think I'm done. I think
I'm done with all stuff. I don't think. Okay, I
know I gotta go back in there. I'll give you
(44:07):
the date here. I'm in there Friday. So I don't
know who's playing Friday at the moment, but uh, I
will be in there. It's a long one. And then
I've got Chargers Rams on Saturday. Who the Jags got
this week?
Speaker 3 (44:19):
Miami, Miami on Saturday night in Miami.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
So you are hopscotching back and forth. Man, all right,
we appreciate you guys hanging with us. We'll see you
next time. Right here on, move the sticks.
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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