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NFL Week 1 Recap: Trying not to Overreact
37 Plays24 days ago
The Goal Post is back after Week 1 in the NFL!
Damien and Patrick start off the show by talking about how they’re not in NFL-Shape for watching football before talking about a crazy Monday Night Football collapse by the Bears. After that, they go game-by-game throughout the Week 1 slate to give their thoughts while trying not to overreact.
After that, the Boys give out their Week 2 picks for the NFL picks battle, before touching up on some CFL news as well as some CFL picks for Week 15.
Enjoy!
INTRO: 0:00 - 4:09
VIKINGS-BEARS: 4:10 - 16:21
BILLS-RAVENS: 16:22 - 28:48
STEELERS-JETS: 28:49 - 40:39
COLTS-DOLPHINS: 40:40 -50:44
BUCS-FALCONS: 50:45 - 57:06
BRONCOS-TITANS: 57:07 - 1:05:17
RAIDERS-PATRIOTS: 1:05:18 - 1:10:57
QUICK HITS: 1:10:58 - 1:27:32
NFL WEEK 2 PICKS: 1:27:33 - 1:32:04
CFL UPDATE: 1:32:05 - 1:37:24
CFL WEEK 15 PICKS: 1:37:26 - 1:40:54
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and NFL Weekend Recap
00:00:24
Speaker
All right, welcome back to another episode of the goalpost. We are now coming to you after week one of the NFL season.
00:00:36
Speaker
Crazy weekend full of football. Crazy Monday nighter last night. My biggest takeaway, Patrick, is I am not in NFL football shape. And this might say more about me. I feel like i like ran a marathon over the weekend.
00:00:51
Speaker
Hey, it's week one for the fans too, right? So, you know, cut yourself some slack. We still got time to catch up. ah I mean, if you look around the league at some of these games, it was clearly week one for the players and they showed it. So um maybe it's more on them than it is you. Like they didn't give you a good enough product to watch to keep you interested for a full day.
00:01:10
Speaker
ah Like we'll kind of get into it like that four o'clock, you know, that's where you kind of start losing your momentum. You need a game to keep you engaged. Didn't really give us one in that four o'clock window, which probably didn't help your your stamina there.
00:01:23
Speaker
ah But yeah, it was ah luckily for me that that ah first week of college football was able to kind of really set the tone for me and I had a nice one o'clock game that got the energy going. So I was able to get through it, but i can understand for the majority of fans that they'd be feeling the same as you.
00:01:41
Speaker
Well, feel like I was just, it was chaos for the one o'clock slate. It always is in these week ones where every single team in the NFL is playing. There's so many games jammed into that one o'clock slate that, you know, you got whoever your team is, you're watching, you got red zone on the second TV, trying to keep up with that.
00:02:01
Speaker
i i got I think I just got to get a TSM Plus subscription because I was trying to do the stream east for the the red zone and it was chaos like
Streaming Challenges and Subscriptions
00:02:10
Speaker
buffering the whole time. So I'm behind on that. And then trying to focus on the other. My my brain was just split in like 10 different parts.
00:02:18
Speaker
And then I got excited. i was like, oh, I can finally for the four o'clock slate, relax and just follow like four games. But then those ended up being not great games. It was just a bit of a mess. But I feel like I i got through a bit of a training camp this Sunday and i I'll be better prepared for next week.
00:02:35
Speaker
Yeah, a quick plug for the people on FanDuel. If you put a $5 wager in, i think he I don't know the exact um details of it, but I saw, you know, place a $5 wager. I'm sure it has to be on like an NFL game of some capacity. And you get two months free of TSM Plus, which gets you red zone. And, you know, two months is... ah you know Maybe enough to get you to Christmas time, get you some money in your pockets and so you don't have to you know dip out of your savings account you're checking. It it is worth it, though.
00:03:04
Speaker
I've had TSM Plus for about two years, maybe even more now, and it's ah it's great. it's got all It's got all my niche sports needs as well as some red zone, and there's always sneaky.
00:03:15
Speaker
like There's always like one extra NFL game on there that they don't televise on TV. Sometimes that's your sometimes that's your team plan, so... ah it's It's versatile it and it definitely is is probably worth it.
00:03:28
Speaker
I use it more than basically any other streaming service I pay for. Yeah. and And I feel like I got my TSM Plus last year off of a Mars bar. there There you go. um eyes so there's There's many ways to get some red to to get Red Zone into your life without having to use the Stream East, which...
00:03:46
Speaker
went down in between and, you know, I guess is back now. i They're, they're in limbo, but, uh, you know, streamies might be, it could be a thing of the past now. Yeah. And yeah, made, I made those like frozen wings. Those didn't hit on the Sunday. Like i I was a mess on the Sunday and the dolphins didn't help.
Vikings vs Bears Analysis
00:04:08
Speaker
We'll get to the dolphins game in a bit, but we have to start out here, um, with what was an insane Monday night or for a lot of different ways.
00:04:17
Speaker
Vikings 27, Bears 24. I'm sure there's a large majority of people that turned this game off and went to bed, um similar to the Sunday nighter.
00:04:28
Speaker
But man, what started out as a as a generational J.J. McCarthy hate watch, if you're not a fan of J.J. McCarthy, which there are many who are not fans of him, turned into like almost a classic Kevin McConnell. Like he's done it again with a with a young quarterback, a developing quarterback, because the Vikings storm back in this game. They outscore the Bears 21-8 in the fourth quarter and storm back and win this game. And this was the most Bears loss ever.
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah, a tale of two halves. um Like you said, J.J. McCarthy in that first half was Terrible. Like there's there's no other way to put it. In the first half, JJ McCarthy looks overwhelmed. The game was too fast for him.
00:05:15
Speaker
Looked like he should be back in college. And I know he is like, I believe he still is the youngest quarterback in the NFL. So it showed in the first half, his first real NFL start only played 12 snaps in the preseason, which was probably malpractice ah for a guy who's getting his first start in primetime against the right on the road.
00:05:33
Speaker
You think you should probably get him some more snaps. And then, you know, on the other side, you had Caleb Williams, who credit to him, led them down the field. First drive of the year. They get in the end zone and you're thinking the Bears, you know, Ben Johnson, this this might be a ah turning of the tides here.
00:05:51
Speaker
And then, you know, second quarter, a bit of a field goal fest and the game just hit a lull after that first drive kind of into the second quarter. And then, and then just, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for JJ McCarthy, he comes out in the second half and throws a pick six.
00:06:09
Speaker
And then there's no, everyone was thinking the same thing. Like this guy is currently the worst quarterback in the NFL. And then that in the weirdest way possible is when the game flipped on its head. I don't know what changed. I don't know what happened, but maybe JJ McCarthy needed that, ah get the monkey off his back, take some pressure off them because that was rock bottom. So it was just like, Hey, it's not going to get lower than this. I'm going to get out there and start, you know, making some plays. And then Credit to, you know, the the Vikings defense and and, you know, Brian Flores and they just shut the Bears down.
00:06:43
Speaker
And it was a really bad look for the Bears. And then, you know, Minnesota starts chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. And these touchdowns start to add up and the Bears aren't putting points on the board. And then the Bears lose. and And you're just sitting there thinking, how? How did they lose this game when all you had to do was play average football, average football. And you could win this game by maybe not multiple scores, but a comfortable win where you go wire to wire.
00:07:10
Speaker
And they were not able to do that. And I think a lot of it probably falls on Caleb Williams in this game. There's a lot of weird like points that you can look to. The Bears had 13 penalties for 132 yards in this game.
00:07:27
Speaker
I think that in the second half really started to chip away, especially on ah offense, was the penalty started to kill them. But yeah, it's it's almost like, and ah and you've seen this with Caleb Williams before, it's like as the game goes on, he seems to get worse.
00:07:43
Speaker
Like it's the weirdest like phenomenon, like where you would think that a quarterback has to ease into a game and then get comfortable similar to how JJ McCarthy did. But we've seen this with Caleb Williams before where it's like, he like runs out of gas. Like he starts missing throws.
00:08:00
Speaker
There was a couple throws. Like one was on fourth down in the red zone that he overshot. DJ more by about 10 yards. He misses the, the wide open throw to DJ more in the clutch, uh, late in the fourth quarter because he's like so focused on Zacchaeus on like the intermediate read.
00:08:19
Speaker
And it he, he ran out of gas. Cairo Santos is like missing kicks and then isn't able to kick it out of the end zone. and And it was like every facet of the Bears slowly crumbled and fell apart and like had a generational curse on them to not be able to win this game.
Caleb Williams' Performance Critique
00:08:41
Speaker
It's almost impressive the way. that they find ways to lose games. And that is where like the Vikings culture, obviously it's kind of mishmashed of a team that has had not a ton of success in the playoffs, but is like a good franchise where you have the bears who are not a good franchise.
00:08:58
Speaker
Those little things just seem to creep into this game where it was the better, the better structure one, the better coach Kevin McConnell one, like it was it was all those little things just added up to give momentum in opposite directions.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, and it feels lazy to say it, but like it's such a Bears loss. like yeah i mean It's like the same old Bears, and and it sucks to say because, like I said, it it feels lazy. you know it's It's a new era. It's a new regime of you know the Bears of like the mid-2000s,
00:09:29
Speaker
twenty tens It is a different team, but you're somehow still getting the same results. and Like I said, going back to Caleb, it was... Even that first drive, it resulted in a touchdown, but it wasn't because of Ben Johnson's offense.
00:09:45
Speaker
It wasn't like you could see that this new look offense was taking place. It was Caleb was scrambly. He was jittery. He was just like, it was like he had 10 coffees before the game. Like he just, his feet couldn't stop moving. He's bouncing around and you don't credit to him. Like he was making a lot of plays on the run.
00:10:04
Speaker
ah he had that pass to Roma Doonsay when he was running to the sideline. ran it in for nine yards for the touchdown. Like it looked a little bit more like, you know, USC Caleb Williams, which was I'm sure promising to, for bears fans, but that was as good as he looked all night.
00:10:19
Speaker
And it was just the same thing throughout the game. He was never comfortable. The offense was never in rhythm. It was not, it was never a flow of offense where you're thinking, Is he overwhelmed? Like, is they, I don't know what was going on with Caleb.
00:10:33
Speaker
Just never looked comfortable. Even on the driver, he went the entire field. And like you said, like it slowly just got worse and worse. And, and then, you know, JJ McCarthy, finally, I don't know what switched. don't know if it was Kevin, Kevin O'Connell. I don't know if it was, you know, JJ finally just said like, I'm, I'm into this game now.
00:10:53
Speaker
But it flipped, and and and yet like three touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the Vikings is very impressive, especially in your first start for JJ. you know I got no problem giving him his flowers. He he stepped up ah when he needed to and was the better quarterback in this matchup and found a way to win this game when they truly had no business winning it.
00:11:12
Speaker
And I... like The Bears, man, i just don't know what you do with Caleb. I don't know what you say to him. I don't know how you you pick him up. But I guess what you can say is Ben Johnson's offense hasn't taken place yet. And, and you know, it it'll only get better from here.
00:11:30
Speaker
But you're starting at the absolute bottom. So it definitely can't get worse, in my opinion. And it was almost worse if they got that late touchdown. And I found that that was...
00:11:40
Speaker
That was where you finally saw Ben Johnson in that game. Like that touchdown play to Roma Dunze was sick. Like the fake pitch out and then hit him at the back of the end zone was such a nice play design.
00:11:52
Speaker
And that was like, oh, okay, there it is. Like there's the Ben Johnson that I feel like people know and are expecting to see. And it it just, the the scrambling is weird from Caleb to me.
00:12:04
Speaker
Like when he doesn't seem to scramble with a purpose, like half, the time where he's scrambling, he kind of looks like a chicken with his head cut off and and is just, it's a lot of panicking, it feels like, whereas other quarterbacks in the league where they scramble, well even to Justin Fields, you talk about, you know, quarterbacks who were in Chicago.
00:12:24
Speaker
Justin Fields is one of those guys who always seems to scramble with a purpose. That was really messy. I feel like JJ McCarthy just remembered that he had Justin Jefferson on his team. Like that was really what sparked the start of that comeback was him hitting Jefferson Big to get into the red zone and then again for the touchdown.
00:12:43
Speaker
And then realizing that, okay, you know, the Bears with some injuries on their secondary can't really cover this guy. and And the Bears, like, it just seemed like the Bears had no weapons. Like DeAndre Swift at points in the game looked good and then didn't look good.
00:12:58
Speaker
It's just this total mess right now for the Bears. And they have a really hard schedule. Like a a very tough schedule for a team that did not do great last year. Yeah, the the the entire NFC North has a tough schedule because they had such a good year last season. So they're kind of, you know, prisoners of being in a good division. They get punished. So yeah, it's like, I think we mentioned in the preview, like I can see the Bears starting out 0-3 no problem.
00:13:24
Speaker
And that's become much more of a reality when you lose a game like this to not like the easiest game you have, but a game where if you look at the schedule compared to, you know, Vikings, Lions, Cowboys,
00:13:38
Speaker
I guess the Cowboys, but to me, like the Vikings and Cowboys based off of week one, similar, similar level. Like I'm not yeah just because the Vikings won this game. I'm not still not that high on them.
00:13:50
Speaker
Maybe JJ McCarthy will be able to carry this momentum over. ah You mentioned Justin Jefferson. I would like to see Justin Jefferson end up with more than four catches in a game, especially if you're a rookie quarterback.
00:14:02
Speaker
He kind of got caught on that pick six, trying to force one to Justin Jefferson and was late on it and got got punished for it. um But it's just something that the Vikings are going to have these growing pains with J.J. McCarthy.
00:14:15
Speaker
They found a way to win. I think it's it's a nice when J.J. has a Kevin O'Connell as a coach to just kind of settle him in. And I think... I think like he will reinforce his positivity. I think that's a good thing for a rookie quarterback. And I think it, you know resonated eventually with JJ McCarthy and it worked out, but yeah, the,
00:14:36
Speaker
the bears and, and, you know, DJ Moore was like laying on the field at the end of the game. I don't know. That was a bad hit, man. Yeah. It was just, it was not a good game for the bears. And I just don't know what you do from there. And, you know, it has to be a completely different look for them against, uh, against the lions coming up here. ah You don't even have to win the game, but just like,
00:14:58
Speaker
Try and find something positive to take away. Like, the because it's like you said, it it feels lazy to say, but it's just the most Bears loss of all time. And you just come away from this game being like same old Bears.
00:15:10
Speaker
The Vikings had no business winning this game and they should have won it by two scores. And like if it wasn't for a garbage time touchdown by Odunze there, it was it was a messy game. And yeah, it's it's not a promising start to the Ben Johnson era or, you know, the second year of Caleb Williams either.
00:15:26
Speaker
Yeah, they also got down there from a pass interference penalty. Like there were a couple lucky bounces for the Bears in that last touchdown. um Yeah, I feel like in terms of our preview, like this this slightly reaffirmed our Vikings takes. I'm still not you know sold on them because they were playing the Bears.
00:15:43
Speaker
This really reaffirmed our Bears takes where we were like, we don't know what this team is. This could just be you know kind of another year where things are all over the map. Nothing
Vikings vs Falcons Preview
00:15:55
Speaker
is settled in with this team, and it ends up being another... you know 10 loss season.
00:16:01
Speaker
um So yeah, some things to keep an eye on moving forward is like, yeah, I'm very interested to see how the Vikings play against the Falcons next week, our Falcons. um And for the Bears, yeah, it's almost like we were saying with the Argos all CFL season. Like you don't have to win this game, but you got to show, you got to show something in this game coming up against the Lions.
00:16:22
Speaker
um But moving to Sunday night, the absolute, You know, biggest, biggest game of NFL week one was that Sunday night or Bills 41 Ravens 40.
Bills vs Ravens Recap
00:16:36
Speaker
What an incredible game this was like this had shades of Rams Chiefs back in the day. Just just an absolute all timer. Yeah, and it felt like a playoff game. It felt very similar to many of the playoff games the Bills have played specifically in the past.
00:16:53
Speaker
And it's like, I guess, you know, so much happened, right? I mean, the final score, what it it was just an absolute shootout. 41-40. Anytime you get over 80 points in an NFL game, it's pretty pretty insane. And I mean, I think if you're...
00:17:08
Speaker
Looking to break it down, I think you kind of have to start like at the end and kind of work your way back here. um you know Matt Prater kicks the game-winning field goal as time expires. the like The 41-year-old who's been on this team for about a week or so, I don't know how Marlon Humphrey didn't block it either. looked like he fully got past the line of scrimmage.
00:17:27
Speaker
i Hamilton too, man. He got his hands up as well. I just like closed my eyes. i was like, oh my God, all that to get it blocked. Finds a way through, gets in there. But the crucial turning point in this game, well, there's two of them.
00:17:40
Speaker
the The first one ah was the Derrick Henry fumble. ah The Bills are able to punch it out from a guy who just does not fumble the ball. He's famous for not fumbling the ball throughout his entire career.
00:17:51
Speaker
Unfortunately, fumbles at possibly the worst time ah for the Ravens. And the Bills were able to get two quick scores, ah you know unable to get the two-point attempt. So they still trail in the game.
00:18:03
Speaker
ah Baltimore gets the ball. They move it to about midfield. And they're faced with the fourth and three. And this is my other turning point. Harbaugh punts the ball when, when your defense has been horrible the entire game, both defense has been horrible the entire game.
00:18:21
Speaker
And, you know, I've heard, heard like, uh, John Gruden try and like do a spin zone on it where he's like, you know, he tried to motivate his defense by punting the ball being like, Hey, I still got faith in you guys. Uh, we just need, you know, one stop, you get,
00:18:33
Speaker
You can't give up a field goal. um But i I think that's you know coach speak, and he's trying to defend another coach. To me, it's just like you have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry who have been able to do whatever they want all day long. Zay Flowers as well, who had a great game.
00:18:48
Speaker
you got You've been able to do whatever you want on offense, and you're at midfield. And... If you don't get it, the bill the Bills have like a shorter field to go. And then if they do get that field goal, there's probably some time left on the clock for you to at least put another drive together and possibly get your game winning field goal. But instead they punt it.
00:19:09
Speaker
The Bells just go on a long drive, go all the way down the field. Josh Allen just, you know, what was it? 254 passing yards in the fourth quarter alone. A lot of them came on that drive and they just sealed the deal. And it's to me, it's it's the Ravens feel like they're on the wrong end of these games a lot of the time.
00:19:30
Speaker
And I think it's because of, you know, John Harbaugh. is one of those older coaches. He falls in that like Tomlin kind of era, like the Andy Reeds. He's a great head coach and he's great career and will be a Hall of Famer when it's all said and done.
00:19:46
Speaker
But he just feels like it's those guys automatically go back to like, I trust my defense. Defense will get me a stop when I need it. That wasn't the style of game this was.
00:19:56
Speaker
He made a wrong decision there and the Bills made him pay for it. Yeah, and and they even said on the broadcast, like Collinsworth said, do you go like was basically suggesting for them to go for it.
00:20:07
Speaker
And Tariko was like, yeah how could you do that if you if you don't get it? They're already pretty much in field goal position. But this is one of those ones where, you know, Buck Pierce, take a look at the game you're in right now.
00:20:20
Speaker
you This has been an absolute shootout, and you likely know you're going to have to score again. And the best decision to do that is to keep the ball in your hand.
00:20:31
Speaker
You have both Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry to get a total of three yards. There's got to be a play in your bag to do that in these high leverage situations.
00:20:43
Speaker
Defense could not stop. Josh Allen, like in any form, especially going down the line there, it was different earlier in the game where they were they were able to kind of stifle Bill's drives.
00:20:55
Speaker
But at that point in the game, they just absolutely couldn't. And the fact that, you know, there was that mistake, and then Marlon Humphreys, when Keon Coleman broke, absolutely shattered his ankles, he should have let him score.
00:21:12
Speaker
And that was another thing where... I think the pride comes in of you getting your ankles blasted and thinking, no I have to get an arm on this guy and stop this from being a ah TSN top 10 for the rest of time.
00:21:26
Speaker
but that would have been a better decision. Like it's just, it seems like Ravens fans to also share the sentiment of always being on the wrong side of these games, whether that's because of their defense, whether that's because of coaching, but you're right. A, a, a bills team that in 10 different ways doesn't have the roster that this Ravens team does figures out a way to win these games, similar to the playoffs last year.
Bills' Strengths and Future Prospects
00:21:53
Speaker
Like this game seemed to have a lot of, impact to me that one, it felt like a playoff game and two feels like it's going to have some significance down the line, because if Derek Henry has how many yards, 169 yards and two touchdowns and Lamar Jackson has two touchdowns passing and one touchdown rushing and you don't win the game.
00:22:15
Speaker
what what ah What else can you do? And the Bills are going to have home field advantage if if the seasons go accordingly, right? Like these are those huge games. The Bills don't play Kansas City in the regular season.
00:22:28
Speaker
You know, we'll see what other contenders can come up in the AFC and challenge those three that we know have kind of dominated ah that conference for the past four or five years. But I can see the Bills and and Ravens finishing with very similar schedules, maybe one game apart.
00:22:43
Speaker
And you're going to look back to this game in week one and just be like, we let one slip. And then, you know, the playoffs happen and the Bills have home field advantage. And I mentioned it before. The Bills were 8-0 at home last year.
00:22:55
Speaker
They continue. they They win the last season opener at Highmark Stadium. The Bills are dangerous at home. And it's only going to get more dangerous as the weather turns and the snow is coming down.
00:23:08
Speaker
Josh Allen downhill is a hard man to stop. You know, James Cook looked okay. He had that one massive reception, which is going to, you know, kind of put some makeup on his stat line, but running the ball, he wasn't, you know, great in this game.
00:23:20
Speaker
Uh, but I was impressed with the bills receivers. Uh, last year is a big, it felt like it was just Khalil Shakir in that receiving room. Uh, you know, Keon Coleman, their draft pick last year, he stepped up big time in this game, eight receptions, 112 yards, gets a touchdown. Shakir, you know, Mr. Reliable on that, in that receiving room, 64 yards.
00:23:41
Speaker
And then their offseason acquisition, free agent, Josh Palmer, Canadian. ah He finishes five receptions, 61 yards. So, And Dolan Kincaid also had a ah touchdown. So like the receiving room is starting to get a little bit better for Buffalo. And I think, you know, when we were looking at which teams have more pressure on each other this year, I think I did mention how I didn't love Buffalo's roster and and it's not great on paper, especially compared to the Ravens, which is still probably true, but it's definitely looking better than I originally thought it was going to be. And they have more depth pieces now. And I think Josh Allen's starting to build more of a rapport and get some more trust in
00:24:18
Speaker
and these guys, and they're coming through for him, right? it's it's it felt It feels like Josh Allen has been let down a couple of times by some teammates, some guys who aren't coming through when he's you know doing everything.
00:24:30
Speaker
Now he might be able to actually get some help You know, maybe you'd get some help from the defense in the future. They didn't look great at all. I know you're missing some guys, ah you know, Ogunjobi, Hoyt are are out for a while.
00:24:43
Speaker
um Those guys will eventually come back and, you know, Joey Bosa looked okay. ah He's getting some pressure, but like you'd you'd like the defense to not give up 40 points and get, you know, ran all over like,
00:24:56
Speaker
Lamar Jackson only threw the ball 19 times. So it was pretty clear what the game plan was from ah Baltimore. And they did follow through like Lamar at 70 rushing yards. Like you mentioned, ah Derek Henry, just shy of 170.
00:25:09
Speaker
that That can't happen ah for Buffalo. and And it's the same for Baltimore. Their defense didn't look any better either. Yeah, there was a point in this game where the Bills could not stop anything that the Ravens were doing. like I think that's an unfortunate point about this loss is Lamar Jackson was incredible in this game.
00:25:27
Speaker
like He is so good. like it's It's hard to even put into words how dynamic he is because he always... You talk about scrambling with a purpose. like This guy...
00:25:39
Speaker
Always has a plan to get himself out of a jam. And it usually involves him absolutely making two defenders, three defenders look idiotic. um And i think that.
00:25:51
Speaker
It's tough that in a game like this, his performance gets overshadowed. But, you know, looking forward, the the Bills, their first five games, like they they go to the Jets next week, which, as we saw and we'll get to shortly, will not be an easy out, um but isn't, you know, one of those top teams still that they go to the Dolphins, tire fire.
00:26:12
Speaker
Saints-Patriots. So it's like they they could easily get to 4-0, whereas in that those first four-game stretch for the Ravens, they also have to play the Lions and the Chiefs. So it's, I think, going to be kind of, this could be a a launching off point for these two teams in very different directions where you you're able to come back and get like a huge morale boost for the Bills winning at home in this game, which Bills Mafia leaving the stadium early. All best fans in the league leaving the stadium early. What's that about?
00:26:43
Speaker
Yeah, and Josh Allen called them out for it in the in his post-game interview. yeah Yeah, I mean, I understand being emotional about your team and getting down on them at points as well. I got no problem with that.
00:26:56
Speaker
You can't leave like trying to beat QEW traffic going home. Exactly. Yeah. Maybe it was all the Canadian fans. They had to get back home. But yeah, wait that's that's not something that's nice. Especially, like I said, last home opener at Highmark Stadium.
00:27:09
Speaker
The game was like, I mean, it did feel like the game ended several times. Like it felt like Baltimore had that dagger touchdown at least two times. ah But Buffalo just kept responding. So like you got to kind of get a feel for that game. Be like, you know,
00:27:22
Speaker
Our chances are slim here, but it's not completely zero, and it would help if we had a home crowd that was into it. ah The fans that were there, there was that one idiot that slapped DeAndre Hopkins on the head, then stiff-armed Lamar Jackson. Lamar shoved him back into the stands.
00:27:38
Speaker
He's been banned from all NFL stadiums. um i was just like what like that That is a Bills fan to a T, as far as I'm concerned. like You're just so...
00:27:49
Speaker
They're just an idiot. It's not a good look for Buffalo there for their fans. ah But hey, it's week one. You guys got plenty of time to improve. ah It can't actually get worse because like you you have you have both ends. like The guys who stayed, they're shoving Baltimore players. The guys who left, they they look even worse. like It's a bad look for the Buffalo fans.
00:28:09
Speaker
But hey, you know next year you'll be in that nice nice covered stadium. But yeah yeah, I don't know exactly... what i To me, i still think these are probably the two top teams with Kansas City. like I'm not ugly loss for Baltimore. Probably shouldn't have lost this game, but I'm still not that down on them. I feel like that defense will figure it out, and it'll this will get sorted out. Lamar looked great. Derek Henry hasn't missed a beat.
00:28:34
Speaker
State Flowers maybe hit hits another level this season. So I'm not down on the on the Ravens. i just think like this is... We're going to see these two teams in, you know, January duking it out possibly in the AFC championship.
00:28:48
Speaker
Absolutely.
Steelers vs Jets Highlights
00:28:49
Speaker
We'll move to the next best game of Sunday. um Steelers 34, Jets 32.
00:28:59
Speaker
got to just hand the ball over to you here because how much fun was Sunday afternoon for you, Patrick? Aaron Rodgers has still got it.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know who had more fun out there. um Me or A-Rod, as he quoted. Happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets. ah God, that that was fun.
00:29:21
Speaker
It was really, really fun. And it got off to a so very scary start for me. First snap, he goes back. He looked like he couldn't really move in the pocket. Takes a sack, and I go, oh my God, it's Russell Wilson all over again. But...
00:29:36
Speaker
It went up from there, and I believe there was a touchdown on that drive to Ben Skronik, of all people. I was just like, oh my God, I don't know if he had a catch last season, a strictly special teams guy.
00:29:47
Speaker
But man, this game was it was it was frustrating and fun at the same time. like It was just a thrilling experience. I was all over the place. Emotions were very erratic in this game.
00:29:59
Speaker
um But unlike Bill's fans, I didn't give up hope, even though they were trailing for the majority of this game. ah But yeah, Aaron Rodgers, man, you know, not the most mobile, not as mobile as he was, but he moves around enough.
00:30:11
Speaker
but The things that stuck out to me, um he just can command the offensive line. He he can, you know, dissect a defense and you It was scary at first because i'm not it's been a while since I've been used to a quarterback that can do this, but you know he's taking the play clock down to you know two seconds, one second. Sometimes it was hitting zero and they're snapping it. We're getting away with a couple of those, but it's impressive when a quarterback can do that. and He had some trust in his offensive line, especially this center, Zach Frazier.
00:30:41
Speaker
And then the other part of it was the throws. Like I haven't seen a quarterback with the Steelers been able to make the throws that he was making since, you know, probably pre-COVID Ben Roethlisberger.
00:30:52
Speaker
And it was just nice. Like it's not like he it was like the arm's still there, but it wasn't like this lethal arm anything. It was just the placement. ah The throws on the run, the sidearm. like He was just placing the ball in the right places where they needed to be.
00:31:06
Speaker
And the receivers stepped up for him. I was pretty impressed with the receiving room. d DK Metcalf looked fast and big. um he I was tweeted throughout the game. i was just...
00:31:18
Speaker
Although, you know, there's a lot of changes in Pittsburgh in the offseason. I didn't know how it was going to look. I was stayed, you know, pretty calm. I wasn't making any bold predictions. I wasn't making any negative predictions. I was just like, I need to see this play out.
00:31:33
Speaker
The Steelers upgraded at quarterback. That's pretty clear. DK Metcalf is an upgrade from George Pickens. That seems to be pretty clear. And then the third piece, I believe Jalen Ramsey is a is an upgrade from Minka Fitzpatrick.
00:31:46
Speaker
yeah Different player than Minka, different position, but I love Ramsey's versatility and I love the swagger that he plays with. There was games last year where you, sorry, there were stretches last year where you didn't notice Minka Fitzpatrick for six games in a row.
00:32:00
Speaker
Jalen Ramsey was all over the place in that game for better for worse, you know, getting into it, mixing it up, whatever, but you noticed them out there and I appreciate that, you know, the game ceiling tackle as well. And then it was all finished off with the best kicker in the NFL, Chris Boswell, 60 yarder, never a doubt.
00:32:17
Speaker
Uh, yeah. Frustrating, but fun. I'm, I'm in on the A-Rod train. Uh, I'm not going to be like the number one supporter, but I'm, I'm hopeful for the season with Aaron Rogers. I believe that they can have a better season than last year.
00:32:33
Speaker
That's where that's where I'll go. And, and that's where I'm at right now. Got temper expectations, but I was promising start offensively defense was sketchy. Yeah. Defense was a bit sketchy, but yeah, well, it was just not what you're used to with the, with the Steelers in this game. Like they obviously, they didn't run the ball a ton. The defense was kind of all over the place and the quarterback was kind of stealing the show. He four touchdowns through the air.
00:32:57
Speaker
So that's kind of not what we're used to with the Steelers over the past couple years. Something that stood out to me, like Calvin Austin didn't have the flashiest stat line, four catches, 70 yards, a touchdown. But I thought that he really had something with Aaron Rodgers there.
00:33:13
Speaker
That touchdown pass, back foot, perfectly placed in the end zone. Austin absolutely routes up the corner. Like, that That to me was a perfect example of of things going right on that Sunday was these new connections really, really looking like they were paying off.
00:33:32
Speaker
I thought Jalen Warren had a very serviceable game. and Again, not super flashy. 11 carries, 37 yards, two receptions for 22 yards and and and the touchdown. John who Smith gets involved because of course he does.
00:33:45
Speaker
ah And yeah, I just thought that those those little flashes in the game were like, okay, there is some serious potential here in the offense. I hadn't seen Jalen Ramsey play like that in...
00:33:57
Speaker
15 games. I don't know where that was with the Dolphins down the stretch. Like, that was just a completely different person. Like... He was into it, man. He was really into that game. was into He had that hit on fields. And then, you know, like, he goes down and then you see DK Metcalf come off the sideline to back him up. i was like, oh my god, like, this...
00:34:16
Speaker
The defense, like I said, was not great, but they played with swagger and it's been a while since they have played like that. So I was into it. um Arthur Smith, you you called a pretty solid game. I got one. I got one real, real big bone to pick with you.
00:34:32
Speaker
Get Kenneth Gainwell on the sideline and get him on special teams. He had 54% of the snaps as a running back. Jalen Warren is clearly the number one, and you're obsessed with an undersized, slow runner in Kenny Gainwell.
00:34:45
Speaker
Miss me with that. I don't want to see Kenneth Gainwell get the ball anymore. I'd rather see Caleb Johnson be the be the complimentary back to Jalen Warren. Jalen Warren is a downhill, undersized, but tough runner, and he's one who got the touchdown. Like said, i His touchdown came in the second half.
00:35:04
Speaker
And throughout that drive, it was the first sign of a running game the Steelers had all game. And it was consistent. I go, finally, you know, it's starting to happen. Then they get the touchdown. So I'm thinking, okay, next drive. Like we're going to see Jalen Warren, you know, all the snaps, maybe doesn't get the ball all the time, but like he's going to out there.
00:35:22
Speaker
Out comes Kenneth Gainwell. And I go, what are you doing? And there's pretty clear, like, I don't, I'll pull up the stats quickly here. Yeah. Kenny Gainwell, seven rushes, 19 yards.
00:35:33
Speaker
Like it is just, I hated it. I hated it. And they didn't go away from it. um And he looked okay on special teams. So clearly that's where he should be. um But yeah, enough about the Steelers. I was happy, you know, clean up some stuff on the defensive end.
00:35:48
Speaker
ah But I'll give my, I got to give some flowers to Justin Fields and the Jets. um Fields came out there and looked like he was back at Ohio State. like It looked like he was back in college. He was having fun. He had confidence, ah took some hits, made some throws on the run. The thing that stuck out to me the most was when he would evade the pocket.
00:36:09
Speaker
And especially with, you know, the Bears, the Steelers, even he would always look to run the second he got out of that pocket. Like you said, he would scramble with the purpose, but he the second he evaded, evaded the pocket.
00:36:21
Speaker
He was running, which is fine because he would gain yards. His eyes were downfield the whole time and he was looking for throws and he was throwing it and he was making these nasty, nasty throws on the run and I've been saying it for a while.
00:36:36
Speaker
Justin Fields can throw the football. I want that narrative gone. He can't process defenses as quickly. That's always been his biggest, biggest problem is the game has been a little too fast for him in the NFL, but he can throw the football.
00:36:49
Speaker
So let's all, you know, I would like that narrative abolished this year. This could age horribly, but I know Justin Fields can throw the football and watching that game. gave me Vietnam flashbacks to last season with Russell Wilson. And I'm out on my soapbox saying, get Russell Wilson on the sideline and put Fields back in.
00:37:10
Speaker
And, you know, we'll get to that Giants game eventually. I'm sure that's going quick hits. Russell Wilson should not be an NFL quarterback right now. And Justin Fields proved why he can be a starter in this league. And, you know, it was frustrating to watch that. And then, yeah, Garrett Wilson and Brees Hall, great games as well.
00:37:25
Speaker
Yeah, and and it just seemed to me that, that first of all, like the Steelers wanted to bring Justin Fields back. The Jets went out and Aaron Glenn went out and paid more for him.
00:37:37
Speaker
And that is partially what you saw in this game, was Aaron Glenn realizing the talent that Justin Fields has, making sure that they got went out and got him, and then tailored an offense around him. You see this a lot in the NFL where it's not the player, it's the system, it's the environment.
00:37:58
Speaker
The NFL is all about shaping your offensive scheme around the player and not vice versa, not trying to fit a player into an offensive scheme.
00:38:09
Speaker
and And this was an offense that was perfectly shaped around him. He got to use his legs. He found the end zone twice. But again, he was nailing those throws. He was using a weapon like Garrett Wilson properly. That throw to him was gorgeous.
00:38:24
Speaker
And This shouldn't be surprising. Justin Fields is a top tier athlete on earth. Like it it is so much easier to shape an offense around a guy who is an athlete of that level and play to his strengths.
00:38:40
Speaker
And that to me should give Jets fans a lot of hope. We might have to move the Jets out of the not fun category in one week. Yeah, I was actually going to wait to touch on that. You brought it up.
00:38:52
Speaker
They looked fun, man. They looked so fun. They looked fun. They were getting home on like defense too. like Their defense looked good. ah Like I said, like Garrett Wilson, like that connection got reestablished with Fields from Ohio State. like Seven receptions, 95 yards, the sick touchdown catch.
00:39:07
Speaker
Brees Hall, who a lot of people were like down on, really down on going into the year, over 100 yards in his first game, you know using Braylon Allen correctly on goal line situations, just kind of bullying his way into the end zone.
00:39:22
Speaker
They're going to need a number two receiver. Someone else is going to have to step up in that receiver room if they want to you know win some more games. um But yeah, to me, This was ah similar to that Vikings-Bears game, like we mentioned.
00:39:37
Speaker
This is just like a franchise. Like the Steelers find ways to win these games. The Jets find ways to lose. That kind of came through, and it was on that special teams play, right? Like it was just... There was one turnover in this game.
00:39:50
Speaker
It was on special teams. Steelers get it, take advantage, touchdown, and then you look back. That's the difference in the game. That or the failed two-point conversion ah that the Jets couldn't get. But, you know, a lot of positives for the Jets to take away in this game, even though they lost. I think, you know, they can be...
00:40:07
Speaker
Just a frisky team. Like a team you don't want to play this year where I think both of us had the the thought of this team was going to win four or five games and just be a bottom feeder all year and a miserable watch.
00:40:19
Speaker
But Aaron Glenn is starting to build an identity with these Jets and I kind of want to see where where he can take them this year. It was a promising start for them. Absolutely. And ah yeah, you would loved them to cover there, but you're you're happy to come away with a win. Just a frustrating, like, you know, you you win by two points and you don't cover by half. And it's like, yeah, it's okay though. i can't live with that.
00:40:39
Speaker
um We'll move to talk about a tale of two cities on this podcast.
Dolphins' Struggles Against Colts
00:40:44
Speaker
Patrick has the most fun Sunday. Felt like I was sitting outside a carnival watching him ride all the rides and and have funnel cakes while I was in a police detention center.
00:40:56
Speaker
Colts 33, Dolphins 8. I owe a few apologies. First of all, to the Colts fan base. um I called my shot in our pick section. I said the Dolphins will win this game.
00:41:10
Speaker
I was clearly wrong about that. Credit to the haters. Honestly, great call from the haters about this Dolphins team because they were right. All the things in the offseason pointing to what was going to go wrong with this Dolphins team went wrong.
00:41:25
Speaker
um That was one of the worst Dolphins games I've watched in five years, four years. ah and And from watching enough Dolphins games, I can tell basically from the first drive, I would say, on offense and defense what kind of game it's going to be.
00:41:42
Speaker
And I knew from the jump this game was going to be awful. They hit Tyler Warren twice for about 23 yards in total on the first drive of the game and marched all the way down the field.
00:41:55
Speaker
Credit to Matthew Judon for absolutely destroying Daniel Jones on a ah on a scramble. But... when they When they drove down the field like that, I thought, okay, defense is going to give up a zillion points today. That is a given. Let's see how they look on offense.
00:42:12
Speaker
ah And then the offense looked awful. Tua threw an interception on the first drive. um they They were not... They looked about as messy as it gets, like disjointed. They couldn't sustain drives.
00:42:26
Speaker
They allowed the Colts to just pin them back. They dared Tua to throw over the middle. Every time he did, something bad happened. ah this This was just awful on so many ways.
00:42:39
Speaker
Thank God my dad was flying and he was in the air and couldn't watch this game. And I honestly think that is so much better for his health that he didn't have to. Indianapolis scored on their first seven possessions in this game.
00:42:54
Speaker
I almost, you know, I did in parts of the second quarter and then into the third quarter. I just stopped watching this game. Like I just, I turned it off. I would go back to it every five minutes and just kind of check, you know, what's going wrong here.
00:43:11
Speaker
And yeah, just awful, awful. I got nothing else. Yeah, it's no one deserves what you had to go through in this game. That was really tough. And like you said, it wasn't it wasn't a slow build either. It was just immediate, like you said, right out of the gates to possibly ah the worst game of his career.
00:43:31
Speaker
ah you You would know better than I, but I don't remember seeing Tua look as bad as he did in this game. and it And you're like, wait, and you're like, OK, you know, I said, bad start to, a you know,
00:43:43
Speaker
JJ McCarthy found a way to turn it around. Had a good start. Other quarterbacks, bat like rough first or two quarters, picked it up late in the game, found a way to get some points on the board, maybe steal a win or at least make the, at least, you know, build on something.
00:44:00
Speaker
God, it got worse. And then you know Zach Wilson has to come in. and ah It was not good. end Tua, when he's at his best, it's quick throws. It's a lot of pre-snap movement. that like It's just a lot of creativity. And Tua seems to thrive in that kind of...
00:44:17
Speaker
offense He's dangerous waiting. He has time. Like when he is is sitting out there and he's got a pocket and he's like waiting. And I'm like, ah oh, ah it's bad. It's not good.
00:44:28
Speaker
ah The one to Latu Latu that like a defensive lineman picking you off in the middle of the field. That's tough. ah I don't know. We it's week one.
00:44:39
Speaker
You know, we've been pretty good at not overreacting to these first couple of games.
00:44:44
Speaker
I this one might be valid. Yeah. it I'm just done with Mike McDaniel, dude. but I really think that's it. i really think that that is it, especially when you when you see Jalen Ramsey playing with the fear of God in him on the Steelers and and giving 600% every play. And and that the the only difference was where he was playing.
00:45:10
Speaker
<unk> yeah It's tough not to to to point and see that. This was the least prepared a Dolphins team has looked in the McDaniels era. And I think that's what really rubs me the wrong way about this is that to look this unprepared in a week one game after a full off season just points to extreme coaching malpractice.
00:45:30
Speaker
Some guys are just built to be coordinators and, um, You know, it started off good in the first year, made the playoffs, you know, unfortunately fell to a ah good Bills team in the first round, kind of like, and you were expecting it to build, and it only got worse from that point on, which it clearly means that the voice has grown stale.
00:45:48
Speaker
No one really believes in him in that room. Um... What do you think, though? Do you think it's like ah the the quicker you do it, the better it'll be? Or do you have to like you know give him five weeks before you fire him? or can you just like Because you know what's even worse? The press conference is.
00:46:04
Speaker
He goes in there and he's still got that same kind of Uh, too cool for school. I'm going to crack a couple of jokes out here. Act like everything's normal when it's like, Hey dude, your house is on fire and you're just hanging out in there. But it's like, that's the meme. It's the dog meme. It's like, everything's fine. Nothing's going wrong here. It's like, no dude, everything is going wrong. And you have to at least take some accountability somewhere.
00:46:25
Speaker
That's a big problem is that there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency anywhere. Tua had a really weird press conference after too. Like I think the reporter said, you know what?
00:46:35
Speaker
It seems to me like when when you turn over the ball, you seem to turn over the ball in bunches. Very true about Tua's game. not Not really a shot either. Like it's just kind of a fact.
00:46:49
Speaker
And two, was like, that's crazy. I can't believe you would say that. and And had this like sassy press conference after. i haven't seen a game that bad. In his very first year when he was splitting games with Ryan Fitzpatrick, there was some really bad games, like 84-yard bad games.
00:47:06
Speaker
But since then, since he's been a developed enough quarterback, I haven't seen that. That's a problem. I think Anthony Weaver, the defensive coordinator, the problem with firing McDaniels is I don't think he has a clue what's going on.
00:47:21
Speaker
Like it it is the the front seven of this team is supposed to be a real strong suit of what they are. You know, a chop Robinson, a Jalen Phillips sealer. You add Bradley Chubb once you get back and, and that they were non-existent in this game. Bradley Chubb had one or two good plays.
00:47:41
Speaker
They were absolutely non-existent in this game. That's a real problem. Defense got gashed 156 rushing yards against. You make Daniel Jones look like a Hall of Fame quarterback. like That's the real problem is if if you fire Mike McDaniel, then then he's going to go up, and there's some Dolphins fans who want that.
00:48:01
Speaker
Weaver didn't do himself any favors on Sunday for that crowd. I just keep thinking like ah like a Pete Carroll man. like Like imagine if this had happened sooner and you get a Pete Carroll or somebody like that, even a Frable.
00:48:15
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's it's just messy right now. and And right now with the Dolphins, it's just – that feeling I got you know and in points of last season where every week you're just kind of like – really dreading the next week and like you almost don't want to watch the game it is going to be an absolute pillow fight between them and the Patriots coming up Yeah, um maybe we you know we'll swap the Jets out for the Dolphins and into the fun and not fun category right now because, like you said, like you want a coach that can inject life into a team because there is talent.
00:48:52
Speaker
There's talent on this roster. That is undoubtedly true. um But to the Colts, they looked as good as they probably will all year. that That's something that... like I'm not saying they're not going make the playoffs or anything like that, but everything went perfectly for them in in week one. You know, maybe it was the Ursa effect. Maybe it was just, I don't know. Maybe it's playing the Dolphins. Everything went well for them in week one. And I just don't know if it's going to get better, but least Daniel Jones has some confidence and he's going to be able to maybe carry this on. And, you know, everyone who is doubting that decision that Anthony Richardson and anthony richardson should be the starter over Daniel Jones.
00:49:29
Speaker
maybe the backtracking should start a little bit like Daniel Jones. He just makes some mental lapses and playing in an organization like the Giants is going to kind of not help you because he doesn't have a ton of help around him. And it's just a chaotic organization.
00:49:45
Speaker
Colts are somewhat stable and you know, the team, there's some players there. They brought in Tyler Warren, like you mentioned, Pittman's still a good, a good player. And then Jonathan Taylor is like a a reliable running back.
00:49:56
Speaker
So maybe this is going to be a decent situation for Daniel Jones and Maybe there'll be like a, you know, a frisky seven seed maybe in the AFC like this. They could build off of this. They're a good roster, man. Like we talked in our preview, like for what seemed to be kind of crashing down in terms of the quarterback position, all these little additions they made in the offseason, Traverius Ward, Xavier Howard, like it had a ah big impact on that game, had the fumble ah recovery.
00:50:24
Speaker
And so all those little, little pieces seem to really be adding up in this roster is good. Very, very excited to see them play Denver next weekend. I feel like that is almost like which one of these teams is, is the actually bad team.
00:50:40
Speaker
um We'll get to that Broncos game later, but um can't talk about the Dolphins anymore.
Falcons vs Buccaneers Summary
00:50:45
Speaker
Moving on. Buccaneers 23 Falcons 20. It a messy game from both teams, I would say.
00:50:52
Speaker
ah Baker looked rusty early. The Falcons looked rusty in parts of this game, too. I thought what ended up kind of being the difference in this game is that the Bucs seemed to ease into this game a little bit better um in the in the second half, whereas the Falcons kind of had their big splashes in the first half.
00:51:13
Speaker
um You know, they they get gashed for that 50-yard run. TD on Robinson ah in in the first half, Bijan going all the way to the house. And then after that, they actually were able to kind of lock him down much more effectively throughout the rest of the game.
00:51:30
Speaker
Penix's deep throws kind of weren't there, but then he was still making key plays with his feet. And then really the story of this game to me was a Mecca Buka. ah we We talked about him a lot in our preview. I took him for offensive rookie of the year, and that seems to be right on track. He finishes with two touchdowns in his debut, including the game winning touchdown.
00:51:51
Speaker
ah It's that. And then it's it's young way. That's that's a tough kick to make miss. Yeah, the you know, Let's get into some overreactions. Let's have some fun. yeah ah You could cut Young-Wai Koo, and I think it'd be the right decision. I know you signed him to this contract.
00:52:08
Speaker
He had that doink in that should have missed earlier in that game, too. like He is a bad kicker. and he's Here's another take. No NFL kicker in a dome should ever miss a 44-yard field goal.
00:52:21
Speaker
Ever. You're a professional kicker in a dome. You should never miss that kick. like It's... i Call me delusional. I won't make that kick. You're professional kicker. It's your job. There's no, no weather in play.
00:52:33
Speaker
No, nothing. It's a dome make the kick. And it was horrible. It was like, it's the first half of it started. i'm like, okay, he made it in that thing. Slice so hard to the right in such a short amount of time. Like, I don't understand how it's possible.
00:52:48
Speaker
Yeah, he was a problem last year too. It's not like ah it's not a one-kick thing. it was I remember it last year, second half of the season, I was starting to think, hey, this guy is a bit of a problem. He carried that into this year, and it's going to be a problem for the Falcons, I think, all season long.
00:53:04
Speaker
Emeka Ibuka, hell yeah. ah Great start, man. And and We talked about it a lot last year with the Eagles specifically. This is what you get when you draft the best player available and you don't try and fit some narrative. Be like, we're drafting for you know culture. We're drafting for me. or We're drafting for fit.
00:53:22
Speaker
Just take the best guy and it'll work itself out. And that's exactly what Tampa did. I believe in our draft preview. I think I said he was the best receiver in the draft. Maybe not, or maybe that was just, you know, stuck in my head, but, uh, he had a hell of a game. And I believe Mike, Kevin said, I caught it on some, some Buccaneers. Uh, I forget who exactly wrote it. My apologies.
00:53:46
Speaker
Uh, he kind of called a shot and, and he was like, just hit me on a post route. We're going to end this game right here. He comes through, he follows it and he catches the ball. And going back to national championship against Notre Dame, he's the one who made called that play for Jeremiah Smith to seal that game on that go route against Morrison.
00:54:05
Speaker
He's a very intelligent football player and he sees the game very well. He just you know had to deal with Kyle McCord for a year in college football, lowered his draft stock a little bit, but he's a player, man.
00:54:16
Speaker
and it it goes to show, and Baker clearly loves him. Mike Evans loves him, so he's immediately fit in. ah This is, like I said, really messy game, but somehow ended up with the exact same score you thought it was going to have going into the game. like Really weird.
00:54:30
Speaker
um But yeah, i mean don't apologize if you're the Bucs. Division win on the road. You take that any day of the week. Yeah, and my biggest question after this game is, you know, we're we're now two coaches of this Falcons team. How much leash are we giving the Falcons here? Because it's a close game. It's a divisional game. It's kind of like you said, exactly what we expected.
00:54:52
Speaker
um They cut the Vikings next week. is that Is that where we start we we start shortening the leash? Because I feel like early on, this is a yeah super young team. There's obviously a ton of potential.
00:55:04
Speaker
I thought Michael Panik's like, To me, watching him in this game, like he's got it. like He's going to go through some growing pains, but he's got it as a quarterback. He's going to do just fine in this league and play for a while.
00:55:18
Speaker
It's just about kind of tightening up those details, tightening up the the accuracy of some of these throws. Yeah, I agree with that. Like, Pennix is going to be a quarterback in this league.
00:55:28
Speaker
um You're right. Struggled little bit with the deep throws. Like, you know, 42 passes, 27 completions isn't the greatest stat line in the world. But, you know, madete so made some impressive running plays. Like, that he's you know it's been...
00:55:44
Speaker
said a million times, maybe the best like stretch diver of the ball ah we have going back to college. They need that running game going. Bijan really struggled. 12 rushes, 24 yards. Algier, 10 rushes for 24 yards. like Baker Mayfield is coming away from this game as the lead rusher. That is not a good look for either team here.
00:56:05
Speaker
ah Drake London is questionable next week, and I don't know if Darnell Mooney is going to play either. so Maybe we push it back to week three. I don't know. I'll i'll check if they play quickly, but you know, maybe we, we, we, so we wait on them a little bit. They play the Panthers in week three. So, you know,
00:56:23
Speaker
We'll see. But I mean, it's also just so us if we just, you know, invest in a team and they just fall flat on their face, just like the Cardinals did last year. So I expect nothing less from the Falcons this year after we, you know, put our stake in the ground and put put our backing behind them.
00:56:39
Speaker
But yeah, it's okay. don't This is not an overreacting for either of these teams. It was just, you know, Tampa Bay is a slightly better team and the slightly better team over the past couple of years found a way to win this game.
00:56:51
Speaker
Yeah, and they stuck it to us. you know they said they they They had us up on their bulletin board. The goalposts, we're no longer a goalpost team. ah Let's stick it to those guys. ah We'll move to kind of the last, I would say, heavy game preview.
00:57:05
Speaker
maybe the bra Actually, I want to dig into that Broncos game a bit. You can go right there if you want. Yeah, let's let's touch quick. Yeah, you know what? Let's go there and we'll go back to the Patriots game. I got something for you, Jake.
00:57:16
Speaker
um We'll go Broncos 20, Titans 12, This is kind of what i was talking about that this Broncos team in our NFL preview where.
Broncos vs Titans Review
00:57:27
Speaker
Oh, Nick's man.
00:57:28
Speaker
He should have been the one who's getting the sophomore slump allegations, I think, over Jayden Daniels. This game was a mess. And for for both teams, really.
00:57:38
Speaker
And I don't know who's a mess more for almost the Titans, because the Broncos, like you said, have a fantastic defense. The defense won them this game it by and far.
00:57:50
Speaker
They had six sacks. that They surrendered 103 total net yards or 133. Sorry. The Titans started five drives inside the Broncos 50 yard line and came away with three field goals.
00:58:05
Speaker
the The defense is set. Nick Benito is a baller. Sertan, like they Singleton, they have ballers on this roster on d defense. This offense I don't know what Bo Nix was saying seeing out there.
00:58:20
Speaker
i don't know what Sean Payton was calling for him. He's throwing ducks at receivers and then screaming at them on the field. This game was a mess for him. He might stink.
00:58:32
Speaker
Yeah, it was ugly. And ah you know some context to the people as well. Damian and I are in a survivor pool. we all We had the Broncos in this one. And boy, was it a sweat. It it never felt comfortable. Even when they had that eight-point lead, I'd yeah it It just never felt good. It never looked good.
00:58:50
Speaker
And like said, Bo Nix, boy, was that was that a sketchy start to the year. ah like Two interceptions, two They were brutal interceptions.
00:59:03
Speaker
And then, you know, like he's trying to force the ball to Cortland Sutton at times. And it's like, okay, we know that he's your number one. You you have some other weapons. You bring in Ingram. Like you have some guys around you and you're still just kind of forcing it.
00:59:15
Speaker
You weren't using your legs that much. Like, you you know, his legs kind of bailed him out of spots last year and he looked great. And like his decision-making was impressive. This looked a lot like Auburn Bo Nix. That took me...
00:59:27
Speaker
A couple of years to get out of my head and damn it. Did, did I not want to see this bone X again? Cause I, I was, I'm a buyer. Like I said, I said, the Broncos can maybe win the AFC West. It's one of my takes.
00:59:40
Speaker
Maybe I should have said the chargers and said, but, um, they want i guess yeah I guess you go, we don't apologize for a win. But being at home against the Tennessee Titans ah and Cam Ward's making his first start in the NFL and you had to, like I said, the defense bailed them out big time and you're scratching and crawling and you're it looked like it was his first start in the NFL. Cam Ward looked better than Bo Nix did and that is not a good sign for the Broncos.
01:00:13
Speaker
i don't know well I don't know what to say really for a positive outlook. for I guess the you know RJ Harvey looked good. you know you might ah Broncos might have a running game this year. So maybe that is a positive to take away. But Bo Nix and the Broncos offense did not look good.
01:00:30
Speaker
And this defense is going to have to you know probably win them more games than they would like this season. Unless something changes ah rapidly. But yeah, the the Titans were also a mess, which bailed them out big time.
01:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, 40 passing attempts for 176 yards is unbelievable. Yeah, gross. It's really gross. I think he had his first NFL fumble.
01:00:53
Speaker
He's throwing interceptions, like just absolute mess. um And it's it's not like this Titans defense is, you know, eight a huge player in NFL defenses.
01:01:06
Speaker
But let's get to the Titans because 131 yards of penalties in this game. That was a huge trend last season that we talked about all the time. I feel like on this podcast, they had the fourth most penalties in the league this season.
01:01:21
Speaker
And Brian Callahan, we put on the hot seat a lot last season and that died down over the off season. You get a lot of press on having cam word and he made so many mistakes in this game.
01:01:37
Speaker
Like First of all, towards the end of the second half, they have the ball on like their own 10, I want to say. And they run three screen passes in a row that are all incompletions and take seven seconds off the clock.
01:01:55
Speaker
They punt the ball. Broncos come down, score touchdown. Like that was when you look at the ending score of this game, that was a huge difference in this game. He doesn't challenge the ah Eric Iaman or catch down 13-12. Would have been a massive splash play. It was like a 23-yard pass.
01:02:14
Speaker
He clearly got his elbow inbounds. There's players on the sideline yelling that he got his elbow inbounds. And then let me let me do some quotes for you here. My interpretation of the rule was wrong, Callahan said.
01:02:28
Speaker
I'll own it. I didn't do a good enough job in that moment, moment and I should have challenged it, and it but probably would have resulted in a potential explosive play. I don't know what that last sentence even means, but then later he says, I misspoke.
01:02:43
Speaker
I'm well aware of the rule. I understand how it works, and the way that I articulated it afterwards was incorrect, and I understand the rules of this game pretty well. What?
01:02:55
Speaker
Not good. I'm trying to remember who the team that had the nerd following the coach last year on the sidelines, but they Tennessee needs on for Callahan because he's clearly like a very big football guy. And sometimes his brain probably just doesn't work in like real life situations. You know, maybe his brain overrides couple times.
01:03:15
Speaker
He just needs a voice behind him that one guy's strictly job is like challenge. Yes. Challenge. No, you know, go for it. Like, So just simplify the game. He needs a guy.
01:03:26
Speaker
He needs a guy with him. ah But yeah, it was an ugly game for for Callahan, the Titans. Calvin Ridley kind of stunk too. he like you know Like I said, I was never comfortable in this game having the Broncos in my survivor pool.
01:03:40
Speaker
the The Titans could have been at midfield and then like onto the Broncos side of the field ah with, you know, under three minutes left, maybe driving down. Calvin really just drops a ball wide open.
01:03:52
Speaker
Cam Ward's dad almost has a stroke in the stands. ah it was It was not good. Also, like Cam Ward is an athlete. He reminds me a lot of like Justin Fields, right? Like he just moves around and makes plays happen, especially if you're from college.
01:04:05
Speaker
He had no rushes in this game. You know, let let the guy make some plays with his feet. I don't need him running 20 times in this game, but you'd like to see five rushes for 25 yards or something. Just to say he's, a you know, you're trying to get him to make some plays. And and i it felt like,
01:04:22
Speaker
They had like, you know, they're bowling with the guardrails on with Cam Ward. They're not letting him go out there and play free. um Yeah, you know, 12, 28, 112 yards. I think he played a little bit better than that stat line would indicate, um but not a promising start to the year for the Titans. i get Actually, maybe it is in a way like he kept it close against the Broncos, but...
01:04:44
Speaker
God help you. It was five or no, it was, it was just all field goals. It was all field goals from Joey slide. Joey slide looks good. I guess he's making field goals, but not, not good for the Titans and Callahan.
01:04:55
Speaker
It was super weird, too. Like they asked LeJarius Sneed, like, did you get benched essentially because he played zero snaps in the second half? And he was like, no, that was a coaching decision. I was fully ready to play.
01:05:06
Speaker
So that was weird, like very weird, very, very weird franchise um just all over the map.
Patriots' Loss to Raiders Recap
01:05:14
Speaker
We'll kind of go through the rest of these games pretty quick. Actually, we'll jump back here.
01:05:19
Speaker
Raiders 20, Patriots 13. We got some takes aging here um because this looked like the Patriots team that we expected. This team was looked messy at points.
01:05:31
Speaker
They will. Campbell had a rough, rough day ah like in one drive. You know, there's a strip sack after the breakdown in protection, then a false start on the next play by Will Campbell.
01:05:45
Speaker
Vrabel punts on fourth and 10, down 10. It ends up being a 21-yard punt. And then the drive after, they try and go after Geno on third and 20, all-out blitz.
01:05:57
Speaker
He hits Dante Thornton for a first down that basically ended the game. That was kind of this game in a nutshell. Like, Couple Patriots mistakes. The more experienced quarterback, the more experienced team doesn't didn't make the mistakes in the Raiders.
01:06:11
Speaker
Gino looked not fantastic in this game, but he plays some ethical football. Like he he knows how to manage a game. He calmly kind of managed the clock in this game.
01:06:24
Speaker
They scored 10 unanswered points in the second half to win. He was dishing the ball to everywhere. Trey Tucker, Jacoby Myers, Brock Bowers. Everyone was getting a touch. The problem with this team is going to be offensive line for the for the Raiders. They stink.
01:06:39
Speaker
um Jensie had 38 rushing yards, but had 44 yards after contact and a touchdown. That's an insane stat.
01:06:49
Speaker
That means he's getting hit behind the line almost every single time he ran. saw a lot of people saying this is very Saquon in New York-esque. Yeah, that's kind of one of the biggest reasons why I was not willing to lay the what, like, minus plus 200, plus 250 was for ah Offensive Rookie of the Year.
01:07:08
Speaker
i just didn't... I saw it in the preseason. It was just... It didn't look great. I'm not saying it's on him. I'm just saying the it just didn't work well. It came through in Week 1. ah Luckily, the Raiders have Geno Smith, who...
01:07:21
Speaker
You said play some ethical football. It's like the Cody Fajardo of the NFL. Like he just finds ways, you know, get in there, make stuff happen. It's never flashy, but he's always somehow on like the winning side of a weird game like this.
01:07:34
Speaker
Um, you know, it was a, it was a nice win for the Raiders and a culture setter, right? Pete Carroll's in there. Gino. Like this is what they're going to be. They're going to find ways to beat teams that they should beat.
01:07:46
Speaker
And then they're just going to have to find a way to upset a couple of teams and maybe they can get into the playoffs this year. Um, you know, Brock Bowers injury, not ideal for them in week one, but it doesn't look to be super serious. I think he's just going to miss, you know, actually I'm not going to speak on that, but it didn't look to be like super serious, which I think is good thing.
01:08:05
Speaker
Uh, back to the Patriots, What is the offensive game plan there? um It's frustrating. Jake was frustrating. I was talking to him, Patriots fan. ah You know, Travion Henderson, your your sexy new toy there, five carries. And then you're you're your bell cow, I guess you would say, like your your physical downhill back, Ramondre Stevenson, seven carries.
01:08:26
Speaker
So you got 12 carries between your two running backs. you'd expect 12 each. like you know what i mean like It was supposed to be a running back by committee. That's you know Mike Vrabel, the Patriots. This is what they are, the Patriot way.
01:08:40
Speaker
and there They got Drake May slinging it 46 times in this game. and yeah had 30 completions on 46 passes, which not the greatest, not the worst. But to me, it was just like, clearly they needed to switch something up.
01:08:54
Speaker
They didn't establish the run, so they couldn't really get the play action going. And then they just became a predictable offense but and and not predictable in the way that the Patriots usually are, right? You know, run the ball, maybe a screen pass or something. And then, you know, Keyshawn Booty gets out there with six or seven for 103 yards. That's a nice stat line.
01:09:13
Speaker
but they were never getting in the end zone. They weren't getting the touchdowns they needed. ah and And I don't know, the Patriots, similar to, you know, Bo Nix, it was a little bit of a sophomore slump for the for the quarterbacks here.
01:09:28
Speaker
ah Not the way you want to start your second season in the NFL for either of those guys. And to me, yeah it just comes out as saying like, the culture change in Vegas is seems to be working out pretty solid over week one and the Patriots, it's still going to take some time for them to get to where they want to be and where a lot of the media members already put them before they had earned their actual seat at the table.
01:09:53
Speaker
Yeah. And this was similar to, you know, Bo Nix having a really tough game. Drake may had a very, very, very tough game. Like he, you know, Vegas held the the Patriots to zero points in the final two quarters of this game.
01:10:09
Speaker
He was sacked twice. He was pressured seven times. He struggled kind of with that inaccuracy. ah Like he just kind of cannons the ball and on throws and and isn't very accurate.
01:10:22
Speaker
And, you know, they lead ten seven at halftime. They come out and get the kickoff to open the second half. May gets intercepted, gets hit in the chest as he throws. Like it's the line is going to have some problems here. Drake May is going to have some some growing pains even more so here, especially when you don't kind of help him out in the running game.
01:10:43
Speaker
yeah this is This is what we expected. They're going to have some growing pains this year. i don't want to overreact too much to the Raiders. Like you said, I think that they are going to have to just beat the teams that they should and have to upset some teams. That'll kind of be the formula for them.
Rams vs Texans Defensive Match
01:10:58
Speaker
um We'll move into quick picks here ah and then do some picks, maybe a little CFL update and then get you out of here. Rams 14, Texans 9.
01:11:09
Speaker
This was a bit of a boring game. Both teams also looked a little bit rusty and kind of out of rhythm. um The Rams defense did not allow a Texans touchdown. um Same issues from last season arose against the Rams for the Texans. It was CJ Stroud getting pressured and getting sacked a lot.
01:11:28
Speaker
The offense put up zero second half points. He was pressured on 41% of his drop backs, hit seven times. There was holding calls. There was false starts. There was illegal shifts.
01:11:41
Speaker
Very familiar for this Texans team. Nico tos Collins had three catches. It was just this was a lot of the same for the Texans and kind of what we expected.
01:11:52
Speaker
Yeah, get get CJ some help, man. like The offensive line is really bad. People are going to... Lazy takes. CJ Strode sucks. like The guy couldn't do anything back there because he had no time. he couldn't think.
01:12:05
Speaker
Niko Collins is like their only receiver. Christian Kirk was out in this game. You're right. Should have gotten the ball more. At least put... Just get the ball in his hands. Like, try and make something happen. Quick throw screen passes. They weren't able to.
01:12:17
Speaker
Nick Chubb was, like, okay, but you need more. And a lot of that probably falls on the offensive line as well. On the flip side of it, Stafford um bolsters his, you know, Hall of Fame resume. 60,000 career passing yards.
01:12:33
Speaker
Not bad. ah And, like, yeah. And, like, Devontae Adams looks solid. ah And then, you Puka Nakua still is going to get his looks. Like, yeah. Devontae Adams is going to play that Cooper Cup role of last year where like you're the complimentary piece to the star.
01:12:46
Speaker
ah But the Rams, while they didn't put the points you you'd like in this game up, the offense actually looked pretty solid. and And I think the Rams can you know cause make some noise in the NFC this year based off week one.
01:13:00
Speaker
Yeah, Devontae Adams looked so natural in a Rams jersey. like That was my biggest takeaway. like he He looked so good and so fit in such a way in that jersey. It's ah it's something about those Rams colors.
Packers vs Lions Defensive Showdown
01:13:12
Speaker
ah Packers 27, Lions 10. This was a big week or a big game for overreactions to affirm. little confirmation bias here of people being like, the Packers are the best team in the NFC, maybe the best team in the NFL.
01:13:26
Speaker
and the Lions are going to take a huge step back this year. i think you can almost go like halfway with those takes to be like, the Packers are really good. This defense is going to be really good. The offense looked good.
01:13:39
Speaker
Lions looked rusty, looked all over the place without Ben Johnson. I don't think it's going to be quite to the exaggeration of both of those takes, but I think it lies definitely somewhere in the middle.
01:13:51
Speaker
Yeah, not a good start for ah for the the Lions post Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson era. Defense looked bad. Offense didn't look good either. ah Yeah, sketchy start, man. like it it Jameer Gibbs, like 10 catches for 31 yards is a really weird stat line.
01:14:08
Speaker
ah There was some stat. There was like first guy to have 10 receptions in under 35 yards or something. what Not a big deal, but... Yeah, like the Lions are going have to figure out a way to get a little bit more creative. And Goff was fluttering some throws, I guess you would say. Not not a confident spiral out there.
01:14:28
Speaker
And then, yeah, on the flip side, Packers, strong start. Like, that's what you want at home. ah New era, more hope this year. And they came out and kind of sent a message to their division rival ah that, you know, we are now the team to beat in the NFC.
01:14:42
Speaker
I'm not going to overreact ah more so on the Lions side. I still think the Lions are going to figure it out. It may take a couple of weeks, but I think when they figure it out, they'll be back as a top NFC
Bengals vs Browns and 49ers vs Seahawks
01:14:53
Speaker
threat. And I i know the Packers are... are The Packers are what I think most people thought they were. They're a good team in the NFC, and they will have a chance to come out of the NFC and represent them in the Super Bowl this year, especially if they play like this throughout the entire season.
01:15:08
Speaker
Yep, very true. um 49ers, 17, Seahawks, 13. Nobody wanted to win this game. um Nobody wanted to more than the Seahawks, though, because they really didn't want to win this game.
01:15:20
Speaker
This was kind of a classic like divisional grind game. Winning team finds a score late. Purdy managed the pocket, made necessary plays down the stretch. And then 49ers defense coming up with a huge fumble against Sam Darnold.
01:15:36
Speaker
Seattle just couldn't really finish the, a like when they needed to in this game, this wasn't quite the, the game I wanted to see from the 49ers. Cause I w I was pretty high on kind of their revitalization this year.
01:15:51
Speaker
um But the Seahawks, kind of were who we thought they were. Like this was a team where we were like, I don't really know what the identity of this team is. Seems like it's kind of all over the place. That ended up being the case.
01:16:03
Speaker
I think this will be a team where the 49ers will kind of burn the tape from this game and the Seahawks will... Not like they the Seahawks need to kind of dig deep into this game, and figure out what they need to do better, because you' got guys like Jackson Smith and Jigbo. Like he had a fantastic game, didn't finish with a touchdown, but had a great game.
01:16:22
Speaker
And there's guys that could be wasted potential on this offense if they don't do the right things. Yeah, a couple of takes for me. ah Smith and Jigba is going to be top five in the league in receiving yards this year.
01:16:35
Speaker
ah And Zach Charbonnet will be the running back starter by week five, maybe week six at the latest. ah And then, you know, Niners are beat up early, beat up.
01:16:47
Speaker
Kittle, a possible IR candidate. We might get a Mac Jones start next week. They were saying, uh, you know, and then, you know, Juwan Jennings is also kind of sketchy there, but on the positive side, McCaffrey looked like the McCaffrey of old and, uh, shout out to, uh, Jake Tonjes.
01:17:04
Speaker
You know, no NFL catches in this game coming into it or in his career coming into this game and then three catches and the game winning touchdown. So shout out to him. But yeah, like I guess 49ers, it's don't apologize for a road division win similar to the box. like It's just one of those wins where you take it in week one.
01:17:21
Speaker
Yep, very true. Bengals 17, Browns 16. Ugly game as well. Browns had held the Bengals to seven net yards in the second half and still lost.
01:17:32
Speaker
Cincinnati's offense looked good on the opening drive of the game, and that was pretty much it. You fast forward heading into the final quarter. Joe Burrow had thrown for 103 yards in this game.
01:17:44
Speaker
ah yeah Andre Schmidt misses the extra point and then misses the 36-yard field goal to go ahead late in this game. Dylan Sampson was maybe maybe the lone bright spot for the Browns in this game. Had a decent game, 12 carries, 29 yards.
01:18:01
Speaker
Doesn't jump out at you, but I guess that would be a bright spot. Joe Burrow's got a hell of a PR campaign because for what certain people took, flack for this Sunday he seemed to escape maybe it's just because the Bengals finally won on a opening week Sunday but man that did not look pretty No, it didn't. like The Bengals are known for their ah offense, right? You know you expected the Bengals maybe put up 30 points in this one against the Browns.
01:18:30
Speaker
Jamar Chase leaves this game with two catches, 26 yards. Tee Higgins, three catches, 33 yards. ah you know Noah Fant catches the lone touchdown pass there.
01:18:40
Speaker
Chase Brown looked half decent. didn't like Didn't get the yardage you want for how much he was used, but at least found the end zone. ah Yeah, since he... I don't know.
01:18:52
Speaker
i I think I have a decent read on what the Bengals are with Joe Burrow. They're not the greatest team in the world. And like you said, there's a pretty good PR campaign going on where... Because they went to the Super Bowl that one year, I think people expect that team to show up on paper.
01:19:07
Speaker
But that was about four or five years ago. And I think this is a new addition of that team. And I think they're too offensively focused. And then the offense didn't even show up today. So I don't i don't know where you go. Like the Bengals, like you said, they won in week one.
01:19:20
Speaker
But boy, was it ugly. And boy, should the Browns have won this game if it wasn't for a brutal kicker. um Harold Fannin was also a nice positive piece, rookie tight end. um But yeah, this was a classic AFC North game. And thank you ah for going under because I needed a win in the picks.
01:19:38
Speaker
Yeah, no kidding. Thanks for not covering Bengals. Cardinals, and thanks back to the 49ers for covering are our two wins of the week.
Saints' Uniforms and Broadcast Woes
01:19:48
Speaker
Cardinals 20, Saints 13. This game kind of people forgot about.
01:19:53
Speaker
Those Saints uniforms were awesome. Awful. That's all you need to talk about in this game. Those were the worst uniforms maybe ever. Like, you know, you think Jags, Color Rush, some of those ugly Color Rush uniforms.
01:20:05
Speaker
Somehow it was the worst. It was worse than the Jags because the black pants and black helmet made that. It was horrible. It's all I need to talk about. The worst uniforms I've ever seen. It was visually appalling. I turned on this game and was like immediately disgusted by what I had on my screen.
01:20:21
Speaker
hair One of maybe the worst uniform matchups of all time. And yeah, that is really what was important from this game. um Jags 26, Panthers 10 game. Literally everyone forgot about because of a lightning delay.
01:20:33
Speaker
and we had three lightning delays in week one. We had the the Eagles. uh, Cowboys game, this game got delayed in that Broncos Titans game got delayed to weather not cooperating.
01:20:46
Speaker
yeah Panthers might be back to stinking. Can't wait to see this Jags team actually face like an actually solid team at TN looked fantastic. Kind of similar, um, to who am I thinking about?
01:20:59
Speaker
Who also had a great, who were we talking about earlier? McCaffrey, maybe McCaffrey back injuries. No, it was, um, I'm going to find it here.
01:21:11
Speaker
You, you do that. Uh, I don't for me, uh, for me, this is going a big overreaction on both sides. Like you said, I think people are going to immediately think the Panthers stink. And then on the flip side, i think people are going to put the Jaguars in like a playoff candidate team but i don't know what either of these teams are it was just a slow start a weird game like you said like think about how different that eagles uh cowboys game was after that weather delay yeah a shell of what the game was this game had an even longer weather delay and it was a weird second half as well jaguars you'd probably like to see you know brian thomas have more than one catch i'm a bit worried about trevor
01:21:51
Speaker
I'm a bit worried about Trevor Lawrence. He missed a lot of th throws in this game. like he There's an accuracy thing going on, and I don't remember that ever really being a huge, huge issue with Trevor Lawrence, especially when he's coming out of college.
01:22:07
Speaker
there's There's something to worry about there. Brees Hall was who I was thinking about. Yes, good find. tough fine big yeah you know I feel like people write off, and especially because – Fantasy is such a big thing. I feel like people write off running backs so quickly nowadays where it's like these two guys are still unbelievable athletes. They're going to figure it out most more than likely and be productive backs.
01:22:32
Speaker
um So, yeah, shout out those guys for having a good day. Yeah, I'm worried about Trevor. that That was my biggest takeaway from this game. And I mean, the Jaguars like Etienne so much, they traded Tank Bigsby. So like it's clearly Etienne's running back room.
01:22:45
Speaker
ah ah The Travis Hunter thing's weird. He's out there playing offense when I thought he was going to be a corner. Yeah. I don't know what you do. Jackson's going be a weird team. Sneaky, under the radar. Awesome kicker. Maybe not under the radar because he had that like 70 yard bomb preseason. Cam Little is going to be a good kicker.
01:23:04
Speaker
He's good. Yeah, he is good. um that's That's all I got. Commanders 21 Giants 6. This was a very boring game as well. Perhaps the most boring of the one o'clock slate. And that's really saying something.
01:23:14
Speaker
Yeah. You know, credit to the commanders. They they kind of gritted through this game. and I'm sure it's not what people really wanted to see. I think the Giants on defense are still really good, really solid. And I think that posed a problem ah to them in this game.
01:23:30
Speaker
from This is similar to the Cardinals-Saints game where it's like the the uniforms. The biggest takeaway from this game is that Abdul Carter-Laramee Tunsil rep where... Laramie Tunsil is frozen in space, doesn't even move. And then Abdul Carter closes out Jaden Daniels like he's taking a corner three in the NBA and doesn't put him on his ass. I'm sure he's playing contain and you don't want Jaden Daniels, who's a very mobile quarterback, but he was just.
01:23:57
Speaker
I've never seen that in the NFL before. Yeah, maybe you didn't like you scared with the rough in the past or he's still trying to feel himself out. But Laramie tons like I don't that that was just a baffling p play. It was crazy. It was crazy to watch. I thought it was like ah because I saw it kind of without context of the game and I just assumed it was like a pre-snap penalty or something. So like he just stopped. That's why Abdul Carter didn't like hit him. I was like, oh, OK, like is and then it was like, yeah, no, that was a live rap ah intentional grounding.
01:24:26
Speaker
Oh, you gotcha. Yeah. Russell Wilson, Russell, Russell Wilson is so bad at quarterback. Uh, I don't know how he does it, man. I don't know how he does it. He is still the starter. I believe they're going start him in week two.
01:24:40
Speaker
Um, you have, you trade up for Jackson dart. You don't start him. You have Jameis in that room as well, who can give you like a higher floor than what Russell Wilson is going to give you. Don't know how Russell does it, man. They like, he is just brainwashing people just into starting him as a quarterback. And then for Washington,
01:24:59
Speaker
This game is whatever. well and we'll We'll get a better idea of what they are ah Thursday night against Green Bay. That'll be a great game. Yeah, very true. And then quickly here, Chargers 27, Chiefs 21. Who's back the week? Quentin Johnson. Very happy to see him have that kind of game. Justin Herbert has a all-time game.
01:25:17
Speaker
Of course, it's on like a weird broadcast on a Friday night and like hidden to the general public. Yeah, honestly, i didn't have any like actual game takeaways. Nice win for the Chargers. ah This was the worst NFL broadcast I've ever watched in my life.
01:25:32
Speaker
I'm not like... Rich Eisen is a very talented at you know his normal day job. I think when he's a radio host, doing sports center, things of that nature, I think he's very talented. I do not like him in the booth doing play-by-play.
01:25:44
Speaker
And then when you're shoving Mr. Beast, that that fake... uh, chargers lady, uh, destroying is doing some commentary on the, on the sideline. None of that.
01:25:55
Speaker
I don't want any of that. And I don't think many NFL fans do. I just don't understand it. I get it's a YouTube production. That was horrible. I want none of that ever again in my life. And like, uh, that Monday night game last night was a YouTube one. And that was completely normal.
01:26:13
Speaker
Like it was like, You don't have to do this, this like cringy stuff. There's another word for it, unfortunately I fall back on cringy because that's what I was doing. i was like, Mr. Beast is, is, it was bad. i really hated everything to do with it. And it's enough of a gimmick already.
01:26:31
Speaker
I know, man, it was really bad. And it's, yeah it was bad. Everything about it. I hate Yeah, very not good. um Quick for the Chiefs, like after the first pass of the season, now Mahomes is going to be without one Rasheed Rice suspension.
01:26:46
Speaker
Jalen Royals, their rookie, out with knee tendinitis and now x Xavier Worthy out with a shoulder injury.
Chiefs' Season Outlook
01:26:53
Speaker
So it's going to be much the same. You're going be like, how do the Chiefs do it? And then they'll they'll rattle off six wins here.
01:27:00
Speaker
They're going to get so hot down the stretch too. And everyone, it's going to flip on its head. Like said, people are going to overreact and be like, oh, you know, Chiefs aren't going to win their division. They might not make the playoffs. And then it's going to be week 15 and everyone's like, the Chiefs are winning the Super Bowl again. So everyone just stay calm. The Chiefs look fine. you know i mean? For how many guys they're missing, like the Chargers just looked really good in that game and they were the better team and they won. And that's kind of like, I was more impressed by the Chargers than, you know, taking away from the Chiefs in that game.
01:27:30
Speaker
Very similar. um We'll get now to our week two picks. We both went one and two. Tough start to the season. Like we said, week one is always the hardest week to predict. So cut us some slack.
01:27:43
Speaker
um I still hold the ball here because we both split. This should be a bit of an easier week to pick because we have a little more information now. I'm going to start out with a line that I think will move towards Sunday. It is the Rams five and a half against the Tennessee Titans.
01:28:03
Speaker
Given what we saw from Tennessee bit all over the place. I think the Rams bounce back and have a bit of a cleaner game. And I like the Rams in this one. Yep. Yeah. I got no problem with that. Um, some might say week two may be harder than week one because you overreact to week one. How's that for a spit? I'm just trying to cover my ass in case I have another bad week.
01:28:25
Speaker
Um, Dude, I want to do it just because this line makes no sense. Just zero sense in the world after what we watched. I think I'm going with through Dolphins.
01:28:37
Speaker
Minus one and a half at home. The Patriots in the Miami Heat. why is Why is Miami favored in this game after what we just saw? Right? yeah And it's kind of the same as like no one really. Everyone was on Miami before that game of the cold. So like, why would Indy be favored in this game? We know what they were going with.
01:28:55
Speaker
Vegas knows man Vegas knows so I'm going with the Dolphins in this game plug your nose and just take it yeah you're right you got to sniff out the rat lines and that is certainly one of them um I am going to take I'm going to take our Cardinals at home or our ex-Cardinals at home ah Six and a half against Carolina.
01:29:17
Speaker
I think that they did enough on the road in that game. They showed that they have some sparks on defense. Will Johnson is going to be a player in this league at cornerback. He had a fantastic game, covered Shahid most of the time and and really limited him.
01:29:31
Speaker
I like the the Cardinals being at home here and beating up kind of on a on a struggling Panthers team. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. i just don't know what either of those teams really are. So I'm just kind of avoiding that game.
01:29:44
Speaker
um Monday night game, the early one, we got two Monday night games this week. You know, one past your bedtime at a 10 o'clock start. Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road, plus two and a half against the Houston Texans.
01:29:56
Speaker
I, you know, maybe ah that's a bit of a rat line and maybe I'll be on the wrong side of this one. But yeah, you know That's a crazy line too. Yeah, the Buccaneers can get some pressure. that the The Texans line looks horrible.
01:30:10
Speaker
um give me Give me the Bucs. I think that's as bad as a game they could have played in week one, and they still found a way to win on the road. So give me give me Tampa in this one. All right. I am going to go with the overreaction line of the week here.
01:30:26
Speaker
Give me the Falcons plus four and a half against the the Vikings. That is far too much of an overreaction. Yeah, I almost took it on that last pick. ah The only thing that stopped me is Minnesota is pretty dangerous at home, ah but still four and a half. The only thing is like I think the Falcons are going without Drake London and probably Darnell Moody. So we could be seeing a big Kyle Pitts game coming up, maybe little Ray Ray McLeod.
01:30:50
Speaker
um that's That's an interesting one, but i'm I'm definitely agreeing with you on that. And then lastly, I'm between two and since it's like my last pick, I'll kind of speak out loud and walk you through it.
01:31:02
Speaker
I might take the Saints banking on a Mac Jones start. oh Plus four and a half at home is really jumping out at me. I think if Mac Jones starts, they'll move to like a one and a half, two and a half kind of situation. So you're getting more than a field goal kind of thing.
01:31:17
Speaker
ah The other one is another overreaction. ah The Jets plus seven at home i against the Bills. Or do I just go back to being a total merchant? And totals worked out. The total did work out. You know what?
01:31:31
Speaker
Unders were 12 and two, I believe in week one. Yeah. And I'm going to go against that in this game. I'm going to take over 45 and a half and Bill's jets. Okay. I didn't like either defenses. I liked both ah offenses.
01:31:44
Speaker
um This feels like it could hit in garbage time if the bills are dominating or if it's a back and forth game, kind of like what both these teams were in week one, it's going over. So I'm going to take over 45 and a half.
01:31:55
Speaker
I like that. I like that. just Those are our week two picks. um We're going to crawl back out of this hole. i can I have faith. I have faith in us.
CFL Teams and Players Analysis
01:32:05
Speaker
ah To wrap up the podcast here, a little bit of CFL thoughts.
01:32:10
Speaker
Crumbbacks are officially back in the CFL. BC is also back to stinking. I think that that to lose that game is ridiculous. um Montreal is a crashing and burning ship.
01:32:22
Speaker
It is crazy. insanely panic time in Montreal. Saskatchewan is nasty. It might be time for Zach Kalaros to retire. Pretty good summary.
01:32:33
Speaker
um Yeah, I think Saskia has locked up the one seed in the West barring an absolute disaster. I don't know why we ever doubted them. um Yeah, that hit Zach Kalaros took was scary.
01:32:46
Speaker
He's getting locked out on hits like every time now. yeah as I was about to say, it's kind of like a boxer, like a UFC guy. When that chin goes and you just start taking these hits, man, and it's just like you're clearly not taking them well.
01:32:59
Speaker
You're not young either. You've done enough in this league. You don't have to keep putting yourself out there. ah It's not a good situation in Winnipeg. um And then, you know, we got a fun, fun race in the playoffs, man.
01:33:13
Speaker
You know, Edmonton's hot. The Argos off a bye week. I don't think they lost the bye week. Obviously, Ottawa won, which isn't the greatest. But, you know, Montreal, once again, loses. BC loses.
01:33:25
Speaker
So you're you're you're like, you're a win away because they're playing Edmonton this week anyway. You beat Edmonton. I believe that will be their spot, right? I don't know all the tiebreaker situations, but they'll be tied with BC and Edmonton points wise.
01:33:39
Speaker
We'll have the head to head against Edmonton. They played this year, right? Yeah, they lost. So they they they have to beat they have a big game coming up against Edmonton on Saturday. I'll be there. They got to beat Edmonton and beat them by more than a touchdown.
01:33:53
Speaker
You know, it's also hilarious. we Like you said, you know Ottawa found a way to beat BC. they're playing again eat these sorry They're playing again against each other this week. BC is now at home. They're nine and a half point favorites. I know. It's insane. Whatever. I'm not going to overreact to that, but interesting to keep an eye on that.
01:34:12
Speaker
But yeah, like we got a really good playoff race down the stretch here in... the In the CFL, ah especially, you know, it's basically every team is in play. Every single team has a chance to make the playoffs. And it's been a while since you've been able to say that in the CFL.
01:34:27
Speaker
It has. And shout out Edmonton with an all time bounce back performance beating Calgary. Justin Rankin, 16 carries, 204 yards, long of He is a dominant player. Like this guy's a star.
01:34:46
Speaker
Like he is, he is billboard type material CFL player. He is absolutely electric to watch play and it's having a real time effect in Edmonton.
01:34:57
Speaker
They had 28,000 in the stands it on on Saturday. And I think at one point early in the season, they had 9,000 in the stands or something. Very impressive what is happening in ah in Edmonton. And good for them. It's something that you really like to see. Yeah, you love it.
01:35:15
Speaker
Yeah. Weird, weird developments in the futures markets here. you know It's still the two-horse race in the betting odds between Bo Levi and V.A. ah Bo Levi, a slight favorite, plus 115 to Vernon Adams, plus 150.
01:35:31
Speaker
You can't bet on Nick Arbuckle anymore. He's just not on the list. i I don't know what is going on here. I wanted to check in on our boy after you know a bye week, and I know Chad Kelly is teasing, returning, and that's going to... you know I don't know what you do with that going forward with the Argos,
01:35:49
Speaker
Nick Arbuckle should be in the conversation. I'm not saying he should be the favorite, but if, like I've said a million times, if you're basing this of how Bo Levi Mitchell won his last year, and now the Argos are actually in the playoff conversation, especially if they beat the Elks on Saturday,
01:36:06
Speaker
Why would he not be in the conversation? I don't really get it. But yeah, he's just not on the betting odds for MOP. Yeah, it's very odd. And it's going to be interesting to see on Saturday whether Chad Kelly starts that game.
01:36:18
Speaker
Like Ryan Dimwitty has said multiple times, like Chad is our quarterback. If he is healthy, he will be playing. I think a lot of that is money. Like they are paying him a ton of money. And it's like a politics thing where if he's back, you play him.
01:36:30
Speaker
And this is still Chad Kelly. This is still a guy who who is an MOP in this league. And I get that on the surface, it seems tough. You always have him if something goes wrong. If Chad stops feeling good in a game and starts, the leg you know kind of creeps back. But I think they're going to start him the second he's ready.
01:36:48
Speaker
Yeah, i don't necessarily think Dinwiddie is even the one making that decision, if you know what I mean. Like you mentioned with the money, I don't necessarily think because, you know, Chad Kelly will put more fans in seats than Nick Arbuckle. And that is the unfortunate reality.
01:37:02
Speaker
Uh, that line is an interesting one though. I three and a half. I think that is, uh, yeah, I think it could be a field goal game. Obviously it's chaotic in the CFL high total at 56 and a half, but, uh, uh, it's not like the Argos have the greatest home field advantage in the world. So I don't think, you know, the, on the road, who's at home, uh, kind of thing matters there. And I don't mind the Oaks in that game where,
01:37:25
Speaker
why don't Do you want to give a couple of picks? Let's do a couple of CFL picks. We are up 25 and 15, 10 units, and and we're still we need to see some wins on the board here and get back to our mojo on the CFL picks.
01:37:38
Speaker
I think that there's a couple that jump out at you here. I think that... One of them that i is overwhelmingly clear. I'll start us off here. I'm taking the Riders. It was at seven and a half yesterday. Still it's still there. Still at seven and a half. taking the Riders seven and a half against the Alouettes here. Back to our early season ah system of taking the Riders on the spread as favorites.
01:38:02
Speaker
I just, I don't see enough from Montreal on this game to cover that seven and a half. I would love to six and a half, but I'm still taking it at seven and a half. Yeah. I like that one. Uh,
01:38:14
Speaker
See, the issue is I fully just pointed out that I like the Elks, but I have this weird thing that I don't like to bet against the Argos. um So I kind of look at that total.
01:38:26
Speaker
but i just i'm I don't know what we're getting out of Chad Kelly. yeah yeah i want to benefit I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, and you know he's going to come back and be what he was when he left. But I just don't know. So I'm going to kind of avoid that game. If you want to take it, go ahead. i just don't feel confident.
01:38:41
Speaker
This is going a weird one for me, but I'm to take the over in the Red Blacks Lions. Just give me the chaos, the rematch. I don't really know what's going to happen. I don't want to lay nine and a half with the Lions, but I also don't want to take nine and a half with the Red Blacks.
01:38:55
Speaker
So just give me the over and give me a similar game like we had last week. I don't hate it. i The Red Blacks line is very tempting, but this Red Blacks team, as we have found many times, is not one to believe in at all, um regardless of what they showed you the week before.
01:39:12
Speaker
This one, I'm going to take Ticats five and a half at home. Strebler game. I think this is very similar to the first time that, that the blue bombers came to Toronto and Strebler was playing them all of the second half.
01:39:26
Speaker
think the Ticats, uh, win this game by a touchdown. It has moved to six and a half. I think just, just giving you the context. yeah Um,
01:39:38
Speaker
ah, this one's no fun, but I think it's the right move under 51 and a half. Uh, Alouette's the Rough Riders. Yeah, I like it. I just think this could be like a 27-7 win.
01:39:49
Speaker
Yep. I like it a lot. And was it still 55 and a half in that BC-Ottawa game? It is now 56 and a half. Okay, 56 and a half. We got you down. Going the right way.
01:40:00
Speaker
Going the right way. that's whats That's what you want to see. But yeah, so I guess those are our picks. you know, we've taken one week off, but... It's like we haven't been paying attention to the league. We know what's going on. I don't think we would have lost our step here. So hop back on board with the boys.
01:40:15
Speaker
Exactly. Hop back on. That'll do it for a packed, packed episode of the goalpost. lot going on here. Try not to overreact too much to the NFL. But yeah, it is going to be an interesting week too in terms of confirming or denying people's beliefs about this league.
01:40:33
Speaker
But until next week, Patrick, I'll see you for some more football. See Damian.