Speaker 1: The Around the NFL Podcast are one hundred percent natural.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Jansas, and I am joined by
Speaker 1: a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and
Speaker 1: Greg Rossatal. What's up boys, Hey Dn, Yeah, it's happening.
Speaker 1: I don't know not much. This is week two, the
Speaker 1: week to recap show, our flagship program. And again, people
Speaker 1: right now, they're in in the the old device over
Speaker 1: there are watching us on periscope. That's a great way
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, watch us, but makes the only
Speaker 1: way to watch us because the people up on the
Speaker 1: third floor, the shadowy League figures, decided not to put
Speaker 1: us on YouTube. So we said we're gonna bring ourselves
Speaker 1: to the people anyway. Well on Sunday nights. That's true.
Speaker 1: We all of our Thursday game previews you can check
Speaker 1: out on YouTube during the week. But but I'm excited.
Speaker 1: This Sunday night shows our best show. We don't need
Speaker 1: any We're going row. Yeah, the NFL did not need
Speaker 1: our best show apparently. Um but I have just retweeted
Speaker 1: for anyone listening or watching the link, but they already
Speaker 1: have the link because the only way it is by
Speaker 1: watching this So that was a useless move. Uh. Today's show,
Speaker 1: we will go over all the games that were played
Speaker 1: on Sunday, from the early one o'clock games through the
Speaker 1: Sunday night football game between the Packers and the Vikings,
Speaker 1: and uh, just a little heads up because I know
Speaker 1: we were all getting ton of tweets today. A rough
Speaker 1: day for all the nominees for the Team of a
Speaker 1: t L. The Steelers and Titans won, but maybe not
Speaker 1: too impressively, and the Bucks and Raiders fell in um,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of sad to humiliating fashions. I mean
Speaker 1: another way to mention that would be that the Bengals lost.
Speaker 1: The Steelers beat the Bengals. Uh the Bengals were they?
Speaker 1: Well I had the steel Oh sorry, that was my fault.
Speaker 1: I thought you that maybe should have been the team
Speaker 1: we did pick for Team of at Bengals losses. Let's
Speaker 1: be honest that that one was the longest of the
Speaker 1: long shots. The Bengals one. I understood what you were doing,
Speaker 1: and they might be the best team of the four.
Speaker 1: So you know, wasn't getting past legislation here, understand, I
Speaker 1: wasn't up and minded on that. I was more up
Speaker 1: in minded to the Bengals than the Bucks. Ledge West
Speaker 1: Lation does that work? West Lation? I don't know, Okay,
Speaker 1: So anyways, yeah, we'll get into all that. Our team
Speaker 1: of a t L where we're trying to figure out
Speaker 1: a team we could all root for together. But like
Speaker 1: we said, we're not going to force it. If we
Speaker 1: don't find one we like, we're just not gonna do it.
Speaker 1: And today was not a good start. But we have
Speaker 1: a lot to get to, um so why don't we
Speaker 1: do it, gentlemen? And we'll start in the a f
Speaker 1: C today where the Steelers defense put on a show,
Speaker 1: shutting down the Bengals ground game, keeping Andy Dalton A J.
Speaker 1: Green under control, and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: the Steelers came away with a twenty four to sixteen victory.
Speaker 1: Chris westling uh in a in some you know, not
Speaker 1: great weather, but in the a f C North that's fine,
Speaker 1: isn't it. There was an intermittent driving rain in this one.
Speaker 1: Whenever it was heavy rain, the offenses kind of bogged down.
Speaker 1: Big Bend did he made his hay when the rain
Speaker 1: kind of stopped. But there were some passes that were
Speaker 1: floated and off target. There were I think at least
Speaker 1: eight drops in this game, So it was a sloppy game,
Speaker 1: but the Steelers took control early and really had control
Speaker 1: of the game the entire game. Bengals fans will rue
Speaker 1: the call on Tyler board Boyd's fumble in which it
Speaker 1: looked like his knee was down. They had a chance,
Speaker 1: they were down eight, They had a chance to go
Speaker 1: for the tie, but they would have needed the touchdown
Speaker 1: and the two point conversion to even get back in
Speaker 1: the game. We now in January, the Bengals and Steelers
Speaker 1: clashed in one of the wildest, most bizarre, vicious football
Speaker 1: games that we've ever seen as a group. Did a
Speaker 1: take on that tone today, not in the least. There were.
Speaker 1: I didn't see any fireworks. It didn't seem like the
Speaker 1: teams were that emotional. It wasn't like it was It
Speaker 1: wasn't like the playoff game where they were hitting like.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like a Raven Steelers game. Because this this
Speaker 1: has the chance to kind of replace Raven Steelers is
Speaker 1: maybe the best divisional rivalry. Oh, I think it already has.
Speaker 1: Did Mike Munschak pull anyone's hair? He did not, But
Speaker 1: this seems kind of like a Neuser is the should
Speaker 1: the Steelers fans feel like, Okay, now we've got a team,
Speaker 1: maybe even a defense that is starting to know what
Speaker 1: they are a little more, that can win an ugly
Speaker 1: game in the rain like this. Well, Matt Jones and
Speaker 1: Jeremy Hill, the two starting tailbacks to face the Steelers defense,
Speaker 1: have averaged twenty three rushing yards through two games. That's
Speaker 1: that looks like a different element this year, that their
Speaker 1: front seven is stouter against the run and their past defense.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton stats were aided by the comeback attempt. He
Speaker 1: had three d sixty six yards, but a lot of
Speaker 1: that came late and and I think their past defense
Speaker 1: can probably still be picked on, but they haven't been
Speaker 1: picked on yet. Well, I think they've in and especially
Speaker 1: Mike Tomlin has looked at the at the roster and
Speaker 1: is starting to play to their weaknesses and cover them up.
Speaker 1: They're not as aggressive, I don't think on defense anymore.
Speaker 1: They're starting to look a lot more like a Mike
Speaker 1: Tomlin defense, like the one who used to run in
Speaker 1: Tampa and Minnesota. Maybe a little more conservative in the
Speaker 1: back end, try to prevent big plays and play to
Speaker 1: the strength of the team, which is the offense. So
Speaker 1: it certainly helps that. It looks like Ryan ches E
Speaker 1: has made the leap from from a guy who made
Speaker 1: a handful of errors per game to a guy who's
Speaker 1: really a Pro Bowl talent. Now has any team had
Speaker 1: a better start than Pittsburgh. I mean, you've knocked out
Speaker 1: two good teams right out of the gate. Now, not
Speaker 1: the Skins, but I mean this is a huge win
Speaker 1: for them and Pittsburgh to me as the class of
Speaker 1: that division. Absolutely well, they held serve it's worth you know,
Speaker 1: the Bengals lost the road division game that that that's expected.
Speaker 1: The Ravens have started out to a know, I look
Speaker 1: at this division after a couple of weeks and I
Speaker 1: thought this beforehand, but you're thinking this is one of
Speaker 1: the better divisions in football, and it wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: surprise of three teams are in the mix in the
Speaker 1: last week of the season and one is picking first
Speaker 1: in the draft. We'll get to that. Um, let's move on,
Speaker 1: unless anyone has anything else to say about that great
Speaker 1: game today that was played on in America. Bengals. Bengals
Speaker 1: draw the Broncos next week. They gotta get the running
Speaker 1: game on trail. No teams had a tougher opening schedule,
Speaker 1: I believe than the Bengals. At the Jets, who I
Speaker 1: think the Jets are one of the better teams right now.
Speaker 1: At the Steelers and then the defending Super Bowl champions.
Speaker 1: That's good for a team. That's good for a team
Speaker 1: that I think Cincinnati. That's that's that's the way you
Speaker 1: want to do it for who you are. It's good
Speaker 1: for a team if you come out of that two
Speaker 1: and one. It's probably bad for a team to come
Speaker 1: out of it one and two. Yeah, let's move on, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: to the throne of these Yes, the throne of ease,
Speaker 1: where Jimmy Garoppolo so as Greg Lean's back in his chair. Uh,
Speaker 1: life is good, or is it? No, it's not. Jimmy
Speaker 1: Garoppolo comes in a second game, uh, subbing for Tom
Speaker 1: Brady who's suspended. He threw was for three touchdowns and
Speaker 1: two and thirty four yards in the first twenty five
Speaker 1: minutes of game action, then goes down with a shoulder injury.
Speaker 1: Um takes a hard hit, does not return. The third
Speaker 1: string quarterback comes in, which is one step away from
Speaker 1: Julian Edelman being the quarterback. Who's the third stringer's name again,
Speaker 1: Jacoby saying Kobe their starter now and no longer third
Speaker 1: stringer who is now looks like he'll be starting on
Speaker 1: Thursday night. Anyway, The Patch jumped out to a huge lead,
Speaker 1: hung on at the end when Dolphins mounted a late
Speaker 1: come back at thirty one to four. Patriots win now
Speaker 1: without Jimmy Garoppolo probably on Thursday night, and who knows
Speaker 1: if he'll be back the next week before Brady comes back,
Speaker 1: but at the week week to week. But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, Greg All is good in Patriot
Speaker 1: Lane because now you're two and oh without Tom Brady
Speaker 1: or Rob Gronkowski. Yeah, spin it, baby, spin it. Well.
Speaker 1: I would have as a fan, you would much rather
Speaker 1: have them look a little sloppy and win a close
Speaker 1: game and have a healthy Jimmy Garoppolo for the next
Speaker 1: two weeks than what happened in this game, which is
Speaker 1: they barely held on to win. And I don't blame
Speaker 1: them for getting ultra conservative. When Jacoby Brissette entered the game,
Speaker 1: that makes sense. He actually went six for nine yards,
Speaker 1: but none of his passes were more than five or
Speaker 1: six yards in the air. I am now worried, of course,
Speaker 1: about the next two weeks. Can you win a game
Speaker 1: or two games with Jacoby Brissette, a third round rookie
Speaker 1: as you're starting quarterback, Maybe they can. But I think
Speaker 1: the Texans are looking at this Thursday night matchup and thinking,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna go to Foxboro, we just hit the jackpot,
Speaker 1: because this is when you want to go for sure.
Speaker 1: But I guess my point being, you got two wins. Now,
Speaker 1: in my mind, it's house money until Brady gets back.
Speaker 1: Even if you even if this guy said craters, you're
Speaker 1: still getting the best quarterback in the world back on
Speaker 1: a loaded team at two and two, So the sky
Speaker 1: is not falling no matter how bad this game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you talked about getting out of this at two and
Speaker 1: two as a reasonable you know, expectations, so you're hoping
Speaker 1: for three and one. But yeah, this is a huge
Speaker 1: challenge these by the way, because you're nervous about the
Speaker 1: next two games. When you're two and out, you're fine.
Speaker 1: I agree with Dan. Tom Brady comes back in week five,
Speaker 1: all problems are solved. That that that's fair. What are
Speaker 1: the what are the chances we see Matt Flynn at
Speaker 1: some point in the next two weeks. Well, they've got
Speaker 1: to get someone. So it's gonna come down to someone
Speaker 1: they trust. And there's not much out their free agent
Speaker 1: wise at all. Right, he's he's been there. He could
Speaker 1: be someone they signed. There were some concerns. I know,
Speaker 1: I know. They had a twenty four to three lead,
Speaker 1: uh in this game and then Ryan Tanhill went on
Speaker 1: a crazy stringe with a throwaway. It wasn't all just Oh,
Speaker 1: they're playing prevent defense, they're trying to make stops, They're
Speaker 1: they're playing aggressively. The Dolphins offense just played better in
Speaker 1: the second half, and they were going to win that
Speaker 1: game if the game got any longer and the Patriots
Speaker 1: held on. I think La Gary, your boy, La Gary
Speaker 1: Blunt has been terrific. The m v P of this
Speaker 1: team through two weeks, and their ability to run the
Speaker 1: ball and milk the clock a little bit, even with
Speaker 1: perset in the lineup, was key to the way. If
Speaker 1: you're Bill Belichick, though, and you've got, you know, a
Speaker 1: certain amount of days to now prepare another quarterback creation experience.
Speaker 1: Three days, what kind of game plan do you think
Speaker 1: we'd see on Thursday night? A lot of short passes,
Speaker 1: I mean, Julian Edelman has shown how valuable he is
Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks, really getting open. Martellis
Speaker 1: Bennett had a great game, uh in some great scheme calls.
Speaker 1: These last couple of weeks have been all you need
Speaker 1: to know about Josh McDaniels as an offensive coordinator and
Speaker 1: what he should show prospective teams when he's interviewing for jobs.
Speaker 1: To me to put up the points that they have
Speaker 1: because the thing we didn't mention, Garoppolo was playing lights out.
Speaker 1: This team looked like it was the Oh seven Patriots
Speaker 1: for the first twenty minutes of this game. He had
Speaker 1: two and thirty five yards and three touchdowns in the
Speaker 1: first twenty minutes of the game. It was I can't
Speaker 1: believe how much better he's looked in the regular season
Speaker 1: than the preseason. I appreciate the contortionist act you pulled
Speaker 1: off to uh find something positive to say about Ryan Tanhill,
Speaker 1: but this offense could not move the ball for fifty
Speaker 1: five minutes and see at all, and didn't move the
Speaker 1: ball until the game was out of hand today. But
Speaker 1: the game was out of hand because of the defense,
Speaker 1: also because Tannehill went five drives without moving the offense
Speaker 1: that that's that's fair. I mean, let's see Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: do something with the game competitive. I guess if I
Speaker 1: was thinking of all the reasons why the Dolphins lost
Speaker 1: and should be concerned, and they should be Tannehill in
Speaker 1: the passing game was the one positive you get. Davonte
Speaker 1: Parker back, he looks good. Jarvis Landry has a big game,
Speaker 1: Kenny Stills Jordan really a positive. The games already out
Speaker 1: of hand by the time you finally move. People always
Speaker 1: people always say that, but the throws here is making
Speaker 1: just watch the game, are into tight windows, tough throws.
Speaker 1: Is not making those throws earlier? Why didn't he make
Speaker 1: those throws in week one? And Jarvis Landry put it
Speaker 1: well in a quote to the Miami Herald after the game,
Speaker 1: we can't be an almost team. That blank is over,
Speaker 1: And I get it, you get you're frustrated. I'm sure
Speaker 1: if you're a Dolphins fan Handsome Hank downstairs, well you
Speaker 1: know he's dying too, because it's like, yeah, nice comeback.
Speaker 1: I know you actually had a shot to tie the
Speaker 1: game on the last second heave, but the act that
Speaker 1: you were getting your doors blown off, I mean it's
Speaker 1: just embarrassing. Well, and there were major problems for them,
Speaker 1: airing Fosters out with a growing injury. Who knows when
Speaker 1: he'll be back. J G. I A has been a
Speaker 1: kind of a disaster. Inactive last week, fumbled this week,
Speaker 1: didn't look good. They're running game has is a non
Speaker 1: starter because they're starting four left tackles on their offensive line.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that looked good last week, their
Speaker 1: defensive line, got steamrolled by the page. Dolphins fans want
Speaker 1: to see it. They're tired of this year after year,
Speaker 1: and you can. You're not spinning it, but you can.
Speaker 1: You can poist up any positive angler, one positive thing
Speaker 1: in a sea of disaster. Think about this game at
Speaker 1: the end of the season, and again Tannehill has really
Speaker 1: nice numbers. You're like, oh, why aren't the Dolphins better. Well,
Speaker 1: you gotta do it when it counts. Let's move on, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: and uh we'll talk about the Houston Texans. Will Fuller,
Speaker 1: rookie wide receiver, has another big game, a hundred and
Speaker 1: four yards against the Chiefs. He became the first rookie
Speaker 1: and club history to begin his career with back to
Speaker 1: back one hundred yard games, leading the way in a
Speaker 1: nineteen to two all of win for the Texans over
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. Marc sas are a little revenge after that
Speaker 1: embarrassment UH thumping the Chiefs handed down to the Texans
Speaker 1: in January. It was and it's well we talked about
Speaker 1: on Thursday that that game really, you know, does not
Speaker 1: in any way reflect what this matchup was because Houston,
Speaker 1: over the course of an off season, reorganized their passing game.
Speaker 1: They got a better running back in Lamar Miller who
Speaker 1: ran for eighty three yards today, and you finally have
Speaker 1: someone across from new New Hopkins who is not just contributing,
Speaker 1: but is an absolute game changer. They had they both
Speaker 1: had a hundred yards today. That's the first time that's
Speaker 1: happened for the Houston Texans. And yes, you know, look,
Speaker 1: I think I think it's still something else you talked about.
Speaker 1: These players are playing together in just their second game.
Speaker 1: In many cases, they unlike the Dolphins, they're producing results though,
Speaker 1: and it also has to do with their defense. J. J. Watt,
Speaker 1: who I think last week was you know, getting cooked,
Speaker 1: getting cooked back into the game plan a little bit.
Speaker 1: One and a half sacks today, made some big plays,
Speaker 1: looked mostly like his old self and had four sacks overall.
Speaker 1: He's not the only player on this defense, you know,
Speaker 1: wrecking the quarterback to Sean Jackson is the only other
Speaker 1: rookie in NFL history to have a hundred yards in
Speaker 1: his first two games receiving. And if you look at
Speaker 1: this Texans offense last year, they had outside of DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: only to one yard receiving games. They were both by
Speaker 1: Nate Washington. Will Fuller has already done that in his
Speaker 1: first two games. This is not nearly the same team
Speaker 1: that lost got blown out against the Chief. And for
Speaker 1: people that are, you know, into fantasy football, Will Fuller
Speaker 1: is going to give you one of these. I mean
Speaker 1: you're not happy with the fantasy community. Look, I'm fine.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm fine with him. I don't need every single
Speaker 1: play analyzed based on other people's fantasy teams. In our newsroom,
Speaker 1: it's guests a little bit well up in the kimono.
Speaker 1: We are sitting directly next to the entire fantasy empire,
Speaker 1: and you know, we now have a front row seat
Speaker 1: to they're doing their jobs. They're wonderful guys when they're
Speaker 1: getting But you know, Mark, you like you're concentrating on
Speaker 1: your games. I don't know. It's the I don't like
Speaker 1: re play in football analyzed only on whether or not someone's,
Speaker 1: you know, voyeuristic from a distance. Football roster on a
Speaker 1: computer screen is doing well or not all voyeuristic. I'll
Speaker 1: be voyeuristic in any way I want, but it's not
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I don't go have fun with the Cells.
Speaker 1: Let's get back to this game, though. I think we
Speaker 1: had a better week than the Texans. By the way,
Speaker 1: that Colts and Jags are O and two. Now they
Speaker 1: get to go to New England. Like you said, all
Speaker 1: the new they get revenge on the team that they
Speaker 1: beat him in the playoffs. Well, and with the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: One thing on the Chiefs. They got killed by turnovers today,
Speaker 1: and they're the kind of team that cannot go in
Speaker 1: and have three turnovers. They're not gonna win games like that.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to like about this offense, and we
Speaker 1: thought they were maybe starting to hit like peak Andy
Speaker 1: Reid form and they got crushed today by their own mistakes.
Speaker 1: At Houston is one of the toughest defensive assignments in
Speaker 1: the NFL. I'm playing against them at home. I'll go.
Speaker 1: I'll throw it out there, by the way. And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying this, I'm not pushing this, but the Texans
Speaker 1: are a lot of interesting pieces. If our team of
Speaker 1: a t L nominees all falter there, there are a
Speaker 1: better option than than what we ourselves hoisted up last
Speaker 1: week in a ridiculous show by us. Let's not give up.
Speaker 1: It was a ridiculous, you know, piece of work on
Speaker 1: our part to put up three total stinkers. As you know,
Speaker 1: a team of a t L options. We can't look
Speaker 1: into the future. You never know how teams are going
Speaker 1: to performed just one week. Well, that's right, stay final
Speaker 1: results about the journey. We said Thursday, the Texans are
Speaker 1: an interesting sleepers for team of a t They pulled
Speaker 1: through again today, your boy Lamar Miller sixty touches through
Speaker 1: three weeks, two weeks. Let's see how I like that.
Speaker 1: Let's calm down a little bit, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Let's see how that hall bring that down to for
Speaker 1: three point three yards per carry today, Let's let's just
Speaker 1: take it down to about I know I'm not asking
Speaker 1: for some Alfred Blue and week nine I like, I like,
Speaker 1: I didn't like the Dolphins giving him seventeen touches a week,
Speaker 1: but thirty. Let's go right in the middle. Keep my
Speaker 1: boy healthy. I want that sandwich to get on the
Speaker 1: phone with Bill O'Brien. You have his email, you have
Speaker 1: his phone number, Billy. Oh, okay, well do I sure
Speaker 1: we have all that stuff at our command. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: move on. The first game at uh NFL football game
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles and many many years took place today.
Speaker 1: It was the game that counts, I should say, in
Speaker 1: the Rams against the Seahawks, and the Rams coming off
Speaker 1: an absolute embarrassment on Monday night football. Nothing loss to
Speaker 1: a forty niners team we all pretty much agree stinks.
Speaker 1: So what happens classic Jeff Fisher. He gets the Seattle
Speaker 1: Seahawks in his building, shuts down, uh the Seahawks offense
Speaker 1: with a pretty obviously hurting Russell Wilson h a nine
Speaker 1: three lead with less than two minutes to go, and
Speaker 1: the Seahawks marching, and they're gonna steal a game from
Speaker 1: an inferior team like they did to the Dolblins next week. No,
Speaker 1: because this happened, third down, intense snack, Wilson frosts he's
Speaker 1: well protected. The pocket collapses as he throws at right
Speaker 1: side numbers pot by. Michael puts his shoulder down, football
Speaker 1: comes out, local tree is on its there you have it, there,
Speaker 1: you have it. It's a fumble. The Rams have turned
Speaker 1: in the Seahawks over inside a final minutes at the Coliseum,
Speaker 1: nine three final the Los Angeles Rams of the victory.
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, what did you see? I saw a Jeff
Speaker 1: Fisher fever dream from another planet. I mean, this is
Speaker 1: how Jeff Fisher in the middle of the night when
Speaker 1: he just thinks about peak moments on the football field.
Speaker 1: It's winning a game like this nine to three, uh,
Speaker 1: in a game that resembled something out of ninety two.
Speaker 1: It's what can you do? You got case Keenum as
Speaker 1: your quarterback, and yes, they won the game, and their
Speaker 1: defense overpowered Seattle's line, and they were in Russell Wilson's
Speaker 1: face all day long. It didn't show up necessarily in
Speaker 1: the box score in terms of sacks, only two sacks.
Speaker 1: But I think Russell Wilson clearly bothered by the ankle.
Speaker 1: He was not the same quarterback, but he had a
Speaker 1: chance at the end of this game. We just heard
Speaker 1: the replay to do what he did last week, which
Speaker 1: he came very close to another miraculous finish here and
Speaker 1: the Rams defense got it done. But I I just
Speaker 1: look at the Rams. I don't not taking anything away
Speaker 1: from the win, but I am very concerned about Todd Gurley,
Speaker 1: one of the who looked like one of the new
Speaker 1: NFL stars last year. His trajectory, if you look at
Speaker 1: his yards per game and yards per average from the
Speaker 1: first games, first four games in the NFL to the
Speaker 1: rest of last season two now is plumbing downward and
Speaker 1: the problem. He's not the problem, but teams know to
Speaker 1: just stack the box against the Rams and put it
Speaker 1: in Case Keenum's hands. Keenum did not have an awful game.
Speaker 1: For what case Keen is eight yards per Tent made
Speaker 1: some big throws and big spots, some long yard or
Speaker 1: song get long gainers, but they had a first and
Speaker 1: goal from the Seattle for and came away with a
Speaker 1: field goal. Again Jeff Fisher. That's a dreamscape for Jeff Fisher,
Speaker 1: but you have got to punch that in. You cannot
Speaker 1: hope to score ten points and win games like that.
Speaker 1: I think Jeff Fisher has shown he can beat great
Speaker 1: teams in games like this. In Los Angeles or in St.
Speaker 1: Louis or whatever stadium he wants to play. And this
Speaker 1: is the third straight when he has over the Seahawks
Speaker 1: in three different stadiums. But the trick is, can you
Speaker 1: do it more than seven times with this style of
Speaker 1: football against other teams? And you know Russell Wilson's four
Speaker 1: and five against the against the Rams, but you're playing
Speaker 1: thirty one other teams and watch you know, this is
Speaker 1: really what you want to sign up for for three
Speaker 1: more years. And this is the and this is the
Speaker 1: thing too with Russell Wilson that when you have a
Speaker 1: bad ankle and a high ankle sprain is one of
Speaker 1: the worst injuries you could have and still be playing.
Speaker 1: I was on that UH Sunday Game Day couch Blitz
Speaker 1: show earlier today. Kelen Winslow Jr. Was sitting on the
Speaker 1: couch as well, Me and Kelen Winslow dropping it up.
Speaker 1: Me and Kelen winsl on one side, Tim Meadows of
Speaker 1: Saturday Night Live on the other side a real power
Speaker 1: tree and UH said that NFL um players rather have
Speaker 1: a broken leg than a high ankle sprain because the
Speaker 1: leg heals when you treat it right, but the spring
Speaker 1: keeps on lingering and a lot of the plays that
Speaker 1: I would think that Russell Wilson he does. He gets
Speaker 1: away from the pass rush and then when another quarterback
Speaker 1: throws it away your scampers for a three yard game,
Speaker 1: he creates a forty five yard reception. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: that type of guy. So you take that out of
Speaker 1: his game, and it really hurts. It's the it's the
Speaker 1: it's on his throws too. It's not just rushing ability
Speaker 1: because it clearly, you know it toys with your ability
Speaker 1: to throw comfortably. So why aren't they saddling up Christen
Speaker 1: Michael in the third and fourth quarters when he's ripping
Speaker 1: off eight or nine yards. It's it's interesting what happened
Speaker 1: with Listen again, credit to the Rams. They shut down
Speaker 1: Seattle's ground game when they tried this. Thomas Rawls, Kristen
Speaker 1: Michael Combo Rawls at the end, they had fourteen rushes
Speaker 1: for fourteen yards. The Seahawks at half, Rawls had seven
Speaker 1: rushes for negative seven. He he did not look healthy
Speaker 1: and he got pulled for a leg injury at halftime.
Speaker 1: Then Michael and we talked about this. Michael is a
Speaker 1: flow runner. You gotta give him the ball and get
Speaker 1: everyone off the field and let him do it. And
Speaker 1: Michael had a nice second half sixty yards six yards
Speaker 1: per rush, and he should be their guy, unquestioned, except
Speaker 1: he had the worst play of the game. He all right,
Speaker 1: he had a catch in a fumble that ended the game.
Speaker 1: You're right, but but be no, but you can't say
Speaker 1: he had the nice second half when he makes the
Speaker 1: biggest mistake in the game, and he's made he made
Speaker 1: a couple of big mistakes last week. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: that's that's the Kristen Michael experience. You're gonna get some
Speaker 1: of that. But he is the better runner right now.
Speaker 1: That's is sandwich on him being a top five fantasy
Speaker 1: back in September. Is in deep, deep trouble in September alone,
Speaker 1: that that that could be a problem people, greg to
Speaker 1: your point at the l A Coliseum today, we're doing
Speaker 1: wild the game that could and they were into the
Speaker 1: game twelve total points, nineteen penalties. Yeah and one. Yes,
Speaker 1: they're exactly will not be the team they need to
Speaker 1: get more watchable. But I will say this for fans
Speaker 1: that remember watching the l A and Raiders and Rams
Speaker 1: back in the day, the sunlight on the Rams uniforms
Speaker 1: look beautiful. It looked like something that we have not
Speaker 1: seen in so long to go from that dome they
Speaker 1: were in. And I'm sorry for St. Louis fans, but
Speaker 1: to this it was a major victim. It's writing the
Speaker 1: articles for for the l A Times because this it
Speaker 1: looks exactly like the late seventies early eighties Rams. Three.
Speaker 1: Uh did you just he smirched the Edward James almost
Speaker 1: I apologize to that facility, but I did. Okay, he's
Speaker 1: keen him now with a what a six game leash
Speaker 1: would would be amazing? Would anybody be still well? Would
Speaker 1: be stunning. But if they quietly released Jared Goffin he alright,
Speaker 1: moving on, let's uh, let's continue talking about some NFC
Speaker 1: football and uh, Dallas Cowboys who lost. They had a
Speaker 1: one point loss in Week one at home travel to
Speaker 1: Washington and Dak Prescott. You know, I watched this game
Speaker 1: pretty closely and Dac was a guy that he's not
Speaker 1: gonna kill you outside the numbers that looks like, but
Speaker 1: he'll he'll hit you in the seams and he could
Speaker 1: make some plays and I thought he played very well
Speaker 1: against the Redskins. The engineer drives in eighty yards uh
Speaker 1: for touchdowns and that was enough for a twenty three
Speaker 1: win over the Redskins. Redskins start the season with two
Speaker 1: games at home, lose them both. That's a killer. And
Speaker 1: the game winning touchdown scored by Alfred Moore Morris, who
Speaker 1: got some revenge over the Redskins, who who did not
Speaker 1: bother to bring him back in the offseason. And the
Speaker 1: reason offered Morris scored the go ahead touchdown for the
Speaker 1: Cowboys is that Ezekiel Elliott put it on the floor
Speaker 1: twice and got yanked in crunch time. So that's something
Speaker 1: that bears watching. But Cowboys are a big bounce back
Speaker 1: win and the Redskins in deep trouble. Chris Wesley, I
Speaker 1: don't know if the Cowboys are a good team, but
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins is still not beating a good team in
Speaker 1: his NFL career. Kirk Cousins did not play well at
Speaker 1: all in this game. He missed several throws that should
Speaker 1: be a routine for any quarterback, let alone one making
Speaker 1: twenty million dollars, and there was a p FT report
Speaker 1: after the game that some Redskins players were grumbling. Greg
Speaker 1: wisely and astutely um put together or tied together some things.
Speaker 1: Who know. I'll just say de Sean Jackson was missed
Speaker 1: on two wide open throws that should have been touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Uh not say it was him. But there's some grumbling,
Speaker 1: and there really should be because I'm not saying the
Speaker 1: Redskins were gonn beat the Steelers last week, because the
Speaker 1: Steelers just overwhelmed them as a much better team. But
Speaker 1: they should have won this game if their quarterback played proficiently.
Speaker 1: Not many. I don't know how many teams had worse
Speaker 1: first two weeks in the Redskins. Losing two games at home,
Speaker 1: one to do a division rival, and with your quarterback
Speaker 1: plane as one of the really the worst five or
Speaker 1: six quarterbacks in the league back to back weeks doesn't
Speaker 1: get much worse. And starts and two very visible games,
Speaker 1: you know you've been out classed in the course of
Speaker 1: a week. That's that's bad Kirk. And not to dwell
Speaker 1: on Kirk Cousins, but he looks like the Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: that uh was Kirk Cousins before he had that really
Speaker 1: nice run against a bunch of Krumby teams last year.
Speaker 1: And if you're the Redskins. You're you're thanking you're lucky
Speaker 1: stars maybe at this point that we didn't give him
Speaker 1: a massive deal, but you still paid them a lot
Speaker 1: of money. And if this is gonna be the Cousins,
Speaker 1: and if their actual is is grumbling, it's very early,
Speaker 1: but this has some of the makings of you know,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be one team in the NFC East that
Speaker 1: really crumbles as at asn't in the picture. Is that
Speaker 1: gonna be the Redskins losing back to back home games,
Speaker 1: that's tough. Well, some of it has to go on
Speaker 1: the team building too. You know, their defense doesn't look
Speaker 1: any better. It doesn't, it might be worse. They're giving
Speaker 1: up twenty four first downs to a team led by
Speaker 1: a rookie. This is a team that they've talked about
Speaker 1: being better up front. I don't think that's really shown
Speaker 1: up and on either side of the ball. So it's
Speaker 1: not just Cousins. They have a lot to be displaceed.
Speaker 1: I have one question about the Cowboys, because I think
Speaker 1: they're They're a fun team to watch if you want
Speaker 1: to talk about that. But last week the Giants kind
Speaker 1: of sealed that game up by running right through the
Speaker 1: heart of their defense. Over and over. How did the
Speaker 1: Redskins look on the ground against against Dallas? And that's
Speaker 1: more of a Cowboys comment than a Redskins question. I mean,
Speaker 1: they were okay, Matt Jones scored a touchdown. He he
Speaker 1: did pretty well at thirteen for sixty one. They didn't
Speaker 1: run the ball ton though. I mean Kirk Cousins through
Speaker 1: the ball forty six times in this game, which you
Speaker 1: probably want to avoid, especially on a day when Kirk
Speaker 1: Cousins clearly isn't spinning it very well. So to me,
Speaker 1: that's interesting. And I think they look at the Cowboys
Speaker 1: and they think this team has no pass right. We've
Speaker 1: got all these weapons. The way to beat them is
Speaker 1: to throw on them like crazy, which makes sense if
Speaker 1: you've got the right guy, you know, throwing the ball.
Speaker 1: But maybe they don't. Well, by the way, you don't
Speaker 1: have a deep, exciting backfield either. I still think Matt
Speaker 1: Jones guns. I mean, I know, but come on, it's
Speaker 1: like of all the backfields that have been have a
Speaker 1: potentially disappointed to the Skins. Uh And two more points
Speaker 1: on the Cowboys offense, they made a concerted effort to
Speaker 1: get Dez Bryant the ball. They're talking to him twelve
Speaker 1: times seven for one oh two. Uh. Does looked healthy.
Speaker 1: And Elliott he did fumble twice, he lost one of them,
Speaker 1: but he had a couple of runs where he started
Speaker 1: to look more like the guy that we were expecting. Uh.
Speaker 1: He finished eighty three, So that was that's a big
Speaker 1: win for the Cowboys there. And if you're the Redskins,
Speaker 1: you gotta you're starting to get a little bit nervous
Speaker 1: about what's going on there. The Cowboys have the Bears
Speaker 1: in the forty Niners next. I think each one of
Speaker 1: these wins they can get. Certainly in the division with
Speaker 1: Dak Prescott is a huge, huge bonus boost for them.
Speaker 1: And Josh Norman did not exclusively covered as Briant, but
Speaker 1: he played a very strong game. It was this was
Speaker 1: not on jump. Moving on, gentlemen, let's talk some Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers people, the defending NFC champions. Uh a home opening
Speaker 1: uh destruction of the San Francisco forty Niners, but actually
Speaker 1: seven win not quite accurate. They kind of nighters are
Speaker 1: hanging around in this game for a while, but they
Speaker 1: were simply again kind of overwhelmed by a better team.
Speaker 1: Newton through Cam Newton through four touchdowns, two of them
Speaker 1: to um a scary giant Kelvin Benjamin Greg Rosenthal. That
Speaker 1: is a pairing that is gonna put up monster numbers
Speaker 1: this year. I I thought during some parts of the
Speaker 1: game that Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin just being bigger
Speaker 1: and stronger than their opponents was all that mattered. It
Speaker 1: was like they were hitting Cam Newton and sometimes it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter when you hit Cam Newton. The Broncos learned
Speaker 1: it last week. I thought he played a great game
Speaker 1: despite them destroying him. They're on top of Kelvin Benjamin.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter. He's gonna catch that touchdown pass. Benjamin has
Speaker 1: shut up whatever offseason narratives there were about his conditioning
Speaker 1: and come out and just been a total dynamo better
Speaker 1: than he was as a rookie is huge, not just
Speaker 1: the conditioning. There was this sentiment and fantasy football circles
Speaker 1: to Kevin. Kevin Benjamin just isn't that good of a
Speaker 1: football player. As if his rookie season he wasn't beating
Speaker 1: the top cornerbacks in the NFL on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1: He's always gonna drop a few passes, But this guy
Speaker 1: is the perfect frame for Cam Newton to throw too.
Speaker 1: This is a game that the score is somewhat misleading,
Speaker 1: and it shows where you can get into trouble with
Speaker 1: the Chip Kelly offense. I mean, the Panthers offense didn't
Speaker 1: have a point for the first twenty plus minutes of
Speaker 1: the game. But you have to have an offense that
Speaker 1: moved the ball occasionally, that doesn't give up points on
Speaker 1: their own. The first seven points the Panthers scored were
Speaker 1: by their defense, and don't turn the ball over. Gabbett
Speaker 1: turns it over three times. They keep giving possession after
Speaker 1: possession to Caroline, and eventually the size and strength that
Speaker 1: Carolina just overwhelmed that forty Niners defense, which I think
Speaker 1: could be pretty good, but it's not going to be
Speaker 1: good enough to hold up against fifteen drives of the
Speaker 1: Panthers in Carolina. I love Week two because it blows
Speaker 1: up so much garbage that came out of Week one,
Speaker 1: and I look at the Panthers right now as a
Speaker 1: rather unstoppable team because there you we talked about team
Speaker 1: building already a couple of times on this show, and
Speaker 1: the way that they draft and developed players over and
Speaker 1: over and over that is how you keep it going
Speaker 1: for you know, five six seasons in a row. This
Speaker 1: is it, this is this is my team in the NFC.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a better team in the NFC
Speaker 1: right now. Well, they have to be concerned. Jonathan Stewart
Speaker 1: leaves with an injury. You know, Fozzy Whittaker's up next,
Speaker 1: has a good game. He's not a between the tackles
Speaker 1: grinder like to they're gonna have. I would imagine they'll
Speaker 1: have Cameron ortist pain active for the first time next week.
Speaker 1: I wasn't impressed with him at all in his rookies,
Speaker 1: one of the weirder names in the NFL. Right, and
Speaker 1: the defense you don't know, you know, you assume the
Speaker 1: defense will be good because it's great on paper. So
Speaker 1: far this season, they did not have a good Week one.
Speaker 1: This game is hard to evaluate against Blaine Gabber and company,
Speaker 1: who didn't look great. Ultimately, the forty nine is moved
Speaker 1: the ball a lot, scored some points in this game.
Speaker 1: It was a strange game. Shouldn't he just change his
Speaker 1: last name to artist hyphened painter? I like that, Cameron
Speaker 1: artist Painter. I like, you know, are you ready for
Speaker 1: the most surprising state of the day. Yes, Blaine Gabber
Speaker 1: has thrown a touchdown pass and eleven straight games, the
Speaker 1: second longest streak in the NFL behind Russell Wilson. These
Speaker 1: are strange times. Now, they're strange that Vance McDonald scored
Speaker 1: a seventy five yard touchdown in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Your old one for seventy five and one stat line
Speaker 1: catches two touchdowns. Um, all right, gentlemen, let's move on
Speaker 1: and talk about. Yes, a team of a t L nominee,
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans, who were stumbling again on offense, and
Speaker 1: Marcus Mariotta was having a rough day, but he stepped
Speaker 1: up when it mattered most. On the Titans game winning drive,
Speaker 1: he went nine for nine for seventy four yards and
Speaker 1: a fourth down touched on pass to Andre Johnson. Uh
Speaker 1: In Detroit, Matthew Stafford said, all right, all right, I
Speaker 1: saw what you did, Marcus. Now I'm gonna go down
Speaker 1: the field and lead my team to another dramatic victory.
Speaker 1: But instead this happened. Stafford pressure coming up the middle,
Speaker 1: he throws intercepted Cox to this ground. Paris Cox I
Speaker 1: in te wow um so Paris Cox with the game
Speaker 1: clinching interception Stafford's first pick in two twelve passes, and yes,
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans hold on for a sixteen to fifteen win.
Speaker 1: West Your boys, the Titans, Uh, how are you feeling
Speaker 1: coming out of this game? I know they won the game,
Speaker 1: but this game, in no way, shape or form, helped
Speaker 1: their chances of being the team of interesting. They were
Speaker 1: a boring watch. There is no downfield element whatsoever to
Speaker 1: their passing game. Marcus Mariotta seems to be regressing under
Speaker 1: Mike Malarkey's golden Larkey. They need a downfield element to
Speaker 1: their passing game. There's no real creativity on that. And
Speaker 1: the Lions are flag seventeen times. The Titans need a
Speaker 1: fourth and five to beat a team flag seventeen times
Speaker 1: for thirty eight yards, had three touchdowns called back on penalties,
Speaker 1: and a team in the Lions that gave up a
Speaker 1: lot of points last week. If nothing else, I thought
Speaker 1: that Titans would move the ball a little better, but
Speaker 1: they had three points going into the fourth quarter of
Speaker 1: this game. They did. I I was not impressed with
Speaker 1: the Titans offense. At where does Jim called over verse
Speaker 1: Mike Mularkey rank on all time worst coaching matchups. I'll
Speaker 1: just keep it real here. It's it is, uh somewhere
Speaker 1: on that list, the top bottom ten. I don't I'd
Speaker 1: have to do more, you know, more findings since either
Speaker 1: of these men have a job next. Jani has been
Speaker 1: in a Super Bowl, He's coached the team to a PLAYFFS.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of bad coaches in NFL history. I
Speaker 1: don't think he would be on the list of the countdown.
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning was the head coach of that team. I
Speaker 1: ummer Rice versus in the playoffs. That's pretty bad. I'm
Speaker 1: sure there are many bad ones, but you see my point,
Speaker 1: Wait versus anyone? One? Question again, this is another team
Speaker 1: where you've got a lot of people's playing together sort
Speaker 1: of for the first time. Do you really feel that
Speaker 1: what you saw today is who they are? Do you
Speaker 1: don't expect them to bounce back with with after all
Speaker 1: we've talked about with this team, they're hard to figure out.
Speaker 1: Because their first half versus the Vikings was pretty good,
Speaker 1: it was impressive, it was fun. Then they went about
Speaker 1: five straight quarters of brutal football. The second half of
Speaker 1: last week and the first two and a half quarters
Speaker 1: of this game just awful football and they don't look
Speaker 1: well coached. Did they still have the you know, heavy
Speaker 1: mixture of like exotic looks and crazy shifting. They didn't
Speaker 1: do nearly as much of that today, probably because it
Speaker 1: didn't didn't work, and their numbers are gonna look good.
Speaker 1: Thirty nine yard rushing sixty seven of that came on
Speaker 1: one DeMarco Murray rum where he got past the first
Speaker 1: level of defense and just cruised for sixty five yards.
Speaker 1: A lot of Lions fans asking if they could be
Speaker 1: team of a till there was never a chance of
Speaker 1: disappointing loss for them. That the NFL does try to
Speaker 1: hook up these teams by playing each other early in
Speaker 1: the season. It's not a mistake that Titans early schedule,
Speaker 1: and this is what this is about, you know, to
Speaker 1: try and to gain some confidence and momentum. And the
Speaker 1: Lions were set up to be that team that maybe
Speaker 1: they're not great, but they can get somebody. What are
Speaker 1: you insinuating that the league schedulemakers build the schedules to
Speaker 1: try to pump up the confidence of certain teams. They
Speaker 1: definitely play the worst teams from a year ago against
Speaker 1: each other early that there they've talked about well outside
Speaker 1: of the annual like Week thirteen Jaguars Titans Thursday night
Speaker 1: game in late December. They played each other early, so
Speaker 1: you can get it some wins on The Lions outplayed
Speaker 1: the Titans in this game. They can the penalties in
Speaker 1: the in the place they could call back for touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford is playing with a much higher confidence level
Speaker 1: than Marcus Mariota right now. And really the Lions defense,
Speaker 1: they were down to like one linebacker by the end
Speaker 1: of the game. They just lost a lot of bodies
Speaker 1: during the game. No one could say West is unbiased
Speaker 1: because he's he's getting after his Titans team. Here eight
Speaker 1: yards Marvin Jones, my boy, well, fifty of that came
Speaker 1: on a mistackle from Parish Cox. I think, well, I
Speaker 1: would say he made the tackle Ord. That was a
Speaker 1: pretty bad mistackle. Um. By the way, I know it
Speaker 1: was not a great week for the Lions. I still
Speaker 1: like that cooner. It's a lot to like about the coach.
Speaker 1: It's a good coach. All right. Let's move on, gentlemen,
Speaker 1: and talk about the Denver Broncos who welcomed the Indianapolis
Speaker 1: Colts into their building, and the Colts simply what's up, Mark,
Speaker 1: It's just that's bizarre phrasing. But yes, are you okay?
Speaker 1: By the way, you got the vapors over there? Mark?
Speaker 1: For everyone not watching on periscope, which is you know
Speaker 1: most of you listening to this is waving a few
Speaker 1: pieces of paper with some intermittently not I got the vapors.
Speaker 1: Someone them, not the whole show, but occasionally need to
Speaker 1: get a little cooler on Rod the ride diet has
Speaker 1: messed with your body temperature, you believe, Well, it's it's
Speaker 1: going to ray John for another week. We'll get to that.
Speaker 1: N What if, um, if we ever could get some
Speaker 1: like actual budget on the show, if we got you
Speaker 1: a fainting couch right next to you on the end,
Speaker 1: there a couch. We've asked for a couch before, like
Speaker 1: you know, like the old time fainting. I like that.
Speaker 1: That way we know you're safe even if you do
Speaker 1: get overheat. I would appreciate that. Anyway, The Cults came
Speaker 1: to Denver and they could not keep pace with h
Speaker 1: just an amazingly tough stout Denver defense. Uh. The game
Speaker 1: was somewhat close until von Miller decided to step in
Speaker 1: and say no more. Game. Game go bye bye. Lucks
Speaker 1: in the gun three to the right, one of the left,
Speaker 1: Denver in to two safety defense. They rushed five Luck
Speaker 1: in the pockets five dollar Miller's got in and the
Speaker 1: ball is free picked up by Shane Ray to the
Speaker 1: five touchdown Denver Von Miller. Riller reck the Cults with
Speaker 1: lun forty two left striped sack, knocking the ball away
Speaker 1: from Andrew Luck. Thirty four to twenty, the Broncos over
Speaker 1: the Colts. Chris Westling the Broncos defense just as good
Speaker 1: as last year, or dare I say better if you're
Speaker 1: talking about difference making plays in this game, they channeled
Speaker 1: last year's defense to keep to leave had to pick
Speaker 1: six two when the Colts had come within three points,
Speaker 1: So that was early fourth quarter, extended the lead to ten.
Speaker 1: Luck comes down and in drives down with a touchdown drive,
Speaker 1: and just when you think you have a chance, there's
Speaker 1: it's a six point game with Luck starting a two
Speaker 1: minute drill and Von Miller undresses. Joe writes for about
Speaker 1: the third or fourth time in the game, that is
Speaker 1: not a matchup the Colts are ever gonna win, And frankly,
Speaker 1: the Colts had no business being in this game. It's
Speaker 1: just that the Broncos formula for playing football usually leads
Speaker 1: to close games. How many games in a row is
Speaker 1: von Miller gonna win at the end? I mean the
Speaker 1: an f C Championship, the Super Bowl? Week one he
Speaker 1: ended up having the big the big sack or the
Speaker 1: big hit at the end of the and it's four
Speaker 1: and around. That's not unprecedented for do you want the answer? Okay,
Speaker 1: next next week he's going to be slowed a little
Speaker 1: bit and he won't be a huge factor in the game. Wow,
Speaker 1: how did you know that? You don't get that on
Speaker 1: other football shows. NFL Network doesn't need that analysis, so
Speaker 1: do they? How did Andrew Luck look? Because I was
Speaker 1: so excited? Why when I finally really looked at his
Speaker 1: Week one game, I thought that was the best, one
Speaker 1: of the best Andrew Luck games he's ever had. Last
Speaker 1: week you it's hard to imagine events being stacked against
Speaker 1: the quarterback to the level they were today. Is this
Speaker 1: the quarterback version of Todd Gurley? Yes, it absolutely is.
Speaker 1: You're talking about a quarterback who never has a running
Speaker 1: game to keep a defense. Honest, he's six ft four
Speaker 1: with one of the highest releases in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: he got a series of passes batted down because Denver's
Speaker 1: defensive line is pushing the Colts offensive line back the
Speaker 1: entire game. And and then you take Dante Moncreef out
Speaker 1: of the mix with a head injury. He's the only
Speaker 1: physical wide receiver the Colts have. Philip door set t
Speaker 1: Y Hilton are not beating a keep to leave and
Speaker 1: Chris Harris at the catchboy, Shame on the Colts if
Speaker 1: they're gonna start wasting years of Andrew lux prime uh
Speaker 1: surrounding him with this substandard talent. Come on, guys, come
Speaker 1: back to us the coach. It's the defensive talent more
Speaker 1: than anything. Well, they're decimated, decimated by injuries in the secondary.
Speaker 1: There without five cornerbacks right now. They lose Darius Butler
Speaker 1: to a hamstring injury on what would have been a
Speaker 1: pick six he got snipered. And then they lose Rashaan
Speaker 1: Melvin during the game, and Tonio Crimardi is going in
Speaker 1: and out of the game with a shoulder injury. They're
Speaker 1: basically down five or six cornerbacks and they have no chance,
Speaker 1: and they don't have a pass rush to begin with.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a combination of bad planning and bad luck,
Speaker 1: which is their only pass rush today was sending Mike
Speaker 1: Adams their safety on blitzes. I feel, I said, the Texans,
Speaker 1: who who's had a better week than that? I don't
Speaker 1: think well, I said, the Redskins have to have one
Speaker 1: of the worst. The Colts and the and the Jags
Speaker 1: falling down two games right off the bat in this division.
Speaker 1: It's really what happened in the games. Dan's no longer.
Speaker 1: People don't some people don't call her. Some people wait
Speaker 1: till till till all podcasts comes out to find you've
Speaker 1: been down this road before. Some people actually do. It's
Speaker 1: the Colts are so undermanned that it's incredible they've been
Speaker 1: in these games. Late in the fourth quarter, C J.
Speaker 1: Anderson came down to earth a little bit after his
Speaker 1: dominant Week one, but West Trevor Simeon, I'm just looking
Speaker 1: at the numbers now when you could tell me if
Speaker 1: if you saw something different, but twenty two of thirty
Speaker 1: three two sixty six eight point one yards on average
Speaker 1: through a pick. But then that's good enough right for
Speaker 1: with this defense, Throw it out, Throw out Trevor Simeons game.
Speaker 1: Because the Colts don't have NFL caliber cornerbacks, they don't
Speaker 1: have a pass rush. You cannot. I don't think you
Speaker 1: can judge Trevor so can you almost say you should
Speaker 1: have done better than that? No. I think that's part
Speaker 1: of Gary Kubiak and Rick Dennison's coaching style. Play close
Speaker 1: to the vest and don't let the quarterback blow it.
Speaker 1: Should he maybe just not have played? That's an absolutely
Speaker 1: another question. You can have c J. Anderson doing wildcattle
Speaker 1: game about a blockbuster. You give a first and a
Speaker 1: fourth to the Cowboys to get marks him bingo? Does
Speaker 1: this make any sense about team building? About two first
Speaker 1: to the Patriots for Jimmy G I say you evaluate
Speaker 1: Trevor simme and based on what he did in the
Speaker 1: open or assume that's who he is, and then we'll
Speaker 1: reevaluate him week three. I throw this game out for
Speaker 1: quarterback purposes. Now that both Brady and Jimmy je are out.
Speaker 1: Who's the third quarterback again? Jacoby Prisett third round pick?
Speaker 1: I mean take it in the same round as us
Speaker 1: have like a cycle on all the blogs about how
Speaker 1: hot this quarterback is. Well, I I think we're looking
Speaker 1: at like top ten hottest quarterbacks not playing right now.
Speaker 1: We're starting to get that article rounding the corner, branking
Speaker 1: up on the end of round this week. Um, all right, guys,
Speaker 1: let's move on. All right, Mark, it's that time of
Speaker 1: the show. Let's do it. The Cleveland Browns jumped out
Speaker 1: to a twenty to zero lead on Sunday against the
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens. But guess what. The Ravens came back. The
Speaker 1: Browns didn't score another point the whole game, and Joe
Speaker 1: Flack go lad the Ravens back to a to twenty
Speaker 1: win over the Browns. This in the Cleveland home opener.
Speaker 1: Uh those you know, classic uh two thousands depressing Browns
Speaker 1: games here, Mark, But how did the Ravens pull this off?
Speaker 1: Down twentieszp all the way back to you are asking me,
Speaker 1: I will answer you. Uh, the Ravens. To me, this
Speaker 1: was a text book. This was a case study on
Speaker 1: why teams like the Baltimore Ravens, when you've had the
Speaker 1: same coach and quarterback, and when there's such confidence in
Speaker 1: yourself as a team and the players on your roster
Speaker 1: that a lesser team gets down twenty and nothing, everything
Speaker 1: starts to break down. And you're looking at a wipeout.
Speaker 1: The Ravens never flinched. I think they know that the
Speaker 1: Browns are not that team that did that out of
Speaker 1: the gate um. The Browns deserve credit for putting forth
Speaker 1: one of the more interesting games that they that they
Speaker 1: have in years and years, to be honest, but Baltimore
Speaker 1: is just that team. And as soon as they started,
Speaker 1: the first four drive for Joe Flacco were a mess,
Speaker 1: and then they started to chip away, get field goals,
Speaker 1: start to make plays down field, big throws, and you
Speaker 1: could feel it. And I am now eighty I'm now
Speaker 1: ninety for ninety Colleen Brown's games, and not in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, but in the second quarters that they were
Speaker 1: gonna lose when it was twelve. Much to Greg's disappointment,
Speaker 1: he hates when you do this, but I am because
Speaker 1: you could. Cleveland does provide every week a very clear
Speaker 1: turning point of doom. But when you're playing a team
Speaker 1: like Baltimore, you you can't make some of the mistakes
Speaker 1: they made. You can't score twenty and then do nothing
Speaker 1: the rest of the game. And a lot of credit,
Speaker 1: uh goes to Justin Tucker, who had a big game,
Speaker 1: had a fifty yard and I think he had four
Speaker 1: field goals in this game. And you know, this is
Speaker 1: before the season started when I was saying I thought
Speaker 1: that the Ravens were gonna be better than people thought.
Speaker 1: And I put a lot of that on that coach.
Speaker 1: I mean, John Harbor was a great coach. And to
Speaker 1: your point, Mark that that coming back from twenty nothing
Speaker 1: down and it was twenty two immediately when they blocked
Speaker 1: an extra point and ran it back, which brought back
Speaker 1: memories of the Thursday night game or was it Monday
Speaker 1: night game last year. But that is just you know,
Speaker 1: having a structure in place where you don't just go
Speaker 1: into a panic or go into a shell, and that's
Speaker 1: exactly what they did. And Jash McCown mark um, like
Speaker 1: everyone expected, he comes in for r G three, he
Speaker 1: gets hurt, he makes it through the game and you
Speaker 1: could what you could classify as a gutty effort, but
Speaker 1: that guy looked like he was pretty hurt left shoulder.
Speaker 1: Oh he was. He was in severe pain. And I
Speaker 1: think that he did the Cleveland Browns an absolute solid
Speaker 1: because at one point you've got rookie Cody Kessler who
Speaker 1: saw their you know, really didn't see much action in
Speaker 1: the preseason and is not someone that looks, you know,
Speaker 1: ready to throw into a game. He looked terrified and
Speaker 1: Josh McCown with a with a absolute the second week
Speaker 1: in a row, you're starting quarterback is a non throwing issue,
Speaker 1: non throwing shoulder issue, and he was grimacing on the sideline.
Speaker 1: This was I think Browns fans have to look at
Speaker 1: this game. You just want to see progress. I don't
Speaker 1: care about the score. There were playmakers on the field.
Speaker 1: Corey Coleman two touchdowns in that twenty point outburst. At first,
Speaker 1: he is the he is the first wide receiver Cleveland
Speaker 1: has in years and years. That is a matchup issue
Speaker 1: and he had he himself had a big penalty to
Speaker 1: be joined by another one. They drafted Josh Gordon in
Speaker 1: two weeks. I just think that Hugh Jackson there. They
Speaker 1: are going to go through some rough times this season,
Speaker 1: but to get to become like a team like the Ravens,
Speaker 1: they've got to see this through some of their young
Speaker 1: draft picks. Also on defense look good. They stopped the
Speaker 1: run today for the first time about forty five years.
Speaker 1: That the problem is if Cody Kessler winds up starting
Speaker 1: a lot of games that's a ben you're in. Then
Speaker 1: you get c. J. Anderson and haven't run well, which
Speaker 1: is possible, right Honestly, I would roll Terrell Prior out
Speaker 1: there before I do. Cody Kesler Mike Silver reported that
Speaker 1: the Browns are bracing for bad news on Josh Mcca.
Speaker 1: I think his shoulder did look it looked. It did
Speaker 1: not look good. And it should be noted one last
Speaker 1: known in this game, that's roll Prior. The Browns are
Speaker 1: set up with nineteen seconds to play first in goal
Speaker 1: or first and ten roum the ten yard line, uh
Speaker 1: down um by what was at four points and Tarrell
Speaker 1: probably got flagged for a personal foul for flipping a
Speaker 1: ball that happened to Nick the defender. And this is
Speaker 1: an ongoing thing I'm noticing in the beginning of the season.
Speaker 1: These referees are throwing these personal foul taunting penalty flags
Speaker 1: like they're nothing, and it has big effects that have
Speaker 1: essentially ended the game. Ended the game. And there was
Speaker 1: a lot of debate in our newsroom, and and it's
Speaker 1: fair about people said. Some people said absolutely that that
Speaker 1: follows the rules of taunting. I I gotta say, I
Speaker 1: look at that in the in the in the place
Speaker 1: it happened in that game, it was not to me
Speaker 1: a flagrant outburst by Terrell Prior. I'll go one step further.
Speaker 1: When I watched in the slow motion, it looks like
Speaker 1: he starts to flip it and then realizes, oh no,
Speaker 1: this could be almost perceived a taunting, and he like
Speaker 1: goes to stop himself and it comes out in a
Speaker 1: very weak stream out of his hand and nicks up
Speaker 1: the shoulder pad and like this, like the millisecond, it
Speaker 1: hits the guy's pad, the flags. It ended the game,
Speaker 1: and it ended the game. And so that you know,
Speaker 1: the officials, I don't know old no. And we're sure
Speaker 1: changing the Ravens here. We haven't really talked that much
Speaker 1: about them. Who saw Dennis pitt A coming right, Well,
Speaker 1: that was a big note in my right up Dennis
Speaker 1: pitt u for the second week in a row. And
Speaker 1: I don't mean to short change the Ravens at all,
Speaker 1: because I think the team building thing and who they
Speaker 1: are and what they are as a team is the
Speaker 1: is the overall message here. They are the better team.
Speaker 1: But Dennis Pitta led the team in targets and catches.
Speaker 1: He is a major part of this passing game and
Speaker 1: is a sneaky comeback story of the year. I think
Speaker 1: everyone viewed him as kind of an afterthought and he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's cute. He's not ready to let go yet, and
Speaker 1: here he is a big part of that offense. But
Speaker 1: I'm one comeback Player of the Year candidate to another
Speaker 1: Dan very nice away there West Patricks done back by
Speaker 1: Harrowitz style for that. Uh. Listen Victor Cruz for the
Speaker 1: second week in a row after missing seven hundred days
Speaker 1: between games. He miss seven hundred days before games, had
Speaker 1: the game winning catch against the Cowboys and then had
Speaker 1: the big catch it thirty five yard uh thirty four
Speaker 1: reception thirty four yard reception against the Saints on Sunday
Speaker 1: that put the Giants in field goal range. Uh. They
Speaker 1: got a field goal from Josh Brown, who's back from
Speaker 1: his one game domestic violence suspension, and the Giants won
Speaker 1: sixteen to thirteen over the Saints. Uh. The Saints who
Speaker 1: have to be dying. That's too straight narrow losses for
Speaker 1: them to start their season. But this was a game
Speaker 1: that once again proves nobody knows anything. These two teams
Speaker 1: combined for a hundred and two points. Uh. In their
Speaker 1: meeting last year, an NFL record thirteen touchdown passes in
Speaker 1: that game, including seven from Drew Brees. And in this game,
Speaker 1: the Giants beat the Saints in a game where they
Speaker 1: turned the ball over three times and did not score
Speaker 1: an offensive touchdown and they beat the Saints. Uh, So
Speaker 1: that just tells you how different uh this game was.
Speaker 1: So the Giants, behind a rebuilt defense, are two and
Speaker 1: oh and to me look like the best team in
Speaker 1: the NFC East right now? Wow they do. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: I totally agree that this early season has gone perfectly
Speaker 1: for the Giants because Victor Cruz is a factor. We
Speaker 1: had no idea of Victor Cruz. The reports we were
Speaker 1: getting out of training camp was that he wasn't moving well.
Speaker 1: He's made difference making plays in both games, and the
Speaker 1: defense is quite clearly much better than last year. Then
Speaker 1: that usually doesn't work out when you do that massive rebuild,
Speaker 1: it does, it doesn't take. This looks like it it
Speaker 1: really has taken. And the Giants offense their wide receivers.
Speaker 1: My Cessler was off. I'm gonna say it because uh
Speaker 1: Sterling Shepherd was targeted eight times today had eight catches
Speaker 1: for one seventeen. One of the more their offense isn't
Speaker 1: playing well. They've they've scored twenty points against a Cowboys
Speaker 1: team can't rush the path at all, and that's why.
Speaker 1: But that that doesn't the personnel is there, that the defense,
Speaker 1: the defense is there too. Twenty catches between Shepherd Cruise
Speaker 1: and uh Odell Beckham had a bad drop today and
Speaker 1: he's prone to those every once in a while, but
Speaker 1: he hasn't gotten going yet. It's Beckham gets going, they're
Speaker 1: gonna start putting up points regularly. To me. So the
Speaker 1: fact that they haven't really broken out on offense and
Speaker 1: are still too and oh to me is a really
Speaker 1: good son. Well getting all those quarterback hits on Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: which is one of the toughest quarterbacks to hit because
Speaker 1: he gets rid of the ball so quick. That's back
Speaker 1: to back weeks where that defensive line has been probably
Speaker 1: the key to their game. I mean we sometimes we
Speaker 1: make a little too much. I think about game close games.
Speaker 1: You win a close game and suddenly get all the love.
Speaker 1: Uh you lose a close game, But sports Tom Coughlin
Speaker 1: has to be wondering, like, why couldn't I win well?
Speaker 1: As Dan? They were in every game like this, as
Speaker 1: you wrote, and you're right up. The Giants lost this
Speaker 1: game about eight times last year, and not exactly. They
Speaker 1: lost this exact type of game over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. And I think Ben mcdoo, by the way,
Speaker 1: I can't I can't figure out what freaks me out
Speaker 1: about his hair. There's something looks like he cuts it
Speaker 1: at home. Is it real? I think a definitely. I've
Speaker 1: seen him in person and it's and it is real.
Speaker 1: It is disturbing them. It sits on his head in
Speaker 1: a way that is unnatural. Is he a goober? So listen,
Speaker 1: I don't want to throw out goober's that feels like
Speaker 1: that's a shot. I'm not a saying question that it's
Speaker 1: fair that you asked the question. I don't know if
Speaker 1: Ben mcdoo is a goober, but I know he knows
Speaker 1: how to manage a clock a little better than Tom coughlin.
Speaker 1: And I know that he's leading his team to close
Speaker 1: victories which the old guy couldn't do. No no disrespect
Speaker 1: to Tom Coughlin. Guy's got two ranks, but it was
Speaker 1: it was nothing happening for him. And I'm just saying
Speaker 1: they're going up against the worst cornerback group in the
Speaker 1: NFL that lost P J. Williams, who who has barely played.
Speaker 1: I get what you're saying, but do you get what
Speaker 1: we're saying that Victor Cruz looks like you can play,
Speaker 1: and we know Sterling Shepard. I'm just saying, I don't
Speaker 1: think that there's suddenly in way better plation than the
Speaker 1: Cowboys of the Eagles, because they beat the Cowboys by
Speaker 1: a point. The Eagles are I think Greg is slightly
Speaker 1: concerned about his conceit that the NFC South is the
Speaker 1: most exciting division in football because we're gonna get nice
Speaker 1: hot tail, nice you know, six and ten Saints team
Speaker 1: that throws the ball over the place every week. But
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you're not a full team and you stink. Also,
Speaker 1: it's never surprised that you are going that the NFC
Speaker 1: East was going to be the most exciting NFC East.
Speaker 1: I I've typically varied down on the NFC East, and
Speaker 1: there are two really exciting teams in that division right now,
Speaker 1: and we haven't seen the Eagles week two yet. Oh
Speaker 1: by the way, postcript Gregg kicking and screaming to give
Speaker 1: the Giants any credit, This isn't a surprise in this podcast.
Speaker 1: I rarely give them credit, but I am today. I
Speaker 1: like where I like where the team has added. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on, guys and talk about the Arizona Cardinals,
Speaker 1: who had a dreadful Week one loss. I thought it
Speaker 1: was one of the worst Week one losses by any
Speaker 1: team at home. Uh, Sunday night football and you lose
Speaker 1: to a team Patriots, team without Tom Brady or Gronk.
Speaker 1: Super Bowl contenders aren't supposed to do that type of crap.
Speaker 1: But what do they do? They bounce back in a
Speaker 1: big way against the Bucks. H Bucks team greg that
Speaker 1: we uh, you thought at least was going to go
Speaker 1: into Arizona and really compete, but they never came close.
Speaker 1: Four touchdown passes for Carson Palmer and uh. The Cardinals
Speaker 1: more than made up for their stink fest with a
Speaker 1: over the Bucks total meltdown game by every facet of
Speaker 1: the Bucks played poorly. Jamis Winston uh started forcing the
Speaker 1: ball made mistakes. Also one of those games, everything that
Speaker 1: could go wrong went wrong. A tipped pass that Charles Sims,
Speaker 1: one of the best receiving backs in the league, drops
Speaker 1: gets returned for a touchdown. Jamis Winston has a fumble
Speaker 1: where his own teammate knocked the ball out of his hand,
Speaker 1: he picked it up. You know, it took the Cardinals
Speaker 1: a minute to get going in this game. Their offense
Speaker 1: didn't really move the ball initially, but once they did,
Speaker 1: they started dropping bombs. Only one team in the league
Speaker 1: can score forty points when you get twenty two yards
Speaker 1: combined out of Michael floyd in in John Brown. John
Speaker 1: John Brown has been m i A this year, and
Speaker 1: it's it's like it doesn't matter because they just have
Speaker 1: people coming out of the woodwork, and no one looks
Speaker 1: better at running back Chris Wesley than David Johnson's. He's
Speaker 1: the best running back in the NFL. I'm sorry, Well,
Speaker 1: it's not just you know, the pass catching that he
Speaker 1: that he gives you yards today, the pass catching and
Speaker 1: just that that's how tough these catches are. The wide
Speaker 1: receivers couldn't make catches like he makes. The game breaking speed,
Speaker 1: that dynamic, explosive jump cuts that he has. He is
Speaker 1: the best running back in the NFL. If if you're
Speaker 1: the Bucks, you're concerned that Chris Conti is giving up
Speaker 1: multiple touchdowns, you're concerned that he's on your team right again,
Speaker 1: Brent Grimes, Like, you know, they've got some issues on
Speaker 1: their defense. I think these games are gonna happen. I
Speaker 1: take the long view as someone who's definitely not giving
Speaker 1: up on the Bucks is team of a t L
Speaker 1: and I think they're gonna have a good season. They
Speaker 1: had two road games to start the year. They went
Speaker 1: one one, they got the road winning division. They had
Speaker 1: a young, immature, meltdown type of game. I want to
Speaker 1: see how they bounce back from it. I'm with you,
Speaker 1: I don't know. This is a disturbing loss. But also
Speaker 1: when did Doug Martin go out? Because that if you
Speaker 1: without Doug marton, that team is completely different. Think the
Speaker 1: second quarter and if he's hamstring injury probably means multiple
Speaker 1: weeks and they are not the same offense. That's trude.
Speaker 1: And they haven't been able to run the ball in
Speaker 1: both of these games. They did not run the ball
Speaker 1: well again Atlanta, who is? I thought Martin looked good
Speaker 1: even though the numbers were there. He looked like last
Speaker 1: year's Martin. He just didn't pile up yours. So if
Speaker 1: if they don't have a running game and it's just
Speaker 1: throwing it up deep, you know they have weapons on offense.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Vincent Jackson still Vincent Jackson at
Speaker 1: this point, so it's county on Mike Evans to do
Speaker 1: a lot. Mike Evans looks great, but but the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: they got to just be feeling great. Well, great week,
Speaker 1: they watched the Seahawks lose, they get a couple of
Speaker 1: they get the Rams and the forty and the Bills
Speaker 1: coming up. Everything after a bad week looks a lot better.
Speaker 1: For the question, I mean, you say, Mike Evans looks great,
Speaker 1: and I I like the player, but six receptions off
Speaker 1: seventeen targets what No, I know, I'm just asking you
Speaker 1: know I didn't. This is what happens when Patrick Peterson's
Speaker 1: on you and Jamis Winton is just gonna keep throwing
Speaker 1: at you no matter what, especially when they were down.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're just throwing bombs down the field. Once
Speaker 1: they fell down seventeen points, trying to catch up all
Speaker 1: at once. It wasn't working. And this is exactly the
Speaker 1: game that the Cardinals really wanted to see him shot
Speaker 1: less after a quarter. By the way, does Dirk Cotter
Speaker 1: need to bury the ball? I don't know, but this
Speaker 1: is exactly the type of game that, uh, you wanted
Speaker 1: Carson Palmer to play if you're Bruce Arians because he'd
Speaker 1: been shaking through the playoffs. Not a good Week one,
Speaker 1: but looked like Carson Palmer again in a big way.
Speaker 1: So the Cardinals back on track. Let's move on, guys,
Speaker 1: and talk about the San Diego Chargers, who um, after
Speaker 1: having you know, crushing meltdown in Kansas City in Week one,
Speaker 1: lost Keenan Allen and then lost the game in which
Speaker 1: they were leading by twenty points late in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: I believe, But they took the Jacksonville Jaguars in the
Speaker 1: wood Shed in San Diego thirty eight fourteen win, Philip
Speaker 1: Rivers carving up that Jacksonville defense and once again once again,
Speaker 1: Greg Blake Bortles and the Jaguars offense, Uh, completely inept
Speaker 1: early in the game and by the and by the
Speaker 1: time they started making some plays, the game was long
Speaker 1: since decided. It was and they got beat by a
Speaker 1: better team. And that sounds obvious when when you look
Speaker 1: at the score. But I am so impressed by this
Speaker 1: Chargers team and this defense. And I know they're not
Speaker 1: going to be the team of a t L, but
Speaker 1: they might be one of the teams of t H A. L.
Speaker 1: Rosenthal because I love this, respect this response, but it's
Speaker 1: about me. Drop out, Wow, Jason burn You put Jason
Speaker 1: Varette on Allen Robinson most of the game and he
Speaker 1: shuts Robinson down. This is a guy making the leap.
Speaker 1: Denzel Perriman has a nice game. Brandon Flowers, everything should
Speaker 1: be woe is me team after last week they lose,
Speaker 1: Danny Woodhead gets taken off on a cart and they
Speaker 1: just dominated, and I think they have a chance to
Speaker 1: be pretty good despite all all their losses this year.
Speaker 1: It's hopefully Woodhead is going to be back for them.
Speaker 1: But what a response by them. Well look at it
Speaker 1: from the flip side to everybody wanted us to choose
Speaker 1: the Jaguars for Team of E t L. And they're frauds.
Speaker 1: They are frauds, and their wide receivers are supposed to
Speaker 1: be among the best in the NFL. They lose the
Speaker 1: matchup against the secondary for the second straight week. It
Speaker 1: was really the kind of game that blows up everything
Speaker 1: we thought about what would happen to both of these teams,
Speaker 1: and for Jacksonville it is a disturbed look. The offense
Speaker 1: at score fourteen points. That's one thing. We thought they
Speaker 1: had a high powered offense, but to give up thirty
Speaker 1: eight points and and all very quickly, I mean the Charge.
Speaker 1: It was one of those games the Chargers, they just
Speaker 1: looked like the better team right now. Is there any
Speaker 1: pass rush? The Fowler ended up getting a couple of
Speaker 1: sacks in this game, but it was intermittent. I mean,
Speaker 1: Rivers gets rid of the ball so quickly. You have
Speaker 1: to give Philip Rivers a lot of credit in this.
Speaker 1: And I was in Miami with my new beach house.
Speaker 1: Well it was a couple of minutes from the beach,
Speaker 1: and you know that she might be spending more time
Speaker 1: at that beach house because the Jaguars are are looking brutal.
Speaker 1: They were a tough watch. And I declared before Week
Speaker 1: one that I would sit out the entire offseason cycle
Speaker 1: if if they failed against the Packers. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a good thing I didn't say for this week, or
Speaker 1: I would have been out of work for half the
Speaker 1: year because I was disgusted watching this lad I was
Speaker 1: because they, I mean, they were not competitive. And you're saying, oh,
Speaker 1: the Charges were a better team, Well, nobody really thought
Speaker 1: that season but maybe nobody would have thought that after
Speaker 1: Keenan no games. That's what makes it, that's what makes
Speaker 1: it fun. If you watch the Chargers for seven of
Speaker 1: the eight quarters this year, you would think they were
Speaker 1: the best team in the NFL. They've doll dominated seven
Speaker 1: quarters of this and the Jaguars have been on Dan's
Speaker 1: you know, rather ugly list for a while, and and
Speaker 1: it's and it's because you expected very potentially for this
Speaker 1: kind of result to happen. And that's fair. The best
Speaker 1: thing they have is that woman that fan. I do
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Saying that um at her beach house is
Speaker 1: actually a couple of minutes from the beach is sort
Speaker 1: of a non humble brag. She she clarified that she
Speaker 1: could have just left us with an illusion that wasn't real.
Speaker 1: I don't think she understands how beach houses work. Well.
Speaker 1: They got they have a couple of home games here
Speaker 1: Ravens and then Colds, although that Colts game is in London,
Speaker 1: so not a real home game. What was that insane
Speaker 1: stat that Michael Lombardi had on the b S Report
Speaker 1: this week about Bordles first quarter touchdowns in his entire
Speaker 1: career three I believe he has three, which is now
Speaker 1: the same as Jimmy Garoppolo. I mean about that, Jimmy
Speaker 1: Garoppolo has got three. I hear you two games all this,
Speaker 1: you know, Blake Portles is a guy that needs to
Speaker 1: start performing now, I mean absolutely. And and also Gus
Speaker 1: Bradley is now gonna watch out because they've done a
Speaker 1: good job being patient in that franchise. But we all
Speaker 1: know there's a lot of talent on that roster and
Speaker 1: we are not seeing any of it paying. I think
Speaker 1: something that happens when we cover this Sport seven all
Speaker 1: year long, that we can become we can fall in
Speaker 1: love with certain offseason narratives and you know trajectories in
Speaker 1: the Jaguars looked like they finally were going to turn
Speaker 1: the corner the show there and it's not happened. Did
Speaker 1: his job, he did his job. He really upgraded the
Speaker 1: talent on that roster. It's on Gus Bradley. And we
Speaker 1: know who the new number one wide receiver is in
Speaker 1: San Diego. Travis Benjamin looked really good in this game,
Speaker 1: so he is the top? Do we trust it? Like
Speaker 1: we lookd Ill Williams looks like a player, and we
Speaker 1: we talked about him in the preseason podcast that he
Speaker 1: looked like someone that could make an impact. He looks
Speaker 1: like a starting wide receiver that's gonna be a good
Speaker 1: option for rivers and certainly a good fantasy player. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying he's a number I agree, but they're the
Speaker 1: guy they're gonna feel the keenan now in law. They're
Speaker 1: ceiling is lower. To Dan's point, though, that's four hundred
Speaker 1: yard games out of five for Travis Benjamin and he
Speaker 1: he does do that occasional games, he'll blow up. And
Speaker 1: Gila and Spicy should be proud of Melvin Gordon because
Speaker 1: he is running hard. He is looking like Imary Back.
Speaker 1: He is fighting through tackles both of these weeks. Coming
Speaker 1: back on the show. Baby, we might have Spicy Spicy
Speaker 1: back by December. You know yourself. December you know third, Hey,
Speaker 1: Spice Rack. We had a nice Twitter exchange the other
Speaker 1: night talking about the best pass catching backs of all time.
Speaker 1: He's feeling it and a lot of people he's back.
Speaker 1: He's back living the high life. He's doing great. He's
Speaker 1: in Vegas. He's coming back on this show. His arrow
Speaker 1: is pointing up for the half of the people that
Speaker 1: don't know what we're talking about. Spice Rack, your Desert Consigliari,
Speaker 1: who once advised Melvin Gordon would be the next one
Speaker 1: Tony Dorsett or something he said lst year if the
Speaker 1: Cowboys drafted and he would lead the NFL and rushing
Speaker 1: as a rookie. Are you proud to call spicy once more?
Speaker 1: You're desert consiglar I've always been proud of the spice Rack.
Speaker 1: I've just been a little nonplussed and dumbfounded at his
Speaker 1: at his some of his appearances on this pod. Well,
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna get him out again. But Melvin's
Speaker 1: gotta keep it up. Let's move on, gentlemen, and talk
Speaker 1: about the Atlanta Falcons who went into Oakland. And you
Speaker 1: wanna talk about a team of a TL team that
Speaker 1: disappointed today the Raiders should have You would think I'd
Speaker 1: like the Jaguars, a team that's been building this program
Speaker 1: and a lot of people think now is the time
Speaker 1: where they're gonna make that leap. The Falcons come into
Speaker 1: the building Atlanta coming off an uninspiring Week one performance,
Speaker 1: they play better, they outplay the Raiders, and they come
Speaker 1: away with a thirty five bucks bro The thirty five
Speaker 1: to win over the Raiders in a game that uh, uh,
Speaker 1: you know you would watch us if you watch us
Speaker 1: in a vacuum and say, oh, the Falcons are a
Speaker 1: better team than the Raiders. Uh and match. Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: had a very good did a very good job in
Speaker 1: this game. Um. Him and Julio Jones uh combined for
Speaker 1: a one yard game, but he also found eight receivers
Speaker 1: from multiple reception So a big game for Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: and a tough loss for the Raiders in their home opener,
Speaker 1: especially coming off such a dramatic onion hanging win. Tweet.
Speaker 1: The tweet from ice Cube after the game, as it
Speaker 1: usually does, says it all said. It said, what happened
Speaker 1: to my Rayers? No d D seventy points allowed in
Speaker 1: two weeks? That that would be the number one reason
Speaker 1: that I'd have an issue with them as team of
Speaker 1: a t L. Almost everything else about them would fill
Speaker 1: my needs. I've got a great stat for you. The
Speaker 1: Raiders have allowed a thousand and thirty five total yards
Speaker 1: in two games. That breaks a sixty five year old
Speaker 1: record for the most yards allowed through two games held
Speaker 1: by the held this record. That's uh, that's a bad sign.
Speaker 1: But they are fun. I mean part of this. You know,
Speaker 1: we are allowed to actually have fun with the team
Speaker 1: of at L and they had dramatic games. We're not
Speaker 1: picking the team of two and oh because that's it
Speaker 1: seems like some of the Twitter responses like, well they
Speaker 1: all lost. You know you have to be at two
Speaker 1: and that doesn't have to be that's that's not it.
Speaker 1: But if if this team is inherently flawed because they
Speaker 1: can't play defense, I don't want to root. It's concerning.
Speaker 1: It's how you go six and ten. That was, by
Speaker 1: the way, a little little uh slip there by West
Speaker 1: because he talks about he doesn't like women that are
Speaker 1: inherently flawed, or you do like them, don't here he
Speaker 1: likes women that are inherently flawed. So maybe the Raiders
Speaker 1: will find a way into us. Then everyone flawed? Well right, everyone?
Speaker 1: Have you ever met a woman that's not flawed? Was
Speaker 1: always that was always the key to was a woman
Speaker 1: who realizes she has flaws and works to correct him,
Speaker 1: as opposed to one who is broken beyond repair. And
Speaker 1: maybe this Raider's defense is broken beyond repair. West brings
Speaker 1: it around original original total Act Excess analyst Ken Norton Jr.
Speaker 1: The defensive coordinator, got to be getting some heat that
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll coaching Tree has struggled to to really bring
Speaker 1: the Pete Carroll defense anywhere else. I want Norton, dan Quinn, Bradley.
Speaker 1: I'm putting it in an early um Dan Queen one
Speaker 1: for an offseason podcast. Just West some music underneath, the
Speaker 1: kind of romantic music, and he just talks about what
Speaker 1: a woman needs to do to be inherently flawed but
Speaker 1: not broken beyond repair. How do you do that? West
Speaker 1: puts it together for all those women, wax philosophical on
Speaker 1: this topic for hours. I know That's why I think
Speaker 1: we gotta do it. Shout out to Simone Sessler, who's
Speaker 1: writing on the periscope comments. We love all these comments coming.
Speaker 1: Also shout out to Kyle Shanahan Falcon's averaging thirty points
Speaker 1: a game, Matt Ryan averaging sixty yards a game. Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan back said this Falcon's offense was gonna be I
Speaker 1: don't think I want to watch this game closely, but
Speaker 1: I don't love what they've done with Matt Ryan. Would
Speaker 1: just turned him into an overly safe dink and dunk.
Speaker 1: Uh not fun quarterback to watch. What comment did she
Speaker 1: leave that would let's find out what she actually had
Speaker 1: to say it was? Was it positive? It was yes?
Speaker 1: And then now a smiley face for me mentioning her lead,
Speaker 1: tell Mark, I'm at my mother's house. I still love you,
Speaker 1: but I need some space. What does that mean? A
Speaker 1: lot to work out? Kind of a weird forum, breaking
Speaker 1: news and odd for UM to raise the topic. We
Speaker 1: probably could have handled that later. Smiling with the hammer
Speaker 1: drop in the comments section on periscope, rocking marks person
Speaker 1: and no one's watching your kids right now? That's weird.
Speaker 1: A couple of issues bubbling. All right, let's move on
Speaker 1: to Sunday Night football. Yeah, it's a game where Sam
Speaker 1: is your edition version. Sam Bradford throws for two touchdown
Speaker 1: passes and two eight six yards. That will be enough
Speaker 1: of that song. Thank you? I like that. I want that.
Speaker 1: Even on Tuesdays and the Minnesota Vikings without Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: and losing Adrian Peterson to a knee injury that looked
Speaker 1: a little scary and we'll see how that plays out.
Speaker 1: It for one day, everything's okay because their defense carried
Speaker 1: the way to a seventeen fourteen win over the visiting
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers in the opening of their new beautiful
Speaker 1: facility called what West Viking Stadium. I don't know the
Speaker 1: name of it either, but uh yeah. They opened their
Speaker 1: stadium in style with a big seventeen and fourteen win
Speaker 1: the Vikings. Yes, the Vikings, Doom and Gloom a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, now two and oh atop the NFC
Speaker 1: North and there's no one more excited about this game
Speaker 1: than Mark Sessler, who was quivering with excitements. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you something right now. The one thing I told
Speaker 1: you about Mike Zimmer is that he's a top five
Speaker 1: coach that will be shown this year. It already is
Speaker 1: being shown. And I don't care what you people do
Speaker 1: with Team of TL of your feet on the desk,
Speaker 1: but you know what you're trying to sell me this
Speaker 1: hot garbage like the Bucks and Raiders and Titans for
Speaker 1: Team of a t L. This is my Team of SESTL.
Speaker 1: You three can go your own road, have a nice
Speaker 1: time with it. This is my team. Wait, what about
Speaker 1: the part on Tuesday where we all could officially nominate teams?
Speaker 1: And because I know it won't get past the board
Speaker 1: because of one guy, Sam Bradford. But this was the
Speaker 1: first memorable Sam Bradford game, and it's it makes sense.
Speaker 1: He's on a good team. Stepan Diggs is a star.
Speaker 1: This defense is nasty. That's what I like. The defense
Speaker 1: is absolutely nasty. They made Aaron Rodgers look human, very human.
Speaker 1: In this game. Rogers finished yards a touchdown to pick
Speaker 1: less than six yards per attempt, not looking like the
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers we know. Sacked five times, they fumbled it
Speaker 1: a thousand times, Greg only lost one of them. This
Speaker 1: game could have been a blowout. The Vikings defense has
Speaker 1: unbelievable athletes at every level, and for tray Waynes to
Speaker 1: come up today as the big player of the game
Speaker 1: is incredible for them and they have to be so excited.
Speaker 1: But when you bring up the Packers, I'm thinking that
Speaker 1: five point nine yards per tempt looks familiar to what
Speaker 1: he did last week against the Jaguars defense. What's going on?
Speaker 1: I've been played so well in week two. Things are
Speaker 1: taking some time for this Packers offense to get together.
Speaker 1: They've been the problem. I mean, as well as Bradford played,
Speaker 1: I thought he played Fantasticaid well overall, the Packers defense
Speaker 1: did their job. They give up seventeen points. I can't
Speaker 1: make sense of what's going on with this Packers offense.
Speaker 1: West And maybe you can help out here. Because Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers is healthy. Eddie Lacy were told that he's in
Speaker 1: better condition. He's running people over. Randall Cobb is healthy.
Speaker 1: Jordy Nelson's back. I know he may not be all
Speaker 1: the way to uh pre injury Jordy Nelson, but he's
Speaker 1: on the field. And yet this team on offense looks
Speaker 1: like the same team that struggled for so much of
Speaker 1: last year. What is missing with the Packers right now?
Speaker 1: And often? I got to evaluate the game, not the name.
Speaker 1: And Jordy Nelson isn't two thousand fourteen Jordy Nelson. I
Speaker 1: don't care what anybody says. Eddie Lacey is not two thousand,
Speaker 1: two fourteen. Eddie Lacy. His footwork is not nearly as
Speaker 1: kind of elusive as it was back then. I don't
Speaker 1: believe either of those two guys. And if you look
Speaker 1: at we don't have the old twenty two yet. I'm
Speaker 1: betting if you look at this game, you don't see
Speaker 1: any open receivers. That's yeah. There were a couple of
Speaker 1: plays from the view we had. It's why did Rogers
Speaker 1: just throw to that everything's challenged that. I think it
Speaker 1: has a lot to do with who they faced tonight.
Speaker 1: The Packers also barely beat the Jaguars last week, right,
Speaker 1: that was a road game, and they're gonna they start this,
Speaker 1: you know, season with two road games against what we
Speaker 1: thought was tough teams and they finished one one. That's
Speaker 1: not the tragedy that the problem is for almost all
Speaker 1: the last season, the offense is let Rogers run around
Speaker 1: and try to come up with something. And that's what
Speaker 1: it's been for two games. It looked the exact same.
Speaker 1: Any comes up with some great stuff, but he also
Speaker 1: comes up with a couple of fumballs. He doesn't come
Speaker 1: up with a consistent offense. And for this one game,
Speaker 1: in this bizarre world, Sam Bradford made more pretty throws
Speaker 1: that Aaron Rodgers, and you said it. The most memorable
Speaker 1: game of his career to me was the overtime tie
Speaker 1: that he had right as a member of the Rams
Speaker 1: back up a few years ago. This was better. Uh.
Speaker 1: I love it that. It's kind of Vikings like though,
Speaker 1: that they opened the stadium with this great win and
Speaker 1: yet they lose. Maybe their greatest franchise player in the game.
Speaker 1: It was a sad turn. I think this team under
Speaker 1: Zimmer and this this sounds a little you know, it's
Speaker 1: not necessarily something you can say about, you know, win
Speaker 1: you're losing teams. They are resilient as hell. And it's
Speaker 1: the minute Bridgewater went down. The first thing Zimmer said
Speaker 1: is we are a team. We're not about our quarterback.
Speaker 1: And this is not a good law. Adrian Peterson would
Speaker 1: be a huge loss. They don't have much. Jeremy McKinnon
Speaker 1: is not a three down foundational running back at this point.
Speaker 1: Give me a break on Maddis Yata. But like I mean,
Speaker 1: this team, they are a They are a fun team
Speaker 1: to me. So the three of you go have fun
Speaker 1: with yourself, all right now. The Vikings fans were after
Speaker 1: us last year. I wonder, Mark, if you're trying to
Speaker 1: cozy up with that talking about theat I could carry
Speaker 1: at the bar the cozy in a few minutes, I will.
Speaker 1: I'll be You know what, this team gets my gets
Speaker 1: me excited. I don't know what else. On a day
Speaker 1: when all of our team of the team of a
Speaker 1: t L teams floundered, I am not personally my my
Speaker 1: heart is not closed with the Vikings. I think Sam
Speaker 1: Bradford is something I would have a hard time really
Speaker 1: getting behind besides an exciting Sunday night football at the
Speaker 1: new stadium opening. But I will say this, You want
Speaker 1: to tell me that the Vikings are for real and
Speaker 1: this defense is good to the level where they could
Speaker 1: they go make a deep playoff run. I want to
Speaker 1: see what they do next week at Carolina. Now there
Speaker 1: is a beautiful test on the road for this team.
Speaker 1: If they do this much more the same and they
Speaker 1: get out into Carolina with a win and Sam Bradford
Speaker 1: is making plays, maybe they are uh not in a
Speaker 1: worse place than when teddy Bridge already got hurt of
Speaker 1: Sam Bradford's gonna play at this level because he played
Speaker 1: extremely well. Chris Collinsworth West was in heaven watching Sam Bradford.
Speaker 1: He almost passed out here had the vapors. I think
Speaker 1: it was the best game I've ever seen Sam Bradford play.
Speaker 1: And I don't know how he went this far into
Speaker 1: the analysis without talking about Stefon Diggs, who looked phenomenal
Speaker 1: in Week one again Sunday Night, and he's he looks
Speaker 1: like a legit number one receiver. Well, he's got we
Speaker 1: were talking about it off air. He's got the quickness
Speaker 1: of the guys in the slot, like like a Welker
Speaker 1: or whoever you want in the middle of the field
Speaker 1: in terms of his short area, but he can go
Speaker 1: outside and get deep and when you put that combination
Speaker 1: together and his hands are incredible and he can catch
Speaker 1: the ball, uh in tight traffic. You think of Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown tape players. I'm not saying he can be Antonio Brown,
Speaker 1: but through two weeks he has made that leap to
Speaker 1: where the statement I saw on Twitter he's the best
Speaker 1: receiver Sam Bradford's ever had, which seems wild, but that's
Speaker 1: but he easily is. I can't think of anyone Betterton
Speaker 1: Matthews would probably be number two. I mean in both
Speaker 1: with both clubs he's been on. The wide receiver was
Speaker 1: a huge developmental issue for the Rams and the Eagles
Speaker 1: this season at least had a very questionable group before.
Speaker 1: And this is how the Vikings are gonna have to
Speaker 1: win games. I mean, Lynval Joseph Brian Robison never seems to.
Speaker 1: They always want to get rid of him, and he
Speaker 1: always keeps playing. Everton Griffin had a game Harrison Smith
Speaker 1: week after week. This got how they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: win in seventeen fourteen if if Adrian Peterson has gone
Speaker 1: for a while, It's not like they have a lot
Speaker 1: of receivers either. They have they have one, and they
Speaker 1: have Kyle Rudolph playing better well. So let's see what happens.
Speaker 1: The Vikings look great. The Packers you have some questions,
Speaker 1: but I almost I would like to Let's give him
Speaker 1: a month or so and see where they are in
Speaker 1: October before we get too worried about that offense is struggle.
Speaker 1: I know they're not gonna score five thirty points. That's
Speaker 1: a sandwich. What prop that is not gonna work out? Us?
Speaker 1: Those sandwiches tomorrow? I think I might we should probably
Speaker 1: buy Irishman some of the sandwiches soon. By the way, way,
Speaker 1: oh Greg's good. Oh you guys, I got you this week?
Speaker 1: Which which day do you want it? Wednesday? Wednesday? I
Speaker 1: got I'll get you sometime when I feel like it's
Speaker 1: Ssler feeling it. That's got the wild eyes. I listen,
Speaker 1: I am not kidding. This is my team. I am
Speaker 1: no longer even mildly concerned with what the three of
Speaker 1: you do on your little hobby horse path into nowhere.
Speaker 1: Don't pick the bucks. You're abandoning the podcast. I am.
Speaker 1: I am more plugged into the podcast in this season
Speaker 1: because of this game. Very strange. I wish pariscope was
Speaker 1: still everybody can see Sasler leaned back in his chair
Speaker 1: with his foot on the desk, acting like he's the
Speaker 1: king of this podcast. When you when you are a
Speaker 1: fan of a long suffering team, you have to pull
Speaker 1: joy from where you can to keep going, to keep fueled.
Speaker 1: And the Vikings are doing that. You're not pulling it
Speaker 1: from your Jaguars Lock of the Week pick, that's for sure. Nope,
Speaker 1: And thank you for the people on Twitter were my
Speaker 1: endeing me of that. As if I it's going to
Speaker 1: keep me up at night. I couldn't care less about
Speaker 1: Block of the Week. All right, that's it. That was
Speaker 1: a good show to Niggins, Mark, I'm happy that you're happy.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm mildly happy. Alright. Good this. Dan Hands
Speaker 1: is signing off for Quiet Storm, The Mailman, The Boston
Speaker 1: Irish Behind the Glass till Tuesday.