September 16, 2025 • 34 mins
Daniel Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks, and Rhett Lewis kick things off recapping Monday night double-header, which saw the Chargers clamp down on the Raiders offense (0:54) and the Buccaneers snatch a comeback victory over the Texans. (6:20) Then, the trio break down the rest of the games from the Week 2 slate including Bears-Lions (9:36), Browns-Ravens (13:28), Jets-Bills (17:42), 49ers-Saints (20:43), Rams-Titans (23:05), Patriots-Dolphins (25:22) and Panthers-Cardinals (28:46). Finally, they spotlight Chargers DC Jesse Minter in the newest addition of Coordinator of the Week! (30:40)
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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.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up everybody? Welcome to Move the Sticks, DJ, Bucky,
Rhett with you. Rhett, welcome back, my friend.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
How you doing good?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Excited to be back with you guys here on a Tuesday,
kind of like our Mondays from last.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Year, but have enjoyed Baldy as a part.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Of the program on Mondays and fired up to go
through some more games here guys.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, Buck, we give we give everybody the promise we're
going to get onto games we didn't get to previously
on the Monday Show with bald Could you guys, could.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
You guys work a little harder? I mean, like we
had ten games we're going here.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hey, Baldy. If you know anything about Baldy or follow
Baldy on social media, you know that he's into deep diving,
whether it's the ocean. Yeah, so we're not you know,
we're not just racing throw them. So it left us
with a lot of meat on the bone here today.
So we're going to get to some of these other games,
all these other games. So let's start first of all
with the game I was at last night, which is
the Monday night game, the Chargers take care of the
(00:59):
Las Vegas I don't know what the final tally. I
want to say it was fifteen or sixteen pass breakups
by the end of the game it was. I don't
know that I've seen a game where a team got
more hands on the football than the Chargers did in
this game. And Buck creatively getting to four man sometimes
five man rushes. Fifteen pass breakups. Kevin just put in
the in the chat there. Unbelievable a lot. But Gino
(01:22):
had diced up the Patriots the week before the Patriots
blitzed them. He torched them. Jesse Menner, who we're going
to get to in a little bit with our coordinator
of the week. But he does a brilliant job of
creatively getting to four man rushes. Derwin coming from depth,
you bring a nickel here there dropping guys out. And
the way I described it calling the game was they
made Gino have to throw the ball through the forest
and there were just so many branches there. He just
(01:44):
kept nicking them, one after another, three of the men
to being picked off.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Yeah. So jesse Mentor's experience on the ki lej level
showed up in the Monday Night game. On the collegiate level,
they called those four man rushes, they call them creepers,
simulated pressures. So it looks like you're bringing a blizzard
from depth, but someone's popping out, So you only have
a four man rush, seven guys in coverage, And if
you're really good at that is a way to kind
(02:09):
of serve both roles. You're able to create pressure by
making the line find someone that is off the ball,
while also having maximum coverage to eliminate the deep balls.
And if you're a Gino Smith and the guys are
coming from anywhere and everywhere, and as the Chargers have
all these we tall, these like sized athletes, he's struggling
trying to figure out who's up, who's who's coming, who's not.
(02:33):
Where do I go with it? Is it a bliss?
Is it a hot? It is really a very creative
way to give the illusion of pressure while still playing
safe zone with all eyes on the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, and just from the Raiders' perspective here in this one,
obviously Bowers was a little bit banged up coming into
this game, ends up going but does not have a
huge effect on the game. And I think you see
also the difference in geno when he is not you know,
fully there or fully of available, whether it's you know,
injury or whether it's defense really focusing in on him
because there's just not much else there for the Raiders,
(03:08):
especially on the perimeter. I mean, Jakobe Meyer's you know, good,
good player, just that does not command attention from opposing
defenses the way that you know, a typical number one
wide out would Trey Tucker, not quite the same can
get down the field. I haven't seen much from Jack
Besh at all, the rookie second round pick, so I
think that factors in to some of the difficulty that
(03:30):
Gino has here as well. And then on a positive note,
I think you still even though Ashton Genty only had
eleven carries, I think you still saw some of that
fun stuff that that gent can do when he's just
got a little bit of a crease. Man he goes
to Lowie Gilman felt him on that. I think his
first carry he went.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
To his thigh that was not a good place a
way to go, and.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
He made a couple of nice jump cuts in the
in the hole where he moves laterally so well, So
again I think they're going to have better days on offense.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
This was certainly not one of them.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, and Pete Carroll said after the game he was
asked about him only getting eleven carries and said, hey,
we're breaking him in. He's a rookie that's going to
go up. We're gonna give him more as the season
goes along.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Man.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
He had a heavy workload at Poise last year too,
so it sounds like they're just trying to get him
eased into the game. But it's hard for me to
imagine the Raiders going anywhere they want to go without
Ash and Genty touching the football a lot more. It's
two man offense, it's him and it's Brock Bauers and
figuring out ways for those guys touch the ball as
many times as possible. On the Chargers offensive side of things,
(04:31):
Keenan Allen again just picked up right where he left
off with Justin Herbert. It's almost going to be, I think,
when his career is over, as if that little Chicago
year never happened. He was just to stay with the
Chargers all the way through because he just looks like
the same old Keenan out there. And I was talking
to one of the coaches Buck before the game, and
it just kind of struck me. And just talking to
a lot of these players, and you talked to Lad
(04:52):
McConkie and Keenan and Joe Alt. They've got so many
smart guys on this team. Zion Johnson's brilliant, Najee Harris,
smart guy and really good football awareness. And this just
understands the game really really well. And said, you know,
it kind of reminds me when I was talking to him,
reminds me a little bit of Cults when Peyton had
(05:14):
just he was surrounded by smart guys. So when you
have a bunch of smart people, now volume becomes a
thing where you play together for a long time. You
can just keep stacking more stuff on top of it
and really build this offense out.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Look, it's not even like stacking. It is being able
to recall things from previous years. Oh man, we've got
this look endgame. Hey, let's go back and run this
concept because we ran this a couple of years ago.
Versus Does everyone remember? Yes, and they grow together and
it does allow you to attack. And I'll say this,
man like, it's one of the things that sometimes is
(05:47):
undervalued in scouting by some organizations, but others really crave it. Look,
there's not enough premium placed on intelligence. I'm not only
talking about books marts, but football intelligence because what it does,
it gives you the ability to do so many different things,
and when everyone can speak the same language, you don't
have to slow down the learning process to make up
(06:07):
for others. It allows you not only to have volume,
but it allows you to have little tricks in tweaks
and adjustments that allows you to put the optimal play
together on offense or defense.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
In no doubt, that wasn't the only game yesterday. We
had the earlier game, which is a knock 'am sockem
game where pass rush was a big storyline here with
Houston and Tampa Bay. Rhett, I'll let you go where
you want to go on that one.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, just kind of you know, fast forwarding to the
end of the game right where you know, the Texans
had the lead nineteen fourteen, and you know, Baker Mayfield
gets the ball back just north of the two minute
warning with an opportunity well you know, has to go
down and score a touchdown in order to win this game,
and they ultimately do. But I just the conclusion I
got from watching the tape on that two minute drive
(06:53):
is that Bucky Irving is a cheat code in those situations, right,
especially for a team like that that's going to want
to rush for And I get it right because you
got Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, and then they're going to
drop a bunch of guys and Bucky just squirts out
of the backfield and he the first play, you know,
the two minute and everybody knows how important that first
play is, right to get the drive going. He goes
(07:14):
for twelve on just a little check down to lay release,
he's out of the gate, and then they have like
a string of like three straight, four straight incompletions. Baker
has the clutch run on fourth and ten, gets fifth
red right extends the drive, and that's just part of
him just being a dude, right, just being.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
A clutch football player.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
But then they have another big completion to Bucky where
he breaks like two or three different tackles, and I'm like,
this guy just makes people miss.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
So I went and looked at the numbers and kind
of tracked, you know, some of the earlier part of
the game. He forced nine miss tackles in this game.
They had nineteen forced miss tackles a total for the Bucks,
so that the Texans were just unable to get these
guys down and Bucky was a big part of that,
and a big part of that that two minute drive
that ultimately ended with the Rashod White touchdown. I just
(08:04):
think when you've got that kind of weapon in the
backfield in those situations, man, you've just got so many
options if the downfield stuff isn't there, because man, he
can he makes guys miss off.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It looked like a young Austin Eckler just watching the
cut ups.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
I mean, look, yeah, stop start quickness, and I'm gonna
say this, man, the Buccaneers are funny, right because they're
sleepy good. So they were saying that this is like
the fifth time, fifth season a row they've started out two,
and oh how they jump out of these fast starts.
Mecca Buka drops the past. That was a dart yes
from Baker Mayfield, and it's a tougher catch because the
(08:39):
guy's over showed and he just kind of underestimated how
to reach out his hands. But it is a very
talented team. Mike Evan gets open versus everybody, and you
can already see with Chris Guy when coming back and
all this, it's a very difficult offense to stop. And
then Todd Bowles pressure package on defense. It's gonna keep
you up at night. This is a team to keep
(08:59):
an eye on. I'm not saying to a super Bowl team.
They're one of these tough outs that you're gonna have
to deal with when you get into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Tough injury though, man Bliga cancy to unpack, gone for
the season, that's a bummer. He is a fun player.
He's a really really good player. So again, here we
are two weeks into the season, and it feels like
we've got a load of injuries.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
With teams star players, you know, great players, the teams
are already having to navigate around. So again, hopefully as
speedy recovery. Let's let's jam through some of these other
games here that we didn't get a chance to talk
about yesterday, Uh, Chicago and Detroit. I'll lead us off there.
Just I want to say something positive about the Chicago Bears,
which has not been done. Uh through two weeks. It
(09:43):
is a circle and a cyclone of negativity around the team,
and I think it look it's because of expectations and
hasn't been good and and really wasn't good against the
trade as he got the doors blown off. But let's
get a positive thought here. Roma Dunza through two weeks
looks like the Roma Dunza that we all got accept
about it Washington. He is polished. We were talking about
(10:03):
Keenan Allen earlier. I think that's the that's the that's
the north star for him. That's what he's going to
try and duplicate and be that type of player. But
someone who just he knows how to win. He catches
them all easy. You can use him underneath in the slot.
He just got a really really good feel he did that.
He saw the same double movie you saw him work
guys over with at Washington, you saw in this game.
(10:25):
So just wanted to throw one positive nugget out there.
I'll let you guys go where you want to go
on that one buck. But I just want to have
something good to say about a Bears team that the
defense looks brutal. And there's a lot of other questions, Yeah,
a lot.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Of other questions. I think some of this is you
know now that Ben Johnson directed his comments towards the
Detroit Lions. But when he took the job, he has
chess poked out and says some things about the division
and those things, and you just know how it is.
And the Detroit Lions, the players talked about feeling disrespected
in terms of him going within the division, and so
it was a personal thing. I think the other part
(11:00):
about the Bears and the expectations, I feel bad for
Ben Johnson and Kayleb Williams because everybody expected this thing
to hit like wildfire right off the jump. And most
times when you have a transition, a new takeover, it
takes some time for this team to kind of mesh
in jail and get together in terms of play call
and learning quarterback and putting all the pieces together. So
(11:20):
we just need to have a little more patience with
the Kayleb Williams van Johnson marriage. But man, the wins
in the winning city don't appear to be swinging that
way when it comes to the patients. Fact.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Well, let's also remember it took some time for Ben
Johnson and Jared GoF to hit right. I mean, they were,
you know, flirting with a winless season, it felt like
until they finally kind of kind of kicked things up
towards the end.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Of that first year together. So yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
I'm with you on that. But on the line side
of things, what a difference week one to week two
on the offensive side of the ball, right, I mean
and kind of fitting and ironic that they have an
extremely explosive day offensively playing against Ben Johnson, who authored
so much of the creativity that we came to love
from the Lions the last couple of years. But the
(12:07):
thing that I kind of noticed and watching the six
explosives in the past game went for over two hundred yards.
They had five hundred yards to total offense over three
I think it was three to nineteen by my count,
came on explosive plays in the past and the run
game pass game alone. Just looking at that six of
six right for Jared Goff in that scenario, average depth
(12:28):
of target on those throws twenty three yards. These were
not just like hey, let's get a quick screen out,
get a good block and it goes for twenty yards
as an explosive. These were deep downfield. A lot of
them were crossers to a Monroe Saint Brown, one to
Jamison Williams. But the thing that I kept coming back
to is he had time, he was protected. Average time
(12:48):
to throw on those explosives were well over three seconds
in the pocket just sitting back there without a real rush.
And again, much improved offensive line performance week one in
the week two. Now again you're playing a different type
of defense, right, different type of defensive line in terms
of personnel from the Packers to the Bears. But this
was much better, much needed for the Lions. I was
(13:10):
really impressed. The way they got the ball down the
field in this game was a big factor.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And I think the other team that wasn't in that game,
that was hovering over that game was everybody going, gosh,
Green Bay must be really stinking good.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
They are really good.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And that was the other thought there after after seeing
that what went down there. Buck Cleveland Baltimore and Baltimore Hammers,
I'm forty one to seventeen.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Look, man, just over Baltimore Baltimore just doing what they do.
Just a really talented team, a team that when they're
locked in and focused, they're really tough to be even
though they kind of slock through different parts of the game.
When they turn it on, man, it's a clear separation.
Just giving their talent. This is a team that I'm
excited to see when they're able to bounce out the
(13:53):
offense with Lamar Jackson throwing the ball all over the
yard given the threat that he also presents as a runner,
Dick can we being able to get it done. Just
what they can do and how they constantly can keep
the pressure on the defensive coordinator to have to make
hard decisions on what they want to defend, what they
want to take away. They're just really good. And then defensively,
if they don't let the ball fly over the head man,
it's just hard to move the ball on them consistently.
(14:15):
Just a town to team. I just need them to
be mature enough to take care of business against all
these teams.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Look, I looked at the brown side of things here
at twenty eight points off errors, fumble recovery. Well, let's
go in order. Block punt in the second quarter. I mean,
you block a punt, you know, those are such momentum shifts.
And then the Ravens are able to score off the
block punt. They have the interception to start the second
half on the first possession from Joe Flacco, which is
(14:45):
he's like on the run, like getting chased down and
then throws somewhat back into the middle of the field.
Just kind of a misfire. Didn't need to have it,
throw it away, lived to play another day. It gets
picked off. Ravens score a touchdown off that interception. Then
you have the strip sacked fumble, in which I just
like looking at that thing, and he had options there.
It just kind of like he kind of like like
(15:08):
reholstered right. He was like ready to straight, just didn't
have great anticipation. Had an open receiver on the left
hand side. Now look open. It was a tight window,
but probably could have gotten it there. And then I
had another option on the right hand side on that
on the strip sack, it just didn't get to it.
So he's holding on to the ball for too long.
Eventually the rush gets there, knocks the ball out, Roquan
(15:28):
takes at the distance fumble recovery returned for a touchdown,
and then you know, in the very next possession they
just turn it over on downs. They're they're way behind
the eight ball here. Didn't have a lot of great options,
but that turns into a touchdown. Twenty eight points off
of turnovers, a block punt and a turnover on downs.
It's a difference in his game. Now you take some
of that out, you take twenty one of those out
(15:49):
with the block punt and the two turnovers.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, it's a it's a closer game, but it did.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It just never felt like Baltimore didn't have control of
this thing the way to ultimately end it up.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Hey, if that thunderstorm doesn't come, there's no puddle, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
It could have been.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Fine if not for the nineteen turnovers. They win that game.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Like when they're when they're controllable, right when they are,
you know when you can you can make a better
decision on the play.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Here's my two things from this game, because I didn't
have a chance to see much of it. So I'm
back and I wanted to do some selfish vanity projects.
So one of which was Mason Graham. Through two weeks,
Mason Graham is making some impact plays for this defense.
He's his quickness has been there, leverage he's getting on
the other side of the line of scrimmage. I know
there was a lot of noise after that and they
decided not to take Travis Hunter, but I've been encouraged
(16:40):
what I've seen from Mason Graham through two games, just
spinning through his production and what he's doing and generating.
So that's positive there. And the other thing was I
was kind of wondering how the fit with Nuke Hopkins
was going to be with Baltimore, Like, how are they
going to use him? What's he going to be? And
I think it's pretty evident now. I mean, he's going
to be their jump ball, vertical guy who can do
(17:00):
it in the red zone and just give you that
open covered guy, you know what I mean. They've got
guys who can separate and then they're gonna get you
with I get your eyes in trouble with all the
different play action and movement you're gonna have with Lamar
in the backfield. But there's sometimes and I think to me,
this is gonna be a move for January. Is you're
gonna be in the postseason and there's gonna be guys
swallowed up and you're gonna have to throw it into
(17:22):
a crowd. And I think that's where Hopkins is gonna
come in.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Man.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And you can see that Lamar already trusts him. He's
not separating, He never has separated, he never will separate.
So you got to trust him that he's gonna he's
gonna win. He's a ball winner, and I think that's
the role that he's playing for the Baltimore Ravens. So
that was fun to watch how they're utilizing what he
absolutely does best. RTT keep it rolling here Buffalo and
the Jets. I give just real quick on that. My
only nugget on that is Ken kid is playing well
(17:50):
and and uh, he's kind of gone back to what
he was at Utah, which is just a lot of
quick stuff underneath, just just someone who's a volume player.
I don't know that I see like the most dynamic
version that maybe I was hoping to see. But he
is someone that Josh trust and you're going to be
It's a million paper cuts, is how they can beat
you with him.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah, and look they were the best rushing team in
the league this week, the Buffalo Bills, who are two
hundred and twenty four rushing yards. And obviously it helps
when you get when you get Josh Allen on the run,
you know, early in the game and goes for fifty
yards on a scramble, which he you know, is out there,
you know, looking just insane. Some of the moves he
makes in the pocket to get out of that mess
(18:29):
and have that explosive play. But I think the more
like this year certainly, this game kind of a microcosm
of what we've seen from the Bills over the last
you know, year plus, which is, you know, without forcing
the ball to Stefan Diggs a whole bunch, they've become
a team that can really run the football, and James
cook Man is rocket and rolling right now one hundred
and thirty two yards in this game. They are really
(18:52):
good and in this game, it feels like it worked
out really well for them with their zone scheme.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Their zone scheme runs.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Because I feel like, especially Bucky and you can chime
in on this one too, when you have a player
like Quinn Williams who can get into the backfield and
get upfield quickly, right and be a disruptor that way,
when you can get him moving laterally with the way
you're running some of those outside zones and some of
those zones that hit a little bit more outside, I
(19:19):
think that's obviously a positive thing to keep him out
of the backfield, and it worked a number of times
in this one, and James cook was excellent in this
game a couple of rushing touchdowns as well. So when
they can run the football that way, it's a long
day for a defense knowing that you've got the threat
of Josh Allen there as well.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
I mean, I think that's the perfect scenario for the
Buffalo Bills. It's one of the reasons why they should
stick to the run and be a little more persistent
with the running game because it does alleviate some of
the pressure on Josh Allen and it allows him to
kind of pick and choose when he needs to put
the cape on James Cook. Look, he's been to the
Pro Bowl a few different times. He just paid him.
He's a franchise running back for them. And what the
(19:56):
Bills are is a very consistent, steady ity team. Like
I think, you know exactly what you're getting from them
each and every week, and that's one of the reasons
that they're going to be one of the top two
or three teams in the AFC. What you want to
see them do to go to the next level is
to see if they can find a little more explosiveness
and it's not necessarily on the legs of Josh Allen
(20:17):
that they can create explosiveness by design as opposed to
leaning on Superman to make these plays out of the
pocket on unscripted efforts. If they can do that, then
they really become a very, very dangerous team to deal with.
As we started talking about the postseason and who has
legitimate Super Bowl chances.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I think there's a lot of teams in the mix.
It doesn't seem like anybody's completely separated themselves so far
this season. I think there's a lot of teams going
to be joce for position there in the AFC. How
about San Francisco, Rrett. This is Mac Jones audition for
this role a few years ago, didn't get the part,
but the director decided to make it your movie and
starring him in this movie. It turns out and it's
(20:55):
a good match. It's a good match there.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I thought that was fun to watch for Mac Jones
to find some successes. He said, to kind of get
his confidence back a little bit. And I mean, that's
that's what Kyle Shanahan's offense does for quarterbacks, right, I mean,
just go down the line guys that can play confidently,
you know, in this system.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And I thought that was that was a.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Lot of fun to see, especially like without George Kittle
still finding ways to get the tight ends involved both
Farrell and Tanjas And yeah, you didn't need like a
heroic performance from Christian McCaffrey in this one, which was,
you know, a positive.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I did want to switch over though, to talk a
little bit about.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Spencer Rattler on the saint side of things here, because
I know it's there O and two now oh and
two now, two tough losses, but I think you're seeing
the Kellen Moore effect of you know, just like we're
talking about Kyle Shanahan mac Jones, but I think you're
seeing the Kellen Moore effect with Spencer Ratler in this offense.
He's got a clean sheet, has not turned the ball
over in the past game right now, he's got a
(21:54):
couple of touchdowns. They were three for three on touchdowns
in the red zone in this game. And he was
under duress in this game as well, like Kelvin Banks
had some you know, I know we were big fans
of his throughout the preseason.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
And maybe early on struggled.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yes, Nick Moosa will do that to you, but yeah,
they were just overpowered a number of times. Both the
tackles gave up six pressures in this game. So I
mean for him to be under director, for Spencer Ratler
to be under duress in this game and to still
find ways to be judicious with the football and execute
the offense. I thought was signed like a nice sign
of life for New Orleans. They got to start winning
(22:31):
some of these close games. But that's something to build up.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Did you put your hand up, by the way, we'rrett
and own that one, because we were talking the other
day it was last week, and you're just like, you know, hey,
they've invested a lot in this offensive line of New Orleans.
This is an that part is just a kiss. Man
just got smoked the next week. You just raise your
hand on that.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
That's good, Buck. Let's let's take a time out. We
come back. We'll rip through the last few games here,
all right, Buck Rams thirty three to nineteen Byron Young
in Company. I don't know that everybody labels him as
the lead singer of that pass rush, but man, he
was great in this game. And this Rams pass rush
(23:15):
got after cam Or. That looked a little fast out
there for him in that one.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Yeah, a little fast. And what I love about the Rams.
I mean, like I tell you, like it's funny that
in Hollywood you have a team that is a blue
collar team, but that's what the La Rams are. They
ability to morph their playing style in any situation really
is remarkable to me. This is a team that can
play with glitz and glamor they can throw it all
over the yard. You have Devonte Adams pukingakua, but then
(23:41):
they can get down and dirty and run the football
with Karen Williams. They can lean on their defense, which
has a bunch of young, hungry defenders at the point
of attack. To me, when I look at the team
that Sean McVay and Lesnie have built, they've kind of
built a rock solid team without a glaring weakness that
gives them a chance to match up with anybody. I
just love the fact that Sean McVay, who kind of
(24:02):
earned a reputation for being the offensive wizard, is willing
to win by enemies necessary, and that really bowls well
for a team that can match with any of these
teams in the tournament. They have a chance because they
can change and become a chameleon and do what they
need to do to get out of a game.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah, and I would say, you know, obviously Kyrin Williams
is the straw that starts that drink there in the
run game for the Rams. But I think I saw
some signs of encouragement for Blake Korum in this game.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Literally great pre season. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean I think I think this run scheme like
he's he's kind of figured this thing out now with
a lot of those duo runs that they have, And
he moved really well, like in between the tackles in
this game, and he's so low to the ground and
has that great center of gravity, plays behind his pads
like it's it was fun to watch him kind of
get loose a little bit in these games. And he
five carries forty four yards, but it wasn't like it
(24:52):
was one for thirty and then the rest were little,
you know, dinks and dunks there. It was like eight
it felt like seven yards of carry a couple of
times in there. So I thought that was nice as
you kind of trying to move forward in that blue
collar way at times, as Bucky's talking about to have
more than just Kyrien Williams out there tote.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
The load, no doubt, look like Krum we saw him
at training camp, he saw it in the preseason. Now
you see it carrying over to the regular season. So
his role I think will continue to grow there in
that offense. All right, New England Miami. I had a
chance to go back and watch Drake and just kind
of studied him in this game. I was curious to
see what he looked like. Red I see you nod
in your head, so I'll let you follow me up
(25:31):
on here, man. But this was the game that showed
you why you get so excited about Drake May and
why I think that the future is incredibly bright for
this franchise. It was it was everything on display. It
was drive throws, it was numerous touch throws, beautiful bucket
touch throws you know to backs, you know down the field,
tight ends, ball dropping out of the sky, The ball
(25:53):
placement was beautiful. Then it was him being able to
just use his legs, go run, get the pylon, get
your way into the end zone when when those opportunities
create themselves, and it just looked like he was a
very poised, under control player who trust what he was seeing.
I was talking to the guys up in Seattle earlier
(26:14):
today on the show up there and we were talking
about Sam Darnold and I said, with a quarterback, I
love it when you can see a guy who trusts
his eyes and trusts.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
His guys like you.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You see that, you trust what you're seeing coverage wise,
and you trust your guys are going to be where
they need to be and the ball is gone. I
thought in that game that you saw that from from
Drake May and that was the reason I would be
very excited if I were a Patriot fan. Don't worry
about wins this year. Worry about the fact that you've
got the key foundation piece in place and some other
good young players.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Go ahead, Buck, Yeah, No.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
I mean, look, one of the reasons that I thought
it was appealing to have Mike Rabel and jas mcgame's
comment is because there's gonna be a little of organization
instructure doesn't allow a young quarterback to improve because this
was not their first rodeo with a quarterback, that they
would figure out a way to put him in his
sweet spot. And they have done that. And I think
what Mike Rabel has done is not only make it
where it look they're building the quarterback or whatever, but
(27:10):
they're really building all areas of the team, so he
doesn't feel like he has to play like a superhero
as a young player, that he has to be the
savior of the franchise, even though we know he needs
to be that special quarterback for them to get where
they eventually want to be. I think they've done a
really good job of having him be a key contributor
but not be the entire team. I like the way
(27:32):
the Patriots are training. I like the fact that they
brought those veterans over to support him offense and defense
to complimentary football aspect of it. But make no mistake,
Drake May has the ingredients to be a star. It's
just a matter of when is it going to pop
for him. But you got to like what you're seeing from.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And I think there's there's some you know, comparisons that
you can draw, you know, now to the way that
Josh Allen plays the game, but it's more polished earlier,
Like you go back to Josh's start, you know, it
was kind of like wild, right, like all over the
pot is frenetic.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's not as frenetic exactly right.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
It is just more in control, more polished, but it's
producing similar results and really fun to watch the maturation
of Drake May And I think I think Mike Rable
is very fortunate in his first year here in New
England to have a franchise quarterback that way, I mean,
still a little bit selfishly because of the way that
our rookie draft ended up working out. That Trevion Henderson
(28:27):
just for just not a part of the game plan
right now.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Oh look, o, Marion Hampton, not a part of the
game plan.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Ashon Jent should have got more touches. Wait, let's let's
free these rookie running backs.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Man, Let's get them going for crying out. I'm with you,
all right, Let's let's wrap this thing up here. Last one,
Arizona they get a win over Carolina. Some news coming
out of this game, Rob Hunt, Torn Bicep, Austin Corbett,
Torn mcl both Onto ir So things are not great
for the Carolina Panthers right now. And Arizona, you know,
(29:01):
find a way to get to the winner. Circles kind
of held on in this one.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Buck. Yeah, Arizona they find a way. And look, man,
there's not a lot of people talking about the Arizona Cardinals,
but if you keep stacking wins, you look up and
you can find yourself in the tournament. And that's the
important part of winning these games earlier why everyone is
trying to figure out who they are. If you can
steal some wins in September, it really gives you a
chance to be one of those teams that plays in
(29:24):
January and ultimately in February. The Cardinals can play much better,
and I think there's some things that they will do
to kind of unlock this offense in time, But right
now they're doing just enough to win games. And at
the end of the day in three weeks, no one's
gonna care how they got to this point. They're just
gonna be like, man, they got off to a fast start.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, look, I think these are the games you gotta win,
right if you want to be that team that some
people talked about as you know, like this could be
a dark horse team in the NFC West here in
Jonathan Gannon's third year, like, these are the games that
you have to find a way to win, even though
it's not pretty on the offensive side of the ball.
Marvin Harrison just to cat in this game. Nobody over
thirty five yards rushing in this game for the Cardinals.
(30:05):
But they find a way and they do it by,
you know, building a lead early. Defense played really well
early on in this game, and then they gave up
the three straight touchdown possessions in the third and fourth quarter,
all late late game stuff. If you're looking, I was
just looking. First half, they give up ninety three yards
like they they had. They had the Panthers in a
hole that they tried to look. Credit the Panthers for
(30:26):
staying in this thing. But you can't get in a
hole like that and play that poorly in the first
half expect to win games against a good team in
the Cardinals like this.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
No, it's been a tough, tough road here for the
Carolina Panthers. All right, talked about this guy a little
bit earlier. We're going to get a little bit more
in depth. Right now. It's time for Hot or Not,
brought to you by with Sabi Hot Cloud Storage. This
is where we go to our coordinator of the Week.
I mentioned it earlier, Jesse Miner, defensive coordinator for the Chargers.
What we like to do is highlight a coordinator every
week and give you a little bit of their background,
(30:56):
a little bit of their story and tell you a
little bit about some of these bright young coach. So
Jesse Minner Michigan in twenty three top break defense in
the country as their defensive coordinator two hundred and forty
seven yards per game if you're into that. He was
a finalist for the Broyles Award, that's present of the
top assistant college football. Previously to that, he's in Michigan
twenty two and twenty three and twenty one. Has a
(31:18):
stopovers defensive coordinator at Vandy and was also their safeties
coach prior to that. Again, you'll see a lot of
the similarities with Mike McDonald. He was with the Ravens
from seventeen to twenty coaching defensive backs there and a
part of some really really good ball clubs. For those
who don't know his dad, Rick Minner, you know, it
was kind of a legendary coach there at the collegiate level,
(31:39):
Cincinnati and some other stops along the way, so they
it's a football family. It's someone who's been under kind
of harbor umbrella and been around a lot of good
defensive coaches and Buck we referenced the game plan he's had,
you know, against the Vegas Raiders in that game. But
last year, this is the number one defense in the NFL,
and I don't think it's one that's just loaded, star
(32:00):
studded all over the field. They've got really really well coached,
smart players, and he does a great job from week
to week ad justin his scheme limiting explosives. He's just
a darn good football coach. I would imagine it at
this time next year will be on a sideline as
a head coach.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Yeah, it's just really good man. It's just more impressed
with him each and every time that I get a
chance to watch the Chargers in depth. It is the
way that he takes all of the pieces of the
puzzle and put it together. And it's also being able
to do it without I would say, a bunch of
name brands. They have some later round picks that are playing.
They have some other guys that are not your star
players playing, but then their stars show up in big moments.
(32:38):
And I just like the fact that you have a
guy like Derwin James who can come down and run
a pick a pick rush for to create opportunities for
Khalil Mack to come around the corner and do some
things and just how fast they play. There is a
confidence that they play with that allows him to play
fast and furious. It's just a well designed, nicely crafted
(33:01):
defense that is really tough to defend because they don't
give you anything. Like they're not overly aggressive with they're reckless.
They just don't concede big plays and they make you
drive the length of the field and at some point
you go mess it up, and when you mess up,
they make you pack.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, I would just say I'm kind of like impressed
with just the balance of this whole thing and the
way that they can mix it up with a bunch
of different coverages. You know, they're not beholden to any
one thing per se. He's not like, you know, overly
heating up the quarterback with extra rushers. When you can
get home with four obviously you have three or four,
you're winning. But just feels like there's a great mix
(33:41):
of what they do and kind of always you know,
giving a different picture to quarterbacks, making making your guests
a little bit, making you try to really diagnose and
figure out what you're doing. Snap to snap. It's just
a nice menu on that call sheet for jesse mentor
that his guys are obviously really good at executing.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
He's a good dude too. Like a lot of times
defensive coaches, you get a lot of bravado, sometimes fake
tough guys. He's just a real authentic guy who's incredibly smart,
relates well to the players. I think he'll interview very
very well when he gets his opportunity as a head
coaching candidate. But doing a wonderful job there with the
Chargers as their defensive coordinator. That was this week's Hot
or Not segment, brought to you by with Sabbi Hot
(34:22):
cloud storage, store more and do more with your data.
Try them for free at Withsabi dot com. All right, boys,
that does it for us today we covered those games.
We're gonna come back tomorrow. We'll have the rookie Draft,
the recap what happened there last week, touch on some
other rookies as well as we march towards Week three
of the NFL season.
And now Move the Sticks with Daniel, Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up everybody? Welcome to Move the Sticks, DJ, Bucky,
Rhett with you. Rhett, welcome back, my friend.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
How you doing good?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Excited to be back with you guys here on a Tuesday,
kind of like our Mondays from last.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Year, but have enjoyed Baldy as a part.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Of the program on Mondays and fired up to go
through some more games here guys.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, Buck, we give we give everybody the promise we're
going to get onto games we didn't get to previously
on the Monday Show with bald Could you guys, could.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
You guys work a little harder? I mean, like we
had ten games we're going here.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hey, Baldy. If you know anything about Baldy or follow
Baldy on social media, you know that he's into deep diving,
whether it's the ocean. Yeah, so we're not you know,
we're not just racing throw them. So it left us
with a lot of meat on the bone here today.
So we're going to get to some of these other games,
all these other games. So let's start first of all
with the game I was at last night, which is
the Monday night game, the Chargers take care of the
(00:59):
Las Vegas I don't know what the final tally. I
want to say it was fifteen or sixteen pass breakups
by the end of the game it was. I don't
know that I've seen a game where a team got
more hands on the football than the Chargers did in
this game. And Buck creatively getting to four man sometimes
five man rushes. Fifteen pass breakups. Kevin just put in
the in the chat there. Unbelievable a lot. But Gino
(01:22):
had diced up the Patriots the week before the Patriots
blitzed them. He torched them. Jesse Menner, who we're going
to get to in a little bit with our coordinator
of the week. But he does a brilliant job of
creatively getting to four man rushes. Derwin coming from depth,
you bring a nickel here there dropping guys out. And
the way I described it calling the game was they
made Gino have to throw the ball through the forest
and there were just so many branches there. He just
(01:44):
kept nicking them, one after another, three of the men
to being picked off.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Yeah. So jesse Mentor's experience on the ki lej level
showed up in the Monday Night game. On the collegiate level,
they called those four man rushes, they call them creepers,
simulated pressures. So it looks like you're bringing a blizzard
from depth, but someone's popping out, So you only have
a four man rush, seven guys in coverage, And if
you're really good at that is a way to kind
(02:09):
of serve both roles. You're able to create pressure by
making the line find someone that is off the ball,
while also having maximum coverage to eliminate the deep balls.
And if you're a Gino Smith and the guys are
coming from anywhere and everywhere, and as the Chargers have
all these we tall, these like sized athletes, he's struggling
trying to figure out who's up, who's who's coming, who's not.
(02:33):
Where do I go with it? Is it a bliss?
Is it a hot? It is really a very creative
way to give the illusion of pressure while still playing
safe zone with all eyes on the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Yeah, and just from the Raiders' perspective here in this one,
obviously Bowers was a little bit banged up coming into
this game, ends up going but does not have a
huge effect on the game. And I think you see
also the difference in geno when he is not you know,
fully there or fully of available, whether it's you know,
injury or whether it's defense really focusing in on him
because there's just not much else there for the Raiders,
(03:08):
especially on the perimeter. I mean, Jakobe Meyer's you know, good,
good player, just that does not command attention from opposing
defenses the way that you know, a typical number one
wide out would Trey Tucker, not quite the same can
get down the field. I haven't seen much from Jack
Besh at all, the rookie second round pick, so I
think that factors in to some of the difficulty that
(03:30):
Gino has here as well. And then on a positive note,
I think you still even though Ashton Genty only had
eleven carries, I think you still saw some of that
fun stuff that that gent can do when he's just
got a little bit of a crease. Man he goes
to Lowie Gilman felt him on that. I think his
first carry he went.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
To his thigh that was not a good place a
way to go, and.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
He made a couple of nice jump cuts in the
in the hole where he moves laterally so well, So
again I think they're going to have better days on offense.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
This was certainly not one of them.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, and Pete Carroll said after the game he was
asked about him only getting eleven carries and said, hey,
we're breaking him in. He's a rookie that's going to
go up. We're gonna give him more as the season
goes along.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Man.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
He had a heavy workload at Poise last year too,
so it sounds like they're just trying to get him
eased into the game. But it's hard for me to
imagine the Raiders going anywhere they want to go without
Ash and Genty touching the football a lot more. It's
two man offense, it's him and it's Brock Bauers and
figuring out ways for those guys touch the ball as
many times as possible. On the Chargers offensive side of things,
(04:31):
Keenan Allen again just picked up right where he left
off with Justin Herbert. It's almost going to be, I think,
when his career is over, as if that little Chicago
year never happened. He was just to stay with the
Chargers all the way through because he just looks like
the same old Keenan out there. And I was talking
to one of the coaches Buck before the game, and
it just kind of struck me. And just talking to
a lot of these players, and you talked to Lad
(04:52):
McConkie and Keenan and Joe Alt. They've got so many
smart guys on this team. Zion Johnson's brilliant, Najee Harris,
smart guy and really good football awareness. And this just
understands the game really really well. And said, you know,
it kind of reminds me when I was talking to him,
reminds me a little bit of Cults when Peyton had
(05:14):
just he was surrounded by smart guys. So when you
have a bunch of smart people, now volume becomes a
thing where you play together for a long time. You
can just keep stacking more stuff on top of it
and really build this offense out.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Look, it's not even like stacking. It is being able
to recall things from previous years. Oh man, we've got
this look endgame. Hey, let's go back and run this
concept because we ran this a couple of years ago.
Versus Does everyone remember? Yes, and they grow together and
it does allow you to attack. And I'll say this,
man like, it's one of the things that sometimes is
(05:47):
undervalued in scouting by some organizations, but others really crave it. Look,
there's not enough premium placed on intelligence. I'm not only
talking about books marts, but football intelligence because what it does,
it gives you the ability to do so many different things,
and when everyone can speak the same language, you don't
have to slow down the learning process to make up
(06:07):
for others. It allows you not only to have volume,
but it allows you to have little tricks in tweaks
and adjustments that allows you to put the optimal play
together on offense or defense.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
In no doubt, that wasn't the only game yesterday. We
had the earlier game, which is a knock 'am sockem
game where pass rush was a big storyline here with
Houston and Tampa Bay. Rhett, I'll let you go where
you want to go on that one.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Yeah, just kind of you know, fast forwarding to the
end of the game right where you know, the Texans
had the lead nineteen fourteen, and you know, Baker Mayfield
gets the ball back just north of the two minute
warning with an opportunity well you know, has to go
down and score a touchdown in order to win this game,
and they ultimately do. But I just the conclusion I
got from watching the tape on that two minute drive
(06:53):
is that Bucky Irving is a cheat code in those situations, right,
especially for a team like that that's going to want
to rush for And I get it right because you
got Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, and then they're going to
drop a bunch of guys and Bucky just squirts out
of the backfield and he the first play, you know,
the two minute and everybody knows how important that first
play is, right to get the drive going. He goes
(07:14):
for twelve on just a little check down to lay release,
he's out of the gate, and then they have like
a string of like three straight, four straight incompletions. Baker
has the clutch run on fourth and ten, gets fifth
red right extends the drive, and that's just part of
him just being a dude, right, just being.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
A clutch football player.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
But then they have another big completion to Bucky where
he breaks like two or three different tackles, and I'm like,
this guy just makes people miss.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
So I went and looked at the numbers and kind
of tracked, you know, some of the earlier part of
the game. He forced nine miss tackles in this game.
They had nineteen forced miss tackles a total for the Bucks,
so that the Texans were just unable to get these
guys down and Bucky was a big part of that,
and a big part of that that two minute drive
that ultimately ended with the Rashod White touchdown. I just
(08:04):
think when you've got that kind of weapon in the
backfield in those situations, man, you've just got so many
options if the downfield stuff isn't there, because man, he
can he makes guys miss off.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
It looked like a young Austin Eckler just watching the
cut ups.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
I mean, look, yeah, stop start quickness, and I'm gonna
say this, man, the Buccaneers are funny, right because they're
sleepy good. So they were saying that this is like
the fifth time, fifth season a row they've started out two,
and oh how they jump out of these fast starts.
Mecca Buka drops the past. That was a dart yes
from Baker Mayfield, and it's a tougher catch because the
(08:39):
guy's over showed and he just kind of underestimated how
to reach out his hands. But it is a very
talented team. Mike Evan gets open versus everybody, and you
can already see with Chris Guy when coming back and
all this, it's a very difficult offense to stop. And
then Todd Bowles pressure package on defense. It's gonna keep
you up at night. This is a team to keep
(08:59):
an eye on. I'm not saying to a super Bowl team.
They're one of these tough outs that you're gonna have
to deal with when you get into the postseason.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Tough injury though, man Bliga cancy to unpack, gone for
the season, that's a bummer. He is a fun player.
He's a really really good player. So again, here we
are two weeks into the season, and it feels like
we've got a load of injuries.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
With teams star players, you know, great players, the teams
are already having to navigate around. So again, hopefully as
speedy recovery. Let's let's jam through some of these other
games here that we didn't get a chance to talk
about yesterday, Uh, Chicago and Detroit. I'll lead us off there.
Just I want to say something positive about the Chicago Bears,
which has not been done. Uh through two weeks. It
(09:43):
is a circle and a cyclone of negativity around the team,
and I think it look it's because of expectations and
hasn't been good and and really wasn't good against the
trade as he got the doors blown off. But let's
get a positive thought here. Roma Dunza through two weeks
looks like the Roma Dunza that we all got accept
about it Washington. He is polished. We were talking about
(10:03):
Keenan Allen earlier. I think that's the that's the that's
the north star for him. That's what he's going to
try and duplicate and be that type of player. But
someone who just he knows how to win. He catches
them all easy. You can use him underneath in the slot.
He just got a really really good feel he did that.
He saw the same double movie you saw him work
guys over with at Washington, you saw in this game.
(10:25):
So just wanted to throw one positive nugget out there.
I'll let you guys go where you want to go
on that one buck. But I just want to have
something good to say about a Bears team that the
defense looks brutal. And there's a lot of other questions, Yeah,
a lot.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
Of other questions. I think some of this is you
know now that Ben Johnson directed his comments towards the
Detroit Lions. But when he took the job, he has
chess poked out and says some things about the division
and those things, and you just know how it is.
And the Detroit Lions, the players talked about feeling disrespected
in terms of him going within the division, and so
it was a personal thing. I think the other part
(11:00):
about the Bears and the expectations, I feel bad for
Ben Johnson and Kayleb Williams because everybody expected this thing
to hit like wildfire right off the jump. And most
times when you have a transition, a new takeover, it
takes some time for this team to kind of mesh
in jail and get together in terms of play call
and learning quarterback and putting all the pieces together. So
(11:20):
we just need to have a little more patience with
the Kayleb Williams van Johnson marriage. But man, the wins
in the winning city don't appear to be swinging that
way when it comes to the patients. Fact.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Well, let's also remember it took some time for Ben
Johnson and Jared GoF to hit right. I mean, they were,
you know, flirting with a winless season, it felt like
until they finally kind of kind of kicked things up
towards the end.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Of that first year together. So yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
I'm with you on that. But on the line side
of things, what a difference week one to week two
on the offensive side of the ball, right, I mean
and kind of fitting and ironic that they have an
extremely explosive day offensively playing against Ben Johnson, who authored
so much of the creativity that we came to love
from the Lions the last couple of years. But the
(12:07):
thing that I kind of noticed and watching the six
explosives in the past game went for over two hundred yards.
They had five hundred yards to total offense over three
I think it was three to nineteen by my count,
came on explosive plays in the past and the run
game pass game alone. Just looking at that six of
six right for Jared Goff in that scenario, average depth
(12:28):
of target on those throws twenty three yards. These were
not just like hey, let's get a quick screen out,
get a good block and it goes for twenty yards
as an explosive. These were deep downfield. A lot of
them were crossers to a Monroe Saint Brown, one to
Jamison Williams. But the thing that I kept coming back
to is he had time, he was protected. Average time
(12:48):
to throw on those explosives were well over three seconds
in the pocket just sitting back there without a real rush.
And again, much improved offensive line performance week one in
the week two. Now again you're playing a different type
of defense, right, different type of defensive line in terms
of personnel from the Packers to the Bears. But this
was much better, much needed for the Lions. I was
(13:10):
really impressed. The way they got the ball down the
field in this game was a big factor.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And I think the other team that wasn't in that game,
that was hovering over that game was everybody going, gosh,
Green Bay must be really stinking good.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
They are really good.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
And that was the other thought there after after seeing
that what went down there. Buck Cleveland Baltimore and Baltimore Hammers,
I'm forty one to seventeen.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Look, man, just over Baltimore Baltimore just doing what they do.
Just a really talented team, a team that when they're
locked in and focused, they're really tough to be even
though they kind of slock through different parts of the game.
When they turn it on, man, it's a clear separation.
Just giving their talent. This is a team that I'm
excited to see when they're able to bounce out the
(13:53):
offense with Lamar Jackson throwing the ball all over the
yard given the threat that he also presents as a runner,
Dick can we being able to get it done. Just
what they can do and how they constantly can keep
the pressure on the defensive coordinator to have to make
hard decisions on what they want to defend, what they
want to take away. They're just really good. And then defensively,
if they don't let the ball fly over the head man,
it's just hard to move the ball on them consistently.
(14:15):
Just a town to team. I just need them to
be mature enough to take care of business against all
these teams.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Look, I looked at the brown side of things here
at twenty eight points off errors, fumble recovery. Well, let's
go in order. Block punt in the second quarter. I mean,
you block a punt, you know, those are such momentum shifts.
And then the Ravens are able to score off the
block punt. They have the interception to start the second
half on the first possession from Joe Flacco, which is
(14:45):
he's like on the run, like getting chased down and
then throws somewhat back into the middle of the field.
Just kind of a misfire. Didn't need to have it,
throw it away, lived to play another day. It gets
picked off. Ravens score a touchdown off that interception. Then
you have the strip sacked fumble, in which I just
like looking at that thing, and he had options there.
It just kind of like he kind of like like
(15:08):
reholstered right. He was like ready to straight, just didn't
have great anticipation. Had an open receiver on the left
hand side. Now look open. It was a tight window,
but probably could have gotten it there. And then I
had another option on the right hand side on that
on the strip sack, it just didn't get to it.
So he's holding on to the ball for too long.
Eventually the rush gets there, knocks the ball out, Roquan
(15:28):
takes at the distance fumble recovery returned for a touchdown,
and then you know, in the very next possession they
just turn it over on downs. They're they're way behind
the eight ball here. Didn't have a lot of great options,
but that turns into a touchdown. Twenty eight points off
of turnovers, a block punt and a turnover on downs.
It's a difference in his game. Now you take some
of that out, you take twenty one of those out
(15:49):
with the block punt and the two turnovers.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, it's a it's a closer game, but it did.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
It just never felt like Baltimore didn't have control of
this thing the way to ultimately end it up.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Hey, if that thunderstorm doesn't come, there's no puddle, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
It could have been.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Fine if not for the nineteen turnovers. They win that game.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Like when they're when they're controllable, right when they are,
you know when you can you can make a better
decision on the play.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Here's my two things from this game, because I didn't
have a chance to see much of it. So I'm
back and I wanted to do some selfish vanity projects.
So one of which was Mason Graham. Through two weeks,
Mason Graham is making some impact plays for this defense.
He's his quickness has been there, leverage he's getting on
the other side of the line of scrimmage. I know
there was a lot of noise after that and they
decided not to take Travis Hunter, but I've been encouraged
(16:40):
what I've seen from Mason Graham through two games, just
spinning through his production and what he's doing and generating.
So that's positive there. And the other thing was I
was kind of wondering how the fit with Nuke Hopkins
was going to be with Baltimore, Like, how are they
going to use him? What's he going to be? And
I think it's pretty evident now. I mean, he's going
to be their jump ball, vertical guy who can do
(17:00):
it in the red zone and just give you that
open covered guy, you know what I mean. They've got
guys who can separate and then they're gonna get you
with I get your eyes in trouble with all the
different play action and movement you're gonna have with Lamar
in the backfield. But there's sometimes and I think to me,
this is gonna be a move for January. Is you're
gonna be in the postseason and there's gonna be guys
swallowed up and you're gonna have to throw it into
(17:22):
a crowd. And I think that's where Hopkins is gonna
come in.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Man.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
And you can see that Lamar already trusts him. He's
not separating, He never has separated, he never will separate.
So you got to trust him that he's gonna he's
gonna win. He's a ball winner, and I think that's
the role that he's playing for the Baltimore Ravens. So
that was fun to watch how they're utilizing what he
absolutely does best. RTT keep it rolling here Buffalo and
the Jets. I give just real quick on that. My
only nugget on that is Ken kid is playing well
(17:50):
and and uh, he's kind of gone back to what
he was at Utah, which is just a lot of
quick stuff underneath, just just someone who's a volume player.
I don't know that I see like the most dynamic
version that maybe I was hoping to see. But he
is someone that Josh trust and you're going to be
It's a million paper cuts, is how they can beat
you with him.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Yeah, and look they were the best rushing team in
the league this week, the Buffalo Bills, who are two
hundred and twenty four rushing yards. And obviously it helps
when you get when you get Josh Allen on the run,
you know, early in the game and goes for fifty
yards on a scramble, which he you know, is out there,
you know, looking just insane. Some of the moves he
makes in the pocket to get out of that mess
(18:29):
and have that explosive play. But I think the more
like this year certainly, this game kind of a microcosm
of what we've seen from the Bills over the last
you know, year plus, which is, you know, without forcing
the ball to Stefan Diggs a whole bunch, they've become
a team that can really run the football, and James
cook Man is rocket and rolling right now one hundred
and thirty two yards in this game. They are really
(18:52):
good and in this game, it feels like it worked
out really well for them with their zone scheme.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Their zone scheme runs.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Because I feel like, especially Bucky and you can chime
in on this one too, when you have a player
like Quinn Williams who can get into the backfield and
get upfield quickly, right and be a disruptor that way,
when you can get him moving laterally with the way
you're running some of those outside zones and some of
those zones that hit a little bit more outside, I
(19:19):
think that's obviously a positive thing to keep him out
of the backfield, and it worked a number of times
in this one, and James cook was excellent in this
game a couple of rushing touchdowns as well. So when
they can run the football that way, it's a long
day for a defense knowing that you've got the threat
of Josh Allen there as well.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
I mean, I think that's the perfect scenario for the
Buffalo Bills. It's one of the reasons why they should
stick to the run and be a little more persistent
with the running game because it does alleviate some of
the pressure on Josh Allen and it allows him to
kind of pick and choose when he needs to put
the cape on James Cook. Look, he's been to the
Pro Bowl a few different times. He just paid him.
He's a franchise running back for them. And what the
(19:56):
Bills are is a very consistent, steady ity team. Like
I think, you know exactly what you're getting from them
each and every week, and that's one of the reasons
that they're going to be one of the top two
or three teams in the AFC. What you want to
see them do to go to the next level is
to see if they can find a little more explosiveness
and it's not necessarily on the legs of Josh Allen
(20:17):
that they can create explosiveness by design as opposed to
leaning on Superman to make these plays out of the
pocket on unscripted efforts. If they can do that, then
they really become a very, very dangerous team to deal with.
As we started talking about the postseason and who has
legitimate Super Bowl chances.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I think there's a lot of teams in the mix.
It doesn't seem like anybody's completely separated themselves so far
this season. I think there's a lot of teams going
to be joce for position there in the AFC. How
about San Francisco, Rrett. This is Mac Jones audition for
this role a few years ago, didn't get the part,
but the director decided to make it your movie and
starring him in this movie. It turns out and it's
(20:55):
a good match. It's a good match there.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I thought that was fun to watch for Mac Jones
to find some successes. He said, to kind of get
his confidence back a little bit. And I mean, that's
that's what Kyle Shanahan's offense does for quarterbacks, right, I mean,
just go down the line guys that can play confidently,
you know, in this system.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And I thought that was that was a.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Lot of fun to see, especially like without George Kittle
still finding ways to get the tight ends involved both
Farrell and Tanjas And yeah, you didn't need like a
heroic performance from Christian McCaffrey in this one, which was,
you know, a positive.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
I did want to switch over though, to talk a
little bit about.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Spencer Rattler on the saint side of things here, because
I know it's there O and two now oh and
two now, two tough losses, but I think you're seeing
the Kellen Moore effect of you know, just like we're
talking about Kyle Shanahan mac Jones, but I think you're
seeing the Kellen Moore effect with Spencer Ratler in this offense.
He's got a clean sheet, has not turned the ball
over in the past game right now, he's got a
(21:54):
couple of touchdowns. They were three for three on touchdowns
in the red zone in this game. And he was
under duress in this game as well, like Kelvin Banks
had some you know, I know we were big fans
of his throughout the preseason.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
And maybe early on struggled.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Yes, Nick Moosa will do that to you, but yeah,
they were just overpowered a number of times. Both the
tackles gave up six pressures in this game. So I
mean for him to be under director, for Spencer Ratler
to be under duress in this game and to still
find ways to be judicious with the football and execute
the offense. I thought was signed like a nice sign
of life for New Orleans. They got to start winning
(22:31):
some of these close games. But that's something to build up.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Did you put your hand up, by the way, we'rrett
and own that one, because we were talking the other
day it was last week, and you're just like, you know, hey,
they've invested a lot in this offensive line of New Orleans.
This is an that part is just a kiss. Man
just got smoked the next week. You just raise your
hand on that.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
That's good, Buck. Let's let's take a time out. We
come back. We'll rip through the last few games here,
all right, Buck Rams thirty three to nineteen Byron Young
in Company. I don't know that everybody labels him as
the lead singer of that pass rush, but man, he
was great in this game. And this Rams pass rush
(23:15):
got after cam Or. That looked a little fast out
there for him in that one.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Yeah, a little fast. And what I love about the Rams.
I mean, like I tell you, like it's funny that
in Hollywood you have a team that is a blue
collar team, but that's what the La Rams are. They
ability to morph their playing style in any situation really
is remarkable to me. This is a team that can
play with glitz and glamor they can throw it all
over the yard. You have Devonte Adams pukingakua, but then
(23:41):
they can get down and dirty and run the football
with Karen Williams. They can lean on their defense, which
has a bunch of young, hungry defenders at the point
of attack. To me, when I look at the team
that Sean McVay and Lesnie have built, they've kind of
built a rock solid team without a glaring weakness that
gives them a chance to match up with anybody. I
just love the fact that Sean McVay, who kind of
(24:02):
earned a reputation for being the offensive wizard, is willing
to win by enemies necessary, and that really bowls well
for a team that can match with any of these
teams in the tournament. They have a chance because they
can change and become a chameleon and do what they
need to do to get out of a game.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Yeah, and I would say, you know, obviously Kyrin Williams
is the straw that starts that drink there in the
run game for the Rams. But I think I saw
some signs of encouragement for Blake Korum in this game.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
Literally great pre season. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean I think I think this run scheme like
he's he's kind of figured this thing out now with
a lot of those duo runs that they have, And
he moved really well, like in between the tackles in
this game, and he's so low to the ground and
has that great center of gravity, plays behind his pads
like it's it was fun to watch him kind of
get loose a little bit in these games. And he
five carries forty four yards, but it wasn't like it
(24:52):
was one for thirty and then the rest were little,
you know, dinks and dunks there. It was like eight
it felt like seven yards of carry a couple of
times in there. So I thought that was nice as
you kind of trying to move forward in that blue
collar way at times, as Bucky's talking about to have
more than just Kyrien Williams out there tote.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
The load, no doubt, look like Krum we saw him
at training camp, he saw it in the preseason. Now
you see it carrying over to the regular season. So
his role I think will continue to grow there in
that offense. All right, New England Miami. I had a
chance to go back and watch Drake and just kind
of studied him in this game. I was curious to
see what he looked like. Red I see you nod
in your head, so I'll let you follow me up
(25:31):
on here, man. But this was the game that showed
you why you get so excited about Drake May and
why I think that the future is incredibly bright for
this franchise. It was it was everything on display. It
was drive throws, it was numerous touch throws, beautiful bucket
touch throws you know to backs, you know down the field,
tight ends, ball dropping out of the sky, The ball
(25:53):
placement was beautiful. Then it was him being able to
just use his legs, go run, get the pylon, get
your way into the end zone when when those opportunities
create themselves, and it just looked like he was a
very poised, under control player who trust what he was seeing.
I was talking to the guys up in Seattle earlier
(26:14):
today on the show up there and we were talking
about Sam Darnold and I said, with a quarterback, I
love it when you can see a guy who trusts
his eyes and trusts.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
His guys like you.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You see that, you trust what you're seeing coverage wise,
and you trust your guys are going to be where
they need to be and the ball is gone. I
thought in that game that you saw that from from
Drake May and that was the reason I would be
very excited if I were a Patriot fan. Don't worry
about wins this year. Worry about the fact that you've
got the key foundation piece in place and some other
good young players.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Go ahead, Buck, Yeah, No.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
I mean, look, one of the reasons that I thought
it was appealing to have Mike Rabel and jas mcgame's
comment is because there's gonna be a little of organization
instructure doesn't allow a young quarterback to improve because this
was not their first rodeo with a quarterback, that they
would figure out a way to put him in his
sweet spot. And they have done that. And I think
what Mike Rabel has done is not only make it
where it look they're building the quarterback or whatever, but
(27:10):
they're really building all areas of the team, so he
doesn't feel like he has to play like a superhero
as a young player, that he has to be the
savior of the franchise, even though we know he needs
to be that special quarterback for them to get where
they eventually want to be. I think they've done a
really good job of having him be a key contributor
but not be the entire team. I like the way
(27:32):
the Patriots are training. I like the fact that they
brought those veterans over to support him offense and defense
to complimentary football aspect of it. But make no mistake,
Drake May has the ingredients to be a star. It's
just a matter of when is it going to pop
for him. But you got to like what you're seeing from.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And I think there's there's some you know, comparisons that
you can draw, you know, now to the way that
Josh Allen plays the game, but it's more polished earlier,
Like you go back to Josh's start, you know, it
was kind of like wild, right, like all over the
pot is frenetic.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's not as frenetic exactly right.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
It is just more in control, more polished, but it's
producing similar results and really fun to watch the maturation
of Drake May And I think I think Mike Rable
is very fortunate in his first year here in New
England to have a franchise quarterback that way, I mean,
still a little bit selfishly because of the way that
our rookie draft ended up working out. That Trevion Henderson
(28:27):
just for just not a part of the game plan
right now.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Oh look, o, Marion Hampton, not a part of the
game plan.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Ashon Jent should have got more touches. Wait, let's let's
free these rookie running backs.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Man, Let's get them going for crying out. I'm with you,
all right, Let's let's wrap this thing up here. Last one,
Arizona they get a win over Carolina. Some news coming
out of this game, Rob Hunt, Torn Bicep, Austin Corbett,
Torn mcl both Onto ir So things are not great
for the Carolina Panthers right now. And Arizona, you know,
(29:01):
find a way to get to the winner. Circles kind
of held on in this one.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Buck. Yeah, Arizona they find a way. And look, man,
there's not a lot of people talking about the Arizona Cardinals,
but if you keep stacking wins, you look up and
you can find yourself in the tournament. And that's the
important part of winning these games earlier why everyone is
trying to figure out who they are. If you can
steal some wins in September, it really gives you a
chance to be one of those teams that plays in
(29:24):
January and ultimately in February. The Cardinals can play much better,
and I think there's some things that they will do
to kind of unlock this offense in time, But right
now they're doing just enough to win games. And at
the end of the day in three weeks, no one's
gonna care how they got to this point. They're just
gonna be like, man, they got off to a fast start.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, look, I think these are the games you gotta win,
right if you want to be that team that some
people talked about as you know, like this could be
a dark horse team in the NFC West here in
Jonathan Gannon's third year, like, these are the games that
you have to find a way to win, even though
it's not pretty on the offensive side of the ball.
Marvin Harrison just to cat in this game. Nobody over
thirty five yards rushing in this game for the Cardinals.
(30:05):
But they find a way and they do it by,
you know, building a lead early. Defense played really well
early on in this game, and then they gave up
the three straight touchdown possessions in the third and fourth quarter,
all late late game stuff. If you're looking, I was
just looking. First half, they give up ninety three yards
like they they had. They had the Panthers in a
hole that they tried to look. Credit the Panthers for
(30:26):
staying in this thing. But you can't get in a
hole like that and play that poorly in the first
half expect to win games against a good team in
the Cardinals like this.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
No, it's been a tough, tough road here for the
Carolina Panthers. All right, talked about this guy a little
bit earlier. We're going to get a little bit more
in depth. Right now. It's time for Hot or Not,
brought to you by with Sabi Hot Cloud Storage. This
is where we go to our coordinator of the Week.
I mentioned it earlier, Jesse Miner, defensive coordinator for the Chargers.
What we like to do is highlight a coordinator every
week and give you a little bit of their background,
(30:56):
a little bit of their story and tell you a
little bit about some of these bright young coach. So
Jesse Minner Michigan in twenty three top break defense in
the country as their defensive coordinator two hundred and forty
seven yards per game if you're into that. He was
a finalist for the Broyles Award, that's present of the
top assistant college football. Previously to that, he's in Michigan
twenty two and twenty three and twenty one. Has a
(31:18):
stopovers defensive coordinator at Vandy and was also their safeties
coach prior to that. Again, you'll see a lot of
the similarities with Mike McDonald. He was with the Ravens
from seventeen to twenty coaching defensive backs there and a
part of some really really good ball clubs. For those
who don't know his dad, Rick Minner, you know, it
was kind of a legendary coach there at the collegiate level,
(31:39):
Cincinnati and some other stops along the way, so they
it's a football family. It's someone who's been under kind
of harbor umbrella and been around a lot of good
defensive coaches and Buck we referenced the game plan he's had,
you know, against the Vegas Raiders in that game. But
last year, this is the number one defense in the NFL,
and I don't think it's one that's just loaded, star
(32:00):
studded all over the field. They've got really really well coached,
smart players, and he does a great job from week
to week ad justin his scheme limiting explosives. He's just
a darn good football coach. I would imagine it at
this time next year will be on a sideline as
a head coach.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Yeah, it's just really good man. It's just more impressed
with him each and every time that I get a
chance to watch the Chargers in depth. It is the
way that he takes all of the pieces of the
puzzle and put it together. And it's also being able
to do it without I would say, a bunch of
name brands. They have some later round picks that are playing.
They have some other guys that are not your star
players playing, but then their stars show up in big moments.
(32:38):
And I just like the fact that you have a
guy like Derwin James who can come down and run
a pick a pick rush for to create opportunities for
Khalil Mack to come around the corner and do some
things and just how fast they play. There is a
confidence that they play with that allows him to play
fast and furious. It's just a well designed, nicely crafted
(33:01):
defense that is really tough to defend because they don't
give you anything. Like they're not overly aggressive with they're reckless.
They just don't concede big plays and they make you
drive the length of the field and at some point
you go mess it up, and when you mess up,
they make you pack.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, I would just say I'm kind of like impressed
with just the balance of this whole thing and the
way that they can mix it up with a bunch
of different coverages. You know, they're not beholden to any
one thing per se. He's not like, you know, overly
heating up the quarterback with extra rushers. When you can
get home with four obviously you have three or four,
you're winning. But just feels like there's a great mix
(33:41):
of what they do and kind of always you know,
giving a different picture to quarterbacks, making making your guests
a little bit, making you try to really diagnose and
figure out what you're doing. Snap to snap. It's just
a nice menu on that call sheet for jesse mentor
that his guys are obviously really good at executing.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
He's a good dude too. Like a lot of times
defensive coaches, you get a lot of bravado, sometimes fake
tough guys. He's just a real authentic guy who's incredibly smart,
relates well to the players. I think he'll interview very
very well when he gets his opportunity as a head
coaching candidate. But doing a wonderful job there with the
Chargers as their defensive coordinator. That was this week's Hot
or Not segment, brought to you by with Sabbi Hot
(34:22):
cloud storage, store more and do more with your data.
Try them for free at Withsabi dot com. All right, boys,
that does it for us today we covered those games.
We're gonna come back tomorrow. We'll have the rookie Draft,
the recap what happened there last week, touch on some
other rookies as well as we march towards Week three
of the NFL season.
Hosts And Creators
Daniel Jeremiah
Bucky Brooks
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