AFC East Preview

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So we're now through as of today, once the games can come to complete,
two full weeks of preseason, sothat means we're one step closer to
the NFL season. So that couldonly mean one thing. We got to
continue our tour previewing division by divisionup this week the af C East,

(00:23):
what looks to be a three wayrace, and then the New England Patriots.
So let's lead off with none otherthan the New England Patriots. So
for me and I'll lead this off. When you have Mac Jones as your
quarterback and you try to recreate TomBrady, it's not going to work unless

(00:52):
you take off the reins. Now, I'm not saying Mac Jones is ever
going to be a Pro Bowl quarterbackin this league. I'm not even gonna
say that he is going to bea starter, a top fifteen starter in
this league. But I'm not gonnaknow that unless they take the reins off,

(01:14):
You're not going to recreate Tom Brady'searly years where it's dinkin Duck and
we're gonna kick a field goal andwin the Super Bowl. That's not gonna
happen here. No, you haveto unleash the Beast, one of the
biggest throws that I've seen him makeagainst the Buffalo Bills, and I know
it was a blowout loss in thepostseason, but one of those plays where

(01:36):
he threw the ball to the pylonin the end zone forty fifty yards.
Now, it was a great playby the Bills player to pick it off.
But I needed to see more ofthat. I needed to see them
open up the field. Now theygot a good offensive line, they got
some good weapons, Juju Smith,Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne.
I liked the weapons that they herehave. You know, it was big,

(02:00):
big disappointment losing one of their weaponsto the Raiders. That was a
big part. Jacobe Myers was abig part of the offense. Last year,
they got Romande Stevenson, which Ithink saved a lot of people's fantasy
football teams. And now they recentlysigned Ezekiel Elliott. This isn't the NFL
of two thousand. You cannot justplay great defense and dink and dunk your

(02:25):
way on offense. You have toopen it up. And in order for
me to get a full perspective macJones can be for this team, I
need to see them rip it open. Just rip the band aid off and
I'm gonna slowly pull it off.Just rip it off, let happen.
Whatever happens, then you know he'sthe guy or he's not the guy.
And I think the most important partfor Bill Belichick is to see what he

(02:49):
has in Mac Jones and see ifhe wants to go through this process all
over again or if he can makethe best out of what Mac Jones potentially
be because his days at Alabama,I know, it's a lot different than
playing at Alabama than it is inthe NFL. Because in the NFL,
everybody's in the NFL, yep,not just in the SEC, where let's
say seventy eighty percent of the guysare in the NFL. No, you're

(03:12):
playing NFL players every single week,every single week. And that's the big
difference. And I need to seewhat mac Jones can be because at Alabama,
when he had a lot of talentaround him, he succeeded at a
high level, Heisman caliber type ofyear. Yep. You know, it
could have been a National championship typeof year if you know, he didn't
have a few down games. Butother than that, that's the most important

(03:36):
part. I don't care about.In the words of Ted Lasso, I
don't care about wins or losses.Don't care about wins or losses. I
care about what is mac Jones becauseI cannot wait any longer to see if
he's the guy or not the guy. Yep, I think that you summed
up probably everything about the Patriots perfectly, because this is the more desperate scenario

(03:58):
than what the Giants were dealing withwhen Daniel Jones was first starting out on
the team. You're dealing with ateam that has been known for its dominance
in this division, and now you'resuddenly missing weapons. Obviously, you pick
up Juju Smith Schuster, but atthe same time you lose Jacobe Meyers,
which seems almost like you're just tryingto interchange parts to see if mac Jones
can thrive with what he has isa defense led team. That's how Belichick

(04:25):
has always operated. It's always beenthe offense needs to be adequate, the
defense needs to be able keeps usin games. I'm I'm wondering how that's
gonna function with a division that's sooffensively dominant, whether you're talking about the
Bills and Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, Tua and and oh my god,

(04:46):
the receiver Tyreek Kill. I knewHill and I could not think of Tyreek.
Oh, this whole division is stackedoffensively. And then we have Mac
Jones and Juju Smith Schuster. Idon't think they're going to be competitive.
I didn't think that their off seasonwas that great. You're seeming like you're
just kind of building the same teamwe saw last year. Mac Jones really

(05:06):
needs to step it up, andif he doesn't, I'll throw this to
you. Do you think we seeBilly Zappi get more time on the field.
Do you think they investigate that optionfurther? Do you think that that's
a route they go down. It'sone that's been talked about. One last
year there were rumors that Jones waseven going to potentially hit the trade market.

(05:29):
For me, I have to seewithout a doubt, without a doubt,
what Mac Jones is, and onceI get that answer, I will
evaluate from there. But I willgive Mac Jones my number, my first
round pick, every opportunity to succeed, yep. And when he shows me
that he ran out of chances andthis is who he is, that is

(05:54):
when I will evaluate and go fromthere. One guy that I do like,
and I know he probably won't evenmake the team, But the kid
from Louisville, Malik Cunningham, Ithink that is a guy worth keeping around
as a project. Not saying he'sgoing to be a starter ever, but
he's a guy worth keeping around asa product project because he similar to what

(06:16):
Lamar Jackson was able to do atLouisville is the same thing that Malik Cunningham
did for Louisville. So at theend of the day, Bill Belichick,
in his stubbornness hiring his own kidsto be defensive coordinators. Yeah, it's
my way or the highway. Ithink he needs to do some self reflecting

(06:39):
and realize that when I was ableto go out there great defense, a
cut you by a million cuts,kill you by a million cuts with Tom
Brady and then fourth quarter, let'shope Tom Brady can produce some magic.
That's not gonna work nowadays, especiallyin af See where I got Patrick Mahomes,

(07:00):
I got Josh Allen, I gotJoe Burrow, I got all these
big armed quarterbacks that can win gamesby themselves. Yep. You gotta let
Mac Jones decide whether he can wina game for you or lose a game
for you, but you need todo some self reflecting and allow that to
happen. I think a lot lastyear completely wasted a Mac Jones year with

(07:26):
who's the offensive coordinator? Yeah,that is just wasted potential, wasted opportunity.
You have an incomplete system, andyou're expecting a kid who's trying to
figure this all out for the firsttime to know basically with a halfcock strategy.
Absolutely, So let's move on tothe next team. Let's go with
the Miami Dolphins. A lot ofpeople have been talking about the Miami Dolphins.

(07:48):
For those of you that follow NFLpages, meme pages, it's this
many days until TWA's next concussion,which I don't think it's funny to joke
about concussions, but there's been alot of the discussion around to his health,
to his arm, Mike McDaniels vaping. Mike McDaniels is a character in

(08:11):
his own right, the national treasurein my opinion. All right, quick
side, quick sidebar. So beforewe started doing this show, Tristan I
call him Tristan Thompson was doing thew g Y News and Zach producer Zach
with a kay had this I guessbattle off of character names, and all

(08:35):
I could think of is, man, you guys are just as geeky as
Mike McDaniels, just as geeky asMike McDaniels. I loved it. I
enjoyed it. We're sitting here doingSpongeBob characters going exactly ye, And that's
the exact kind of vibes that Iget from Mike McDaniels. Hirely, he's
a dorc on the team. Theplayers embrace it, the media embraces it.

(08:58):
With the questions I give him,and he is just I love it.
I love the nonchalant answers, wellis he your day one starter?
And he just looks up? Isanyone I don't know? Did we set
out he'll look around? Did wealready release the lineup? Car? Oh?
I guess I guess he is,or his roundabout ways of saying I

(09:20):
was born, but I wasn't bornyesterday. However, I can't even think
of how he fathomed to say that, But he went such a roundabout way
just to say I was born,but I wasn't born yesterday. Well,
let's get into the football side ofit. Indeed. So he's a smart
offensive mind. He's got Jalen Waddle, Tyreek Hill tuah, and he's got

(09:41):
some of his old running backs thatcame along from San Francisco forty nine ers
or he Moister. They got JeffWilson Jr. They got a lot of
weapons there. The offensive line hasbeen built back up. They got some
free agents a year before, theyhave guys they drafted that getting more experience.

(10:01):
Number one question, do you knowwhat my number one concern is regarding
all of this health? Yep?Health, It's got to be health.
A lot of weapons, not alot of durability. And that goes for
Tyrek Hill yep, Jalen Waddle yep. To a tongue of bottle yep.
Who are your three most important players? Yep? And all three of them
prone to injury too, especially proneto concussions. So you really have to

(10:24):
find a way to keep all threeof those guys healthy. And you have
to find a way to keep Tasafe with an old line that's shown they
can't always do that for him.Another quick sidebar, so zach wikay,
your brother does mixed martial arts.Yea took jusitsu to learn how to fall
properly, which is something that Iwouldn't even thought of. Do you think

(10:48):
that's going to rely on to whathe does during a game and when he's
getting hit. I don't see itas a negative. I think it's a
small positive. I think that it'syou know, it's a it's a big
thing that a lot of guys arejust taught when you're going through your your
sporting years, is ways to landproperly, to try and reduce stress on

(11:09):
joints and injuries and things like that. I don't know if it's gonna when
you have an NFL linebacker or threehundred pounds charging at you twenty miles an
hour. I don't know if that'sreally gonna be the saving grace for you.
You're basically getting in a slow speedcar accident. But you know it's
it can't hurt. But I thinkat the end of the day, it's

(11:31):
gonna be your evasiveness. It's gonnabe your ability to know when to throw
the ball away. It's gonna bemaking smart plays under pressure, so you
don't put yourself in those situations thatare really gonna be what keeps your concussion
right down. Do you think ifthis works and changes the way that heat
quote unquote lands, I don't knowfor see how that could happen. Do

(11:52):
you think jiu jitsu could become twoquarterbacks? What ballet and yoga come to
MLB first Baseman, I think thatthat would be incredible. I would love
to see NFL stars duking it outin a jiu jitsu ring, just absolutely
going for takedowns things like that.In the off season, We're gonna do

(12:15):
a whole reality show. It's gonnalike Ultimate Fighter. It's gonna be great.
Gonna ask Greg Hardy, you joinMMA, how did that help you
not get knocked out? You know, well, we won't get into that,
but yeah, you're absolutely correct.Number One thing health. Last year,
Two was injured last year, JalenWaddle was injured. Last year,
Tyreek was injured. Last year.Jeff Wilson Junior was like, all these

(12:37):
guys got injured and they still findsome They still found success even in those
regards with those guys getting hurt.But if you're really gonna try and shoot
for a championship, if you're reallygonna try and shoot for success and what's
going to be an ultra competitive division, you have to make sure that your
weapons and your leader are able tostay on the field and be productive.

(13:01):
Are you ready for the hot takeof the day. And we'll get into
the Jets and the Bills after thebreak, But hot take of the day,
and I wish I had a sounder. If the Miami Dolphins can stay
fully healthy and I get at leastsixteen games not saying full seventeen sixteen games

(13:22):
from Tua, Tyreek Jalen Waddle,they can win the AFC East audible gasp,
especially in an arrow area where there'sso many Bills Mafia fans. I'm
sorry, but I think talent wise, position for position, maybe you win

(13:45):
that battle. But overall for ateam, the Dolphins to me have more
talent than the Buffalo Bills from headto toe. We have some breaking news.
Zach Harris has officially been disinvowed andkicked out of Buffalo permanently. On
the other side of things, Idon't see that as a outlandish take.

(14:07):
I think that this is a teamthat has an incredible amount of potential.
Tyreek Hills one of the best receiversin the league even when I can't find
his name, and the fact ofTua with him paired up is one of
the most deadly duos you're going tosee of a quarterback in a receiver,
and if they stay healthy, theyplay all their games they need to.
Absolutely, I think they're an ultracompetitive team in this division that's ultra competitive

(14:31):
and have the chance to win itall. Now, you might not have
seen Tua at his best at Alabama, but when he had Jalen Waddle,
Davanta Smith and Jerry Judy and HenryRuggs, he was a slot master.
He knew how to place the ballexactly where it needed to be out in

(14:52):
front, so you can catch whereonly you can get that ball and you
can take it to the house fromanywhere on the field. That is what
I'm expecting this year that he isgoing to show the ability whether it's I'm
gonna throw a fifty yard bomb orI'm gonna throw five yards from the line

(15:13):
of scrimmage on a quick slant andlet my guys do what they need to
do and ultimately that could win theAC East. So how does that factor
into his first past attempt in hispreseason? The first past attempt and me
and you discussed this as we watchedit. Those plays are designed to cut
off half of the field, sohe needs to understand when half of the

(15:39):
field is not at your disposal andyou only have two options, which they
had to tight end break out andthen they had the guy coming over the
middle. You either make a quickdecision, you tuck and run or you
throw the ball away because you onlyhave those two options. Forcing it is
not an option. That's not somethingthat's injury related, that's something mentally related.

(16:02):
Yes, and from shoulders above isthe most important part of football outside
of health, yep. And insteadwe saw a ball go into a sea
of blue jerseys and once again beforewe go to break and come back.
Hot take of the day. IfI can get sixteen games out of Tua
Jalen and Tyreek, they win theAFC East. And you know what that

(16:26):
means. What you just said isone of the most insanely idiotic things I
have ever heard. At no pointin your rambling, incoherent response were you
even close to anything that could beconsidered a rational thought. Everyone in this
room is now dumber for having listenedto it. Well, thank you,

(16:49):
I appreciate it, but I'm stillflowing with the hot take. AFC East
is the Dolphins to win if theirthree main players can get at least sixteen
games, and the New York Jets, because there's been so much conversation around
the New York Jets here locally innationally that the Bills seem like an afterthought.

(17:18):
What shouldn't But that's what happens whenNicholas Cage himself comes into a New
York Jets locker room. For thoseof you that don't know what I'm talking
about, he pulled his best EdgarPoe or whatever his name was in con
air impersonation and walked in through thatJets locker room to be the biggest,

(17:42):
baddest mfer of them all. Ohyes, So that leads us to the
Jets going all in on the nextI would say two to three seasons.
Yeah, two to three seasons,depending on what Aaron Rodgers chooses to do.
And it sounds like he fell backin love with the game. But

(18:02):
that's all finding Dandy and spring.You know, when we're playing now,
when we're in training camp, youhaven't played an lick a preseason, which
is expected. But when you takethat first hit from Von Miller of the
Buffalo Bills, are you gonna thinkI want to play two three more years.
Am I still loving the game asmuch when I first came to the

(18:22):
Jets organization, I'm not quite sure. So they're really all in for a
short window point being next two tothree years. It's got to be done,
although I will say they're seemingly infor a short window. But also
is a bigger picture of what AaronRodgers has done since he's been on the
Jets. He sat here and he'stook on Zach Wilson. They're big draft

(18:45):
prospect who they needed big things fromlast year, who consistently underperformed. Aaron
Rodgers has coming to this organization andhe's kind of flat out said it's not
a competition. He's not taking thestarting quarterback job. But I'm going to
mentor him. I'm going to showhim the ropes. I'm going to work
with him. I'm going to develophim, and when the time comes,

(19:06):
I'm going to pass the reins tohim. Which I think is an underrated
franchise leadership move is bringing in AaronRodgers to legitimately coach up your big prospect.
Now. He was drafted twenty twentyone with the second overall pick as
we speak right now, I thinkhe's twenty four years old. Yes,

(19:27):
so let's just say Aaron Rodgers goesthree more years at twenty seven. Do
you want Zach Wilson to be yourstarter? Are you hoping that he's another
Geno Smith or an Alex Smith whofinally gets some stability later in his career
to blossom into a viable starter.I think that depends entirely on how the

(19:51):
Jets choose to weaponize him. Ithink that will depend entirely on their usage
of him. You know, we'veseen the fact of preseason he's probably gonna
be the only quarter of touches thefield other than their third stringer, because
Rogers so far has seemingly been uninterestedin playing in preseason games. He's he's
the guy that you know they're buildingreps with him. You'll probably see him

(20:12):
come in later in the season.You'll probably see some appearance of him for
however many seasons Rodgers is on thisteam. I think that the plan is
to basically work the two in sothat you can do as much of a
seamless transition as you can out ofRogers and into Wilson. How that goes
and how that realistically will look willentirely depend on how Wilson develops underneath Aaron

(20:36):
Rodgers. Now why I say it'sa two to three year window is because
you bring in Aaron Rodgers, who, let's be honest, he's close to
the end of his career. Yes, he may have two three at the
very most, very most in thisis being generous. Five years very generous,
but two to three is realistic.So you bring and Aaron Rodgers.

(21:00):
You got Nathaniel Hackett. Who's AaronRodgers guy, that's Nathaniel Hackett. Yeah.
You brought in Tim Boyle as yourthird string quarterback, former Packer.
You brought in Alan Lazart, RandallCobb, former Packers. You want to
try to get David BACKYARDI to comein and play left tackle for this team,

(21:26):
which the Packers have no indications ofeven fantasizing about a trade that would
revolve around David BACKYARDI to the Jets, yep. But the point being is
you set up Aaron Rodgers to succeedin a way that has been severely lacking

(21:47):
when it came to Sam Darnold andGino Smith and Mark Sanchez and Zach Wilson.
It's almost like you're trying to recreatethe Peyton Manning Broncos. Yeah,
you're trying to have a strong defense, an adequate receiving corps to complement a
Hall of Fame quarterback who's gonna tryand get you maybe two three touchdowns,

(22:07):
and the defense is just gonna haveto lock in hold the rest of the
game. For me, I thinkPeyton manningwood the Broncos, they had a
lot better of a receiving corps.This receiving corps. Yeah, Alan Lazard's
there, Corey Davis, Randall Cobb, but the number one option head and
shoulders is Garrett Wilson, who hasbeen absolutely spectacular. One Rookie of the

(22:33):
Year last year on the offensive sideof the ball, Sauce Gardner defensive Rookie
of the Year. Their tight endsare adequate, Tyler Conklin, c j
Ousma, Jeremy Ruckert, Kenny Boyah, who I thought coming out Old Miss
was going to be one of thosefreaklish I thought he was going to get
the kind of attention that the guyfrom the Atlanta Falcon Scott. He's a

(22:59):
freakish, big guy that can catchthe ball. Now, nothing has really
come out of that. He probablywon't even make the team, but they
have three viable tight ends. Theygot Garrett Wilson and three viable wide receivers.
Four viable if you want to countthe kid from Kansas City Chiefs McCole
Hardman. The offensive line. I'mgonna be honest, that is the one

(23:25):
thing that Joe Douglas. And I'ma big Joe Douglas believer because he did
a lot of great things with theEagles. He deserves this job, and
I hope it works out for him. But when you bring in Aaron Rodgers,
that is your number one asset.You are supposed to protect it.
Now, I will say last nightwhen the Jets played, McKay Beckton got

(23:48):
some snaps at right tackle. McKayBeckton was their first round pick a couple
of years ago. He was expectedto be their left tackle for the future.
He looked very comfortable at right tackle. And if you can get him
at right tackle, that at leastsets up the right side, because between

(24:11):
him and Elijah Vera Tucker and thenConnor McGovern that's a decent right side.
Lincoln Tomlinson on the left guard,he's one of the best guards in the
NFL. So that leaves the lefttackle up to Billy Turner or Dwayne Brown
or whoever's going to be able tocome in and take that left tackle spot.
Right now, it's built Billy Turner. But if there was one thing

(24:34):
that I could hammer on Joe Douglas, you brought in the wide receivers that
you wanted, you brought in AaronRodgers. You gotta protect your quarterback.
I would have liked them to bringmore to the offensive lines, absolutely,
and that's going to be their weakestpoint. And if you're you're wondering what
to expect from the Jets this year, expect a lot of plays at a
shotgun. Absolutely absolutely. He's notgonna have that mobility, all right.

(24:59):
So realistically, me for the Jets, and I kind of threw my hot
take out there earlier that the Dolphins, if healthy, could win the AFC
East. Realistically, this team hasto at least at the bare minimum,
make the postseason. Make the postseasonat the bare minimum, and they're looking

(25:21):
at a jam packed wild card becauseif you look at the AFC, the
division, not just the division,but the whole entire AFC. We have
the Bills the Dolphins, the Jets, the Steelers, the Ravens, the
Bengals, the Jaguars are not theJaguars. Jaguars could win the division.

(25:45):
So maybe the Titans, the Chargers, the Chiefs. What we got about
ten fifteen, ten eleven teams realisticallyfor seven spots. Oh yeah, And
that's kind of what I think thisteam was built around. Though I don't
think this was a team that wasmade to win the division. I don't
think that they are all around goodenough to win the division. But I

(26:07):
think it's a team that you've builtto try and scrape through games. Don't
you dare tell them that they're notgood enough to win a division. They
on the defensive side of the ballman handled the Buffalo Bills. Look I'm
wrong. I'm just saying, asfar as the way this team is constructed,
you are building a team that's goingto try and scrape wins away and
try and just get by as muchas possible, relying on Aaron Rodgers in

(26:30):
your adequate receiving corps, but mainlyyour defense. It's not going to be
massive offensive output. It's gonna bemainly defense with a couple of touchdowns to
scrape by and I think that willwin you enough games to get to the
postseason. So I would not beshocked if we see Jets go to the
postseason. That's the bare minimum thatthey have to do. As for the
Buffalo Bills, it didn't really makemany changes. They didn't make many changes,

(26:53):
nor did they need to. Ithink one change that they made that
came via the draft Dalton can eight. I love this kid. I love
Dalton Kinkaid. The reason for thatis because last year I said, and
it sounded funny coming from me,that this Bill's team struggled offensively, and

(27:15):
which is funny to say for ateam that scores thirty points. But I
said, there is something missing,and I think it's that out. It's
I have Gabe Davis, I haveStefan Diggs. But when Stefan Diggs getting
covered, can I have Gabe Davisgo out and get the ten catches for
one hundred and fifty yards when Ineed him to? Yep, that's going

(27:37):
to be the saying Dalton Kincaid.Ken. But he's going to be the
bailout guy. Yep. He's goingto be the next option on the board.
And I think that that's something thatis an unrelied or an unfounded point
about it is Stefan Diggs is alwaysnumber one target. He's always getting doubled
up, and you have to startfinding alternate weapons on the field. And
that's something that Josh Allen has triedto take himself. Yeah, and it's

(28:00):
caused a lot of grief from Billsfans, a lot of grief for the
management who have said, you can'tkeep doing this. You're gonna get yourself
hurt and apparent from what we've understoodand from what Josh Allen has said going
into this season, he wants totry and step away from being that next
out, that next option of tryingto put his body on the line because

(28:22):
he wants to try and be amore reliable, more stable, more healthy
quarterback so that he and not hisbroken body, can make it to the
championships. Absolutely, and I think, honestly I want him to be smarter
about it. I'm not saying completelybail out on a run when you could
have gotten extra two or three yards. Yeah, push the envelope when needed.

(28:45):
Understand game one is not as importantas Game seventeen, whatever game,
the first game of the preseason,postseason is isn't as important as game one
of the regular season, and heplays like every game is going to be
his last, which is admirable.It's noble, noble, but that's not

(29:06):
going to help you in a longterm. No, that makes you a
short term flash in the pan,which is not something that he's trying to
set himself up to be for thisteam. I also think hero ball is
the number one word. Whether it'sJosh Allen running the ball or always looking
for the big play. He needsthe slowdown on the hero ball. So

(29:30):
don't put your body in harm's way. Don't put the ball in harm's way.
You do not need to play heroball. You said it off air,
but I'm gonna bring it on airthat you really love this Bills team.
And I said, I think theDolphins is the most talented team head
to shoulders. You said you thinkthe Bills team is the most talented from
head to shoulders. You like thatteam overall better than any other team in

(29:51):
the division. It's an all aroundbuilt team. Von Miller's leading your defense,
Josh Allen's leading your offense. They'reone of the best offensive scoring teams
in the NFL. Period. No, Kansas City Chiefs or go neck and
neck with them every time. It'sone of the greatest offensive showdowns whenever those
two teams match up. And Ithink that they've continued to try and build
on that momentum and try to carrythat. That is their pinnacle strategy and

(30:15):
I think that's why they're the best. Now, I know this is going
to sound like I'm flip flopping,but real quickly, I want to say
this, If Josh Allen can stepaway from hero ball, I'm not talking
about winning the AFC East like Idid with the Miami Dolphins. I'm talking
about being up there with the KansasCity Chiefs putting on a thirteen and four

(30:37):
season or fourteen and three season.That is what is that helm for this
Bills team. If Josh Allen canprevent himself from playing hero ball, now
there's two things that they need todo. Offensive line needs to protect and
they need to be able to runthe ball better.