September 19, 2019 • 39 mins
The guys go in-depth on the unprecedented QB injuries in Week 2 and how the Saints, Steelers and Giants can weather the upheaval. Are Mason Rudolph and Teddy Bridgewater long-term heirs in Pittsburgh and New Orleans? Is Daniel Jones ready to take the baton from Eli? We also discuss the Jalen Ramsey trade market and the latest in Foxboro with Antonio Brown.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Well, it's that time of theweek again. Our Pro Football Weekly,
NFL podcast, Pro Football Weekly Managingeditor Arthur Arkish is here. I am
the executive editor in GM. AtPro Football Weekly Hub Arkish, we are
delighted to be with you guys again. It is really I don't know,
Arthur crazy first two weeks in theNFL. We know that that's the nature
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of the beast these days, inthis modern game, We've probably seen crazier
starts. But boy, stuff happeningall over the league Week two and you
almost wonder where to start. Whatdo people want to talk more about?
What Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes aredoing, or the end of an era
in the NFL. Possibly. Idon't want to sign anybody's deathknell yet.
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I don't mean death knell but retirement. But when you lose lockdown Hall of
Famer Drew Brees and likely Hall ofFamer Ben Roethlisberger Roethlisberger for the year,
Breese at least for the first halfof the season, that is a sea
change and what to expect from someof the top teams in the league.
And we really do need to addin Hub that Ben Roethlisberger's two thousand and
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four draft pier Eli Manning. Itlooks like the end of another era in
New York. So that one,in some ways maybe a tougher bill to
swallow because he's had his job takenfrom him, not you know, having
injuries rear their ugly hood. Souh, you know, that's where things
need to start. And it's toobad. You know. Ben Roethlisberger,
three years younger than Drew Brees andhas already said that he fully is committed
(01:41):
to playing out his contract that goesthrough two thousand and twenty one. Mike
Tomlin didn't sound quite as certain aboutthat, but I believe, and I'm
paraphrasing, but set something along thelines of, you know, we we
expect to have Ben back in twentytwenty and see where this thing goes.
What more do you know about theselbow injury it's apparently been bothering him for
a while. Well, it apparentlyis the torn ucl that ended the career
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of Jake delhom And, and hewas younger at the time than Roethlisberger is.
It is the football version of aTommy John type injury. It is
apparently much more difficult for a quarterbackto come back from because I don't know,
I haven't been able to find anyexamples of anybody who has, whereas
in baseball these days, Tommy Johnsurgery has become pretty commonplace. A lot
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of these guys come back. Soit certainly raises a legitimate question as to
whether Roethlisberger can ever be Roethlisberger again. You know, I mean, he
can try and play, there's nodoubt about that. The normal rehab is
going to be about twelve months,so he probably won't be and that's complete
rehab. But so you're still goingto be iffy at the start of next
season for a complete recovery. Butwhat I think is you have to add
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to this conversation, Arthur, andwe'll get to each in turn, Eli
and brew Brees as well. Roethlisbergerhas not really been himself over the last
probably ten to twenty games, anda lot of that could be attributed to
Levion Bell being absent, all theAntonio brown silliness, to other things that
have gone on. And when youlook at his situation and the situation with
(03:15):
Breeze in New Orleans, unlike mostother teams in the NFL, where you
have a backup that you hope canstep in and hold you hold the ball
for a couple of weeks or whateverit is, until you get back.
There are folks in Pittsburgh and NewOrleans who believe that Mason Rudolph and Teddy
Bridgewater are there to be the heirsapparent. They are not automatically career backup
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quarterbacks, and so I think alot of what Ben roethlisberger future is going
to be has to do with whatMason Rudolph does with this team. I've
been impressed with him for I lovedhim coming out of school, very impressed
with the job he did stepping inlast week. Remember, he had to
play a few games last year,played pretty well, and I don't think
it's inconceivable that that Mason Rudolf couldbe good for the Steeler team. I'm
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not blaming Roethlisberger for anything that's goneon, but you know, they add
Mica Fitzpatrick on defense, they clearlyhave one of the best defensive lines in
football. James Conner is a guywho showed last year he can be a
lead back. Juju Smith Schuster isgoing to be a Pro Bowl or,
if not at all, Pro,and so I think It's going to be
fascinating to watch these two backups,Mason Rudolph and Teddy Bridgewater and see how
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much they do get done. Absolutely. Pro Football Weekly had a first round
grade on Mason Rudolph coming out ofthe last year's draft, and I'm pretty
positive. Same on Teddy Bridgewater goingback obviously quite a few more years.
We either had a first or ahigh second on Bridgewater too. Remember the
Steelers moved up in round three lastyear for Mason Rudolph. That was notable.
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They had drafted I want to say, Joshua Dobbs the year earlier,
and it is It's it's important tonote the Steelers had literally just traded josh
Dobbs to Jacksonville earlier last week,right after the Nick Foles injuries. So,
uh, this has made Mason Rudolph'suh, you know, ball to
hold onto here and uh and I'mexcited too. You know, he had
that interception shortly after entering last week, but that was not on him,
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it was on Dante Moncrief. Hethrew a couple of late touchdowns. He
showed some composure in a tough spotagainst a tough defense. So excited about
that. I'm excited to see therekindling of the Oklahoma state rapport between Rudolph
and James Washington, another young playerthat I like a lot. So again,
the Steelers traded up for Rudolph,And remember the Saints traded a third
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round pick to the Jets last summerto get Teddy Bridgewater m knowing that he
could very well be a rental,and then they went and made on the
highest paid backup in the NFL thisoffseason. He's earning just under eight million
dollars to be the backup. Sojust an incredibly unique situation. I guess
I started with Ben hub but Istarted with the hardest one to root for
if we're being honest, when itcomes to to Drew Brees and and Eli
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Manning as well, just you know, to all, by all accounts,
just consummate pros, guys that youreally want to see do well and see
you know, and see what happenshere. So obviously two very different situations,
but Teddy Bridgewater falls in that categorytwo from everything we've known, and
just what a unique set of circumstancesfor him after being Drew Brees is understudy,
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after getting thrust into the fire withSean Payton arguably you know, top
two three quarterback whisperer in this league. And again he's certainly got his long
term vision on being a starter againin this league. Well, here's the
other fascinating part about it, though, trace back the career arc of Drew
Brees in New Orleans. Yeah,a potential career ending shoulder injury. Right,
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The Miami Dolphins were the front runnerto sign him in free agency.
They flunked him on his physical.You know, the Saints bring him in,
he becomes a shore Fire Hall ofFamer. Teddy Bridgewater had one of
the most devastating knee injuries anybody's everseen a couple of years ago, king
a Pro Bowl season, taking histeam to the Well, yeah, but
these Pro Bowl seasons, I meanhe was okay, he had made a
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from year one to year two.Mitch Drubisky was in the Pro Bowl last
year too. How do they feelabout him in Chicago? Realized so.
But but the point is um afirst round pick, a late first round
pick. Um. And as amatter of fact, it's ironic. I
think he was the thirtieth pick inthe first round. Ted was thirty two
and thirty three that's where That's whereI was gone with this. So so
the parallels are stunning. You know. One more, wasn't it Miami that
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chose not to sign I believe Miamihad more money on the table for Teddy
this spring, and he said theSaint situation was better. Well, and
I was going to say, becausethe Dolphins went to get him this year
to be their starter, and hepreferred to be because you know, Breeze
is forty and even if he stayshealthy, So this this is a hand
pick situation, uh, for boththese guys. Now, you know,
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Bridgewater is actually bigger than Breeze,you know, I mean one of the
wraps on him, not very big, not all that athletic back there.
But but but there's a lot ofsimilarities here. And when you see what
Sean Payton did with Drew Breese,I can't wait to see what happens with
Bridgewater. I don't think I thinkBreeze probably has a little bit more arm.
But neither one of them have cannons, you know. So this is
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about knowing the offense and having themental part of the game. And we're
gonna learn a lot real quick becausethey got to go play the twelfth man
in Seattle week one, and thenfrom there, if you look at their
schedule over the next five six weeks, they have got the Dallas Cowboys,
the Chicago Bears, the Jacksonville Jaguars. I might have just named, you
know, three of the top fivesix defense at least in terms of talent
(08:28):
in this league. So it's notgoing to be easy for Bridgewater, and
we should also point out, Iknow you've got something just we should also
point out that Teddy hasn't looked goodin his few chances since that catastrophic knee
injury. The stakes obviously haven't beenthis high, but we still haven't seen
that first and second year form fromBridgewater ever since this injury. You are
absolutely right when you talk about thedefenses they're gonna be challenged by, and
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what a challenge it is. Butmuch like I just said about Pittsburgh and
Mason Rudolph, two of the bestoffensive lines in football in Pittsburgh and New
Orleans. He's now got the highestpaid receiver and Michael Thomas. He's got
Alvin Kamara. I mean, youknow, there's a lot of elements to
help them. Both Rudolph and BreezeRudolph and Bridgewater be successful here, and
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so it's going to be one ofthe main storylines around the league for the
next few weeks. And then youget to number three because I don't want
to pay short shrift to Eli.To me, that's just a totally different
situation though, because you know,you knew this was going to happen.
It really shouldn't happened week two.I mean, if they were even thinking
that was a possibility, they wouldhave been better off starting Jones to start
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the season. I think. Anyway, no question what you accomplished with these
first two weeks, and it's reallyshameful that this is the same organization that
ended one of the great streaks ofconsecutive starts in history for no reason other
than the fans were pissed, youknow. And so Eli Manning. There's
this great debate, and I don'tknow which side of it I'm on as
(09:58):
to whether he's a Hall of Fameror not. Drew Brees is a lockdown
Hall of Famer. Roethlisberger is goingto be because he's got the two rings,
and his numbers by the time he'sdone are gonna be right there with
the top five, Top six ofall time. The problem with Eli is
that his actual passing numbers, Imean they're they're they're big because he played
seventeen years, but he has notproduced to the level of a Philip Rivers
(10:22):
or Ben Roethlisberger. The three ofthem will forever be intertwined. Um,
But he does have the two ringsand that record that his idiot front office
decided to or coach or whoever itwas decided to. Yeah, I mean
that what he and Brett Farve andhis brother did you know those consecutive games
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treeps. That's that's ripken esque,that's Garagask And so then you add the
fact that Eli maybe the classiest guyever to play, and much classier than
his brother, who I like aboutnot criticizing Peyton, but but Eli is
even better. Um. Is thatgoing to be enough to get hire him
into the hall? I don't knowanybody who wants to pound on the desk
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one way or the other. Youknow, I can make a real case
for him being in. I willunderstand why if he doesn't get in and
yet to lose three quarterbacks of thisILK all on the same weekend, I
don't know if this has ever happenedin the NFL before, right, and
some I don't know if symmetry isthe word, but it is a little
strange. So Eli, if thisis in fact it, he's going to
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finish his career with a regular seasonmark of one sixteen and one sixteen.
And if that's not a little symbolicagain, two super Bowls, I believe,
two super Bowl MVPs and a greatleader as durable as they come.
I'm probably still gonna Obviously I don'thave a vote, but I strongly,
strongly would vote for not only BigBen, but Rivers ahead of Eli.
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So to me, he's a distantthird in the conversation. But that's not
to say he doesn't get in.But I kind of have to take exception.
I almost think that this looks worseto do this right now than it
did when Ben McAdoo did it acouple of years ago, because disagree,
you're not taking exception anything. Maybeboth things sucking well, but I just
you know, to do it now, it just it reinforces to me that
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Dave Getelman doesn't really have a realfirm plan because it keeps changing. And
then I just when you look atwhat the Giants defense has done in the
first two weeks. It just it'sso clear that Eli's the scapegoat. I
mean, I've obviously don't think Eli'sbeen able to play for a while,
and that's why I would have enteredthe season with your top pick. I
mean, that would have been amuch more seamless sort of transition here.
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But the Giants defense has stopped noone, and Eli has at least been
He's been Eli. You always heisn't surprised what we're or the other with
I always played. Yeah, Idon't agree with you that Gedelman doesn't have
a plan. The plan is clearlyDaniel Jones. And to do that at
six when every well not all theexperts, but some experts and a lot
of folks thought it had to beHaskins. You can't argue that Daniel Jones
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isn't the plan. The question washow long did they want to wait?
How so you need to learn?And I'll tell you something, Arthur again,
I listen, Dave Getleman's his ownworst enemy when he opens his mouth.
I understand that, but I thinkhe's also badly underrated by a lot
of people who don't want to likehim for what he has accomplished as an
NFL executive, and I can guaranteeyou just from talking to some people very
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close to it, they did notexpect Jones to play as well as he
did in the preseason. And youcan say what you want about these preseason
games, but they really thought thatthis was a huge project. And while
all these first round kids are projects, what they found out in those four
exhibition games is maybe the project wasn'tas big as they thought that it was.
And then you go through these firsttwo weeks and you say, well,
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at this point, what's what's thepoint? You know? So I
agree that it's awful and what theydid to Eli, but I don't I
can't join everybody with the piling onwith Getleman, and again he's his own
worst enemy, but I just don'tthink that's an objective analysis of what he's
accomplished in his career. And itshould be very clear that using the sixth
overall pick and going against sort ofmost conventional wisdom doing so, yeah,
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obviously Daniel Jones is his guy.That part was planned, I guess.
The part I struggle with is howhe has mis evaluated what he has had
roster wise, because I don't knowhow else he would explain, and I
don't want to go backward too much, but the whole OBJ extension right before
you trade him, and then thisquick audible in week three that's suddenly Eli
isn't the answer because now you're inthis Owen two hole. It just seems
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to me that maybe he has thoughthis team is gonna be a little bit
more competitive now on two different,two different you know, occasions than they've
well at least it's very early on, but have shown to be. Yeah,
I will take exception with you onone thing though that I don't agree
with. I will be given achoice, and I don't have a vote
either, but I would pound onthe table more for Eli than I would
Philip Rivers. I think they botheventually probably do get in, But you
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know, Arthur, the rings onering doesn't mean a lot the second one
and being the reason for both ofthem, and then all that they both
accomplished in their careers, I thinkthey're both sitting there on the cusps,
so to speak. And I haveto give a slight edge to Eli over
Philip Rivers. And that comes downto the old adage, are you for
the you know the big game wins. Are you for the numbers because the
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numbers don't compare, But obviously Riversstill chasing that ring well. And it's
also worth noting that neither one hasbeen with a dynasty. But you know,
Rivers has probably had more good competitiveteams than ELI has. You know
one thing about the Giants, theyshoot up and down. You know,
when they're not good, they're notgood. You know, the Chargers have
been hanging around the playoffs that prettymuch the whole time Rivers has been there.
So again, all kind of funstuff. It's the what the water
(15:37):
cooler talk, the barstool stuff.This is what people love about the game.
But just a unique first couple ofweeks here in the NFL. Welcome
back, everybody. Thank you somuch to all of our great sponsors here
at our Pro Football Weekly NFL podcast. We hope you're also getting our Pro
(15:58):
Football Weekly Chicago podcast if you happento be a Bears or an NFC North
fan, we have a lot offun with that one. You can find
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wherever you go for your podcasts.Our thanks to the guys at Umfrey's McGee
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band with some great music. Theygive us the right to use some of
(16:23):
those tunes for our music beds,both our bumps in and out, in
our intro and outro music. DanMott, you hear his name every week
here because he is arguably the mostimportant guy pro football weekly. I mean,
he just as an incredible executive,producer, engineer, and Dan does
it's a great job making all thishappen, so our thanks to Dan Arthur.
(16:45):
We move past the quarterbacks to acouple of other big questions around the
NFL this week heading into Week three, And the most interesting next question for
me because we don't know, andthere's no way we can know, but
it could go not just either way, but it could go mercurially up or
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drastically down. Is how good arethe two and oh Baltimore Ravens and the
two and O Seattle Seahawks, BecauseI mean Baltimore, I give them very
little credit for week one. Imean, I give them all the credit
in the world for putting up numbersand being good. But let's face that
the Dolphins aren't even a JV teamright now. And then they go home
and they get the Arizona Cardinals,who are going to be one of the
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worst teams in the league. Idon't know how competitive they can be.
They're not for three quarters, andthen Murray goes nuts in the fourth quarter.
This week they go to Kansas City, and what's interesting about that They're
going to be tested the Chiefs.You know, I think you'd have to
say the best team in the well, and probably the Patriots are the best
team in the AFC right now,but the Chiefs right there. And so
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yes, the Ravens are getting tested. But the Chiefs defense has been pretty
awful, so we really don't knowyet what to make of the Lamar j
and explosion there. And then Ilook at the Seattle Seahawks and I expected
them to be better than most didthis year, kind of rebuilding on the
fly but adding a lot of youngtalent and then the big move for Jadevian
Clowney to kind of solidify that defensewith one more big playmaker. But they
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struggle at home to barely get bya Cincinnati team that impressed me so much
they made me look like an idiotmaking them my lock in week two and
they just stunk at home, andthen they go into Pittsburgh and that's impressive.
They go in Pittsburgh can get awin, but it's against a team
that just got trashed week one onthe road and then loses their quarterbacks.
So I just don't know yet howseriously we can take the Ravens and the
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Seahawks. Yeah. I think thatthose are great points. And I think
when you have questions, you probablylook at the head coaches and the quarterbacks.
And when you look at the headcoaches and oh boy, they're they're
from the same tree too. Butin Andy Reid and John Harbaugh, obviously,
these guys are at the top oftheir profession for a reason, and
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you kind of they get the benefitof the doubt that they have a vision
here for these uh oh, excuseme, I'm talking about Andy Reid,
of course, I mean Pete Carrolled John Harball we are discussing. I'm
sorry. Still, though, you'retalking about two of the very best in
their profession, and you kind oftrust the vision that they have in Seattle.
It looks like they're gonna lean alittle bit more on Russell Wilson now,
and I think if Chris Carson doesn'tfumble twice and kind of put them
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into a couple of precarious spots inthe first couple of weeks, maybe neither
of those games are quite as close. I'm kind of expecting to see a
little bit more Rashot Bunny. Theydidn't draft him twenty seventh overall a year
ago to to not play them,and it looks like the window maybe open
for him to get some more workwith the Ravens. You know, we
still got to see with Lamar.Certainly, he hasn't, you know,
proven as much in this league asRussell Wilson. So the other half of
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that, you look at the headcoach and the quarterback, and in Seattle
you're probably feeling pretty good about things. All I know is that they are
scheming stuff for Lamar right now,and he is. He's been on the
money. Like you said, hehasn't played a good defense yet. I
will say, though, the Chiefsnow are two and oh and have held
granted it's the Jaguars and the Raiders, but they've gone on the road and
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held the Jaguars and the Raiders.I want to say to a combined twenty
six points. So maybe there's thebig priced high flashy uh. You know,
offseason acquisitions are going to start payingdividends. And let's remember it's not
it's Steve Spagnolo that I'm drawn ablank on who the guy he replaced the
old guy, long time coordinator NottSutton. Right, thank you. So
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Spagnolo is in there, and maybethis isn't going to be the doormat defense
that we've been used to in KanaCity for the past handful of years.
No, they may be better.They retooled quite a bit. I mean,
you moved d Ford and bring inFrank Clark. You know, you
finally let all the veterans move onand Derek Johnson and Tom Bali and Justin
Houston. You bring in Tyrone,Matthew, Eric Barry. I can't I
don't understand why he's not a fellteam. I'm not sure what I'm missing
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there, but but he's got tobe out of gas. Unfortunately. I
know that's hard to cure and acceptbecause of everything he's been through. But
he went and visited a bunch ofteams, he took a bunch of physicals,
and clearly their assessment is that he'syou know, he doesn't have much
left in the tank at this point. You're right, that's the assessment to
date. My guess is he willbe on a team. In the next
couple of weeks, those teams beginto realize what they're missing pieces. Contracts
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aren't guaranteed anymore either. That yeah, part of it. But but but
to keep the focus where we wantedto have it there, you look at
the chief. Secondary has still beenkind of civil like the first couple of
weeks. I mean, look whatGardner Minshew did to him going off the
bench. In Jacksonville. Kendall Fulleris their leading tackler on defense. So
when the cornerbacks leading tackler, youknow right there that you've got a problem.
But but to me, the absolutemystery of this thing. I did
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the broadcast of the Ravens Chargers playoffgame last year. I'm on the sidelines.
I'm right there, fifteen feet fromhim watching it. Lamar Jackson was
a running back playing quarterback. Hecould not his mechanics were awful, his
arm was awful. He couldn't finda receiver, to say of his life,
and that was the last game heplayed before these two this year,
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and now suddenly he's got a oneforty five passer rating and he's the best
passer in the NFL and almost threehundred yards a game. Okay, you're
right, they're scheming things wonderfully forhim. I'm sure he is much improved,
but he didn't suddenly go from beingthe worst passer in the NFL to
the best. And that's where thefact that it was the Dolphins and the
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Cardinals comes into play for me.And it's not gonna be decided this week.
You know, we'll see what happensin Kansas City. They've got to
get in against some legitimate NFL defensesthree four weeks in a row. Let's
see what he's able to do.Then throwing, He's gonna run the ball,
there's no question about that. Butbut but for him to keep up
the way he's throwing the football rightnow, I gotta see more. Yeah,
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and that's totally fair. But it'salso fair to point out that he
only ran three times in Week oneand just absolutely took apart whoever he took
a part, well, the MiamiDolphins, as you said, So yeah,
well, we'll see. He's gotto prove a lot more, but
his downfield accuracy has stood out hiscalm in the pocket. I mean last
week he went nuts and had abouta buck twenty rushing. In addition,
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I think four touchdowns through the air. So it's the Lamar Jackson experience.
Yes, there probably will be somepeaks and valleys, but it's a lot
of fun to watch. Um,and I think I've got just as you
know. I'm still curious see whatthe defense is going to do because it
lost a ton too, and sofar it's been really good. Matt Judon
playing really well rushing the passer,and Earl Thomas obviously doing his thing on
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the back end as the newcomer.But you just don't want to say annua
four right, it's right, yeah, not going So we'll see, uh
yeah, so we'll have to waitand see what, you know, how
that unit comes together as well.Um, But it's hard not to be
impressed with what we've seen so far, despite the competition. I was very
impressed with the young man coming outof Louisville. UM, and I really
want him to be good because heseems like a really good kid. Um,
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But don't ignore what you just said. Yeah, he only ran the
ball against three times against Miami becauseit was Miami could throw it wherever we
wanted. Last week to beat Arizonain a game that was much closer than
you would have expected to be inBaltimore had to run the ball thirteen times.
And so this is that, Thisis what I want to watch and
see how this develops. At whatpoint is is he throwing and running because
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that's the plan. And at whatpoint is he throwing because he can't run?
I'm sorry, running because he can'tthrow? Is what I'm trying to
say there, And again this iscoming from somebody who wants this to be
real. I really do. ButI think, just objectively, you got
to you gotta take a step backand have some patience with this. A
couple other teams worth getting into beforewe go, I don't know. I
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mean, we expect the Patriots tobe the best team in the NFL,
because they just are, and yetand they haven't. You know, they
also got the JV Dolphins and thenyou know the Week one opener, Pittsburgh
obviously wasn't ready. But this isa team that lost three starting offensive linemen
and training camp started trading LA picksand whatever you know to try and fill
(25:02):
the gap. And now this week, coming out of this domination in Miami,
they lose their left tackle Isaiah Winfor at least the next eight weeks,
and they're plugging in pieces that arecast offs from other teams. As
impressive as the Patriots have been sofar, is Dante Karnekia just that much
better than anybody else who's ever coachedoffensive line Because they got a bunch of
(25:23):
guys named Joe out there, andthey're protecting Tom Brady of all people,
and at least so far, havereally gotten it done. I think the
short answer is yes. But thelonger version is, let's not forget the
quarterback to who gets rid of itin a in a you know, in
the blink of an eye. Butthey're running the ball really well, are
that? You're right? I mean, Brady helps them a lot, But
but you're you're talking about the defendingSuper Bowl champions starting four career backups on
(25:47):
their offensive line right now. Yeah, it's remarkable and and like you said,
what I mean, you know,it's just will surprise no one that
Belichick, the visionary, perhaps sawsome of this coming, at least when
he's going out there and making thismad dash for all these trades, and
these guys are gonna be plugged inbefore too long, if they haven't been
already. So it's almost like heknows what he's doing. Yeah, I
got that wrong. I think JoeTony is moving out to tackle, and
(26:11):
I think Shack Mason is still healthy. So they're starting They lost David Andrews.
Yeah, well they're starting three careerbackups. Yeah, I mean they
lost two left tackles in their center, you know, so it's remarkable,
you know what that team does andhow they keep the ball moving. I
guess we can't move on from NewEngland without pointing out to no new news
as we record about Antonio Brown,which makes it likely he plays again Wednesday
(26:33):
afternoon. I think everybody's between arock and a hard place either. There
are no criminal charges against him.This is a civil lawsuit, and while
the burden of proof is lower ina civil lawsuit, you're also that much
more innocent until proven guilty, becausewe know how frivolously these things can I'm
not saying this one is, butwe know how frivolously these things can be
filed, and so I know peoplewant the league to sit him down,
(26:57):
but on what basis, you know, I don't think they can. And
then you also have to realize thatif the league or the Patriots punish him
unjustly, they have significant exposure becauseso much of his deal is tied to
incentives, you know, and ifyou don't let him play and try and
reach those incentives, you start toopen up all kinds of gray areas.
So I can't stand the guy personally. I don't know enough about this to
(27:22):
say that he's guilty or innocent ofsexual assault. I do think there's plenty
of circumstantial evidence to make me ill, you know. But at the end
of the day, this is theway our system works, you know.
And I think this guy is goingto be playing for the next few weeks
until we learn more. Yeah,I'm with you on that. I was
fighting back ill feeling watching him playSunday because he just looks so damn amazing
(27:42):
after prenticing three times with this newteam, and then literally they had built
that first drive around him. Hegets the touchdown later, and it was
tough to watch. I'm just saying, I mean, I love him as
a football player, and I couldnot be more conflicted with the rest of
it. We should also just veryquickly mention how that since we last spoke
on A Beyond this podcast, SIcame out with a pretty in depth report
(28:04):
um feature on A b and allthe other people that he has allegedly wronged.
It was Robert Clemco is really welldone. And uh, there's,
like we've talked about off air,off podcast air, there is a little
bit of a disturbing pattern with someof these things, the new sexual assault
allegation and then just all these allthese assistance that he has apparently stiffed and
(28:26):
decided that he doesn't have to payyou know, working class people because he's
uh, because he's Antonio Brown.Clemco's piece extremely well done, um uh,
definitely recommend to read for anybody who'sinterested. But at the end of
the day, it is this mountainof circumstantial evidence that we're talking about.
The the second sexual assault victim alsorefuses to file charges. And again I
(28:51):
didn't make anybody to make Brown innocentby any stretch, but but it leaves
you hamstrung, you know, asto what you can really do about it.
So we will watch that story continueto develop. Unfortunately, you know,
people are going to, you know, use it as another excuse to
try and paint you know, BillBelichick with the Darth vaderbrush, when in
(29:11):
fact Belichick has little or nothing todo it. But with this, the
one thing that was a little disturbingto me in the Clemco well, a
lot of things were disturbing, butthe one that did kind of stick out
at me is that according to hisinformation, I think it's Britney Taylor as
the young woman who has filed thecivil suit. According to what Clemco's reporting
(29:32):
is that they've been talking settlement forsix months. How they could have been
talking settlement for six months and theRaiders and the Patriots to not have known
anything about this does strike me asa little bit strange. Both organizations claim
they didn't. It is possible,so I'm not saying they're lying, but
that did feel And for the Leaguenot to know too is a matter of
fact. I think that's even theone that bothers me the most. I
(29:53):
would think even if the teams,if some teams didn't know, with all
the work that the League does withsecurity and shadowing these guys, for them
to have not been aware of thiswould really be surprising to me, right,
it is, you know, importantto point out that the nature of
these talks are confidential, of coursewhen you're discussing these legal settlements. But
everything that's been reported is that theywere close to having one and it was
(30:15):
for more than I think two milliondollars in then ab she wanted two million.
He never agreed to it. Okay, well, yeah, he backed.
There was a deadline last week andultimately they obviously did not strike an
agreement. And we should add toothat per multiple reports, Britney Taylor met
with the league office earlier this weekfor ten hours. So if this thing
(30:37):
doesn't get wrapped up this week,you'd have to think one way or the
other, we're going to know somethingafter the Week three game is played.
Yeah. What disturbed me the most, and I don't want to just said
we were getting away from it andI'm stuck on it. Now. We're
gonna get to one more topic beforewe have to say goodbye. Is that
one of the incidents described by thesecond accuser who refuses to file charges sound
(31:00):
did eerily similar to one of theassault charges by miss Taylor. And so
you mentioned, you know, someof the starts look like a pattern,
two different allegations of sexual assault thatsound very similar to each other. That
to me is really troubling because asfar as I know, the two accusers
don't know each other, you know, and so I should. There's nothing
(31:22):
to laugh about it. I justit just strikes me as strange that that
much could be out there and thatthere wouldn't be more actual evidence or proof.
One more thing, I want toget to Arthur if it isn't Jalen
Ramsay, and then there's two morethings we have to quickly get to because
it's just such a huge story.So let's go with yours and then we'll
just quickly hit on Jalan ras Wellit wasn't Jalen rams the only because it
opens this bigger issue that everybody's talkingabout about. Suddenly the NFL players able
(31:45):
to demand, you know, movementwhenever they want. I don't think that's
true at all. I think whathappened here is Antonio Brown was an unusual
psycho case, and I think inthe case of Minca Fitzpatrick, I have
no idea why the Dolphins made thatdeal. You know, Mica Fitzpatrick can
ask for whatever he wants. Buteven if you're tanking and rebuilding. There's
(32:05):
a classic example of one of theguys who want to rebuild around I don't
understand how Chris Greer you know,and Bran Flores think they're better off by
getting back a first round pick thatcould very well be lower than the pick
that was used on Fitzpatrick to draftanother player when you're not likely to.
I mean, they stole Fitzpatrick.I thought, you know, with as
far as he fell on, thatmove makes no sense to me. So
(32:28):
I don't agree that it's a trendout there that the guys are just doing
it and it's becoming the NBA.But the Jalen Ramsey incident, and again,
this one's interesting. The Steelers jumpedall over the Fitzpatrick deal because they
probably got the better end of thedeal. In the case of Jalen Ramsey,
do you not want to trade fora guy who's been a distraction to
his team for a year and ahalf and just got in a fight with
his head coach? Yeah, ifyou have a need, I think you
(32:50):
do. Because Ramsey's you know,apparently has some maturity issues, but he
also has maybe the most tantalizing skillset of any lockdown corner in the NFL,
and that's a premium. You gotquarterback, you got pass rusher,
and then you can quickly go tothose guys that cover the past. And
yeah, I mean, I thinkRamsey is definitely gonna have suitors, although
I think the report that Jacksonville's tryingto get two first rounders for him is
(33:13):
going to be a little bit toorich. Then again, maybe they saw
what just happened with the Houston Texansand Laramie Tounzill. Ramsey's a more an
even rarer talent, I believe thanLaramie Tounzil. So we'll see. But
just back to very quickly what youwere saying before. I think that Miami
might have felt like it was backedinto a corner because Minka wants to plan
a team that canpetitive right away inthat you can potentially create a culture issue
(33:38):
in your organization when it becomes sowell known that your primary focus isn't winning
in the short term. You justcreated the culture issue by trading him.
I mean, they had him undercontrol for four more years, but if
they thought they would' have a badsoldier who was going to be moping for
the next long We don't know that. We know the kids said I want
to go compete. We don't knowthat he was going to be a bit
(34:00):
soldier. Everything I've heard about himis that he probably wouldn't have been he
made his request. You know whatyou do as you call him in behind
closed doors, We say, you'rethe future of this team. We're building
this team around you, You're beingpaid very fairly, and we're not moving
you. At that point, doeshe become a bad soldier? All the
indications are no. That's why theSteelers were ready to trade for him.
And that's exactly the reason why yougot to be careful with Jalen Ramsey,
(34:22):
because you know he can be abad soldier, and just because he gets
to a situation that he thinks isgoing to be better, doesn't mean he
won't be. He was delighted whenhe first got to Jacksonville two years ago.
He was thrilled, you know,because they were one of the best
teams in the AFC. And soI just think that, yeah, you've
had these three four things all happenat the same time. To me,
(34:42):
they don't make a trend in theNFL, which everybody was looking for.
I just real quickly. These aren'turgent, but they could change before next
week, so I want to mentionhim. I wanted to finish with to
me, the two biggest surprises inthe NFL, besides how awful Kirk Cousins
is and the fact that the Steelersare now oh and two and the fact
that the Ravens are two and oh. To me, those teams that people
(35:04):
are talking about are the Green BayPackers in the San Francisco forty nine Ers,
and I'll tell you my take,they're two very different stories. I
have said from the jump that aslong as you have Aaron Rodgers, you're
a playoff contender, and I thinkwe've seen that not so much from Rogers
in the first couple of weeks,but we shouldn't be surprised that the Packers
have found a way to win thesefirst couple of games. I think they've
(35:25):
still got issues to deal with.We'll see as the schedule progresses. Hats
off to what Mike Petton did withthat defense the first couple of weeks,
but there's still places where I thinkit can be exposed. They did answer
a big question for me in Weektwo against Minnesota with how much more involved.
They got Aaron Jones in the gameplan, but I think they've still
(35:45):
got issues with Lafleur and Rogers gettingon the same page. And Rodgers can
make smartass cracks about it afterwards,all he wants him and Lafleur in an
animated conversation on the sideline week twois not a good look. And knowing
the history, if there's any truthto any of the stuff that was reported
in that big Bleacher Report piece,that's a bad sign. Nonetheless, I
(36:07):
think the Packers probably pointed in theright direction. Arthur. The forty nine
Ers is fool's gold. I mean, I know they went on the road,
two tough road trips and Cincinnati,Yeah you like that. They didn't
even work on it. It justkind of came out of nowhere. But
this team's got a ton left toprove before I'm going to take them seriously,
particularly in that division with the Ramsand the Seahawks. Yeah, I'm
(36:29):
with you, And at the sametime, I just I really I believe
in Kyle Shanahan is a coach,and I think he's doing a really good
job with those two tough road victoriesright out of the gate. And I
might have Understold, a little bitof the defensive renovations they have made Kwan
Alexander all over the field Sunday RichardSherman in year two, removed from the
Achilles, looks like a different guy. And a team that set the NFL
(36:53):
futility mark with two team interceptions intwenty eighteen. They've got two each in
the first two games. They've gotboth upfront wreaking havoc. Eric Armstead looks
like he has been reborn. SoI have no questions about the offense.
As long as Jimmy g is healthy, Kyle Shannon is going to scheme points
and yards. It's Robert Sala's defensethat so far as impressed me and might
(37:15):
be what will allow this team tosurprise at least me, because I know
a lot of people were on him. I just wasn't on that list.
I'm not saying they're bad. I'mjust I'm just saying not yet, okay.
I mean that the Bucks game wasa gift. They didn't go win
that that was given to them,and that Cincinnati team that they just beat
was awful. This again, thisis why I don't even start trying to
figure out who the best teams aretill week five. I want to see
(37:38):
four. I mean, historically,you go back over the last four or
five seasons, you look at whereteams were a week one, week two,
look at where they're after week four. That's where you start to have
a sense of who's the real dealand who isn't. And quite frankly,
as you know, I'm a hugeJimmy Garoppolo fan, but he dropped in
my estimation with his preseason and eventhat performance early against the Bucks, which
(38:00):
wasn't great, and he's got moreto show me. I mean, we're
talking about a guy who now haswhat eleven NFL starts, you know,
and so yeah, the forty nineers could be and I agree with you
on Shanahan, but I want tosee a lot more from that roster before
I'm ready to annoint that team that'sgonna do it. We ran a little
long there this week, and thankyou for staying with us. But that's
(38:22):
this week's edition of our Pro FootballWeekly NFL podcast. Once again, our
thanks to all of our great sponsors, our outstanding executive producer Dan Mott,
the guys that I'm Freeze for lettingus use the music. Arthur thank you
as always. Most of all,though, our thanks to all of you
for listening. We'll be back atyou again next week with both our Pro
Football Weekly NFL and our Pro FootballWeekly Chicago podcasts. Make sure you get
(38:45):
yourself a subscription you don't miss him. We really enjoy getting to visit with
you. Have a great weekend,everybody,
Well, it's that time of theweek again. Our Pro Football Weekly,
NFL podcast, Pro Football Weekly Managingeditor Arthur Arkish is here. I am
the executive editor in GM. AtPro Football Weekly Hub Arkish, we are
delighted to be with you guys again. It is really I don't know,
Arthur crazy first two weeks in theNFL. We know that that's the nature
(00:32):
of the beast these days, inthis modern game, We've probably seen crazier
starts. But boy, stuff happeningall over the league Week two and you
almost wonder where to start. Whatdo people want to talk more about?
What Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes aredoing, or the end of an era
in the NFL. Possibly. Idon't want to sign anybody's deathknell yet.
(00:55):
I don't mean death knell but retirement. But when you lose lockdown Hall of
Famer Drew Brees and likely Hall ofFamer Ben Roethlisberger Roethlisberger for the year,
Breese at least for the first halfof the season, that is a sea
change and what to expect from someof the top teams in the league.
And we really do need to addin Hub that Ben Roethlisberger's two thousand and
(01:17):
four draft pier Eli Manning. Itlooks like the end of another era in
New York. So that one,in some ways maybe a tougher bill to
swallow because he's had his job takenfrom him, not you know, having
injuries rear their ugly hood. Souh, you know, that's where things
need to start. And it's toobad. You know. Ben Roethlisberger,
three years younger than Drew Brees andhas already said that he fully is committed
(01:41):
to playing out his contract that goesthrough two thousand and twenty one. Mike
Tomlin didn't sound quite as certain aboutthat, but I believe, and I'm
paraphrasing, but set something along thelines of, you know, we we
expect to have Ben back in twentytwenty and see where this thing goes.
What more do you know about theselbow injury it's apparently been bothering him for
a while. Well, it apparentlyis the torn ucl that ended the career
(02:06):
of Jake delhom And, and hewas younger at the time than Roethlisberger is.
It is the football version of aTommy John type injury. It is
apparently much more difficult for a quarterbackto come back from because I don't know,
I haven't been able to find anyexamples of anybody who has, whereas
in baseball these days, Tommy Johnsurgery has become pretty commonplace. A lot
(02:29):
of these guys come back. Soit certainly raises a legitimate question as to
whether Roethlisberger can ever be Roethlisberger again. You know, I mean, he
can try and play, there's nodoubt about that. The normal rehab is
going to be about twelve months,so he probably won't be and that's complete
rehab. But so you're still goingto be iffy at the start of next
season for a complete recovery. Butwhat I think is you have to add
(02:53):
to this conversation, Arthur, andwe'll get to each in turn, Eli
and brew Brees as well. Roethlisbergerhas not really been himself over the last
probably ten to twenty games, anda lot of that could be attributed to
Levion Bell being absent, all theAntonio brown silliness, to other things that
have gone on. And when youlook at his situation and the situation with
(03:15):
Breeze in New Orleans, unlike mostother teams in the NFL, where you
have a backup that you hope canstep in and hold you hold the ball
for a couple of weeks or whateverit is, until you get back.
There are folks in Pittsburgh and NewOrleans who believe that Mason Rudolph and Teddy
Bridgewater are there to be the heirsapparent. They are not automatically career backup
(03:38):
quarterbacks, and so I think alot of what Ben roethlisberger future is going
to be has to do with whatMason Rudolph does with this team. I've
been impressed with him for I lovedhim coming out of school, very impressed
with the job he did stepping inlast week. Remember, he had to
play a few games last year,played pretty well, and I don't think
it's inconceivable that that Mason Rudolf couldbe good for the Steeler team. I'm
(04:00):
not blaming Roethlisberger for anything that's goneon, but you know, they add
Mica Fitzpatrick on defense, they clearlyhave one of the best defensive lines in
football. James Conner is a guywho showed last year he can be a
lead back. Juju Smith Schuster isgoing to be a Pro Bowl or,
if not at all, Pro,and so I think It's going to be
fascinating to watch these two backups,Mason Rudolph and Teddy Bridgewater and see how
(04:25):
much they do get done. Absolutely. Pro Football Weekly had a first round
grade on Mason Rudolph coming out ofthe last year's draft, and I'm pretty
positive. Same on Teddy Bridgewater goingback obviously quite a few more years.
We either had a first or ahigh second on Bridgewater too. Remember the
Steelers moved up in round three lastyear for Mason Rudolph. That was notable.
(04:47):
They had drafted I want to say, Joshua Dobbs the year earlier,
and it is It's it's important tonote the Steelers had literally just traded josh
Dobbs to Jacksonville earlier last week,right after the Nick Foles injuries. So,
uh, this has made Mason Rudolph'suh, you know, ball to
hold onto here and uh and I'mexcited too. You know, he had
that interception shortly after entering last week, but that was not on him,
(05:11):
it was on Dante Moncrief. Hethrew a couple of late touchdowns. He
showed some composure in a tough spotagainst a tough defense. So excited about
that. I'm excited to see therekindling of the Oklahoma state rapport between Rudolph
and James Washington, another young playerthat I like a lot. So again,
the Steelers traded up for Rudolph,And remember the Saints traded a third
(05:32):
round pick to the Jets last summerto get Teddy Bridgewater m knowing that he
could very well be a rental,and then they went and made on the
highest paid backup in the NFL thisoffseason. He's earning just under eight million
dollars to be the backup. Sojust an incredibly unique situation. I guess
I started with Ben hub but Istarted with the hardest one to root for
if we're being honest, when itcomes to to Drew Brees and and Eli
(05:56):
Manning as well, just you know, to all, by all accounts,
just consummate pros, guys that youreally want to see do well and see
you know, and see what happenshere. So obviously two very different situations,
but Teddy Bridgewater falls in that categorytwo from everything we've known, and
just what a unique set of circumstancesfor him after being Drew Brees is understudy,
(06:17):
after getting thrust into the fire withSean Payton arguably you know, top
two three quarterback whisperer in this league. And again he's certainly got his long
term vision on being a starter againin this league. Well, here's the
other fascinating part about it, though, trace back the career arc of Drew
Brees in New Orleans. Yeah,a potential career ending shoulder injury. Right,
(06:38):
The Miami Dolphins were the front runnerto sign him in free agency.
They flunked him on his physical.You know, the Saints bring him in,
he becomes a shore Fire Hall ofFamer. Teddy Bridgewater had one of
the most devastating knee injuries anybody's everseen a couple of years ago, king
a Pro Bowl season, taking histeam to the Well, yeah, but
these Pro Bowl seasons, I meanhe was okay, he had made a
(07:00):
from year one to year two.Mitch Drubisky was in the Pro Bowl last
year too. How do they feelabout him in Chicago? Realized so.
But but the point is um afirst round pick, a late first round
pick. Um. And as amatter of fact, it's ironic. I
think he was the thirtieth pick inthe first round. Ted was thirty two
and thirty three that's where That's whereI was gone with this. So so
the parallels are stunning. You know. One more, wasn't it Miami that
(07:21):
chose not to sign I believe Miamihad more money on the table for Teddy
this spring, and he said theSaint situation was better. Well, and
I was going to say, becausethe Dolphins went to get him this year
to be their starter, and hepreferred to be because you know, Breeze
is forty and even if he stayshealthy, So this this is a hand
pick situation, uh, for boththese guys. Now, you know,
(07:44):
Bridgewater is actually bigger than Breeze,you know, I mean one of the
wraps on him, not very big, not all that athletic back there.
But but but there's a lot ofsimilarities here. And when you see what
Sean Payton did with Drew Breese,I can't wait to see what happens with
Bridgewater. I don't think I thinkBreeze probably has a little bit more arm.
But neither one of them have cannons, you know. So this is
(08:07):
about knowing the offense and having themental part of the game. And we're
gonna learn a lot real quick becausethey got to go play the twelfth man
in Seattle week one, and thenfrom there, if you look at their
schedule over the next five six weeks, they have got the Dallas Cowboys,
the Chicago Bears, the Jacksonville Jaguars. I might have just named, you
know, three of the top fivesix defense at least in terms of talent
(08:28):
in this league. So it's notgoing to be easy for Bridgewater, and
we should also point out, Iknow you've got something just we should also
point out that Teddy hasn't looked goodin his few chances since that catastrophic knee
injury. The stakes obviously haven't beenthis high, but we still haven't seen
that first and second year form fromBridgewater ever since this injury. You are
absolutely right when you talk about thedefenses they're gonna be challenged by, and
(08:50):
what a challenge it is. Butmuch like I just said about Pittsburgh and
Mason Rudolph, two of the bestoffensive lines in football in Pittsburgh and New
Orleans. He's now got the highestpaid receiver and Michael Thomas. He's got
Alvin Kamara. I mean, youknow, there's a lot of elements to
help them. Both Rudolph and BreezeRudolph and Bridgewater be successful here, and
(09:13):
so it's going to be one ofthe main storylines around the league for the
next few weeks. And then youget to number three because I don't want
to pay short shrift to Eli.To me, that's just a totally different
situation though, because you know,you knew this was going to happen.
It really shouldn't happened week two.I mean, if they were even thinking
that was a possibility, they wouldhave been better off starting Jones to start
(09:35):
the season. I think. Anyway, no question what you accomplished with these
first two weeks, and it's reallyshameful that this is the same organization that
ended one of the great streaks ofconsecutive starts in history for no reason other
than the fans were pissed, youknow. And so Eli Manning. There's
this great debate, and I don'tknow which side of it I'm on as
(09:58):
to whether he's a Hall of Fameror not. Drew Brees is a lockdown
Hall of Famer. Roethlisberger is goingto be because he's got the two rings,
and his numbers by the time he'sdone are gonna be right there with
the top five, Top six ofall time. The problem with Eli is
that his actual passing numbers, Imean they're they're they're big because he played
seventeen years, but he has notproduced to the level of a Philip Rivers
(10:22):
or Ben Roethlisberger. The three ofthem will forever be intertwined. Um,
But he does have the two ringsand that record that his idiot front office
decided to or coach or whoever itwas decided to. Yeah, I mean
that what he and Brett Farve andhis brother did you know those consecutive games
(10:43):
treeps. That's that's ripken esque,that's Garagask And so then you add the
fact that Eli maybe the classiest guyever to play, and much classier than
his brother, who I like aboutnot criticizing Peyton, but but Eli is
even better. Um. Is thatgoing to be enough to get hire him
into the hall? I don't knowanybody who wants to pound on the desk
(11:05):
one way or the other. Youknow, I can make a real case
for him being in. I willunderstand why if he doesn't get in and
yet to lose three quarterbacks of thisILK all on the same weekend, I
don't know if this has ever happenedin the NFL before, right, and
some I don't know if symmetry isthe word, but it is a little
strange. So Eli, if thisis in fact it, he's going to
(11:26):
finish his career with a regular seasonmark of one sixteen and one sixteen.
And if that's not a little symbolicagain, two super Bowls, I believe,
two super Bowl MVPs and a greatleader as durable as they come.
I'm probably still gonna Obviously I don'thave a vote, but I strongly,
strongly would vote for not only BigBen, but Rivers ahead of Eli.
(11:50):
So to me, he's a distantthird in the conversation. But that's not
to say he doesn't get in.But I kind of have to take exception.
I almost think that this looks worseto do this right now than it
did when Ben McAdoo did it acouple of years ago, because disagree,
you're not taking exception anything. Maybeboth things sucking well, but I just
you know, to do it now, it just it reinforces to me that
(12:13):
Dave Getelman doesn't really have a realfirm plan because it keeps changing. And
then I just when you look atwhat the Giants defense has done in the
first two weeks. It just it'sso clear that Eli's the scapegoat. I
mean, I've obviously don't think Eli'sbeen able to play for a while,
and that's why I would have enteredthe season with your top pick. I
mean, that would have been amuch more seamless sort of transition here.
(12:33):
But the Giants defense has stopped noone, and Eli has at least been
He's been Eli. You always heisn't surprised what we're or the other with
I always played. Yeah, Idon't agree with you that Gedelman doesn't have
a plan. The plan is clearlyDaniel Jones. And to do that at
six when every well not all theexperts, but some experts and a lot
of folks thought it had to beHaskins. You can't argue that Daniel Jones
(12:56):
isn't the plan. The question washow long did they want to wait?
How so you need to learn?And I'll tell you something, Arthur again,
I listen, Dave Getleman's his ownworst enemy when he opens his mouth.
I understand that, but I thinkhe's also badly underrated by a lot
of people who don't want to likehim for what he has accomplished as an
NFL executive, and I can guaranteeyou just from talking to some people very
(13:16):
close to it, they did notexpect Jones to play as well as he
did in the preseason. And youcan say what you want about these preseason
games, but they really thought thatthis was a huge project. And while
all these first round kids are projects, what they found out in those four
exhibition games is maybe the project wasn'tas big as they thought that it was.
And then you go through these firsttwo weeks and you say, well,
(13:37):
at this point, what's what's thepoint? You know? So I
agree that it's awful and what theydid to Eli, but I don't I
can't join everybody with the piling onwith Getleman, and again he's his own
worst enemy, but I just don'tthink that's an objective analysis of what he's
accomplished in his career. And itshould be very clear that using the sixth
overall pick and going against sort ofmost conventional wisdom doing so, yeah,
(14:01):
obviously Daniel Jones is his guy.That part was planned, I guess.
The part I struggle with is howhe has mis evaluated what he has had
roster wise, because I don't knowhow else he would explain, and I
don't want to go backward too much, but the whole OBJ extension right before
you trade him, and then thisquick audible in week three that's suddenly Eli
isn't the answer because now you're inthis Owen two hole. It just seems
(14:24):
to me that maybe he has thoughthis team is gonna be a little bit
more competitive now on two different,two different you know, occasions than they've
well at least it's very early on, but have shown to be. Yeah,
I will take exception with you onone thing though that I don't agree
with. I will be given achoice, and I don't have a vote
either, but I would pound onthe table more for Eli than I would
Philip Rivers. I think they botheventually probably do get in, But you
(14:50):
know, Arthur, the rings onering doesn't mean a lot the second one
and being the reason for both ofthem, and then all that they both
accomplished in their careers, I thinkthey're both sitting there on the cusps,
so to speak. And I haveto give a slight edge to Eli over
Philip Rivers. And that comes downto the old adage, are you for
the you know the big game wins. Are you for the numbers because the
(15:13):
numbers don't compare, But obviously Riversstill chasing that ring well. And it's
also worth noting that neither one hasbeen with a dynasty. But you know,
Rivers has probably had more good competitiveteams than ELI has. You know
one thing about the Giants, theyshoot up and down. You know,
when they're not good, they're notgood. You know, the Chargers have
been hanging around the playoffs that prettymuch the whole time Rivers has been there.
So again, all kind of funstuff. It's the what the water
(15:37):
cooler talk, the barstool stuff.This is what people love about the game.
But just a unique first couple ofweeks here in the NFL. Welcome
back, everybody. Thank you somuch to all of our great sponsors here
at our Pro Football Weekly NFL podcast. We hope you're also getting our Pro
(15:58):
Football Weekly Chicago podcast if you happento be a Bears or an NFC North
fan, we have a lot offun with that one. You can find
all of our podcasts at Pro FootballWeekly dot com or through your Apple store
wherever you go for your podcasts.Our thanks to the guys at Umfrey's McGee
Chicago band that Arthur has befriended overthe years, who are really standing garage
band with some great music. Theygive us the right to use some of
(16:23):
those tunes for our music beds,both our bumps in and out, in
our intro and outro music. DanMott, you hear his name every week
here because he is arguably the mostimportant guy pro football weekly. I mean,
he just as an incredible executive,producer, engineer, and Dan does
it's a great job making all thishappen, so our thanks to Dan Arthur.
(16:45):
We move past the quarterbacks to acouple of other big questions around the
NFL this week heading into Week three, And the most interesting next question for
me because we don't know, andthere's no way we can know, but
it could go not just either way, but it could go mercurially up or
(17:07):
drastically down. Is how good arethe two and oh Baltimore Ravens and the
two and O Seattle Seahawks, BecauseI mean Baltimore, I give them very
little credit for week one. Imean, I give them all the credit
in the world for putting up numbersand being good. But let's face that
the Dolphins aren't even a JV teamright now. And then they go home
and they get the Arizona Cardinals,who are going to be one of the
(17:30):
worst teams in the league. Idon't know how competitive they can be.
They're not for three quarters, andthen Murray goes nuts in the fourth quarter.
This week they go to Kansas City, and what's interesting about that They're
going to be tested the Chiefs.You know, I think you'd have to
say the best team in the well, and probably the Patriots are the best
team in the AFC right now,but the Chiefs right there. And so
(17:52):
yes, the Ravens are getting tested. But the Chiefs defense has been pretty
awful, so we really don't knowyet what to make of the Lamar j
and explosion there. And then Ilook at the Seattle Seahawks and I expected
them to be better than most didthis year, kind of rebuilding on the
fly but adding a lot of youngtalent and then the big move for Jadevian
Clowney to kind of solidify that defensewith one more big playmaker. But they
(18:18):
struggle at home to barely get bya Cincinnati team that impressed me so much
they made me look like an idiotmaking them my lock in week two and
they just stunk at home, andthen they go into Pittsburgh and that's impressive.
They go in Pittsburgh can get awin, but it's against a team
that just got trashed week one onthe road and then loses their quarterbacks.
So I just don't know yet howseriously we can take the Ravens and the
(18:42):
Seahawks. Yeah. I think thatthose are great points. And I think
when you have questions, you probablylook at the head coaches and the quarterbacks.
And when you look at the headcoaches and oh boy, they're they're
from the same tree too. Butin Andy Reid and John Harbaugh, obviously,
these guys are at the top oftheir profession for a reason, and
(19:03):
you kind of they get the benefitof the doubt that they have a vision
here for these uh oh, excuseme, I'm talking about Andy Reid,
of course, I mean Pete Carrolled John Harball we are discussing. I'm
sorry. Still, though, you'retalking about two of the very best in
their profession, and you kind oftrust the vision that they have in Seattle.
It looks like they're gonna lean alittle bit more on Russell Wilson now,
and I think if Chris Carson doesn'tfumble twice and kind of put them
(19:26):
into a couple of precarious spots inthe first couple of weeks, maybe neither
of those games are quite as close. I'm kind of expecting to see a
little bit more Rashot Bunny. Theydidn't draft him twenty seventh overall a year
ago to to not play them,and it looks like the window maybe open
for him to get some more workwith the Ravens. You know, we
still got to see with Lamar.Certainly, he hasn't, you know,
proven as much in this league asRussell Wilson. So the other half of
(19:48):
that, you look at the headcoach and the quarterback, and in Seattle
you're probably feeling pretty good about things. All I know is that they are
scheming stuff for Lamar right now,and he is. He's been on the
money. Like you said, hehasn't played a good defense yet. I
will say, though, the Chiefsnow are two and oh and have held
granted it's the Jaguars and the Raiders, but they've gone on the road and
(20:08):
held the Jaguars and the Raiders.I want to say to a combined twenty
six points. So maybe there's thebig priced high flashy uh. You know,
offseason acquisitions are going to start payingdividends. And let's remember it's not
it's Steve Spagnolo that I'm drawn ablank on who the guy he replaced the
old guy, long time coordinator NottSutton. Right, thank you. So
(20:29):
Spagnolo is in there, and maybethis isn't going to be the doormat defense
that we've been used to in KanaCity for the past handful of years.
No, they may be better.They retooled quite a bit. I mean,
you moved d Ford and bring inFrank Clark. You know, you
finally let all the veterans move onand Derek Johnson and Tom Bali and Justin
Houston. You bring in Tyrone,Matthew, Eric Barry. I can't I
don't understand why he's not a fellteam. I'm not sure what I'm missing
(20:53):
there, but but he's got tobe out of gas. Unfortunately. I
know that's hard to cure and acceptbecause of everything he's been through. But
he went and visited a bunch ofteams, he took a bunch of physicals,
and clearly their assessment is that he'syou know, he doesn't have much
left in the tank at this point. You're right, that's the assessment to
date. My guess is he willbe on a team. In the next
couple of weeks, those teams beginto realize what they're missing pieces. Contracts
(21:17):
aren't guaranteed anymore either. That yeah, part of it. But but but
to keep the focus where we wantedto have it there, you look at
the chief. Secondary has still beenkind of civil like the first couple of
weeks. I mean, look whatGardner Minshew did to him going off the
bench. In Jacksonville. Kendall Fulleris their leading tackler on defense. So
when the cornerbacks leading tackler, youknow right there that you've got a problem.
But but to me, the absolutemystery of this thing. I did
(21:41):
the broadcast of the Ravens Chargers playoffgame last year. I'm on the sidelines.
I'm right there, fifteen feet fromhim watching it. Lamar Jackson was
a running back playing quarterback. Hecould not his mechanics were awful, his
arm was awful. He couldn't finda receiver, to say of his life,
and that was the last game heplayed before these two this year,
(22:03):
and now suddenly he's got a oneforty five passer rating and he's the best
passer in the NFL and almost threehundred yards a game. Okay, you're
right, they're scheming things wonderfully forhim. I'm sure he is much improved,
but he didn't suddenly go from beingthe worst passer in the NFL to
the best. And that's where thefact that it was the Dolphins and the
(22:23):
Cardinals comes into play for me.And it's not gonna be decided this week.
You know, we'll see what happensin Kansas City. They've got to
get in against some legitimate NFL defensesthree four weeks in a row. Let's
see what he's able to do.Then throwing, He's gonna run the ball,
there's no question about that. Butbut but for him to keep up
the way he's throwing the football rightnow, I gotta see more. Yeah,
(22:45):
and that's totally fair. But it'salso fair to point out that he
only ran three times in Week oneand just absolutely took apart whoever he took
a part, well, the MiamiDolphins, as you said, So yeah,
well, we'll see. He's gotto prove a lot more, but
his downfield accuracy has stood out hiscalm in the pocket. I mean last
week he went nuts and had abouta buck twenty rushing. In addition,
(23:07):
I think four touchdowns through the air. So it's the Lamar Jackson experience.
Yes, there probably will be somepeaks and valleys, but it's a lot
of fun to watch. Um,and I think I've got just as you
know. I'm still curious see whatthe defense is going to do because it
lost a ton too, and sofar it's been really good. Matt Judon
playing really well rushing the passer,and Earl Thomas obviously doing his thing on
(23:29):
the back end as the newcomer.But you just don't want to say annua
four right, it's right, yeah, not going So we'll see, uh
yeah, so we'll have to waitand see what, you know, how
that unit comes together as well.Um, But it's hard not to be
impressed with what we've seen so far, despite the competition. I was very
impressed with the young man coming outof Louisville. UM, and I really
want him to be good because heseems like a really good kid. Um,
(23:53):
But don't ignore what you just said. Yeah, he only ran the
ball against three times against Miami becauseit was Miami could throw it wherever we
wanted. Last week to beat Arizonain a game that was much closer than
you would have expected to be inBaltimore had to run the ball thirteen times.
And so this is that, Thisis what I want to watch and
see how this develops. At whatpoint is is he throwing and running because
(24:15):
that's the plan. And at whatpoint is he throwing because he can't run?
I'm sorry, running because he can'tthrow? Is what I'm trying to
say there, And again this iscoming from somebody who wants this to be
real. I really do. ButI think, just objectively, you got
to you gotta take a step backand have some patience with this. A
couple other teams worth getting into beforewe go, I don't know. I
(24:38):
mean, we expect the Patriots tobe the best team in the NFL,
because they just are, and yetand they haven't. You know, they
also got the JV Dolphins and thenyou know the Week one opener, Pittsburgh
obviously wasn't ready. But this isa team that lost three starting offensive linemen
and training camp started trading LA picksand whatever you know to try and fill
(25:02):
the gap. And now this week, coming out of this domination in Miami,
they lose their left tackle Isaiah Winfor at least the next eight weeks,
and they're plugging in pieces that arecast offs from other teams. As
impressive as the Patriots have been sofar, is Dante Karnekia just that much
better than anybody else who's ever coachedoffensive line Because they got a bunch of
(25:23):
guys named Joe out there, andthey're protecting Tom Brady of all people,
and at least so far, havereally gotten it done. I think the
short answer is yes. But thelonger version is, let's not forget the
quarterback to who gets rid of itin a in a you know, in
the blink of an eye. Butthey're running the ball really well, are
that? You're right? I mean, Brady helps them a lot, But
but you're you're talking about the defendingSuper Bowl champions starting four career backups on
(25:47):
their offensive line right now. Yeah, it's remarkable and and like you said,
what I mean, you know,it's just will surprise no one that
Belichick, the visionary, perhaps sawsome of this coming, at least when
he's going out there and making thismad dash for all these trades, and
these guys are gonna be plugged inbefore too long, if they haven't been
already. So it's almost like heknows what he's doing. Yeah, I
got that wrong. I think JoeTony is moving out to tackle, and
(26:11):
I think Shack Mason is still healthy. So they're starting They lost David Andrews.
Yeah, well they're starting three careerbackups. Yeah, I mean they
lost two left tackles in their center, you know, so it's remarkable,
you know what that team does andhow they keep the ball moving. I
guess we can't move on from NewEngland without pointing out to no new news
as we record about Antonio Brown,which makes it likely he plays again Wednesday
(26:33):
afternoon. I think everybody's between arock and a hard place either. There
are no criminal charges against him.This is a civil lawsuit, and while
the burden of proof is lower ina civil lawsuit, you're also that much
more innocent until proven guilty, becausewe know how frivolously these things can I'm
not saying this one is, butwe know how frivolously these things can be
filed, and so I know peoplewant the league to sit him down,
(26:57):
but on what basis, you know, I don't think they can. And
then you also have to realize thatif the league or the Patriots punish him
unjustly, they have significant exposure becauseso much of his deal is tied to
incentives, you know, and ifyou don't let him play and try and
reach those incentives, you start toopen up all kinds of gray areas.
So I can't stand the guy personally. I don't know enough about this to
(27:22):
say that he's guilty or innocent ofsexual assault. I do think there's plenty
of circumstantial evidence to make me ill, you know. But at the end
of the day, this is theway our system works, you know.
And I think this guy is goingto be playing for the next few weeks
until we learn more. Yeah,I'm with you on that. I was
fighting back ill feeling watching him playSunday because he just looks so damn amazing
(27:42):
after prenticing three times with this newteam, and then literally they had built
that first drive around him. Hegets the touchdown later, and it was
tough to watch. I'm just saying, I mean, I love him as
a football player, and I couldnot be more conflicted with the rest of
it. We should also just veryquickly mention how that since we last spoke
on A Beyond this podcast, SIcame out with a pretty in depth report
(28:04):
um feature on A b and allthe other people that he has allegedly wronged.
It was Robert Clemco is really welldone. And uh, there's,
like we've talked about off air,off podcast air, there is a little
bit of a disturbing pattern with someof these things, the new sexual assault
allegation and then just all these allthese assistance that he has apparently stiffed and
(28:26):
decided that he doesn't have to payyou know, working class people because he's
uh, because he's Antonio Brown.Clemco's piece extremely well done, um uh,
definitely recommend to read for anybody who'sinterested. But at the end of
the day, it is this mountainof circumstantial evidence that we're talking about.
The the second sexual assault victim alsorefuses to file charges. And again I
(28:51):
didn't make anybody to make Brown innocentby any stretch, but but it leaves
you hamstrung, you know, asto what you can really do about it.
So we will watch that story continueto develop. Unfortunately, you know,
people are going to, you know, use it as another excuse to
try and paint you know, BillBelichick with the Darth vaderbrush, when in
(29:11):
fact Belichick has little or nothing todo it. But with this, the
one thing that was a little disturbingto me in the Clemco well, a
lot of things were disturbing, butthe one that did kind of stick out
at me is that according to hisinformation, I think it's Britney Taylor as
the young woman who has filed thecivil suit. According to what Clemco's reporting
(29:32):
is that they've been talking settlement forsix months. How they could have been
talking settlement for six months and theRaiders and the Patriots to not have known
anything about this does strike me asa little bit strange. Both organizations claim
they didn't. It is possible,so I'm not saying they're lying, but
that did feel And for the Leaguenot to know too is a matter of
fact. I think that's even theone that bothers me the most. I
(29:53):
would think even if the teams,if some teams didn't know, with all
the work that the League does withsecurity and shadowing these guys, for them
to have not been aware of thiswould really be surprising to me, right,
it is, you know, importantto point out that the nature of
these talks are confidential, of coursewhen you're discussing these legal settlements. But
everything that's been reported is that theywere close to having one and it was
(30:15):
for more than I think two milliondollars in then ab she wanted two million.
He never agreed to it. Okay, well, yeah, he backed.
There was a deadline last week andultimately they obviously did not strike an
agreement. And we should add toothat per multiple reports, Britney Taylor met
with the league office earlier this weekfor ten hours. So if this thing
(30:37):
doesn't get wrapped up this week,you'd have to think one way or the
other, we're going to know somethingafter the Week three game is played.
Yeah. What disturbed me the most, and I don't want to just said
we were getting away from it andI'm stuck on it. Now. We're
gonna get to one more topic beforewe have to say goodbye. Is that
one of the incidents described by thesecond accuser who refuses to file charges sound
(31:00):
did eerily similar to one of theassault charges by miss Taylor. And so
you mentioned, you know, someof the starts look like a pattern,
two different allegations of sexual assault thatsound very similar to each other. That
to me is really troubling because asfar as I know, the two accusers
don't know each other, you know, and so I should. There's nothing
(31:22):
to laugh about it. I justit just strikes me as strange that that
much could be out there and thatthere wouldn't be more actual evidence or proof.
One more thing, I want toget to Arthur if it isn't Jalen
Ramsay, and then there's two morethings we have to quickly get to because
it's just such a huge story.So let's go with yours and then we'll
just quickly hit on Jalan ras Wellit wasn't Jalen rams the only because it
opens this bigger issue that everybody's talkingabout about. Suddenly the NFL players able
(31:45):
to demand, you know, movementwhenever they want. I don't think that's
true at all. I think whathappened here is Antonio Brown was an unusual
psycho case, and I think inthe case of Minca Fitzpatrick, I have
no idea why the Dolphins made thatdeal. You know, Mica Fitzpatrick can
ask for whatever he wants. Buteven if you're tanking and rebuilding. There's
(32:05):
a classic example of one of theguys who want to rebuild around I don't
understand how Chris Greer you know,and Bran Flores think they're better off by
getting back a first round pick thatcould very well be lower than the pick
that was used on Fitzpatrick to draftanother player when you're not likely to.
I mean, they stole Fitzpatrick.I thought, you know, with as
far as he fell on, thatmove makes no sense to me. So
(32:28):
I don't agree that it's a trendout there that the guys are just doing
it and it's becoming the NBA.But the Jalen Ramsey incident, and again,
this one's interesting. The Steelers jumpedall over the Fitzpatrick deal because they
probably got the better end of thedeal. In the case of Jalen Ramsey,
do you not want to trade fora guy who's been a distraction to
his team for a year and ahalf and just got in a fight with
his head coach? Yeah, ifyou have a need, I think you
(32:50):
do. Because Ramsey's you know,apparently has some maturity issues, but he
also has maybe the most tantalizing skillset of any lockdown corner in the NFL,
and that's a premium. You gotquarterback, you got pass rusher,
and then you can quickly go tothose guys that cover the past. And
yeah, I mean, I thinkRamsey is definitely gonna have suitors, although
I think the report that Jacksonville's tryingto get two first rounders for him is
(33:13):
going to be a little bit toorich. Then again, maybe they saw
what just happened with the Houston Texansand Laramie Tounzill. Ramsey's a more an
even rarer talent, I believe thanLaramie Tounzil. So we'll see. But
just back to very quickly what youwere saying before. I think that Miami
might have felt like it was backedinto a corner because Minka wants to plan
a team that canpetitive right away inthat you can potentially create a culture issue
(33:38):
in your organization when it becomes sowell known that your primary focus isn't winning
in the short term. You justcreated the culture issue by trading him.
I mean, they had him undercontrol for four more years, but if
they thought they would' have a badsoldier who was going to be moping for
the next long We don't know that. We know the kids said I want
to go compete. We don't knowthat he was going to be a bit
(34:00):
soldier. Everything I've heard about himis that he probably wouldn't have been he
made his request. You know whatyou do as you call him in behind
closed doors, We say, you'rethe future of this team. We're building
this team around you, You're beingpaid very fairly, and we're not moving
you. At that point, doeshe become a bad soldier? All the
indications are no. That's why theSteelers were ready to trade for him.
And that's exactly the reason why yougot to be careful with Jalen Ramsey,
(34:22):
because you know he can be abad soldier, and just because he gets
to a situation that he thinks isgoing to be better, doesn't mean he
won't be. He was delighted whenhe first got to Jacksonville two years ago.
He was thrilled, you know,because they were one of the best
teams in the AFC. And soI just think that, yeah, you've
had these three four things all happenat the same time. To me,
(34:42):
they don't make a trend in theNFL, which everybody was looking for.
I just real quickly. These aren'turgent, but they could change before next
week, so I want to mentionhim. I wanted to finish with to
me, the two biggest surprises inthe NFL, besides how awful Kirk Cousins
is and the fact that the Steelersare now oh and two and the fact
that the Ravens are two and oh. To me, those teams that people
(35:04):
are talking about are the Green BayPackers in the San Francisco forty nine Ers,
and I'll tell you my take,they're two very different stories. I
have said from the jump that aslong as you have Aaron Rodgers, you're
a playoff contender, and I thinkwe've seen that not so much from Rogers
in the first couple of weeks,but we shouldn't be surprised that the Packers
have found a way to win thesefirst couple of games. I think they've
(35:25):
still got issues to deal with.We'll see as the schedule progresses. Hats
off to what Mike Petton did withthat defense the first couple of weeks,
but there's still places where I thinkit can be exposed. They did answer
a big question for me in Weektwo against Minnesota with how much more involved.
They got Aaron Jones in the gameplan, but I think they've still
(35:45):
got issues with Lafleur and Rogers gettingon the same page. And Rodgers can
make smartass cracks about it afterwards,all he wants him and Lafleur in an
animated conversation on the sideline week twois not a good look. And knowing
the history, if there's any truthto any of the stuff that was reported
in that big Bleacher Report piece,that's a bad sign. Nonetheless, I
(36:07):
think the Packers probably pointed in theright direction. Arthur. The forty nine
Ers is fool's gold. I mean, I know they went on the road,
two tough road trips and Cincinnati,Yeah you like that. They didn't
even work on it. It justkind of came out of nowhere. But
this team's got a ton left toprove before I'm going to take them seriously,
particularly in that division with the Ramsand the Seahawks. Yeah, I'm
(36:29):
with you, And at the sametime, I just I really I believe
in Kyle Shanahan is a coach,and I think he's doing a really good
job with those two tough road victoriesright out of the gate. And I
might have Understold, a little bitof the defensive renovations they have made Kwan
Alexander all over the field Sunday RichardSherman in year two, removed from the
Achilles, looks like a different guy. And a team that set the NFL
(36:53):
futility mark with two team interceptions intwenty eighteen. They've got two each in
the first two games. They've gotboth upfront wreaking havoc. Eric Armstead looks
like he has been reborn. SoI have no questions about the offense.
As long as Jimmy g is healthy, Kyle Shannon is going to scheme points
and yards. It's Robert Sala's defensethat so far as impressed me and might
(37:15):
be what will allow this team tosurprise at least me, because I know
a lot of people were on him. I just wasn't on that list.
I'm not saying they're bad. I'mjust I'm just saying not yet, okay.
I mean that the Bucks game wasa gift. They didn't go win
that that was given to them,and that Cincinnati team that they just beat
was awful. This again, thisis why I don't even start trying to
figure out who the best teams aretill week five. I want to see
(37:38):
four. I mean, historically,you go back over the last four or
five seasons, you look at whereteams were a week one, week two,
look at where they're after week four. That's where you start to have
a sense of who's the real dealand who isn't. And quite frankly,
as you know, I'm a hugeJimmy Garoppolo fan, but he dropped in
my estimation with his preseason and eventhat performance early against the Bucks, which
(38:00):
wasn't great, and he's got moreto show me. I mean, we're
talking about a guy who now haswhat eleven NFL starts, you know,
and so yeah, the forty nineers could be and I agree with you
on Shanahan, but I want tosee a lot more from that roster before
I'm ready to annoint that team that'sgonna do it. We ran a little
long there this week, and thankyou for staying with us. But that's
(38:22):
this week's edition of our Pro FootballWeekly NFL podcast. Once again, our
thanks to all of our great sponsors, our outstanding executive producer Dan Mott,
the guys that I'm Freeze for lettingus use the music. Arthur thank you
as always. Most of all,though, our thanks to all of you
for listening. We'll be back atyou again next week with both our Pro
Football Weekly NFL and our Pro FootballWeekly Chicago podcasts. Make sure you get
(38:45):
yourself a subscription you don't miss him. We really enjoy getting to visit with
you. Have a great weekend,everybody,
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