Speaker 1: Around the NFL podcast The New Video Guy is ready
Speaker 1: for the Internet back lass from the Chris Westling podcast studio.
Speaker 1: It's around the NFL. I am Dan Hansis I have
Speaker 1: heroes ready for a new season of National Football League Action.
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler Boys the v O Guy, He's
Speaker 1: ready for the backlash. Maybe we're ready for the backlash
Speaker 1: because we're about to preview week one, our tenth season
Speaker 1: together doing this thing. I like to think we're getting better.
Speaker 1: I'm I don't have a proof of that, but I'd
Speaker 1: like to think that we we arrived here. It does
Speaker 1: have a different feel that the game's actually here tonight,
Speaker 1: that the season started. The kids are in the RAMS
Speaker 1: gear going to school. Like Dan's got a fresh haircut.
Speaker 1: I believe this is in the seven to ten day.
Speaker 1: Don't notice when he shaves he shaved. Just notice me
Speaker 1: say same thing to my wife. I got a haircane.
Speaker 1: I'm here, you got you look sharp, as Keith Hansas
Speaker 1: would say. Hopefully we hear from Keith Hansas on Sunday
Speaker 1: Night the Flagship Show talking about a Jets victory with
Speaker 1: Joe Flacca will get into that situation. By the way,
Speaker 1: I want to say a couple of things after a while,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's gonna be a high draft pick.
Speaker 1: We draft all the games based on what we're gonna
Speaker 1: take Sunday, and it feels good to football. This spanner
Speaker 1: I'm holding in my hand was sitting on every one
Speaker 1: of our desks this morning. And by the way, hang
Speaker 1: it proudly because I heard from a birdie that Goodell
Speaker 1: the Commission is in the building. He could walk past
Speaker 1: the glass at any time. He could come behind the
Speaker 1: production area at any time. I would assume we should
Speaker 1: invite him in the studio if he shows up, or
Speaker 1: you can make a stand about something you feel about
Speaker 1: the league with him in our presence. But Goodell is
Speaker 1: here somewhere, rock I have the the banner just sort
Speaker 1: of haphazardly slabbed on my desk. I didn't realize that
Speaker 1: he was going to be That's exciting what it like.
Speaker 1: It does feel great. We had Stephen Jackson next to
Speaker 1: us in the makeup room, like if ROJ walks by,
Speaker 1: I will I'll, I'll motion them and over. I still
Speaker 1: do have some questions about that Deshaun Watson investigations, So
Speaker 1: I just wanted to find out it's time to chop
Speaker 1: it up and figure out what's going on there. What else?
Speaker 1: A couple of things because we're gonna get to every game.
Speaker 1: We do a draft style of course. Uh, and we
Speaker 1: will have our locks of the week. We'll have some
Speaker 1: old friends checking in. UM. Big announcement, give me that announcement,
Speaker 1: Horn Graver. We're going to London. You guys know that
Speaker 1: we've announced that we've been this is our thing, fourth
Speaker 1: trip maybe as a podcast, and we have a live
Speaker 1: show that is going to top any live show we've
Speaker 1: ever done. Thursday, September twenty nine in London at the
Speaker 1: O two Forum, Kentish Town. Showtime seven thirty. Doors open
Speaker 1: at seven and you could get tickets at Ticketmaster search
Speaker 1: around the NFL. A Ticketmaster, you will have access to
Speaker 1: the Heroes Live. Put it out on our social There's
Speaker 1: no going back now. I guess we're definitely going to London.
Speaker 1: I still it's happening, it's exciting. We're so excited for this.
Speaker 1: Mark has been his body. His workout routine has gone
Speaker 1: through the roof because he's going to be shirtless during
Speaker 1: the show. That's another tease. I don't want to give
Speaker 1: away too much but I'm learning that just as as
Speaker 1: of this minute. Can I have one little side note though,
Speaker 1: because this is the time now when you'll start to
Speaker 1: get the d m s from various people that are
Speaker 1: in London, like, oh, can I circumvent the purchasing and
Speaker 1: a ticket? Can you just give me one give an
Speaker 1: answer because I well, no, just don't do that. Don't
Speaker 1: DM that to the three and if if you do
Speaker 1: and you don't get a response, cycle back to this
Speaker 1: moment of this episode. Here's the answer. No, it goes
Speaker 1: beyond us. It's an administrative tick. But we're so excited.
Speaker 1: Did to be back with our London fans? Greg? I
Speaker 1: remember um when we're at the carousel at l a
Speaker 1: X after the trip last year. Mark. Unfortunately you cann't
Speaker 1: join us last year, but we got you this year shirtless.
Speaker 1: So we're on top of the world and we were
Speaker 1: talking about it. We were being reflective about how proud
Speaker 1: we were of it, and how we need to go
Speaker 1: to London every year, not just for the English fans,
Speaker 1: everyone else that lives in that area, people that come
Speaker 1: over from Ireland, Australia, Germany. That's part of our um
Speaker 1: our thing here and around the NFL. So we're so
Speaker 1: excited to do it again. Right. Sometimes we hear from
Speaker 1: other areas it's like, how come you give them so
Speaker 1: much love? Or why don't you go there get an
Speaker 1: NFL game there? Um, and then that would be a
Speaker 1: lot more like we're gonna try. We're gonna try maybe
Speaker 1: maybe in future years if it doesn't happen this year,
Speaker 1: you know. So that's going on. Let's now get one
Speaker 1: more announcement out of the way. Friday Fund Show debuts tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Friday makes sense one. It's a lot stream on where
Speaker 1: a grave digger? Is it on YouTube? YouTube? But I'm sorry, yes,
Speaker 1: just give him a break. YouTube dot com, slash NFL
Speaker 1: Underscore podcasts, I believe. Okay, if you go to that link,
Speaker 1: it sounds like you're not to put it in your
Speaker 1: favorite exactly a great U r L. But we're gonna
Speaker 1: live stream the show. We can have a h there
Speaker 1: will be a streaming comments section. You could be involved
Speaker 1: with the show. It's our last look before we dive
Speaker 1: into weekend action. Uh and we're also going to recap
Speaker 1: tonight's game Thursday Night Football rams Bills, So check out
Speaker 1: that that's your location. No Thursday Night show at least
Speaker 1: to start the season. We're trying some new things out
Speaker 1: Friday morning ten am Pacific, one pm Eastern six pm
Speaker 1: in London. Speaking of which Happy Hour show, and we
Speaker 1: will be boots on the ground at that game, so
Speaker 1: a lot of local flair. It's a podcast as well,
Speaker 1: so you can check it out live if you wish,
Speaker 1: but then it's also gonna be a podcast. That's the
Speaker 1: last bit of big news we're doing. Fans will do both.
Speaker 1: They'll watch the live stream and then download the podcast
Speaker 1: to support us, love us. We're more active than ever.
Speaker 1: That is something that I'm noticing where you stand that
Speaker 1: it's the TVD. It's like a raging TVD. Talk to
Speaker 1: me in like three weeks. These are earning years, my friend.
Speaker 1: This is where there is there's a curve, a creative curve,
Speaker 1: I don't care what it is, where you get better, better,
Speaker 1: better than your your top of your game, and then
Speaker 1: you slowly go downhill. I think we're still in our prime,
Speaker 1: so let's take advantage of it. But I'm like eight
Speaker 1: years older than you, so I don't know what where
Speaker 1: I'm on. I know I will just echo what west
Speaker 1: and I used to say to all this looking forward
Speaker 1: to being past our prime, but just like still earning
Speaker 1: off the embers of how we used to be? What
Speaker 1: were you going to say? West? And I would just
Speaker 1: simply respond to all this jazz with just bend me,
Speaker 1: shape me ben shape? Is that still where you're at?
Speaker 1: Fee bent and shaped? And I like, what's happened? Sexy?
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into it. The draft's coming, but
Speaker 1: before we do the draft, let's start with the primetime games.
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football, perfect place to start. And remember we're
Speaker 1: doing locks. So whenever it's time to announce the people
Speaker 1: that you have a lock of the week, and the
Speaker 1: rules if you're new to the show, it's got to
Speaker 1: be within seven points spread. Uh in the desert um
Speaker 1: and that's all that is. All right, Let's get to it.
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Dallas
Speaker 1: Cowboys and Greg the The Cowboys are a team that
Speaker 1: not a lot of people are are pumped about right now.
Speaker 1: But there's a reason why we're opening the Sunday Night
Speaker 1: Football uh schedule. Uh. That of course now has Mike
Speaker 1: Arico taking over for Al Michaels with Collinsworth and Melissa
Speaker 1: Stark on that team now, because the Cowboys are always
Speaker 1: box office, it's gonna be a great vibe at Jerry World.
Speaker 1: But Tampa Bay obviously feels like the better team. And
Speaker 1: during the season, yeah, you're naw yeah, because what Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay went and got their great quarterback weapon to this offseason,
Speaker 1: like they didn't just sit there and assume it's gonna
Speaker 1: be okay. Even though they had the number one, you know,
Speaker 1: scoring offense in the league. The Cowboys were number two.
Speaker 1: We kind of saw that in Week one last year
Speaker 1: when there was so many points, they went and got
Speaker 1: Brady depth Gauge. Just Engauge is gonna be healthy enough
Speaker 1: to play in this game? Mike Evans, Russell Gage? Rather,
Speaker 1: why do I think about just Engauge a random Titan
Speaker 1: from years ago? All that humble what you just did there?
Speaker 1: But I I it's amiable. Was that a Mortal Kombat
Speaker 1: character as well? So it sounds like Russell Gauge uh
Speaker 1: so underrated too. At the end of last season, I
Speaker 1: thought he carried that Falcons team. But Godwin is gonna
Speaker 1: play in this game too. Chris Godwin looks like he
Speaker 1: might be healthy enough to play. They might hold him
Speaker 1: out just to be safe. But he's practicing and he's
Speaker 1: coming back earlier in the season. And then you compare
Speaker 1: what they did for Brady and you and what they
Speaker 1: did for Doc. I do think, though, Mark, like people
Speaker 1: have gone a little too far looking at what the
Speaker 1: Cowboys lost. This team still has, you know, future Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Zack Martin uh future Hall of Fame candidate
Speaker 1: to Marcus Lawrence, defensive Rookie of the Year, Micah Parsons
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year candidate last year, Trayvon Diggs
Speaker 1: Ceedee Lamb is a great number one receiver. This is
Speaker 1: not a talent list team like they deserved. But we
Speaker 1: don't know if he's playing, but he might even play
Speaker 1: in this game too, So it's like they have plenty
Speaker 1: of talent to stick with the Bucks, who have their
Speaker 1: own questions. No, they do. I I don't think anyone is.
Speaker 1: I think part of it is the the the hype
Speaker 1: around the Eagles, and the last couple of Fortnits's Eagles
Speaker 1: hype and Cowboys exhaustion after another like lame playoff exits,
Speaker 1: hideous playoff exit, and and the Amari Cooper trade which
Speaker 1: looked insanely stupid. And a little desperate. I think for
Speaker 1: me though, like the Bucks who a year ago they
Speaker 1: brought everyone back and it was like, the Bucks are
Speaker 1: fascinating because they're a great team and they're a super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender. But this time around, because of everything that's
Speaker 1: happened with Tom Brady, UM, I find this game more
Speaker 1: intriguing than I would otherwise. I think you're gonna get
Speaker 1: an agitated Tom Brady, and I do think that the
Speaker 1: one huge matchup here because their line is compromised. You've
Speaker 1: got Robert Hainesi at center, Luca Decky at guard, and
Speaker 1: these are guys that have never made a start at
Speaker 1: the NFL level. So you're Micah Parsons, You're DeMarcus Lawrence.
Speaker 1: Is these guys who are, like you're saying, starry players, Um,
Speaker 1: can you make Brady uncomfortable? I tend to think that
Speaker 1: Tom Brady has been in the ears of these young
Speaker 1: lineman NonStop and making them so convinced and comfortable with
Speaker 1: what they're gonna do, And is no one better getting
Speaker 1: rid of the well, big, try harder. Tom Brady I
Speaker 1: think has a motivational ability that maybe outshines like certain
Speaker 1: people we work for. I just think this is I want.
Speaker 1: I want to see how that works, because that's to me,
Speaker 1: is like when when Brady's line was problematic at the
Speaker 1: end of last year, their offense was impacted big time
Speaker 1: by Marx is super into this like wandering in the forest.
Speaker 1: Brady that he is like the like ever since that
Speaker 1: press conference, intrigued dig through if we wanted to, but
Speaker 1: we don't have time today. I also, actually I've changed
Speaker 1: my mind on that a little bit. I think the
Speaker 1: that he took first of all, was a billion miles
Speaker 1: in the rear view mirror, but I think it kind
Speaker 1: of maybe brought him back where he needs to be
Speaker 1: versus had he not done that, and he's just dealing
Speaker 1: with it. He feels like right now, he's like, it
Speaker 1: feels good a football. That's how That's how he feels.
Speaker 1: I love to love you, bro, that's what he took
Speaker 1: that break and he's like, man, it feels good to football.
Speaker 1: I gotta get back to it. Eleven day breaks are
Speaker 1: It's not wrong. Sometimes we do the slogans on the show,
Speaker 1: just the throwing things by he was one of them.
Speaker 1: I gotta say, though, like it where's the I where's
Speaker 1: the money? It also looks like it was made on
Speaker 1: like a dot Matrix printer or something. I don't know
Speaker 1: who he's in the building. Well, it's very nice. I
Speaker 1: like Matrix he capital. I think it's in like the
Speaker 1: top five percent. They always have like one of these
Speaker 1: new slogans every season. This to me feels like one
Speaker 1: of the better ones. Do you think Rogers ever listened
Speaker 1: to one of our episodes? Now, I would imagine I
Speaker 1: would say that if it at one point it got
Speaker 1: thrown up the chain for the wrong reasons. He probably
Speaker 1: listened to like a twenty minute snap. I always I
Speaker 1: do wonder if he's aware of our existence every once
Speaker 1: in a night. Now, I met him once at like
Speaker 1: when I worked in the NFL League office and he
Speaker 1: was at some party, h and I shook the man's hand.
Speaker 1: But I'm still not sure he's aware of our existence.
Speaker 1: All right, I think he would be Um, Tony Pollard,
Speaker 1: Zeke Elliott. I'm interested to see that. Of course, there's
Speaker 1: been hype that now Zeke is healthy after the PCL
Speaker 1: injury played through last year. Is that another thing that's
Speaker 1: been blown out of proportional bit because it's weird to
Speaker 1: me in the same division, everyone's totally cool now with
Speaker 1: gassing up the idea of see Kwan Barkley being back
Speaker 1: and healthy. But everyone is just assuming that Zeke Elliott
Speaker 1: is not. Even if he is healthy now was shot.
Speaker 1: I think he's fine if he was like what he
Speaker 1: was before he got hurt last year. I thought he
Speaker 1: was playing well like in Week one against he just
Speaker 1: got hurt after four weeks. Can he stay here to
Speaker 1: that point? And Pollard is a very good guy in
Speaker 1: that backfield as well. So if the running games okay,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks great, they have a potential all Pro wide receiver,
Speaker 1: but we need to see that from Ceedee Lamb Gallop
Speaker 1: when he's healthy. He's a nice number two Adalton Show.
Speaker 1: So I'm focusing on the offense because the defense is fine.
Speaker 1: It does come down to that offensive line and if
Speaker 1: they could figure things out. This is where I start
Speaker 1: to think to myself, Oh watch out. Everyone's on the Eagles,
Speaker 1: but the Cowboys actually could be in good position, and
Speaker 1: if they won on Sunday night, I'm not picking them here.
Speaker 1: I'm picking the Bucks. But I would not be stunned
Speaker 1: because I think people are sleeping on the Cowboys as
Speaker 1: a competitive team. I don't love the this game for
Speaker 1: them on the ground, you got Vita Vea and a
Speaker 1: Cheam Hicks right in the middle of that Bucks defense.
Speaker 1: I mean, we know what they did against the run
Speaker 1: last couple of mne to me as a guy, like
Speaker 1: these teams are different, and you're right, the interior line
Speaker 1: for the Cowboys is a huge question. Like I want
Speaker 1: to see Vea in Hicks and try on Cyanka, who
Speaker 1: who they like but was pretty erratic and not that
Speaker 1: effective as a rookie. Like are they gonna be a
Speaker 1: great pass rush because they really weren't for most of
Speaker 1: the last year. I mean we're saying stopping the run,
Speaker 1: but with you on the pass rush part, Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: whatever this means to you, maybe it means nothing has
Speaker 1: never lost the Cowboys six and oh and big time numbers.
Speaker 1: But the thing with Brady, you could almost do that
Speaker 1: with any team in the league and split it out
Speaker 1: and it's probably with a handful of exceptions, maybe the Saints,
Speaker 1: uh recently, um yeah, troubles. This is uh. You know,
Speaker 1: I know we're we're not doing any Rainmaker today on
Speaker 1: this show. We're not. But if you when when it
Speaker 1: doesn't come out every week it's just when the expecting
Speaker 1: you to bring out the rain. That said, we have
Speaker 1: a very special first ever Friday Fun show, so you
Speaker 1: might see him there. You said, clouds rolling in your something.
Speaker 1: You might see a little storm forecast in the area.
Speaker 1: I think with this game, if I had some a
Speaker 1: strong take, it wouldn't be a winner. It would be
Speaker 1: that that the number is not as high in this
Speaker 1: game because I think both of these defenses are better
Speaker 1: than you think, especially in the secondary. They both have
Speaker 1: a lot of continuity and youth. And you sort of
Speaker 1: never talked about the Cowboy secondary or the Buck secondary,
Speaker 1: but those guys have been around and played together for
Speaker 1: a while. In these two offenses barely got to practice
Speaker 1: to other, uh and playing the preseason. So I think
Speaker 1: the defenses will be ahead in this game. You got
Speaker 1: the Bucks to right mark confidently all right here we
Speaker 1: go confident enough to you know, but I think that's
Speaker 1: probably bad news for the Bucks that I feel that way.
Speaker 1: Let's move to Monday night football Russ Bowl one. Russell Wilson,
Speaker 1: What you don't think it's Rust Bowl one, It's the
Speaker 1: Gino Bowl. Oh in your world? Facing the man that
Speaker 1: you know he taught Russell Wilson everything in the last
Speaker 1: two years as his backlip Country. Russell Wilson is now
Speaker 1: leading to Denver Broncos and they he will be on
Speaker 1: the road in Seattle against his old team, the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: So let's see what happens here, um mark Seattle is
Speaker 1: another team we everyone except for Greg doesn't like this
Speaker 1: quarterback set up, but at home in prime time, Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson and Broncos have not played a lot together. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it does feel like a situation where maybe this thing
Speaker 1: stays closer than some people think. Well, I think it'd
Speaker 1: be natural for Denver. This even happened with Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: when they got Peyton Manning and it was Peyton Mannings.
Speaker 1: An offense from top to bottom just takes a little
Speaker 1: bit of time. It happened with Matthew Stafford in the
Speaker 1: Rams offense last year. I I do think there'll be
Speaker 1: some growing pains, and to me, it's, uh, that would
Speaker 1: be natural. I love Week one for the reasons that
Speaker 1: the stuff we've been talking about for so long we
Speaker 1: finally get to see it now, and I think this
Speaker 1: is gonna be an electric game. And to your point, Greg,
Speaker 1: with the general Smith thing, the one if if they
Speaker 1: pull it off, if they if the Seattle Seahawks ever
Speaker 1: won this game, no one will ever for the rest
Speaker 1: of time forget that it was General Smith that beat
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson in one of the bigger matchups revenge showdowns
Speaker 1: that they could have possibly put together. I don't think
Speaker 1: it might be like Drew Bledsoe beating the Patriots thirty
Speaker 1: one nothing. It's like a footnote to them ultimately. But
Speaker 1: we still remember that though, and I think part of
Speaker 1: that happened to You don't want to come out of
Speaker 1: this game if you're Denver saying, wait a minute. Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson is in this great position with Courtland Sutton, with
Speaker 1: Jerry Judy, with their backfield, and I know their line
Speaker 1: isn't perfect, but they've got all these weapons and everyone's
Speaker 1: sort of just I think wish casting that they're going
Speaker 1: to be effective right away. I'm not sure that's the case.
Speaker 1: Nathaniel Hackett has never done this either. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of new new parts that need to work together in
Speaker 1: Unison that might take time. I think it's a total
Speaker 1: mystery what they look like schematically, not just because Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson has the way he runs it. But also because
Speaker 1: Nathaniel Hackett has been very diverse throughout his career, people
Speaker 1: just kind of project the Packers offense onto Hackett, but
Speaker 1: that Packers offense was there before he got there, and
Speaker 1: when he was in Jacksonville or Buffalo, he his offenses
Speaker 1: have been different. And I love that about him, that
Speaker 1: he is flexible enough to adapt to the players around him.
Speaker 1: And he's gone spread, He's gone very west coast. He's
Speaker 1: mostly West coast because his dad is freaking Paul Hackett,
Speaker 1: who was one of the godfathers who was under Bill Wals.
Speaker 1: Got to do what daddy says, right, But I don't
Speaker 1: think that's what Russell Wilson does best. I'm just curious.
Speaker 1: I also don't know what a Jero ever O there
Speaker 1: are defensive coordinators really gonna look like, and so that's
Speaker 1: a mystery. I'm looking um for one matchup in this game,
Speaker 1: and though that's the Pronco's pass rusher. They put so
Speaker 1: much investment into Randy Gregory included. Um, We'll see if
Speaker 1: Bradley Chubb gets better this season against these two rookie
Speaker 1: tackles for Seattle. Seattle is going to lead the NFL
Speaker 1: I believe in rookie snaps. This year, they're playing so
Speaker 1: many rookies, including right tackle and left tackle Charles Cross
Speaker 1: and Abe Lucas, and that could be a problem. If
Speaker 1: you have Geno Smith um without protection on the sides,
Speaker 1: he holds the ball a little bit. It's that's a
Speaker 1: little bit. The Seattle Seahawks purposely are going into a
Speaker 1: season with Gino Smith and or Drew Lock as their
Speaker 1: starting quarterbacks. What is Smith? Yes, I'm talking projecting tackles
Speaker 1: on each side of them. How is this one's the
Speaker 1: first round? Charles Cross, I think it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: success when's at the You're right, it's but I mean,
Speaker 1: if we're saying, if we're projecting, it's gonna take time
Speaker 1: for Russell Wilson and the Broncos offense to figure things out.
Speaker 1: I mean, Charles Cross could be a stud. But you
Speaker 1: know it's also a chance from major growing page. He's
Speaker 1: got to get rid of the ball a little quicker.
Speaker 1: You know. I was trying to come up with a
Speaker 1: comp for him, and I asked my fellow Gino Nation
Speaker 1: co president, Stephen Ruiz, and he came up with the
Speaker 1: best one I could think of. He's like, he's a
Speaker 1: lot like Eli Gino. I mean I would say he's like, Eli,
Speaker 1: you know, you're such a troll. I don't even know
Speaker 1: what to do anymore. No, No, like in the way
Speaker 1: that that's I'm not saying he's at that level in
Speaker 1: terms of his base level, but let's say like a
Speaker 1: mid level to lower level Eli Manning season, he's like
Speaker 1: in that area forty. The way that he plays football,
Speaker 1: that he processes really well, that he will take surprising shots.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have the biggest arm ever, but he goes
Speaker 1: for difficult, low percentage throws. But he also holds onto
Speaker 1: the ball a lot. He'll take a sack instead of
Speaker 1: taking a turnover, and I think that he can see
Speaker 1: things ahead of time and help make up for a
Speaker 1: bad pass. Pro I think like it Drew Lock, you know,
Speaker 1: got Corona played himself out of the race entirely. But Gino,
Speaker 1: I think what Pete Carol likes is he's not a
Speaker 1: turnover machine. He's gonna he's gonna run a conservative offense.
Speaker 1: They want to run the ball a ton. You've got
Speaker 1: Patrick Certan dealing with DK Metcalfs. So I don't know
Speaker 1: how many big players Gino is going to be responsible
Speaker 1: for in this. But I do know that if we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about Geno Smith nine minutes, no, no, thay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I need someone to take me out with
Speaker 1: a with a lead arrow. What about like Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: and about that one in six primetime record for Gino
Speaker 1: when the lights go on, Gino goes off into a
Speaker 1: corner and hides two of those. Yeah, we're with the
Speaker 1: Seahawks last year where he played Okay, he didn't you know?
Speaker 1: He played great though at one pm against the Jaguars.
Speaker 1: You know you're my interest in in in the whole
Speaker 1: thing too. This is me from an their time. By
Speaker 1: the way, if you're confused before we moved out, don't
Speaker 1: you think this is Pete Carroll super Bowl? Like He's not.
Speaker 1: He's gonna. He's not gonna. He's gonna roby here. That's
Speaker 1: the first thing this year he wants to stop Russell
Speaker 1: Will said in theory, he more than anyone should know
Speaker 1: the recipe to stop him. So I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: what he does. And Pete Carroll had a chance this
Speaker 1: week to dim expectations and he and he went in
Speaker 1: the other direction, said I don't like all these people
Speaker 1: saying we can't win. We're gonna win, We're gonna do X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z. It's like, alright, Pete, well, I want
Speaker 1: to say if they if they ever pull it off,
Speaker 1: if they won nine or ten games with this team,
Speaker 1: it I think it would become Seahawks fans, one of
Speaker 1: the Seahawks fans, better season, more favorite seasons, because right
Speaker 1: now it's dark like alrightw you're right, it's a it's
Speaker 1: more of an is more of an interesting team here, Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, well we'll find out on listen, we'll find out.
Speaker 1: Can't we do the Tuesday show? You can't beat you can't.
Speaker 1: I don't want to see the crowd um treating Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson terribly. That really would be a bad look. Thank
Speaker 1: you have some class. The guy bald out for years
Speaker 1: for you, brought a super Bowl trophy to you, almost
Speaker 1: got you another win. Still doing charity in your city,
Speaker 1: doing charity in your city. What do we doing? Well,
Speaker 1: they haven't done it yet, So he never takes any
Speaker 1: grief for that, you know, interception. It's like Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: in Bevel took all the grief as if like a
Speaker 1: robot you don't think Russell Wilson took He's taken something.
Speaker 1: You know, this is like the perfect storm because you
Speaker 1: hate Russell Wilson and love Geno Smith and now they're
Speaker 1: playing each other and Pete Carroll about two months ago.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what. Let's take a break and
Speaker 1: then we'll get to the draft. All right, welcome back.
Speaker 1: We're through the prime time games. We got a six
Speaker 1: hour show here, and we're really excited. It is officially
Speaker 1: the first time of the season where you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we gotta pick up the pace. Let's get to it. Now.
Speaker 1: The draft. It's a snake draft and we will all
Speaker 1: pick four games each and these these will be the
Speaker 1: games that we will watch and be responsible for. It
Speaker 1: comes Sunday and then talk about on the Flagship Show
Speaker 1: Sunday night. And part of this process again is um
Speaker 1: locking games and to come up with an order, you
Speaker 1: have to you have to start somewhere. So yes, the
Speaker 1: defending champion always picks first. And um, I just did
Speaker 1: you guys remember that? Did you guys know? Well? So
Speaker 1: does it go from? So do you guys know that
Speaker 1: you won the luck? I did ask before the show.
Speaker 1: I was u it was a really import holding the
Speaker 1: lock trophy in my hands, taunting you with it. It
Speaker 1: was an important moment because you've hosted this show for
Speaker 1: so long and never won this by yourself, and it
Speaker 1: was it was actually becoming awkward. So it's once and
Speaker 1: one once, which I think is the all time leader.
Speaker 1: I'm tied with maybe you at this point, so I
Speaker 1: know it eats you up. Greg, especially since the whole
Speaker 1: night I went it three times and a couple of
Speaker 1: times by myself. We've done this like okay, So but
Speaker 1: that was a sling that I I will take from
Speaker 1: Greg and just by shield and send it back at him.
Speaker 1: I am the champion. Greg, you finished in last last
Speaker 1: year's you need to come back in fact that you know,
Speaker 1: I think you just should show me a little more
Speaker 1: respect because that was a tough battle to win last year.
Speaker 1: The super Bowl trash talk, that's part of the fun.
Speaker 1: I'm with you your first make your pick. I do
Speaker 1: I do think there defending champ I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: feel a lot of respect coming from that before because
Speaker 1: you were you were going on about how you wanted
Speaker 1: to end the competition. If you want to get if
Speaker 1: the heroism of the old zuser saying, pipe down, Rosenthal.
Speaker 1: Not only not only is the lock trophy not going anywhere.
Speaker 1: I will humble you, so come get me. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: start self spinning pr going on in the show. Speaking
Speaker 1: of humbling, I would like to humbly request to join
Speaker 1: the lock competition for the two seasons. You know absolutely,
Speaker 1: I love it. Mark. I think you're probably comfortable with it.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't see the upside um. We're trying
Speaker 1: to keep er she started. That's right, I didn't come
Speaker 1: in last. Technically you could make fun of me if
Speaker 1: I'm terrible. There's an upside for you, make a bit
Speaker 1: out of it. I could see you maybe winning too,
Speaker 1: which would be embarrassing. You win your first um time
Speaker 1: ever that that's embarrassing for all of us. You're in
Speaker 1: the middle. That's a wet fire. Who cares or your last?
Speaker 1: And it's like, oh, no one can take your seriously. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I see your point, Greg, all right, why don't you
Speaker 1: share a lock? And then we're going to deliberate at
Speaker 1: the end of the show. Now it's just a bit,
Speaker 1: but it was. It was the man splaining and you
Speaker 1: know what you did with Erica last year that won't
Speaker 1: be forgotten. That was that was the opposite of that
Speaker 1: was toward. Let's get to it. They I'm curious where
Speaker 1: you're going with this first pick. It's an easy one.
Speaker 1: I can't wait. I'm taking the last one of the
Speaker 1: late games. I'm taking Raiders at Chargers. Let it begin.
Speaker 1: I love all the intrigue obviously around the a f
Speaker 1: C West this year. This is the CBS Kevin Harland
Speaker 1: Trent Green joint and I am so excited to see
Speaker 1: and says it's an easy pick, and he takes Trent
Speaker 1: Green first. Over that the game is gonna outweigh the
Speaker 1: crew here justin Herbert Mark and I both have him
Speaker 1: as our m v P pick. Uh. There, this is
Speaker 1: such an exciting roster on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: Khalil mac Now on that defense, uh, you know you
Speaker 1: could see Joey Bosa maybe having a defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year type year. They're gonna score a ton of
Speaker 1: points to be fun to watch. And then the Raiders,
Speaker 1: who are a bit of a mystery to me. Um,
Speaker 1: even though I think they'll be improved. You want to
Speaker 1: see if all this hype after Davante Adams enters the building.
Speaker 1: Uh checks out, because I feel very confident the Chargers
Speaker 1: are gonna put up to thirty five points in this game.
Speaker 1: Does Derek Carr have, with a true number one Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame level wide receiver now at his side, the
Speaker 1: ability to match a superstar like Herbert in a shootout?
Speaker 1: I think he does, especially this week where it looks
Speaker 1: like J. C. Jackson will probably miss the game. You know, look,
Speaker 1: he did it last year, Derek Carr. He had a
Speaker 1: chance to go away in that game, and he was
Speaker 1: not his best game back in Week eighteen, but ultimately
Speaker 1: he didn't make that out. I think it was to
Speaker 1: Za Jones, which was a beautiful throw which ended up
Speaker 1: putting them into the playoffs, you know, continuing that drive.
Speaker 1: I am curious offensively, like how much can McDaniels and
Speaker 1: then Patrick Graham defensively make up for spots because I
Speaker 1: think you look at these two rosters and they both
Speaker 1: look pretty loaded, except the Raiders offensive line looks like
Speaker 1: a huge problem. And now you're going up against Khalil
Speaker 1: Mack and you're going up against Joey Bosa, and to me,
Speaker 1: the secondary looks like pretty weak on paper, and yet
Speaker 1: Patrick Graham has done a good job coaching up They
Speaker 1: felt good enough about their depth that they actually traded
Speaker 1: away tray von Mon. And so I believe in mc
Speaker 1: daniels and I think coaching can really improve your offensive line.
Speaker 1: And so the names don't look good, but that's something
Speaker 1: I'm watching. Can they just be respectable? That would be
Speaker 1: a big improvement over what you saw up front under
Speaker 1: John Gruden. Well, you've added Davante Adams. I mean that
Speaker 1: is if that works. And I mean in this case,
Speaker 1: Car and Davante Adams are like, we get it. Your
Speaker 1: best friends, like you hear about all the time. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's a nice thing to be to have a best friend.
Speaker 1: So I think the chemistry will be there. But I
Speaker 1: trust Khalil Mack in this situation because he's been in
Speaker 1: this Brandon Stillly scheme before and they got him for
Speaker 1: a reason. They added all these defensive parts for a reason.
Speaker 1: If you don't get Jackson this this week, that's one thing.
Speaker 1: But this Chargers defense was a massive liability down the
Speaker 1: stretch last year. You remember they gave forty one points
Speaker 1: to the Texans and in this game against the Raiders
Speaker 1: last year that they prevented them from going to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: The defense over and over big plays, allowing the Raiders
Speaker 1: to do what they wanted up and down the field.
Speaker 1: If you suddenly give Justin Herbert a more competent defense, uh,
Speaker 1: this team can win twelve thirteen games. And I don't
Speaker 1: know about you guys, but it's like I feel like
Speaker 1: they are suddenly now And this happens to the Chargers
Speaker 1: all the time, but it happened a lot of times
Speaker 1: pre Justin Herbert, when I never trusted it. Are being
Speaker 1: seen as the class of this division, even above the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Because there are questions about the Chiefs. I don't know
Speaker 1: how that will shake out, but I don't think if
Speaker 1: you're the Chargers you can walk out of this with
Speaker 1: a loss. This is this is what undoing some of
Speaker 1: the ills. What do I think they as. There's more
Speaker 1: pressure on Brandon Staley, who I have as my coach
Speaker 1: of the year than most coaches in the a f C,
Speaker 1: most any coach in the FC, because there is not
Speaker 1: really a weakness on this team that I see, all right.
Speaker 1: So also to your point, Okay, you can lose at
Speaker 1: home to any team in Week one and be okay. However,
Speaker 1: if the Chargers want us the football gogness, and they
Speaker 1: and maybe even themselves in that locker room to look
Speaker 1: in the mirror and be like we are the best
Speaker 1: team in that this division. You have Raiders week one,
Speaker 1: and then at Arrowhead week two. It's like you don't
Speaker 1: come out of there without at least a split. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be the same old Chargers, gonna charge your vibe
Speaker 1: to it Arrowhead. Oh and one. No, you're right, Thursday
Speaker 1: night football. So it's like, yes, this is a very
Speaker 1: important game. Uh, go take care of business. Charges because
Speaker 1: I think they're the better team. But of course there's
Speaker 1: some projection involved because we thought they were a really
Speaker 1: good team last year and they kept shooting themselves in
Speaker 1: the foot. They're not favored by much, and I think
Speaker 1: that makes sense because I think the Raiders are are
Speaker 1: extremely talented. There's still a question at like right tackle
Speaker 1: for the Chargers, but you're right. Other than that, you
Speaker 1: kind of line it up. It's not just hype, Mark,
Speaker 1: I mean it's should be. To me, the Bills and
Speaker 1: the Chargers have the best rosters, and I put the
Speaker 1: Chiefs right there. To me, those are the three teams
Speaker 1: in the a f C that should be the favorites.
Speaker 1: All right, great game, that's the first pick up next
Speaker 1: in the draft. Okay, So sometimes you gotta think about
Speaker 1: who's coming up in the draft. You gotta make a strategy,
Speaker 1: and you've got to think about what you want to watch.
Speaker 1: That's what I do, not just broadcasters, but what teams,
Speaker 1: What teams you're you're highest on, What teams have tugged
Speaker 1: at your heart strings when the big spot on Hard
Speaker 1: Knock throughout the last month. The teams teams that you
Speaker 1: are invested in. And that's why I'm taking Eagles Lions
Speaker 1: right off the top. I want to watch this. Don't
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. This was a blowout. When
Speaker 1: I watched it a year ago, I remember being somewhat
Speaker 1: excited for that game. It was when the Eagles were
Speaker 1: up and down and it was kind of when they
Speaker 1: started looking like the Eagles and they just ran all
Speaker 1: over them. And to me, it gets at something that
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell talked about so much in Hard Knocks. You know,
Speaker 1: grit and you and you look at how they started
Speaker 1: the Dan Campbell era. What did they do in the draft,
Speaker 1: what did they do in free agency? They took two
Speaker 1: big run stoppers, up front, Ali McNeil and own Mozzoicki
Speaker 1: Levi own Mozoiki who I don't even think it's gonna
Speaker 1: play in this game. They signed Michael Brocker's they wanted
Speaker 1: to be a big, tough, manly football team that stops
Speaker 1: to run. You know who was the worst team in
Speaker 1: the NFL last year or or in the bottom two
Speaker 1: in de v o It was the Lions. And that's
Speaker 1: why this matchup was so bad for him. Like they
Speaker 1: were the opposite of what you would think of Dan
Speaker 1: Campbell team should be. They ultimately were a finesse team
Speaker 1: that got pushed around a little bit and could hang
Speaker 1: around by throwing short passes. But whenever they played a
Speaker 1: team with a little bit of toughness who could steamroll
Speaker 1: them defensively, it was lights out. And to me, the
Speaker 1: Eagles are as tough as it gets up front. So
Speaker 1: it's a great Week one test. I don't know if
Speaker 1: the Lions have improved enough on their defensive line in
Speaker 1: terms of their toughness to hold up against Philadelphia. If
Speaker 1: they do, that will show me they're really a different
Speaker 1: Lions team. I I kind of wipe away that that
Speaker 1: game from a year ago that said I think the
Speaker 1: Eagles have improved as much as any team in the league.
Speaker 1: And if you're gonna try to have to try to
Speaker 1: get into some sort of a shootout with him, I
Speaker 1: don't love that for Jared Goff because I think what
Speaker 1: we love about this Lions team for golf is that
Speaker 1: it starts with their offensive line. There. I think DeAndre
Speaker 1: Swift is going to have a great year. You can control.
Speaker 1: You want low scoring games where you can control the ball.
Speaker 1: But if you're gonna have to try to throw against
Speaker 1: Eagles second hear you're talking about James Bradberry, Darius Slay.
Speaker 1: They've got Chauncey Gardner Johnson. Now, I mean they're stacked
Speaker 1: all over the place too, and they can rush the passer,
Speaker 1: and I think they're being viewed a certain way. I
Speaker 1: did want this game, but I also watch I put
Speaker 1: all every screen up on my computer because I have
Speaker 1: this gigantic monitor so I can w's maxing out your
Speaker 1: brain capacity. Everybody's got a process. Everybody's got a process.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll do what I want to do. It's
Speaker 1: if you got you got no games on It's like
Speaker 1: the old Parcels thing. If you've got two quarterbacks you
Speaker 1: don't have any you ever been to a sports bar again,
Speaker 1: there is a flustered and freaking out I watched two
Speaker 1: games at a time, maybe a third in a special
Speaker 1: saying that I'm equally tracking every one of the they
Speaker 1: also have equal if you're not tracking anything closely because
Speaker 1: you have so many games and I'm not here to
Speaker 1: attack your process, Mark, it feels that way. I'm more
Speaker 1: like almost I admire it because I can never do
Speaker 1: anything like that. I could not be even a little
Speaker 1: bit productive and I have any insight on any game whatsoever.
Speaker 1: But obviously you can. What is your critique, Greg, No,
Speaker 1: I'm similar, Okay, I do you use there are a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure on Jalen Hurd suddenly, Yes, you know
Speaker 1: some of this pressure stuff, and I've been talking it
Speaker 1: up with the Niners to and get to that later.
Speaker 1: Is like Trey Lance, how is he going to react? Like?
Speaker 1: If these guys are actually good, it's not a problem.
Speaker 1: If these guys are true pros and their franchise type quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: he will take this pressure and he'll he'll with a
Speaker 1: better supporting cast take that next step. Let a lot
Speaker 1: of people see. And that's why that's why I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you some guys. As the defending locks champion, I'm
Speaker 1: starting with the Eagles. I'm gonna lock it up. I
Speaker 1: like stock shocked by this because I really, well I
Speaker 1: picked them to win the division. I'm I really like
Speaker 1: the lines. I have a personal affection for that team,
Speaker 1: but they ain't ready. I don't think to face an
Speaker 1: upper National on team, which I think the Eagles can
Speaker 1: be potentially here. And one thing that I thought was
Speaker 1: a little bit interesting and you don't read too much
Speaker 1: into it because you know hard knocks, we learned that Rodrigo,
Speaker 1: Malcolm Rodriguez, the six round pick linebacker who's gonna have
Speaker 1: a big role with this team, has the second highest
Speaker 1: selling jersey on the team, behind Aidan Hutchinson. And I
Speaker 1: was just thinking to myself, like that's cool. But it's
Speaker 1: also like they don't have a lot of stars. They
Speaker 1: don't have like the fan base this They need more
Speaker 1: good players and this is a process and I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna take time. And in Week one is not
Speaker 1: that time because you've kind of nagged the Eagles for
Speaker 1: the last Yeah, well it's I think the Eagles are good,
Speaker 1: not maybe super Bowl good like you think. I just
Speaker 1: think the lines are gonna take time, and I think
Speaker 1: the Eagles will win. I have them by six. I'm
Speaker 1: doing game picks on NFL dot Com this year, NFL
Speaker 1: dot Com Slash game picks, and I do have them
Speaker 1: winning by six. But I think this could be like
Speaker 1: thirty three seven this you might be sweating it out
Speaker 1: towards the end. You stole my fire a little bit there,
Speaker 1: dan Um. But we said we sent in our locks
Speaker 1: to our producers yesterday. I did, and I am also
Speaker 1: locking the Eagles. I love where. I love your reasoning. Um.
Speaker 1: I also came up with a similar reasoning on my
Speaker 1: own A day. I go, I was wondering why you
Speaker 1: mentioned the producer yesterday, but well, because I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm not just like riding the codetails ever ever with
Speaker 1: locks of the champ. Yeah, well, first of all, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know why Greg is picking second when I
Speaker 1: came in second. Yeah, that was an oversight by Zeuster
Speaker 1: Tugboad should have done that oversight or if I was
Speaker 1: not going to get that game coming background I need
Speaker 1: if I wanted it, I hated to take it, but
Speaker 1: I like the snake is a nice spot to be though, also,
Speaker 1: and we're going to find that out right now because
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler, you were up with a third overall pick,
Speaker 1: and yeah, like is a night because he took like
Speaker 1: my team. So it's like I can't root against you know,
Speaker 1: nothing makes me happier than to hear that we've done
Speaker 1: our job. Greg is often an impenetrable force. You want
Speaker 1: to annoy him, but it just like bounces right off.
Speaker 1: So when you do acknowledge it, it's like, yes, it's
Speaker 1: a human victory. There's one player that I'm more excited
Speaker 1: to see than any other player in the league, and
Speaker 1: it there really isn't even a close second place. And
Speaker 1: he plays in California, but he will not be playing
Speaker 1: in California this weekend. He will be playing in Chicago
Speaker 1: for the San Francisco It is Trey Lance. I'm taking
Speaker 1: Niners at Bears. I think this is a great situation
Speaker 1: for Tray Lance. Out of just one second, Yeah, Greg,
Speaker 1: a little bit of a reach. Bears at three overall. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: no one was taking that, but I do what I
Speaker 1: want to do. But also, okay, back to you, when
Speaker 1: it came back to me, I don't think I think
Speaker 1: someone else would grab Trey Lance. That was my thinking.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying the Bears with the person they wouldn't,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I like to see competitive so no, but
Speaker 1: I pick what I want. But you would have got
Speaker 1: him right. You're like, You're like, I'm not convinced. You're
Speaker 1: like Mayock and Gruden out there. It's like, hey, we
Speaker 1: believe in Cleveland Ferrell, so we're gonna take him forth overall,
Speaker 1: we don't care about value. I don't see that parallel.
Speaker 1: I don't see that parallel on any level, not on
Speaker 1: any level. You can run on the Bears. You can.
Speaker 1: I I know the rebuilding that's obvious, but you don't
Speaker 1: have Khalil mac Larry gun Joe who they tried to
Speaker 1: sign that never worked out. Eddie Goldman is gone, a
Speaker 1: Cheam Hits is gone. I think the Niners are gonna
Speaker 1: try to create an environment for Trey Lance where it's
Speaker 1: not putting a ton on him. I don't love the
Speaker 1: Bear secondary either, and I certainly don't love their offensive line.
Speaker 1: I think if you look at this Niners defense, they
Speaker 1: are justin fields. Did some really good things in the preseason.
Speaker 1: I think there's hope there, there's no question, but he
Speaker 1: is weapons depleted beyond Darnell Mooney. I don't think their
Speaker 1: offensive line is anything but maybe the first or second
Speaker 1: worst in the league. And it's gonna have him running
Speaker 1: for his life and creating problems from wire to wire.
Speaker 1: And you're coming up against what might be the best
Speaker 1: defense in the league in the Niners. Well that it
Speaker 1: does check out of Sessler boxes, blowout potential, two running teams,
Speaker 1: could be a quick game. It's basically Sessler, I see
Speaker 1: what's happening here. And I gotta say, even though it's
Speaker 1: not a Sunday game, I'd be excited about. It will
Speaker 1: be one of the first ones I turned on in
Speaker 1: game past because of Lance and because of fields. Uh So,
Speaker 1: just in I think there are individual stories to get
Speaker 1: excited about. But this is the worst possible Week one matchup,
Speaker 1: I think for Chicago because I I believe that the
Speaker 1: forty Niners, if I had to choose one team going
Speaker 1: into the year, uh in terms of the best defense
Speaker 1: for me, would be the forty Niners. Um Bosa, they
Speaker 1: really uh think Javon Hargreave and not Javon Hargrave rather
Speaker 1: whom I think of Javon kin Law in the middle
Speaker 1: is actually gonna be a difference maker this year. He
Speaker 1: lost a lot of weight, had a great camp. Abu
Speaker 1: com like they just bring guys from other teams that
Speaker 1: suddenly end up playing well for them. Arc Armstead is
Speaker 1: always so underrated. Then you have the best linebacker corps
Speaker 1: in the league. It's just a lot for that Bears
Speaker 1: offensive line to deal. I actually think the forty Niners
Speaker 1: are extremely vulnerable upfront, more than any time in the
Speaker 1: fort era under Shanahan. They have four new starters. It's
Speaker 1: like journeyman late round picks. They've barely ever played. But
Speaker 1: I don't think the Bears are the team to really
Speaker 1: take advantage of. That's a good call. That is a
Speaker 1: good could be low scoring. It's gonna be twenty to six.
Speaker 1: And your power rankings, you have the Niners third, I
Speaker 1: think about Heaven third, and that was higher than you
Speaker 1: would see probably anywhere else. I think their defense has
Speaker 1: been slept on a little bit. They were a top
Speaker 1: ten defense according to d v o A last year
Speaker 1: and they did not have a lot of turnovers. And
Speaker 1: if you if you put factor in some regression there,
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna do well. And I think it's
Speaker 1: again a little bit of a projection, But I believe
Speaker 1: in Kyle Shanahan. I believe in the weapons, uh with
Speaker 1: Deebo and Iyo there especially, and the backfield which looks good.
Speaker 1: That Trey Lands could be a stud and then what
Speaker 1: then they're the best team in the league potentially. Now
Speaker 1: these things have to come into play where you need
Speaker 1: to get the protection, he needs to have his head
Speaker 1: on straight. And if Jimmy g has to enter the
Speaker 1: picture a little later in the season, so be it.
Speaker 1: But I think it's all there for them. Like they
Speaker 1: were in the Final four last year, they were one
Speaker 1: bad fourth quarter away from being in the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and potentially winning that damn thing. So this team is
Speaker 1: right there and now they have an X factor. It's
Speaker 1: like the old West is Um where it's like with fantasy.
Speaker 1: At least take the swing on the guy that has
Speaker 1: a huge upside. That's Lance and we're about to see it.
Speaker 1: It's exciting, all right. My second choice Chiefs at Cardinals
Speaker 1: PM East close slot. Just to let you know if
Speaker 1: you're wondering when the game started, uh, um, that was
Speaker 1: my pick. I gotta admit I didn't think well, first
Speaker 1: of all, I could have just lead with this and
Speaker 1: avoided all the critique. But I simply uh believe in
Speaker 1: that other game is a fascinating and to entity to
Speaker 1: this one has. I mean the Cardinals, the journey the
Speaker 1: Cardinals have been on, and and Kyler Murray. I there
Speaker 1: aren't many more. There are many other teams. I just
Speaker 1: want to see what they do, especially this matchup out
Speaker 1: of the gate and the Chiefs. On the flip side,
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, you don't have Tyreek Hill and we've
Speaker 1: been saying for the last there's no there's no one
Speaker 1: I trust more than Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes to
Speaker 1: figure it out. Well that's probably true, but still they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be doing it for the first time here.
Speaker 1: And so was that your impression of me? I feel
Speaker 1: like I've said no. I literally wrote that in a
Speaker 1: piece this week. I just because it is. There is
Speaker 1: a lot of evidence to suggests that Andy Reid, but
Speaker 1: it's about his creative and flexible and willing to shift
Speaker 1: off what was you're referring to. Yes, great job with it.
Speaker 1: Oh thanks man, everyone everyone should check that out. Brought
Speaker 1: a real sessler And you didn't do the pre week
Speaker 1: one h Q, And you did an excellent job. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you. I might just get up and leave now,
Speaker 1: because that's that's all I needed to. I loved that
Speaker 1: you could you want to. I enjoyed it mentioned both
Speaker 1: of these teams, and obviously, I think for me, if
Speaker 1: if you're the Cardinals, one thing, if you're the Chiefs
Speaker 1: with these new pieces and the way to do it,
Speaker 1: Cardinals secondary to me is a concern. Marco Wilson is
Speaker 1: not a great cornerback at this point. They went out
Speaker 1: and traded for Trayvon Mullen. They've got Byron Murphy Jr.
Speaker 1: I do like Buddha Baker, but their cornerbacks specifically like
Speaker 1: I think Patrick Mahomes can take advantage of that and
Speaker 1: put Kyler Murray in a situation where he's got to
Speaker 1: turn around his score points without DeAndre Hopkins. Yeah. I UM,
Speaker 1: I gotta admit, I'm I'm smarting. I had a bad draft.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not I'm getting my This is the game
Speaker 1: I ultimately wanted the most, but I got cute and
Speaker 1: um I tried to, you know, take the Eagles. I
Speaker 1: thought I would get both in the end because I
Speaker 1: wanted Romo. I'm fascinated. I don't think it's necessarily going
Speaker 1: to be close, so again, you might have an blowout.
Speaker 1: Like I, I think you look at these two teams
Speaker 1: and Okay, obviously you have a significant advantage at quarterback
Speaker 1: over the balance of a season. If you're the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: you have a significant advantage as a play caller in
Speaker 1: Andy Reid. And oh, by the way, what if I
Speaker 1: told you you have a massive advantage on both lines, Like,
Speaker 1: wouldn't you like the team that has the massive advantage
Speaker 1: on both lines? I hate the Cardinals pass rush on
Speaker 1: paper looks terrible, and I love the Chiefs up front.
Speaker 1: I like what I've heard in terms of the Chiefs
Speaker 1: pass rush, what they added to it with Dunlop, with
Speaker 1: Frank Clark getting healthy, with car Loft this they're great.
Speaker 1: Obviously in the middle, I love how that matches up
Speaker 1: against a very shaky Cardinals offensive line. I think they
Speaker 1: could take them to the wood shed. And that's why
Speaker 1: I'm locking up the Chiefs in Week one. Spicy, spicy, smart.
Speaker 1: I like it. I really want to see how this
Speaker 1: offense looks. Is gonna feel different um with no Tyreek
Speaker 1: kill um, And I want to see what they've been
Speaker 1: cooking up. I want to see what Andy Reid has
Speaker 1: been up to. That's a That's why I hate the preseason,
Speaker 1: you know, That's why the summer gets annoying after a while.
Speaker 1: Now we get to see it. What do they got
Speaker 1: up their sleeves and sometimes come out I don't that
Speaker 1: didn't happen last year, but I do feel like they
Speaker 1: sometimes come out with a bunch of plays. John Gruden
Speaker 1: used to talk about this on Monday Night Football, that
Speaker 1: everyone watches Andy Reid's first three games so that they
Speaker 1: can steal his plays for the rest of the season
Speaker 1: because he's always coming up with like new variations on
Speaker 1: variations on variations, and everyone's like, I gotta give that
Speaker 1: man credit. Let's start taking those plays, like and you
Speaker 1: don't know what's coming. I'm thinking of that forty burger
Speaker 1: they dropped on the Patriots in Week one and a
Speaker 1: kickoff game like it happens, Isn't it funny? Like with Belichick,
Speaker 1: you could just picture it. You can just pick him
Speaker 1: spending in the entire offseason and living in the facility
Speaker 1: during the year, always trying to scheme and come up
Speaker 1: with new plays, and it's the only thing you can
Speaker 1: think about. Everything in his life takes a back seat. Well,
Speaker 1: Andy Reid, and we've met him, and he's a really
Speaker 1: nice guy, and he's genial, and he's very almost grandfatherly.
Speaker 1: I don't like picture him in the same same way
Speaker 1: as this assassin, like drawing up new plays and dictating
Speaker 1: the future of the NFL offense. But yeah, he's right, guys,
Speaker 1: I think that's smart to have a personality that kind
Speaker 1: of a little Hawaiian shirt. You know, see where you're going,
Speaker 1: it's almost a little Hawaiian shirts I'm gonna talk about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden he's in his study,
Speaker 1: changing the game year after year. I gotta love it.
Speaker 1: Gotta love it, love that, Andy Reid. Alright, let's take
Speaker 1: a break and continue the draft. Alright, we're back, Greggy.
Speaker 1: You've already spoken on this. You're filled. We have done
Speaker 1: four picks, and you are filled with self doubt. But
Speaker 1: you could dig yourself out of the hole right here
Speaker 1: with this good games left for you. There's plenty of
Speaker 1: games left, although ultimately I feel like the ones I
Speaker 1: want are going to be around for a while anyway.
Speaker 1: So just for the integrity the got draft. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a team player. I'm going to take the Kevin
Speaker 1: Burkhardt Greg Olsen game. This is a rare week where
Speaker 1: Tony Romo and the top Fox team will be working
Speaker 1: at the same time. They allow that, Uh in week one,
Speaker 1: they don't allow that most weeks. That is Packers, that
Speaker 1: is Vikings, and uh, it's the best game left on
Speaker 1: the board. And even though it wasn't you know that
Speaker 1: high on my board. You gotta take value in this situation.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling this Vikings team is gonna be
Speaker 1: more exciting offensively than they have been the last few years. Um,
Speaker 1: not just because of adding Kevin O'Connell, who we don't
Speaker 1: know about, just because I trust some of the reporters
Speaker 1: that have been there year after year. A Reef Hasan,
Speaker 1: who we've had on the show a number of times,
Speaker 1: just saying, look, Adam, theland looks like he did four
Speaker 1: years ago. Uh, the offense was cooking. Like everywhere you
Speaker 1: hear all the defenses ahead of the offense, not in
Speaker 1: Minnesota during camp, like Cousins grew up in this offense,
Speaker 1: Like this is the type of situation he was in
Speaker 1: in Washington way back in the day. And then you
Speaker 1: just look at the talent kJ or Osborne is a
Speaker 1: great number three. Like they they're excited. I know Irv
Speaker 1: Smith's hurt, but you have an incredible running game, you
Speaker 1: have an incredibly deep receiver crew, and you're going up
Speaker 1: against maybe the best secondary in the league. So I
Speaker 1: think when it's Vikings offense versus Packers defense, that is
Speaker 1: some best on best uh action that I'm excited to see.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it go, but I think the
Speaker 1: Vikings have a real chance to win this game. I
Speaker 1: did take them in my game picks. I think they're
Speaker 1: the slight favorite here in Week one. They're one of
Speaker 1: the three teams that beat Green Bay a year ago.
Speaker 1: They obviously know the Packers really well. I think it's
Speaker 1: it's if you're a Vikings fan and the offense doesn't
Speaker 1: explode this week, UH, be patient because you're playing I
Speaker 1: think what will be one of the better defenses in
Speaker 1: the NFC or league wide. They've spent eleven of their
Speaker 1: last twelve first round picks on defensive players. Uh. They
Speaker 1: did not have j your exam Alexander for thirteen games
Speaker 1: a year ago. They have him back. They've got a
Speaker 1: great secondary. I think they can do a lot upfront
Speaker 1: and so if you're the Vikings, it's a great first
Speaker 1: test for Kevin O'Connell. I mean, I think you went
Speaker 1: out and got Kevin O'Connell for the same reason everyone
Speaker 1: hired Ship Sean. Sean mcvadh's branches off his tree and
Speaker 1: your whole mean that he is a big reason why
Speaker 1: they have the effect. I think it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: different um operation for Justin Jefferson, who I picked us
Speaker 1: my offensive player of the Year. They're gonna move him
Speaker 1: around more. And in general they were sort of set
Speaker 1: to go pieces wise already. I think their interior offensive
Speaker 1: line is a bit of a concern, but in general,
Speaker 1: the Vikings to me where I really was down on
Speaker 1: in the Minnesota under under Zimmerman for zimmer for so long,
Speaker 1: because I just thought he'd always gave the offensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball um the wrong cues, like when he
Speaker 1: went he wanted to go run heavies, firing of offensive
Speaker 1: coordinators left and right, hiring his friends, and never really
Speaker 1: got into the Kirk Cousins thing. I think Ryan where
Speaker 1: he almost seemed to root against the zone. He really did.
Speaker 1: There seem to be so much in fighting and when
Speaker 1: when he left and I think he's a good coach.
Speaker 1: It just seemed like a big sigh of relief that
Speaker 1: they needed a new energy. So I think Kevin O'Connell,
Speaker 1: if he can do it, is a major X factor
Speaker 1: for a team that was sort of stuck in the mud.
Speaker 1: And Kirk Cousins at quarterback is one of the biggest
Speaker 1: beneficiaries of that. Irvin Michael Irvin has Kirk Cousins as
Speaker 1: the m v P. And you know, that's buzzy, that's
Speaker 1: good and social. But he will do what he does
Speaker 1: and that's gonna be put up those similar numbers and have.
Speaker 1: They will have periods, and maybe it will be to
Speaker 1: start the season, or maybe it'll be a few weeks
Speaker 1: in where they will be unstoppable for a stretch and
Speaker 1: then there will be a three or four week and
Speaker 1: I don't care who's calling the plays, it's gonna happen
Speaker 1: because the guy at the front, Cousins, is the guy
Speaker 1: that's kind of a big part of this. I know
Speaker 1: the play calling, you could say plays the role as well,
Speaker 1: but I think it's Cousins himself who ebbs and flows
Speaker 1: uh and he'll he'll tear your hair out and then
Speaker 1: at the end of the season and be like, I
Speaker 1: can't stand this guy and we'll have yards and thirty
Speaker 1: seven touchdowns, Like, oh geez, why this is why every
Speaker 1: other front office doesn't know what to do with this guy,
Speaker 1: so they keep on cutting them checks. I'm really curious
Speaker 1: to see if they do come out with the locked
Speaker 1: in version of the Vikings. And I said that, I
Speaker 1: love that Adam Feeland's healthy now, and I think he
Speaker 1: is an underrated like top robin to a batman in
Speaker 1: the league. UH, with a healthy Dalvin Cook that they're
Speaker 1: going to score points? Are the Packers where they are
Speaker 1: right now? In search mode? Christian Watson barely was involved
Speaker 1: with the summer UH figuring out life after Davante? Can
Speaker 1: they hang if the good Vikings offense shows up? I
Speaker 1: don't like the spot. I'm picking the Vikings a week one?
Speaker 1: How about that? And Alan Lazard, who Aaron Rodgers has
Speaker 1: talked up as the number one receiver, all of looks
Speaker 1: like he's out in this game. A little surprising. He
Speaker 1: had a next week and injury next week or the
Speaker 1: week after. I mean, if we tape these shows on Thursday,
Speaker 1: he did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. He has not
Speaker 1: practiced in a week he's had this injury. It kind
Speaker 1: of came later in camp. So now Sammy Watkins is
Speaker 1: your one, and Randall Cobb is your two, and Andy
Speaker 1: Romeo Dobbs is number two in two is not a
Speaker 1: good changed. Maybe it's Romeo Dobbs, it's your number two, Watson.
Speaker 1: We don't know if plays in this game. And the
Speaker 1: big question to me is, uh, Bok tr might return
Speaker 1: for this game. Elton Jenkins, who didn't like might return.
Speaker 1: So either you have what I would say is the
Speaker 1: best tackle combination in the league in bok T and Jenkins,
Speaker 1: or you have neither, or maybe you have one. And oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, they're going up against Zadarius Smith and
Speaker 1: Daniel Hunter and this is a legit revenge games. Zadarius
Speaker 1: Smith was talking some real trash this week that he
Speaker 1: felt the Packers did him wrong, and he even talked
Speaker 1: trash about his teammates that when he was like coming
Speaker 1: off that back injury last year, that like no one
Speaker 1: was talking to him in the hallways. There was hallway pop.
Speaker 1: He was like people were just putting their head down.
Speaker 1: No one was saying hi to me, Like no one
Speaker 1: was saying how I was. It was like when I
Speaker 1: was hurt, it was like I wasn't even part of
Speaker 1: the team. Back guys, you know, they like to talk
Speaker 1: about the backs a lot, and sometimes just like, oh,
Speaker 1: we were in the getting our makeup, Greg is unfair
Speaker 1: and I asked our buddy David Singer um who works
Speaker 1: with the Talent booking, about his back because he has
Speaker 1: an issue. And then Steven Jackson, the great running back
Speaker 1: of the Rams, was right in between Greg and I
Speaker 1: in a chair because he's doing NFL network stuff and
Speaker 1: he had a major backs during his NFL. Back guys
Speaker 1: just chopping it up. Maybes maybe sometimes I'm not saying
Speaker 1: Singer or Steven Jackson are these guys. Sometimes back guys
Speaker 1: are a little bit like, okay, bro, can we talk
Speaker 1: about something else other than your back injury? Maybe that's
Speaker 1: what happened here. He was a bad guy and story
Speaker 1: so people were looking down in the hallway because they
Speaker 1: were like, all right, dude, we get it. What else
Speaker 1: is going on? I would think that's great detective work.
Speaker 1: I wish I had one of those penance because to me,
Speaker 1: like Dan just won the it's what is it called,
Speaker 1: It's time to football? That was some good football. That
Speaker 1: was some good football tea. Yes, Justin, I'm jumping in
Speaker 1: here to lock up the Packers. That's a good way
Speaker 1: to start. You. You know, you're not just not just
Speaker 1: their singer walking in. Uh, you're not. His ears were aching. Um,
Speaker 1: you're not just locking up a game and looking for
Speaker 1: the trophy. Great digger trying to make a statement. Sorry,
Speaker 1: you're trying to We're doing a show right now. Justin,
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's dealing with many Uh. You're also
Speaker 1: looking to bring back the dignity to the producer chair
Speaker 1: for the pick segments. So there's a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: on you. Well this, Yes, you want this, and I
Speaker 1: understand that would be a disgrace for us to be
Speaker 1: honest to do if it goes behind the glass. The
Speaker 1: trophy has to stay. Remember our mock draft went uh
Speaker 1: back back in May. Graver did quite well. Well not well?
Speaker 1: Yeahs our favorite in this game. By the way, I
Speaker 1: was wrong, I think I said earlier, completely forgotten. I
Speaker 1: didn't why why the Packers justin? Well, like Mark said,
Speaker 1: I think their defense is really good, and I think
Speaker 1: the Vikings could get off to a bit of a
Speaker 1: slow start under a new offensive system. With a new
Speaker 1: head coach who knows how that's just like week one stuff.
Speaker 1: Plus week one is always like so unpredictable and doesn't
Speaker 1: have any indication for how the rest of the season
Speaker 1: can go. Are a great example. They lost thirty eight
Speaker 1: to three or something like that to the Saints last year.
Speaker 1: What Aaron Rodgers was a disaster? What is it about
Speaker 1: the Vikings? They always I just love the Vikings like
Speaker 1: I'm sucked in. If it was a different week and
Speaker 1: I didn't have a game that I really liked, i'd
Speaker 1: full on go into a lock off with you. But
Speaker 1: we're just not there. Too early in the season for that,
Speaker 1: too early for a lock off. Okay, let's move on.
Speaker 1: Zeuser's up. You gotta pick up the pace. Users up. Yes,
Speaker 1: you are to take a break. We just we just
Speaker 1: took a break, thank you. Okay, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: good lot going on all right, Greg here. I think
Speaker 1: this will make you feel better. You jacked up my
Speaker 1: draft there a little bit. I was hoping that game
Speaker 1: fell to me because then i'd have a really nice
Speaker 1: balance to my week where I would have a main
Speaker 1: game in the morning to focus a main game in
Speaker 1: the afternoon. Now I gotta go in a little bit
Speaker 1: of a different direction. But it's okay. I'm prepared and
Speaker 1: I'm ready for this. Let's go to the a f
Speaker 1: C East. Let's go to the New England Patriots, last
Speaker 1: year's wild card team behind the Bills. To a f
Speaker 1: C S teams made the playoffs, they were destroyed in
Speaker 1: the postseason by the Bills, as you may recall, one
Speaker 1: of the great ass whippings of all time. Actually, and
Speaker 1: now here's the first game since there since then without
Speaker 1: Josh McDaniels, and all the hullabaloo about the new scheme
Speaker 1: they're putting in the struggles that the Patriots had Tom
Speaker 1: Kerrn like in the offense in the summer is a
Speaker 1: car with square wheels. Okay, so again, let's see it now,
Speaker 1: we see it, We see for real with this Patriots
Speaker 1: offensive where it's at, and they get the Dolphins, and
Speaker 1: I have with our sandwich props, I already predicted, or
Speaker 1: at least put sandwiches on the line, that we're gonna
Speaker 1: see Teddy Bridgewater this reason this season, for performance reasons.
Speaker 1: So I'm not sold on toa but I reserve the
Speaker 1: right to be a dumbass and be totally wrong and
Speaker 1: see TUA with Jalen Waddle and freaking Tyreek Hill light
Speaker 1: things up. You got to. I mean, I reserve the
Speaker 1: right to be ridiculous. I reserved the right to be
Speaker 1: a dumbass. And I am on the line right now
Speaker 1: because is there a scenario where the Patriots who is
Speaker 1: Greg Greggy notes and Patriots Nation stink in South Florida
Speaker 1: that where you could just see the Miami going up
Speaker 1: and down the field. I could see it, but I
Speaker 1: can't get a hind it. But I can see it.
Speaker 1: I can see it this week. And I can see
Speaker 1: the Patriots even in a scenario where they make the
Speaker 1: playoffs everyone, even in that scenario, I could see them
Speaker 1: starting one in three or you know, two and four
Speaker 1: and the offense gets a slow start. The Dolphins are
Speaker 1: favored by three and a half in this game, which
Speaker 1: is is pretty wild. You wouldn't have expected that when
Speaker 1: last season ended. But these two teams went about the
Speaker 1: off season with similar goals. They both wanted to install
Speaker 1: the offense that's sort of the most effective throughout the
Speaker 1: NFL right now, the Kyle offense. One of them hired
Speaker 1: a guy who's spent his whole career in it, and
Speaker 1: then they got Tyree Hill uh, and they got most
Speaker 1: and they got the fastest offensive weapons in the league
Speaker 1: to make plays after the catch, and the other team
Speaker 1: hired Matt Patricia. You know that's who they decided to
Speaker 1: install that uh offense. Alright. I love what you just
Speaker 1: said because oh and DeVante Parker that was their big addition.
Speaker 1: That see, the guy who the Dolphins didn't even want,
Speaker 1: who just gave them away. But again, I don't wanna
Speaker 1: get tripped up on semantics here, but like, is it
Speaker 1: Matt Patricia installing this offense? Committee? It's a committee? Now,
Speaker 1: I think I don't think. I mean, Bill Belichick says
Speaker 1: it's a committee. I don't think that he that Why
Speaker 1: even raise all that nonsense If it's not the case
Speaker 1: it would be. I think people would be happier if
Speaker 1: it was just Bill Belichick. I'm saying I think it is,
Speaker 1: and he's I mean, he's probably got the final yes
Speaker 1: or no. But I do think they're working together. I'm
Speaker 1: just looking at their offense and saying, who are your weapons?
Speaker 1: Why are you a playoff team? I don't see it
Speaker 1: with New England. I think one of the reasons they
Speaker 1: could go down to Miami and get jobbed just because
Speaker 1: I don't think they have the strength on offense. I
Speaker 1: just don't. And I look at maybe it's fine after
Speaker 1: a month, maybe it's gonna be fine in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, but there has been frustration around mac Jones
Speaker 1: and what's he had, what's he's had to deal with
Speaker 1: this summer. I just don't think it's gone smoothly. I
Speaker 1: think they have a shaky coaching staff in general, which
Speaker 1: is not been the case with the Patriots in the past.
Speaker 1: And I think the Dolphins, to your point, Mike mc
Speaker 1: daniel way and did exactly what Kyle Shanahan in the
Speaker 1: Niners front office did before his first season in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: went out and got every part necessary to run his offense.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna take three years to get those parts.
Speaker 1: They got him now. And you want to say that
Speaker 1: too has a chance. One of two is issues in
Speaker 1: the past couple of years was protection behind that Dolphins line.
Speaker 1: I think tarn Omstead Connor Williams improved the situation a lot.
Speaker 1: Jillen Wattle was awesome last year. Tyreek Hill is already
Speaker 1: showing chemistry with two What about the Patriots secondary tells
Speaker 1: you that in this game and other games like this,
Speaker 1: when there are multiple high speed weapons, that they're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to stop that. Right, there's both both teams,
Speaker 1: and I do want to respond to something you said
Speaker 1: quickly on their weapons. I actually think the weapons on
Speaker 1: the Patriots offense is like the least of their concerns,
Speaker 1: almost on the whole roster. Like I like their skill
Speaker 1: position players. I know they're not superstars, but they're better
Speaker 1: than they were last year. They're better than they were
Speaker 1: the year before with Tom Brady. They were a top
Speaker 1: ten scoring offense a year ago with a rookie quarterback.
Speaker 1: It's the fact that they're changing mcdan, right, it's the
Speaker 1: fact that they're changing everything up. I don't trust the line.
Speaker 1: I don't trust the scheme. I don't trust the cohesion
Speaker 1: uh that they have to take advantage of what I
Speaker 1: think is the weakest part of the Dolphin step chart,
Speaker 1: which right now is their cornerback situation. They don't have
Speaker 1: Byron Jones. They're starting their old first round pick ig Bnogamy,
Speaker 1: who was a first round a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: has not played well like normally I would say they
Speaker 1: can attack that weakness. I'm not confident where I am
Speaker 1: confident that Mike McDaniel looks at the Patriots and where
Speaker 1: where does that offense win over the middle with those
Speaker 1: crossers and those quick passes that turn into big place
Speaker 1: And where are the Patriots still looking like it's two
Speaker 1: thousand four except they're not nearly as good at it,
Speaker 1: slow as hell in the middle, Jawan Bentley, you got
Speaker 1: your guy mac Wilson. He might be okay, but it's
Speaker 1: like Kyle Duggan who's athletic but loves to bite on
Speaker 1: play action and give up big plays Like that middle
Speaker 1: of the field. They're gonna be just killing those linebackers.
Speaker 1: You imagine being Mike McDaniel. I mean, first of all,
Speaker 1: it seems very self confident. He's a great coach, but
Speaker 1: your first game is Bill Belichick. I find that to
Speaker 1: be like when they've showed them at like owners meetings
Speaker 1: and stuff, where like the two of them, let's spend
Speaker 1: a lot of time talking. They're an odd pairing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're going to be getting dinner
Speaker 1: together or maybe it'll be best not. This week. Patriots defense,
Speaker 1: by the way, statistically was really good. It got exposed
Speaker 1: horrifically by the Bills. But that Bill's team once they
Speaker 1: were hot at the end of the year, that was
Speaker 1: that was pretty rough. How much is J C. Jackson
Speaker 1: not being there change everything for New England? Greg, to you, uh,
Speaker 1: it's very significant at this point. I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: start Jonathan Jones on the outside when he was one
Speaker 1: of the best slot guys in the league. So now
Speaker 1: you're hurting two positions. If not, I don't think we
Speaker 1: even talked about the Malcolm Butler thing that just didn't
Speaker 1: take and then asking like Jalen Mills to do it.
Speaker 1: Jalen Mills is their top corner, like mccordy is still there.
Speaker 1: People like Dugger and I like Dugger two, but he
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm probably two down on them right now.
Speaker 1: But it's it does it looks pretty great, all right,
Speaker 1: let's move on it. Si snakes to me, and this
Speaker 1: is where this is not really how I wanted to
Speaker 1: run this draft. Um, but things happen, and when you're
Speaker 1: doing a draft you have to adapt, and um, I
Speaker 1: will be taking the Baltimore Ravens at New York Jets
Speaker 1: at the Metal Lands. I was helping to grab him
Speaker 1: at the very back end. But the way things stack
Speaker 1: up times time wise, I need to get this game. Um,
Speaker 1: do you think someone was gonna grab this? But turn
Speaker 1: this up in my headphones been a while, you know
Speaker 1: what The name of this artist is, by the way,
Speaker 1: absolutely not my favorite band name ever from the Rights
Speaker 1: Free or whatever library, the tinsel Town Tune Stars. I
Speaker 1: believe it sounds made. I mean they probably got together
Speaker 1: for like one day, right, I mean that that session
Speaker 1: that was magical. No, there's no no one's questioning that anyway. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So Ravens Jets, Lamar Jackson healthy, Ravens is a team,
Speaker 1: much healthier. They make a lot of sense on paper
Speaker 1: as an AFC superpower. Um, they need things to fall
Speaker 1: into place, Lamar. All the contract talks still in the background.
Speaker 1: But guess what maybe they'll have like the NFL equivalent
Speaker 1: of what's happened here with Aaron Judge and the Yankees
Speaker 1: in baseball, where he has an incredible season and he
Speaker 1: ends up being putting himself in an even better position
Speaker 1: to have a record breaking contract. I could see it.
Speaker 1: Um going on the road here against the Jets. I
Speaker 1: think the Jets will be improved this year. Uh. On defense,
Speaker 1: I believe that I really excited to see Sauce Gardner
Speaker 1: at cornerback. We've talked about Greg, their defensive line and
Speaker 1: how deep it is they can make things happen. C J.
Speaker 1: Mosley is still the linebacker that's making things work in
Speaker 1: the middle. And he might not be the same guy
Speaker 1: he was when he was in Baltimore, but he's a
Speaker 1: good guy in the middle of a heartbeat of that defense.
Speaker 1: I like the defense, and I like the potential of it.
Speaker 1: Um the off that subside of the ball obviously is
Speaker 1: an issue, and we learned this week Robert Sala said,
Speaker 1: not only is Joe Flacco starting Week one against the Ravens,
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson's not coming back until at least Week four.
Speaker 1: And Uh, I saw your tweet, Greg, and I agreed
Speaker 1: with it. I tweeted myself that I feel like the
Speaker 1: vibes are weird now. It's not a good situation now
Speaker 1: between Zach Wilson and the Jezz. I feel like real
Speaker 1: doubts creeping in about how they feel about him beyond
Speaker 1: just where his knee is. Health was your tweet was
Speaker 1: essentially that they maybe kind of want to just start
Speaker 1: the season with Joe Flacco. It's like a soft benching,
Speaker 1: you know, to go through week three. And and I
Speaker 1: get and I don't think that's a bad thing. And
Speaker 1: I don't think that they've given up on them because
Speaker 1: of that, but that they're not ready right now. Like
Speaker 1: I think, here's the best way to put it. It It
Speaker 1: would just be if it was almost any other starting
Speaker 1: quarterback in the league, would they say he's out through
Speaker 1: week three? I don't think that. I think they would
Speaker 1: give him every chance to play week to, give him
Speaker 1: every chance to play week three, hope that he gets back.
Speaker 1: But there they want to be really careful and and
Speaker 1: they know they're only gonna have so many chances that
Speaker 1: they want to get him as ready for when he's
Speaker 1: going to start as humanly possible. And these first three games, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, are pretty tough, you know, in terms
Speaker 1: of the past Russia as they face Ravens Brown's Bengals, like,
Speaker 1: let's let's let Joe Flacco take some heat against I
Speaker 1: think it speaks to their concern that they have about
Speaker 1: Wilson and his ability to play well straight up, like
Speaker 1: to to run the offense in a professional way that
Speaker 1: allows them to take these improved pieces on that side
Speaker 1: of the ball and actually be a better offense. And
Speaker 1: by saying like we're putting him out through three weeks,
Speaker 1: is like they think, not only does that need have
Speaker 1: to be we need him to be going through full practices.
Speaker 1: We need him to feel fully comfortable. And like you're saying,
Speaker 1: if it's Aaron Rodgers or almost anybody else, it's like,
Speaker 1: as soon as he can be on the field and practicing,
Speaker 1: we want him in with With Wilson, it's more like
Speaker 1: we need to feel comfortable that he is a percent ready,
Speaker 1: because otherwise we feel pretty confident we're gonna be behind
Speaker 1: the eight ball. Rogers wouldn't let the Packers go make
Speaker 1: that announcement about him anyways, Like Zach Wilson just has
Speaker 1: no real weight or credibility. And I don't say that
Speaker 1: about his person, but just like inside the organization, it's
Speaker 1: this is this this, this is quietly shakier then Sam
Speaker 1: Donald's run with the team so far. It's it's a mess.
Speaker 1: I don't think they could trust him to be confident
Speaker 1: with when he's a little banged up either, which you
Speaker 1: have to do as a quarterback. And I mean this
Speaker 1: is a raven secondary that you know they suffered. I
Speaker 1: don't want to talk about the running backs. Their secondary
Speaker 1: was destroyed by injuries a year ago. No Marcus Peters,
Speaker 1: he's back. Marlon Humphrey missed the final five games which
Speaker 1: they all lost. He's back. They signed Marcus Williams, Mike
Speaker 1: McDonald defensive coordinator. He is you know, he's he has
Speaker 1: Baltimore ties, but it's his first game. And I think
Speaker 1: that you said the Jets defense will be improved. It
Speaker 1: can't be worse. They were the worst scoring defense in
Speaker 1: the league last year and the worst defense. But I
Speaker 1: think that I think you got to move into the
Speaker 1: middle of the pack, and that's why you ride. Hired
Speaker 1: Robert Sala and will know in a month whether that's
Speaker 1: working or not. And I think it needs to otherwise.
Speaker 1: This team isn't disarrapt right. I think they could be better.
Speaker 1: I think they and I would say this with a
Speaker 1: lot of defenses, because they come and go, they're unpredictable.
Speaker 1: I think they could have a top you know, seven
Speaker 1: or eight defense. I think it's like car Like I
Speaker 1: love the defensive line. The secondary is is more of
Speaker 1: a projection, but it certainly has upside. I'm curious if
Speaker 1: they're gonna like blitz that the hell out of Lamar
Speaker 1: in this game, because that is one question that Lamar
Speaker 1: has to answer. It's not that he struggled that much
Speaker 1: with the blitz for the rest of his career. In fact,
Speaker 1: that the sort of the idea was you don't blitz
Speaker 1: Lamar because then you leave the guys in single coverage
Speaker 1: and then he can kill you with his legs. But
Speaker 1: he was awful against the blitz last year. It was
Speaker 1: a thing they never really solved it, and then he
Speaker 1: got hurt and a lot of that was people around him.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious to see how how aggressive they'll be
Speaker 1: and how well they protect Blacko because that if the
Speaker 1: Ravens have a weakness on defense, I think it is
Speaker 1: their pass rush. It's it's a da f a O
Speaker 1: ways for a couple of years. I don't know who
Speaker 1: like Justin, I don't know. So if you can get
Speaker 1: Flacco protected back there, and you know they think he
Speaker 1: can spin it can see they here's the thing too,
Speaker 1: part of the reason of the week three or through
Speaker 1: week fourth thing with Wilson, as you could tell, they
Speaker 1: like that there's a grown up running the offense. And
Speaker 1: I know if you get a pass rush on Flacco
Speaker 1: it's a rap. But the idea here as he isn't.
Speaker 1: By the way, I'll push back a little bit on
Speaker 1: the Donald thing not being as bad Donald the beginning
Speaker 1: the year two got Mono right before the season started,
Speaker 1: and that was not only did it suck, it was
Speaker 1: embarrassing as hell as a fan because everybody just rand
Speaker 1: that you have to, even as a Jets fan, sit
Speaker 1: around commanding that brought up Donald and I didn't. On Twitter,
Speaker 1: people were like, oh, now he's gonna bring up Donald
Speaker 1: again tomorrow. It's just the first. This is the first
Speaker 1: time in a t and history that we were comparing
Speaker 1: bad eras of the Jets and I didn't bring up
Speaker 1: Donald marked But wait, I was not allowed to do
Speaker 1: that well a lot of times in the past because
Speaker 1: we had a mare Donald, which it was not. The
Speaker 1: rest benefits show is not over yet because if I
Speaker 1: say something that touches a nervo with Greg, he will
Speaker 1: automatically go. But Sam Donald was terrible. Yeah, we no,
Speaker 1: we still have multiple games where that could occur. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on, and I do I think the Ravens
Speaker 1: are in a good spot there, but I think there
Speaker 1: are pieces for the Jets. If they get proficient playoff
Speaker 1: quarterback play, they can make a game of that and
Speaker 1: a season of this. We shall see it. Now goes
Speaker 1: back to Greg. So I'm taking the Colts and the Texans,
Speaker 1: and I know that's an unconventional pick here, but I
Speaker 1: have different priorities of what I want on Sundays in
Speaker 1: my backup game and how I plan out the week,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to hear any complaints. I do
Speaker 1: think this game is gonna be closer than people expect.
Speaker 1: Totally absurd, by the way. What we all have our reasons,
Speaker 1: but no, no, I gave you that as my reason
Speaker 1: early in the show why I made the pick. I didn't, well,
Speaker 1: it's not good value backup game to be the one
Speaker 1: like this is the game I'm actually gonna watch the
Speaker 1: least all week lost. You would have taken Bears fourth
Speaker 1: instead of third, we would have said we're in the
Speaker 1: third round here. You have acknowledged self through self scouting
Speaker 1: that you both had major gaps in the stress too,
Speaker 1: are unbelievably un annoying to hang out with most of
Speaker 1: the time. We are the Texans, I think are going
Speaker 1: to thread the Neil here and that's where you know,
Speaker 1: it's a seven point a thread the needle game. We
Speaker 1: talked about that on game debut on Friday's. It's a
Speaker 1: seven point spread, the biggest all week. I think it
Speaker 1: ties the biggest. And uh, I think the Texans keep
Speaker 1: this thing close despite the fact that they lost the
Speaker 1: two games against the Colts last year. Are you ready
Speaker 1: for this by a combined sixty two to three? So
Speaker 1: in in this way, if not any other, Matt Ryan
Speaker 1: is going to have a very difficult chant, you know,
Speaker 1: time matching Carson Wentz like he probably will not beat
Speaker 1: down the Texans sixty two to three. Uh this year?
Speaker 1: And uh, what I saw out of Matt Ryan and
Speaker 1: their offense in the preseason at me a little concerned.
Speaker 1: I think the Texans defense is built to make you
Speaker 1: work down the field very slowly. That's what it's Lovey Smith.
Speaker 1: Just keep it in front of him, make him go slow.
Speaker 1: What's the Colts defense built to do with Gus Bradley?
Speaker 1: Make them work slow? What did both these quarterbacks love
Speaker 1: to do? Go really slow? A lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of digging dugs. Davis Mills a lot of dickon dugs
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, a lot of digging dug. I think this
Speaker 1: could be your quickest game of the week here because
Speaker 1: of that, a lot of slow drives. Maybe not a
Speaker 1: lot of excitement, but a close game in the end
Speaker 1: because of that, that that leads to close games. I
Speaker 1: think you diagnose that perfectly because if you look at
Speaker 1: what I know that we want to be balanced. You know,
Speaker 1: we don't want it to be Jonathan Taylor and no
Speaker 1: one else but Jonathan Taylor last year combined forty seven
Speaker 1: carries for three d plus yards and four touchdowns in
Speaker 1: his two games against the Texans against love E. Smith's defense.
Speaker 1: So I don't see why that can't be duplicated to
Speaker 1: some degree. I do want to see what this Matt right, well,
Speaker 1: but but they that's how you hammer them. If you
Speaker 1: can tire out that defense right out of the gate,
Speaker 1: that would be big for the Colts. I don't think
Speaker 1: you want to putt Ryan in a situation where he's
Speaker 1: got to save the day on this team. Chat how
Speaker 1: you want to be described? Jack Leonard might have playing
Speaker 1: this game anyway. I wanted to bring that up. That's
Speaker 1: that's weird. I was a little annoyed. I wrote about
Speaker 1: the power rankings that Chris Ballard, the general manager of
Speaker 1: the Colts, when asked by the reporters, what's up with
Speaker 1: Shack Leonard? He's avoiding the pee pu p list? Is
Speaker 1: he possibly in any way? Ah? Could seem week one,
Speaker 1: could see in week six? What's your favorite type of frog?
Speaker 1: But dare you, Mr? Ballard? Answer? But don't you think
Speaker 1: we could just see him for like fifteen sixteen snaps?
Speaker 1: Maybe this even that would be great as long as
Speaker 1: he doesn't lead to a setback. He is a monster.
Speaker 1: He is, I think, and I know he's an All
Speaker 1: Pro and all that, but I still feel like he
Speaker 1: plays definitely in the Midwest. He is a cult not
Speaker 1: one of the major media markets. He is a dude
Speaker 1: that is one of the great players in the league
Speaker 1: and one of the great playmakers in the NFL on
Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball, with that that famous
Speaker 1: punch out that if he stays on this trajectory, could
Speaker 1: be a Hall of Fame level guy, an all times
Speaker 1: swing and hit for as if I'm going to get
Speaker 1: Ballard heat second round pick and became one of the
Speaker 1: great linebackers of his generation. This dude's for real. I
Speaker 1: hope he's healthy. So you mentioned Ballard and m and
Speaker 1: we heard that sound drop earlier and what's your favorite
Speaker 1: type of frog? And I just like to think of
Speaker 1: the listeners who are just joining the show, like this
Speaker 1: season or last season, or even the season before the
Speaker 1: season before that, and even just have no context for
Speaker 1: why that's associated with Chris Ballard. And we're not going
Speaker 1: to explain it, you know, because I can't really even
Speaker 1: do it. If I tried, it was Greg and I
Speaker 1: standing in the not even try just I mean, that's
Speaker 1: just you're in the club, because I could picture where
Speaker 1: we were when it happened. But because what you what
Speaker 1: you really came away, your real impression was you cannot
Speaker 1: actually describe. It's hard to even like use the words
Speaker 1: that I don't know if they're even there. It's like
Speaker 1: the a f C. South. It's much better to spend
Speaker 1: two minutes explaining why we can't explain it. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: welcome to the new listeners. You'll you'll catch up. And
Speaker 1: we're feeling good that Damian Pierce is the real dude.
Speaker 1: I love I loved him in the preseason. I think
Speaker 1: that's the reason to watch this game early in the week.
Speaker 1: He's going to be He's like one of the favorites.
Speaker 1: He's going to be a great producer that can make
Speaker 1: a big difference position. We can totally believe what we
Speaker 1: saw in the summer. I mean, he looks he quickly
Speaker 1: won the starting job. He he looks insane, but he's
Speaker 1: it's also insane. He's like the number four favorite for
Speaker 1: Offensive Rookie of the Year or something crazy like that.
Speaker 1: He's ahead of Drake London. He's ahead of a lot
Speaker 1: of like top shelf players. Now Damian Pierce did Rex
Speaker 1: Burkhead is the guy he's now competing for snaps with.
Speaker 1: So if he's healthy, guy, he's going to be the dude.
Speaker 1: All right, let's take a break and then we gotta
Speaker 1: wrap this thing up. All Right, we're back. Let us
Speaker 1: finish out the draft, and it is Mark Sessler with
Speaker 1: a double pick here. All right, I'm gonna go um
Speaker 1: Saints at Falcons. Alright, I'm fascinated by the Saints. Waiting
Speaker 1: for a reaction from us. Dramatic pause, just dramatic pause.
Speaker 1: That's how radio works. This makes sense. Is a logical
Speaker 1: landings about in the draft of the Saints at Falcons.
Speaker 1: Yes it is. And like for me, we talked about
Speaker 1: the Saints as the team where I don't know. If
Speaker 1: they won twelve games, I can logically explain why that
Speaker 1: could happen. If they win six, I could see why
Speaker 1: that would happen. I mean, you suddenly don't have Sean Payton,
Speaker 1: who used Jamis Winston conservatively last year but two successful results.
Speaker 1: I think he threw the ball over thirty times once
Speaker 1: in any of the games before I got injured under Payton. Uh,
Speaker 1: do we trust Pete Carmichael to do what Sean Payton does?
Speaker 1: Maybe they're gonna do the same things, but not the
Speaker 1: same way as Sean Payton. I think it's we talked
Speaker 1: about a lot, but I think it's Undersold losing him
Speaker 1: as her head coach. What that means for this team.
Speaker 1: But last year's issues were wide receiver, they were what
Speaker 1: lack of weapons? You've got Crystal Lava, Jarvis Landry, Michael Thomas.
Speaker 1: I think Alvin Kamara is someone that Michael Thomas playing well.
Speaker 1: That's they've been there a lot, hurt, a little weird
Speaker 1: like it was last month. He's come back and it
Speaker 1: sounds like he's trending towards playing, but we don't know.
Speaker 1: But again, this is like the last thing that the
Speaker 1: Saints fans wanted to Thomas after two years were ruined
Speaker 1: by injury. And now we're going into Week one and
Speaker 1: he's limited on and practiced by a hamstring issue. It's
Speaker 1: just like it is this gonna happen or what? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm that's such a huge, huge part of this because
Speaker 1: we could talk up a lava all we want and
Speaker 1: maybe he will be. Really Jarvis Landry looked good Thomas
Speaker 1: in the same He's so important, Uh, to balance everything
Speaker 1: on that offense. We're not losing Thomas for six seven
Speaker 1: weeks or something. So to answer your Pete Carmichael concerns,
Speaker 1: you know they did. They looked really good in the
Speaker 1: preseason when their first team offense played sometimes it was Dalton.
Speaker 1: It's only the preseason. You know, he did run the
Speaker 1: offense in that suspension year and they were good. You know,
Speaker 1: they were second and the third in the league in points.
Speaker 1: They were second or third like he did. The Sean
Speaker 1: Payton is a uh image what was it? A banner
Speaker 1: in the practice? That banner it feels good to football, Yeah, exact.
Speaker 1: It was his face looming over them as they practiced,
Speaker 1: not subtle Sean, So that part of it, I think
Speaker 1: I'm a little I'm weirdly more worried about the defense
Speaker 1: keeping up the same level. Yeah, it was a little
Speaker 1: like it was like it was also his very Russian.
Speaker 1: I think it was his face too. It was very serious.
Speaker 1: It was like it's like Daddy's watching. It was a
Speaker 1: tough It was a tough couple of years there for
Speaker 1: Sean Payton and the whole Saints thing. There were a
Speaker 1: lot of stories. There was a lot going on at
Speaker 1: that moment that if that, if if they made him
Speaker 1: more realistic movie about not Kevin James playing, that would
Speaker 1: be the middle where it gets really dark that he
Speaker 1: has to come back from you. I think that's still
Speaker 1: the lowest moment in UM entertainment industry history. The casting
Speaker 1: of the casting of Kevin James is shown page like
Speaker 1: Who Wins There. We actually had a segment where we
Speaker 1: came up with eight or nine other people that could
Speaker 1: have been him instead, and I get I want to
Speaker 1: just say I was gassing up Marcus Mariota a little
Speaker 1: bit earlier this week. I believe UM interesting to see
Speaker 1: what version of him shows up. But I had my
Speaker 1: League of Record fantasy draft yesterday. I smashed that draft
Speaker 1: button on Kyle Pitts. I can't wait to see this
Speaker 1: guy round third round, fourth third or fourth round. I
Speaker 1: just smashed it. I can't wait to see what he
Speaker 1: does in year two. If he stays healthy, this dude
Speaker 1: could be one of those guys sometimes in these the drafts,
Speaker 1: a tight end gets hyped up as a truly special guy,
Speaker 1: and then a few years later he's bounced around the league.
Speaker 1: We already saw in year one that this is a
Speaker 1: guy that's a potential super duper star, So it'll be fun.
Speaker 1: I don't like this matchup for the Falcons at although
Speaker 1: against the Saints defense. I know you have your questions, Greg,
Speaker 1: but like the Falcons have offensive line issues and last
Speaker 1: year they basically shut down Cordarold Patterson entirely over two games.
Speaker 1: It's just not a great match. Like Marcus Davenport has
Speaker 1: been a little bit of a mystery. They're very thin
Speaker 1: the Saints at at defensive tackle. Uh, they're not sure
Speaker 1: who's behind Davenport. If they're the Saints defensive last year,
Speaker 1: they will crush this offensive line. But i'd be a
Speaker 1: little concerned about a little Arthur Smith trickery week when
Speaker 1: I just feel like, hello heroes, Nick Westling, here, the
Speaker 1: brothers are back for another year of law in this
Speaker 1: time we're taking the trophy for Week one. We're going
Speaker 1: down to Atlanta to watch the Saints and the Falcons.
Speaker 1: The Falcons could be a little feisty this year with
Speaker 1: some young talent combined with some veterans on offense, but
Speaker 1: there'll be no match for the Saints. Chris a Lava
Speaker 1: burst onto the scene and his NFL goes for nine
Speaker 1: recep ten yards in a touchdown in the Saints role
Speaker 1: lock it up. I was like, you know, the Westlings
Speaker 1: are not taking the Bengals week one, where they had
Speaker 1: a pretty good choice on the board. That was weird.
Speaker 1: But they're all Ohio State. Um. Actually it's kind of
Speaker 1: the Ohio State Saints. You've got the Michael Thomas, you
Speaker 1: got it, you got a few few, you know. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited about the Westling brothers being back in the
Speaker 1: lock competition. Um, they had a great performance last year.
Speaker 1: They really came on strong as well. And I don't
Speaker 1: want to step on this, but there is a new
Speaker 1: Westling brother entering the mix from what I hear, who
Speaker 1: didn't have an opportunity to be in the mix last year. There,
Speaker 1: let's just leave it there, I can I just counter
Speaker 1: all of that hefty praise on one level. As an organization,
Speaker 1: they I liked their confidence. I think they probably spent
Speaker 1: an off season kind of realigning how they operate. But
Speaker 1: there was um really disruptive in fighting that I thought.
Speaker 1: That's a good That was so many and that's why
Speaker 1: I saw so many headlines in the area newspapers, the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Zoo. That's the way they described the Westling brothers
Speaker 1: and the in fighting and the theatrics that went on.
Speaker 1: But they were productive a little bit of like the
Speaker 1: Rob Chadzinski Michael Lombardi Brown's it was just like a
Speaker 1: lot of worrying. Well, that group didn't come back for
Speaker 1: a second year, so that would be one to stay
Speaker 1: another season of the Cincinnati Zoo. Can't wait. The Saints
Speaker 1: locked up with a lobby having a big day. All right,
Speaker 1: Mark Snakes deal, let's wrap this thing up. Well, I
Speaker 1: can't believe this is still sitting here. I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: watching this out of the corner of my eye no
Speaker 1: matter what Browns and Panthers. Do you think that's an accident? Mark,
Speaker 1: This is a very We're trying to set up the
Speaker 1: best show possible. We want you want to hear, Mark,
Speaker 1: We're trying to help you. We know this is an
Speaker 1: absolutely emotional situation for you, the Browns. In my life,
Speaker 1: I'm forty two years old. I have never known anyone
Speaker 1: in my entire life that loved a sports team as
Speaker 1: much as you love the Browns. And now we're in
Speaker 1: a situation where you will be watching the Browns and
Speaker 1: hypothetically or potentially or certainly rooting against them. How how
Speaker 1: can we even know? Mark? How can you know until
Speaker 1: that game is on whether you'll be rooting against the
Speaker 1: Browns or have the other way, not even against their
Speaker 1: four no emotional tie. My theory is that you can't
Speaker 1: turn it off. That's just a theory, and that's not
Speaker 1: trying to be disrespectful to you. I don't think it's possible.
Speaker 1: And the first test is going to be Sunday, one
Speaker 1: pm Eastern CBS. I do not I don't tend to
Speaker 1: think that I feel great antagonism towards the team at
Speaker 1: this point or the players, like in terms of watching
Speaker 1: the game. I know this is hard for you to
Speaker 1: digest because we've discussed this. You can't turn off a waterfall,
Speaker 1: but the but but a now stroyed coland on a
Speaker 1: waterfall and turn it into like a calm lake. That's
Speaker 1: sort of where I'm at, Like, I don't there is
Speaker 1: no waterfalls, were just killed. I don't know where this
Speaker 1: I just I kind of feel like, in a way passions.
Speaker 1: But it's also Baker Bayfield, I think because that was
Speaker 1: your guys star, he's your guy next week, whoever the
Speaker 1: Browns playing next week. I really feel like almost no
Speaker 1: attachment at this point. It's been a long offseason and
Speaker 1: I'm trying to tell you in many different ways that
Speaker 1: that you know, well what I'm saying to you, you
Speaker 1: will know until the Browns with that and that building
Speaker 1: going nuts and they're they're treating not just this week
Speaker 1: but going forward, will you actually feel nothing that's fair?
Speaker 1: But I think there is um There is some projection
Speaker 1: going on there because you're thinking how you would respond
Speaker 1: if it were the Jets. For I think some of them,
Speaker 1: I have spent months and months kind of just being like,
Speaker 1: I'm good with this. They are a way bigger things
Speaker 1: happening in life than cheering off. One thing that I
Speaker 1: think helps the Browns and it certainly would help you,
Speaker 1: um in terms of having some connection is Deshaun Watson's
Speaker 1: not on the field. I think that's significant. I actually
Speaker 1: think that's been overlooked the football aspect of it. The
Speaker 1: second that suspension went down and Jacoby Brissette took over
Speaker 1: their core, you know, situation everyone in terms of their
Speaker 1: interaction with the media, whether it was Kevin Stefanski or
Speaker 1: Brissette or the players, it's like everyone got to move forward.
Speaker 1: This horrible black cloud of like the shame that their organization.
Speaker 1: They don't see it this way, but like the weight
Speaker 1: that they've had to carry in a way because they
Speaker 1: made this insane decision to take on Deshaun Watson and
Speaker 1: give him that contract before all this happened. At least
Speaker 1: for now, it's kind of like gone away and they're
Speaker 1: just a football team again, which I think is useful. Now.
Speaker 1: I know they're going against Baker Mayfield, but I think
Speaker 1: the things that they could be good at as a
Speaker 1: football team have a chance to come out. I've been
Speaker 1: so down on the Browns here. I do want to
Speaker 1: just say like the Browns defense does have a chance
Speaker 1: to be special. I mean they there edge rushers against
Speaker 1: this Panther's offensive line could be a problem for the Panthers.
Speaker 1: J Ok, you know a Wusso Corma, I love him,
Speaker 1: and then you love that secondary. I know Greg Knewsom,
Speaker 1: denzil Ward. I mean there are a lot of problems
Speaker 1: for Baker Mayfield on that and they know Baker. Their
Speaker 1: secondary is two first round picks, two second round picks
Speaker 1: who have all played pretty well, or or the rookies
Speaker 1: and John Johnson, who was their huge free agency pickup.
Speaker 1: Like that's their secondary. So they have a chance to
Speaker 1: give Baker Mayfield a lot of problems. What do we
Speaker 1: not like beyond their passing game? Uh, their offensive line
Speaker 1: on things special anymore. I don't like their defensive line.
Speaker 1: I think you can run on this. I think the
Speaker 1: defense has to show it too, like defensive tackle. Like
Speaker 1: the defense is more in theory than in practice because
Speaker 1: they weren't special last year. But I think on paper
Speaker 1: they look Jake Brisket could take them out of games potentially,
Speaker 1: but I'll say it, I think this is a team
Speaker 1: that's going to be competitive even with I don't understand
Speaker 1: how Brissette fits in this system, because the defining aspect
Speaker 1: to Jacoby Briscaid, other than being a great dude, is
Speaker 1: he is the slowest quarterback I think in the NFL.
Speaker 1: And by slow, I don't just mean he moves slow,
Speaker 1: which that's true too, but like he just holds it
Speaker 1: his like. I think he's smart. Everyone knows that. Maybe
Speaker 1: he's just cautious, but his time to throw in terms
Speaker 1: of holding, like he holds the ball forever and then
Speaker 1: he throws it short. And that is the opposite of
Speaker 1: what like Kevin Stefanski wants. So I sort of don't
Speaker 1: understand how he fits. And maybe that helps improve like
Speaker 1: his weaknesses. Maybe Stefanski does that, but that's the opposite
Speaker 1: of what Jacob has been. He's been to hold it
Speaker 1: forever and then maybe make a play. They didn't have
Speaker 1: a lot of options at quarterback, and they didn't they
Speaker 1: chose not to go after He could be a bad
Speaker 1: version of Jacoby Brissette. Even and whether he says it
Speaker 1: or not, or whether he said it or not, um
Speaker 1: Baker does want to mess up the Browns is delicious.
Speaker 1: That is a delicious merch He had merch ready to
Speaker 1: go off the leash. He actually made uh in his
Speaker 1: not only did he promote the off the Leash um
Speaker 1: you know T shirts very aggressively. Uh and his you
Speaker 1: know press conference last week he came back and he
Speaker 1: and he wanted to give a special shout out for
Speaker 1: just what a great job is social media team has
Speaker 1: done selling the off the league so so so No,
Speaker 1: I mean, of course, um, there's this game is just
Speaker 1: like any other, all right, Greg, alright, let's take Cincinnati Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous, this is still on the board. I apologize
Speaker 1: to the fans of the Bengals. It's just circumstantial in
Speaker 1: some some ways. Uh, we love your team. We're very
Speaker 1: interested in this matchup, particularly um. And I'm also interested
Speaker 1: to see if the Bengals defense, which was a top
Speaker 1: five defense in terms of the way they played in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. That was the biggest difference between the Bengals
Speaker 1: and the regular season the playoffs, was their defense suddenly
Speaker 1: played like a top five defense. Is that repeatable? Um?
Speaker 1: Because I think they can get after Mitchell Robinsky. But
Speaker 1: if they can't, this group of skill position players in
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh is one of the only ones that you could
Speaker 1: even compare to the Cincinnati group. I know we're projecting
Speaker 1: with George Pickens and we're projecting to come back by Claypool.
Speaker 1: But Friar Moose is gonna get better. Nasey here has
Speaker 1: got a bit better. We know who Dianti Johnson is like,
Speaker 1: you better get after Mitchell Trabinsky or I think this
Speaker 1: team could be problematic and there could be a lot
Speaker 1: of points in this game. I think that everyone just assumes,
Speaker 1: because it's the Steelers, that their defense is excellent and
Speaker 1: it's just not the case. Um, Cincinnati matched up really
Speaker 1: well with Pittsburgh last year to ten and then they
Speaker 1: dropped a forty one to ten bomb on them. And
Speaker 1: I I look at Cincinnati's skill position players and say,
Speaker 1: I with you. On the Steelers, I think there's promise there.
Speaker 1: And I think Trabinsky, you know game, I think it'll
Speaker 1: be a little more offensive. I I just this if
Speaker 1: the Bengals, who have been I think overlooked as much
Speaker 1: as any a f C Super Bowl team in a
Speaker 1: long long time. Um, you're talking about Pittsburgh's weapons, Cincinnati
Speaker 1: is the quarterback and I just trust Burrow that you're
Speaker 1: bringing all the same people back. I don't know if
Speaker 1: the offensive line editions were a plus editions. I think
Speaker 1: they obviously shored up what was the massive weakness and
Speaker 1: achilles healer a year ago. One thing, though, if you
Speaker 1: remember that during that playoffs, when every team knew that
Speaker 1: they had offensive line issues, the coaching staff seemed unable
Speaker 1: to make any adjustments. I just want to see that
Speaker 1: happen this year. Even if you found out the guys
Speaker 1: you plugged in like, they're still gonna take a little
Speaker 1: bit time to get together. You know that that's important,
Speaker 1: and that was the one coaching weakness from a year ago.
Speaker 1: But your defense brings everyone back. Essentially, it's got to
Speaker 1: protect himself a little better too. I think he knows
Speaker 1: that he does, but I think it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: better situation for him. But that defense was lights out
Speaker 1: in the playoffs and through most of the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and they were helped out with injuries in the wide
Speaker 1: receiver group for the Rams. But and they let down
Speaker 1: of course at the very end. But that was a
Speaker 1: big reason, more than the offense, that they were able
Speaker 1: to go on that run. And I think you talked
Speaker 1: about it with um the Chargers Mark. I think with
Speaker 1: the Bengals is a very important Week one game. You're
Speaker 1: in your building, You're against the Pittsburgh team that's in transition.
Speaker 1: If you want people to respect you as like a
Speaker 1: true superpower and not just a Cinderella team, go kick
Speaker 1: the Steeler's ass if you don't want to feel like
Speaker 1: it's every other year in the a f C North.
Speaker 1: If they lost this game, right and the Ravens do
Speaker 1: their thing against it, like suddenly, it's like right, And
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean the Cincinnati stubs their toe here, doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that I don't believe in or people should be
Speaker 1: jumping off the ship here. But it's just like, go
Speaker 1: take care of business. You you're the better team that
Speaker 1: you're the more prepared team right now, the way things
Speaker 1: are set up, win the day, and you should be
Speaker 1: able to take advantage of the worst position group in
Speaker 1: the entire game, which is Pittsburgh's offensive line. All right, now,
Speaker 1: it's time to close the draft. And um, I think
Speaker 1: we got two marks. Yeah, we're closing the draft though
Speaker 1: here with Jaguars at Washington, Um, how did this? How
Speaker 1: is this still here? Your kid? Right? Yes? I like
Speaker 1: to be looking forward to keeping an eye on Jacksonville
Speaker 1: is intriguing for all the reasons that we're talking about.
Speaker 1: There's juice, there's here. I've already I've shared it on
Speaker 1: this show and on Power Rankings that they're kind of
Speaker 1: my Cincinnati pick to come out of the bottom of
Speaker 1: the Power rankings and be a frisky team and potentially
Speaker 1: even compete in the ANFC South. Could it end with
Speaker 1: them having the number one overall pick for the third year. No, actually,
Speaker 1: that cannot happen. It will not happen unless, yeah, unless
Speaker 1: disaster strikes with Chevor Lawrence. On a physical level, I
Speaker 1: think they're going to be better with a more professional
Speaker 1: head coach and staff with Doug Peterson, and there is
Speaker 1: major upside for Jacksonville. They could go in Washington, and
Speaker 1: I know Washington's not a big time team, but they
Speaker 1: could go to Washington and score a bunch of points
Speaker 1: and kind of make a statement that the Jaguars, as
Speaker 1: a joke, is over where frisky and immediately people will
Speaker 1: be talking about them as soon as week two. Or
Speaker 1: they could be sloppy and uninspired and stink and and
Speaker 1: you know, Carson Wentz throws for decided to really go
Speaker 1: ahead and start to take command. Carson Wentz throws a
Speaker 1: hundred eighty nine yards and his sloppy most of the game,
Speaker 1: and then throws a touchdown late to Terry McLaurin for
Speaker 1: a seventeen fifteen win. And we're like, oh, everything is
Speaker 1: the same, both with Washington and Jacksonville. So I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see the real Jags, the Jags that the Jacksonville
Speaker 1: fans in Duval and ownership wants to see step up.
Speaker 1: And I think we will. I think Jaggars is a
Speaker 1: gonna have a good week and people are gonna be
Speaker 1: talking about him on Monday. This was my hardest game,
Speaker 1: I think to to pick, I went back and forth.
Speaker 1: They ended up with the Commanders, and I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just like had this image of them annoyingly winning
Speaker 1: this game and annoying me because it's a better story
Speaker 1: if it's Jaguars. But then I thought about how they
Speaker 1: do have continuity Washington. This is the third year for
Speaker 1: this coaching staff. I think it's a professional coaching staff.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of continuity in terms of scheme and
Speaker 1: the players that are there. And you look at their
Speaker 1: players and it's not it's not terrible. I do think
Speaker 1: that Jaguars offensive line is underrated, and I think Washington
Speaker 1: is gonna miss Chase Young and they're a little thin
Speaker 1: at the edge position. And if you give Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: a little bit of time, I think I think he
Speaker 1: could cook. And I think you could see some points
Speaker 1: in this game and they and they prove me wrong
Speaker 1: and win it. I do worry about the There is
Speaker 1: this sort of large assumption that Trevor Lawrence is now
Speaker 1: going to be awesome just because of Doug Peterson. I
Speaker 1: mean he threw seventeen interceptions last year. He I don't
Speaker 1: think it's because of Doug Peterson. Well, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot there's a lot of well hopefully not. You know,
Speaker 1: it'll be better than that situation. Uh do we? There's
Speaker 1: a lot of revenge games this week? What about Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz Doug Peterson hate revenge games. I think most of
Speaker 1: them mean nothing at all at this point, Like Carson
Speaker 1: Wentz has eight other people to be more annoyed with
Speaker 1: than Doug Peterson. I mean they did a lot of
Speaker 1: good things together. I don't hate like the offense, and
Speaker 1: I can't believe I said I started forgot about it,
Speaker 1: but they did have a thing. I think that's I
Speaker 1: think there's a little avenge here Peterson's last season. Absolutely yeah,
Speaker 1: when that's whole, that's where that whole thing came from.
Speaker 1: So that was the first coach to get completely disillusioned
Speaker 1: with Carson Wentz. There's been a few sense a lot
Speaker 1: of commanders in Washington, d C. And the Pentagon. A
Speaker 1: few days ago, I said that I had a major
Speaker 1: Pentagon take that I was going to share on the
Speaker 1: Thursday show. But when we were texting the three of
Speaker 1: us about that, Daddy had a couple of tetos in them.
Speaker 1: And now the Pentagon take is gone. A major you
Speaker 1: can't recall it was a major take on that. Was
Speaker 1: it positive or negative? I don't know. I think it
Speaker 1: was gonna cause some ripples. I'm not a scientist, but
Speaker 1: I think if you have Tito's again, then come back, right,
Speaker 1: let's go, let's find some all right. I will if
Speaker 1: it comes to me, I will share it this episode
Speaker 1: or in the future. It's a major. It was definitely
Speaker 1: positive because that's sort of you in a nutshell. It's
Speaker 1: like I trust our government like a trust our sold
Speaker 1: I trust our soldiers, very nice, but it's like trust military.
Speaker 1: I'm like you, Um, I don't trust the soldiers, but
Speaker 1: I do A no, I don't nice try there, but
Speaker 1: I do think that is a five sided fortress, impenetrable.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go. Let's close with Giants of
Speaker 1: Titans at Nissan Stadium. Grave Digger, I know you're disappointed,
Speaker 1: but not surprised that this game didn't get drafted, but uh, maybe,
Speaker 1: just maybe justin and we're gonna ask you to track
Speaker 1: this game for us for the Flagship Show and report
Speaker 1: back the Titans show up ball out at home and
Speaker 1: tell people, hey, give us some respect. I think that
Speaker 1: Mike Rabel is one of the most underrated coaches in
Speaker 1: the entire league. Okay, all right, Mark, that's not me
Speaker 1: interrupting or jumping in. That's literally justin pressing the button. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: I do think Mike Brabel is one of the most
Speaker 1: underrated coaches in the entire league. But the Titans were
Speaker 1: terribly unprepared and weak one last year and they got
Speaker 1: their butts kicked by the Cardinals. I feel like maybe
Speaker 1: that informs how they get ready and prepare for this week.
Speaker 1: And I do think the Titans should win at home
Speaker 1: against the Giants. And we don't know what are the
Speaker 1: Giant's gonna look like? Brian Daball, who knows it's all unknown? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's should have been a good lock. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm actually surprised the number is that five and a
Speaker 1: half there. I think that's uh, it's not too late.
Speaker 1: You could jump over to the Giants. The Giants defense,
Speaker 1: I think is so bad. I think it might be
Speaker 1: one of the worst defenses in the league. Azizel Jilari
Speaker 1: and our friend Cavan Thibodeau. I mean, he's my friend.
Speaker 1: You guys seem to have a weird thing with him.
Speaker 1: I think friendship. That there was a slight misstep, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean little. He's banged up. Maybe those two
Speaker 1: guys will play like quite literally said he's not your friend,
Speaker 1: so like you asked him. It's a great point. You
Speaker 1: got me. I think the Titans. I just feel like
Speaker 1: this's a veteran team that knows how little respect they're geting,
Speaker 1: and there's every reason to believe they are well ahead
Speaker 1: and there like building process in terms of able being
Speaker 1: around for five or six years, and I just like
Speaker 1: their talent better, Like defensively I have I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna swallow up the Giants. I am worried for It
Speaker 1: would be an absolute disaster if they do not beat
Speaker 1: the New York Giants. This is one of those lines.
Speaker 1: It's it's you know, it's still pretty high. It's almost
Speaker 1: like they want you to take the Giants. And I
Speaker 1: bet a lot of people are and I still I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I actually think the Titans could just romp in this game.
Speaker 1: That's what I only winning records for Mike. We're not
Speaker 1: this may not AI, this may not be the week
Speaker 1: that this becomes a problem. But I look at more
Speaker 1: voices from Greg Popping. We got it covered with Greggy,
Speaker 1: the real Greggy right here justin Are you not concerned
Speaker 1: about their wide receiver group for Ryan Tannehill and the
Speaker 1: experience in general in that offense, there is a reason
Speaker 1: to think they'll be just vastly less effective. I agree,
Speaker 1: there's reason to think that, but I'm actually not that concerned.
Speaker 1: I think Robert Woods has shown no signs of being
Speaker 1: slowed down by coming back from the a c L injury.
Speaker 1: He's a pro. He knows this offense. It's the same
Speaker 1: offense that Mattaflora installed after he came over from the Rams.
Speaker 1: Pro and that's us. Yeah, Week one preview. In the
Speaker 1: book Super Size, they won't always be this size E.
Speaker 1: But listen, we're all excited. There's a lot to talk about,
Speaker 1: and um, we'll be typically this long, not typically, but
Speaker 1: it's fun. It's great. Football's back tonight, Rams Bills and
Speaker 1: just as a reminder, we'll be at the game. And
Speaker 1: then tomorrow morning, the Friday Fun Show premiers will have
Speaker 1: the recap of TNF and then some final thoughts as
Speaker 1: we go into uh the weekend, and we got oh,
Speaker 1: we have a special guest before we say goodbye? Is
Speaker 1: that true? Is my favorite part of the show coming
Speaker 1: out right now? Before we say goodbye, let's welcome in
Speaker 1: a very special guest. She's actually a housemaid of mine
Speaker 1: right now staying with me and Emily and the boys
Speaker 1: and one of our favorite people in the world, Lakisha Wrestling.
Speaker 1: What's up. I know it feels so good to be
Speaker 1: back now. I don't know if we've actually spoken about
Speaker 1: it but on the show, but you are back in St.
Speaker 1: Louis and that's been a great thing, and you've been
Speaker 1: close to family and you had been itching to get
Speaker 1: back to l A And of course is the Rams
Speaker 1: fan that you are here. We are for Rams bills
Speaker 1: tonight and you'll be there and my mom's decked out
Speaker 1: in Rams, Lincoln's ducked out in Rams. There you go.
Speaker 1: I mean the last time you were here at so
Speaker 1: far at least the confetti was coming down. It was.
Speaker 1: That's why those people that picked against the Rams tonight,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, you're wrong. Uh, this could all be proven
Speaker 1: totally erroneous by the time people hear this, and then
Speaker 1: I'll just look like an idiot. But I don't care.
Speaker 1: That's the magic of Lakisha Jackson Westling. Now when I
Speaker 1: walk in there, it's just going to be like, man,
Speaker 1: take me back. That was just crazy. I still can't believe.
Speaker 1: Like last season, like, what the heck? How is everything else? Lukisha,
Speaker 1: It's good, um single mom, you know, taking care of
Speaker 1: the toddler, just busy like no other. He's growing so
Speaker 1: fast and just like like cuter and cuter. But he
Speaker 1: is like twice the side is he aware of like
Speaker 1: with the Rams thing? Is it like legit his favorite
Speaker 1: team and he's tracking this not even I was going
Speaker 1: to say that when he's a solid brick, yeah to
Speaker 1: say I was telling Dan last night, like he looks
Speaker 1: like West so much because I forget like how stocky
Speaker 1: West was before he died of cancer. And it's just like,
Speaker 1: I see this little toddler walking around the house and
Speaker 1: he's got these big calf muscles and guys, and it's
Speaker 1: just like he's got my biceps, and it's just like
Speaker 1: if he has a tank top on a little deed
Speaker 1: like a fire hydrant. Put him there on the end
Speaker 1: at tight end. He's like he's like eighteen to twenty four.
Speaker 1: It's away from just hammering us all in cornhole. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's on the arc. I can't wait to see what
Speaker 1: sports he is going to be playing like. But yes,
Speaker 1: it's great. We're gonna obviously hang out today and at
Speaker 1: the game, and then we're gonna have a get together,
Speaker 1: a pre season to get together, and it's just great
Speaker 1: to all be back together. We wish West was with us,
Speaker 1: of course, but as long as you're with us, and
Speaker 1: Link is here with us, West is with us. So
Speaker 1: here in the Chris Westling Podcast Studio, love having you here,
Speaker 1: Keisha Always love you guys. Just like the room at
Speaker 1: any room Keisha walks into just feels like it's immediately
Speaker 1: lighter and happier, and it is don't know about this morning.
Speaker 1: It is a beautiful, beautiful in my bedroom and there
Speaker 1: she was sitting with a cup of coffee and it's
Speaker 1: like in the room, where are you staying? In Dan's house.
Speaker 1: There's a multiple areas you could be. Got a nice
Speaker 1: little set up and upstairs downstairs areas nice. I got
Speaker 1: it set up for you. It's perfect, this little candle
Speaker 1: for yes, the time of year we should all be
Speaker 1: together and uh as the time of year we definitely
Speaker 1: are thinking about West even more with football starting. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I love I love I love how
Speaker 1: we have him as part of us inside the studio
Speaker 1: with his name on it. And it's just like it,
Speaker 1: it's never ending. Every time you guys mentioned it, it
Speaker 1: just touches warms my heart. I love you, kich al right,
Speaker 1: I love you the audience, Thank you for most of
Speaker 1: you beginning the journey with us on another season or
Speaker 1: tenth with around the NFL. Remember Friday Fund Show tomorrow
Speaker 1: live stream or pod go get it and remember, like
Speaker 1: what I said, he the call