Speaker 1: The Around the League Podcast agrees to offset contract language.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another edition of the Around the League Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansis, and I'm joined by a
Speaker 1: room full of heroes, Chris Westling, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: What up, boys, So you've got your own sun kiss
Speaker 1: calps today? Yeah? Well, you know what. This is my
Speaker 1: off day, my scheduled off day, and I decided Wes
Speaker 1: wears shorts on his off day. It's ninety degrees out.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do the same. It's not the same level
Speaker 1: of Calves. I mean, this guy carved out of like
Speaker 1: a sculpture card from the Greek gods. But I'm trying
Speaker 1: my best. We're impressive on some level. Westling when we
Speaker 1: hired him is a different man than he is today.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've found out you're gonna move out to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. It's almost, uh cliche, and you just what
Speaker 1: dropped something like that? I lost about That's what I did.
Speaker 1: It's almost as if he was preparing for the Czarina's
Speaker 1: by the pool. That was the plan, and now his
Speaker 1: body is ready. It's a temple. Okay. So first of all, um,
Speaker 1: we're going to dive into the Thursday Night Game, which
Speaker 1: was pretty crazy on several levels. Before that, a little housekeeping,
Speaker 1: uh the iTunes page rate, download, leave comments, anything else?
Speaker 1: K Rich behind the Glass. No, that's about it. You
Speaker 1: just mentioned Twitter, and yeah you can mention Twitter that
Speaker 1: you can what about Twitter? Go on Twitter, tell us
Speaker 1: what you think about the podcast. Use the hashtag hashtag
Speaker 1: NFL A t L. We would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: We've already given out prizes for people who use their hashtag,
Speaker 1: so use it and abuse it. Ok, poor listener has
Speaker 1: already even saddled seven or major assignments. And by the way,
Speaker 1: the difference between kay Rich and wilk Tie and wilk Tie,
Speaker 1: you know, God bless him in his new quest to
Speaker 1: be a TV producer star. Kay Rich is the girl
Speaker 1: that makes sure when we promise prizes to people, she
Speaker 1: gets them out to the humans, including a prize being
Speaker 1: sent overseas to the other side of the world. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: so thank you very much, kay Rich. Um. Alright, so
Speaker 1: let's get right into it. Who wants to start? Greg,
Speaker 1: you are the boss, that is your nickname. It's growing
Speaker 1: across the nation. It's spreading Thursday Night Crazy. Broncho Ravens opener. Well,
Speaker 1: I just thought, how good, uh Wesleyan's prediction of the
Speaker 1: Broncos looking like the O seven Patriots and Julius Thomas
Speaker 1: being a breakout star looked quickly because that was about
Speaker 1: as explosive a half as you're ever gonna see. And
Speaker 1: that's the sign of a truly explosive, unstoppable offense is
Speaker 1: that they score in bunches. And they had twenty one
Speaker 1: in a six minute span. You don't see that too often.
Speaker 1: He came out of half to him down seventeen fourteen,
Speaker 1: and suddenly it's a blowout. Midway through the third quarter.
Speaker 1: It was a blitz creek on the other side of
Speaker 1: the ball. The thirty five points. That was unreal, and
Speaker 1: I'd say it kind of went down like a lot
Speaker 1: of us expected it to. Manning is going to be
Speaker 1: able to just take advantage of the mismatches, and we
Speaker 1: saw that last night with Welker and Julius Thomas. If
Speaker 1: you're going to leave them in single coverage underneath or
Speaker 1: down the scene because you're double double covering Damarius Thomas
Speaker 1: and Eric Decker, it's too easy for Peyton Manning. He's
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't impressed with his arm strength at all.
Speaker 1: Last night, he wasn't getting much on the ball deep.
Speaker 1: But he's like the football version of Greg Mannox. Now
Speaker 1: he's he's more of an artist. He's painting with strokes
Speaker 1: out there, mixing, mixing up balls and uh mixing speeds.
Speaker 1: I thought he looked great. Um, I don't see how
Speaker 1: anybody is gonna stop that offense. Yeah, I watched the
Speaker 1: game actually over at Dan's very nice apartment. Showed up uninvited.
Speaker 1: I might well, no, I was, you texted me, and uh, West,
Speaker 1: I think you're correct, because it's like Manning's army. We
Speaker 1: mentioned that a few times last night. It just doesn't
Speaker 1: look to have you hear about how much zip it
Speaker 1: had and how much stronger it is. It isn't and
Speaker 1: it doesn't need be necessarily with the way that all
Speaker 1: saw no zip whatsoever, but also saw him just dropping
Speaker 1: beautiful passes into the bucket, right into the receiver's hands
Speaker 1: thirty yards down the field. Well, here's a perfect example.
Speaker 1: I don't want to interrupt it. Mark. One example is
Speaker 1: the first completion of the game he had to Wes Welker,
Speaker 1: where he kind of you had to get into a
Speaker 1: tight spot by the sideline and it kind of seemed
Speaker 1: like it floated in there, but it got exactly where
Speaker 1: it needed to be and he moved the chains with it.
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah on Twitter said it perfectly, which is that
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning throws the most beautiful, perfect ugly passes in
Speaker 1: the league. I mean, that's kind of what he majors
Speaker 1: in right now. The two touchdowns were kind of beautiful passes,
Speaker 1: but they were wobblers, but they were still right on
Speaker 1: the money. The timing is great between him and the receivers.
Speaker 1: He's always got that pass as they're hitting their stride,
Speaker 1: beating a defender right down the sideline. And you take
Speaker 1: a night where like Eric Decker, for instance, really had
Speaker 1: a pretty ugly game. They have so many guys that
Speaker 1: one or two of your parts cannot be operating a
Speaker 1: There were a couple of mistakes there, and it's like
Speaker 1: it didn't there were such an onslaught of targets out there,
Speaker 1: and I think that we're gonna find out, you know,
Speaker 1: eight weeks from now, that Baltimore's defense is not even
Speaker 1: the worst of what you know it's in terms of
Speaker 1: faring against the Broncos. Baltimore will be fine on defense. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: they were a first guinea pig against this Broncos offense
Speaker 1: and it's not it's gonna be ugly for a lot
Speaker 1: of teams that face And they didn't run the ball
Speaker 1: at all. The Broncos couldn't run. I mean they had
Speaker 1: no Sean Moreno in there the whole first half essentially
Speaker 1: just because he could pass protect and that's all they're
Speaker 1: asking they're running backs to do. They put Monty ball
Speaker 1: and in the second half and running situations near the
Speaker 1: goal line, and they couldn't really run the ball and
Speaker 1: it didn't matter. And that's the NFL right now. We
Speaker 1: probably talked too much about running back problems. It doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter if you have Peyton Manning and all those receivers.
Speaker 1: And just watch if if Julius Thomas turns out to
Speaker 1: be UH impact player this year, breakthrough player. And Eric
Speaker 1: Decker had the worst game of his life when he
Speaker 1: plays the way he should play. What I think I'm
Speaker 1: starting to be on the West band wagon with the
Speaker 1: this could be five point offense type stuff we're talking about,
Speaker 1: and the other thing with Welker Uh, it's amazing how
Speaker 1: quickly those guys seem to have a connection now and
Speaker 1: Feast stays healthy, he's going to have a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty and catches again. I mean, we saw so what
Speaker 1: the regular season record for past attempts shattered last night
Speaker 1: in a non overtime game. My question is there have
Speaker 1: been so much of a scheme change towards the past
Speaker 1: game in the last couple of seasons. Are we gonna
Speaker 1: see that go down a couple of times this season? Yes,
Speaker 1: I think so, because it's not just the past game,
Speaker 1: it's the no huddle and the past game. And I
Speaker 1: thought that as an NFL fan last night, the one
Speaker 1: drawback of the no huddle offenses. These games are long,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't just because of the delay. There's so
Speaker 1: many plays. That was a three hour, forty minute game
Speaker 1: or something like that and just went on forever. I
Speaker 1: think the average game last year was about a hundred
Speaker 1: and five plays, and last night's game was a d
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be I mean, we're gonna
Speaker 1: with all these Eagles, Bills, Jaguars, we know are going
Speaker 1: up tempo, probably a few more teams. It's a copycat league.
Speaker 1: I see everybody trying to run seventy five or eighty
Speaker 1: plays this year. When does the network decide that the
Speaker 1: traditional four oh five or four fifteen start for the
Speaker 1: East Coast games gets bumped to four forty five or
Speaker 1: something next year. Well, they've have done it a little
Speaker 1: bit sixty man games for the national late games. They
Speaker 1: they have bumped it back and and we want to
Speaker 1: move into all the previous We're gonna preview every game
Speaker 1: on this show, by the way. But the one thing
Speaker 1: I want to think about the Ravens was it was
Speaker 1: the worst case scenario. The biggest news last night was
Speaker 1: Jacobe Jones and Michael or getting hurt. If those are
Speaker 1: serious injuries, those are positions they already didn't have much
Speaker 1: depth that and could could be a big time problem.
Speaker 1: That was that was a game that you know, got
Speaker 1: away from the Ravens. So I don't want to put
Speaker 1: too much into it. But one thing that definitely stood
Speaker 1: out to me when they fell behind and they need
Speaker 1: to get back in the game, You really it jumped
Speaker 1: out to you the dearth of weapons that Flacco house.
Speaker 1: How many times did he target Dallas Clark, who was
Speaker 1: last an effective player in about two thousand eleven or
Speaker 1: twel I mean, and he and Stokely led the team
Speaker 1: in target Stokely, who can't move. I think Collinsworth even
Speaker 1: said at one point the guy was gas trying to
Speaker 1: get some separation down the field. He was looking at
Speaker 1: these guys time and time again. And if Tory Smith
Speaker 1: is not a number one receiver and they desperately need
Speaker 1: him to be, and if he's really just a really
Speaker 1: good number two receiver, they're gonna have a lot of
Speaker 1: And forget at Dixon too. I mean that guy couldn't
Speaker 1: catch the ball that they did not look he he
Speaker 1: doesn't move well. He doesn't move any better than Dallas
Speaker 1: Clark does at age thirty four. We said in the
Speaker 1: preseason how bad of a sign it was that Stokely
Speaker 1: and Clark started their third preseason game. They really don't
Speaker 1: seem to have any answers. They're they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: win games different times. If you want to talk about
Speaker 1: a bad sign, that first pass of the game, when
Speaker 1: Stokely took an hour to turn his body around with
Speaker 1: nobody around, he should have had the first down. And
Speaker 1: you thought, if that was any other slot receiver, he's
Speaker 1: getting the first down on friends whose fathers could have
Speaker 1: constructed that point with more power and speed before we
Speaker 1: go on, I just want to ask, or should we
Speaker 1: be worried about the Ravens based on this game or
Speaker 1: is this kind of just the one that got away.
Speaker 1: I think it went down like we thought it was
Speaker 1: gonna go down. The receivers are a problem, They're tight.
Speaker 1: Ends are a problem. Um, it's gonna take a while
Speaker 1: for for Flacco to get in sync with him. If
Speaker 1: Marlon Brown can emerge as a true weapon, maybe that,
Speaker 1: you know, we've got to get. I think we have
Speaker 1: to give them some time to get that figured out.
Speaker 1: In the defense, I think that was more about the
Speaker 1: Broncos than the Ravens. Yeah, I'm not worried. If that
Speaker 1: was a preseason game, we would have watched the first
Speaker 1: half and said, Wow, the Ravens are defending their championship.
Speaker 1: Pretty well. They outplayed the Broncos. They ran out of
Speaker 1: gas and Denver. A lot of teams do that. They
Speaker 1: didn't have answers trying to come from behind. Uh. I
Speaker 1: think they'll be fine. I'm not that worried. Okay, So
Speaker 1: now we turn our attention to Sunday and Monday, the
Speaker 1: proper start of the season. It's gonna be very exciting.
Speaker 1: I guess the way we're gonna do this, We're gonna
Speaker 1: each take a game that really jumps out to us
Speaker 1: is interesting. We're gonna talk about those four games. Then
Speaker 1: we'll we'll get into We have our picks that we
Speaker 1: do every week and you can get it on the
Speaker 1: Around the League blog. One category that we have for
Speaker 1: our picks is called the hero pick, which is when
Speaker 1: one of us picks a team that no one else
Speaker 1: picked out of the five of us. So the whoever
Speaker 1: it took a hero game gets explained why they took
Speaker 1: the underdog. And we'll go over those games and then
Speaker 1: maybe we'll talk a little bit about the orphans as well,
Speaker 1: the games that we didn't touch about talk about. But
Speaker 1: let's start with Mark Sessler. What game in Week one
Speaker 1: is jumping out to you on Sunday? I guess for me,
Speaker 1: the one that I have whenever I've looked at this
Speaker 1: schedule that just pops out is Green Bay going to
Speaker 1: San Francisco. You know, just eight months after that very
Speaker 1: ugly I rewatched that playoff game, and I can't find
Speaker 1: another game from last postseason where two teams that you
Speaker 1: thought would battle equally to some degree where one of
Speaker 1: them was just brutalized, Like Green Bay spent its entire
Speaker 1: off season saying, we are going to be, you know, tougher,
Speaker 1: It's tough. It's weird to hear Mike McCarthy said this
Speaker 1: is we weren't tough enough. We're gonna have to get
Speaker 1: more physical. They dispatchelor coaches to try to figure out
Speaker 1: the forty Niners read option. And some people are making
Speaker 1: a big deal how, oh, San Francisco hasn't done any
Speaker 1: of that in the preseason. Nonsense. I mean, Greg Roman
Speaker 1: is always two or three steps ahead of everyone. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to see what the Niners bring to this
Speaker 1: compared to what the Packers have spent the entire offseason
Speaker 1: trying to prepare for. We're gonna find out really quick
Speaker 1: what Green Bays defense is about, I think, and I've
Speaker 1: expected that defense to be better. But they're not playing
Speaker 1: with Casey Hayward this week. Morgan Burnett did not practice
Speaker 1: on Friday, their safety and he's questionable for the game.
Speaker 1: So that puts a stress on their secondary immediately. And
Speaker 1: it's not often you see a team sort of build
Speaker 1: the entire off season around the way one game ended
Speaker 1: and then start the next season with that game. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's the only Week one, but it's
Speaker 1: one of those games that you feel like their game
Speaker 1: last year, remember in Week one, that would reverberate through
Speaker 1: the whole season, and that game did make a difference.
Speaker 1: It makes a difference for seeding at the end of
Speaker 1: the year, and I think these two teams are going
Speaker 1: to be in the playoffs. So even though it's Week one,
Speaker 1: still an important game. And we all predicted that yesterday's
Speaker 1: game would be high scoring and that turned out to
Speaker 1: be the case. I think the same thing will happen here.
Speaker 1: I'm curious how how healthy Uh Cobb and Jordy Nelson
Speaker 1: are are they. I know they're gonna play and they've
Speaker 1: been practicing, but are they going to be the guys
Speaker 1: that we know them as because without them there's a
Speaker 1: lot um you know, that's a big two missing pieces
Speaker 1: for them. Well, I think people forget that both of
Speaker 1: those players were injured last year in that game and
Speaker 1: then that was huge. Their defense was banged up to right,
Speaker 1: they the Packers were definitely not clicking on all cylinders
Speaker 1: going into that game. Um, and you're right, they spent
Speaker 1: all offseason doing this, and if you look ahead a
Speaker 1: week two, they've got r G three next week. So
Speaker 1: wouldn't it be funny if they spent all of season
Speaker 1: preparing for this and then Greg Roman throws them a
Speaker 1: curveball and doesn't even use the the read option or
Speaker 1: the pistol that much. Maybe he has some totally new
Speaker 1: up asleep to see what the forty Niners defense looks
Speaker 1: like too, Because everyone thinks forty Niners big tough, strong team,
Speaker 1: they're great. Their defense was not good down the stretch
Speaker 1: last season. They made it to the Super Bowl really
Speaker 1: on on their offense, and now they got to play
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers in a pretty primed offense. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that forty Niners defense is as good as their reputation. Well,
Speaker 1: this is another team we talked about Cobb and Nelson
Speaker 1: being out last year. Justin Smith, who when he's right,
Speaker 1: is among the top five defensive players in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Alden Smith were both injured in that game. So you know,
Speaker 1: you had Cobb and Nelson on the Packers side and
Speaker 1: then in two Smiths on the forty Niners side. So
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see everybody healthy now well and
Speaker 1: we saw Alden Smith's sack totals vanish, you know post
Speaker 1: justin smith injury, and so you're right, Green Bay didn't
Speaker 1: get a full dose of what San Francisco West offer either.
Speaker 1: And further record, Cobb says he's his biceps is a
Speaker 1: non issue right now and Nelson is allegedly running just
Speaker 1: as fast as he ever had. Did anyone take the Packers?
Speaker 1: We split the right split. Sessler and Westling took the Packs,
Speaker 1: Greg and I took the Niners. Even though I had
Speaker 1: the Packers winning the super Bowl and then losing this week.
Speaker 1: I like that. Keep everybody on the toes. Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: go next. Um Me, I have the game that maybe
Speaker 1: got the most media in the off season. And in
Speaker 1: terms of the two teams, the Philadelphia Eagles against the
Speaker 1: Redskins on Monday Night. Uh, the two things they're kind
Speaker 1: of obvious, but I think everyone's fascinated to see how
Speaker 1: it plays out, how Chip Kelly's offense looks now that
Speaker 1: you know, you get the vanilla taken out, and you
Speaker 1: know how they're gonna debut in the NFL, and also
Speaker 1: r G three, how he's gonna be used. Are they
Speaker 1: gonna are you gonna see a similar attack with r
Speaker 1: G three moving around and you know, running a lot,
Speaker 1: or is he going to be a more pocket guy
Speaker 1: in his first game back. I think for me, it's
Speaker 1: almost like that that shifts the interest to the two defenses,
Speaker 1: because I'm not really sold on Washington's defense, and I'm
Speaker 1: certainly not sold on on Philly's. And Philly doesn't quite
Speaker 1: know what the Redskins are gonna bring and how they're
Speaker 1: gonna use r G three. But talk about having to
Speaker 1: be a guinea pig. If you're wash Shington's defense and
Speaker 1: you know you've getten, you've been given little glimmers and
Speaker 1: hints of what Chip Kelly has to offer. I mean,
Speaker 1: has what basically said. I went back and watched twenty
Speaker 1: four games from Oregon. I've studied it up and down.
Speaker 1: If they have anything else to bring, God bless him.
Speaker 1: But you know, I feel like Kelly does and he
Speaker 1: will continue to surprise. Can I just ask you a question.
Speaker 1: You said that that shifts your interest to the defenses.
Speaker 1: Are you not fascinated to find out how those two
Speaker 1: things actually play out? I feel like as much as
Speaker 1: they've been covered, still it's like we're finally going to
Speaker 1: see it. I'm completely interested in that. But it's also
Speaker 1: it's it's like these two defenses are going in completely
Speaker 1: blind to what they're going to see, and so they're
Speaker 1: part of the equation on how the offensive. And now
Speaker 1: we're on the same page. We're on the same page.
Speaker 1: You guys just have a chemistry that makes me feel
Speaker 1: awkward to even be in the room with you. We're
Speaker 1: we're under the blanket again on the couch watching the
Speaker 1: This is a coaching geek game. This is a football
Speaker 1: geek game. And it's the perfect Monday night game because
Speaker 1: after this first week, you're kind of you know, ready
Speaker 1: for that, you know, hit a football all off season long,
Speaker 1: and then you just get overloaded Sunday and it's almost
Speaker 1: like too much and you're almost you know, tapped out
Speaker 1: a little bit. You're overwhelmed and you need that Monday night.
Speaker 1: In the first game, a lot of times it's not
Speaker 1: that great and it couldn't be better than this one.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're into schemes into offense, people forget
Speaker 1: the Shanahan's can cook up some great stuff with Griffin.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not gonna be any better than this,
Speaker 1: And I expect uh the Eagles to win this game.
Speaker 1: This was actually a hero pick on the site. I
Speaker 1: was the only one to pick the Eagles. And it's
Speaker 1: partly because I just trust and Kelly and I. That's
Speaker 1: not right to try west end for the records, right,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't even be talking about you can spread any
Speaker 1: more lies. Greg and West took the Eagles, Uh, Cessler
Speaker 1: and I Kindred Spirits took the Redskins along with Patrick.
Speaker 1: This is the taste of your own medicine game. I think, alright, Greg,
Speaker 1: do you want to go on? Are you just so
Speaker 1: that's that's that's good? This is the taste of your
Speaker 1: own medicine game. The Redskins last year through the whole
Speaker 1: league for a loop, unleashed this new offense. In Week
Speaker 1: one knocked Off, the Saints announced their presence as a
Speaker 1: team to be reckoned with. I think the Eagles might
Speaker 1: do the same thing to them Monday night, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna kind of throw teams for a loop for a
Speaker 1: few weeks. The test is can you keep it up
Speaker 1: once teams figure you out. I could see the Eagles
Speaker 1: winning a couple of surprise games early on, then going
Speaker 1: through like a mid season duldrums like the Redskins did
Speaker 1: last year. I don't know if they're talented enough on defense.
Speaker 1: Did then come back at the end of the year
Speaker 1: and get hot like the Redskins did last year. I
Speaker 1: would love more than anything to see this game go
Speaker 1: into overtime three three and then someone hit like a
Speaker 1: forty nine yard field and just watch Twitter melt into itself.
Speaker 1: Though this is the perfect John Gruden game. By the way,
Speaker 1: just might this guy? Hey Karroch, who do you have
Speaker 1: in this game? By the way, Oh, you guys didn't
Speaker 1: know the big Philadelphia Eagles fan? What do you expect
Speaker 1: that at Vick? We really don't know what we're going
Speaker 1: to see out of either of these quarterbacks. I mean
Speaker 1: r G three could be the same guy or he
Speaker 1: could be totally different. And Michael Vick, everyone forgets what
Speaker 1: kind of a disaster by the end of last season.
Speaker 1: What do you what is the Eagles fan expecting out
Speaker 1: of Michael? This is honestly what I expect as an
Speaker 1: Eagles fand putting all of my prejudice aside, I feel
Speaker 1: like Mike Vick will struggle a little bit in his
Speaker 1: Week one game before later in the season he gets
Speaker 1: back to his side. But the first game, I believe
Speaker 1: he will struggle. I'm not saying they will lose. I
Speaker 1: will not say that about my team right now, but
Speaker 1: I feel like he will have to go through his
Speaker 1: chip Kelly growing pain. I feel like Greg and I
Speaker 1: have more confidence in your team than you know. Well
Speaker 1: that's has been broken year after year. Wow. So you're
Speaker 1: saying that the growing pains will be on the Eagles side,
Speaker 1: not on the surprised defensive side. Yeah. I don't know
Speaker 1: anyone talking about it. That's a good point that kar
Speaker 1: Rich brings up. Though. If Vic struggles out of the gate,
Speaker 1: how long rope do you think he gets? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so, because I don't I mean well personally,
Speaker 1: I just think that you know whether or not the
Speaker 1: Eagles have their quarterback of the future. Kelly seems like
Speaker 1: he wants to pick a guide stick with him versus
Speaker 1: creating chaos that gives you Nick Foles on the other side, West,
Speaker 1: do you wanna give us your game of the week? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm interested in the Bears and Bengals. Uh, two teams
Speaker 1: that I picked to go to be wild card teams.
Speaker 1: I don't know that that the class of the NFL,
Speaker 1: but they look pretty strong to me. I think most
Speaker 1: people see the Bengals is having a stronger roster and
Speaker 1: the Bears, as much as we've liked their offensive line
Speaker 1: from what we've seen in the preseason, this is a
Speaker 1: big test for them because the Bengals have arguably the
Speaker 1: best defensive tackle in the NFL and Geno Atkins and
Speaker 1: in a stout line overall, so this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a big test for the Bear This is one of
Speaker 1: the most predictable picks we'll have all season. You have
Speaker 1: Cecily who thinks the Bears are gonna go nineteen, and
Speaker 1: oh h Westley who just despises the Bengals to the
Speaker 1: point where he'll never pick them. And then you have
Speaker 1: two people Sanity and the Wilderness, Greg and I picking
Speaker 1: the Bengals. I couldn't even remember who I picked in
Speaker 1: this game. It was the toughest game of the entire
Speaker 1: sixty and this one in Panthers Seahawks. I thought, it's
Speaker 1: it's such an even matchup. And Andrew Whitworth is not
Speaker 1: going to play in this game. He's doubtful, most likely
Speaker 1: he's out and he has to go. You know, now
Speaker 1: they have a backup left tackle going up against Julius Peppers.
Speaker 1: Henry Melton is gonna play in this game. There wasn't
Speaker 1: a single Chicago Bear on the injury report this week,
Speaker 1: and that is arguably. You know, if everyone talks about
Speaker 1: the Bengals maybe the best defensive line in football, if
Speaker 1: everyone's right in Chicago, couldn't couldn't they be in the mix?
Speaker 1: They could be. I think the Lions are now just
Speaker 1: enough to Greg has picked the Bengals. Dan has picked
Speaker 1: a girl pop outfit from the early eighties, the Bengals. Yes,
Speaker 1: she's a great woman. Um. One thing I will say,
Speaker 1: actually I knew it was the team and not the
Speaker 1: fading pop in. But uh, one thing that we'll say
Speaker 1: about the Bears look out because if they get off
Speaker 1: to a fast start, I think they will really start
Speaker 1: rolling and I could see them being a twelve win
Speaker 1: team if they get out of the gate. Two quick
Speaker 1: stats West and I noticed this on the NFL network
Speaker 1: feed before we came up. The Bears gave up two
Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns at home all last season. I love their
Speaker 1: defense as much as I think their offense will sing.
Speaker 1: But also, Andy Dalton did not complete a fifteen yard
Speaker 1: or plus yardage pass all preseason. I watched hard Knocks
Speaker 1: and I am not surprised by that's that. I just
Speaker 1: you know, for me, it's a huge game for these
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks because they're both under pressure. They've been surrounded
Speaker 1: by more weapons than in the past, with the scheme
Speaker 1: has been dressed around them, a lot of pressure to succeed.
Speaker 1: I think that's for me. What's the what I I
Speaker 1: have visions of Tim Jennings catching three interceptions against I
Speaker 1: could see it. This is my favorite football day of
Speaker 1: the year, by the way, because of this game. It's
Speaker 1: like we don't know what's going to happen with Tressman
Speaker 1: and Cutler and everything's new, and people always say, oh
Speaker 1: division around this is the best day of the first
Speaker 1: Sunday of the year is the best football day of
Speaker 1: the year because you have no idea what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: It's been so long since you've had one, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: you have the most football in front of you. So
Speaker 1: I think it steadily goes down and down after this.
Speaker 1: This is it right here. It's very convincing. I'm buying
Speaker 1: into that theory. This is also the number one chance
Speaker 1: to go oh and sixteen and the picks because yeah,
Speaker 1: like you were saying, there's no way to really know
Speaker 1: right now, Cecil the only only one on pace because
Speaker 1: you picked the Ravens on Thursday night thoughts. Ah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I got hung out to dry on that. And you know, listen,
Speaker 1: it's a long season. I'm due for some tough times
Speaker 1: after what happened last year. You were one one of
Speaker 1: the best prognosticators in the entire country, and that is
Speaker 1: not that is not me embellishing what you did last year.
Speaker 1: So let's see if you can keep it going. I
Speaker 1: won't Greg, what is your game mind? Saints Falcons because
Speaker 1: this has been one of the best rivalries in the
Speaker 1: NFL for the last four or five years. And it's
Speaker 1: not a rivalry like the Jets and Patriot. It's where
Speaker 1: it's a lot of talking, but the games aren't great.
Speaker 1: The games are classic every time, and they always seem
Speaker 1: to bring out the best of in each other, whether
Speaker 1: it's Michael Turner getting stuffed on fourth and one, whether
Speaker 1: it's the Saints winning I think the division and then
Speaker 1: celebrating on the Falcons logo. And there's controversy after that,
Speaker 1: whether last year there was one moment in the season
Speaker 1: where we thought the Saints might get back into it,
Speaker 1: and they actually beat the Falcons at home in the Superdome.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what the records are. You have two
Speaker 1: of the best quarterbacks in the league, you have two
Speaker 1: very good coaches, and it's always a tight, close game.
Speaker 1: I have made sure to watch I think every Saints
Speaker 1: Falcons game as it's happening for the last five or
Speaker 1: six years, and I would say it's the number one rivalry.
Speaker 1: Well I know, but I'm saying on Sunday that's the game.
Speaker 1: On watching I I think it's the best rivalry in
Speaker 1: the NFL in terms of the games are always fantastic.
Speaker 1: The Falcons should change their logo to a running loop
Speaker 1: of Michael Turner getting stuffed one fourth or more. Well,
Speaker 1: hopefully now they're not gonna that's not gonna happen with
Speaker 1: Stephen Jackson now against the very suspect Saints defense, and
Speaker 1: normally everything's lining up for the Saints in this I
Speaker 1: mean for the Falcons in this game, you would just
Speaker 1: think the continuity that they'll score forty points. But the
Speaker 1: Falcons always bring out the best in the Saints and
Speaker 1: it's in New Orleans. Well outside of the really tragic
Speaker 1: fact that this game will always occur in a dome
Speaker 1: um and therefore reduces my interest level by at least half.
Speaker 1: I hate a child, I cannot stand. Do not like
Speaker 1: dome football and talk about two warm weather cities that
Speaker 1: don't need a dome to begin with. Please, it's never
Speaker 1: inclement weather there anyways, Enough with the dome thing. I
Speaker 1: do think for me, I cannot wait to see. Listen,
Speaker 1: I don't feel bad for the Saints after what happened
Speaker 1: last year. It's a really edgy, uh nervous fan base
Speaker 1: that seems, you know, to hyper react over everything. But uh,
Speaker 1: sorry I've gone off attention. True, but well no they are.
Speaker 1: They were a little edgy last season. But I do,
Speaker 1: I do want to see and it's not just in
Speaker 1: this one game, over the course of maybe the first
Speaker 1: quarter and half of the season. Sean Payton's you know
Speaker 1: effect on this team. Are they who were who they
Speaker 1: were last year, which I suspect they are, or do
Speaker 1: they go back to what they were two seasons ago,
Speaker 1: which was a dominant NFC team. You know, you guys
Speaker 1: raised a lot of good points. Uh. The Saints always
Speaker 1: play the Falcons. Well, they've got this great offense, You've
Speaker 1: got Sean Payton coming back. This game wasn't that hard
Speaker 1: for me to pick. The Falcons are a much better team.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Saints can stop any offense right now,
Speaker 1: much less the Falcons. Yeah, the defense seems crippled. The
Speaker 1: defense is awful. Where is the talent on that side
Speaker 1: of the ball? There is none. Um for the record,
Speaker 1: by the way, Westling took the Falcons, the rest of
Speaker 1: us took the Saints and wow, but it's not a
Speaker 1: hero because Patrick also took Kevin Patrick. You gotta include there. Well,
Speaker 1: Rob Ryan as as a Saints sessler, cesslor I can
Speaker 1: tell you you know, he can cook up some one
Speaker 1: game defensive scheme to help win a game, and maybe
Speaker 1: it doesn't laugh, could also cook up some doozies. Yeah, okay, guys,
Speaker 1: So let's now go over to our hero picks. Um,
Speaker 1: as we laid out before, whoever picked it, no one
Speaker 1: else picked that team. So Chris Westling, you are the
Speaker 1: man up first. Who is the team that you picked
Speaker 1: that no one else picked? This week? I have a
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers at home over the Seattle Seahawks. I believe
Speaker 1: the Seahawks are a better team. I think they are
Speaker 1: probably the best roster in the NFL right now. I
Speaker 1: liked how the Panthers played the Seahawks last year. They
Speaker 1: played them really tight. Should have won that game probably,
Speaker 1: And I think the Seahawks are literally unbeatable at home.
Speaker 1: They went undefeated last year. I think they're gonna go
Speaker 1: undefeated again this year. They were a five hundred team
Speaker 1: on the road last year. I don't think they're that
Speaker 1: intimidating on the road. I think the Panthers defense is
Speaker 1: a lot better than people think, and uh for that.
Speaker 1: For those reasons, I'm going to Carolina. I was so
Speaker 1: tempted to take Caroline. I struggled with this. These picks
Speaker 1: just torment me. I almost feel like it's not worth
Speaker 1: it to be even involved, because I thought about it
Speaker 1: all week, and then once I saw Wesley took the
Speaker 1: Panthers and he was the only one it, it just
Speaker 1: crushed my soul a little bit. For some reason, I
Speaker 1: regretted it. But the reason I didn't take them, and
Speaker 1: I hate to say it, is because Seattle just seemed
Speaker 1: like such a finely oiled machine in the preseason that
Speaker 1: they were just one of those teams that comes into
Speaker 1: the season ready to go, and you never know if
Speaker 1: it's gonna stay that way the whole season. Things change
Speaker 1: up and down. But they're one of those teams I
Speaker 1: could see in September already being kind of where they
Speaker 1: left off, whereas most teams are not like that. I agree.
Speaker 1: I think it's a it's a gutsy pick on your part,
Speaker 1: and it is tantalizing because Caroline is one of these
Speaker 1: teams that has talent in certain areas where I think
Speaker 1: we talked about this before. Wouldn't be a surprise that
Speaker 1: they win ten and six. Wouldn't be that surprising if
Speaker 1: they win six and ten. I I think, for me,
Speaker 1: when it comes to picking games, though I look at Seattle,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick them almost every single week, and I
Speaker 1: will be wrong probably three or four times, and I
Speaker 1: can live with it. The matchup I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: is Marshawn Lynch, Kristin Michael and that Seattle running game
Speaker 1: against Carolina's you know, newfangled defensive tackle combination Kawan short,
Speaker 1: Star low to lay. That was their biggest weakness last year.
Speaker 1: Now maybe it's a strength and and if Seattle can't
Speaker 1: run the ball. That's what they still base things off of.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're gonna just be able to
Speaker 1: throw the ball times and score a lot of points. Well,
Speaker 1: Brandon Browner is a game time decision. So you can
Speaker 1: probably guess which matchup I'm looking forward to the most.
Speaker 1: Cliff av also eighty nine versus the mouth of the
Speaker 1: West Richard Sherman, and eighty nine is going to get
Speaker 1: in his grill and embarrass him because that's what eighty
Speaker 1: nine does. Bottom line, do you think Richard Sherman stays
Speaker 1: as the best cornerback in the league this year? No,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's the best cornerback in the
Speaker 1: league last year. I think this. I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: cook up a post idea for West. Right now, you
Speaker 1: right up, whatever happens in that game with that matchup, Okay,
Speaker 1: Greg's that all right? You're the editor. That sounds great.
Speaker 1: He might come find um. All right, let's move on.
Speaker 1: My I'll do my hero pick because uh, I don't
Speaker 1: feel even remotely good about it. But listen, sometimes just
Speaker 1: gotta go with your gut. Um. I have the Chargers
Speaker 1: on Monday Night, uh upset victory over the Houston Texans.
Speaker 1: This is starting to feel a little personal because I
Speaker 1: did I did pick the Texans to go eight and eight,
Speaker 1: so I gotta find eight losses. Also, I went on
Speaker 1: Houston radio and um, they gave out personal information trying
Speaker 1: to get me in trouble. So it's just see a
Speaker 1: lot of this just seems to be coming from a
Speaker 1: deeper place. But if I need to give details of
Speaker 1: why this would happen, I guess I could say, first
Speaker 1: of all, it's a home Monday night ten twenty start
Speaker 1: on the West on the East coast, and I, um,
Speaker 1: so it's a time zone thing. Is really what I'm
Speaker 1: what I'm going with here is the weird things could
Speaker 1: happen on a season opener on a Monday night. Um,
Speaker 1: I like that Foster, I don't like it, But Foster
Speaker 1: might not be ready to really be Foster at this
Speaker 1: point as he comes back from his injuries. DeAndre Hopkins
Speaker 1: got cleared from a concussion what three days ago, so
Speaker 1: I don't know if we're gonna expect him to immediately
Speaker 1: be that number two option opposite Andre Johnson. And you know,
Speaker 1: as I've been on record saying I like their defense
Speaker 1: a lot. I love their defense, and they have two
Speaker 1: of the best players in the league on the defense.
Speaker 1: But I don't like Matt shob and maybe they you know,
Speaker 1: we're talking like a game. They shouldn't lose what they
Speaker 1: do sixteen something like that. I think you also just
Speaker 1: completely gave the reason why this will go badly for you,
Speaker 1: which is think Cushing, J J. Watt, Charger's offensive line,
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers stuck in mud. I feel pity for King
Speaker 1: Dunlap and d J. Fluker. Whichever side J. J. Watt
Speaker 1: lines up on, it's just gonna be a nightmare for them.
Speaker 1: A lot of time readers come at us on Twitter
Speaker 1: or email or whatever and they're like, you're a hater,
Speaker 1: you hate my team, and you know, they just you
Speaker 1: can hear that from every team and they think it's personal.
Speaker 1: But with this, with this Texans damn thing, I think,
Speaker 1: really the entire city of Houston, I think it's gotten
Speaker 1: to that point. And for the record, UM, you people
Speaker 1: out there who give the comments, it is personal. I
Speaker 1: really do hate your team and you're the reason why. Um.
Speaker 1: All right, unless anyone else wants to jump on board.
Speaker 1: And while the Texans are gonna slaughter the Charges, which
Speaker 1: is probably more accurate. Greg, why don't you give us
Speaker 1: your hero pick, which I really love. Whenever this happens,
Speaker 1: What team do you think is gonna win that none
Speaker 1: of us think? Well, I've got a couple hero picks
Speaker 1: this week, I guess the only one and the I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start with the New York And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: part of the equation here is, uh, I don't mind
Speaker 1: playing the game a little bit if I if there's
Speaker 1: a game that's a fifty fifty toss up, and that's
Speaker 1: how I see this game between the Jets and the Bucks,
Speaker 1: and I have an inkling that maybe everyone's gonna go
Speaker 1: the other way or it won't be a popular pick.
Speaker 1: I'll take the underdock because I think this is an
Speaker 1: even matchup. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers potentially have one of
Speaker 1: the worst passing games in the league, not just based
Speaker 1: on what I saw in the preseason, but just Josh
Speaker 1: Freeman being up and down. I've said all preseason that
Speaker 1: I think the Jets defense will be pretty good, and
Speaker 1: they're at home and I see them winning you know,
Speaker 1: six games. This is this is one of those types
Speaker 1: of games that they win surprise everyone. I think you're
Speaker 1: underestimating Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams quite a bit. And
Speaker 1: I don't know that we have any confidence in d
Speaker 1: Milliner or Kyle Wilson to stop them. Uh chrom Marty
Speaker 1: is great, but if there's a weakness on the Jets defense,
Speaker 1: it's in the secondary. I'm counting on the front seven
Speaker 1: being good and Quentin Copeles isn't going to play this game,
Speaker 1: but otherwise it looks like ken Rick Ellis will probably play.
Speaker 1: I think they can get a lot of pressure. I
Speaker 1: think they'll can keep it a low scoring game. And
Speaker 1: I sometimes think of the season as a whole as
Speaker 1: a narrative. Can't you just see this week one Jets
Speaker 1: surprise everyone kind of get them off their backs, and
Speaker 1: then people are like, WHOA wow, isn't Geno a little crazy?
Speaker 1: Can see that? I can also see a tire fire
Speaker 1: by the end of the first quarter. It could be there.
Speaker 1: There are two things snowball the entire season. There are
Speaker 1: two types of Jet seasons. There's one that's completely hopeless,
Speaker 1: starts poorly, ends poorly. Think nine six, two thousand, five,
Speaker 1: two thousand three, those type of seasons. And then there's
Speaker 1: the one where they suck you in, um, and I
Speaker 1: feel like this could be the one where they potentially
Speaker 1: you can make make the case I didn't pick the Jets,
Speaker 1: Greg did, but you can make the case they'll suck
Speaker 1: us in because the Freeman will implode. The guy, poor
Speaker 1: guy can't even be a captain of his team anymore.
Speaker 1: He'll implode and throw a few picks and the Jets
Speaker 1: win thirteen ten. Uh. That's how you sell it as
Speaker 1: a Jets up. So I would say I entered I
Speaker 1: entered the summer believing that line that, um, the Jets
Speaker 1: could surprise the whole league and everybody's down on them.
Speaker 1: But every successive week just brings more and more embarrassment
Speaker 1: and more and more it looks like they're frauds. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't see anything about the Jets to get excited about.
Speaker 1: I think this could go like last season, where the
Speaker 1: Jets rolled out a Week one victory that had everyone
Speaker 1: Jets and up putting up. Just come off Jet. Dan,
Speaker 1: by the way, is in a glowing green T shirt
Speaker 1: right now, which has nothing to do with his loyalties.
Speaker 1: You know. I think it's gonna be tough for Geno Smith.
Speaker 1: You may not like Tampa's passing game. I also sort
Speaker 1: of disagree with you because I think they've got to
Speaker 1: establish receivers there. Freeman when he's cold is a nightmare,
Speaker 1: But when he's hot, the Jets aren't meal to stop that.
Speaker 1: If that's what they get Gino Smith, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: tough for him to be rolled out. He didn't get
Speaker 1: a lot of work in the preseason to basically come
Speaker 1: out and be real effective Week one. That's a big gamble,
Speaker 1: it is, and so was my other hero pick. Well,
Speaker 1: actually I didn't think it was that big of a gamble,
Speaker 1: which was the Arizona Cardinals winning in St. Louis. I'm
Speaker 1: a little surprised no one else picked that game. I
Speaker 1: saw this as a coin flip. I see these two
Speaker 1: teams both winning about seven games this year. We haven't
Speaker 1: seen what Bruce Arians can do. There's a surprise factor.
Speaker 1: I think the Rams are slightly overrated in general as
Speaker 1: a surprise team. So to me, these are two teams
Speaker 1: with pretty good talent on defense, big questions on offense.
Speaker 1: I like the coaches, especially on offense. Better for the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: I like them pulling off the Week one upset, getting
Speaker 1: people a little excited in the desert. I think both
Speaker 1: these teams are bound to disappoint by the end of
Speaker 1: the season. But this is also I think the best
Speaker 1: hero pick of the week, because why can't the Cardinals
Speaker 1: go into the Edward James Dome or whatever it is? Uh, sorry,
Speaker 1: don't talk. Didn't mean to hit up a soft spot, Mark,
Speaker 1: but I don't see why that can happen. I mean,
Speaker 1: are the Rams that good? I don't think the Rams
Speaker 1: are that good at the Cardinals that bad? No crowds
Speaker 1: in the league, I agree, this is a coin flip game.
Speaker 1: I expect both of these teams to be about seven
Speaker 1: and nine this year. I went with the home team.
Speaker 1: I vaguely recall the Rams were very tough to beat
Speaker 1: at home last year and very tough in the Division two. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the Rams are potentially a little hyped up
Speaker 1: this offseason, but I think still were the Cardinals. Frankly,
Speaker 1: we've we've talked with the Cars. Suddenly the Cardinals are
Speaker 1: this potential playoff team with all this talent. I need
Speaker 1: to see it first. This to me, though, I think
Speaker 1: you got the hero pick because a bunch of us
Speaker 1: kind of coin flipped the choice and you got the
Speaker 1: one that no one else picked. Have you never know
Speaker 1: how it's gonna go. I thought Vikings Lions would have
Speaker 1: been a coin flip, and all five of us took
Speaker 1: the Lions. No love from Mark, You have a hero
Speaker 1: pick that damn check will not be happy about. Well,
Speaker 1: I had to. I had to. And the first was
Speaker 1: the Ravens and that went down hill very fast. Uh.
Speaker 1: But my second was I predict the Tennessee Titans to
Speaker 1: upset the Steelers. And I know, logically, even as a
Speaker 1: Browns fan, it's hard for me to picture Pittsburgh losing
Speaker 1: at home in Week one. That's unusual, that's rare. But
Speaker 1: something about the Titans feels different to me after watching
Speaker 1: what they did in the preseason. I think they've rebuilt.
Speaker 1: They actually rebuilt the line and it worked. The line
Speaker 1: looks completely different. Chris Johnson looks like a different player
Speaker 1: to me. I think he's actually happy for the first
Speaker 1: time in a while. And you know, Greg Cosell called
Speaker 1: Jake Locker the most improved player he's seen on tape,
Speaker 1: and I think that means not that they're trying to
Speaker 1: make him do things that he can't do, but they've
Speaker 1: built the team around a scheme that actually works for him,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to see it. I think the Steelers,
Speaker 1: we just assume we're gonna be this tenant six team.
Speaker 1: I picked him to win the division, so I think
Speaker 1: they'll rebound. But this one is going to be a
Speaker 1: tight one, Titans winning. I like the way you say
Speaker 1: the rebounds. That's how like how handsome, Hank says weekend.
Speaker 1: I'm just glad Chris Johnson is happy, because that's the
Speaker 1: key here. I mean, if he's happy, I don't know,
Speaker 1: does he He seems a little bit refreshed to me, rejuvenated.
Speaker 1: I know, I don't know the guy I see, I'll
Speaker 1: see I'll see a great and raise you one. I
Speaker 1: was listening to him yesterday. He loves what he's seen
Speaker 1: from the Steelers defense, especially Troy Palamalo in the preseason. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't see the Titans scoring more than twenty points
Speaker 1: in this game. Mike Tomlin means business this year. I
Speaker 1: really think this organization is embarrassed about what happened last year,
Speaker 1: losing all those close games. Mike Tomlin is so serious
Speaker 1: that the only people he fall was on Twitter are
Speaker 1: his players, and he wants to monitor their activities, and
Speaker 1: when the roster went from seventy five to fifty three
Speaker 1: over the weekend, Mike Tomlin promptly unfollowed all of those
Speaker 1: players that he cut. Cay Rich is angry about this
Speaker 1: because we had to hack the news segment this week
Speaker 1: because we had so many games to talk about. That
Speaker 1: would have been a perfect one for you, k Rich,
Speaker 1: because so intro is still in the making, it's coming together.
Speaker 1: You've yet to reach out to anyone. No one's really
Speaker 1: talked about it formally, but it's gonna happen, and people
Speaker 1: are excited. It's going to happen. You guys will see,
Speaker 1: all right. So let's move on now to what I
Speaker 1: like to call the orphans. These are the games that
Speaker 1: didn't fall into the hero pick or seemed to be
Speaker 1: particularly interesting, although that's not really true because they're all
Speaker 1: kind of interesting. But let's go, Greg, Why don't you
Speaker 1: give us some breakdown of one of these orphans. Patriots Bills.
Speaker 1: You know, Bill Belichick said this week all the Buffalo
Speaker 1: Bills have run this preseason is no huddle. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's all we've seen out of them. So they're not
Speaker 1: trying to hide anything that's what they're gonna do. Think
Speaker 1: we're gonna see a lot of plays out of them.
Speaker 1: It's EJ. Manuel's first start in the NFL. Their offense
Speaker 1: is healthy, and I'm I'm really excited to see what
Speaker 1: a Doug Morone and and e J Manuel offense looks like. Alright,
Speaker 1: the game I'll talk about is the Sunday night game.
Speaker 1: I know Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people are sick of the Sunday night game between
Speaker 1: the Cowboys and Giants. I always like it. I'm from
Speaker 1: New York I Those games always get people excited, and
Speaker 1: it's usually a close game and there's usually at least
Speaker 1: one awesome cut to Jerry Jones's box where something funny,
Speaker 1: so people are excited and sick of it at the
Speaker 1: same time. That's me. That's kind of accurate. And the
Speaker 1: Cowboys never win this game if it's in Dallas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've never won since they opened. This is this is
Speaker 1: another source Spot West got this wrong during the win
Speaker 1: wests toaster game. A T and T Stadium formerly Cowboys Stadium.
Speaker 1: Now I know the corporate sponsor of a stadium, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I really I think ultimately the Giants are gonna lose
Speaker 1: one of these games. I don't think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: this one, but that will be a fun game to
Speaker 1: watch on Sunday night. Alan Chris will be pumped. I
Speaker 1: would keep an eye on David Will's and our breakout star,
Speaker 1: my number one guy in the making. Elite piece that
Speaker 1: was published today that Dallas Cowboys defensive line is missing
Speaker 1: j Ratliffe. They're undersized. I'm not sure they can stop
Speaker 1: the run. What's your game? Was? My game? Is Raiders
Speaker 1: going into Indianapolis and this is going to be a
Speaker 1: blood bath. The Raiders are down to their fourth left
Speaker 1: tackle since training camp opened. It's not good. It's not good.
Speaker 1: They wait. The more left tackles is not better. They
Speaker 1: do not want to accumulate left tackle. But that's not
Speaker 1: an important position, especially not when you have a quarterback
Speaker 1: making his second career start. Uh So, the Raiders have
Speaker 1: a left tackle right tackle combination of Calif Barnes and
Speaker 1: Tony Pashas, who once paved the way for a two
Speaker 1: thirty six yard rushing attack and no sacks in Indianapolis. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: that was six years ago when they were playing for
Speaker 1: the Jaguars. Break that out for toast their time. That
Speaker 1: was wow? Uh, Mark, What's that was really a press
Speaker 1: of West Mark? Well, the game that I've been given
Speaker 1: that apparently nobody cares about. Is Miami verse Cleveland care about?
Speaker 1: That's That's how the segment was sold orphanage and adopted.
Speaker 1: You're not people don't care about you. They should be loved.
Speaker 1: WHOA what are you looking for? Brown's boy? Okay? Well,
Speaker 1: I think I think for me there's many angles, But
Speaker 1: I really wanted to see the Dion Jordan's versus Barkvous Mingo.
Speaker 1: Which one of these guys can do more torment to
Speaker 1: the opposing quarterback? Mingo is? I'm not sure we ever
Speaker 1: see Mingo ever? Again, I don't even know. I'm not sure. Well,
Speaker 1: I just don't know. A very mysterious injury. But listen,
Speaker 1: is is Brandon Whedon um this wonder boy that showed
Speaker 1: up for ten days during the preseason or is he
Speaker 1: everything we thought he was last season? I have much
Speaker 1: more faith in Ryan Tannehill uh sustaining drives with Miami.
Speaker 1: I think that that guy is legit in the real deal.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a real tough game for Cleveland, who
Speaker 1: has not one a home opener since two or any
Speaker 1: opener since two thousand and four. To pull this off.
Speaker 1: Barkis Mingo has a bruise lung, Mark Sessler bruised heart. Ah.
Speaker 1: If you can't get fired up for the Devon best Bull,
Speaker 1: what can you get fired up for fair Point by West?
Speaker 1: Greg You got another one right Minnesota Detroit and uh,
Speaker 1: for all the legion of people out there that don't
Speaker 1: quite believe in Christian Ponder, this could be quite a
Speaker 1: game because you've got the Detroit defensive line given pressure
Speaker 1: up the middle. On the sides, Ponder does not handle pressure. Well,
Speaker 1: maybe that's why we we all took the Lions, and
Speaker 1: this is kind of one of those games that the Lions,
Speaker 1: if they're really going to be part of this division,
Speaker 1: you gotta win division games at home. We think the
Speaker 1: Vikings are headed for a fall, so it's a big
Speaker 1: early season game for them. I could see us all
Speaker 1: being wrong about this one. Yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: we all love what we've seen from the lines defensive line,
Speaker 1: and maybe that's what has us so confident, and we
Speaker 1: hate what we've seen from Christian Ponder in the preseason,
Speaker 1: But I like everything else about the Vikings roster. I
Speaker 1: just don't trust the quarterback. How about the quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: casey Jacksonville, Well, do we know who's going to start
Speaker 1: for the Jaguars. I don't think it matters decision. It
Speaker 1: would be very surprising if Gaver didn't. I don't think
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are nearly as good as everyone else thinks
Speaker 1: they do. There's some trendy pick this year for some
Speaker 1: reason to make the playoffs, and I don't see it
Speaker 1: at all. And as much as everybody loves the Andy
Speaker 1: read to Kansas City story, I think Jacksonville has a
Speaker 1: better head coach. So did you take the Jaguars? Who
Speaker 1: else took the Jaguars? Kevin Patra out there, Hopefully he's
Speaker 1: still listening to the show working right now. I supposed
Speaker 1: to be covering us in case breaking news goes down.
Speaker 1: Um alright, guys, So that was a week one. I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought that went well, what do you guys think?
Speaker 1: I thought it was good? Let us know, Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: and then you know how you let us know you?
Speaker 1: Contact is via Twitter at NFL at a t L
Speaker 1: or underscore a t L and then also on the
Speaker 1: iTunes page, but only positive comments there. Please just we
Speaker 1: are very sensitive. We have a very special announcement starting
Speaker 1: on Sunday, Greg take it away. Uh, We're gonna do
Speaker 1: a Sunday night podcast every week after the games are over.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's gonna be any podcast out
Speaker 1: there talking football for you fresh pop it into your
Speaker 1: iPhone or whatever. On Monday morning, it will be ready.
Speaker 1: We'll go over all the Sunday games, all the immediate
Speaker 1: fallout and yeah, check that out. That should be ready
Speaker 1: late Sunday night on the West Coast and early East
Speaker 1: Coast morning. What the listeners should realize too, is that
Speaker 1: we'll be doing this podcast at the tail end of
Speaker 1: what will probably be about a twelve to fourteen hour day.
Speaker 1: And that just tells you the level of care that's going.
Speaker 1: It's not it's like we're not Rex Ryan going down
Speaker 1: to Clemson to watch the kids standing standing on the sideline.
Speaker 1: We're all in our children. Probably a lack of quality too.
Speaker 1: Will probably be totally out of our minds after Fftina,
Speaker 1: I'm excited about this. This is something I would listen to. Definitely. Well,
Speaker 1: that's good. At least we've got we got West and
Speaker 1: U k Rich is also going to have to stick
Speaker 1: around and we uh, we're very thankful for that. I'll
Speaker 1: see there, all right. Yeah, that's that's very fun. Okay,
Speaker 1: so until Sunday. Um, thank you to the mailman, the Sizzler,
Speaker 1: the Boss, k Rich and Lyle the h L intern.
Speaker 1: We'll see either. If she's gorgeous, I'll do the cookie.
Speaker 1: And I married someone who ended up being like a
Speaker 1: professional chef for other food a little bit though. I
Speaker 1: have a hard time eating anything that's not good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you do well, of course a professional chef,
Speaker 1: Mr Spoil, But can we change his name to Mr
Speaker 1: Spoiled at the end of the show, Mr Spoil