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Episode 15: NFL Schedule Release
20 Plays14 days ago
114 days away from the start of the NFL Season and the NFL owns the media landscape. Why is that? Because the NFL season schedule has dropped for all 32 teams and the path to the Super Bowl has started to clarify. For fans of Super Bowl hopefuls (like us), every detail matters...international game, short week, back-to-back travel, injury return timelines...it all adds up to a winning or losing formula and we are here to let you know what to watch for.
Also, the NHL Conference Finals are set, Aaron Rodgers is back for another season in Pittsburgh, the Super Bowl is headed to Nashville, and College Baseball races toward the postseason!
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Transcript
Introduction to Coastal Launch Sports Talk
00:00:00
Cody Atkinson
Hello and welcome to the Coastal Launch Sports Talk. I'm Cody coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas.
00:00:09
Justin Daulton
And I'm Justin coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
Importance of NFL Schedule Release
00:00:13
Cody Atkinson
And today we will be your destination for the NFL schedule. As we sit here recording, it's Monday night. We are effectively 114 days to the start of the 2026 NFL season, which feels like a lot.
00:00:28
Cody Atkinson
And yet the NFL still owns the news cycle on this day, 114 days before the start of
NFL's Dominance in News Cycle
00:00:35
Cody Atkinson
the season. Why is that? Because the 2026 schedules have just been released last week.
00:00:40
Cody Atkinson
And more importantly, the nfl social media departments had a chance to flex their muscles or prove that they don't know how to use their muscles with their schedule release videos so which is more important in the schedule or the video we'll let you decide on this episode of the coastal launch sports talk so with our trajectory set it's time to sit back walk in and get started with the rundown this is the coastal launch and we are ready for liftoff here on episode 15.
00:01:10
Justin Daulton
All right, man. 114 days does for like um feel like a long time, but also like not at all because like we're going to wrap up NHL here and then we're just going to have summer of baseball and fun topics as you and I bantered about after the podcast came out last week, having the rest of the summer locked down.
00:01:27
Justin Daulton
So we're going to blink and we're going to be in NFL previews and college football previews. So I'm stoked. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the the fun. episodes of not a whole lot going on around the sports world besides baseball and world cup soccer
00:01:41
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, you're you're ready for list season. We all know it.
00:01:45
Justin Daulton
honestly though you if you look at not a lot of lists i think what we only have two lists in there um everything else we found some like fun more banterish topics to go on but um yes i did get to i did get the chance to sneak in to uh two list videos coming at to you guys very soon so very excited for that But yeah, man, let's hop into the rundown.
NHL Playoffs Analysis
00:02:01
Justin Daulton
Let's talk some NHL hockey. i After tonight, the conference finals ah will be set.
00:02:07
Justin Daulton
Colorado and Vegas took care of business before the weekend even hit. And then Montreal and Buffalo will be our playing tonight, correct?
00:02:17
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, they're they're playing right now. it's ah Montreal's up two to one going into, I believe, the third period.
00:02:24
Justin Daulton
Okay. You want to keep an eye on that as we talk this topic out. um
00:02:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah, we'll we'll finish the topic before the game's up. so ah but and And it's too close to tell right now, but I think we can kind of approach any forward-looking questions from just in your mind who you who you think is is winning this, you know?
00:02:42
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Um, but yeah, so with those, uh, set up, you know, obviously on the other side, Carolina's right. It has been waiting for them for about a week now over a week. So, uh, first question I got from you Cody is, um, what's, what's to do a general vibe check after the second round is that I'll kind of wrap me up, you know, did the matchups level up to the hype? Where, where are where, where's your mind at going into the conference finals?
00:03:04
Cody Atkinson
Man, i'm i'm looking for I'm looking for a bounce back in the conference finals, really. I feel like we didn't get the second round that we really wanted. um And I think a lot of it's just like the series that I was looking for. We didn't really get what we were hoping for. Like Colorado, Minnesota, we hyped up a lot.
00:03:23
Cody Atkinson
in round one, that series was kind of a dud. um i think it only went six games, ah five or six. And I know from for a lot of people's perspective that, you know, comeback,
00:03:39
Cody Atkinson
In the final game, Colorado over Minnesota was something to hang your hat on. It's like, what a great series. Like, we don't get to see that often. But to me, it was the length of the series that I was looking for. And I know a lot of that has to do with ah Minnesota was missing one of their top centermen, Erickson Eck, and they were missing a top...
00:03:57
Cody Atkinson
defensive player Brodine, who his replacement was heavily involved in the goals that were scored by Colorado in that final game to make the comeback. But I think that's just something where we...
00:04:11
Cody Atkinson
ah We wanted to get, we we expected to get a ah more competitive series from Colorado, Minnesota. We didn't get it. And that was one of the premier series. um I think you can also look at Philly, Carolina ending in a sweep was, you know, extremely disappointing given, given the vibes that that that Philly gave us in the first round.
00:04:28
Cody Atkinson
And then the the one series still going Montreal, Buffalo has had its moments, but it's also, as back and forth As back and forth as it's been, a lot of it has been the series is entertaining, but game to game, you're not always going to get entertainment. So um I know it's ah it's a structure of how they set up the playoffs where they they make the first round this premier experience.
00:04:53
Cody Atkinson
And then you just kind of hope that it it lives up until you get to the Stanley Cup and you get a little bit of fall off each round. And I think that's what we saw. We saw To your point, multiple conference championship caliber matchups in the first round. And in round two, we didn't really get that. So I'm hoping for a bounce back in the in the conference championships.
00:05:14
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I'm leaning in the same way as you. the the Montreal Buffalo series has kind of definitely gotten there as the series has gone know then coming Buffalo, sorry, coming back to the save-off elimination in Game 6 was a big moment for them, right?
00:05:29
Justin Daulton
Eventually winning, what was it, 8-4, 8-3, whatever the final score was, after being
00:05:33
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i think they
Potential Upsets in NHL Playoffs
00:05:34
Justin Daulton
downed.
00:05:34
Cody Atkinson
went from three to one to winning eight, like down three to one to winning eight to three. It was crazy.
00:05:39
Justin Daulton
Yeah, so mean, and, you know, winning in their style of play as well out there at Buffalo. So obviously tonight's going to be another highly contested, very physical back and forth game, which we're already seeing with it being 2-1 before we even hit go tonight.
00:05:53
Justin Daulton
So, I mean, ultimately, you know, I thought we were going to see a lot more physicality. I talked about it last week that coming off of the Montreal-Tampa series, I really thought that Montreal was going to come out, punch Buffalo in the face, and and keep the kind of that reckless you know aggression that they've been having in the playoffs even going into the playoffs and even buffalo the way that they were playing.
00:06:14
Justin Daulton
So, and if for not to be that and very, be very clean, concise hockey was a surprise. But yeah, then you look on the other side, we talked last week about Carolina sweeping Philly.
00:06:25
Justin Daulton
That was a, that was a weird one for me and where like we, we, we expected so much out of Philly going into that series, you know, to at least put up a fight. I think to me, like, it definitely seems like this is going to be very chalky. It definitely, it feels like it's going to be Colorado and Carolina and,
00:06:42
Justin Daulton
To me, that's just the worst outcome that we could have gotten in this Stanley Cup. Just because like it's just chalk and hopefully there's some excitement to it. I'll still tune into it because it's the Stanley Cup finals. but ultimately man like it's just not what we expect to come into the second round and I'm with you hopefully the third round better hopefully we get some fight out of a Montreal Buffalo going up against the Carolina and then you know Colorado and Vegas know each other very well so hopefully that means that there's a long series in store and you can see what happens when you push Colorado to the brink because we haven't seen that in this playoff yet and we haven't seen that in Carolina yet so hopefully whoever comes out to face you know in the Stanley Cup they've at least been tested and it's not just chalk all the way around
00:07:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, mean, I think that's that's what we're all hoping for. And I'll kind of transition to the next question you were going have of just, like, analyzing the series, right? um ah To your point, I don't think we've seen either of the favorites get pushed to the limit yet.
00:07:47
Cody Atkinson
And if we get the chance to see that in the next round, i think that could set us up for some so wild surprises, right? Yeah. my my fit what i'm looking the most forward to is carolina versus whoever comes out of this montreal buffalo series to me you know i i picked the canadians so i'll be rooting for the canadians in this game seven but it doesn't matter to me who comes out i just still think that in both series montreal and and buffalo have played some of the more exciting brands of hockey they've given us some of the better games in
00:08:23
Cody Atkinson
this in this playoffs and their games against each other haven't been as physical as we were hoping for but they've still given us electricity where you you know they're the only series that went to seven and and so that puts montreal back to back game sevens so far this playoffs it's it's it's currently a one-point game and we saw the sweep a seven-point swing in in game six in Buffalo's favor. And we saw the same thing in the first round of the playoffs. Buffalo played Boston.
00:08:54
Cody Atkinson
um It was that first game where Buffalo scored three or four goals in the last 10 minutes um to take game one against Boston. um at These two teams, I think, have given us a lot of great hockey and will give us a chance to see Carolina push to the limits.
00:09:12
Cody Atkinson
um And I'm very excited to see what happens when carolina faces a team like this and so i'm really really more so than than colorado vegas which i also think could be could could be a great series because vegas is playing really good brand of hockey as well um but but that uh carolina versus the winner of this game and and you have a you have a just pristine rest versus rust argument here of a potentially a team that's gone seven games twice versus a team that's swept twice
00:09:43
Cody Atkinson
um that's that is as rust versus rust as you can get so i think there's a lot to look forward to um regardless
00:09:50
Justin Daulton
Yeah, i mean, you're talking about a stark contrast random of 14 games versus eight games, right, depending on if it's Montreal that does come out of this game, right? Like, what does that look like? You know, thats ah that was a young team that we talked about and in the and the first round against Tampa, right? That's a young team that doesn't have a ton of a ton of playoff experience. So now you're going to go, you know, these guys aren't – They're not inexperienced anymore. They got 14 games under their belt they're going to go up against the Carolina team. that As you just said, it's that rest versus rest. What does that look like in terms of you know can they get pushed to the brink? great and
00:10:24
Justin Daulton
you know I talked about it in round one that I think this Montreal team after beating Tampa has a real chance of ah making a run
Broader NHL and NFL Narratives
00:10:31
Justin Daulton
to the Stanley Cup finals. And, you know, that still looks true.
00:10:34
Justin Daulton
um So we'll see what we'll see what happens. But, yeah, I mean, on the on the flip side, you know, Vegas, like I said, man, Vegas understands Colorado. Colorado understands Vegas. I anticipate this year is going definitely to that 5-6-7 range. I don't expect this to be a sweep. I don't expect this to be a quick series at all.
00:10:53
Justin Daulton
i do expect to see a a punch counterpunch and see what they see what see you who can come out on top and it's going to be a physical series or rivals they don't like each other so they're the two most winningest teams out there out west i you know in the last you know i was excluding florida and tiappa of last 10 years so it'll be very interesting to see you know that next series and and see what they can come up with um
00:11:19
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, absolutely. i'm I'm taking a quick look. I want to see what the regular season record was between these two teams this year.
00:11:26
Justin Daulton
Yeah. I'll transition to the next topic as you kind of go into there.
00:11:27
Cody Atkinson
How much?
00:11:30
Justin Daulton
Which one do you think is more primed for the upset? can And can they pull it off? Right. So, you know, Vegas being the underdog against Colorado and then a Montreal Buffalo over Carolina. Yeah. and then I'll dive right in. I'll go first. I think if there was a team that can pull an upset, you know, I've been talking about Montreal, you know, that, you know, beating Tampa is the, the, the prelude to all of this, right.
00:11:53
Justin Daulton
You know, you're beating a team that very much could have won the Stanley cup this year. So I do think that Carolina for me has always looked the weakest in a way. And, you know, it's weird to say that when you have a team that has won eight straight games and, you know, is taking weeks off at a time everyone
00:12:11
Justin Daulton
but i think the way that the way the way that montreal is playing if they win tonight, I think carolina Carolina needs to watch out and be careful because not only should they be on upset watch, they could very well lose if they do not like take care of business very early on in this series.
00:12:30
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, absolutely. I think, so I said Montreal Carolina or Montreal, but the winner of Montreal Buffalo versus Carolina is the series that I'm more excited for because I think it's in the aggregate, just better hockey um because I think Carolina is playing at a level that people just aren't appreciating still yet.
00:12:53
Cody Atkinson
And I think that Montreal Buffalo, you know these are two of the hotter teams in the league right now. And so I think you're getting this incredible mix of hockey. But as far as pulling off the upset, I am going to lean toward the other way and say Vegas over Colorado because I know you you could say the same argument for either.
00:13:15
Cody Atkinson
The argument I'm about to make is that Colorado hasn't really been tested in the playoffs. They they played the Kings in the first round, who I think everyone agrees was the weakest team to make the playoffs this year. That wasn't a real series.
00:13:28
Cody Atkinson
Um, l LA played the best hockey they could put like the best version of themselves. They gave it to us and they got swept. Um, and that's just who they were.
00:13:36
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:13:37
Cody Atkinson
That's not a test. And then, you know, to, to go play Minnesota and, you know, you get a Minnesota that's missing two key cogs in the machine.
00:13:51
Cody Atkinson
um And it just doesn't live up to hype and you take care of business, but you didn't take care of business against a team that was at its best.
Aaron Rodgers' NFL Impact
00:14:01
Cody Atkinson
um and And you still showed showed holes in that. Like you win the first game, but you win it like nine to six. That's kind of, I'm not feeling good about that. And then you win the final game, but you have to come back from down 3-0. And in in a way you get gifted that by Minnesota playing to to hold on to the lead, not playing to expand it.
00:14:22
Cody Atkinson
um And so I just i don't think they've, I think Colorado hasn't been tested in a way that they've played teams that haven't tested them. I think Carolina hasn't been tested in a way that they just were that good, that the other team was incapable of testing them because they're that good. And so I'm still of this belief that Vegas is a different team with Tortorello as the head coach.
00:14:49
Cody Atkinson
um and And that you're seeing a more cohesive unit. the The overall they played three times this this season, Vegas and Colorado. ah Vegas won once, lost in regulation once, and then lost in overtime once. So ah Colorado has that to two to one, but that was pre-coaching switch.
00:15:09
Cody Atkinson
So I do think this is a different Vegas. um And I... there's there's There has to be a little bit of magic in the air for one of these teams to pull an upset so we don't get the one versus one.
00:15:22
Cody Atkinson
But I will be sticking with my Stanley Cup prediction. Because i said it was going to be Colorado, Carolina, and neither of them has done anything to really take me off of that. So that will continue to be my prediction.
00:15:36
Cody Atkinson
But I will be rooting for at least one upset. And I think Vegas over Colorado gives us to the best chance because of that familiarity on Vegas' side and the infamiliarity from Colorado not having really played Vegas with the new coach yet.
00:15:53
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Before we shift over, because I think you kind of wrapped up all ah both of our thoughts there, is um after the Anaheim-Vegas series wrapped up, Vegas got hit with a fine and a docking of a draft pick for not doing media um after the game. So no player coaches did any media, but it seemed like the NHL was definitely making in them a martyr in the situation of just like they're levying every single punishment down that they can.
00:16:22
Justin Daulton
um Classless act, right? I mean, you're doing this for fans. You're not doing this for self-pride. This is for your your team. This is for your city. And just to not do media is just a classless act actor.
00:16:35
Justin Daulton
Even though it finished in five, and incredible series against Anaheim, and i and they they definitely deserved a chance to hear what the players and coaches have to say after that series.
00:16:47
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, definitely. But as weird as it sounds, that might be a rallying cry for the locker room to, you know, NHL is against you.
00:16:54
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:16:54
Cody Atkinson
And I can see that band and then together even more as much as I, you know, don't respect the decision to not do media and keep the fans involved in the experience.
00:17:06
Justin Daulton
All right, man. Shifting off NHL. Let's talk
Super Bowl 2030 Host City Debate
00:17:12
Justin Daulton
NFL. It seems like we we're going to find ways to keep talking NFL as this offseason continues on, not just for schedule release.
00:17:18
Justin Daulton
But something that has plagued NFL offensively has playedgued in the so nfl offeas the last i i don't even know five six years now is aaron rogers and where he is going to play football every year uh aaron rogers this week officially decides to return to the pittsburgh steelers on a one-year 25 million dollar contract uh this dude is what 42 right now 43 something like that and making 25 million dollars a year is insane but i'm glad this isn't getting you stretched out all summer long like it has in the previous seasons no darkness retreats no no drugs
00:17:54
Justin Daulton
i don't even know well he does um one question i think keep find in there for me is does this move an need no i could care less about Aaron Rodgers what he does with his career now he he's gotten to the point to where he's eclipsed uh Brett Favre's waffling back in the day of will he return will he not um I think it's ridiculous and ludicrous that the NFL is and these teams are you know giving him the freedom and the power to to hold them hostage uh and I think that's just not the right way to do you know business in the NFL and I think there's
00:18:29
Justin Daulton
I think there's so much you can do as an organization to separate yourself from Aaron Rodgers and, you know, get ready for the next year. Right. You, you, you separate with Mike Tomlin amicably quote unquote.
00:18:40
Justin Daulton
Um, so you really have a chance to start a new era in Pittsburgh yeah in the steelers organization and, so you bring in mike mccarthy you just allow him to bring back his quarterback from green bay So you're just doing Green Bay all over again.
00:18:54
Justin Daulton
And you're you're bringing in, you know, all wide receivers, tight ends, you know, your you're you're you're just cutting yourself off at the lakes to be competitive for anything past the one season that you're doing these things for. So ultimately, no, this doesn't move the needle for me. What are what are your thoughts on Aaron Rodgers?
00:19:13
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, the answer is also no there. um i think i put this question in there because I feel like the sports media in general still views Aaron Rodgers as his prime self. like It's still talked about like it's a big deal that Aaron Rodgers is coming back and like, what does this mean for the Steelers? And are they Super Bowl contenders again? And yada, yada, yada. And I think we saw last year what what you get with Aaron Rodgers. And that's, you know, what was 30 to three or something ridiculous in the season?
00:19:40
Cody Atkinson
you know, the playoff beatdown that the that Texans gave him because he's just, he's he's not that dude anymore. And he he goes off all summer and he does anything other than football. And then you come back and expect him to have gotten better at football um from the prior from the prior year, despite spending none of the off season working with the team or or or doing anything to become a better football player. I think he's washed.
00:20:03
Cody Atkinson
I am personally very excited for the day he retires and I stopped having to hear about him. But ah but but it is it is still news. and And to me, this does not and move the needle for me from Steelers perspective. I still think they, I think we will get very similar Steelers to what we got last year. Maybe they can sneak into the playoffs, ah but they're not a team that's going to do any damage or not a team that I would be worried about facing in the regular season or or the playoffs. I do get it From their perspective, they drafted Drew Aller you know with, I think it was like a third or a fourth third or you know fifth round pick, somewhere kind of in that in that range.
00:20:42
Cody Atkinson
And reports are already out that they're having to tell him to unlearn everything he learned under James Franklin at Penn State and reinstill how to play the quarterback position.
00:20:50
Justin Daulton
Thanks.
00:20:53
Cody Atkinson
So I get looking at it from that perspective and saying, we're not this guy's not playing this year. um So we need stopgap to give us a year to decide if if we're going to build around Drew Aller or if we need to go into the draft next year and spend a first-round pick on a quarterback when there's, I think, seven that could go in the first round next year, kind of as we sit here today. So I get it from their perspective of kicking the can down the road, but I think this keeps them at at ah purely um mediocre mediocre.
00:21:23
Cody Atkinson
and I guess personally I'll be interested in watching Aaron Rodgers get sacked repeatedly.
00:21:31
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I, you know, to talk about last season a little bit, they got lucky that they even made it into the playoffs. The the Ravens kicker missing the field goal in regulation to to allow Aaron Rodgers that one last chance.
00:21:38
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:21:43
Justin Daulton
right and of course air roers is still good enough that if you give them one last chance anything can happen in the in the football game so And that's what happened. So <unk> ultimately help helped out the Texans because that's, I do think that we would have faced the Ravens in the first round. I don't think we would have beat the Ravens in the first round.
00:22:00
Justin Daulton
So it's, you know, oh yeah I mean, with the way that TJ was in a slump going into the playoffs, it was not, it wasn't going be pretty whether or not you had a good Baltimore team or a bad Baltimore team, like we played in the regular season, but much earlier in the, in the regular season.
00:22:01
Cody Atkinson
It certainly would have been tougher.
00:22:18
Justin Daulton
Um, moving it on Superbowl news. Um, something that broke today was there is an owner's meeting this week and the owners will vote on the 2030 Superbowl. Crazy to think about 2030 Superbowl when we still have to focus on, uh, the next four years of Superbowls.
00:22:35
Justin Daulton
Um, but the, it seems like the clear cut winner is going to be Nashville, uh, winning the vote for the 2030 Superbowl, obviously building their new stadium right now. Um, A question that I saw and something that I'm interested in kind of hearing your thoughts, Covey, is that the NFL very much very clearly has a rotation when it comes to Super Bowls, right? And you wrote them down, so I appreciate you for that. San Francisco, l LA, New Orleans, and it seems like Atlanta has now snuck into this rotation as well, with the exception of Miami.
00:23:05
Justin Daulton
News broke last week that Miami is no longer eligible to be a Super Bowl city because of the F1 track that they built around Miami. the the stadium down there in Miami and where the tennis courts are there now for the Miami open.
00:23:19
Justin Daulton
Everything is kind of encroached on itself down there in that sports complex in Miami. um So now they no longer have the direct amenities to be a Super Bowl host city. So it'll be interesting to see what they'll do in the long the long run to try to get Super Bowls back in Miami because I think the NFL would love to go to Miami because it's Miami and weather is usually pretty good in Florida and in in February.
00:23:42
Justin Daulton
So i think you definitely want to get that back in the rotation. But the question is now with Nashville and it's being, it's a dome. It's the same kind of thing that we're seeing with all the other teams. It's the glass roof, right. That we're seeing built built in every stadium.
00:23:56
Justin Daulton
So do you think that Nashville and coincidentally enough, you coming off of a weekend in Nashville, do we think that Nashville can end up being
00:24:01
Cody Atkinson
Good day.
College Baseball Tournament Insights
00:24:04
Justin Daulton
put into this rotation of Superbowls?
00:24:08
Cody Atkinson
I mean, I think it certainly could. Nashville hosted the draft. I think it was a couple of, within the last few years, Nashville hosted the draft um and it it went over really well. the ah I can't say anything about the new stadium. I don't really know where it's being built, but, you know, having just been in Nashville, but at the current stadium is in a very cool spot, ah really close to Broadway. So um i I get it. i think, you know, I had a lot of fun in Nashville this weekend. I think it was a really good town.
00:24:37
Cody Atkinson
I don't think any town is fully, other than Las Vegas, I don't think any town is fully prepared for what the Super Bowl brings to it. So the the question of like what's the experience look like when the Super Bowl comes to town? What's the traffic look like? What's the ability to get around? What's the ability for the the the fun of the city to withhold that many people?
00:25:00
Cody Atkinson
I think that's a little tougher to say because I don't think really any any city is truly prepared for that. But um i think like I think Nashville, it could easily be a burgeoning like Southern sports hub um just because it it has is built up such a you know bachelor bachelorette party capital of the world vibe that I think it's used to people coming in and going out and they have you know one of the larger
00:25:32
Cody Atkinson
ah bar strips in the world for people coming into the Super Bowl. um you know Obviously, they can handle a lot of people there. so i think it's ah I think it's a lot of fun. I think it would be really cool.
00:25:43
Cody Atkinson
to see I think it will be really cool to see them host the Super Bowl um and to to get it to add a little variety to the rotation because the rotation does get stale because like you could you could say like like Houston meets the requirements, but I wouldn't say they're in the rotation because They haven't been, I don't think they've been back in, in ages where it feels like San Francisco and LA get it every three or four years. And so it would be nice to see more variety there.
00:26:13
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I agree with you. i think some some variety to be the spice of life in a way to get some new teams in here, right?
00:26:18
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:26:21
Justin Daulton
You know, you look at the stadiums that they're going to, right? San Francisco being open air, but San Francisco has beautiful weather 364 days out of the year, the one day out of the year that it rains in San Francisco.
00:26:32
Justin Daulton
And then l LA, obviously you have an opportunity in LA. ah It's a, you know, you have the touristy parts of it. I do remember them talking about the Super Bowl when it was LA versus in Cincinnati about it being a security nightmare that they could not get the people into the stadium fast enough.
00:26:48
Justin Daulton
um So I do wonder what that looks like going back here in a couple of years to, to so far to see if they figured out how to get people in there in a more efficient manner. Um, And then Atlanta, I do like that Atlanta is in this mix because I think you talked about it a little bit with Nashville, right? Of this, this Southern, you know, sports hub, right? In a way that Nashville, not necessarily completely South, but definitely considered a Southern state.
00:27:11
Justin Daulton
I do think it's interesting to get Atlanta and and Nashville into this mix because those are such large cities and there's there's cities that are known for partying and having a good time. And I think those stadiums are built for it.
00:27:23
Justin Daulton
I can see the renderings of what the new Nissan stadium is supposed to be like in Nashville. I think it's set up so perfectly for what they want to do in the NFL and not just nfl I've heard buzz around WWE wanting to do WrestleMania is there in the future wanting, you know, not just them, but they're targeting big stadium tours.
00:27:39
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:27:43
Justin Daulton
The Morgan Wong, in the future, right that's what they want to build that stadium not just the Tennessee Titans. obviously they that's the primary but they want to bring in those other big name experiences that will contribute continue to contribute to the economy in Nashville. and And I think the Super Bowl is a big win. And if they can figure out how to to weasel their way into the rotation, I think that's i think that's ah that's a win for us because that's that adds into that San Fran, LA, Vegas, Atlanta, Houston, and or Miami, New Orleans in there from time to time. you know those Those ones that kind of rotate in and out.
00:28:18
Justin Daulton
I think Nashville such a good change of pace to it at all.
00:28:22
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think the variety is a win for the average NFL fan. I think this city and the way it's laid out and just the... the buzz and the vibes that it has is a win for people attending the Super Bowl. I think they're going to have a ton of fun.
00:28:37
Cody Atkinson
um You know, assuming they're able to to handle the amount of people that flow in, which is a requirement of getting the bid. So it seems like they can. Then I think if you go to the Super Bowl in Nashville, you're you're going to have a ton of fun.
00:28:49
Cody Atkinson
I have zero respect for the NFL team that is in Nashville, but but the city itself I have nothing against. Yeah.
00:28:57
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I love Nashville. I've been Nashville quite bit in my life, and i and i have a great time in Nashville. But yeah, I have no respect for the Advis family and everyone up there in Tennessee for what they've done to the city of Houston. It can seem to do to the city of Houston with their rebrand this year. I hate that the NFL is touting it as one of the best rebrands in NFL history.
00:29:13
Justin Daulton
Get out of here with that garbage.
00:29:14
Cody Atkinson
It's disgusting.
00:29:15
Justin Daulton
Yeah, it's disgusting. Yeah. I had one more thought on it, but now i lost it. So we're going to move on. I'm going kick it over to you.
00:29:22
Cody Atkinson
It's all right.
00:29:23
Justin Daulton
It's all good. I'm going to kick it to you, man, to break us down on some college baseball as we draw to the the near end of the season.
00:29:31
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i mean, the regular season's come to a close now for for college baseball. This week is conference tournament week, which I always like to highlight in any sport when it's conference tournament week because that means you have, you know, whatever sport that is, in this case baseball, you're going to have baseball from 9 a.m. m to to midnight pretty much every day until Sunday.
00:29:51
Cody Atkinson
So be ready for it. Have it on in the background. It's going to be an awesome experience. So a lot of the tournaments kick off tomorrow. ah They do end on Sunday. We will see the selection show at noon Eastern on Monday.
00:30:06
Cody Atkinson
So a little bit of a not not not really a primetime experience, which which I think is is interesting and unique. I kind of thought to myself, I don't remember when they do the selection show.
00:30:17
Cody Atkinson
And so I had to go look it up. I assumed it was Sunday night, like March Madness does, but they give themselves until the next day. So excited to see how that plays out. I wanted to highlight a couple of things.
00:30:28
Cody Atkinson
Here is just the SEC tournament is personally, the you know, that's what I'll be focused on because there's so much on the line. A&M, you know, pulled out this gutsy two to one, you know, series win over a a top 15 team in Mississippi State last weekend.
00:30:48
Cody Atkinson
You know, all the injuries that I went over on last podcast still stand. The short short stuff that got hit in the face came back. He was wearing a softball mask that, like, sticks out from his helmet.
00:30:58
Cody Atkinson
And he had one of the Rip Hamilton masks over his nose so that his nose doesn't get hit again.
00:31:02
Justin Daulton
Thanks.
00:31:03
Cody Atkinson
he did And and he's he's he's playing every day, ah just looking like a mummy out there, basically. um And we lost a pitcher after it was announced after – the podcast last week that our our best pitcher this season needed the week off because he was because of arm soreness so really hoping that that's all that is and he can bounce back ah but could be worse and they and they still managed a gutsy two to one win over i think it was number 13 Mississippi State at the time so A&M sits right there on the edge of
00:31:35
Cody Atkinson
either being a regional host where you you know you host the opening round at your ballpark. If you advance beyond that, you're very likely to go on the road to whoever you got paired up against.
00:31:48
Cody Atkinson
But if the team that you're paired up against gets upset, then you still have the chance to host against the team that upset them. or they can get a national host where you are guaranteed to host both the opening round and the second round if you are able to advance. So
MLB Team Updates
00:32:04
Cody Atkinson
they're sitting right there on the edge of that. There will be a lot of ah intrigue behind that, so I'm very excited for the SEC tournament. but if But outside of that, if there's a single tournament that you want to put your eyes on of the 29 tournaments being played this week that will have auto bids on the line, it's the Sunbelt tournament. The Sunbelt has...
00:32:24
Cody Atkinson
two teams fighting to be a regional host. It's very likely that only one of them gets it. So Southern Miss and Coastal Carolina, whichever one of them ah makes it the longest, most likely one of them will win the tournament.
00:32:37
Cody Atkinson
A really good chance that they host a regional, really good chance the loser has to go on the road, but they also have four teams. fighting for like that are pretty much right on the bubble.
00:32:48
Cody Atkinson
They have ah Louisiana Lafayette. They have Troy, Texas State and South Alabama. I have no idea how many bids the Sunbelt will be allotted, but every single one of those four teams is fighting for a chance to to just have one last check on the resume and get in the tournament. i was There's a the college baseball podcast that I enjoy the most, and it's 11.7, and they have a ah brand a generator where you can go in and they generate what they think the –
00:33:22
Cody Atkinson
the field will look like and they had louisiana and troy both making it as the last four in and they had texas state and south alabama boast both in the the either the first four out or the next four out so there's a lot um on the line in this tournament and a team that's not really even on the bubble right now appalachian state actually got third in the conference so a dark horse to for some upsets to make a run that's really not even in the conversation right now but could could put themselves in the conversation before it's all said and done. So of the like 10 teams that qualified for the Sunbelt tournament,
00:33:59
Cody Atkinson
I think seven of them are teams to look out for, which which should make that a ton of fun. So if you're looking for something that you have no investment in, ah you just want to watch good baseball that matters, then watch the Sunbelt tournament. If you want to watch the tip top of quality baseball, then then check the SEC out. But you will get some teams who feel secure in game.
00:34:23
Cody Atkinson
where they stand who will be more than happy to exit the tournament a little early and get a couple extra days of rest. So that's the downside of the SEC tournament. You do get a little bit of that, but you get to watch high-level baseball Tuesday to Sunday, and and i you know I personally can't wait for it. So we'll definitely discuss a little bit of the bracket i once it comes out next Monday as well.
00:34:47
Justin Daulton
Yeah, hoping but for ah an easy regional in College Station next weekend. so Or two weekends.
00:34:52
Cody Atkinson
Don't expect it. Hope for it. Don't expect every projection I've seen. you just look at it and you're like, Oh, like that's a rough one. So we'll see, but, but, but don't, don't anticipate a cakewalk is what i would say.
00:35:01
Justin Daulton
great, great, great.
00:35:06
Justin Daulton
No, definitely not. not in Not in this day and age with NIL and everything in play. But yeah, i got no notes, man.
00:35:11
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Not in this day day and age and not with our pitching staff is the other thing I would add.
00:35:12
Justin Daulton
Excited to...
00:35:16
Cody Atkinson
So,
00:35:17
Justin Daulton
maybe Maybe we bow out of the SEC tournament and and try to get some help on our side, maybe is the strategy.
00:35:23
Cody Atkinson
I really wouldn't be surprised. I don't think we'll aim for it because we have so much on the line, but I would not be surprised at all.
00:35:30
Justin Daulton
Yeah. right. Well, I got no other notes, man. Let's jump over to the wrap-up real quick so we can get to the heart of this week's topic. This week I got for you, Ray's going 4-2. Last week, they... had started one and ah i guess the blue jays they end to finish that series two and one i'm dropping one to the blue jays And then two and one over the weekend against the Marlins.
00:35:49
Justin Daulton
As of recording this, we were up huge to, and we did, we finished off the the win 16 to six over Baltimore today. Huge. I believe we break the franchise record for most runs scored in the game.
00:36:02
Justin Daulton
I think is where we got to.
00:36:02
Cody Atkinson
Jeez.
00:36:04
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I believe so. So that that would have been my stat of the week for you if it wasn't for the fact that the Rays are the first AL team to 30 wins this season.
00:36:15
Justin Daulton
So that's my one stat for you this week, man, that the Rays are continuing to play hot baseball. The Yankees can continue you to play a down downward spiral of baseball. um My one dig of Yankees fans, i don't know if you saw this replay,
00:36:28
Justin Daulton
they ran a six four three play for zero outs they went up round the horn and and recorded drill
00:36:35
Cody Atkinson
Oh, God.
00:36:37
Justin Daulton
okay the
00:36:37
Cody Atkinson
I assume that should not have gone to second. They did. He was safe, and they couldn't make the turn in time.
00:36:45
Justin Daulton
and Even better, the second baseman wasn't covering the bag, so he threw it to the second baseman, which was about 15 feet off the bag, and then the second baseman fires at the first and doesn't even get the out at first.
00:36:55
Justin Daulton
So everyone is out of position.
00:36:56
Cody Atkinson
God damn, that's a peak. i'm I'm sorry, Mike, if you're listening, but that is just such peak Yankees baseball, dude.
00:37:03
Justin Daulton
Yeah, so just a bad brand of baseball, but apparently there's some light at the end tunnel for some Yankees fans. but Apparently the Yankees looking at pulling Garrett Cole back up from his rehab assignments a little bit earlier to get get a spark going for them.
00:37:16
Justin Daulton
So obviously that that spells doom for a lot of a lot of baseball teams when Garrett Cole comes back up here.
00:37:16
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:37:22
Justin Daulton
So I do expect the, I mean, i don't think we play the Yankees for a considerable amount of time, but obviously once we do, you you expect garrehole to be a force against the rays especially with the way that this lineup is constructed so but i feel good man i feel good about where we are as a team right now obviously like said first team the 30 we're at 31 or 32 wins now so good brain of baseball a good part of where we should be obviously we talked a lot last week about where these teams are um so i'm not gonna i'm not gonna harp too long on it but proud of this team man first al team the 30 wins
00:37:55
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, I kind of keep reiterating it every week of like how long can the race keep it going and every week you come back with a positive update and it's just pretty exciting to see that like this seems, <unk> we're getting to the point where you start you you can start to feel comfortable that it's sustainable.
00:38:15
Cody Atkinson
um Obviously knock on wood, injuries aside, um it feels sustainable and and it should be a really fun brand of baseball to watch.
00:38:18
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:38:25
Cody Atkinson
all season um on the not so fun side of baseball brands. ah The Astros are coming off a, off a three and four week, which is honestly better than, than it seemed like it was. That's they played the Mariners Monday to Thursday, one and three.
00:38:41
Cody Atkinson
And then they, they take the weekend series against the Rangers two and one um in the process of that, they lose out to the, a grade two oblique strain. So I think the expectation currently sits that he will probably be out five to seven weeks.
00:38:59
Cody Atkinson
before he's able to come back. We, we, um, are just now getting Jake Myers back from the same grade of oblique strain. And it took him five and a half weeks to, uh, from injury to returning to the ball club. And he hasn't, he hasn't actually returned yet. I think that's expected, um in the next couple of days, I think probably tomorrow or, or Wednesday is the expectation, but it's a really interesting dynamic to be in because the range the like the Astros won two games in a row against the Rangers and it started to feel like they turned the season around and I was kind of like I started to look at standings to be like oh are we are we gaining ground with this win streak we're on and and then I looked it up and saw we had the third worst record in baseball and it reminded me that it was only a two game win streak you you can't make up that much greatly yeah that you can at most make up two games in a two game win streak and So I don't know if it's true that beating Texas this weekend –
00:39:41
Justin Daulton
Okay.
00:40:03
Cody Atkinson
this weekend is a sign of hope or if the fact that it felt like hope is just a sad sign of what this season is where a two game one streak really felt like we rattled off two months of good baseball within like the wildest way.
00:40:21
Cody Atkinson
um so that's kind of where the Astros stand. Obviously you lose all two way that hurts, but the good news is Jeremy Pena is back with the team today. The the game is currently in a rain delay.
00:40:33
Cody Atkinson
so But Jeremy Pena did start today, so he's back with the team, and it is expected that Jake Myers and offseason acquisition Nate Pearson will both return from their rehab assignments ah this week as well, so probably within the next couple days.
00:40:50
Cody Atkinson
I don't know. that's That's the update. I don't have a definitive statement on on what it is. i was ready to bury them by Thursday. i think I sent you a picture of what I thought is something I could turn into a tombstone because I was ready to hang it up on the wall back here and make sure that that I fulfilled my promises.
00:41:10
Cody Atkinson
But 2-1 against the Rangers really felt like they – well It felt like they staved off elimination in a little bit, but also after that, they only sit five games out of the lead of the division because the division sucks so bad. so um I don't have a ton of hope for much, but I have enough hope to not bury the season on May 18th like i ah two weeks ago set the groundwork for what I was probably going to do on May 18th. I think the last two episodes I've teased that I expected to bury the team today. and I'm not not quite ready to do that because they have a they have winnable stretch of games ahead and they get they could convince themselves that
00:41:54
Cody Atkinson
that they can make some magic happen this week. I don't really expect
2026 NFL Schedule Analysis
00:41:58
Cody Atkinson
it. I don't expect them to do anything great, but I think they still believe and that's enough to keep me from burying them yet. So that's my update on the Astros. We're teetering on the brink of of emotional elimination, but we have not fallen over yet.
00:42:16
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I mean, it sucks to see it. i mean, obviously, i think you like you I think as you're alluding to, it's it's prolonging the inevitable when it comes to the Astros this point, right? You can't you can't keep the team, at least a core nine, healthy enough to keep playing competitive baseball down the stretch, you know, down to several amount of games at least.
00:42:35
Justin Daulton
Obviously, two to one against your estate rival helps out with at least the emotion side of things. And of course, I saw a lot of social media discourse over the weekend about the the Rangers takeover. They try to buy out Minute Maid or Dakin, whatever we're calling it nowadays.
00:42:49
Justin Daulton
um They were trying to do it. And then I saw pictures from from the park from the park and there was maybe 20 Rangers fans in the state in the stands in general.
00:42:57
Cody Atkinson
yeah
00:42:58
Justin Daulton
they They were passing out the free hats to the Rangers fans about the Houston asterisk O's. And I'm like, okay. like 2017 was almost 10 years ago now let's move on so just typical
00:43:09
Cody Atkinson
That's a lot of flexing from another team that's also sub 500. Like the Rangers are not good as we, as if you're listening to the show, as we predicted, the Rangers are not good.
00:43:13
Justin Daulton
yeah correct
00:43:19
Cody Atkinson
And to, to, to be sub 500 flexing on the in-state rival that's doing worse is, is kind of crazy.
00:43:26
Justin Daulton
Yeah. So that's all I got, man. But hopefully hopefully there's some spurts of brilliance in there so you can enjoy some Astros baseball this year.
00:43:35
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, hope hopefully. i think my main thing is i i hope that by the trade deadline, we have a definitive plan. Whether that's the team has played well enough that we now believe we can win something this year.
00:43:50
Cody Atkinson
that would be great. I would be very happy with that. Or i would like us to be bad enough that we have no other choice but to sell off. I really just don't want to exist in this middle plane of half buying, half selling, trying to compete, but not competing well enough and not building for the future. So as long as we don't end up there, I will be more than happy with um The fact that we have a a unified a path forward, either for to compete in three years or to stay competitive for the next three years, either way, i will continue.
00:44:23
Cody Atkinson
I will be more than happy, but but with that, I think we can switch over to the main the main topic of the day. is we We got the NFL schedules out, as we as we noted um in the in the intro, 114 days until the start of the season, and we are Texans fans, and because we are Texans fans, we cannot wait for the start of the season because this is the season that at least in our lifetimes, that feels like it has the potential to be the best Texas season we've ever seen. So of all the fan bases in the world right now, I think we unreasonably locked in on what's going to happen in football. So that's what we're going to talk.
00:45:02
Cody Atkinson
We will start from a national perspective. We you know do seek to have listeners of all varieties and not just ah you know Houston or Orlando fans listening to us. So we want to cover a little bit of everything.
00:45:13
Cody Atkinson
So from a national perspective, I think what we're going to do here is we're going to just look at the easiest and the hardest schedule that we can think of. And and the way we're looking at this is is, Justin, we're looking for one team that performed well last year that now has a tougher schedule this year than they had last year. And we expect them to take a big step back. So in my mind, this is a team that was the benefit of an easy schedule last year that will no longer be the beneficiary of that because they now have, you know, presumably ah a conference or a division winning schedule. So who comes to, who who came to mind for you when you looked at the schedules?
00:45:55
Justin Daulton
Yeah, um hard because a lot of your division winners were kind of expected last year So it was difficult to really get out you know a solid grip on where you can kind of go with this topic.
00:46:06
Justin Daulton
I ultimately went to the Carolina Panthers. They're a team for me that's been in the NICLA ever since they drafted Bryce Young. So it's ah it's a division that's in shambles. That was the notes I wrote down here. Tampa Bay lost a lot of pieces, you know Mike Evans being one of them, not bringing in another wide receiver, but they still have a young-ish wide receiver core.
00:46:26
Justin Daulton
And then you have Baker, who's on an aging quarterback contract. They have a good defense. They have a good offensive line. Just in a weird spot in Tampa. Then you look at New Orleans playing a quarterback that no one ever heard of that got drafted last year in Tyler Sal.
00:46:42
Justin Daulton
They don't have a plan outside of him. if he what if he goes down? do you go back to Spencer Rattler? Not really sure what they're trying to do. Alba Kamara doesn't even look like he's going to play this year.
00:46:52
Justin Daulton
if he does it'll be a late addition to the team and then atlanta is always in shambles right around in the in the regular season right they can't get off the ground you know Bijan is Bijan but they lose Pitts this year he moves on to a different team you know and you you move on from Kirk O'Chain to fully commit to Michael Penix Jr and then what does that look like going forward because he hasn't really shown that he looks to be a quarterback one in this league so Carolina still has a golden opportunity in front them to keep winning this division
00:47:25
Justin Daulton
but they are a team that they're not doing enough they're building around Bryce Young they have they're now going to have a division winning schedule where they won the division by one game last year and they won it because Tampa fell apart down the stretch and so it's just to me like do I think that Caroline can still win this division yes 100% because this division is god-awful in the NFC South probably going to be the worst division in football this coming year but i just don't know what caryn is gonna do even if they do get into the playoffs because i just don't see
00:47:58
Justin Daulton
enough of around bryce they don't have the talent they don't have the offensive line to back them up i don't think they have the defense to back them up and it's just it's it's a tough tough battle to see them come out of a very competitive nfc um where you're going to have to face a talented nfc east or and yeah nfc east and a philly a dallas um a washington or new york i could see all four teams winning and they n upc east with the with the with the talented rosters that they have You got San Francisco, who's still a beast out West Seattle, who's still a beast out West.
00:48:31
Justin Daulton
And then you got the NFC North, which is the juggernaut of a division, which i'm go to talk about in in the next topic. But I mean, you have, you know, three teams up there that look that like they're primed and ready for, you know, a run at a Superbowl. So it's, a it's the antithesis of the NFC South is Carolina and how poorly constructed the roster is around Bryce Young.
00:48:56
Justin Daulton
And the fact that they haven't done enough to build up to be competitive in the NFC, that's when I look to take a ah step back in terms of competitiveness, where they did squeak out a win in the playoffs last year to move on to face, I think it was Philly the second round, or maybe they lost to Philly. don't remember how it panned out in the first round, but um just not a not super confident in what the Carolina Panthers can do this season.
00:49:22
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think that's a good one. I do think i think the Panthers a lost to the Rams in the first round of the playoffs this year, if I recall.
00:49:27
Justin Daulton
That's what it was. Yeah.
00:49:29
Cody Atkinson
um But I think that's a good one. that the The division that the Panthers are in is, as you said, an enigma. It's just who who rises to the top for one year.
00:49:44
Cody Atkinson
because the top isn't that high to rise to. But at the end of the day, it's a division that outside of the division, they play mediocre. Like when they play anybody outside of the division, it kind of shines a light on how, how mediocre this is. So if Carolina gets,
00:50:01
Cody Atkinson
stepped over by one team whether that's you know maybe tampa has more left in the passing game than than the league thinks maybe uh tyler shuck is a better quarterback than than we think he's going to be for new orleans maybe michael pennix turns a corner like if any one of these teams jump carolina this year it's really going to compound and make carolina look way worse because Their, you know, whatever it was, 9-8 or 10-7 record last year was the on the back of playing well in the division and not playing well outside of it. So if you play poorly outside of it and then you struggle inside of it more than normal, that's definitely a team that you could see.
00:50:42
Cody Atkinson
Taking a step back and even if they don't take a step back, like you said, the ceiling isn't high um the way they're currently constructed. So I definitely think that could be um a good answer for a team that takes a step back. I think on this one, my theory is that I took the one that you wanted to take as well.
00:51:02
Justin Daulton
Yeah, you did.
00:51:03
Cody Atkinson
because I filled this out first.
00:51:03
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:51:04
Cody Atkinson
So my my theory is I stole this one from you. um And, you know, we we launched this podcast the Monday after the Super Bowl discussing the effects of the Super Bowl. And I think we were both pretty um in line in thinking that New England is was that team this year that benefited the most from the schedule.
00:51:24
Cody Atkinson
It was well known going into the playoffs that New England hadn't really played anybody. of of value they they played very few playoff caliber teams and they had mixed results against them and then they get into the playoffs and you know round one they do have to play Justin Herbert but Justin Herbert's a quarterback who has not won a playoff game yet and so um that that's their first one and and then they play CJ Stroud who was in the middle of the worst run of quarterbacking this world has ever seen before and they barely win that game and then they
00:51:56
Justin Daulton
And his own career too. Like if you, if you look at this whole spectrum, like even going back to Ohio state and everything, the worst, probably what three week stretch of his whole, of his whole entire career.
00:51:58
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:52:06
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Yeah. So they they, they, they become the beneficiaries of that still barely win. And then they become the beneficiaries of a bone X injury. So instead of playing bone X, they have, they get to play Jared Stidham still barely win.
00:52:18
Cody Atkinson
Um, they make it to the playoffs. They were, this was a very beneficial year for the, for the Patriots. Now this year they have a division winning schedule and also the AFC, what are they? The AFC East is paired up with the NFC North.
00:52:33
Cody Atkinson
So beyond playing an a division week schedule, they also have the bears, the lions, the Vikings and the Packers on the schedule, which at least three of those are going to be tough. And we'll see what, what comes of Minnesota this year with, you know, year two, JJ McCarthy, Kyler Murray battling for the starting job, who, who knows what comes of that. They could be a better team than we expect, but at least three Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay are tough series. I was counting.
00:53:01
Cody Atkinson
So from from an overall perspective, The Patriots have the fifth toughest schedule from a 2025 opponent win-loss percentage perspective, which should give you an idea of how much tougher this is than what they played last year.
00:53:18
Cody Atkinson
On top of that, i i was looking at the schedule laid out, and I counted 10 11 wins. Loseable games for the Patriots. And that's just like, that's taking out the Tennessee's of the world, the Cleveland's of the world, the Miami's, the New York jets, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
00:53:27
Justin Daulton
17 games, schedule.
00:53:35
Cody Atkinson
Like I was just kind of cherry picking teams like that out and saying, is this team capable of competing with the new England Patriots? And that's 11 games of their set.
00:53:48
Cody Atkinson
Was it, what are we at now? 18 is 11. Are we at 17 17? That's a little, seventeen but so Yeah, there you go So that's 11 of their 17 were legitimate competition, and that's not something you could last year.
00:54:01
Cody Atkinson
I do still like Drake May a lot. um I like what the Patriots are doing, but you could see a significant step back because they were the they were huge beneficiaries of an easy schedule last year.
00:54:14
Justin Daulton
Yeah, it's an interesting one in New England where not only are they playing a first place schedule this year, which is something that, you know, we saw last year at Saxons fans, you know, how difficult it is to finally get that first place schedule. um But you're also going to look at, you know, a retooled Buffalo team this year, right, of new new head coaching.
00:54:34
Justin Daulton
you know bringing in a little bit more weapons for Josh Allen. you know Josh Allen still plays a tremendous you know brand of hero ball. So what does that look like? you know the The rest of the division is kind of crappy, so you you automatically get you know four easy wins out of the Jets and the Dolphins.
00:54:51
Justin Daulton
But even still, like
00:54:51
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
00:54:53
Justin Daulton
the dolphins still find a way even when they're rebuilding to scrap some some winds away from the division so like i don't i don't know i hesitate to even say that they're cake walks in the division because you still have competition there.
00:55:05
Justin Daulton
So it's a tough schedule. I'm with you. I called Drake mate, you know, in his rookie season that he was going someone to to watch out for for the next 10 plus years in the NFL. And a I think that he'll still continue to do that. Even with 11, we'll call 50-50 games, you know, one score games, whatever you want to call it.
00:55:23
Justin Daulton
You know, that still gives you the opportunity to win. Probably if you win 50% of those, match it with your other six games that are on that schedule, you're still a 10-win team.
00:55:36
Justin Daulton
Obviously, that's still a step back from what they had last year where they were two-seed playing a not-division-winning schedule.
00:55:39
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
00:55:43
Justin Daulton
but that is still a step back from I think it was 12 or 13 wins that they had last year coming one game short against Denver to for the for the number one overall seed so you're still looking at a double digit win season for for the Patriots but it's still step back in regards to where they were last year because it's different competition
00:56:03
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, yeah. i'm not I'm not by no means am I predicting they go six and eleven and miss the playoffs.
00:56:09
Justin Daulton
yeah
00:56:10
Cody Atkinson
ah but But what I am saying is I think they will be closer to... you know, what the Texans were last year where they were battling in the final weeks to make sure that they secured a playoff spot i'm somewhere in that wild card.
00:56:24
Cody Atkinson
Like I could easily see Buffalo pulling away with the division, New England battling for a wild card spot. Now opening week of the playoffs, you have a legitimately tough matchup that you're not even favored in.
00:56:37
Cody Atkinson
and you're still a better player.
00:56:37
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
00:56:40
Cody Atkinson
overall team than you were last year but the the road to accomplishing what you accomplished last year is going to be tougher so you could be that you could improve as a team and end up short of where you got last year because last year was just a gift from the gods you know
00:56:57
Justin Daulton
Yeah, and you and you talk about it too, right? When when you start getting into the playoff conversation, are you playing at Foxborough or are you traveling? Because that's a big conversation because if you're traveling, it you have to travel out west or you're coming down south
00:57:04
Cody Atkinson
exactly
00:57:10
Justin Daulton
that's a completely different shift in in preparation especially if you're going out West here and you're playing Chargers team or don't know who else that's competitive out that way. Maybe you get a a Vegas or maybe you do get a ah Kansas City or maybe you do travel to Houston, right?
00:57:28
Justin Daulton
you know That's a whole different level of preparation as it is to prepare for a Foxborough game where you're not happy to travel, you get to stay at home. So yeah, if you get to that point to where you are a wildcard team and Buffalo steals that that division away from you, completely different approach to the playoffs than what they saw last year.
00:57:46
Cody Atkinson
yep and that doesn't even consider some of the off-season drama that the team is obviously going have to work through the the mike variable stuff the will they won't they trade for aj brown come june 1st stuff you know there's a lot a lot going on yeah this yeah so there's there's a lot going on that could distract from the locker room too so when you consider that it
00:58:01
Justin Daulton
The stuff on dig stuff that hangs that hung over their heads all.
00:58:10
Cody Atkinson
it just there's It's going to be a lot tougher of a battle for for New England come September of 2026. but it's september of twenty twenty six
00:58:19
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely.
00:58:20
Cody Atkinson
but let's so Let's flip it over to the other side. Let's be positive here for a second. And let's just let's highlight a team that um in this case kind of underperformed last year.
00:58:31
Cody Atkinson
And as a result of that, has the real chance to benefit from a schedule that's probably easier than what they should get if they had performed to expectations last year. So who's going to make some noise this year off an easy schedule similar to like kind of what the Patriots did last year?
00:58:48
Justin Daulton
Well, once again, you stole mine, so I had to pivot away and get a different one. um Still happy with mine. I'm going to Detroit Lions. When you look at, they're a bottom 10 in terms of difficulty schedule.
00:59:02
Justin Daulton
The rest of the division is in the top 15 of the hardest schedules. And I think the the lowest one there is Green Bay and they're like 11th. So the other two are in the top 10. And I believe the Bears are the hardest, but not like the second hardest schedule in football this year.
00:59:16
Justin Daulton
So my my justification to this is that those teams are going to play a much more difficult schedule going to get beat up guess you're playing much higher level competition and it's going to allow Detroit to play very Dan Campbell-esque football which is aggressive against these lower teams get some wins out there get some momentum going even with the loss of David Montgomery and a few other pieces but you're going look at Jameer Gibbs he's now the the lion's share obviously he got the lion's share last year but he's no longer splitting carries he is the number one back in Detroit you know you've got Jared Goff who still plays at an elite level of football
00:59:52
Justin Daulton
And I still have a whole lot of trust in Dan Campbell way and that he coaches that football team. And when you give him i a bottom third, bottom tenth of this of this of the schedule difficulty, I got a lot of confidence in that team that they can they can make some noise. And then you know down the stretch when they had to play a Chicago who is running this gauntlet of a schedule and they're going to get beat to hell, you got a good chance in Detroit to run and make some noise and maybe even stay you know you know what is you know we talk about you know year two jj mccarthy right in in minnesota but what does it look like you know for for jordan love does jordan love get consistent um in green bay does um does uh losing the name uh caleb does caleb williams continue to play at the level that he was last year does that hero ball come down does he have to find a balance that like josh allen has had to find over the years right
01:00:34
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm.
01:00:47
Justin Daulton
Because Caleb played a lot of hero ball last year to get them to where they were. So a lot of variances, a lot of variables in that division that's going to allow Detroit to play their style football and have a real good chance at making a run in that division.
01:01:02
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i I think that's a really good pick. like Like you said, you have the chance to have the easiest of the schedules in ah in a division that we know is going to eat itself alive.
01:01:14
Cody Atkinson
And that's a huge benefit to potentially be the healthiest team in a division that that that is that is falling apart. and I think a lot of Detroit's issues last year and and the year before coming into the end of the season is staying healthy. You know, they're on the defensive side of the ball. They've really struggled to stay healthy. So schedule aside, if if they're a team that can stay healthy,
01:01:36
Cody Atkinson
then you could see a huge bounce back. Add that with an easier schedule. Add that with what I think, you know, andm i'm I think the David Montgomery trade is going to be one that benefits both parties. I think Jameer Gibbs elevating to premier back is is a benefit to Detroit as a whole. And then I think having David Montgomery in the backfield is a huge benefit to Houston from what you had last year. So I like what that can do.
01:02:04
Cody Atkinson
for the Detroit offense. And then, like you said, there's there's more question marks than I think the the ecosystem around the league is willing to say. With the NFC North, I still do agree it's the best or close to the best division in football right now. but Caleb Williams has only been successful for one year so far. So can he do it again? guess it's a tougher schedule.
01:02:28
Cody Atkinson
um Can he do it again when there's more tape on him? Jordan Love still two up and down. Also, Green Bay never really has a wide receiver one. They just have a bunch of wide receiver twos. So like what can they make from that?
01:02:43
Cody Atkinson
And then obviously Minnesota. what are they What are they going to do at quarterback and is it going to be better than what they got last year? There's a lot that Detroit can capitalize on too to take the step forward. A team that we all expected to be in the playoffs last year fell short and has a really chance to bounce back and be back in the playoffs this year. So I think that's a really good one. um We both agree that mine is better because I stole it from you.
01:03:08
Cody Atkinson
the bengal ah The Bengals from opponent 2025 opponent win-loss percentage have the third easiest schedule in the NFL.
01:03:09
Justin Daulton
it
01:03:20
Cody Atkinson
Their issues last year were that Joe Burrow was injured and they didn't have a defense. So all of this still relies on Joe Burrow being healthy.
01:03:33
Cody Atkinson
um We will see... what comes of that. There's also obviously no predicting that, but if he can give you a healthy season and you get Joe Burrow against the third easiest schedule in all of football, i mean, this is a Joe Burrow that took the Bengals to the Super Bowl not that long ago. i think something that His recent injury history has kind of gotten us all to forget is just the the ceiling he took them to right away.
01:03:58
Cody Atkinson
And then add that to the defensive improvements that the Bengals have made this offseason. They traded for Dexter Lawrence. They signed Kyle Duggar from New England. They signed Boye Mafe from Seattle, two guys that have very recent Super Bowl experience.
01:04:15
Cody Atkinson
they They drafted edge rusher Cassius Howell. in the first round or in the second round this year. I know me and you are both huge fans of his from his time at A&M, but also last year in the first round, they drafted a defensive end Shamar Stewart out of A&M who proceeded to basically miss all of last year with an injury.
01:04:33
Cody Atkinson
He's coming back this year healthy. So you have Dexter Lawrence and Boye Mafé added to the defensive line. You you throw in an early second round pick borderline first round guy and your first round from last year that you didn't get to benefit from, you could see a much, much improved defense paired with a healthy Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase connection. I think T Higgins is still on the roster. Last I checked this, um,
01:05:00
Cody Atkinson
and the Bengals could be the team to look out for to go from, from last to first real fast in, in a ah division that's more winnable than ever with the Ravens introducing or having to install a new coach, the Browns being the Browns and the Steelers also having to install a new coach with a quarterback that doesn't i pay attention to football in the off season. And it's, you know, 73 years old or whatever we said earlier. So, um,
01:05:29
Cody Atkinson
I know I stole that one from you. I think you're you're more of a Bengals believer year in and year out than me. um You're a huge Joe Burrow guy from our text messages. And so um that that one really sticks out.
01:05:43
Justin Daulton
yeah i'm with you i think there's so much potential in the aoc north right with yeah you hit on it right that baltimore is starting a new coach pittsburgh and installing a new coach the aaron rogers being aaron rogers um i think there's a lot of potential joe barrell stays healthy the connection obviously that he and jamar has even whether he's been able to do with t over the years and then you you you highlighted all the ah all the ah acquisition on the defensive side of the ball.
01:06:09
Justin Daulton
I think there's so much that leads to a positive trajectory for for a team that plays so well when they're healthy and they can all be on the field. You saw it two years ago when they went on that unbelievable second half run and they just fell one game short to making the playoffs and I was ready to bet hundreds of dollars on them to win the Super Bowl. They could squeak into the playoffs that year because they were they were the team that no one wanted to play down the stretch. And ultimately, does i know like i said, one game short. And you know I still think that this is a team that if they make a run, that I'm i'm so i'm scared even with the Texans even. Yeah.
01:06:45
Justin Daulton
that's a team that is built for the long haul and they're a team that you have to if you gotta to go north that's ah that's a place that i don't want to play cause you that staium sits on the river that some cold air coming off that river in cincinnati so um ah team that i definitely don't want to play in hopefulphifi of the texan skin get a one or two seat and don't have to go north at all this then this playoff But one game I want to circle on the calendar for if you're a Bengals fan out there, um eleven twenty nine Joe Burrow goes back home to play the New Orleans Saints.
01:07:15
Justin Daulton
Obviously, we just got done talking about how awful the New Orleans Saints are, but a homecoming for Joe Burrow to go down south and play down there where he obviously won the and played at LSU but won his national championship and in New Orleans, won his Heisman down there, all that stuff. So a nice little homecoming for him, I believe, the first time he's played down there since leaving college. So circle that one on the calendar because I think he's going want to – him and Jamar are going want to play at an elite level going down to New Orleans that weekend.
01:07:47
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, no, that's a good highlight. I would not be surprised at all if um there were Saints fans you just in just in a pretzel trying to figure out, yeah, yeah yeah you might see as much ah purple and gold as you see black and gold come at.
01:07:56
Justin Daulton
where wearing Burrow jerseys.
01:08:08
Cody Atkinson
He is an absolute hero down there and ah what ah What a welcome that's going to be for him and Jamar Chase. So that will actually be – I didn't spot that on the the schedule when I was looking at it, so that that that will be a lot of fun.
01:08:24
Cody Atkinson
Hopefully a game that gets some national television recognition.
01:08:24
Justin Daulton
Yeah, it'll be fine. in
01:08:28
Justin Daulton
Hopefully, hopefully, right? I mean, it just depends on where New Orleans is by that point and where it'll fit into that time slot. But I'm sure as of right now, where it's slayed on the schedule, it's probably and that a nice little noon game for you or a one o'clock game for me.
01:08:41
Justin Daulton
But it'll be interesting because I also think that as we've already teased the first list video going up next week for us, where Joe Burrow falls on that list, because I think he he definitely deserves to be in that top 10 list.
01:08:42
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:08:53
Justin Daulton
And it'll be interesting where both you and I have Joe Burr on that list because that that season down there, obviously one season, but one one of the best seasons of all time from a college quarterback. So as you already answered, he's a hero down there in Baton Rouge and New Orleans for sure.
01:09:08
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, certainly. And I think that I think it kind of makes for a good transition here to our to our next topic, too, because as as much as we're hyping up the Bengals, the Bengals have to come is it to Houston?
01:09:20
Cody Atkinson
Let me see. The Bengals have to come to Houston in week two.
01:09:22
Justin Daulton
It is to Houston. Yes.
01:09:25
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. And so as much as we're hyping up the Bengals, they will get, they will get hit with a test very early on in the season. And that's who we're really here to talk about. So we're going to break down the Texans schedule. Now that was our, you know, national list. Those are the team teams to expect to follow up from teams to, to the Gulf War on the come up. But, We're just going to take a look at at the Texans schedule now. And let's start with, but let's warm ourselves up to get into this Texans talk. And just like the Texans will have and at least one easy stretch of games to warm themselves up and and and get ready for for the stretch ahead. What do you think the easiest stretch of games is for the Texans? I'm i'm thinking at least a three-game stretch, but maybe it's just two. Maybe you've got a four-game stretch.
01:10:09
Cody Atkinson
um where Where do you think that they can take a break? Maybe you don't need to watch the games for a couple weeks while you take care of the family.
01:10:17
Justin Daulton
It's a tough one. a lot of A lot of these games are spread out pretty evenly with the exception that I'll mention you my hardest stretch here when we get to that point. But these games are spread out pretty evenly where I don't think there is too high of a stretch or too easy of a stretch. If I had to pick one out, I keep going back and forth on it. But I think from the from week three to so honestly week six, think
01:10:47
Justin Daulton
in game but I mean week three you go to at Indy Daniel Jones probably not starting until October because of how late in the season he had the ACL and injury last year um so I think that's an easy early victory now that that game would have been later on in the season maybe you do get Daniel Jones back in there and now you have to worry about two times Daniel Jones but now you're going to have one less and then maybe Daniel Jones is back and probably back and ready for the week 11 game So no Daniel Jones and week in week three. So I think that's pretty easy win because I don't think they have a backup quarterback in Indianapolis.
01:11:22
Justin Daulton
Week four is home for Dallas. That's a game that we have to win because we have to win in this in the state of Texas. But also look at just looking at the state of the Dallas Cowboys,
01:11:34
Justin Daulton
They keep relying on Dak. Dak keeps getting hurt, can't shoulder the pressure, can't keep the wide receivers healthy around him, can't keep a defense around, you know, Trevon Diggs falling off and not being the number one quarterback that they thought he was going to be. They keep going down the list. There's enough there to prove why Dallas continues to be that mid-level and not too low, not too high.
01:11:54
Justin Daulton
But I think playing them in week four allows them to be – you know, fresh enough that they don't understand what they're good at and not bad at. So I think that's reason why I think that's an easy win for the Texans because early on defense beats offense because the offense isn't clicking yet.
01:12:10
Justin Daulton
And I trust this defense to beat that Dallas offense because I don't, don't see anyone doing major numbers against this defense. um Then we go week five to the Tennessee Titans.
01:12:23
Justin Daulton
Tennessee Titans probably going be competing with Arizona for the worst team in football this year. So not a lot of notes there. And then I'll include week six into this because it's Jacksonville. And I don't think Jacksonville has, I think Jacksonville is a team that's going to take a step back this year. They lost too many pieces that I don't think there's enough there for them to make a run.
01:12:43
Justin Daulton
And i know they're playing at their home away from home in London. But I think that you know defense travels. Defense has always traveled when it comes to NFL football. And I think that's going to be my my my through point through most of this first half of the season is that the defense is going to win us a lot of games and not necessarily the offense having to win us a lot of games.
01:13:02
Justin Daulton
But to me, that's the easiest stretch because a lot of those games are very much on the winning side of those of that of that argument.
01:13:11
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I definitely can see that. are I'm going to go with a variation of what you went off here. I think I'm going to exclude week four. I think I probably have a higher view of Dak Prescott than maybe the average NFL fan has. I think he's a ah very good quarterback. I think you're early enough in the season that you have to assume that Prescott will still be there.
01:13:39
Cody Atkinson
The one... issue I feel like the Texas defense has had over the years is it's kind of there is a little bit too much big play potential sometimes where they can like you will just dominate the game and get burned once or twice just one too many times and that's kind of how you lose so it. Week four scares me a little bit in the high-octane nature of Dallas' office with obviously Prescott, but then also having Lamb and Pickens to go to.
01:14:08
Cody Atkinson
In the receiving core, i'm not I'm not saying I expect to lose that game, but I do view that as as maybe a more difficult game. So I'm kind of looking more at, you know, at Tennessee, we are both in agreement on what Tennessee is as a football team.
01:14:23
Cody Atkinson
Home to Jacksonville, or I guess it's a home. It's a home. First, it's neutral to Jacksonville. Sorry. This is the London game, which which throws in the added aspects of it. But at the same time, i'm I'm in agreement with you that I think Jacksonville takes a little bit of a step back and I expect Houston to take ah a big step forward this year. So I think that is a very winnable game.
01:14:50
Cody Atkinson
for Houston, and then home to the Giants. I really like what the Giants are building. i really like what Harbaugh can bring to this team. i don't know that he is going to have it all clicking by week seven.
01:15:05
Cody Atkinson
i think this is more of a team. The Giants are more of a team, in my opinion, that has a hot second half of the season, and you get really excited what they can do for what they can do in year two under Harbaugh.
01:15:17
Cody Atkinson
So I'm not really expecting the Giants to be the biggest um threat by week seven, especially with what this defensive line could potentially do to Jackson Dart. You could put Jackson Dart in a blender and and have this game mentally over by halftime just because you're he's so young and your defense is is just that good. Yeah.
01:15:45
Cody Atkinson
I'm looking at that stretch right there. you Obviously, you get the bye week right after that. And if you wanted to extend it a little further, you have at the Chargers. i feel like that's a team whose number we've generally had lately.
01:15:58
Cody Atkinson
a team that just does not seem to match up well against Houston. And then at Cleveland right after that. Cleveland is who Cleveland is. Again, a team whose number we've had. I think I would stop there because that that Thursday night game against Indianapolis right after that, I assume Daniel Jones is back by then. and And that becomes a much more difficult matchup. But I'm really looking at weeks five through seven. Potentially, if you want to, you can add weeks nine and ten.
01:16:26
Cody Atkinson
on that stretch obviously a bi-week before cross-country trip to to to California is is very helpful and then and then getting to wrap that up with a a Cleveland team who I highlighted how much I enjoyed their draft but at the end of the day this has not proved to have a an NFL caliber quarterback to lead this team so um that's why I think we're we're really i feel like we're linchpinning around the same kind of the same stretch right there you see Tennessee and Jacksonville back to back and you kind of look around it and you don't see, you know, the Seahawks or the Rams or, or somebody like that. and you think to yourself, this is, this, this could be a nice little stretch here.
01:17:10
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely. i I also think the the reason why i didn't go down to seven is I think you and I spent all of last season talking so much about the Giants, right, how much talent they have on that on that football team.
01:17:12
Cody Atkinson
So,
01:17:23
Justin Daulton
And, you know, if everyone gets healthy for week one, you know, Cam Scadaboo said that he's going to be ready for week one. You know, is Thibodeau ready for week Is Naver's ready for week one? Because if they are, man, that's a team that – Harbaugh has a lot that he can do with and I'm going to be very interested to watch them this their's season because I think there's that's a team that can do a lot. I mean, it's a division that's very difficult to win, but I think that's a team that can be in the hunt for a wild card spot, if not even for the division, depending on how Philly and Dallas shake out. And don't even want to discredit what the commanders can do as well.
01:17:59
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, no no, definitely. I'm with you on that. i just I think for me, I look at what is a year two quarterback ah versus Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, throwing Caden McDonald, like ah Stingley and Lasseter, like
01:18:12
Justin Daulton
The secondary, that got they got better.
01:18:15
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I could see that being – could see the Giants being a very good team next year by the time it's all said and done and still having a really bad game against this defense. However, it is right after London, so maybe that maybe we don't get the best version of the Texans that week as well, which makes it a lot tougher.
Houston Texans December Challenges
01:18:33
Cody Atkinson
it's what That's where it becomes a little bit harder. But to your point, there's no there's no super easy stretch, and you kind of have to – you have to overlook a thing here or there to pick an easy stretch. And, you know, for me, it's let's overlook the, the, the potential of the giants. Cause it's still in the first half of the season, but let's flip it over to the hardest. I think the hardest part of the season is to be a little easier to pick here. So, um, what, what stretch are you looking at for the hardest part of the regular season?
01:19:03
Justin Daulton
I'm going to, I think we're going to ultimately see the same part here. It's December plus one, um all the December games and then into the first week in January is what I mean by December plus one.
01:19:15
Justin Daulton
So 13 through 17, you got at Pittsburgh, December 6th, going to be called already um week 14 at the Commanders on December 13th, going to be cold. um Then you do get to come home to play the Jaguars, which will be fine. i mean, you get to play front confines, so you'll be good there.
01:19:37
Justin Daulton
um But then week 16 at Philadelphia on Christmas Eve, just about guaranteed snow game at that point and on link went i at at the And then the plus one is January 4th at Green Bay. Go ahead and guarantee yourself some snow there as well.
01:19:53
Justin Daulton
um So the the note that I put on here is that this is a team that is not traditionally played well in the snow. We saw that in the playoffs last year against the Patriots with CJ playing with. He did.
01:20:05
Justin Daulton
This team is going to play in snow down the stretch. So we're going to see this team try like battle tested through it. i don't know what I would feel comfortable with in terms of a record through that stretch of games um to feel good about it. But you want to talk about a stretch of teams that, ah you know, you're going to say one way or another, the Texans are a real, a real contender for the Superbowl through the stretch of games and, you know, got some primetime games in there too. So you're going to see a lot of, get a lot of national attention on CJ Stroud and that's, he's going to want it.
01:20:38
Justin Daulton
So this is, that's a tough stretch and it's going to be the hardest stretch for, for this team. And they get to come home from the Titans after that. So you do get a a tail off into the playoffs to get rested. But man, that's a tough stretch of games in December.
01:20:51
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, no, I think we we both have the same answer here. um That's by far the the toughest stretch of the season. and And I guess you kind of already went into it, so I will as well in the sense of our next question was going to be from a scheduling perspective.
01:21:08
Cody Atkinson
What's the hardest? Like from a... road travel, um you know, short week here, long week here type of thing. Like from that perspective, what's the hardest?
01:21:19
Cody Atkinson
And it's the same answer. Like you pointed out, this is four out of five on the road.
01:21:21
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:21:25
Cody Atkinson
This is all four road games being in cold environments in the month of December, early January, where you actively could see snow on the field four or out of five weeks.
01:21:39
Cody Atkinson
which could make it even more difficult. Obviously, we highlighted how little I respect Pittsburgh, so I'm not looking at playing Pittsburgh on December 6th as this difficult matchup, but playing Pittsburgh in the snow really tests an aspect of this team that we haven't seen succeed and makes that a more difficult matchup worthy of being considered in this stretch. Obviously, at Washington, well, Jaden, if If it's two years ago, Washington, this is a huge matchup. If it's last year's Washington where Jaden Daniels can't stay healthy, that changes everything. But as of right now, we have to kind of look at it as this is a full strength Washington team, which the last time we saw a full strength Washington team with Jaden Daniels, they were beating the Detroit lions in the playoffs and advancing to, I believe the NFC championship game.
01:22:27
Cody Atkinson
Um,
01:22:28
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
01:22:29
Cody Atkinson
Home to Jacksonville is a little bit of a breather, but in this stretch, that's that's still very difficult. At Philadelphia, a hugely difficult game, raucous environment, rowdy, dangerous environment.
01:22:41
Cody Atkinson
um And obviously ah just a perennial Super Bowl caliber team that that we have no reason to really expect them not to be again. um Green Bay, we've discussed what what could be a fall off for them, but that doesn't make that doesn't make that game any less difficult, especially when you consider it at Lambeau.
01:23:00
Cody Atkinson
in the snow. This, from both a quality of teams you're playing perspective and from ah scheduling dynamics perspective, is very unfavorable to the Texans. And it's going to be a really rough stretch that that challenges them, but also prepares them for a playoff run because the nfc generally i think is is better than the afc right now and that's three nfc road games in a five game stretch the only other stretch i would consider is i would say like a week's one like you're kind of anchoring it on on buffalo cincinnati to open the season
01:23:37
Cody Atkinson
um Obviously, the the c Colts, if Daniel Jones was healthy, that would add to the difficulty there. It doesn't currently. And then just depending on how you view Dallas in week four, I feel like that's the only stretch that could be considered as well, but it pales in comparison to this December plus one. and If you wanted to do December plus two and throw Baltimore week 12, you know, a healthy Lamar, that's not going to be
01:24:03
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:24:06
Cody Atkinson
easy either. So that's you know starting week 11, week 12, that's when you're really going to see this team get tested and prepared for the playoffs, which is which is good. they they i don't want us I don't want to be rooting for a team that's not <unk> that hasn't been challenged yet by the time we get to the playoffs, and and they certainly will have been.
01:24:25
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I mean, you talk about the scheduling dynamics, right? That, you know, starting with that Pittsburgh game, it's Sunday night football. So that's that's you getting out of that game late and then having to get home and get reset. You know, that usually means Monday is off and then you're going to work on Tuesday to get going immediately, to get prepared to go back out on the road and fly.
01:24:46
Justin Daulton
Friday night or Saturday morning to DC. And then you got to play that. That's an early game. It's a one o'clock game for us on the East coast, noon out there on central time for you guys.
01:24:57
Justin Daulton
um But then you have to get back home for Jacksonville and then you're going to play Jacksonville normal start time for the Texans. But then you have a short week to go play Thursday night football against Philadelphia.
01:25:10
Justin Daulton
So that's an, that that's just a tough three week stretch of travel of of traveling Pittsburgh, traveling to Washington, and then traveling to Philadelphia. And two out of those three are primetime games.
01:25:23
Justin Daulton
And then, you know, you do get to go, you get to come back home, but then you got fly to Green Bay. There's no good way to fly into Green Bay. You're going to have to hop on a team bus got to play Monday night football. And then the good thing is you got you have Tennessee at home that following week, but man, getting to Lambeau is so difficult.
01:25:39
Justin Daulton
And there's just no good way to get to Lambeau because there's on not like if there's an airport in Lambeau. So just a lot of scheduling dynamics in that in that month where it's just, you got some prime time matchups in there that ah just accounts for some weird scheduling that D'Amico is going to have to figure out week to week on how he wants to prepare and get ready. and I'm circling that Christmas Eve game, man, because that's going to be a tough one to travel for and get ready for it.
01:26:02
Justin Daulton
Because, yes, you have Jacksonville at home, but you basically have to immediately start game prepping on Saturday so you can start on Monday on monday night after the Jacksonville game to get to insert the game plan and get ready for for all its purposes, a Super Bowl, like you said, a Super Bowl contender Philadelphia team.
01:26:22
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, no, that's that's going to be tough.
Predicting Texans' Record
01:26:24
Cody Atkinson
And from a fan perspective, that's going to make the end of the season just a ah blast to experience. and And with that, I think it's... I think it's time for us to to get some record predictions out there, Justin.
01:26:36
Cody Atkinson
I know you were, I think, quote unquote, ready to, was it ready to drink the Kool-Aid or were you making the Kool-Aid yourself at this point? Like, I'm not really sure. um but I think you were you were ready to ah really predict way to ah way too locally, I guess you could say.
01:26:56
Justin Daulton
114 days too early record prediction.
01:26:59
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:26:59
Justin Daulton
um
01:26:59
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:27:01
Justin Daulton
Do you want to go game by game? Because I don't have a number in my head right now. Do you want to go game by game and we just say what we want to
01:27:04
Cody Atkinson
okay
01:27:06
Justin Daulton
So week one, week one, home for Buffalo.
01:27:08
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, let's do game by game.
01:27:12
Justin Daulton
What do you got?
01:27:13
Cody Atkinson
ah That's a W. Josh Allen does not win in Houston. If it was on the road, I would have a different answer. But in in pristine air-conditioned environments, ah Houston has outplayed Buffalo time and time again.
01:27:26
Justin Daulton
A nice 72-degree Reliance Stadium gives you that dub for Buffalo. i agree. it Will Anderson Jr. career game again.
01:27:34
Cody Atkinson
Absolutely.
01:27:35
Justin Daulton
um Week two, Joe Burrow and the Bengals come to town. What do you got?
01:27:40
Cody Atkinson
I hyped up Joe Burrow a lot. I think this is a really good team that can accomplish a lot. I don't expect that to begin in week two. I think you have a lot of pieces to put together as far as building out this brand new defense.
01:27:54
Cody Atkinson
um and And I don't think that... Joe Burrow is he being more of a, less of a mobile quarterback. I don't think he's somebody that's going to really test the the defensive line. I think they have a chance to to to feast pretty heavily. I'm going to say W if week for week two.
01:28:14
Justin Daulton
I'm also going to go W, but I'm going to go Kaimi-Fairbairn career game. I think this is a very low-scoring affair. I think both defenses have their way. and You're going to talk about a situation where Timing with Burrow isn't lined up quite yet with with Chase and Higgins, but the same could be said for Stroud with Higgins and our own Higgins and then Nico as well and trying to figure out what's going on the tight end room.
01:28:34
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:28:37
Justin Daulton
So I can see this being a very heavy, run-heavy game, and then I also de see the defenses having their way. So I do think this is one of those that we talk about, you know, less than 16 total points, 19 total points type situation.
01:28:52
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, absolutely.
01:28:53
Justin Daulton
ah week three, we go on the road to Indianapolis, where historically the Texans do not play well.
01:29:01
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and I think there's a chance you don't see them play well here, but I think without Daniel Jones at the quarterback position, like I don't know if it's going to be Anthony Richardson or if it's going to be Riley Leonard, i think it was last year by the time we played them.
01:29:18
Cody Atkinson
This is a W for for Houston. i i i would want I want to respect Indianapolis, but um I don't see you losing to a backup quarterback in week three.
01:29:28
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I'm with you. Like I said in the end the breakdown earlier, I think if this game is three or four weeks down the line and Daniel Jones is playing, because I think he's projected sometime in October to be playing, I think it's a different conversation.
01:29:42
Justin Daulton
ah But because this is week three, I do see the Texans starting in 3-0 as well. All right. um Next we go we come back home to play the Dallas Cowboys.
01:29:55
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i' I'm going to create a little running tally for us here so we know what the – we're both currently at 3-0.
01:30:01
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:30:02
Cody Atkinson
I don't really want to pick it here, but I do think the Texans have – I do think they will slip up at some point in the first half of the season. Like, I don't see the offense coming out guns a-blazing, and I don't see this team going seven and o into the bye week.
01:30:20
Cody Atkinson
And so I do think – the explosive I think the explosive nature of Dallas' offense could get just enough plays for the hugees for the Houston offense to not be able to keep up in the sense that the yeah i think the Houston defense plays really well. I think they're going to play really well against every team they play.
01:30:40
Cody Atkinson
But gives up one too many big plays in the offense just just doesn't show up on this day Teams with good offense, bad defense scare me more than vice versa because one big play could be enough to um offset ah an offense that we really don't know what expect from. So I am going to pick the L here, even though I don't like doing so.
01:31:05
Justin Daulton
I'm in the same headspace. i do see I don't think we go 7-0 building into the bye week, but I don't think it happens here for the opposite reasons that you just listed. I think the defense and the secondary that is vastly improved we're adding depth into the cornerback position in the safety position we got that we got a second kamari to play back there as well on top of every blank and ship and coming into the fold aziz playing another year don't have to worry about the contract extensions tooto playing well that's super physical over the middle that's going to help with with pickens and lamb so i think this is a this is a situation where the defense
01:31:42
Justin Daulton
still can win this football game but i look at this is the game where you start to see the Nico connection really get set up you start to see David Montgomery running downhill think this is when you start to see the offense really start to see I feel what it's going to be long term with some exceptions of some games I think towards the end of the season but I think this is where you start to see what the ceiling is for the Houston Texans coming before it
01:32:07
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. I mean, I certainly hope you're right there. i This is the first one on the schedule where I could really, really, really see going either way. um i had to pick in I had to pick a loss somewhere early.
01:32:16
Justin Daulton
I agree.
01:32:18
Cody Atkinson
I hate to put it there, but that feels like where it could end up.
01:32:21
Justin Daulton
Don't worry. My watch is coming soon. Don't worry. I got one for you.
01:32:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. Well, hopefully not X because i think we're looking at Tennessee next.
01:32:24
Justin Daulton
good
01:32:26
Cody Atkinson
So, yeah.
01:32:27
Justin Daulton
Yeah. Next one is at Tennessee. I think we could both just get a quick out there. Like I said, in the, in the, as we started in the deep dive into this Tennessee and Arizona, I think are competing for the worst football teams in the league.
01:32:38
Justin Daulton
um So W in and national.
01:32:41
Cody Atkinson
Yep. Let's just, but we'll move right past that.
01:32:46
Justin Daulton
Then we're going to go to London to play the Jacksonville Jaguars. How are you feeling about going across the pond?
01:32:54
Cody Atkinson
I mean, i'm going to pick a W here. i i was actually kind of torn a little bit of like Jacksonville's used to this at this point. This is their so this is their home away from home.
01:33:05
Cody Atkinson
We haven't really seen, ah c at least not that I can think of, we haven't really seen a C.J. Stroud what led Houston you know have this kind of travel, play this early in the morning, have these kinds of off-the-field um variables that can impact the performance. And I really could see the team absolutely, at least the offense, laying a dud here.
01:33:30
Cody Atkinson
But I did put this, this is the linchpin game in my easiest stretch, and I can't i can't look at that and then give us a loss after saying Tennessee and Jacksonville back-to-back feels like it might be one of the easier runs. So I will give us a win here, but I do think jet lag um and lack of energy could be an issue.
01:33:53
Cody Atkinson
If we do lose, I could see that being the issue where the offense is just flat.
01:34:00
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I talked about it at the beginning, too, that defense travels. um i don't I don't see a lot in terms of where Jacksonville is goingnna going to be this season, especially what do you do with Travis Hunter in year two.
01:34:12
Justin Daulton
You lose Travis Etienne this year, or however you want however he wants to pronounce his last name now, like apparently but apparently we've been pronouncing it wrong since he's been in college. um yeah yeah I don't know.
01:34:24
Justin Daulton
Travis Etienne out of Clemson.
01:34:25
Cody Atkinson
Oh, ETN, okay.
01:34:26
Justin Daulton
Apparently...
01:34:26
Cody Atkinson
Oh, he's a Travis Hunter. i was like how are we pronouncing Hunter wrong?
01:34:30
Justin Daulton
um I've never been one to really buy the the Trevor Warren type and now he's cut his hair so now he's lost any aura that he did have.
01:34:32
Cody Atkinson
Okay.
01:34:38
Justin Daulton
um
01:34:38
Cody Atkinson
The door is gone. He looks like every like Gen Z on YouTube ever.
01:34:44
Justin Daulton
Yeah. i' gonna I'm going to say win here, but this is another one that I think is going to be super low scoring. and Defense is going to win this. I could anticipate a couple pick sixes here, and that's really the the really the gist of our offensive production.
01:34:59
Justin Daulton
So I'm gonna say when six and o going to going into the New York Giants game.
01:35:06
Cody Atkinson
how great would that be if we were six and out going into the New York Giants game?
01:35:06
Justin Daulton
So what do you
01:35:10
Cody Atkinson
That would certainly feel great.
01:35:11
Justin Daulton
think? I would feel... it would feel great, especially coming off of how the, the, the the season ended last year to go six and out going into the giants game. So how are you feeling with this giants game?
01:35:23
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean I think I kind of said it in the in the preview there. i I like the matchup here. i like the idea of a D'Amico-led defense, a defensive line.
01:35:34
Cody Atkinson
specifically that includes Will Anderson Jr., Daniil Hunter, and now Caden McDonald going up against a very ah young, ah a lot of potential, but currently unproven quarterback.
01:35:46
Cody Atkinson
um Factor that in with just the health issues this team has had. i You could find them having health issues again. my Having Kemp Scataboo is great, but if unless he...
01:35:57
Cody Atkinson
changes the way he initiates contact here. How long will he be back for? And Malik neighbors is an incredible wide receiver. One, I do think Stingley can neutralize him, but also he is injured every single year too.
01:36:10
Cody Atkinson
um I just like to match up here. um Everything else aside to say that, you know, to me goes not getting beat by your two quarterback.
01:36:20
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I said that they're not going to go into the bye week undefeated. in the And I think the reason why that they're going to lose here is because of the coming back from London. Traditionally, you see a lot of teams come back from the international game, specifically the the Europe games.
01:36:35
Justin Daulton
And when they don't have the bye week coming back home. they have a tendency to come out playing very flat and I think in the way that you can see the Dallas Tennessee Jacksonville game being the moment where CJ, Nico, Higgins, Schultz all them really come into their own I think you can see New York really come out play their style of football rested and playing you know pretty well I mean you're talking almost at the midway point of the season we're going to know what you're getting out of the giants by that point and i think just by the benefactor of playing a team that doesn't get a bye week after London, I think you're going to see a loss here, but it's going to be, i think, if I think all of these games are going to very tight. I don't see lot. I don't see a blowout on this schedule.
01:37:18
Justin Daulton
But I do think that Jackson Dart, Camp Scalaboo, if neighbor stays healthy, I think they've done enough there to, to produce a winning formula in New York. And I think they can, they can take a shot at Houston here and and win.
01:37:34
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I mean, I definitely could see it. if if i think the the London game is very likely to cause the Texans to play flat in one week, whether that's against Tennessee looking ahead to London, whether that's in London or coming back from London.
01:37:47
Cody Atkinson
The fact that they don't have a bye week immediately surrounding that has all the potential for them to come out flat in one to two of these games. And if it's that one, I mean, that's definitely a team that can make you pay for it.
01:37:59
Justin Daulton
um Love where the bye week is. that was something that you and I texted immediately about when the schedule dropped. I love that the bye week is in the middle of the schedule, so you really get to take a deep breath halfway through the schedule and really get a chance to regroup, kind of regain plan for ah pretty much a gauntlet run through the second half of the season.
01:38:17
Justin Daulton
So I think you and I immediately were like, yes, this is, could not have asked for a better bye week for the Texas. that's a W for the bye week in my opinion.
01:38:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, absolutely. It's great spot for to be, especially you having to travel to California coming out of it.
01:38:30
Justin Daulton
All right.
01:38:32
Cody Atkinson
You just love the bi-week being where it's at.
01:38:35
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely. Well, as you guys alluded to, week nine at the out of LA for the Chargers. um What's he got with Justin Herbert?
01:38:43
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I'm putting it up here. um I said it in the Easiest part of the schedule conversation. i respect the Chargers and the team that they've built. ah But this is just a team that when they've had a chance to play the Texans lately, it's it's not a game that they come out and win. So um i don't I don't see that changing.
01:39:02
Cody Atkinson
um i think the Texans coming off of a bye week, the travel does not impact their play. And I think they come out and beat the Chargers.
01:39:12
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for me, it's a team that we've pretty much got their number. Justin Herbert can't move the ball against the Texans. ah You usually see career games against the Chargers. You saw last year on the defensive of the ball with Derek Stainley.
01:39:24
Justin Daulton
You saw it in the playoffs two years ago where CJ had one of his best games. So I fully expect to see the Texans continue that trend and and get a W here. And it's a little bit later game.
01:39:35
Justin Daulton
Out on the West Coast, a 4.05 start of East Coast time. So definitely a chance for them to to get some rest going into that game from the bye week and then not to immediately get up for the early game time slot out West.
01:39:52
Justin Daulton
Back-to-back weeks of travel. a Week 10, we go to Cleveland, Ohio. What do you got? but Well, we anticipated Shadwar Sanders still led football team.
01:40:01
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, I think the back-to-back travel is of note um as something that could could impact this game, but at the end of the day, If you're not at the caliber of beating Cleveland, then then I'm not talking about you as a Super Bowl contender, and were talking about the team as a Super Bowl contender. I don't see them having significant injury it issues with a team that has so many question marks that the quarterback position, I think, Shadar outplayed what a lot of people thought he could last year.
01:40:28
Cody Atkinson
but he still plays the quarterback position like a college quarterback. And you can't do that against this team. If he tries to run around and make magic and, and have his average sack distance be 15 yards or whatever it was last year, ah you're going to put yourself in a lot of bad spots that you can't climb out of.
01:40:45
Cody Atkinson
Again, i think the defense feasts here. I'm sitting at eight and one.
01:40:51
Justin Daulton
Yeah, when you when you look at teams that traditionally the quarterbacks play hero ball, you look at the Josh Allens, Caleb Williams, and now even like a short guard Sanders who likes to play hero ball. Will Anderson Jr. and Aziz Alshire love to play against these type of quarterbacks because they just get to run after them the entire time.
01:41:08
Justin Daulton
And I think that's what you see here. I think you get a Willie Anderson Jr. career game. I think you see Aziz have a great time in this game, and that opens up a lot for the secondary to really ball hawk the entire game long and for a team that doesn't have a running attack at all.
01:41:23
Justin Daulton
So it's it's going to be a tough one for Cleveland in this game. I got a W.
01:41:30
Justin Daulton
Um, short week, um, we come back home to play Indianapolis on Thursday night football. Uh, what do you got by what I would assume is Daniel Jones, as long as he doesn't have, doesn't have any setbacks. Um, Daniel Jones comes to Houston.
01:41:43
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, a little torn on this one. I'm going I think I'm going to win here. um this short week would make me reconsider it. Like, uh, but it's a short week for both teams, unless Indy's coming off of the buy. I'll maybe double check that, uh, real quick, but, um,
01:42:01
Cody Atkinson
I think this is going to be early. this i mean, this is still early in the season. Daniel Jones, they're coming off a game against the Dolphins. This is still early season. Daniel Jones, you get the luxury of being the home team on a short week where they have to travel on the road.
01:42:14
Cody Atkinson
um ah Typically, i would the lean towards splitting the season series with the Indy one and one. But I think you get the benefit of sweeping Indy because the first game on the road is the one that you would be primed to lose, and they're not going to have their quarterback for that one.
01:42:30
Cody Atkinson
So I will go with the season sweep of Indy.
01:42:35
Justin Daulton
Yeah, coming off back-to-back, we to travel, and then even though we have the the home field advantage on this one, I'm going to split the season series with Indy. I think Daniel Jones is someone that can play a really good brand of football.
01:42:47
Justin Daulton
Depending on when he comes in, they might still have a chance to play competitive football for the wild-card position. But I don't see anyone making a run at Houston. I think this is legitimately the only division game that we have a potential losing this season. And so with it being a short week off a back-to-back week to travel, going from West Coast to the East Coast, and then coming back home, I don't see us when rattling off three and over three in a row with Indianapolis there.
01:43:13
Cody Atkinson
That's fair.
01:43:15
Justin Daulton
Um, and then Thanksgiving week, this starts the gauntlet, man. This is the tough one.
01:43:19
Cody Atkinson
Yeah.
01:43:19
Justin Daulton
So at at home week 12 against Baltimore, what do you, what are you feeling?
01:43:24
Cody Atkinson
I'm going to start us off with a loss here. we we don't have We have not at this point proven the ability to beat Lamar Jackson. um Not that I can think of, at least. like our Our win against Baltimore last year, which was An explosive victory was against a team that didn't have Lamar Jackson. I think you alluded to it a little bit where like if the Ravens made the playoffs instead of the Steelers, I don't know that we win that the way that CJ Stroud was playing.
01:43:50
Cody Atkinson
um And if you want to offset a pass rush, then yeah, one of the better rushing quarterbacks in the league. has has a real chance to do that. And Derek Henry, a very hard man to to to bring down. So um ah we're not the I'm not picking us to rattle off a win against every team. And I think but Baltimore feels like a team that might have our number in the same way that we have a few other teams numbered.
01:44:19
Justin Daulton
I'm going to flip on you here. I'm going to say we beat that we are team that can win and we can beat the top tier teams. But that's because we have the long break after the NBA game. We get the the the pseudo bye week with the four games in between the end of that game into Monday night.
01:44:41
Justin Daulton
So I think the rest helps out a lot. You get Derrick Henry towards the end of the season, which traditionally in the last couple of years has not been good. Lamar, if he's healthy, is good. But I just see the first year coach under under what todd monkin right is the guy in and but in baltimore right um I think is his name or is that someone else don't either or was he the one that went up or is he the one that Cleveland no he's one with the one that went to Cleveland enter
01:44:59
Cody Atkinson
I don't remember. thought Munkin was the one that went to – hold on. Baltimore head coach Google. I think he went to Cleveland. job ah Jesse Minter, he was, I believe, the Chargers defensive coordinator under ah Harbaugh last year. I think a lot of people wanted him to take over Michigan.
01:45:21
Justin Daulton
yeah For me, the reason why I'm saying that we win is because the the reason why we beat baltimore last year was because the defense was atrocious. They have not fixed the issues on defense.
01:45:34
Justin Daulton
They still have a lot of explosive plays. They're still very leaky down the middle. And I think by this point season, we're going to be leaning very heavily on David Montgomery and maybe even some backups. Maybe you can see you know some passing game out of the backfield. You can maybe see backup tight ends being utilized the right way by this point the season.
01:45:51
Justin Daulton
um While, yes, I think Lamar is a tough quarterback to stop and he if he deserves the respect, I think Caden McDonald really helps us to answer that question against Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry. And I think we, we prove it this week that we beat Baltimore.
01:46:07
Cody Atkinson
That would be nice. I think about that evens us back out now. I think we're both sitting at 9-2 one week into this gauntlet.
01:46:15
Justin Daulton
Yeah, we go on the road now for Sunday Night Football. We got to listen to the ultimate Glazer and Collinsworth talk about Aaron Rodgers on ah on at week 13. How do you feel about week 13?
01:46:29
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, and and I know we mentioned how the travel can impact this, how the weather can impact this. If this is a snow game at the or anything like that at this moment, I'm not going to predict that this is definitely a snow game.
01:46:41
Cody Atkinson
um And if I'm not going to predict that, I'm going to assume that we handle Pittsburgh as well as we handled them in the playoffs last year. I don't think Rogers is picking this defense apart. I don't think they have the wide receivers to do it. I don't think he has the mobility to escape this pass rush. I think you see a lot of him protect if he's even still healthy. I think you see a lot of him protecting himself by going down and letting Will Anderson or Daniel Hunter just, just tap him to, to collect a sack. I, I think this is, this is a fun, I think this is ah a must watch because of how well the defense is going to play.
01:47:13
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for me, this is a repeat of the of a wildcard round. this is ah This is a game where, you know, coming off of the Baltimore win, where we're going to get a very a very brutal victory, a very hard-fought victory against Baltimore.
01:47:25
Justin Daulton
um We're going to get some some leisure going against Pittsburgh that I think that it's going to be fun to watch and really see what this team is capable of down this stretch. So I also have a W on Sunday Night Football.
01:47:39
Justin Daulton
um Second straight week of travel, we go to to D.C. to face Jaden Daniels in the high-powered offense. what How are you feeling about Washington this year?
01:47:50
Cody Atkinson
um I don't know. Washington is a bit of an enigma this year. I'm going to pick a win here because I don't know that I can act accurately predict that Washington is going to be a cohesive and healthy team going into this. i mean, we we're coming off a year of Jaden Daniels couldn't stay healthy.
01:48:10
Cody Atkinson
And you watch the team suffer as a result of it. So we really, we we still only have rookie season Jaden Daniels to base our analysis off of knowing rookie season CJ Stroud. That doesn't mean that that's what Jaden Daniels is going to continue to be.
01:48:25
Cody Atkinson
um Is he more limited mobily? Is he more limited mentally because he's coming off of an injury? Will he be playing healthy at all? um they're like Will he be playing at all? i mean like I'm going to pick us to win this game because I'm not going to predict.
01:48:42
Cody Atkinson
i just all Coming off of last year, I can't predict Washington to be ah ah full-fledged healthy unit. I don't think they did much of anything to Washington. a repair an offensive line led by Laramie Tunsil, who you know I'm not going to hype up in any way, shape, or form. so Give me the w
01:49:03
Justin Daulton
The back-to-back weeks of travel is going to get us. I'm going to say a loss here with the caveat that Jaden Daniels is hurt, then that's a W um because I don't believe Marcus Mariota has enough in the tank to pull off this win. But a healthy Jaden Daniels with that offense, I do think back-to-back weeks of travel, not knowing where Washington is that week before, I think that that does hurt us because we also have weird travel.
01:49:24
Justin Daulton
By the end of that Sunday night football game, it's going to be very close to midnight local time out here on the East Coast. You're going to fly back. That's that every bit of a two, two and a half hour flight back to to Houston. And you're probably flying in the bush, so you've got to get back home.
01:49:36
Justin Daulton
And you got to come out and do a walkthrough Monday morning and be ready to to take your day off on Tuesday. That's a tough travel plan for the guys. So this I don't see that benefiting very well for the Washington game. So going to say a loss against Washington.
01:49:52
Cody Atkinson
All right.
01:49:54
Justin Daulton
And then we stay home for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
01:49:59
Cody Atkinson
I'm going to put the loss here. um i just don't. like dad they Based on what I picked against Indy, what I'm picking against Tennessee, to to pick us to go 2-0 against Jacksonville would would be picking us to be undefeated in the division. I don't see that happening.
01:50:14
Cody Atkinson
I think this would put us at 5-1 in the division. I think that is that would be an incredible performance. Obviously, it could be you know even 4-2 would be very respectable. But um I'm not going to pick us to sweep.
01:50:28
Cody Atkinson
the division I think this is this is where I say the travel gets to us. I say you traveled twice. you know Now you get to stay home, but you're still feeling the travel. And i think you get caught looking ahead a little bit pre-planning for a short week against Philly where you have to travel yet again. So um I think you get caught there in kind of this this sandwich game in the middle of back-to-back travels on both sides of it.
01:50:55
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I think I'm going to go with a win because I think by this point the season, Jacksonville season's pretty much over. I don't see Jacksonville competing for the wild card spot. um So I think this is this a Jacksonville team that, in the same way that, you know, you kind of saw Indy fall apart towards the second. half of the season last year, even before Daniel Jones went down with the injury.
01:51:15
Justin Daulton
i think you see Jackson on the same spot where they they don't have enough in the tank to make a run towards that second half of the season. So I'd say that we sweep Jacksonville. and i' see you I think it's pretty convincing, honestly, at that point in the season as well.
01:51:28
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, so the again, evens us back out, both sitting at 11-3, both 4-1 in the division at this point. I think we'll comfortably be 5-1 based on what we'll pick in Week 18, but we'll see.
01:51:41
Justin Daulton
A short week traveling to Philadelphia to play Christmas Eve game on Thursday Night Football on Prime. What you got?
01:51:50
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i'm goingnna I'm going to put put another L here. I just i can't. I can't call this a gauntlet and then have us but you know make it out of here cleanly. I think short week is tough.
01:52:02
Cody Atkinson
Philly has a culture. they just They're winners. um I think I respect Jalen Hurts as a quarterback more than the average NFL fan. I'm a very excited for Makai Lemon ah replacing A.J. Brown on that offense.
01:52:15
Cody Atkinson
and When I look at Philly, I think it's very similar to like when I look at a team like a Baltimore where I just say there they are what we're trying to become and we're not there yet. And I'm just not going to pick us to beat them on a short week, especially when we have to travel for the third time in four weeks and they're getting to stay home.
01:52:34
Justin Daulton
Yeah, for the same reason you just listed, I have the loss as well. I think it is, uh for a christmas eve game there unless philly has some weird weather going on there but it's a hostile crowd we've we've talked about philly sports on this podcast a lot um i see it being very difficult to go until they get financial on christmas eve um and a raucous crowd that shows up to every game even if they're losing um and they cheer for their team very loudly um and disrespectfully sometimes as well uh and it's it's not something that i i
01:53:06
Justin Daulton
wish upon this team so i think it's a i do i think it's a good game yes I do think this is to be a really good game. It could be a Super Bowl matchup for all we know. So I think it's a good game, but I do think it's a loss just because of the the short week going to Philly.
01:53:21
Cody Atkinson
Yep.
01:53:23
Justin Daulton
And then we talked about the pseudo-buy week coming up for this one. We do have to travel to Green Bay um for Monday Night Football, so we do get some time off. What is Green Bay's schedule that week before?
01:53:36
Justin Daulton
If my browser would work.
01:53:38
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, i'm sure I'm going to try to load it to to see which one of us can get there faster. Green Bay's scheduled before it a Christmas Day.
01:53:43
Justin Daulton
Bears, they they play they play on Christmas Day against the Bears. um So they're going to have a really difficult game.
01:53:49
Cody Atkinson
so i guess
01:53:53
Cody Atkinson
They'll have difficult game, but we're also having a difficult game. They'll have one less day to prepare, but not as ah and not as big of a preparation difference as as might be otherwise if they weren't playing early in the week as well.
01:54:06
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:54:07
Cody Atkinson
I'm going to pick a ah win here.
01:54:08
Justin Daulton
Yeah.
01:54:10
Cody Atkinson
I think we we talked about it when discussing the NSC North. um I think Green Bay still needs Jordan Love to be a more consistent quarterback. I don't think he's there yet.
01:54:22
Cody Atkinson
I don't necessarily expect him to get there this season. They haven't improved, at least to my knowledge, his wide receiver room, which I think is still a cluster of wide receiver twos, and he doesn't really have that guy.
01:54:36
Cody Atkinson
um And I just don't see, I don't see Green Bay's offense challenging us to the point that they can keep up with, you know, that that they can keep up with with with what our offense is able to do to theirs. think you bounce back from two losses in a row and we start to feel really good heading into the playoffs.
01:54:56
Justin Daulton
Yeah, I think this is very much like the Baltimore game. This is a game you have to win to showcase that you're ready for the playoffs. And you want the the last time we went to Lambeau, CJ lost to Jordan Love.
01:55:07
Justin Daulton
So I think this is your get-back game from a couple seasons ago. And I think CJ goes out and gets to the dub. And these's this is where CJ has to start playing out at an elite level to get ready for the playoffs. And i think this is I think this is the game to do it. And it's a game that...
01:55:21
Justin Daulton
I don't have a lot of faith in that Green Bay offense, and what do you? They don't have a good running attack. They got a lot of weird you know wide receiver positions out there, um and Jordan Love just hasn't proven to be misreliable for the first, what, three seasons um under the helm.
01:55:35
Cody Atkinson
e
01:55:36
Justin Daulton
So I have CJ winning his get-back game against Jordan Love here.
01:55:40
Cody Atkinson
And then I think we could probably just wrap it up there, right? I think we're both giving them W's in week 18 against Tennessee. We don't need to spend a lot of time on that.
01:55:47
Justin Daulton
Yeah, yeah, so it's a dove on Week 18.
01:55:50
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, so that puts us both 13 and four. you're definitely, if if we're right in record prediction here, you're gonna be in competition for the one seed in the AFC, which would be incredible in competition to get that by. And you're looking at five and one in the division.
01:56:06
Cody Atkinson
which also would feel, you know, obviously really good. If this is what happens, I think you feel really good that you have a quarterback that you're willing to, to, to sign on, assuming to get here. I feel like CJ Stroud had to play to a level that you're much more comfortable continuing on with him as your quarterback.
01:56:25
Cody Atkinson
Um, And so I feel like you feel really good about not only this season, but the future. am I correct that that's yeahre you're playing up on if this happens, CJ Stroud played at the level we need him to play to be the QB of the future, right?
01:56:40
Justin Daulton
I think definitely so.
01:56:40
Cody Atkinson
or or or can you get can you get to 13 and four and he and he's still not the guy?
01:56:41
Justin Daulton
Definitely connected.
01:56:45
Justin Daulton
Well, what, we won 11 games last season, right, on the backs of this defense. So I think, you know, adding two more wins on there definitely it can can be still contribute to the defense side of the ball.
01:56:57
Justin Daulton
But I do think it also does and does show that CJ takes a step forward, especially doesn't win a few of those games on that gauntlet. So I think yes, with an asterisk around there, what does he do in the playoffs?
01:57:08
Justin Daulton
Because cj has proven to be one and done in the playoffs i mean obviously you know three seasons, three playoff wins, but also three playoff losses. So, you know, if it is a one seed or a two seed, now you're talking about one and done gets you to the AFC championship game and the potential going to the, to the NFL or to the Super Bowl. Sorry.
01:57:26
Justin Daulton
um So you, you know, at least getting to that dance is better than where we have been. And if CJ plays competitive, a narrow loss, that's enough for me to sit back and say, yes, let's start talking about the contract over the off season and start seeing whethers where those numbers start to fall.
01:57:49
Justin Daulton
I don't think CJ resets the market. I could be wrong, but if he goes and if he goes out and wins the super bowl in year're four maybe at that point he's going to reset the market
01:57:57
Cody Atkinson
then he'd probably reset it.
01:57:59
Justin Daulton
Yeah, so i mean, I think a lot of it does depend on what happens in the playoffs. is But the big the big thing right now is you've got to win to get the first or second seed so you can get that first round by.
01:58:11
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. So maybe you answered, this is kind of the final question. Obviously we're at two hours now, so we'll, we'll wrap this up, but maybe you've already answered the final question here. The the question being at what record are we having a CJ Stroud conversation in the off season? I realized that this,
01:58:27
Cody Atkinson
is more of a generic question than I intended to ask. What I intended to ask was at what record are we and having a CJ Stroud not being with the organization anymore conversation? So the downside, not a not a contract extension, but a we need to find a quarterback and he's not our guy. Maybe you already answered that by saying it doesn't matter what he does in the regular season. It's about the playoffs. But, you know, I guess your your thoughts on that question.
01:58:56
Justin Daulton
Yeah. If, if we're anywhere near 500 at the end of the season, i think you need to start having conversation about CJ. If you're above 500 and you're in the playoffs, you win the division, then you, you, Anything can happen when you get into the playoffs. But if you're at or below 500, not winning the division out in the playoffs, that's when need to start having serious conversations around, we trade draft capital, move up in the first round, get an Arch Manning, a Marcel whoever it is that's up in the top first round.
01:59:24
Justin Daulton
and get another rookie contract and move on with CJ. But, I mean, if the season goes way that you and I are intending it to go, then that's a moot point, and we're not talking about that. We're talking about giving CJ money.
01:59:36
Justin Daulton
But we'll see, man. I mean, that he he looks like he's put on more muscle this year. He's shed a lot of body fat. You know, he's participating in ah and OTAs when where last season he wasn't so because of health reasons. So now, you you know, there's a lot going into that he's preparing earlier in the season in this offseason 40 it and he looks like he's taking it very seriously um so a lot of things to be hopeful in terms of where cj can become late august early september
02:00:05
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, no, I think I'm probably, i would say even, like, if it's 500, I think you're definitely having that conversation. I think you could have that conversation even as good as 11 and 6. Like, if you do exactly what you did last year, um and then you get bounced by...
02:00:23
Cody Atkinson
a team like I think the thing about getting bounced by New England last year is you got bounced by a quarterback who was earlier in his developmental cycle than CJ Stroud. And that's a concern because that's now a guy that's passed you up. So if you look at kind of the way we've we've played this out, there's some swing games, right? Like I have us losing to Dallas because the offense might not be able to keep up with how explosive their offense can be.
02:00:46
Cody Atkinson
you know That's a concern when you're considering keeping him as your quarterback because you're often limited. so i think if you lose a handful of these swing games, like Cincinnati, do you get passed back up by Joe Burrow, who you've you've jumped because he can't stay healthy?
02:01:02
Cody Atkinson
ah Buffalo, do you get do you lose the like do you lose the ability to keep this team that the rest of the league struggles with down? and Green Bay, like you need C.J. Stroud to be better than Jordan Love because if you lose to like the the quality of the two defenses, like if you lose to to Jordan Love, it's because Jordan Love significantly outshined you.
02:01:29
Cody Atkinson
I think there's some of these these swing games here. Also, Washington would be a big one for me if Jaden Danos is healthy. um Are you getting passed up?
02:01:36
Justin Daulton
Baltimore, you know.
02:01:38
Cody Atkinson
Yeah, it's like ah if you lose to Jaden Daniels, you're getting passed up by another quarterback earlier in his development cycle. you know You've already – or even like a Jackson Dart, like those kinds of – I think you could go 11 and 6 and still have the conversation if it's 11 defensive victories um and six losses where the offense couldn't keep up and you see a couple quarterbacks jump you um in the development cycle again.
02:02:05
Cody Atkinson
At 13-4, my assumption is CJ Straub played much better than last year, and you're looking at locking them up one-term, but I think if you if you drop some of these swing games, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Dallas, Baltimore, Washington, Green Bay, Philly, like if you, those top-tier to lower top-tier games, if you lose more of those than you win, then I think you could be looking at feeling capped with, you know, where you are, which is um one rung below where you need to be to make it to the Super Bowl.
02:02:42
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, i feel I feel the same way. You know, this is this will be the biggest season in Texans history. In 25 years of this of this franchise, it'll be the biggest season for sure.
Summer Topics Preview
02:02:54
Cody Atkinson
Yep. Yeah, I think we'll wrap it up there. Definitely. We deep dove that even a little more than I thought we would. So really excited with, um you know, the the thoughts we got out there, the content we got out, the the information that that that people can take. and get ready and get excited for the season.
02:03:13
Cody Atkinson
So starting next week, we are pretty much officially in the summer of topics. And so just be on the lookout. The the breakdown will will start to become a little bit less of what's going on right now and a little bit more of what do we want to talk about to to buy time until and so football rolls around.
02:03:29
Justin Daulton
Mm-hmm.
02:03:31
Cody Atkinson
So get excited. i think if we want to go ahead and drop the the topic, it's going to be top 10 college quarterbacks of all time. We'll both be dropping that, hence why Joe Burrow was a very a prominent name for for previewing next week's discussion.
02:03:48
Cody Atkinson
So we'll both be dropping top 10 of all time. Granted, it will be heavily skewed to the time in which we have been alive. because So just ah just a fair warning there. it won't be to It won't be skewed to just the last five or 10 years like some some lists turn out to be, but it'll almost certainly the last 30 years will be featured most prominently.
02:04:11
Justin Daulton
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, there's, we got some fun topics, man. I'm looking forward to some of these, you know, we talked about it before, right? MLB ballpark food. I'm stoked to talk about ballpark food with you.
02:04:20
Cody Atkinson
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
02:04:21
Justin Daulton
The craziness out there. And then the one that i think both of us are super excited about that we're going to sometime in July. The sports moments that shaped our fandoms and our our sports lives. So I'm very excited. to That's a list that never even thought about. So yeah.
02:04:35
Justin Daulton
I'm glad that yeah I was able to slight that a little bit later in the, in the summer. So we have some time to really think about that, but that'll be a ah fun, maybe even emotional episode because we'll get into some probably some emotional backgrounds into how we've all become fans of some of these, um these teams. So I'm excited. And next week, top 10 college football quarterbacks.
02:04:54
Cody Atkinson
Yeah. So don't get get excited for the off season of topics before we, before we get back into prepping for, for football season. But with, but with that, I mean, that's the NFL schedule at its core.
02:05:05
Cody Atkinson
We, we, we've just passed a little over two hours, so, so we'll wrap it up, but join us next week. as we begin the off season topics. And also don't forget to watch the selection show noon Monday.
02:05:16
Cody Atkinson
And lastly, the Canadians in overtime over Buffalo. So we are getting Canadians ah canes as the Eastern conference final, which I think is what both of us wanted. We thought that was the best, most exciting matchup. So ah Canadians canes, Vegas, Colorado. We'll definitely be talking that as we prep for the Stanley cup as well. I'm Cody.
02:05:39
Justin Daulton
I'm Justin.
02:05:40
Cody Atkinson
And we'll see you next time. Peace.
02:05:43
Justin Daulton
Peace.