NFL Network Insiders Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport, Judy Battista and Mike Garafolo bring you the latest on Packers DE Micah Parsons' readiness for Week 1 before previewing the season's kickoff game: Cowboys vs. Eagles. Cam Wolfe stops by to discuss how injuries to De'Von Achane and Tyreek Hill could impact the Dolphins out of the gate. The Insiders make their playoff predictions, preview the top matchups from Week 1, and report on Najee Harris' availability for the Chargers in their divisional matchup with the Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
After a long, weird, and ultimately lucrative summer, Michaeh. Parsons
is back on the practice field with his new team.
The Packers are taking care of number one, but how
much can they get out of Parsons? In Week one
will tell you how health could impact Green Bay's new superstar.
Parsons old team still has a game, pretty big one
(00:28):
on Thursday night. The Cowboys are not throwing in the
towel as they prepare a head to Philly. We will
break down some of the other factors that could tilt
an early NFC East showdown. Our experts also have playoff
predictions tonight, can anyone beat the Bills in the AFC East?
Who will capture the NFC South. We will tackle those
(00:50):
topics and a whole lot more over the next sixty minutes.
Welcome inside with the Insiders, presented by Progressive Insurance, alongside
in Rapid Judy Battista and Mike Garrifolo. I am Tom Pelacio.
Welcome back to all of you who spent the long
weekend on a beach at a cabin somewhere, to those
(01:11):
of you who still living it up at Happy hour right now.
The close captions are right here. We love you as always.
Three days away from kickoff for the twenty twenty five season,
which means one thing, guys, for the first time we
can say it is game week for all thirty two teams.
Look at this in all its glory. It all kicks
off Thursday night with the Cowboys and the Eagles. He
(01:32):
got the Chiefs and Chargers going at it in Brazil.
Some big time matchups on Sunday, fascinating ones like the
Bengals up against the Browns, the Raiders against the Patriots.
It all rolls on through the course of the rest
of Sunday and into Monday night football up primetime matchup
between the Ravens and the Bills, Vikings and Bears on
Monday Night, and do not overlook one that just got
(01:54):
a little bit more spicy Lions and Packers in that
mid after noon window on Sunday. Green Bay, of course
has a brand new toy, Matt Lafleuri. But he's not
smiling right there. He is pretty excited about it. Michael
Parsons on the field with his new team for the
first time. Teammates seem pumped up about a two.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
There's a place speak for himself his name speaks for himself.
I feel like the Skot's a limit for him, the
Skyt's limit for our defensive line group.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And it's just the way he can't can't wait to
see him go in.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
My perspective, and the officers can't focus on one type
of blizzer, you know, one type of pass rusher. No
got goys from coming from both sides, and I got
rg now we got him. No, just everybody on Depens's
Hollo ball.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So he's good man, for real.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
We're gonna be We're gonna be resting that quarterback.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Man.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
I'm just thankful for guy, because I'm gonna just catch
you when it's phone through.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
That's all you need. Dave Hobson, It he is good man.
He can do a lot of different things Ian. But
will we see full speed Michael Parsons at a time
where he is, let the record show is still working
his way back from at least something of a real
back injury.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
A real back injury is the actual news here, because
we spent most of the summer talking about Micah Parsons
dealing with back tightness, and usually even on this show
and some other shows as well, we would say back
tightness to explain his hold in. Obviously, Parsons one of
the blockbuster contract from the Dallas Cowboys that he ended
up getting with the Green Bay Packers. But it was
not a fake injury. He did pass his physical with
(03:26):
the Packers, but it is a real injury. Let me
explain what Micah Parsons was dealing with this summer and
what he is dealing with. My understanding, it is a
facet joint sprain in his back, affecting.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
The L four and the L five. Basically, it is
a backsprain. That is why.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
That is why he was dealing with some tightness over
the course of the summer. That's why he saw doctor
Robert Watkins, one of the experts in back for the
basically for the NFL. It is why he is expected
to be, at least when he was out there today,
not a full participant. As far as the treatment, there's
several options here. Taking an oral steroid or an injectable steroid.
(04:06):
Both of those are options. Eventually in at Baduro could
be an option as well. Here's my understanding. Micah Parsans
expected to play this week.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That is a good thing.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Had he been with the Cowboys and had they not
paid him and show the commitment the Packers would have shown,
would you have played in Week one? I have my
serious doubts. It is something we don't have to discuss now,
but certainly it is an issue.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
You would also think, Judy, that if the Packers had
any quals about the back issue, wouldn't cut him a
four year, one hundred and eighty six million dollar contract
right now. The real question in my mind, beyond obviously
working through whatever he has to to get up to
game speed here is how much and how good, how
close to real Michael Parsons are we going to see
given the fact that this guy really hasn't done anything
(04:52):
on the field in a long period of time.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
That is a good question, and we're going to have
to wait until the game on Sunday and maybe even
successive games to see the full Micah Parsons. Don't forget
even in Dallas, before it seemed apparent that he was
going to be traded and they were preparing for him
to play for the Dallas Cowboys this season, they were
talking about him having to be on a pitch count.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
Initially.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
He simply has in practice set aside the back issue
and whatever kind of treatment he might have to receive
for that. He just hasn't been practicing all off season,
so at some point he's going to have to have
a ramp up period. He's in practice now, but I
think the question that the Packers are going to have
to answer is what kind of pitch count, if any,
(05:39):
do they want him on this week, and how quickly
can they ramp him up? And how comfortable is he
not just physically comfortable, but how acclimated is he going
to be and ready to go full speed for the Packers.
Those are questions that can only be answered when they
get to the game, and we will not know, I
think until then.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
Just how Michael Parsons looks.
Speaker 8 (06:01):
I remember when he lied down on that training table
during the game and I asked about that and said
that was only a brief here, but somebody did mention
to me he's got a back injury.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Like, I know, you guys think it's fake, but it's
a real thing. So we told you while that was
going on, like it is a real injury.
Speaker 8 (06:16):
But it was a convenient reason to be like, well,
I'm not practicing because of the back, but really because
of the contract. So that moment, that he lied down
was actually he was feeling something in his back there.
And I do want to highlight the fact that Jerry
Jones the other day when he was starting to answer
the question, he said, you don't make and then Stephen
Jones jumps.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
In and says, you don't make decisions. But no, no,
he just blew right past you. You don't act that way.
Speaker 8 (06:38):
Jerry Jones not happy with Michael Parsons lying down there
and pointed out ceedee lamb getting.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Run over by the official.
Speaker 8 (06:43):
So I think that that was a big thing for
Jerry as it came down the stretch here and making
his decision with regard to Michael Parsons. But yeah, the
packer is going to wrap him up. You don't pay
all that money to have him be a situational guy
for too long. I expect him to be a full
time guy in short order.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Let's say I think the Cowboys are allergic suddenly to
paying their top players. They did get a deal done
with one of their top corners, Deron Bland, agreeing to
terms on a four year, ninety two million dollar contract
extension twenty twenty four is basically a wash for Bland.
He had an injury in training camp, had surgery, missed
a lot of the season, but you go back to
twenty twenty three, it seemed like a bucket of balls
(07:20):
are being dumped in his lap and he took a
bunch of them back to the house. A strong contract
for him at a time that it seems like Trayvon
Diggs is trending in the right direction. Full participant in
practice today, which is good to have both those guys there.
Because Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown, who missed a large
chunk of training camp with a hamstring issue, not even
listed on the initial injury report. That confirms what Aj
(07:44):
Brown has sent himself, which is that he is on
track to face the Cowboys on Thursday night. That is
the kickoff game. It is a little over seventy two
hours away from right now, Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts going
at it in Philadelphia in a game that, to be clear,
both teams are going to be affected by the guy
(08:05):
that a lot of people thought was going to be
out there. Michael Parsons, It's kind.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Of crazy, you know.
Speaker 9 (08:11):
You you build up in the last four or five
years that we've played and played at Dallas.
Speaker 10 (08:15):
Cabell as we've come up with a.
Speaker 9 (08:17):
Game plan because Mike is a game wrecker, so it
is a sorry relief that you don't have to plan
like that anymore. However, that is a talented d line
and challenge of defense, and so you got to treat
them with the same respect. With or without Michael Popson's.
Speaker 11 (08:33):
I'm not gonna say we're better. We've got to go
out there and prove it. We'd have to prove it
even if he was on this team. So so I'm
not going to say that by any means. But but
I know adding a guy like Kenny Clark, adding a
true leader, a real man, that's I'm gonna only elevate
this team who's been a Pro Bowl player and is
excited about being here. I know our focus right now
is Philly. I think that's everybody's focus in that locker room.
(08:54):
I don't think anybody's hung up on that. As I said,
there's enough news and enough media about it. I think
as much as anything, we're it's good that a solution happened.
And obviously mikeal got paid, got paid very well and
great for him and his family, and we'll see see
him here in about a month.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
It's always a fascinating dichotomy when the past seven months
for the Super Bowl champion are the celebrations, and it's
the ring ceremony, and it's the world tour and all
those things. Judy, they celebrated one last time right before
kickoff and you got fireworks, the whole thing, and then
it's like, okay, now here we go. The title defense
starts like three minutes later. How different is this thing
going to look for the Eagles in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Well, the offense is almost entirely intact, so set that aside.
But the defense has lost some very familiar faces Josh Sweat,
Milton Williams, Brandon Graham retiring, CJ. Gardner, Johnson, Darius Slay.
So they do have some parts that they have to
replace now. They have been extremely adept at replacing players
(09:54):
that they've lost over the last few years. That is
why they have become such a very good team. But
there are so some unanswered questions. You know, three days out,
who is the number two quarterback, a corner back, to
be clear, starting at safety.
Speaker 7 (10:08):
All of these things Vic van Geo did not want
to answer.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
He said Sirianni would answer those questions, But of course
he hasn't answered those questions yet either, so there are
still a few questions about the defense.
Speaker 7 (10:19):
That's what I am looking at.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
I listen, this is the most complete team, maybe in
the entire NFL, certainly in the NFC right now. But
if I'm looking at anything in week one and maybe
week two and three until we get a better picture,
I'm looking at the defense and seeing how some of
these new pieces fit in and how that defense looks.
Speaker 8 (10:40):
When last we saw the Eagles playing the Cowboys at
like at Financial Field, they ran for one hundred and
seventy nine yards a week after running for two eleven.
By the way, that was with Kellen Moore calling the place.
Kellen Moore now the head coach of the Saints, So
Kevin Patulo now takes over. And Patulo has been there
and been part of the operation for the last couple
of offensive coordinators. Now is his time to make the
(11:01):
play calls for Nick Sirianni. So I'm looking at this offense.
I'm looking at the identity. And when you talk to
people all training camp, here's some shots from training camp,
talking about all training camp.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Ball off season, it's like, well, Kellen Moore came here
and we sort.
Speaker 8 (11:15):
Of took some of the things that he wanted to
do and blended it with our personality what we've done
under the Nick Sirianni era.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So he leaves, and the thought is the identity is
going to be very similar now.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
Obviously you'll have Patullo's touches, and throughout the season as
teams have looked at what the Eagles did successfully last
year and try to attack that, there will be tweaks,
there will be minor changes to the offense. But this
is still a team that is built behind that running game,
behind Saquon Barkley and aj Dillon, who's one of the
more fascinating figures around the NFL. Having missed the year,
now comes back to add a little bit more punch
(11:48):
to this running game when Sakwon Barkley could take a breather.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I think this is still going to be a team
that is going to.
Speaker 8 (11:52):
Run the football down team's throats as Dallas Cowboys with
Kenny Clark in the middle of the first team to
try to stop them from doing it.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Oh, running the ball, you say, well, it is a
good thing that that is something that the Dallas Cowboys
value just listened to Jerry Jones and Steven Jones said
that Goodbye Micah Parsons press conference is part of the
explanation for why they did the deal.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
To first round, which it was nice. Not paying Michah
Parsons the money is nice.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Stopping the run is now the most important thing for
the Cowboys, not just internally, not just as far as
the resources, although that certainly has been the case as well,
but it's just far as the public face of their
defense and really public face of their team. It is
all about stopping the run. I can't imagine a game
where stopping the run will be more of a national
emphasis than the Dallas Cowboys this game with new Cowboy
(12:39):
Kenny Clark likely starting facing Saquon Barkley and this really
really good Eagles rushing attack, especially considering the Cowboys were
sort of at the bottom last year as far as
stopping the run, If this is so important to the
Dallas Cowboys, and I know it is, intir offensive line, interior,
defensive line is absolute paramount importance for the Cowboys. They
(13:00):
we know everyone's eyeballs are going to be on it,
they know we're all going to be talking about it.
They have to show it, and that is an unbelievably
monumental task for this Cowboys defense.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And if Saquon Barkley runs wild on Thursday night, you
can bet that all those sound bites of Jerry saying
we got to stop the run are going to be
played about a million times come Friday morning. All Right,
this is a course of news and information show. We
don't do hot dakes. We do have one of the
twenty nine members of the panel at NFL dot com
Slash Predictions predicting all the division winners, among a variety
(13:33):
of other things with us right now. And so as
we will throughout these show, Judy, I'm going to start
with you on this one. We want your prediction officially
for who wins the NFC East.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
I thought this one was a.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Pretty easy one. It's the Philadelphia Eagles. They are the
most complete, most accomplished team. They have the offensive player
of the year in Saquon, they have the Super Bowl
MVP and Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
And the other teams in the division have issues.
Speaker 12 (14:02):
Now.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
Obviously, we saw the Washington Commanders come on very strong
last season make it all the way to the NFC
Championship Game. But just still have questions about if that
defense is substantially improved. The Giants, we know, have a
quarterback issue. We don't know what the quarterback situation is
going to look like. They think it's improved, we'll see.
And they also have a very difficult schedule. And then
of course the Dallas Cowboys are the Dallas Cowboys, and
(14:24):
who knows how the departure of Michael Parsons is going
to affect them. It is the Eagles in the NFC East.
There has not been a repeat champion in the NFC
East in more than twenty years.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Our front office analyst Mark Ross also part of that panel.
He will join his predictions throughout the show tonight. But
first and we got a little bit more news.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
One of the big storylines of the summer now Michael
Parsons a end.
Speaker 10 (14:50):
We did that already.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
This is not Michael Parsons.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
This is Matthew Stafford and his aggravated disc in his back, something.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
That really kept him off the field for probably three co.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Trading Camp felt touch and go for a while whether
or not he would be actually back at trading camp
at all, and then ready for the season. Sean mcvayh
announcing today that he believes Matthew Stafford will be out
there for Week one back in all.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
That means he is physically.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Ready, That means he is mentally ready and Mike, that
is excellent news for the Los Angeles reps.
Speaker 8 (15:20):
Jalen Warren, the Steelers running back, was entering the final
year of his deal, gets a two year contract extension,
now under contract through twenty twenty seven. Twelve million dollars
guaranteed on that deal takes some over seven million for
this upcoming season, which was more than some of these
free agent running backs got. So this deal over three
(15:41):
years just under seventeen and a half million dollars, according
to his agents, Nes Mugrabi and David Canner of RAS Sports.
I know a lot of folks are saying Caleb Johnson,
that's the running back to watch in Pittsburgh. The Steelers
are saying Jalen Warren, who has never started a game,
now our starter and we're gonna pay him like it.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So look for Jalen Warren to try to back that up.
This upcoming season. Been a bumpy ride with injuries for
the Dolphins to a training camp, but some good news today.
Start out with running back Devon a Chan back on
the practice field for the first time since he injured
his calf a few weeks ago in a joint practice
against the Lions. Barring a setback, according to coach Mike McDaniel,
(16:17):
a Chan is on track to play in Sunday's opener
against the Colts. Also looking good for wide receiver Tyreek Hill,
been dealing with an oblique injury. Darren Waller coming back
from a soft tissue issue that had him on the
shelf for the first month or so of camp. They, too,
according to McDaniel, are looking good for Sunday. We know
the camp wolf will be looking good as always for
(16:40):
us on game day morning. Calm Sunday. Right now he
is with us right here on the Insiders presented by
a Progressive Insurance Camp. We haven't seen the actual Dolphins
offense a whole lot during the course of camp because
it has been this ongoing thing. Jalen Waddle has miss
time as well. What is the impact of that lost
time on task end these in injuries as you work
(17:00):
our way to week one.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, it's an unknown about this Dolphins team, and everything
about this Dolphins offseason has been an unknown.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
They hear all the doom and gloom.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Outside of the building talking about how bad it went
last year and what could happen this year. They're preaching
a culture reset, and I think the biggest news we
got out today was the fact that Tyreek Hill, who
has been a captain every year for Miami, was not
a captain this year. He had a tumultuous into a
season last year. Tua has been vocal this offseason about
the work they need to do to rebuild that relationship,
(17:32):
and it's proven season for Tyreek. He is still one
of the best receivers in football. He says he's motivated
to prove his teammates that he can be the guy
he's been on the field and reliable off the field.
Now is the time to show it. The Dolphins showed
in their vote they want to see that on the
field before they trust him again, and he is going
to be a huge part of their on field production.
(17:53):
Look that a blaque injury shouldn't limit him into the season,
and he said he's faster and well conditioned for this year.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And you mentioned Devon a chan.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I know a lot of fantasy football worries for him
first time back on the practice field in three weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The hope is that he will be able to go. Look,
he won't be one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
He's still going to be working through that calf injury,
but he in that run game can help unlock Tyreek
and Waddle on the other side. And look, they've got
to start strong. They start with this Colts team week one,
and this is a Dolphins team that knows playoff win
is the expectation. And they're playing a Colts team with
their eighth different starting quarterback in nine years in Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
And talking to people with the Colts.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
They thought that Dangle jones steadiness in the operation and
his professionalism is a big reason why.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
He's the starter there.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
There's going to be a lot of eyeballs on him
early because the Colts are another team where a lot
of question marks are on them. Daniel Jones didn't have
a lot of success with the Giants, but they want
him to be a game manager. Shane Steiken said today
the offense will always lean on Jonathan Taylor and for
the Dolphins side, they want to get Daniel Jones uncomfortable.
So the matchup I want to watch Sunday. Can the
(19:00):
Dangles can the Dolphins trio of pass rushers Bradley Chubb,
Jaylen Phillips and Chop Robinson frustrate the game manager Daniel
Jones Or can he make enough plays to keep them
off balance? That's going to decide that game on.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Sunday Cam stick around. Bill's Ravens talk later on one
of those great matchups coming up in week one on Sunday.
So much more to come on this game week edition
of The Insiders. Yes, that's Michael Parsons. He is now
a Packer, but does his presidence made Green Bay the
favorite in the NFC North. We got more predictions as
(19:36):
this show rolls on, including on the AFC West where
we might get a preview of the top two teams
Friday night in Brazil, Chiefs and Chargers. Stick around. Much
more to come on The Insiders presented by Progressive Insurance.
Speaker 8 (19:54):
Do today into The Insiders presented by Progressive Insurance. Nazi
Harris cleared for contact, the Chargers running back who suffered uh.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
What his agent termed superficial.
Speaker 8 (20:05):
Eye injuries UH during a fourth of July fireworks accident.
Cleared for contact, back fully working his way into potentially
playing on Friday against the Chiefs. Here's Nausey speaking to
the media today for the first time.
Speaker 10 (20:20):
I'm rapping up to it.
Speaker 13 (20:21):
Yeah, you know, I'm every day I practice and we'll
look think exactly Friday and they so sclably my fifth
day at practice, you know, just trying to get back
in that football shape. But yeah, I'm feeling good though,
and wel just here leads. It's a humbling experience obviously,
but you know it still hasn't really shaken it. I'm
still you know, going through it in the way, you know,
so uh, you know, just to just that whole situation,
(20:43):
to just show you, you know, how things could change,
and just a snapping finger, you know, and just just
you know, it's a blessing every day that we wake
up and I'm just happy that, you know, everybody's safe.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And we're alive.
Speaker 8 (20:54):
Harris was asked about wearing those glasses, said it's a
sunny day today and he doesn't care if people think he's.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Type something there by wearing those glasses.
Speaker 8 (21:02):
On Friday, September fifth, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansasity Chiefs
take on Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in
South Pawo, Brazil. Don't miss the unbelievable plays, unforgettable moments,
and a half time performance by Carol G streaming for free.
My mom's name is Carol G. It's not here though,
live only on YouTube. Head the NFL's YouTube channel to
learn more. Here is Jim Harbaugh and a few others
(21:24):
on this game in Brazil.
Speaker 12 (21:27):
Excitement of being the only game NFL game Friday night
and we'll be viewed worldwide. Staff has made it so good,
you know, I'm just really broken it down Barney style
for us. That gives you the feeling of excitement and
(21:48):
travel and go play the opener and on a huge stage.
Speaker 10 (21:53):
I'm super excited it'll be.
Speaker 14 (21:54):
It'll be a great experience and great chance to the
showcase who we are the Kansaity chiefs worldwide. And the
fan base in Brazil is extremely excited as well, so
it'll be a cool, cool experience. And being able to
play our first game out there gets the great opponent.
It'll be a lot of fun. Now it's just going
down there and playing football, and I think more than anything,
which is explaining to some guys how far the trip was.
(22:14):
Some guys who understand how far the travel was Travis,
even though he just was down there like last year,
so I was just explaining to him how the globe works.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Yeah, Travis, you're going to have to understand how global
travel works if you're planning on following through with that
marriage proposal. My friend, any Judy back with us to
talk about this matchup. Judy, starting with you, what do
you want to see in a familiar matchup in unfamiliar territory?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Well, I want to see what the Chiefs offense looks like,
what identity it has, because certainly all off season we
have heard that they want to get the explosion back
into the offense.
Speaker 7 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
They want that downfield attack that they used to be
known for back in the game. Of course, they didn't
have it last year. We know why of injuries to
the receivers. The offensive line was muddled. They couldn't protect
Mahomes long enough to let those deeper plays develop, so
it really shortened everything. They want to have more explosion,
Mahomes has said all off season. It opens up their
(23:15):
entire playbook if they can push the ball down the field.
Rashie Rice is suspended for six games. He is going
to miss this game. Of course, can they do it
without him on the field, we will see. But that
is what I am looking forward to to watching the
Chiefs in this game.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Yeah, I'll kind of flip it around there and go
to the Chargers offense, specifically that Chargers offensive line, you know,
as a as like an NFL group. We didn't have
a ton of big time, major, major injuries this preseason.
Actually pretty fortunate that way. One of the big time
ones was Rayshawn Slater, the stellar, stellar left tag of
the Los Angeles Chargers, with that significant season ending knee
(23:54):
injury that really thrust Joe Alt into the spilot. Not
like he wasn't in the spilot anyway, he was the
right to act very good. He is a top, top
first round type player. But now he is the left
tackle now, Trey Pickens Pipkins comes in plays right tackle.
Makai Beckton, who has barely been on the field at
all this training camp. He comes in at guard despite
not having practice. There's going to be a lot a
(24:16):
lot of focus on this Chargers offensive line.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
There's already a lot of focus on the Chargers run game.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
I mean, we led this segment with Naji Harris talking
about his superficial eye injury and how much he plays.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
They got a first round and running back. A lot
of eyeballs on all of this.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
The offensive line will be what makes it all go
or what doesn't make it go, and that's going to
be fascinating.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
To see divisional matchups on Thursday and Friday. Hit the
prediction music. Because Judy is part of our panel.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
We have prediction music. We should have prediction music, kind
of like who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Speaker 8 (24:48):
Judy part of our panel of experts got paper who
made their predictions on NFL dot Com.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Time for the AFC West winner.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
According to Judy, Yeah, it's going to be the Chiefs.
This would be their tenth in if they win it,
tenth AFC West in a row.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
It's not going to be as.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Easy as it used to be maybe a few years back.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
Certainly the division has gotten much much tougher, including the
Raiders now with Pete Carroll, They and Gino Smith there.
All of the teams are good and they sent two
other teams to the playoffs other than the Chiefs last year.
Speaker 7 (25:19):
But the Chiefs went to the Super Bowl, and I
feel like people because.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
Of the way they lost the Super Bowl, people thought
they were a disaster. The dynasty is over. I wouldn't
be so fast with writing off the Chiefs. They still
won fifteen games last year with an injury wrecked receiving
corps and a jumble of an offensive line, they won
fifteen games and they went to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
Pretty good. As long as Mahomes and Andy.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
Reid are in place, I sort of feel like it's
when Belichick and Brady were there. It's hard to pick
against them to win that division.
Speaker 8 (25:52):
Yeah, there's some good coaches in that division now, but
Andy Reid and the Chiefs certainly want to prove that
that was not the way.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I mean, tamas Kelsey said, that's not the way he
wants to go out. He's motivated.
Speaker 8 (26:02):
You got to imagine that that is team wide for
the Kansas City Chief's going to be an interesting campaign.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Although Judy's given us all.
Speaker 8 (26:07):
The answers right now, we'll have more from her and
our other experts as the show goes on.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
New Today, Michael Parsons is practicing football again out there
on the field for the first time. We're in that
number one Jersey with his new team in the Packers,
just six days out from Green Bay's opener against the
Detroit Lions. Welcome back to the Insiders, presented by Progressive Insurance,
Tom PILISERA and I joined by our front office analyst,
(26:34):
Mark Ross. Mark, you do a trade like this, give
it up two first round picks. You're starting nose tackle
in one hundred eighty six million dollar contract for a reason.
You think this guy can be a difference maker. From
the front office perspective, what are you looking for both
out of the gate and over the course of this
season from Michael Parsons in a Green Bay uniform?
Speaker 10 (26:52):
Well, first and forebo Sam. With the back injury, how
severe it is.
Speaker 15 (26:56):
As a front office and working with your doctors and
your t you want to be extra cautious.
Speaker 10 (27:02):
So first six first is okay, how bad is this injury?
Speaker 15 (27:06):
And how soon do we really need to rest rush
Michaeh Parsons onto the field. We want to make sure
he's ready for the Super Bowl run, the playoff run,
and not just for Game one. So of course they're
mony monitoring that as much as possible. But even so,
let's just say there's sixty five plays in a game
for the defensive side of the ball. Michael Parsons plays
fifteen of those plays, top, but that's like twenty five
(27:28):
percent there, Roughly.
Speaker 10 (27:30):
He can make such a huge difference in fifteen plays.
He could wreck a game just in fifteen plays.
Speaker 15 (27:36):
So that's what you're really looking at is how comfortable
is Michael Parsons with his conditioning, how comfortable is he
with his injury, and how soon do we want to
get him how often we will get him on the field.
But even so, with those limited amount of snaps, you
know that this guy can completely change a game Week two,
Week three, League four. We'll keep building him up until
(27:57):
we're ready to have him on the field completely.
Speaker 10 (27:59):
In full time.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Michael Parsons is also such a huge chess piece in
terms of how the opponent needs to game platform. This
doesn't happen very often in week one, when what ten
days out from the opener, all of a sudden, you go, Okay,
whatever we're playing to do, we've got to change that.
That's the type of impact Michael Parsons can make in
Green Bay and one that I guess Lions coach Dan
(28:22):
Campbell is ready for.
Speaker 16 (28:25):
We'll get more into that in the next couple of days,
but you know, certainly we'll we'll have our eyes on that.
We know what kind of player he is. You know,
he's he's a really good player. So but we'll have
a plan and whatever we had planned for Kenny Clark,
we'll just have plan for Micah. So we'll just we'll
(28:45):
do that whether it's outside or inside. So you know, look,
you got to be prepared, and they're going to find
plays that they can use him where he can excel,
and like I say, we'll have a plan.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
The Lions ben answers for pretty much everything else the
Packers have thrown at them over the past three seasons.
Look at that five and one Detroit's record against one
of their top rivals since the twenty twenty two season.
Packers defense actually has done okay relative to what the
Lions numbers often are offensively, but that Green Bay offense
has also struggled to get going. All right, Mark, you
(29:22):
are also part of our twenty nine person panel NFL
dot Com Slash Predictions, making your picks across the NFL
for who's gonna win all these divisions. Let's go right there, NFC,
norm who you got?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Mark?
Speaker 15 (29:34):
I gotta go with the Packers and look visit at
Green Bay during training camp and even Matt Lafour he.
Speaker 10 (29:39):
Said, look, Detroit's had our number. They like they've handled us,
and we're better. Fis fully expect them to step up.
Speaker 15 (29:46):
And looking at the schedules, going back and forth with
both of the team's schedule, Green Bay and the Lions,
like I just gave the Packers one more game, I
think they will finally.
Speaker 10 (29:55):
Step up to it.
Speaker 15 (29:55):
And this was before they traded for Micah Parsons, so
now they got Michael Parsons picked green Bay.
Speaker 10 (30:01):
But I think this division is the toughest in all
the football town.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And somewhere the Vikings are listening to that analysis right
there and going, hey, remember we won fourteen games last year.
You'll see him on National TV Week one against the Bears. Mark,
you're back with an AFC East pick in just a
little bit.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
But first, Judy, I am loving all of these division
matchups in Week one, and we got another one. The
Bucks are going to play the Falcons only six more days.
As the Bucks reminded us today, let's listen to Todd
Bowles talking about their first opponent of the season.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
He's a strong arm, very strong arm, very accurate. He
throws a great deep ball. He can check it down,
he looks off very well and goes to the other way.
He can really put the ball in there. He can
really thread needles. So if you're not fundamentally or technically sound,
he's going to beat you.
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Let's welcome in ours, Sarah wallsh who knows that these
two teams very well? All right, Sarah, let's start with
the Falcons and Michael Pennox's importance to that team.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
Give us the summation of that.
Speaker 17 (31:09):
Well, you just heard Todd Bowles there, and one game
doesn't make a season, right, but it can certainly set
the tone, and it can certainly send a message. And
the Falcons right now have a massive opportunity on their
home turf in this new Michael Pennox era. Now, obviously,
he started three games at the end of last season,
and while they just went one and two over those
(31:30):
three starts, he showed poise, he showed growth, he showed promise,
all the things that Raheem Morris wanted to.
Speaker 18 (31:35):
See out of him.
Speaker 17 (31:36):
Today, the Falcons announced that he was named one of
the team captains. When you talk about maturity and this
guy being a leader on the team, his final game
last year, he threw for three hundred and twelve yards,
and the Falcons went up in points per game when
he was the starting quarterback from Atlanta just under twenty
one points per game when Kirk Cousins was the quarterback
and it went up.
Speaker 7 (31:54):
To thirty two.
Speaker 17 (31:54):
Now we understand that was a small sample size. Pennix
is going to get a lot of attention. Bije On,
Drake London. Those are all the guys on offense you
hear a lot about. But you know who you're hearing
a lot about right now when it comes to the
Atlanta Falcons, at least for their fans, a guy by
the name Elijah Wilkinson, because he is going to have
to step in, likely at right tackle.
Speaker 18 (32:12):
That is because they're starting.
Speaker 17 (32:13):
Right tackle Caleb McGary down lost for the season two
weeks ago, so they have not had a lot of
time to prepare. And oh, by the way, their backup
Storm Norton was already out having undergone ankle surgery.
Speaker 18 (32:25):
So this is an adjustment period.
Speaker 17 (32:26):
And this is a Falcons team that does a heavy
dose of running to the right, which is where Wilkinson
is going to be.
Speaker 18 (32:31):
He also has to protect the blind side.
Speaker 17 (32:33):
Raheem today called Wilkinson awesome, Judy, and said that they
feel like.
Speaker 18 (32:38):
He's comfortable at fitting in at a high level. He's
got six more days to get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Well.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
The Bucks, of course are the defending champion a few
times over actually of the NFC South. But they go
into this season right now with some big name injuries.
Speaker 7 (32:53):
Is that a cause for concern this early.
Speaker 18 (32:56):
Well, it definitely is.
Speaker 17 (32:57):
And you say a few times over, they're going for
their fifth streat Division title, Judy, and that isn't enough
and it shouldn't be enough when you consider the roster
that Jason Light has assembled. Here's the problem, though, that
roster on paper is not going to be ready to
go when this season starts. We were just talking about
the right tackle on the Falcons being out, Well, the
Bucks left tackle Tristan Wurs is out.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Now they knew this.
Speaker 17 (33:18):
This is the only advantage they have to that problem
is that they've known for a while now, all of
training camp.
Speaker 18 (33:23):
That he was not going to be available.
Speaker 17 (33:25):
But I don't think you can make any case or
say this guy's going to step up for a player
that is arguably the best player on this Buccaneers team.
Speaker 18 (33:31):
Worse is going to be out for a while, and
now you've got two of their top three receivers out.
Speaker 17 (33:36):
Chris Godwood is still not back from an injury he
sustained last year, and then their number three receiver, Jalen
McMillan was lost now for probably a long time because
of a neck injury in a preseason game, which means
they've got Mike Evans.
Speaker 18 (33:48):
The stallwart there.
Speaker 17 (33:49):
And then they've got a first rounder of Mecca Abuka,
and now Abuka's grace period is down to literally nothing.
He is going to have to come in and basically
make an impact from opening kick. The other area of concern,
and it feels like I'm going through this laundry list
here at Kaitot and they're starting tight end has been
battling leg injuries throughout camp, a positive for the Buccaneers.
He was on the practice field today, which leads many
(34:12):
to believe that he will be able to go on Sunday.
But this is certainly not the way that the Buccaneers
wanted to start out. And by the way, Judy, I
heard you mentioned earlier on the show, when it comes
to the NFC East, they haven't had a repeat winner
in the division.
Speaker 18 (34:23):
If the Bucks win the division again this year. That
would make it five straight.
Speaker 17 (34:27):
Nobody in the NFC has won five straight since the Cowboys, and.
Speaker 18 (34:31):
You have to go all the way back to the
nineties since last time that happened.
Speaker 6 (34:37):
Well, I am supposedly in the business of making predictions,
so I'll make one for the NFC Seth too. I
predicted that the Bucks would repeat as champion despite the injuries.
I think they have had enough time, as you pointed out, Sarah,
to prepare themselves for dealing with those absences. I've got
them winning the NFC South yet again. Sarah Walsh, thank
(34:57):
you very much. I am sure we're going to be
talking more about the Bucks in the coming days.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
Welcome back to the Insiders, presented by Progressive Insurance, Big
One Sunday Night, AFC Divisional Round rematch Big One Ravens Bills.
I cannot wait. I cannot believe this. We're gonna have
actual football games this week.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Really does not get any better than this.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Let's welcome in our good friends Kim Wolf and Mark
Ross with us on the Insiders.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Mark, I will start with you. Both.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
These teams got so coast last year, so coase talk
to me about the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
What they need to do to get over the hump.
Speaker 10 (35:33):
Well, well, the Ravens just have to make the plays
when they have to make the plays. Remember last season.
Speaker 15 (35:37):
They got behind and they came back and then of
course to drop by Mark Andrews.
Speaker 10 (35:42):
The year before against against the.
Speaker 15 (35:44):
Chiefs, they got behind, they were out of their game.
They're throwing it instead of running it, Zay Flowers going
in the score and got stripped. So they just have
not been able to make the big plays when they
needed to make the big plays, and they fallen behind early.
So really for the Ravens, they just got to play
like the the best team in football, which.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I think they are.
Speaker 10 (36:01):
I think the most talented team.
Speaker 15 (36:03):
I think they've got the most dynamic player right there,
Lamar Jackson, and then position by position, they just have
so many playmakers and all pro players that they just
have to impose their will and their dominance and.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
Say, yeah, we're the best.
Speaker 15 (36:15):
We're not still trying to come up and win playoff games.
We're the best team and we're going to play like
it can. But I know the Bills are thinking the
same thing because they got the rating MVP there behind
center for them.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Mark I can't wait to watch this game because they
both have similar struggles. They're the best team in their
conference except Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Look and they'll
have to get over that hurdle later in the season.
But I talked to their general manager Brandon Bean, I said, Hey,
what was the one thing that maybe get you guys
over the hump. There's been talks about receiver this and that.
He said, Look, the offense has nothing to do with
(36:50):
the reason we haven't got over the hump. We haven't
been able to make that sack.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
On third down.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
We haven't made that defensive play. And that's what I
want to see on Sunday. Where is this Buffalo Bills
d defense? Can they have enough to take down this
Baltimore Ravens team. I watched them and when they beat
them in the playoffs last year, and it was the
opportunistic plays you're talking about that the Ravens didn't make
that the Bills did. They were first in the NFL
and turnover differential. But this year is going to be different.
(37:16):
They have a lot of question marks on this defense,
whether it's a defensive line or you got a couple
guys and Michael Hoyd and Larry Ogan Joebi suspended to
start the year.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Dwayne Carter just had a seven ending injury.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
In the secondary, Maxwell Harriston and Tredevius White are dealing
with injuries, so a lot of question marks there. They're
going to lean on their young players early. They know
it might be struggles early in the season, but they're
hopeful that those turnovers, those opportunistic plays helped them as
they get this defense up to speed, and Lamar Jackson
certainly isn't going to be making it easy for those
(37:48):
young players to get ease into the action. Mark.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
I can't believe we have to wait five days or
six days, whatever it is, for this one and for
all these Mark before we say goodbye.
Speaker 10 (37:58):
You are on our esteem.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Illustrious Prediction Panel, take me through some of your key predictions.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Starting the DAFC East.
Speaker 10 (38:07):
Well, if he.
Speaker 15 (38:07):
Says easy, it's the Bills. Look, that's their division. They're
going to keep winning as long as Josh Allen is
under there. You know the Jets be changed is the Dolphins? Sorry, Cam,
I know that's your team down there.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
You check out.
Speaker 15 (38:18):
I think the Patriots are a lot better though they're
going to I think the Patriots will fight for the playoffs.
But still the Bills and the AFC nors is the
Ravens we just talked about.
Speaker 10 (38:26):
Cincinnati is going to be fun to watch, but they've
got absolutely no defense. The Steelers with old Aaron Rodgers,
you know, they're.
Speaker 15 (38:33):
They're not ready for that there. They can't sustain it.
The Browns, of course, are doing what the Browns do.
So Ravens, Bills, AFC Championship Game Chiefs out of it. Maybe,
I don't know, we'll.
Speaker 5 (38:43):
See NFL dot com slash predictions. Great stuff, guys, Campbell,
say goodbye, Mark, You're not done yet.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Stay right there. Time now for good coverage presented by
Progressive Insurance. Tom Piliserro joined once again by Mark ro.
Three nights from right now mark kickoff between the Cowboys
and the Eagles starting the twenty twenty five NFL season.
My question for you is, how can the Eagles provide
(39:11):
good coverage Thursday night against Ceedee Lamb, George Pickens in company.
Speaker 15 (39:16):
Well, someone is going to have to progress into the
starting role at the second quarterback spot there, Tom, you
like how I did that? There?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Quing A.
Speaker 10 (39:24):
Mitchell has it locked down. Coober Degen is the nickel guy.
Speaker 15 (39:28):
But who's going to be the number two corner between
Keeley Ringo the second year second round pick, a Doorri Jackson,
the Jerneyman for my first round pick, and then Jacorey
and Bennett who they traded for from the Raiders just a.
Speaker 10 (39:40):
Couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 15 (39:41):
So somebody's going to have to emerge this step out
of the shadows there, because.
Speaker 10 (39:45):
You know, Quinya.
Speaker 15 (39:46):
Mitchell probably is going to shadow Ceedee Lamb after hearing
all the talk here in Philadelphia the last few weeks.
Speaker 10 (39:53):
And then who's going to be able to handle pickens
and whatnot?
Speaker 15 (39:56):
So who's going to emerge and progress into the number
two role Tomas Big for the Eagles defense?
Speaker 1 (40:03):
And if nobody does, you might say the Eagles might
need to find some insurance. Progressive Insurance Mark, thank you
very much. As an anniversary right now, tonight, thirty four
years ago, Bill Belichick made his debut as the Browns
head coach September first, nineteen ninety one. Tonight, in just minutes,
Bill Belichick makes his debut as a college football head coach,
(40:26):
North Carolina versus TCU. Don't change that channel just yet, though,
because coming up after this show, the top ten will
be revealed in the NFL Top one hundred players for
twenty twenty five. We know who's in that top ten,
but who's our picks for number one? We'll tell you
right after this on The Insiders presented by Progressive Insurance,
(40:55):
we are down to the final ten in the countdown
of the top one hundred players of twenty twenty five,
as voted by the players themselves. Here's the list. These
are the ten players that will be revealed. They're alphabetical here.
Who is going to be number one? You're gonna find
out for sure at the top of the hour. But first,
Ian Robport, I pose it to you. There's the ten
(41:18):
names who should be number one.
Speaker 10 (41:22):
Fantasy Football rules the world.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
I just went through my son Jude's fantasy draft with
his friends.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I didn't help at all.
Speaker 5 (41:28):
I just kind of guided make sure the computer was working.
Jamar Chase was number one Fantasy overall rankings by the
list they had. That is good enough for me. Fantasy trumpsall.
Jamar Chase number one player in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Take it to the bank.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
Lamar Jackson forty one touchdowns, four interceptions, nine hundred something
yards rushing last season and I think another four rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 7 (41:52):
Lamar Jackson is the best player in the league number one.
Speaker 8 (41:55):
Now, MVP is always going to skew in favor of
the quarterback most valuable. The quarterback always the most valuable.
But this to me is how do you rank the
players as it pertains to how they perform versus everybody
else at their position Off of last year.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
I gotta go Sakwon Barkley with everything he was able
to do. I'll go Sakwon Barkley as the number one
player in the NFL. Okay, I'll go chalk here. Josh
Allen raining NFL MVP hard to argue is production in
terms of just touchdowns produced is off the charts relative
to basically everybody else in the NFL. I would also
know last year's number one player was Tyreek Hill, did
not entirely work out for I'm not saying this is
(42:30):
the new Madden curse. I'm just saying slightly wary if
your guy ends up at number one. That show starts
right now. We're back at SIMBAM Eastern to tomorrow top
ten right here.
Speaker 10 (42:40):
See them
After a long, weird, and ultimately lucrative summer, Michaeh. Parsons
is back on the practice field with his new team.
The Packers are taking care of number one, but how
much can they get out of Parsons? In Week one
will tell you how health could impact Green Bay's new superstar.
Parsons old team still has a game, pretty big one
(00:28):
on Thursday night. The Cowboys are not throwing in the
towel as they prepare a head to Philly. We will
break down some of the other factors that could tilt
an early NFC East showdown. Our experts also have playoff
predictions tonight, can anyone beat the Bills in the AFC East?
Who will capture the NFC South. We will tackle those
(00:50):
topics and a whole lot more over the next sixty minutes.
Welcome inside with the Insiders, presented by Progressive Insurance, alongside
in Rapid Judy Battista and Mike Garrifolo. I am Tom Pelacio.
Welcome back to all of you who spent the long
weekend on a beach at a cabin somewhere, to those
(01:11):
of you who still living it up at Happy hour right now.
The close captions are right here. We love you as always.
Three days away from kickoff for the twenty twenty five season,
which means one thing, guys, for the first time we
can say it is game week for all thirty two teams.
Look at this in all its glory. It all kicks
off Thursday night with the Cowboys and the Eagles. He
(01:32):
got the Chiefs and Chargers going at it in Brazil.
Some big time matchups on Sunday, fascinating ones like the
Bengals up against the Browns, the Raiders against the Patriots.
It all rolls on through the course of the rest
of Sunday and into Monday night football up primetime matchup
between the Ravens and the Bills, Vikings and Bears on
Monday Night, and do not overlook one that just got
(01:54):
a little bit more spicy Lions and Packers in that
mid after noon window on Sunday. Green Bay, of course
has a brand new toy, Matt Lafleuri. But he's not
smiling right there. He is pretty excited about it. Michael
Parsons on the field with his new team for the
first time. Teammates seem pumped up about a two.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
There's a place speak for himself his name speaks for himself.
I feel like the Skot's a limit for him, the
Skyt's limit for our defensive line group.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
And it's just the way he can't can't wait to
see him go in.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
My perspective, and the officers can't focus on one type
of blizzer, you know, one type of pass rusher. No
got goys from coming from both sides, and I got
rg now we got him. No, just everybody on Depens's
Hollo ball.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So he's good man, for real.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
We're gonna be We're gonna be resting that quarterback.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Man.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
I'm just thankful for guy, because I'm gonna just catch
you when it's phone through.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
That's all you need. Dave Hobson, It he is good man.
He can do a lot of different things Ian. But
will we see full speed Michael Parsons at a time
where he is, let the record show is still working
his way back from at least something of a real
back injury.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
A real back injury is the actual news here, because
we spent most of the summer talking about Micah Parsons
dealing with back tightness, and usually even on this show
and some other shows as well, we would say back
tightness to explain his hold in. Obviously, Parsons one of
the blockbuster contract from the Dallas Cowboys that he ended
up getting with the Green Bay Packers. But it was
not a fake injury. He did pass his physical with
(03:26):
the Packers, but it is a real injury. Let me
explain what Micah Parsons was dealing with this summer and
what he is dealing with. My understanding, it is a
facet joint sprain in his back, affecting.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
The L four and the L five. Basically, it is
a backsprain. That is why.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
That is why he was dealing with some tightness over
the course of the summer. That's why he saw doctor
Robert Watkins, one of the experts in back for the
basically for the NFL. It is why he is expected
to be, at least when he was out there today,
not a full participant. As far as the treatment, there's
several options here. Taking an oral steroid or an injectable steroid.
(04:06):
Both of those are options. Eventually in at Baduro could
be an option as well. Here's my understanding. Micah Parsans
expected to play this week.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
That is a good thing.
Speaker 5 (04:16):
Had he been with the Cowboys and had they not
paid him and show the commitment the Packers would have shown,
would you have played in Week one? I have my
serious doubts. It is something we don't have to discuss now,
but certainly it is an issue.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
You would also think, Judy, that if the Packers had
any quals about the back issue, wouldn't cut him a
four year, one hundred and eighty six million dollar contract
right now. The real question in my mind, beyond obviously
working through whatever he has to to get up to
game speed here is how much and how good, how
close to real Michael Parsons are we going to see
given the fact that this guy really hasn't done anything
(04:52):
on the field in a long period of time.
Speaker 6 (04:56):
That is a good question, and we're going to have
to wait until the game on Sunday and maybe even
successive games to see the full Micah Parsons. Don't forget
even in Dallas, before it seemed apparent that he was
going to be traded and they were preparing for him
to play for the Dallas Cowboys this season, they were
talking about him having to be on a pitch count.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
Initially.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
He simply has in practice set aside the back issue
and whatever kind of treatment he might have to receive
for that. He just hasn't been practicing all off season,
so at some point he's going to have to have
a ramp up period. He's in practice now, but I
think the question that the Packers are going to have
to answer is what kind of pitch count, if any,
(05:39):
do they want him on this week, and how quickly
can they ramp him up? And how comfortable is he
not just physically comfortable, but how acclimated is he going
to be and ready to go full speed for the Packers.
Those are questions that can only be answered when they
get to the game, and we will not know, I
think until then.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
Just how Michael Parsons looks.
Speaker 8 (06:01):
I remember when he lied down on that training table
during the game and I asked about that and said
that was only a brief here, but somebody did mention
to me he's got a back injury.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Like, I know, you guys think it's fake, but it's
a real thing. So we told you while that was
going on, like it is a real injury.
Speaker 8 (06:16):
But it was a convenient reason to be like, well,
I'm not practicing because of the back, but really because
of the contract. So that moment, that he lied down
was actually he was feeling something in his back there.
And I do want to highlight the fact that Jerry
Jones the other day when he was starting to answer
the question, he said, you don't make and then Stephen
Jones jumps.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
In and says, you don't make decisions. But no, no,
he just blew right past you. You don't act that way.
Speaker 8 (06:38):
Jerry Jones not happy with Michael Parsons lying down there
and pointed out ceedee lamb getting.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Run over by the official.
Speaker 8 (06:43):
So I think that that was a big thing for
Jerry as it came down the stretch here and making
his decision with regard to Michael Parsons. But yeah, the
packer is going to wrap him up. You don't pay
all that money to have him be a situational guy
for too long. I expect him to be a full
time guy in short order.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Let's say I think the Cowboys are allergic suddenly to
paying their top players. They did get a deal done
with one of their top corners, Deron Bland, agreeing to
terms on a four year, ninety two million dollar contract
extension twenty twenty four is basically a wash for Bland.
He had an injury in training camp, had surgery, missed
a lot of the season, but you go back to
twenty twenty three, it seemed like a bucket of balls
(07:20):
are being dumped in his lap and he took a
bunch of them back to the house. A strong contract
for him at a time that it seems like Trayvon
Diggs is trending in the right direction. Full participant in
practice today, which is good to have both those guys there.
Because Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown, who missed a large
chunk of training camp with a hamstring issue, not even
listed on the initial injury report. That confirms what Aj
(07:44):
Brown has sent himself, which is that he is on
track to face the Cowboys on Thursday night. That is
the kickoff game. It is a little over seventy two
hours away from right now, Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts going
at it in Philadelphia in a game that, to be clear,
both teams are going to be affected by the guy
(08:05):
that a lot of people thought was going to be
out there. Michael Parsons, It's kind.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Of crazy, you know.
Speaker 9 (08:11):
You you build up in the last four or five
years that we've played and played at Dallas.
Speaker 10 (08:15):
Cabell as we've come up with a.
Speaker 9 (08:17):
Game plan because Mike is a game wrecker, so it
is a sorry relief that you don't have to plan
like that anymore. However, that is a talented d line
and challenge of defense, and so you got to treat
them with the same respect. With or without Michael Popson's.
Speaker 11 (08:33):
I'm not gonna say we're better. We've got to go
out there and prove it. We'd have to prove it
even if he was on this team. So so I'm
not going to say that by any means. But but
I know adding a guy like Kenny Clark, adding a
true leader, a real man, that's I'm gonna only elevate
this team who's been a Pro Bowl player and is
excited about being here. I know our focus right now
is Philly. I think that's everybody's focus in that locker room.
(08:54):
I don't think anybody's hung up on that. As I said,
there's enough news and enough media about it. I think
as much as anything, we're it's good that a solution happened.
And obviously mikeal got paid, got paid very well and
great for him and his family, and we'll see see
him here in about a month.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
It's always a fascinating dichotomy when the past seven months
for the Super Bowl champion are the celebrations, and it's
the ring ceremony, and it's the world tour and all
those things. Judy, they celebrated one last time right before
kickoff and you got fireworks, the whole thing, and then
it's like, okay, now here we go. The title defense
starts like three minutes later. How different is this thing
going to look for the Eagles in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Well, the offense is almost entirely intact, so set that aside.
But the defense has lost some very familiar faces Josh Sweat,
Milton Williams, Brandon Graham retiring, CJ. Gardner, Johnson, Darius Slay.
So they do have some parts that they have to
replace now. They have been extremely adept at replacing players
(09:54):
that they've lost over the last few years. That is
why they have become such a very good team. But
there are so some unanswered questions. You know, three days out,
who is the number two quarterback, a corner back, to
be clear, starting at safety.
Speaker 7 (10:08):
All of these things Vic van Geo did not want
to answer.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
He said Sirianni would answer those questions, But of course
he hasn't answered those questions yet either, so there are
still a few questions about the defense.
Speaker 7 (10:19):
That's what I am looking at.
Speaker 6 (10:20):
I listen, this is the most complete team, maybe in
the entire NFL, certainly in the NFC right now. But
if I'm looking at anything in week one and maybe
week two and three until we get a better picture,
I'm looking at the defense and seeing how some of
these new pieces fit in and how that defense looks.
Speaker 8 (10:40):
When last we saw the Eagles playing the Cowboys at
like at Financial Field, they ran for one hundred and
seventy nine yards a week after running for two eleven.
By the way, that was with Kellen Moore calling the place.
Kellen Moore now the head coach of the Saints, So
Kevin Patulo now takes over. And Patulo has been there
and been part of the operation for the last couple
of offensive coordinators. Now is his time to make the
(11:01):
play calls for Nick Sirianni. So I'm looking at this offense.
I'm looking at the identity. And when you talk to
people all training camp, here's some shots from training camp,
talking about all training camp.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Ball off season, it's like, well, Kellen Moore came here
and we sort.
Speaker 8 (11:15):
Of took some of the things that he wanted to
do and blended it with our personality what we've done
under the Nick Sirianni era.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So he leaves, and the thought is the identity is
going to be very similar now.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
Obviously you'll have Patullo's touches, and throughout the season as
teams have looked at what the Eagles did successfully last
year and try to attack that, there will be tweaks,
there will be minor changes to the offense. But this
is still a team that is built behind that running game,
behind Saquon Barkley and aj Dillon, who's one of the
more fascinating figures around the NFL. Having missed the year,
now comes back to add a little bit more punch
(11:48):
to this running game when Sakwon Barkley could take a breather.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I think this is still going to be a team
that is going to.
Speaker 8 (11:52):
Run the football down team's throats as Dallas Cowboys with
Kenny Clark in the middle of the first team to
try to stop them from doing it.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
Oh, running the ball, you say, well, it is a
good thing that that is something that the Dallas Cowboys
value just listened to Jerry Jones and Steven Jones said
that Goodbye Micah Parsons press conference is part of the
explanation for why they did the deal.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
To first round, which it was nice. Not paying Michah
Parsons the money is nice.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
Stopping the run is now the most important thing for
the Cowboys, not just internally, not just as far as
the resources, although that certainly has been the case as well,
but it's just far as the public face of their
defense and really public face of their team. It is
all about stopping the run. I can't imagine a game
where stopping the run will be more of a national
emphasis than the Dallas Cowboys this game with new Cowboy
(12:39):
Kenny Clark likely starting facing Saquon Barkley and this really
really good Eagles rushing attack, especially considering the Cowboys were
sort of at the bottom last year as far as
stopping the run, If this is so important to the
Dallas Cowboys, and I know it is, intir offensive line, interior,
defensive line is absolute paramount importance for the Cowboys. They
(13:00):
we know everyone's eyeballs are going to be on it,
they know we're all going to be talking about it.
They have to show it, and that is an unbelievably
monumental task for this Cowboys defense.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And if Saquon Barkley runs wild on Thursday night, you
can bet that all those sound bites of Jerry saying
we got to stop the run are going to be
played about a million times come Friday morning. All Right,
this is a course of news and information show. We
don't do hot dakes. We do have one of the
twenty nine members of the panel at NFL dot com
Slash Predictions predicting all the division winners, among a variety
(13:33):
of other things with us right now. And so as
we will throughout these show, Judy, I'm going to start
with you on this one. We want your prediction officially
for who wins the NFC East.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
I thought this one was a.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Pretty easy one. It's the Philadelphia Eagles. They are the
most complete, most accomplished team. They have the offensive player
of the year in Saquon, they have the Super Bowl
MVP and Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
And the other teams in the division have issues.
Speaker 12 (14:02):
Now.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
Obviously, we saw the Washington Commanders come on very strong
last season make it all the way to the NFC
Championship Game. But just still have questions about if that
defense is substantially improved. The Giants, we know, have a
quarterback issue. We don't know what the quarterback situation is
going to look like. They think it's improved, we'll see.
And they also have a very difficult schedule. And then
of course the Dallas Cowboys are the Dallas Cowboys, and
(14:24):
who knows how the departure of Michael Parsons is going
to affect them. It is the Eagles in the NFC East.
There has not been a repeat champion in the NFC
East in more than twenty years.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Our front office analyst Mark Ross also part of that panel.
He will join his predictions throughout the show tonight. But
first and we got a little bit more news.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
One of the big storylines of the summer now Michael
Parsons a end.
Speaker 10 (14:50):
We did that already.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
This is not Michael Parsons.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
This is Matthew Stafford and his aggravated disc in his back, something.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
That really kept him off the field for probably three co.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Trading Camp felt touch and go for a while whether
or not he would be actually back at trading camp
at all, and then ready for the season. Sean mcvayh
announcing today that he believes Matthew Stafford will be out
there for Week one back in all.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
That means he is physically.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Ready, That means he is mentally ready and Mike, that
is excellent news for the Los Angeles reps.
Speaker 8 (15:20):
Jalen Warren, the Steelers running back, was entering the final
year of his deal, gets a two year contract extension,
now under contract through twenty twenty seven. Twelve million dollars
guaranteed on that deal takes some over seven million for
this upcoming season, which was more than some of these
free agent running backs got. So this deal over three
(15:41):
years just under seventeen and a half million dollars, according
to his agents, Nes Mugrabi and David Canner of RAS Sports.
I know a lot of folks are saying Caleb Johnson,
that's the running back to watch in Pittsburgh. The Steelers
are saying Jalen Warren, who has never started a game,
now our starter and we're gonna pay him like it.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
So look for Jalen Warren to try to back that up.
This upcoming season. Been a bumpy ride with injuries for
the Dolphins to a training camp, but some good news today.
Start out with running back Devon a Chan back on
the practice field for the first time since he injured
his calf a few weeks ago in a joint practice
against the Lions. Barring a setback, according to coach Mike McDaniel,
(16:17):
a Chan is on track to play in Sunday's opener
against the Colts. Also looking good for wide receiver Tyreek Hill,
been dealing with an oblique injury. Darren Waller coming back
from a soft tissue issue that had him on the
shelf for the first month or so of camp. They, too,
according to McDaniel, are looking good for Sunday. We know
the camp wolf will be looking good as always for
(16:40):
us on game day morning. Calm Sunday. Right now he
is with us right here on the Insiders presented by
a Progressive Insurance Camp. We haven't seen the actual Dolphins
offense a whole lot during the course of camp because
it has been this ongoing thing. Jalen Waddle has miss
time as well. What is the impact of that lost
time on task end these in injuries as you work
(17:00):
our way to week one.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, it's an unknown about this Dolphins team, and everything
about this Dolphins offseason has been an unknown.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
They hear all the doom and gloom.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Outside of the building talking about how bad it went
last year and what could happen this year. They're preaching
a culture reset, and I think the biggest news we
got out today was the fact that Tyreek Hill, who
has been a captain every year for Miami, was not
a captain this year. He had a tumultuous into a
season last year. Tua has been vocal this offseason about
the work they need to do to rebuild that relationship,
(17:32):
and it's proven season for Tyreek. He is still one
of the best receivers in football. He says he's motivated
to prove his teammates that he can be the guy
he's been on the field and reliable off the field.
Now is the time to show it. The Dolphins showed
in their vote they want to see that on the
field before they trust him again, and he is going
to be a huge part of their on field production.
(17:53):
Look that a blaque injury shouldn't limit him into the season,
and he said he's faster and well conditioned for this year.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
And you mentioned Devon a chan.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I know a lot of fantasy football worries for him
first time back on the practice field in three weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The hope is that he will be able to go. Look,
he won't be one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
He's still going to be working through that calf injury,
but he in that run game can help unlock Tyreek
and Waddle on the other side. And look, they've got
to start strong. They start with this Colts team week one,
and this is a Dolphins team that knows playoff win
is the expectation. And they're playing a Colts team with
their eighth different starting quarterback in nine years in Daniel Jones.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
And talking to people with the Colts.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
They thought that Dangle jones steadiness in the operation and
his professionalism is a big reason why.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
He's the starter there.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
There's going to be a lot of eyeballs on him
early because the Colts are another team where a lot
of question marks are on them. Daniel Jones didn't have
a lot of success with the Giants, but they want
him to be a game manager. Shane Steiken said today
the offense will always lean on Jonathan Taylor and for
the Dolphins side, they want to get Daniel Jones uncomfortable.
So the matchup I want to watch Sunday. Can the
(19:00):
Dangles can the Dolphins trio of pass rushers Bradley Chubb,
Jaylen Phillips and Chop Robinson frustrate the game manager Daniel
Jones Or can he make enough plays to keep them
off balance? That's going to decide that game on.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Sunday Cam stick around. Bill's Ravens talk later on one
of those great matchups coming up in week one on Sunday.
So much more to come on this game week edition
of The Insiders. Yes, that's Michael Parsons. He is now
a Packer, but does his presidence made Green Bay the
favorite in the NFC North. We got more predictions as
(19:36):
this show rolls on, including on the AFC West where
we might get a preview of the top two teams
Friday night in Brazil, Chiefs and Chargers. Stick around. Much
more to come on The Insiders presented by Progressive Insurance.
Speaker 8 (19:54):
Do today into The Insiders presented by Progressive Insurance. Nazi
Harris cleared for contact, the Chargers running back who suffered uh.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
What his agent termed superficial.
Speaker 8 (20:05):
Eye injuries UH during a fourth of July fireworks accident.
Cleared for contact, back fully working his way into potentially
playing on Friday against the Chiefs. Here's Nausey speaking to
the media today for the first time.
Speaker 10 (20:20):
I'm rapping up to it.
Speaker 13 (20:21):
Yeah, you know, I'm every day I practice and we'll
look think exactly Friday and they so sclably my fifth
day at practice, you know, just trying to get back
in that football shape. But yeah, I'm feeling good though,
and wel just here leads. It's a humbling experience obviously,
but you know it still hasn't really shaken it. I'm
still you know, going through it in the way, you know,
so uh, you know, just to just that whole situation,
(20:43):
to just show you, you know, how things could change,
and just a snapping finger, you know, and just just
you know, it's a blessing every day that we wake
up and I'm just happy that, you know, everybody's safe.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
And we're alive.
Speaker 8 (20:54):
Harris was asked about wearing those glasses, said it's a
sunny day today and he doesn't care if people think he's.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Type something there by wearing those glasses.
Speaker 8 (21:02):
On Friday, September fifth, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansasity Chiefs
take on Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in
South Pawo, Brazil. Don't miss the unbelievable plays, unforgettable moments,
and a half time performance by Carol G streaming for free.
My mom's name is Carol G. It's not here though,
live only on YouTube. Head the NFL's YouTube channel to
learn more. Here is Jim Harbaugh and a few others
(21:24):
on this game in Brazil.
Speaker 12 (21:27):
Excitement of being the only game NFL game Friday night
and we'll be viewed worldwide. Staff has made it so good,
you know, I'm just really broken it down Barney style
for us. That gives you the feeling of excitement and
(21:48):
travel and go play the opener and on a huge stage.
Speaker 10 (21:53):
I'm super excited it'll be.
Speaker 14 (21:54):
It'll be a great experience and great chance to the
showcase who we are the Kansaity chiefs worldwide. And the
fan base in Brazil is extremely excited as well, so
it'll be a cool, cool experience. And being able to
play our first game out there gets the great opponent.
It'll be a lot of fun. Now it's just going
down there and playing football, and I think more than anything,
which is explaining to some guys how far the trip was.
(22:14):
Some guys who understand how far the travel was Travis,
even though he just was down there like last year,
so I was just explaining to him how the globe works.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
Yeah, Travis, you're going to have to understand how global
travel works if you're planning on following through with that
marriage proposal. My friend, any Judy back with us to
talk about this matchup. Judy, starting with you, what do
you want to see in a familiar matchup in unfamiliar territory?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Well, I want to see what the Chiefs offense looks like,
what identity it has, because certainly all off season we
have heard that they want to get the explosion back
into the offense.
Speaker 7 (22:52):
Right.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
They want that downfield attack that they used to be
known for back in the game. Of course, they didn't
have it last year. We know why of injuries to
the receivers. The offensive line was muddled. They couldn't protect
Mahomes long enough to let those deeper plays develop, so
it really shortened everything. They want to have more explosion,
Mahomes has said all off season. It opens up their
(23:15):
entire playbook if they can push the ball down the field.
Rashie Rice is suspended for six games. He is going
to miss this game. Of course, can they do it
without him on the field, we will see. But that
is what I am looking forward to to watching the
Chiefs in this game.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Yeah, I'll kind of flip it around there and go
to the Chargers offense, specifically that Chargers offensive line, you know,
as a as like an NFL group. We didn't have
a ton of big time, major, major injuries this preseason.
Actually pretty fortunate that way. One of the big time
ones was Rayshawn Slater, the stellar, stellar left tag of
the Los Angeles Chargers, with that significant season ending knee
(23:54):
injury that really thrust Joe Alt into the spilot. Not
like he wasn't in the spilot anyway, he was the
right to act very good. He is a top, top
first round type player. But now he is the left
tackle now, Trey Pickens Pipkins comes in plays right tackle.
Makai Beckton, who has barely been on the field at
all this training camp. He comes in at guard despite
not having practice. There's going to be a lot a
(24:16):
lot of focus on this Chargers offensive line.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
There's already a lot of focus on the Chargers run game.
Speaker 5 (24:21):
I mean, we led this segment with Naji Harris talking
about his superficial eye injury and how much he plays.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
They got a first round and running back. A lot
of eyeballs on all of this.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
The offensive line will be what makes it all go
or what doesn't make it go, and that's going to
be fascinating.
Speaker 8 (24:36):
To see divisional matchups on Thursday and Friday. Hit the
prediction music. Because Judy is part of our panel.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
We have prediction music. We should have prediction music, kind
of like who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Speaker 8 (24:48):
Judy part of our panel of experts got paper who
made their predictions on NFL dot Com.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Time for the AFC West winner.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
According to Judy, Yeah, it's going to be the Chiefs.
This would be their tenth in if they win it,
tenth AFC West in a row.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
It's not going to be as.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
Easy as it used to be maybe a few years back.
Speaker 6 (25:06):
Certainly the division has gotten much much tougher, including the
Raiders now with Pete Carroll, They and Gino Smith there.
All of the teams are good and they sent two
other teams to the playoffs other than the Chiefs last year.
Speaker 7 (25:19):
But the Chiefs went to the Super Bowl, and I
feel like people because.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
Of the way they lost the Super Bowl, people thought
they were a disaster. The dynasty is over. I wouldn't
be so fast with writing off the Chiefs. They still
won fifteen games last year with an injury wrecked receiving
corps and a jumble of an offensive line, they won
fifteen games and they went to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 7 (25:42):
Pretty good. As long as Mahomes and Andy.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
Reid are in place, I sort of feel like it's
when Belichick and Brady were there. It's hard to pick
against them to win that division.
Speaker 8 (25:52):
Yeah, there's some good coaches in that division now, but
Andy Reid and the Chiefs certainly want to prove that
that was not the way.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I mean, tamas Kelsey said, that's not the way he
wants to go out. He's motivated.
Speaker 8 (26:02):
You got to imagine that that is team wide for
the Kansas City Chief's going to be an interesting campaign.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Although Judy's given us all.
Speaker 8 (26:07):
The answers right now, we'll have more from her and
our other experts as the show goes on.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
New Today, Michael Parsons is practicing football again out there
on the field for the first time. We're in that
number one Jersey with his new team in the Packers,
just six days out from Green Bay's opener against the
Detroit Lions. Welcome back to the Insiders, presented by Progressive Insurance,
Tom PILISERA and I joined by our front office analyst,
(26:34):
Mark Ross. Mark, you do a trade like this, give
it up two first round picks. You're starting nose tackle
in one hundred eighty six million dollar contract for a reason.
You think this guy can be a difference maker. From
the front office perspective, what are you looking for both
out of the gate and over the course of this
season from Michael Parsons in a Green Bay uniform?
Speaker 10 (26:52):
Well, first and forebo Sam. With the back injury, how
severe it is.
Speaker 15 (26:56):
As a front office and working with your doctors and
your t you want to be extra cautious.
Speaker 10 (27:02):
So first six first is okay, how bad is this injury?
Speaker 15 (27:06):
And how soon do we really need to rest rush
Michaeh Parsons onto the field. We want to make sure
he's ready for the Super Bowl run, the playoff run,
and not just for Game one. So of course they're
mony monitoring that as much as possible. But even so,
let's just say there's sixty five plays in a game
for the defensive side of the ball. Michael Parsons plays
fifteen of those plays, top, but that's like twenty five
(27:28):
percent there, Roughly.
Speaker 10 (27:30):
He can make such a huge difference in fifteen plays.
He could wreck a game just in fifteen plays.
Speaker 15 (27:36):
So that's what you're really looking at is how comfortable
is Michael Parsons with his conditioning, how comfortable is he
with his injury, and how soon do we want to
get him how often we will get him on the field.
But even so, with those limited amount of snaps, you
know that this guy can completely change a game Week two,
Week three, League four. We'll keep building him up until
(27:57):
we're ready to have him on the field completely.
Speaker 10 (27:59):
In full time.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Michael Parsons is also such a huge chess piece in
terms of how the opponent needs to game platform. This
doesn't happen very often in week one, when what ten
days out from the opener, all of a sudden, you go, Okay,
whatever we're playing to do, we've got to change that.
That's the type of impact Michael Parsons can make in
Green Bay and one that I guess Lions coach Dan
(28:22):
Campbell is ready for.
Speaker 16 (28:25):
We'll get more into that in the next couple of days,
but you know, certainly we'll we'll have our eyes on that.
We know what kind of player he is. You know,
he's he's a really good player. So but we'll have
a plan and whatever we had planned for Kenny Clark,
we'll just have plan for Micah. So we'll just we'll
(28:45):
do that whether it's outside or inside. So you know, look,
you got to be prepared, and they're going to find
plays that they can use him where he can excel,
and like I say, we'll have a plan.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
The Lions ben answers for pretty much everything else the
Packers have thrown at them over the past three seasons.
Look at that five and one Detroit's record against one
of their top rivals since the twenty twenty two season.
Packers defense actually has done okay relative to what the
Lions numbers often are offensively, but that Green Bay offense
has also struggled to get going. All right, Mark, you
(29:22):
are also part of our twenty nine person panel NFL
dot Com Slash Predictions, making your picks across the NFL
for who's gonna win all these divisions. Let's go right there, NFC,
norm who you got?
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Mark?
Speaker 15 (29:34):
I gotta go with the Packers and look visit at
Green Bay during training camp and even Matt Lafour he.
Speaker 10 (29:39):
Said, look, Detroit's had our number. They like they've handled us,
and we're better. Fis fully expect them to step up.
Speaker 15 (29:46):
And looking at the schedules, going back and forth with
both of the team's schedule, Green Bay and the Lions,
like I just gave the Packers one more game, I
think they will finally.
Speaker 10 (29:55):
Step up to it.
Speaker 15 (29:55):
And this was before they traded for Micah Parsons, so
now they got Michael Parsons picked green Bay.
Speaker 10 (30:01):
But I think this division is the toughest in all
the football town.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And somewhere the Vikings are listening to that analysis right
there and going, hey, remember we won fourteen games last year.
You'll see him on National TV Week one against the Bears. Mark,
you're back with an AFC East pick in just a
little bit.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
But first, Judy, I am loving all of these division
matchups in Week one, and we got another one. The
Bucks are going to play the Falcons only six more days.
As the Bucks reminded us today, let's listen to Todd
Bowles talking about their first opponent of the season.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
He's a strong arm, very strong arm, very accurate. He
throws a great deep ball. He can check it down,
he looks off very well and goes to the other way.
He can really put the ball in there. He can
really thread needles. So if you're not fundamentally or technically sound,
he's going to beat you.
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Let's welcome in ours, Sarah wallsh who knows that these
two teams very well? All right, Sarah, let's start with
the Falcons and Michael Pennox's importance to that team.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
Give us the summation of that.
Speaker 17 (31:09):
Well, you just heard Todd Bowles there, and one game
doesn't make a season, right, but it can certainly set
the tone, and it can certainly send a message. And
the Falcons right now have a massive opportunity on their
home turf in this new Michael Pennox era. Now, obviously,
he started three games at the end of last season,
and while they just went one and two over those
(31:30):
three starts, he showed poise, he showed growth, he showed promise,
all the things that Raheem Morris wanted to.
Speaker 18 (31:35):
See out of him.
Speaker 17 (31:36):
Today, the Falcons announced that he was named one of
the team captains. When you talk about maturity and this
guy being a leader on the team, his final game
last year, he threw for three hundred and twelve yards,
and the Falcons went up in points per game when
he was the starting quarterback from Atlanta just under twenty
one points per game when Kirk Cousins was the quarterback
and it went up.
Speaker 7 (31:54):
To thirty two.
Speaker 17 (31:54):
Now we understand that was a small sample size. Pennix
is going to get a lot of attention. Bije On,
Drake London. Those are all the guys on offense you
hear a lot about. But you know who you're hearing
a lot about right now when it comes to the
Atlanta Falcons, at least for their fans, a guy by
the name Elijah Wilkinson, because he is going to have
to step in, likely at right tackle.
Speaker 18 (32:12):
That is because they're starting.
Speaker 17 (32:13):
Right tackle Caleb McGary down lost for the season two
weeks ago, so they have not had a lot of
time to prepare. And oh, by the way, their backup
Storm Norton was already out having undergone ankle surgery.
Speaker 18 (32:25):
So this is an adjustment period.
Speaker 17 (32:26):
And this is a Falcons team that does a heavy
dose of running to the right, which is where Wilkinson
is going to be.
Speaker 18 (32:31):
He also has to protect the blind side.
Speaker 17 (32:33):
Raheem today called Wilkinson awesome, Judy, and said that they
feel like.
Speaker 18 (32:38):
He's comfortable at fitting in at a high level. He's
got six more days to get comfortable.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Well.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
The Bucks, of course are the defending champion a few
times over actually of the NFC South. But they go
into this season right now with some big name injuries.
Speaker 7 (32:53):
Is that a cause for concern this early.
Speaker 18 (32:56):
Well, it definitely is.
Speaker 17 (32:57):
And you say a few times over, they're going for
their fifth streat Division title, Judy, and that isn't enough
and it shouldn't be enough when you consider the roster
that Jason Light has assembled. Here's the problem, though, that
roster on paper is not going to be ready to
go when this season starts. We were just talking about
the right tackle on the Falcons being out, Well, the
Bucks left tackle Tristan Wurs is out.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Now they knew this.
Speaker 17 (33:18):
This is the only advantage they have to that problem
is that they've known for a while now, all of
training camp.
Speaker 18 (33:23):
That he was not going to be available.
Speaker 17 (33:25):
But I don't think you can make any case or
say this guy's going to step up for a player
that is arguably the best player on this Buccaneers team.
Speaker 18 (33:31):
Worse is going to be out for a while, and
now you've got two of their top three receivers out.
Speaker 17 (33:36):
Chris Godwood is still not back from an injury he
sustained last year, and then their number three receiver, Jalen
McMillan was lost now for probably a long time because
of a neck injury in a preseason game, which means
they've got Mike Evans.
Speaker 18 (33:48):
The stallwart there.
Speaker 17 (33:49):
And then they've got a first rounder of Mecca Abuka,
and now Abuka's grace period is down to literally nothing.
He is going to have to come in and basically
make an impact from opening kick. The other area of concern,
and it feels like I'm going through this laundry list
here at Kaitot and they're starting tight end has been
battling leg injuries throughout camp, a positive for the Buccaneers.
He was on the practice field today, which leads many
(34:12):
to believe that he will be able to go on Sunday.
But this is certainly not the way that the Buccaneers
wanted to start out. And by the way, Judy, I
heard you mentioned earlier on the show, when it comes
to the NFC East, they haven't had a repeat winner
in the division.
Speaker 18 (34:23):
If the Bucks win the division again this year. That
would make it five straight.
Speaker 17 (34:27):
Nobody in the NFC has won five straight since the Cowboys, and.
Speaker 18 (34:31):
You have to go all the way back to the
nineties since last time that happened.
Speaker 6 (34:37):
Well, I am supposedly in the business of making predictions,
so I'll make one for the NFC Seth too. I
predicted that the Bucks would repeat as champion despite the injuries.
I think they have had enough time, as you pointed out, Sarah,
to prepare themselves for dealing with those absences. I've got
them winning the NFC South yet again. Sarah Walsh, thank
(34:57):
you very much. I am sure we're going to be
talking more about the Bucks in the coming days.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
Welcome back to the Insiders, presented by Progressive Insurance, Big
One Sunday Night, AFC Divisional Round rematch Big One Ravens Bills.
I cannot wait. I cannot believe this. We're gonna have
actual football games this week.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Really does not get any better than this.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Let's welcome in our good friends Kim Wolf and Mark
Ross with us on the Insiders.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Mark, I will start with you. Both.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
These teams got so coast last year, so coase talk
to me about the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
What they need to do to get over the hump.
Speaker 10 (35:33):
Well, well, the Ravens just have to make the plays
when they have to make the plays. Remember last season.
Speaker 15 (35:37):
They got behind and they came back and then of
course to drop by Mark Andrews.
Speaker 10 (35:42):
The year before against against the.
Speaker 15 (35:44):
Chiefs, they got behind, they were out of their game.
They're throwing it instead of running it, Zay Flowers going
in the score and got stripped. So they just have
not been able to make the big plays when they
needed to make the big plays, and they fallen behind early.
So really for the Ravens, they just got to play
like the the best team in football, which.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I think they are.
Speaker 10 (36:01):
I think the most talented team.
Speaker 15 (36:03):
I think they've got the most dynamic player right there,
Lamar Jackson, and then position by position, they just have
so many playmakers and all pro players that they just
have to impose their will and their dominance and.
Speaker 10 (36:13):
Say, yeah, we're the best.
Speaker 15 (36:15):
We're not still trying to come up and win playoff games.
We're the best team and we're going to play like
it can. But I know the Bills are thinking the
same thing because they got the rating MVP there behind
center for them.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Mark I can't wait to watch this game because they
both have similar struggles. They're the best team in their
conference except Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Look and they'll
have to get over that hurdle later in the season.
But I talked to their general manager Brandon Bean, I said, Hey,
what was the one thing that maybe get you guys
over the hump. There's been talks about receiver this and that.
He said, Look, the offense has nothing to do with
(36:50):
the reason we haven't got over the hump. We haven't
been able to make that sack.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
On third down.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
We haven't made that defensive play. And that's what I
want to see on Sunday. Where is this Buffalo Bills
d defense? Can they have enough to take down this
Baltimore Ravens team. I watched them and when they beat
them in the playoffs last year, and it was the
opportunistic plays you're talking about that the Ravens didn't make
that the Bills did. They were first in the NFL
and turnover differential. But this year is going to be different.
(37:16):
They have a lot of question marks on this defense,
whether it's a defensive line or you got a couple
guys and Michael Hoyd and Larry Ogan Joebi suspended to
start the year.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Dwayne Carter just had a seven ending injury.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
In the secondary, Maxwell Harriston and Tredevius White are dealing
with injuries, so a lot of question marks there. They're
going to lean on their young players early. They know
it might be struggles early in the season, but they're
hopeful that those turnovers, those opportunistic plays helped them as
they get this defense up to speed, and Lamar Jackson
certainly isn't going to be making it easy for those
(37:48):
young players to get ease into the action. Mark.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
I can't believe we have to wait five days or
six days, whatever it is, for this one and for
all these Mark before we say goodbye.
Speaker 10 (37:58):
You are on our esteem.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Illustrious Prediction Panel, take me through some of your key predictions.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Starting the DAFC East.
Speaker 10 (38:07):
Well, if he.
Speaker 15 (38:07):
Says easy, it's the Bills. Look, that's their division. They're
going to keep winning as long as Josh Allen is
under there. You know the Jets be changed is the Dolphins? Sorry, Cam,
I know that's your team down there.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
You check out.
Speaker 15 (38:18):
I think the Patriots are a lot better though they're
going to I think the Patriots will fight for the playoffs.
But still the Bills and the AFC nors is the
Ravens we just talked about.
Speaker 10 (38:26):
Cincinnati is going to be fun to watch, but they've
got absolutely no defense. The Steelers with old Aaron Rodgers,
you know, they're.
Speaker 15 (38:33):
They're not ready for that there. They can't sustain it.
The Browns, of course, are doing what the Browns do.
So Ravens, Bills, AFC Championship Game Chiefs out of it. Maybe,
I don't know, we'll.
Speaker 5 (38:43):
See NFL dot com slash predictions. Great stuff, guys, Campbell,
say goodbye, Mark, You're not done yet.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Stay right there. Time now for good coverage presented by
Progressive Insurance. Tom Piliserro joined once again by Mark ro.
Three nights from right now mark kickoff between the Cowboys
and the Eagles starting the twenty twenty five NFL season.
My question for you is, how can the Eagles provide
(39:11):
good coverage Thursday night against Ceedee Lamb, George Pickens in company.
Speaker 15 (39:16):
Well, someone is going to have to progress into the
starting role at the second quarterback spot there, Tom, you
like how I did that? There?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Quing A.
Speaker 10 (39:24):
Mitchell has it locked down. Coober Degen is the nickel guy.
Speaker 15 (39:28):
But who's going to be the number two corner between
Keeley Ringo the second year second round pick, a Doorri Jackson,
the Jerneyman for my first round pick, and then Jacorey
and Bennett who they traded for from the Raiders just a.
Speaker 10 (39:40):
Couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 15 (39:41):
So somebody's going to have to emerge this step out
of the shadows there, because.
Speaker 10 (39:45):
You know, Quinya.
Speaker 15 (39:46):
Mitchell probably is going to shadow Ceedee Lamb after hearing
all the talk here in Philadelphia the last few weeks.
Speaker 10 (39:53):
And then who's going to be able to handle pickens
and whatnot?
Speaker 15 (39:56):
So who's going to emerge and progress into the number
two role Tomas Big for the Eagles defense?
Speaker 1 (40:03):
And if nobody does, you might say the Eagles might
need to find some insurance. Progressive Insurance Mark, thank you
very much. As an anniversary right now, tonight, thirty four
years ago, Bill Belichick made his debut as the Browns
head coach September first, nineteen ninety one. Tonight, in just minutes,
Bill Belichick makes his debut as a college football head coach,
(40:26):
North Carolina versus TCU. Don't change that channel just yet, though,
because coming up after this show, the top ten will
be revealed in the NFL Top one hundred players for
twenty twenty five. We know who's in that top ten,
but who's our picks for number one? We'll tell you
right after this on The Insiders presented by Progressive Insurance,
(40:55):
we are down to the final ten in the countdown
of the top one hundred players of twenty twenty five,
as voted by the players themselves. Here's the list. These
are the ten players that will be revealed. They're alphabetical here.
Who is going to be number one? You're gonna find
out for sure at the top of the hour. But first,
Ian Robport, I pose it to you. There's the ten
(41:18):
names who should be number one.
Speaker 10 (41:22):
Fantasy Football rules the world.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
I just went through my son Jude's fantasy draft with
his friends.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
I didn't help at all.
Speaker 5 (41:28):
I just kind of guided make sure the computer was working.
Jamar Chase was number one Fantasy overall rankings by the
list they had. That is good enough for me. Fantasy trumpsall.
Jamar Chase number one player in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Take it to the bank.
Speaker 6 (41:45):
Lamar Jackson forty one touchdowns, four interceptions, nine hundred something
yards rushing last season and I think another four rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 7 (41:52):
Lamar Jackson is the best player in the league number one.
Speaker 8 (41:55):
Now, MVP is always going to skew in favor of
the quarterback most valuable. The quarterback always the most valuable.
But this to me is how do you rank the
players as it pertains to how they perform versus everybody
else at their position Off of last year.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
I gotta go Sakwon Barkley with everything he was able
to do. I'll go Sakwon Barkley as the number one
player in the NFL. Okay, I'll go chalk here. Josh
Allen raining NFL MVP hard to argue is production in
terms of just touchdowns produced is off the charts relative
to basically everybody else in the NFL. I would also
know last year's number one player was Tyreek Hill, did
not entirely work out for I'm not saying this is
(42:30):
the new Madden curse. I'm just saying slightly wary if
your guy ends up at number one. That show starts
right now. We're back at SIMBAM Eastern to tomorrow top
ten right here.
Speaker 10 (42:40):
See them
Hosts And Creators
Judy Battista
Tom Pelissero
Ian Rapaport
Mike Garafolo
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