September 9, 2025 • 35 mins
Daniel Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks, and Rhett Lewis kick things off recapping the Vikings’ win over the Bears on Monday Night Football, analyzing J.J. McCarthy’s impressive 4th quarter and Ben Johnson’s questionable decision-making at the end of the game (2:30). Then, the trio break down the rest of the games from the Week 1 slate including Bengals-Browns (10:40), 49ers-Seahawks (16:05), Texans-Rams (22:01), Raiders-Patriots (28:04) and Cardinals-Saints (31:47).
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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 (00:06):
What's up, everybody? Welcome to move the sticks, DJ, Fucky
Rhett with you? Buck uh Rtt does have you gear on?
So we are officially ready to start.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
We're having a conversation DJ. I was trying to figure
out why in twenty twenty five the Indiana Hoosias, who
I've always known him as the Hoosiers, suddenly have a
new mascot or.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Running verd was just bringing him back. The bison went
into hibernation and he was awakened by Kurt Signett's twenty
twenty four season, and he's back now, jumped out of
a skydiving out of a plane into the stadium. So
two and oh, ready to go? Three and oh this Friday.
And then we get Illinois.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Does he have a name? Her?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Who's your the Bison?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Okay, I'm so confused. That's okay? Are there bisons? That
that bison that just run around on the planes of.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Nobody?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I understand, app state meltain Neer like I kind of
get that.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, yeah, you know, you'll get used to it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
By the way, if you're listening to this Monday, we
did our first Baldy episode. So it's a nice little
tape breakdown, So I encourage if you haven't checked out,
go back and listen to that. Uh. In that episode,
we hit a bunch of games, but we couldn't hit
all of them, and we promised we would clean some
of those up today, So we're going to do that.
We'll hit on it again. Not gonna be long, but
we'll touch on some of the other games we did
not mention, as well as as what we saw last night.
(01:37):
So it's literally like the missing games and the Monday
Night recap. That's going to be kind of the flow
in the field for these Tuesday episodes as we continue
to expand what we're doing. And we'll have tomorrow's episode
on our So Wednesdays will be Rookie Draft. I know
Thursdays will have a guest every Thursday. I believe we've
got our buddy Mike Matt coming on Thursday, so and
(01:58):
then we'll have some previous stuff head the game. So
a lot of different things come on your way. But
let's start first of all, Monday Night Gosh talk about
like a tail of two games, like two totally different games,
especially if looking at it from the Chicago side of things,
what they look like early and then they kind of collapse,
especially offensively. And then JJ McCarthy, I was on I've
(02:19):
opened up social media while the game was on, and
he was I mean, he was bench buried, crucified, all
of it. And then all of a sudden, that narrative
flip real quick. Buck, I'll hit you up on this one. First,
go where you want to go. But what's your takeaway
from that ballgame?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
My takeaway is I get it now. I get why
Jim Harborough has been so effusive in his praise over
JJ McCarthy over the past few years. I've never heard
Jim Harbaugh be so supportive of a quarterback that wasn't
his quarterback, even though it was his quarterback at Michigan. Like,
whether it's on TV, our network, anybody that would listen,
(02:58):
he was always super positive about McCarthy was going to
be special in the league. And what I would say
is like, not that the performance was remarkable in any
way based on the numbers, but what I will say
is I saw a quarterback who certainly had the qualities
and the characteristics that you look for as a franchise quarterback.
His ability to bounce back from a very difficult first
(03:18):
three quarters pick six. They kind of had him handcuffed,
and then in the fourth quarter it was like he
was the magical playmaker that would make plays when Michigan
needed it in the clutch. And his athleticism, his passing
and ability, his overall calm and moxie, all of those
things fit well. And as he got more comfortable, you
(03:40):
could see why Kevin O'Connell had a clear vision for
how he's going to play. It's gonna be fun to
watch him continue to grow. But man, I get it.
I understand why Harball was all in on the JJ
McCarthy experience.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Six of eight in the fourth quarter for two touchdowns
and the two incompletions. One was a bad at ball,
one was a drop and like he was before that,
it was ugly. The numbers were bad. I think he
had more yards thrown in the in the fourth quarter
than he did the entire first three quarters combined. Like
that's how bad it was through through the first forty
five minutes. But yeah, stayed with it, and then you know,
(04:15):
I think maybe you make too much of this stuff,
But man, you see the locker room afterwards, just love
on that dude and get fired up for that guy.
I mean, like, you got to make it his first start,
you know, obviously ran into some bumps in a road,
stayed with it, stayed focused, and stayed in the game enough.
And you know, I think that's where Kevin O'Connell comes
in and is maybe even underrated as a coach the
(04:37):
way he kind of handles the players. You know, he
mentioned he talked to him at half times say look, man,
you're gonna you're gonna stay in this game for us.
We're gonna have a chance to win this thing at
the end, and sure enough he did. I'm look at
a lot of coaches say that stuff, but I think
your connection with the players makes him believe it because
he talked about the look in JJ's eyes at that
point that he saw, which was really cool. DJ. Do
you want to do you want to chime in on that?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Orkay?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Can we talk briefly about the clock management here at
the end. I know it's been it's been litigated on
on the broadcast, especially if you're watching the Manning cast,
But here's my question, because Ben Johnson mentioned the kick
was supposed to go out of the back of the
end zon which would have brought the ball out to
thirty five. With the new rules, right with a touchdown,
you kick it out of bounds. You're just moving up
(05:21):
to the forty and you saved Why Why were why
were the five yards so important when you could have
saved forty seconds by just kicking it out of bounds.
That's the part I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
So my thought watching it live as it was going
on with us, trying to imagine the conversation that I
would have if I was Ben Johnson, which would have
been on the sideline going to my kicker, saying, this
ball cannot be returned? Can you guarantee me you can
kick this literally through the uprights? And he says yes.
I would go I don't believe you, all right, cook it.
(05:58):
There's no even if there's even and if you're ninety
nine point nine percent sure that you can get enough
leg on this thing. So not only it's not just
like can you kick it out of the back No,
they're going to field this thing on the back line.
So it can't just like something that would land, you know,
a yard, No, no, no, this thing has to go
a good ten yards beyond the end line, and there's
(06:20):
no way you can't guarantee me you can do that.
I don't care how good you feel where the wind is.
What have you for five yards? I'm kicking this thing
straight out of bounds. Man, just kick it out of bounce.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, and he must have otherwise it's malpractice. Like Tyro
Santos must be kicking them ten yards out of the
back of the end zone every day in practice the
only way, even though I wouldn't trust it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, yeah, it is one of those things. Ben Jason
is his first game as a head coach. He learned
that everything doesn't go according to plan. You can map
out of these scenarios, you can talk about it, we
can practice in those things, but game day execution can
be different. And for him it's like what you guys said.
Sometimes as the head coach, I say, a here are
that keep the ball out of bounce and we're just
(07:03):
gonna let up and play because the only bast scenario
that could happen is it turn for them. I mean,
it was just just all bad, just a bad sequence
and series of plays that cost.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So on the bear side of things, look it was
good early. That's that's a positive. We'll take that as
a positive. Offensively. I'm not gonna be Johnny excuse maker,
but there were a couple of horrible calls in this game,
like holding calls that negated, you know, productive good plays
that were bush league not great calls. One of them
(07:38):
on right the right tackle, which was he just kind
of the guy just kind of goes to the ground.
I mean, he didn't hold him at all throughout the
entire play. So I don't want to be the excuse
maker because there are there are mechanical flaws with Caleb
that they have got to address, where he's got guys
open and his eyes and his feet are not connected
(07:58):
and the ball, I don't know if he overthrowing the ball,
but the ball's taking off on him, and I know
that's not an easy place to throw with the weather,
the wind that they get inside that. I know obviously
the Windy City, it gets very windy in there, but
JJ McCarthy wouldn't have any trouble with it. So that
to me is mechanically they've got to figure that out.
And watching the difference between the two quarterbacks in that game,
(08:21):
it's oversimplifying it buck, but in structure, one guy looked
a lot more comfortable than the other and Caleb is
still his default is to want to get the heck
out of there and run around and try and create
some things and make some things happen. And even that
being said, there were a couple runs where he had
which were solid, productive runs where just if he just
(08:43):
keeps his eyes up down the field, there are some
huge plays after escaping. You did the hard part. Now
just get your eyes up and you're gonna be able
to hit some huge pass plays. But then he was
just kind of just kind of went and got his
eight ten yards on the ground. So there's still to
put it nice. There's still a lot of stuff that
needs to be worked on there.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, a lot of stuff that needs to be worked on.
My thing is, can he ever become a more traditional
player like he's been able to get away with this
for so long. It's really hard to change. It's almost
like trying to change the golfer swing. Can we change
his thoughts, his process all of this because under pressure
you go back to who you really are, and underpressure,
(09:23):
when the game got tight, we saw Kayleb Williams revert
back to the guy that we saw at s he
who would run around and flash some great plays, but
also flashing boneheaded gap mistakes blunders because he just won't
stay on schedule. This is gonna be a hard thing
for Ben Johnson because it was great two and a
half quarters. They were on schedule, on time, all of
(09:45):
those things. They just got more time, more time on
task to see if they can get Kaylyn Williams to
play the right way.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I think one thing though, you still have some of
that signature Ben Johnson stuff in this offense, right, like
that the play design at the end down in that
low red zone, which I think it was a dooonesday.
They caught the touchdown at the very end, same play
I think they ran against the Bears last year with
the Lions on Thanksgiving, which was kind of fun right
there in the end zone. Like, you know, you still
(10:12):
have some of the stuff that got you excited about
Ben Johnson, right, So let's not throw it all out
the window here. I know there was some there's a
lot of things they'd like to do a lot better,
and let's let's see if they can grow a little
bit and improve as this thing goes on.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, that was It was a big win for the
Minnesota Vikings for sure, and give their defense credit to
they heated them up in the second half after playing
pretty static and stale defensively in the first half. They
got after it. Coach Flores getting loose a little bit there.
All right, let's get to our this is our I'm
gonna go with. This is our Hot or Not game here,
It's time for Hot or Not brought to you by
Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. So as you're looking at some
(10:49):
of these other games that we missed on, guys didn't
get a chance to talk about, how about the Battle
of Ohio rat Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Well, I got to tell you, I just don't think
the formula for the Browns is to Joe Flacco throwing
it at forty seven times and still only put up
sixteen points. Look, I think the thing that I noticed
and went back and saw and watched a little bit
was the run game for both teams was non existent.
You take the quarterbacks out and the Browns ran it
(11:17):
twenty one times for forty yards. Now, Samson did was
productive in the pass game, right, the rookie eight catches
sixty four that's a positive. That's a positive sign there.
But even with the Bengals, like twenty one carries for
forty three yards for Chase Brown. I mean, I applauded
the consistency, but you'd like to see some more production there.
So then you went looked at the defense, and if
we're talking about the run game was not hot, the
(11:40):
run defense was pretty hot, especially for the Browns late
in this game. They had five tackles for loss in
this game, four of them coming in the fourth quarter,
and everybody was getting a piece, which was a lot
of fun to see. Swetinger made a couple of big
stops down there that kind of kept them in it.
That was pretty encouraging Miles Garrett. I think we talked
about him as one of the most difficult dudes to
(12:00):
deal with in the last century of football, coming off
the edge against quarterbacks. But a couple of big run
stops to now, like, let's not forget about that part
of the game. So like they the run game was
really good on the defensive side of things. I feel like,
especially for the Browns, they've got to figure out now
that quench On Judkins is signed, maybe he gets into
(12:22):
the mix here a little bit, but they got to
find a way to run the football a little bit
better to keep that keep Joe Flacco from dropping back
forty seven times.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
It just can't happen. You just can't have Joe Flacco
doing it. And I know there's a bit of nostalgia
then leg chemist to fans Kinner Browns to take Joe
Flacco because he led them to the postseason. But there's
no way you could think that the same Joe Flacco
is going to show up. Forty plus pass attempts for
a forty year old guy is a recipe for disaster,
not only in Week one, but by the time you
get to Week eight, he's gonna be all tapped out.
(12:51):
The Browns, I would think, would be a little more balanced,
a little more focused on trying to run the football
and maybe French on Jenkins or have something to do
with that. They have to balance out this offense because
it cannot be the Joe Flacco show and expect this
team to go and go well.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
For the Browns, I'll take it first of all from
the Cincinnati side of things, because I was watching this
and thinking of it in the context of their division,
and it's just so funny because if you watch the
Ravens Bills game, you came away from that. I mean,
I know that the Baltimore Ravens lost the game, but
there's very easy for you to imagine the Baltimore Ravens
(13:26):
with the confetti fall and winning the super Bowl, and
they just lost the game. And then you look at Cincinnati.
It is ugly in just a rock fight, and then
somehow they win that game. So one's ahead of the
other in the standings, but you feel differently about them
based off of that game. And I just kept coming
back to last year Cincinnati, they lost pretty so many
times where if you just look at the game from
(13:47):
an offensive slant, there's so much good and it's so
pleasing to the eye, and they lost games. Like the
difference between teams that ultimately get where they want to
go is you'd much rather win ugly than lose pretty.
And that was a team last year, Cinnati that lost
pretty a bunch And this was a great sign for
them where they did next to nothing offensively and somehow
found a way to win the game. And it's a
great sign defensively that Al Golden's got those guys to
(14:10):
me all on the same page. That was an issue
a lot oft times, not just the talent last year
was disjointed, disconnected bus making things easy. They didn't really
do that in that game. So that was my Cincinnati
side of things. And then Buck the other side of
it as we get to Cleveland. And I know my
buddies with Cleveland will not want to hear this, but
(14:30):
I know it's one week end of the season, but
I'm a believer in the bus theory. I want to
know if I'm the Cleveland Browns of twenty twenty five,
if I'm in that front office, I want to know
who's on the bus in twenty twenty six. And I
came out of this game going, okay, you know what
Samson RHTT talked about him getting involved in the past game,
Harold Fan and my rookie tight end, the nice job
caught a bunch of balls, Like, hey, I got two
(14:52):
seats for these guys on the twenty six bus. I'm
excited about that. I'm trying to identify young players who
are going to be a part of this next great
Browns team. So I know they lost the game, but
I found a couple guys that I think are gonna
be good for us. And I'm excited to see Judkins
now that he's signed, get him in the mixes. I
have a film and I got to see for him
on next year's bus. I'm pretty excited about it as well.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I mean, you're not they're going to have a seat
for him, but you have a seat for Isaiah Bond
and some of the other young guys that they have available.
Like you add some of those young, fast, dynamic players,
it will increase in up the odds of your offense
being able to score points because you have more speed
on the field. The same thing though, like you talked
about trying to see who's on the bus, how long?
How long are we gonna sit through this before we
(15:32):
see the young quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Flo Yeah, no, it'll be I think I think Dylan
Gabriel is going to be next up when that time comes.
But I think they're gonna let Joe, you know, Joe
roll for a little bit here. To me, Like if
we get to the what we talked about the other day,
like the Giants that that that move's coming early, that's
moves coming earlier than this one. Well, there you go.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Boys.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
That was our Hot or Not segment brought to you
by with Sabbi Hot Cloud Storage store More and do
more with your Try them for free at wassaby dot com.
Al I had a chance to watch both sides the
ball and really dig in on this one this morning
San Francisco and Seattle to me, I'll summarize it this
way and then Rhett, I'll let you you piggyback it
and Buck jump in there. But watching this game, I
(16:17):
felt like Seattle had the better roster. I felt like
Seattle was deeper to me. I was just talking to
my buddy brock Hurt about this and on Brock and Salt,
and it was saying, if you just look at the
team like speed wise the younger, they're faster there. I
love what Seattle's doing there. There's a lot of positives
and I can get into those specifically. The thing is
(16:39):
in this game, when you needed to play, Christian McCaffrey
star made a play when you needed to play, Nick
Bosa finished the game game over when you needed to play.
Brock Purty scrambles around and makes a makes a throw.
Fred Warner looked like he was twenty years old in
that tape. He was flying all over the field, hitting
everything that moves. D Winners played great next to him
(16:59):
as well. But I thought Seattle is a better team.
They have better depth, they have better talent. But when
it was go time, they're three or four stars stepped
up and made the plays in the moment that they
actually absolutely had to have.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I think it's a good that's a good thought right there,
And you know, I think, look for San Francisco, if
not for the kicker was I think this thing feels
a lot better for them.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You know, he's gone, by the way. As we were
recording that this morning, Jake Muner.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Well there's that. Yeah, that's it. I mean, look, that
was going to happen. You just you can't keep going
on that way and not being able to trust the
guy that you're going to count on in a lot
of those tough situations.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Another one, by the way, that I just saw is
the Dolphins are signing Cole Strange off the Browns practice squad.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Offensive line wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
No, it was not. Okay, sorry, back to Seattle in
San Francisco. So I don't know. I just think I
have a different feel about the game flow. If those kicks,
which were virtual gimmes in professional football, went through, you're
talking about a bigger you know, a wide margin there.
Maybe it doesn't come down to the very end. The
thing that was interesting for me for Seattle was the
(18:08):
backfield share, was that Zach Sharboney, everybody's better.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
He's better, he's a better he's a better fit in
this system what they're doing. He's just better. He's more comfortable.
He sees it. It works better with him. Nothing against
Kenneth Walker, He's got his spot. I know he's been productive,
but in what they're trying to do, he's not as
good a fit.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, I think that's ultimately what it came down to here.
And now he got stopped a few times behind the
line of scrimmages. I was walking it, watching it before
you know, he could really get going. But yeah, you know,
it almost reminds me a little bit of the Texans,
right when they made the switch to Dimico and Damian
Pierce had had that huge year, right he went for
over a thousand and then all of a sudden, he's
(18:48):
a ghost. Not saying that Kenneth Walker's going to become
a ghost here, but it wasn't a fit, and it
was just it's a similar type you know of offense.
When you look about the transitions to both these teams.
So yeah, I think you're right on fantasy owners. I'd
be pretty bullish on sharbon Ay at this point.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You know the thing about that depending on how the
program has been set uphere you talk about playing best
players play Kenneth Waltherward's the guy that look he was
getting first by to the Apple given his draft status.
But at some point you have to look at fit
and scheme and who's the better player, And right now
is Jack Zach Charbonay is the better fit, so he
does deserve more curious I think what's interesting and making
(19:24):
a comparison between Seattle and San Francisco and how we
can talk about the Seattle Seahawks having a better roster,
but the pedigree and the experience and the star power
tilts towards the Niners. The issue that you have with
the Niners will the stars be available the entire season?
Because this has been a team that has been plagued
by the injury bug the last few years, I mean
(19:46):
really throughout the Kyle Shanahan era. Like this is a
team that is always beaten up and they kind of
limped to the start the finish line, even though they've
gotten to the Super Bowl. I just wonder, how can
we count on the Niners when they just appear to
beat themselves up and not have their best players available
when you need them the most, which is down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
No, Kittle's on ir now, so he's going to be
going for a while. And then you look at now
brock perty might not be able to play. You might
be looking at mac Jones this next week because he's
beat up. Like there's a lot of there's a lot
of stuff going on there where you're like, man, they've
already been beset, you know, with some with some big
blows here early on.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
This is like it's like dejevu all over again.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's brutal. But I will say this, I was curious,
and I everybody knows I like Sam, but I I
looked at the style. They didn't put up many points
like how did Darnell play? I actually thought Sam played well.
I thought he did some nice things. I mean at
the end of the game, his right tackle gets thrown
right in his lap. I mean, I don't know what
you're supposed to do when Nick Bosa does that, but
he Yeah, he was JSN. They were on the same page.
They saw things the same. I thought he looked he
(20:47):
looked very comfortable and poised. I think the interior, their
offensive line played well. They're better. Zabel in the red
zone was just moving guys. He was impressive for the
Seattle defense. Leonard Williams's best player on the field, and
I don't know, he looks bigger every year. To me,
he just gets bigger and stronger. And he was a
dominant player. So I mean, I think there's a lot
(21:09):
of positives to take from the Seattle side of things,
and I think they'll get more in a rhythm and
more comfortable. And there was also just some of these
runs I think would have popped if if they didn't
have a cyborg wearing number fifty four playing linebacker. For goodness,
curatious Buck. They couldn't cut him off. They couldn't they
couldn't get to him.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I mean, he's a freaking nature right Like he's a
freak show at that position. His instincts is aware, and
it's coming off a year when he was look he
was squarely in condition of defensive play of the year
a season ago. Like he is picked up right where
he left off. This is an instinctive as you say,
Cyborg that just makes plays all over the field as
long as the Niners have fifty four in the pipes.
(21:46):
And I mean, look, the defense is always gonna be
solid because great defenses are terrific right down in the middle.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
No doubt. Let's pause, we'll come back. We'll clean up
a couple more of these games right after this. All right, back,
I'll hit you up on this one. Houston and the
Rams here out in LA. You get the Texans coming
out here. We said it before. These are probably two
of the most physical teams in the NFL, and it
(22:13):
was a very physical game.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, a very physical game. And what I would say
about the Rams having seen them throughout the preseason and
then watching him play, what I love about Sean McVay
is this is a team that can win and it
doesn't really matter about the style. Points. They are built
to play in shootouts, they're built to play in grinded
out of affairs, and they have a coach who's willing
to do it with or without worrying about what the
playing style looks like. He is to rip it in
(22:37):
terms of his adaptability and flexibility and what they do
to get out of a game, and even though Matthew
Stafford goes over to sixty thousand mark, which is crazy
to think about passing for that many yards. They just
have a well balanced roster and their willingness to play
the undrafted, late round, unheralded players really pays off for
(22:58):
him because they have enough star prow to compete with
the heavyweights. But they get the contributions from the other
guys to make sure that they're always in games. And look, man,
they don't have any glaring weaknesses.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, and then you know they've they've they come up
with some stuff, like we've talked about it on this show,
like a few things here and there, a few wrinkles.
They're so good at it, that offensive staff coming up
with things that that'll benefit them, you know, maybe not
knowing exactly the situation, but it came up on the
last third down on this one. I just I caught
this one when we were doing Game Day Live on
NFL Network and went back and watched it. It's just
(23:32):
fun to watch, Like, you know, they use those receivers
in the run game. That's been a staple of the
Sean McVay offense really since you know, he came into
LA and Pukunaku has never won to shy Away. I mean,
the dude went and got stitches like a hockey player,
and then you know, came back in later on and
had a fantastic game for the Rams. So they bring
him in motion on that final third downs a third
(23:52):
down and eight right, and we've seen them insert right
into the blocking scheme right and they're almost almost serve
as like a lead blocker right on some of those runs. Well,
they bring him in motion this time and Jalen Petrie
comes with him right and so right in between the
tackle and the guard, Puoka comes up essentially like he's
going to block. It is a big play action here,
(24:13):
and then he just delays, delays, releases out into the flat.
Petrie doesn't quite see it fast enough. Stafford's rolling out
gets just an Eleric Jackson in the left tackle gets
just enough. I think it was either Daniel Hunter or
Will Anderson, and Stafford makes a really nice throw kind
of with a defender in his face, and Pooka Nakula
was wide open down the sideline and then stays in
(24:34):
bounds right, keeps the clock rolling, and that game was
over right there. Just you know, great great design, great
situational awareness of when to use that, how to use it,
and great execution all around. Just one of the one
of the cool things to watch when these guys are playing.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I got a chance to go back and watch that.
It's funny because we talked about yesterday on the Steelers
discussion of one of the Calvin Austin touchdowns, which was
almost the identical, exact same situation, And to me, you're
talking about the thread of him as a blocker and
how that puts you in a buying Well, they didn't
think Calvin Austin was getting ready to go up there
and block somebody, and but yeah, but Pooka would. But
(25:09):
to me, it's not even more so than that's like
the look or the run of it. What you're doing
is you're taking a coverage player who's not comfortable or
used to being in that tight in the box with
the mess of bodies. They're just not You take rep
after rep and practice and you're out, you're outside, you're
in the slot, you're in space, and then all of
a sudden, now you've got to cover a pook and
the cour Calvin Austin who's inserting in the Pittsburgh game,
(25:30):
it was between the tight end and the tackle in
this game, between the tackle and the guard. That that is,
to me, is an a different look.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Right, it's just offense. One on one.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Your job is trying to make a defender uncomfortable and
you've got a lot of a lot of field to
defend their buck, but you've also just they're not it's
not a comfortable feeling for those guys to be in
the middle of all that.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
No, it's never chutifle to be in the middle of
all those things. And part of what you want to
do as a great coordinator offensive defense is to kind
of create chaos and make people have to live in
their discomfort. And that's what we're able to do. And
that's some of the things that we see. And the
best teams are able to react and respond to best
players able to kind of handle being in those weird
(26:10):
moments and they get you out and they can make
the coastal good because they figure out how to handle
themselves in those situations. So it's interesting to watch it
all play out.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yeah, this was again Rock Fight fourteen to nine type game.
I did go back and watch. I wanted to watch
the difference between Pooka and Davante to see how the
usage was there and what that looks like. It's good
to be Puka man. Davante's got to deal with Stingley
on the outside, going to war with him, and then
they use motion and they use with alignment. Pooka is
(26:43):
going to get so many favorable matchups and he was
wearing them out a lot of digs, slants, they get
them a bubble looking in the seamstret reference to hit
that he's that he took like he's He's got a
lot of a favorable space. And the good news is
DeVante Adam still found a way to make plays, gets
a back shoulder. He turned Stingley around a little out
route late in this game, showing you that he's still
(27:05):
got that route running ability to be able to separate.
And he ain't gonna see many Derek Stingley's on the
schedule this year. So they've got ways to utilize both
these guys. But after we were there at that practice,
Buck I came away thinking, Man, DeVante Adams is going
to end up out targeting and out producing Pooka. I mean,
I just think what the matchups Pooka is going to get,
They're going to be so much more favorable that he's
going to have a more productive year.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
You know. The funny thing about all of the dj is,
I was in the camp that I thought Devanta Adams
was slipping when I looked at him first with the
Raiders and then with the Jets, I didn't see the
same explosiveness that I saw from a player that dominated
in Green Bay. But I don't know what is going
on in La like if he's sipping some water from
the found the youth, because he does look like a
(27:48):
more dynamic and explosive player than he's looked like in
recent years. And in watching that practice that we saw
together and then watching the play, you can already see
how Sean McVay is going to tap into some of
his creative Robert ability to create explosive plays for this offense.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I have no doubt. Let's let's get to these last
couple of games here, Rhett. We go to Vegas and
New England. Disappointed with New England on that side of things,
but let's start with the good stuff with Vegas.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, he was kind of you know, one of my
one of the things I really wanted to see here
on both sides was like, all right, how are the
Patriots going to utilize one of the stories of the
preseason and Trayvon Henderson, And then how are the Raiders
going to defend it? Because they're watching that preseason tape too,
and it was clear they wanted to get Trevion the
ball and let him work with some of that explosive
(28:34):
ability that he has. Honestly, I come away like feeling
very encouraged for the Raiders on defense, right, I thought
they dealt with that very well. Isaiah Polanow was a
was a monster in this game. The way you get
player Yeah, read right, that's a that's a draft report
to look at down the road. Here Reid recognize trigger
and tackle on Trevion was on one play in particular,
(28:56):
when he comes from about twenty yards deep and makes
a stop on Traveon Henderson. You know, really really good
player and open space I think, right, either for a
loss or no gain. It was really impressive. Devin White
was a revelation for the Raiders in here. I mean
he made a ton of tackles, was in on a
ton of plays. For a guy that's bounced around a lot,
(29:17):
maybe finds a home here with Patrick Graham and the
Raiders defense. So that was kind of what I just
I thought was cool. And again I think we're going
to see Ashton gent get better on the offensive side
of things. Gino played really well. I thought brock Bauers
injury thing is something I'm obviously we're all going to
be following here moving forward. But he was a force.
I just like to go back to the initial point.
(29:39):
I was expecting a little more from from Josh McDaniels
and from New England. With Travon Henderson, they had one
play in short yardage where he's in a full house
backfield and he gets the edge and it was kind
of a cool design. I just didn't a lot of
it was just like a pass pro you're not challenged,
you know, delay release just didn't see that. It was
like he was a main focus of the game plan.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
It's funny because my focus will go back to the
Raiders and Pete Carroll and Pete Carroll's program, and so
you talk about Devin White, you talk about young players
showing up. This is what Pete Carroll has done, whether
it's at USC or stepping into the league with the
Seattle Seahawks. This is what they do they take on
reclamation projects, They somehow pump them full of belief, They
(30:21):
give them opportunities, and those guys pay them back in
turn by playing well. This is what the Raiders traditionally
have always done. Way back in yesteryear when mister Davis
was around, they were always a band of gassed offs
and misfits that they would kind of put together and
they would find a way to win. To me, even
though Pete Carroll is seventy three, he is the right
(30:42):
coach for this team at this time, having an adult
in the room, someone who wins, someone who has the confidence,
but also has a program that kind of takes them there.
I think you can see all that now. I don't
know what it means for the Raiders in terms of
in this division where they end up, but I certainly
feel like if I'm a Raiders fan, at least we
look like a professional outfit that can compete and eventually
(31:05):
find a way to be a contender.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
From the Raiders side of things, hey, not a surprise.
The offense is going to go through Brock Bauers. It
still is. He's their best football player. Ash and Genty
I haven't got a chance to go through the cutups
yet with him to watch all of his stuff and
just look at him specifically. While I was on the
phone Balty this morning, he was talking about how nice
of a job he did in pass protection, which is
(31:26):
great to see. So that's that's added value there. I
still feel the same about this Raiders team. I think
Gino's is still a really, really good player. I think
they've got to stay healthy. They've got four or five guys.
If they can keep these star guys healthy, they're going
to be in it and they're going to be competitive.
And I'm going to see them on Monday night, so
I'm looking forward to it to seeing what they look
like there. All right, the last one here Arizona in
(31:49):
New Orleans. I'll be honest with that. Positively, Buck, no
one's more competitive than I thought they would be. So
that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
That is a really good thing. And look, I'll give
Kellen Moore credit when it came to picking the quarterback,
and I'm not saying Spencer Rather was great, but having
been there for the New Orleans Jacks game in preseason,
he was pretty obvious that Spencer Rather was the better
quarterback at the time. Kellen didn't succumb to the pressure
of a we picked this guy, We picked him with
the expectation and he was going to be the starter.
(32:16):
He stayed true to that. And then what Kellen does,
as all great coaches do, you try and find a
way to shape the offense around the talents of the
quarterback and see if they can get a doing, get
it going. It wasn't great yet, but the creativity, the adaptability,
the ability to adjust to what you have. Kellen Moore
certainly has that, and as he continues to grow as
a coach, that offensive mind with him also learning how
(32:39):
to manage the entire operation is going to help the
New Orleans Saints get back on track.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, they've got they've got to find a little bit
more again on the run game, at forty six attempts
for Rattler, you know, complete a little over fifty percent
of those, I was, like you a little bit encouraged
that they were fairly competitive there. I mean, Juwan Johnson
catches that touchdown and we're talking about, you know, a
chance to win a game at overtime, which.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
They only got sacked by once, and they didn't turn
they didn't he didn't throw any picks well, forty six times.
Like just that alone, I was like, that's encouraging.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Well, that's the strength of this team, without question. Is
that offensive line, Like that's good. Kelvin Bank's a good player.
You know, there's that's some They've got first round picks
all over the place up there. But I think on
the Cardinals side of things, kind of intrigued to see
how Trey Benson works his way a little bit more
into the game plan. You know, he was kind of
like hit or miss. Last year it was mostly James
(33:37):
Connor's show. I had a little bit more to even
split of the carries and obviously Connor's going to get
all the goal line touches here. But Benson had an
explosive thirty five yard run in this one. Just something
to kind of follow as we go forward. With the
Cardinals on defense played really well.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Man going back and watch Marvin Harrison stuff too. They're
figuring out how to use him properly and get him
on the move, and they were more efficient. I remember
last year there was games I swear I go the
targets and like, oh my gosh, you had thirteen targets
and four catches.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You know, I think he was started like the leak
neighbors this week.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Oh man, poor guy h And I say that because
he's on my fantasy team. But the h I think
it was let me, I had it here. It was
like six targets maybe for uh Harrison. Yeah. They caught
five of six targets, five for seventy one and a touchdown,
and they kept him on the move and he looked
more comfortable there. I still don't know that I'm gonna
be a little bit disappointed in terms of just I
(34:27):
don't think you're going to see him as a full
route tree guy, like as someone who's elite, elite getting
in and out of breaks. But he's still so strong
and big and physical and straight line fast. He could
be really really good player and they're figuring out how
to use him. So good win for the Cardinals. But
the Saints they put up a fight. I thought they
might get run out of the stadium. So that was
that's why I was encouraged from the Saints side of things.
(34:49):
All right, boys, we gotta wrap this thing up. This
has been fun. A little clean up. We did a
clean up on Aisle six.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Clean out.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Uh that's that's from mister mom, which I'm sure three
people that are listening to this have actually seen that movie.
Said fantastic, fantastic, Michael Keene. Anyways, that's gonna do a force.
We'll see you next time right here on. Move the sticks.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
M m m m hm
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Hm
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
What's up, everybody? Welcome to move the sticks, DJ, Fucky
Rhett with you? Buck uh Rtt does have you gear on?
So we are officially ready to start.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
We're having a conversation DJ. I was trying to figure
out why in twenty twenty five the Indiana Hoosias, who
I've always known him as the Hoosiers, suddenly have a
new mascot or.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Running verd was just bringing him back. The bison went
into hibernation and he was awakened by Kurt Signett's twenty
twenty four season, and he's back now, jumped out of
a skydiving out of a plane into the stadium. So
two and oh, ready to go? Three and oh this Friday.
And then we get Illinois.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Does he have a name? Her?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Who's your the Bison?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Okay, I'm so confused. That's okay? Are there bisons? That
that bison that just run around on the planes of.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Nobody?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I understand, app state meltain Neer like I kind of
get that.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, yeah, you know, you'll get used to it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
By the way, if you're listening to this Monday, we
did our first Baldy episode. So it's a nice little
tape breakdown, So I encourage if you haven't checked out,
go back and listen to that. Uh. In that episode,
we hit a bunch of games, but we couldn't hit
all of them, and we promised we would clean some
of those up today, So we're going to do that.
We'll hit on it again. Not gonna be long, but
we'll touch on some of the other games we did
not mention, as well as as what we saw last night.
(01:37):
So it's literally like the missing games and the Monday
Night recap. That's going to be kind of the flow
in the field for these Tuesday episodes as we continue
to expand what we're doing. And we'll have tomorrow's episode
on our So Wednesdays will be Rookie Draft. I know
Thursdays will have a guest every Thursday. I believe we've
got our buddy Mike Matt coming on Thursday, so and
(01:58):
then we'll have some previous stuff head the game. So
a lot of different things come on your way. But
let's start first of all, Monday Night Gosh talk about
like a tail of two games, like two totally different games,
especially if looking at it from the Chicago side of things,
what they look like early and then they kind of collapse,
especially offensively. And then JJ McCarthy, I was on I've
(02:19):
opened up social media while the game was on, and
he was I mean, he was bench buried, crucified, all
of it. And then all of a sudden, that narrative
flip real quick. Buck, I'll hit you up on this one. First,
go where you want to go. But what's your takeaway
from that ballgame?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
My takeaway is I get it now. I get why
Jim Harborough has been so effusive in his praise over
JJ McCarthy over the past few years. I've never heard
Jim Harbaugh be so supportive of a quarterback that wasn't
his quarterback, even though it was his quarterback at Michigan. Like,
whether it's on TV, our network, anybody that would listen,
(02:58):
he was always super positive about McCarthy was going to
be special in the league. And what I would say
is like, not that the performance was remarkable in any
way based on the numbers, but what I will say
is I saw a quarterback who certainly had the qualities
and the characteristics that you look for as a franchise quarterback.
His ability to bounce back from a very difficult first
(03:18):
three quarters pick six. They kind of had him handcuffed,
and then in the fourth quarter it was like he
was the magical playmaker that would make plays when Michigan
needed it in the clutch. And his athleticism, his passing
and ability, his overall calm and moxie, all of those
things fit well. And as he got more comfortable, you
(03:40):
could see why Kevin O'Connell had a clear vision for
how he's going to play. It's gonna be fun to
watch him continue to grow. But man, I get it.
I understand why Harball was all in on the JJ
McCarthy experience.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Six of eight in the fourth quarter for two touchdowns
and the two incompletions. One was a bad at ball,
one was a drop and like he was before that,
it was ugly. The numbers were bad. I think he
had more yards thrown in the in the fourth quarter
than he did the entire first three quarters combined. Like
that's how bad it was through through the first forty
five minutes. But yeah, stayed with it, and then you know,
(04:15):
I think maybe you make too much of this stuff,
But man, you see the locker room afterwards, just love
on that dude and get fired up for that guy.
I mean, like, you got to make it his first start,
you know, obviously ran into some bumps in a road,
stayed with it, stayed focused, and stayed in the game enough.
And you know, I think that's where Kevin O'Connell comes
in and is maybe even underrated as a coach the
(04:37):
way he kind of handles the players. You know, he
mentioned he talked to him at half times say look, man,
you're gonna you're gonna stay in this game for us.
We're gonna have a chance to win this thing at
the end, and sure enough he did. I'm look at
a lot of coaches say that stuff, but I think
your connection with the players makes him believe it because
he talked about the look in JJ's eyes at that
point that he saw, which was really cool. DJ. Do
you want to do you want to chime in on that?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Orkay?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Can we talk briefly about the clock management here at
the end. I know it's been it's been litigated on
on the broadcast, especially if you're watching the Manning cast,
But here's my question, because Ben Johnson mentioned the kick
was supposed to go out of the back of the
end zon which would have brought the ball out to
thirty five. With the new rules, right with a touchdown,
you kick it out of bounds. You're just moving up
(05:21):
to the forty and you saved Why Why were why
were the five yards so important when you could have
saved forty seconds by just kicking it out of bounds.
That's the part I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
So my thought watching it live as it was going
on with us, trying to imagine the conversation that I
would have if I was Ben Johnson, which would have
been on the sideline going to my kicker, saying, this
ball cannot be returned? Can you guarantee me you can
kick this literally through the uprights? And he says yes.
I would go I don't believe you, all right, cook it.
(05:58):
There's no even if there's even and if you're ninety
nine point nine percent sure that you can get enough
leg on this thing. So not only it's not just
like can you kick it out of the back No,
they're going to field this thing on the back line.
So it can't just like something that would land, you know,
a yard, No, no, no, this thing has to go
a good ten yards beyond the end line, and there's
(06:20):
no way you can't guarantee me you can do that.
I don't care how good you feel where the wind is.
What have you for five yards? I'm kicking this thing
straight out of bounds. Man, just kick it out of bounce.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, and he must have otherwise it's malpractice. Like Tyro
Santos must be kicking them ten yards out of the
back of the end zone every day in practice the
only way, even though I wouldn't trust it.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, yeah, it is one of those things. Ben Jason
is his first game as a head coach. He learned
that everything doesn't go according to plan. You can map
out of these scenarios, you can talk about it, we
can practice in those things, but game day execution can
be different. And for him it's like what you guys said.
Sometimes as the head coach, I say, a here are
that keep the ball out of bounce and we're just
(07:03):
gonna let up and play because the only bast scenario
that could happen is it turn for them. I mean,
it was just just all bad, just a bad sequence
and series of plays that cost.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So on the bear side of things, look it was
good early. That's that's a positive. We'll take that as
a positive. Offensively. I'm not gonna be Johnny excuse maker,
but there were a couple of horrible calls in this game,
like holding calls that negated, you know, productive good plays
that were bush league not great calls. One of them
(07:38):
on right the right tackle, which was he just kind
of the guy just kind of goes to the ground.
I mean, he didn't hold him at all throughout the
entire play. So I don't want to be the excuse
maker because there are there are mechanical flaws with Caleb
that they have got to address, where he's got guys
open and his eyes and his feet are not connected
(07:58):
and the ball, I don't know if he overthrowing the ball,
but the ball's taking off on him, and I know
that's not an easy place to throw with the weather,
the wind that they get inside that. I know obviously
the Windy City, it gets very windy in there, but
JJ McCarthy wouldn't have any trouble with it. So that
to me is mechanically they've got to figure that out.
And watching the difference between the two quarterbacks in that game,
(08:21):
it's oversimplifying it buck, but in structure, one guy looked
a lot more comfortable than the other and Caleb is
still his default is to want to get the heck
out of there and run around and try and create
some things and make some things happen. And even that
being said, there were a couple runs where he had
which were solid, productive runs where just if he just
(08:43):
keeps his eyes up down the field, there are some
huge plays after escaping. You did the hard part. Now
just get your eyes up and you're gonna be able
to hit some huge pass plays. But then he was
just kind of just kind of went and got his
eight ten yards on the ground. So there's still to
put it nice. There's still a lot of stuff that
needs to be worked on there.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, a lot of stuff that needs to be worked on.
My thing is, can he ever become a more traditional
player like he's been able to get away with this
for so long. It's really hard to change. It's almost
like trying to change the golfer swing. Can we change
his thoughts, his process all of this because under pressure
you go back to who you really are, and underpressure,
(09:23):
when the game got tight, we saw Kayleb Williams revert
back to the guy that we saw at s he
who would run around and flash some great plays, but
also flashing boneheaded gap mistakes blunders because he just won't
stay on schedule. This is gonna be a hard thing
for Ben Johnson because it was great two and a
half quarters. They were on schedule, on time, all of
(09:45):
those things. They just got more time, more time on
task to see if they can get Kaylyn Williams to
play the right way.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
I think one thing though, you still have some of
that signature Ben Johnson stuff in this offense, right, like
that the play design at the end down in that
low red zone, which I think it was a dooonesday.
They caught the touchdown at the very end, same play
I think they ran against the Bears last year with
the Lions on Thanksgiving, which was kind of fun right
there in the end zone. Like, you know, you still
(10:12):
have some of the stuff that got you excited about
Ben Johnson, right, So let's not throw it all out
the window here. I know there was some there's a
lot of things they'd like to do a lot better,
and let's let's see if they can grow a little
bit and improve as this thing goes on.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, that was It was a big win for the
Minnesota Vikings for sure, and give their defense credit to
they heated them up in the second half after playing
pretty static and stale defensively in the first half. They
got after it. Coach Flores getting loose a little bit there.
All right, let's get to our this is our I'm
gonna go with. This is our Hot or Not game here,
It's time for Hot or Not brought to you by
Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. So as you're looking at some
(10:49):
of these other games that we missed on, guys didn't
get a chance to talk about, how about the Battle
of Ohio rat Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Well, I got to tell you, I just don't think
the formula for the Browns is to Joe Flacco throwing
it at forty seven times and still only put up
sixteen points. Look, I think the thing that I noticed
and went back and saw and watched a little bit
was the run game for both teams was non existent.
You take the quarterbacks out and the Browns ran it
(11:17):
twenty one times for forty yards. Now, Samson did was
productive in the pass game, right, the rookie eight catches
sixty four that's a positive. That's a positive sign there.
But even with the Bengals, like twenty one carries for
forty three yards for Chase Brown. I mean, I applauded
the consistency, but you'd like to see some more production there.
So then you went looked at the defense, and if
we're talking about the run game was not hot, the
(11:40):
run defense was pretty hot, especially for the Browns late
in this game. They had five tackles for loss in
this game, four of them coming in the fourth quarter,
and everybody was getting a piece, which was a lot
of fun to see. Swetinger made a couple of big
stops down there that kind of kept them in it.
That was pretty encouraging Miles Garrett. I think we talked
about him as one of the most difficult dudes to
(12:00):
deal with in the last century of football, coming off
the edge against quarterbacks. But a couple of big run
stops to now, like, let's not forget about that part
of the game. So like they the run game was
really good on the defensive side of things. I feel like,
especially for the Browns, they've got to figure out now
that quench On Judkins is signed, maybe he gets into
(12:22):
the mix here a little bit, but they got to
find a way to run the football a little bit
better to keep that keep Joe Flacco from dropping back
forty seven times.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
It just can't happen. You just can't have Joe Flacco
doing it. And I know there's a bit of nostalgia
then leg chemist to fans Kinner Browns to take Joe
Flacco because he led them to the postseason. But there's
no way you could think that the same Joe Flacco
is going to show up. Forty plus pass attempts for
a forty year old guy is a recipe for disaster,
not only in Week one, but by the time you
get to Week eight, he's gonna be all tapped out.
(12:51):
The Browns, I would think, would be a little more balanced,
a little more focused on trying to run the football
and maybe French on Jenkins or have something to do
with that. They have to balance out this offense because
it cannot be the Joe Flacco show and expect this
team to go and go well.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
For the Browns, I'll take it first of all from
the Cincinnati side of things, because I was watching this
and thinking of it in the context of their division,
and it's just so funny because if you watch the
Ravens Bills game, you came away from that. I mean,
I know that the Baltimore Ravens lost the game, but
there's very easy for you to imagine the Baltimore Ravens
(13:26):
with the confetti fall and winning the super Bowl, and
they just lost the game. And then you look at Cincinnati.
It is ugly in just a rock fight, and then
somehow they win that game. So one's ahead of the
other in the standings, but you feel differently about them
based off of that game. And I just kept coming
back to last year Cincinnati, they lost pretty so many
times where if you just look at the game from
(13:47):
an offensive slant, there's so much good and it's so
pleasing to the eye, and they lost games. Like the
difference between teams that ultimately get where they want to
go is you'd much rather win ugly than lose pretty.
And that was a team last year, Cinnati that lost
pretty a bunch And this was a great sign for
them where they did next to nothing offensively and somehow
found a way to win the game. And it's a
great sign defensively that Al Golden's got those guys to
(14:10):
me all on the same page. That was an issue
a lot oft times, not just the talent last year
was disjointed, disconnected bus making things easy. They didn't really
do that in that game. So that was my Cincinnati
side of things. And then Buck the other side of
it as we get to Cleveland. And I know my
buddies with Cleveland will not want to hear this, but
(14:30):
I know it's one week end of the season, but
I'm a believer in the bus theory. I want to
know if I'm the Cleveland Browns of twenty twenty five,
if I'm in that front office, I want to know
who's on the bus in twenty twenty six. And I
came out of this game going, okay, you know what
Samson RHTT talked about him getting involved in the past game,
Harold Fan and my rookie tight end, the nice job
caught a bunch of balls, Like, hey, I got two
(14:52):
seats for these guys on the twenty six bus. I'm
excited about that. I'm trying to identify young players who
are going to be a part of this next great
Browns team. So I know they lost the game, but
I found a couple guys that I think are gonna
be good for us. And I'm excited to see Judkins
now that he's signed, get him in the mixes. I
have a film and I got to see for him
on next year's bus. I'm pretty excited about it as well.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
I mean, you're not they're going to have a seat
for him, but you have a seat for Isaiah Bond
and some of the other young guys that they have available.
Like you add some of those young, fast, dynamic players,
it will increase in up the odds of your offense
being able to score points because you have more speed
on the field. The same thing though, like you talked
about trying to see who's on the bus, how long?
How long are we gonna sit through this before we
(15:32):
see the young quarterbacks.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Flo Yeah, no, it'll be I think I think Dylan
Gabriel is going to be next up when that time comes.
But I think they're gonna let Joe, you know, Joe
roll for a little bit here. To me, Like if
we get to the what we talked about the other day,
like the Giants that that that move's coming early, that's
moves coming earlier than this one. Well, there you go.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Boys.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
That was our Hot or Not segment brought to you
by with Sabbi Hot Cloud Storage store More and do
more with your Try them for free at wassaby dot com.
Al I had a chance to watch both sides the
ball and really dig in on this one this morning
San Francisco and Seattle to me, I'll summarize it this
way and then Rhett, I'll let you you piggyback it
and Buck jump in there. But watching this game, I
(16:17):
felt like Seattle had the better roster. I felt like
Seattle was deeper to me. I was just talking to
my buddy brock Hurt about this and on Brock and Salt,
and it was saying, if you just look at the
team like speed wise the younger, they're faster there. I
love what Seattle's doing there. There's a lot of positives
and I can get into those specifically. The thing is
(16:39):
in this game, when you needed to play, Christian McCaffrey
star made a play when you needed to play, Nick
Bosa finished the game game over when you needed to play.
Brock Purty scrambles around and makes a makes a throw.
Fred Warner looked like he was twenty years old in
that tape. He was flying all over the field, hitting
everything that moves. D Winners played great next to him
(16:59):
as well. But I thought Seattle is a better team.
They have better depth, they have better talent. But when
it was go time, they're three or four stars stepped
up and made the plays in the moment that they
actually absolutely had to have.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I think it's a good that's a good thought right there,
And you know, I think, look for San Francisco, if
not for the kicker was I think this thing feels
a lot better for them.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You know, he's gone, by the way. As we were
recording that this morning, Jake Muner.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Well there's that. Yeah, that's it. I mean, look, that
was going to happen. You just you can't keep going
on that way and not being able to trust the
guy that you're going to count on in a lot
of those tough situations.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Another one, by the way, that I just saw is
the Dolphins are signing Cole Strange off the Browns practice squad.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Offensive line wasn't great.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
No, it was not. Okay, sorry, back to Seattle in
San Francisco. So I don't know. I just think I
have a different feel about the game flow. If those kicks,
which were virtual gimmes in professional football, went through, you're
talking about a bigger you know, a wide margin there.
Maybe it doesn't come down to the very end. The
thing that was interesting for me for Seattle was the
(18:08):
backfield share, was that Zach Sharboney, everybody's better.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
He's better, he's a better he's a better fit in
this system what they're doing. He's just better. He's more comfortable.
He sees it. It works better with him. Nothing against
Kenneth Walker, He's got his spot. I know he's been productive,
but in what they're trying to do, he's not as
good a fit.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, I think that's ultimately what it came down to here.
And now he got stopped a few times behind the
line of scrimmages. I was walking it, watching it before
you know, he could really get going. But yeah, you know,
it almost reminds me a little bit of the Texans,
right when they made the switch to Dimico and Damian
Pierce had had that huge year, right he went for
over a thousand and then all of a sudden, he's
(18:48):
a ghost. Not saying that Kenneth Walker's going to become
a ghost here, but it wasn't a fit, and it
was just it's a similar type you know of offense.
When you look about the transitions to both these teams.
So yeah, I think you're right on fantasy owners. I'd
be pretty bullish on sharbon Ay at this point.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You know the thing about that depending on how the
program has been set uphere you talk about playing best
players play Kenneth Waltherward's the guy that look he was
getting first by to the Apple given his draft status.
But at some point you have to look at fit
and scheme and who's the better player, And right now
is Jack Zach Charbonay is the better fit, so he
does deserve more curious I think what's interesting and making
(19:24):
a comparison between Seattle and San Francisco and how we
can talk about the Seattle Seahawks having a better roster,
but the pedigree and the experience and the star power
tilts towards the Niners. The issue that you have with
the Niners will the stars be available the entire season?
Because this has been a team that has been plagued
by the injury bug the last few years, I mean
(19:46):
really throughout the Kyle Shanahan era. Like this is a
team that is always beaten up and they kind of
limped to the start the finish line, even though they've
gotten to the Super Bowl. I just wonder, how can
we count on the Niners when they just appear to
beat themselves up and not have their best players available
when you need them the most, which is down the stretch.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
No, Kittle's on ir now, so he's going to be
going for a while. And then you look at now
brock perty might not be able to play. You might
be looking at mac Jones this next week because he's
beat up. Like there's a lot of there's a lot
of stuff going on there where you're like, man, they've
already been beset, you know, with some with some big
blows here early on.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
This is like it's like dejevu all over again.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's brutal. But I will say this, I was curious,
and I everybody knows I like Sam, but I I
looked at the style. They didn't put up many points
like how did Darnell play? I actually thought Sam played well.
I thought he did some nice things. I mean at
the end of the game, his right tackle gets thrown
right in his lap. I mean, I don't know what
you're supposed to do when Nick Bosa does that, but
he Yeah, he was JSN. They were on the same page.
They saw things the same. I thought he looked he
(20:47):
looked very comfortable and poised. I think the interior, their
offensive line played well. They're better. Zabel in the red
zone was just moving guys. He was impressive for the
Seattle defense. Leonard Williams's best player on the field, and
I don't know, he looks bigger every year. To me,
he just gets bigger and stronger. And he was a
dominant player. So I mean, I think there's a lot
(21:09):
of positives to take from the Seattle side of things,
and I think they'll get more in a rhythm and
more comfortable. And there was also just some of these
runs I think would have popped if if they didn't
have a cyborg wearing number fifty four playing linebacker. For goodness,
curatious Buck. They couldn't cut him off. They couldn't they
couldn't get to him.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I mean, he's a freaking nature right Like he's a
freak show at that position. His instincts is aware, and
it's coming off a year when he was look he
was squarely in condition of defensive play of the year
a season ago. Like he is picked up right where
he left off. This is an instinctive as you say,
Cyborg that just makes plays all over the field as
long as the Niners have fifty four in the pipes.
(21:46):
And I mean, look, the defense is always gonna be
solid because great defenses are terrific right down in the middle.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
No doubt. Let's pause, we'll come back. We'll clean up
a couple more of these games right after this. All right, back,
I'll hit you up on this one. Houston and the
Rams here out in LA. You get the Texans coming
out here. We said it before. These are probably two
of the most physical teams in the NFL, and it
(22:13):
was a very physical game.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yeah, a very physical game. And what I would say
about the Rams having seen them throughout the preseason and
then watching him play, what I love about Sean McVay
is this is a team that can win and it
doesn't really matter about the style. Points. They are built
to play in shootouts, they're built to play in grinded
out of affairs, and they have a coach who's willing
to do it with or without worrying about what the
playing style looks like. He is to rip it in
(22:37):
terms of his adaptability and flexibility and what they do
to get out of a game, and even though Matthew
Stafford goes over to sixty thousand mark, which is crazy
to think about passing for that many yards. They just
have a well balanced roster and their willingness to play
the undrafted, late round, unheralded players really pays off for
(22:58):
him because they have enough star prow to compete with
the heavyweights. But they get the contributions from the other
guys to make sure that they're always in games. And look, man,
they don't have any glaring weaknesses.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, and then you know they've they've they come up
with some stuff, like we've talked about it on this show,
like a few things here and there, a few wrinkles.
They're so good at it, that offensive staff coming up
with things that that'll benefit them, you know, maybe not
knowing exactly the situation, but it came up on the
last third down on this one. I just I caught
this one when we were doing Game Day Live on
NFL Network and went back and watched it. It's just
(23:32):
fun to watch, Like, you know, they use those receivers
in the run game. That's been a staple of the
Sean McVay offense really since you know, he came into
LA and Pukunaku has never won to shy Away. I mean,
the dude went and got stitches like a hockey player,
and then you know, came back in later on and
had a fantastic game for the Rams. So they bring
him in motion on that final third downs a third
(23:52):
down and eight right, and we've seen them insert right
into the blocking scheme right and they're almost almost serve
as like a lead blocker right on some of those runs. Well,
they bring him in motion this time and Jalen Petrie
comes with him right and so right in between the
tackle and the guard, Puoka comes up essentially like he's
going to block. It is a big play action here,
(24:13):
and then he just delays, delays, releases out into the flat.
Petrie doesn't quite see it fast enough. Stafford's rolling out
gets just an Eleric Jackson in the left tackle gets
just enough. I think it was either Daniel Hunter or
Will Anderson, and Stafford makes a really nice throw kind
of with a defender in his face, and Pooka Nakula
was wide open down the sideline and then stays in
(24:34):
bounds right, keeps the clock rolling, and that game was
over right there. Just you know, great great design, great
situational awareness of when to use that, how to use it,
and great execution all around. Just one of the one
of the cool things to watch when these guys are playing.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I got a chance to go back and watch that.
It's funny because we talked about yesterday on the Steelers
discussion of one of the Calvin Austin touchdowns, which was
almost the identical, exact same situation, And to me, you're
talking about the thread of him as a blocker and
how that puts you in a buying Well, they didn't
think Calvin Austin was getting ready to go up there
and block somebody, and but yeah, but Pooka would. But
(25:09):
to me, it's not even more so than that's like
the look or the run of it. What you're doing
is you're taking a coverage player who's not comfortable or
used to being in that tight in the box with
the mess of bodies. They're just not You take rep
after rep and practice and you're out, you're outside, you're
in the slot, you're in space, and then all of
a sudden, now you've got to cover a pook and
the cour Calvin Austin who's inserting in the Pittsburgh game,
(25:30):
it was between the tight end and the tackle in
this game, between the tackle and the guard. That that is,
to me, is an a different look.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Right, it's just offense. One on one.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Your job is trying to make a defender uncomfortable and
you've got a lot of a lot of field to
defend their buck, but you've also just they're not it's
not a comfortable feeling for those guys to be in
the middle of all that.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
No, it's never chutifle to be in the middle of
all those things. And part of what you want to
do as a great coordinator offensive defense is to kind
of create chaos and make people have to live in
their discomfort. And that's what we're able to do. And
that's some of the things that we see. And the
best teams are able to react and respond to best
players able to kind of handle being in those weird
(26:10):
moments and they get you out and they can make
the coastal good because they figure out how to handle
themselves in those situations. So it's interesting to watch it
all play out.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Yeah, this was again Rock Fight fourteen to nine type game.
I did go back and watch. I wanted to watch
the difference between Pooka and Davante to see how the
usage was there and what that looks like. It's good
to be Puka man. Davante's got to deal with Stingley
on the outside, going to war with him, and then
they use motion and they use with alignment. Pooka is
(26:43):
going to get so many favorable matchups and he was
wearing them out a lot of digs, slants, they get
them a bubble looking in the seamstret reference to hit
that he's that he took like he's He's got a
lot of a favorable space. And the good news is
DeVante Adam still found a way to make plays, gets
a back shoulder. He turned Stingley around a little out
route late in this game, showing you that he's still
(27:05):
got that route running ability to be able to separate.
And he ain't gonna see many Derek Stingley's on the
schedule this year. So they've got ways to utilize both
these guys. But after we were there at that practice,
Buck I came away thinking, Man, DeVante Adams is going
to end up out targeting and out producing Pooka. I mean,
I just think what the matchups Pooka is going to get,
They're going to be so much more favorable that he's
going to have a more productive year.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
You know. The funny thing about all of the dj is,
I was in the camp that I thought Devanta Adams
was slipping when I looked at him first with the
Raiders and then with the Jets, I didn't see the
same explosiveness that I saw from a player that dominated
in Green Bay. But I don't know what is going
on in La like if he's sipping some water from
the found the youth, because he does look like a
(27:48):
more dynamic and explosive player than he's looked like in
recent years. And in watching that practice that we saw
together and then watching the play, you can already see
how Sean McVay is going to tap into some of
his creative Robert ability to create explosive plays for this offense.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
I have no doubt. Let's let's get to these last
couple of games here, Rhett. We go to Vegas and
New England. Disappointed with New England on that side of things,
but let's start with the good stuff with Vegas.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, he was kind of you know, one of my
one of the things I really wanted to see here
on both sides was like, all right, how are the
Patriots going to utilize one of the stories of the
preseason and Trayvon Henderson, And then how are the Raiders
going to defend it? Because they're watching that preseason tape too,
and it was clear they wanted to get Trevion the
ball and let him work with some of that explosive
(28:34):
ability that he has. Honestly, I come away like feeling
very encouraged for the Raiders on defense, right, I thought
they dealt with that very well. Isaiah Polanow was a
was a monster in this game. The way you get
player Yeah, read right, that's a that's a draft report
to look at down the road. Here Reid recognize trigger
and tackle on Trevion was on one play in particular,
(28:56):
when he comes from about twenty yards deep and makes
a stop on Traveon Henderson. You know, really really good
player and open space I think, right, either for a
loss or no gain. It was really impressive. Devin White
was a revelation for the Raiders in here. I mean
he made a ton of tackles, was in on a
ton of plays. For a guy that's bounced around a lot,
(29:17):
maybe finds a home here with Patrick Graham and the
Raiders defense. So that was kind of what I just
I thought was cool. And again I think we're going
to see Ashton gent get better on the offensive side
of things. Gino played really well. I thought brock Bauers
injury thing is something I'm obviously we're all going to
be following here moving forward. But he was a force.
I just like to go back to the initial point.
(29:39):
I was expecting a little more from from Josh McDaniels
and from New England. With Travon Henderson, they had one
play in short yardage where he's in a full house
backfield and he gets the edge and it was kind
of a cool design. I just didn't a lot of
it was just like a pass pro you're not challenged,
you know, delay release just didn't see that. It was
like he was a main focus of the game plan.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
It's funny because my focus will go back to the
Raiders and Pete Carroll and Pete Carroll's program, and so
you talk about Devin White, you talk about young players
showing up. This is what Pete Carroll has done, whether
it's at USC or stepping into the league with the
Seattle Seahawks. This is what they do they take on
reclamation projects, They somehow pump them full of belief, They
(30:21):
give them opportunities, and those guys pay them back in
turn by playing well. This is what the Raiders traditionally
have always done. Way back in yesteryear when mister Davis
was around, they were always a band of gassed offs
and misfits that they would kind of put together and
they would find a way to win. To me, even
though Pete Carroll is seventy three, he is the right
(30:42):
coach for this team at this time, having an adult
in the room, someone who wins, someone who has the confidence,
but also has a program that kind of takes them there.
I think you can see all that now. I don't
know what it means for the Raiders in terms of
in this division where they end up, but I certainly
feel like if I'm a Raiders fan, at least we
look like a professional outfit that can compete and eventually
(31:05):
find a way to be a contender.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
From the Raiders side of things, hey, not a surprise.
The offense is going to go through Brock Bauers. It
still is. He's their best football player. Ash and Genty
I haven't got a chance to go through the cutups
yet with him to watch all of his stuff and
just look at him specifically. While I was on the
phone Balty this morning, he was talking about how nice
of a job he did in pass protection, which is
(31:26):
great to see. So that's that's added value there. I
still feel the same about this Raiders team. I think
Gino's is still a really, really good player. I think
they've got to stay healthy. They've got four or five guys.
If they can keep these star guys healthy, they're going
to be in it and they're going to be competitive.
And I'm going to see them on Monday night, so
I'm looking forward to it to seeing what they look
like there. All right, the last one here Arizona in
(31:49):
New Orleans. I'll be honest with that. Positively, Buck, no
one's more competitive than I thought they would be. So
that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
That is a really good thing. And look, I'll give
Kellen Moore credit when it came to picking the quarterback,
and I'm not saying Spencer Rather was great, but having
been there for the New Orleans Jacks game in preseason,
he was pretty obvious that Spencer Rather was the better
quarterback at the time. Kellen didn't succumb to the pressure
of a we picked this guy, We picked him with
the expectation and he was going to be the starter.
(32:16):
He stayed true to that. And then what Kellen does,
as all great coaches do, you try and find a
way to shape the offense around the talents of the
quarterback and see if they can get a doing, get
it going. It wasn't great yet, but the creativity, the adaptability,
the ability to adjust to what you have. Kellen Moore
certainly has that, and as he continues to grow as
a coach, that offensive mind with him also learning how
(32:39):
to manage the entire operation is going to help the
New Orleans Saints get back on track.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
Yeah, they've got they've got to find a little bit
more again on the run game, at forty six attempts
for Rattler, you know, complete a little over fifty percent
of those, I was, like you a little bit encouraged
that they were fairly competitive there. I mean, Juwan Johnson
catches that touchdown and we're talking about, you know, a
chance to win a game at overtime, which.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
They only got sacked by once, and they didn't turn
they didn't he didn't throw any picks well, forty six times.
Like just that alone, I was like, that's encouraging.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Well, that's the strength of this team, without question. Is
that offensive line, Like that's good. Kelvin Bank's a good player.
You know, there's that's some They've got first round picks
all over the place up there. But I think on
the Cardinals side of things, kind of intrigued to see
how Trey Benson works his way a little bit more
into the game plan. You know, he was kind of
like hit or miss. Last year it was mostly James
(33:37):
Connor's show. I had a little bit more to even
split of the carries and obviously Connor's going to get
all the goal line touches here. But Benson had an
explosive thirty five yard run in this one. Just something
to kind of follow as we go forward. With the
Cardinals on defense played really well.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Man going back and watch Marvin Harrison stuff too. They're
figuring out how to use him properly and get him
on the move, and they were more efficient. I remember
last year there was games I swear I go the
targets and like, oh my gosh, you had thirteen targets
and four catches.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You know, I think he was started like the leak
neighbors this week.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Oh man, poor guy h And I say that because
he's on my fantasy team. But the h I think
it was let me, I had it here. It was
like six targets maybe for uh Harrison. Yeah. They caught
five of six targets, five for seventy one and a touchdown,
and they kept him on the move and he looked
more comfortable there. I still don't know that I'm gonna
be a little bit disappointed in terms of just I
(34:27):
don't think you're going to see him as a full
route tree guy, like as someone who's elite, elite getting
in and out of breaks. But he's still so strong
and big and physical and straight line fast. He could
be really really good player and they're figuring out how
to use him. So good win for the Cardinals. But
the Saints they put up a fight. I thought they
might get run out of the stadium. So that was
that's why I was encouraged from the Saints side of things.
(34:49):
All right, boys, we gotta wrap this thing up. This
has been fun. A little clean up. We did a
clean up on Aisle six.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Clean out.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Uh that's that's from mister mom, which I'm sure three
people that are listening to this have actually seen that movie.
Said fantastic, fantastic, Michael Keene. Anyways, that's gonna do a force.
We'll see you next time right here on. Move the sticks.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
M m m m hm
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Hm
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