Latest / NFL Now / Lamar Jackson & Ravens deal, Dak Prescott limitations during practice, & Russell Wilson returns to Seattle

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Lamar Jackson & Ravens deal, Dak Prescott limitations during practice, & Russell Wilson returns to Seattle · NFL Now

0:05
Speaker 1: NFL Now is a production of the NFL in partnership
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Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio rd's House. John Challen is six
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Speaker 1: one five two hundred at thirty seven pounds. He threw
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Speaker 1: a big old haymaker of the stiff arm at the
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Speaker 1: end of that run. He's gonna run. He's inside the five.
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Speaker 1: John Challen stretched it out and Crossley go mine for
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Speaker 1: the Buffalo touchdown. Wow. Jeffords back to throw again, fired
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Speaker 1: one down the middle of the courts interception. Now the
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Speaker 1: door is closing past on the ram. Josh throws it
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Speaker 1: down here looking for kicks to chef Buffalo. Steffie Dicks
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Speaker 1: the builder up. You're putting on a show in l
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Speaker 1: a here tonight, and just like that, the two NFL
1:01
Speaker 1: season is under way. I'm a Maurice alongside my pal
1:04
Speaker 1: Steve White here in the NFL Network newsroom. Steve, I
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Speaker 1: can't tell what was hotter the Bills play or the
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Speaker 1: temperature inside the stadium last night. It was it was
1:10
Speaker 1: the Bill's play. It was hot and they burned. They
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Speaker 1: roasted the ramp. Yeah, we both switted through a couple
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Speaker 1: of different shirts. We have much more on the game
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Speaker 1: from last night, and just a little bit, But first
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Speaker 1: we start with big news out of Baltimore. Y'all know
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Speaker 1: by now Lamar Jackson has been representing himself in contract
1:25
Speaker 1: negotiations heading into the final year of his rookie deal,
1:29
Speaker 1: that fifth year option. But today the Baltimore Ravens releasing
1:33
Speaker 1: a statement from general manager Eric da Costa saying that
1:36
Speaker 1: they will not reach a long term deal with Lamar Jackson,
1:39
Speaker 1: will resume talks at the end of this season. For
1:43
Speaker 1: more details on this story, we welcome in our insiders
1:46
Speaker 1: Ian Rappaport and Mike Garret Folo, along with Mark Ross
1:48
Speaker 1: for front office perspective, former executive of the New York Giants. Well,
1:53
Speaker 1: here is that statement. Now you see Eric da Costa
1:56
Speaker 1: saying that unfortunately, despite best efforts on both sides, we
1:59
Speaker 1: were unable to reach a contract extension with Lamar. He
2:02
Speaker 1: goes on to explain that they will look forward to
2:04
Speaker 1: a sex Success two campaign and then after that the
2:08
Speaker 1: look forward to negotiating again. For much more in this story,
2:11
Speaker 1: we welcome in our Ian Rappaport, Mike Garret Folo and
2:14
Speaker 1: front office perspective on Mark Ross. Ian will start with you,
2:17
Speaker 1: how did we get to this point? Yeah, we just
2:21
Speaker 1: never sense momentum, Mike, and I know you heard the
2:23
Speaker 1: same thing, never since momentum that a deal would get
2:25
Speaker 1: done for the Baltimore Ravens of Lamar Jackson. And it
2:27
Speaker 1: wasn't for lack of trying. I think both sides really
2:31
Speaker 1: wanted to get a deal done. There was a lot
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Speaker 1: of good faith negotiations. And you know, this was not
2:34
Speaker 1: like most deals. It wasn't an agent talking to a
2:37
Speaker 1: cap guy. I mean, this was Lamar Jackson and Eric
2:40
Speaker 1: to Costa talking to each other, because Lamar does not
2:43
Speaker 1: have an agent very famously and was doing the deal himself.
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Speaker 1: And it did sound like the Ravens made a really
2:48
Speaker 1: strong offer, a really good good faith effort to try
2:51
Speaker 1: to get a deal done. But so much of the issue, Mike,
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Speaker 1: was about guaranteed money, trying to get as close as
2:57
Speaker 1: possible to the Shawn Motson two thirty million dollars fully guaranteed,
3:01
Speaker 1: and the Ravens, as we've seen and as we've known
3:03
Speaker 1: because Steve Bischotti, the owner, came out and said it,
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Speaker 1: they just were never going to do a precedence setting
3:09
Speaker 1: fully guaranteed deal. Uh. That made it difficult, and that
3:13
Speaker 1: is one of the reasons Lamar Jackson is playing it
3:15
Speaker 1: out and betting on himself this season. Yeah, and by
3:19
Speaker 1: the time all is said and done, over five years
3:22
Speaker 1: of his NFL career, Lamar Jackson will have made about
3:26
Speaker 1: thirty two and a half million dollars that I get
3:29
Speaker 1: that calculation correct. I believe I wrote it down somewhere
3:31
Speaker 1: twenty three plus nine, Yes, thirty two and a half
3:34
Speaker 1: million dollars over five years. It's kind of ridiculous because
3:37
Speaker 1: an m v P quarterback, a starting caliber quarterback, should
3:41
Speaker 1: be making more than that per year. But for Lamar Jackson,
3:45
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what the average annual value is if
3:49
Speaker 1: the full guarantee or at least something close to that
3:52
Speaker 1: wasn't there. That's how these negotiations went. Whereas the Ravens
3:54
Speaker 1: are saying since the dawn of time, well not since
3:57
Speaker 1: the dawn of times, and since recently, this is how
4:00
Speaker 1: NFL quarterback contracts have been done. Deshaun Watson and we
4:04
Speaker 1: can talk are a long time about whether this should
4:06
Speaker 1: or should not have been the case. Deshaun Watson had
4:09
Speaker 1: bidders at the table, and he had a team that
4:11
Speaker 1: badly wanted him enough they were willing to guarantee of
4:13
Speaker 1: the whole thing. If Lamar Jackson wants to get to
4:16
Speaker 1: that point, he's got to play out two more of
4:18
Speaker 1: these franchise tags, okay after this upcoming season. So it
4:23
Speaker 1: seems like he's willing to at least start to go
4:26
Speaker 1: down that road. It is a bit of a gamble, Ian,
4:29
Speaker 1: but it's a gamble with thirty two million already in
4:30
Speaker 1: his pocket. And Mark, when you look at this potential
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Speaker 1: new deal that will start to be renegotiated after this season,
4:37
Speaker 1: you also have the franchise tag. What are the chances
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Speaker 1: that a long term deal actually gets done before Lamar
4:42
Speaker 1: hits free agency? Well, that's the question. Since the dawn
4:46
Speaker 1: of time, the things that are usually done. But now Lamar,
4:49
Speaker 1: with not having the Asian has been mentioned, You don't know,
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Speaker 1: and it's so unprecedented with how he's dealing with things.
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Speaker 1: You would think, Okay, this is how things will get done.
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Speaker 1: You play out the year, Okay, you put the tag
4:59
Speaker 1: on you. We keep trying to work it out. But
5:01
Speaker 1: is that Lamar's mindset? And we don't know. You're of
5:04
Speaker 1: Court the Raven. They're going to do business the way
5:06
Speaker 1: they do business because that's the Ravens. They're one of
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Speaker 1: the best organizations in football with drafting and developing and
5:11
Speaker 1: signing players. But now they're just in this unique situation
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Speaker 1: with Lamar that you know, Lamar, I wish I could say, yes,
5:17
Speaker 1: this is what's going to happen, and this is what
5:19
Speaker 1: Lamar is gonna do. But since he is representing himself,
5:22
Speaker 1: and maybe he does change his mind throughout the year
5:24
Speaker 1: and he does hire representation or someone gets to him,
5:26
Speaker 1: and then it will make the transition easier, things can
5:28
Speaker 1: get done. But as of now, you know, if I'm
5:31
Speaker 1: on the Baltimore side, Eric, the Costas side is like, Man,
5:34
Speaker 1: I don't know how to really have to approach this
5:35
Speaker 1: thing to get it done. Again, Lamar Jackson and the
5:38
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens will not reach a long term deal by
5:41
Speaker 1: today's imposed deadline by Lamar Jackson. They'll resume talks after
5:45
Speaker 1: this season. Fellows, the last time of Baltimore Ravens, quoterrec
5:48
Speaker 1: bet On himself played out the last year the contract.
5:50
Speaker 1: We saw Joe Flacco go on and win a Super Bowl.
5:53
Speaker 1: Much more from all three of you throughout the show.
5:55
Speaker 1: Big news out of Dallas, DK Prescott officially limited in
5:58
Speaker 1: practice yesterday, dealing with an ankle issue he says was
6:01
Speaker 1: caused by a change in fleets he addressed yesterday, and
6:05
Speaker 1: then Mike McCarthy follows with more from today's press conference.
6:10
Speaker 1: It is just being very very precautious. Switch shoes a
6:13
Speaker 1: day probably wasn't the best idea. So, um, there we go.
6:16
Speaker 1: So we're good to go. Promise that same, Mike, And
6:19
Speaker 1: what do you need me to do? You need a
6:23
Speaker 1: little tighter? I think it was a shoe deal. Yeah,
6:25
Speaker 1: and so I'm limited good to go. I promise you,
6:28
Speaker 1: I'm great. So exactly, it's the it's the bionic ankle.
6:33
Speaker 1: So we're fine. I'll just say that. You know he's
6:35
Speaker 1: gonna be a full, full participant today, you know, anticipated
6:38
Speaker 1: be the saint to mar Sol. I don't I don't
6:40
Speaker 1: have any concern about him playing something. We heard Jane
6:44
Speaker 1: Slater's voice in there. You're all over this story, Jane.
6:47
Speaker 1: They say, he's fine. What are you hearing there in Dallas?
6:51
Speaker 1: That seems to be all there is the story. They
6:53
Speaker 1: were simply Jordan's levins that he typically doesn't wear. It's
6:57
Speaker 1: the Jordan's ones that he feels most comfortable in. Now,
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Speaker 1: why he decided to change up issue on Thursday ahead
7:03
Speaker 1: of game day on Sunday is news to me, but
7:07
Speaker 1: he says he typically wears new cleats every single week.
7:10
Speaker 1: This was just a different style and it was tight,
7:12
Speaker 1: and because it is on that ankle that has been
7:14
Speaker 1: searched clear repaired twice, the team, out of an abundance
7:18
Speaker 1: of cautious, wanted to make sure that he was okay
7:20
Speaker 1: to go. And it sounds like it was just discomfort
7:24
Speaker 1: and he'll be back at practice today and again on Saturday,
7:27
Speaker 1: and they have no problems with him playing on Sunday,
7:29
Speaker 1: and that seems to be all there is to it.
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Speaker 1: I just found it curious, Omar, that if it's giving
7:34
Speaker 1: you problems, why not just walk in the locker room
7:36
Speaker 1: and change them then and there he was sitting out
7:39
Speaker 1: of some of the individual drills, left practice early ahead
7:42
Speaker 1: of the media availability portion, and you know, it started
7:46
Speaker 1: to feel like last year at training camp when he
7:48
Speaker 1: had the shoulder issue. He did a press conference after
7:50
Speaker 1: said he was fine, and then he missed most of
7:52
Speaker 1: training camp. So we had a lot of obvious questions,
7:54
Speaker 1: specifically because it was tightness there on that ankle that
7:57
Speaker 1: had been repaired twice, but sounds like there's nothing to
8:00
Speaker 1: this story and he is good to go. But I
8:02
Speaker 1: think he's learned a valuable lesson here to the Jordan one.
8:06
Speaker 1: But we've seen that play out a million times, Jane,
8:08
Speaker 1: where a couple of trainers will run out from the
8:10
Speaker 1: locker room with new shoes, guy changes out, leads securious questions.
8:13
Speaker 1: You're certainly read about that, and because it's the Dallas Cowboys,
8:16
Speaker 1: will be following it all weekend launch James later, thank
8:18
Speaker 1: you very much. As for the big game last night,
8:22
Speaker 1: the season opener, a couple of guys who had a
8:24
Speaker 1: huge hand in that Super Bowl fifty six win for
8:27
Speaker 1: the Rams, Andrew Whitworth and O. B. J helping celebrate it.
8:31
Speaker 1: But the preseason MVP front runner Josh Allen many people's
8:34
Speaker 1: picks for Super Bowl front runners, the Buffalo Bills showed
8:38
Speaker 1: every bit why so many people are confident about those Bills.
8:41
Speaker 1: And then how about von Miller his return Steve all over,
8:44
Speaker 1: Joe Nopus all over match right there. That was early
8:48
Speaker 1: in the game. He says, I am back l a.
8:52
Speaker 1: The final score Bills improved to one and oh and
8:55
Speaker 1: solidify themselves as a Super Bowl favorite. There you see
8:58
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's numbers in his first game back in California.
9:05
Speaker 1: Three touchdowns that didn't have those two interceptions, something the
9:08
Speaker 1: Bills can clean up on. Here's some reaction from after
9:10
Speaker 1: the game. I want to know each week is is
9:14
Speaker 1: our mindset playoff caliber? You know, That's that's what we're
9:16
Speaker 1: trying to do. That's what coach McDermott preaches, and that's
9:19
Speaker 1: what you know, our mindset mentality is every time we
9:21
Speaker 1: stepping our facility, is what can we do to allow
9:24
Speaker 1: ourselves the opportunity to go? Want to know this week
9:26
Speaker 1: it felt like, you know, I was playing against my
9:28
Speaker 1: you know, my brothers over there. You know, you want
9:30
Speaker 1: everybody to, you know, come out healthy. Um, you want
9:32
Speaker 1: everybody to you know, have a good game. But you
9:34
Speaker 1: want the guys that we're here to score a little
9:37
Speaker 1: bit more. You want to win the game. So we
9:38
Speaker 1: got that done and everybody bought out today, everybody on
9:41
Speaker 1: the defense, everybody in the offense. It was a great game.
9:43
Speaker 1: They are a good team and well coach got good players. Um,
9:48
Speaker 1: like Josh. I heard Josh his comments in the hallway there.
9:51
Speaker 1: It's it's just about winning one game and That's what
9:53
Speaker 1: it was. We came came together in the second half. Um,
9:57
Speaker 1: play good, complimentary football starting with the opening kickoff of
9:59
Speaker 1: the second half. And you know, still some things we
10:03
Speaker 1: have to work on in terms of taking care of
10:04
Speaker 1: the football, you know, overall execution and just um our capability,
10:09
Speaker 1: capability of playing better. We there's there's a whole lot
10:12
Speaker 1: more there. So the one thing that gives me, um,
10:15
Speaker 1: you know, a good feeling is knowing the guys in
10:17
Speaker 1: that locker room and knowing how we're gonna you know,
10:19
Speaker 1: all band together, look at each other, look inward first
10:22
Speaker 1: and go, hey, what can I do to be better
10:23
Speaker 1: for the guy next to me? At bottom line is
10:24
Speaker 1: I didn't do a good enough job getting us ready
10:26
Speaker 1: to go to our capabilities. I have total belief and
10:29
Speaker 1: confidence and what we can do moving forward. Whether we
10:32
Speaker 1: won a night or whether we had a humbling experience
10:34
Speaker 1: like this, We've got sixteen games guaranteed left and we're
10:37
Speaker 1: gonna dust ourselves off. We're gonna look ourselves in the mirror.
10:39
Speaker 1: We're gonna be accountable to the things that we can
10:41
Speaker 1: all do better within the framework of our roles, and
10:43
Speaker 1: we're gonna move forward the right way, they're at sixteen
10:46
Speaker 1: more opportunities for the Rams to get it right. But
10:48
Speaker 1: look at Josh Allen. He's been getting it right so
10:50
Speaker 1: often throughout his career since nineteen fifty most games with
10:54
Speaker 1: three plus passing touchdowns and one at least one rushing touchdown.
10:59
Speaker 1: There he is seven climbing those charts, with Tom Brady
11:02
Speaker 1: Andrew Brees the only players ahead of him. So much
11:05
Speaker 1: to break down about this game, Steve leitchbeck with us
11:08
Speaker 1: along with Mark Ross. Steve will start with you. So
11:10
Speaker 1: many aspects of the Bills game look like they're clicking
11:13
Speaker 1: on all cylinders. What stood out to you? Well, I mean, look,
11:14
Speaker 1: the key thing is the Bills came in handle business.
11:16
Speaker 1: They dominated both lines of scrimmage. And when I say dominated,
11:19
Speaker 1: that is when a capital d and that starts with
11:22
Speaker 1: their defense. You saw guys like ed Oliver von Miller,
11:26
Speaker 1: so many guys up front, a j fpansa boogie bashum,
11:29
Speaker 1: but they disrupted everything. The Rams try timing this and
11:33
Speaker 1: that and that. Mark, that's the von Miller effect. It's
11:36
Speaker 1: the same effect he had when he joined the Rams
11:38
Speaker 1: mid season. And I was at von Miller's pass rush
11:40
Speaker 1: camp this summer in Las Vegas, and he brought all
11:43
Speaker 1: of his defensive line teammates with him to that camp
11:47
Speaker 1: to form kind of that unity you saw last night
11:50
Speaker 1: on full display. So if they continue to dominate the
11:53
Speaker 1: line to scrimmage, it will allow offensively Josh Allen to
11:56
Speaker 1: manipulate any defense he's gonna see, but it will also
11:59
Speaker 1: allow their own defense to continue to grow because they
12:04
Speaker 1: stifled the Rams offense to basically make them look like
12:07
Speaker 1: it was nothing more than Matthew Stafford Cooper Cup playing catch. Steve,
12:11
Speaker 1: you're right about the front. Don't forget that, my man
12:12
Speaker 1: Jordan Phillips, and they're coming there. Joe Green up in
12:15
Speaker 1: there saying, come on, but let's go to the flip side.
12:18
Speaker 1: We got to talk about the the the obvious, and
12:20
Speaker 1: that's Josh Allen. And I mean all the hype in
12:24
Speaker 1: the off season this guy is gonna be better m
12:26
Speaker 1: VP candidate, and he just went in there and just
12:28
Speaker 1: completely said, Yep, that's it, and I'm gonna raise it
12:31
Speaker 1: up even another level. The show I may be the
12:34
Speaker 1: best player in football. I mean, what a dominant performance
12:37
Speaker 1: throwing the ball, moving around, running, leading rushier game last
12:40
Speaker 1: night for the Bill. So I mean he just really
12:43
Speaker 1: took his game to another level, and it looks like
12:44
Speaker 1: he couldn't even keep getting better off of that performance.
12:47
Speaker 1: That game should have been over early except for the
12:50
Speaker 1: turnovers that kept the Rams in the game. And that's
12:53
Speaker 1: the sign of greatness and the great quarterbacks Like Okay,
12:55
Speaker 1: I got a couple of turnover turnovers, it's tide at halftime.
12:58
Speaker 1: Let's just go in the second half and let me
13:00
Speaker 1: just just go crush him in the second half. So
13:02
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, I mean, what a virtue Wilso perform is.
13:05
Speaker 1: They're living up all the hype and expectations, and man,
13:09
Speaker 1: that that is a scaring team right there, Steve and
13:11
Speaker 1: mentioning the fronts, the line, the playmakers, and maybe the
13:15
Speaker 1: best best player in football Omar. The accuracy and the
13:17
Speaker 1: power from Josh Allen both on display, those balls so
13:20
Speaker 1: catchable for him. Meanwhile, the Rams, I think back to
13:23
Speaker 1: last year, they got blown out by the Titans, they
13:24
Speaker 1: got blown out by the forty Niners and still went
13:27
Speaker 1: on to win the Super Bowl. So no time to
13:29
Speaker 1: panic yet, Mark, but still a lot of areas to improve.
13:32
Speaker 1: What impressed hums about where the Rams need to find
13:35
Speaker 1: us some quick improvement. Well, yeah, that's the thing, is
13:38
Speaker 1: the panic. And they did have that stretches of last
13:40
Speaker 1: season where they look bad and I was like, these
13:42
Speaker 1: guys aren't going to make the playoffs, so you don't
13:44
Speaker 1: want to overreact. So what's real and what's the over reaction?
13:48
Speaker 1: So let's start with the old line. Okay, you lose
13:50
Speaker 1: Andrew Whitworth and that old line. They struggled, as Steve mentioned,
13:53
Speaker 1: and it wasn't just Von Miller reckon, it was everybody
13:55
Speaker 1: up there. So is that going to get better? I
13:58
Speaker 1: don't know. And then you look at Matthew Stafford that
14:01
Speaker 1: the elbow is at a concern. He looked like the
14:03
Speaker 1: De Troy Lions. Matthew Stafford a bad game, So will
14:06
Speaker 1: that continue to be a problem? Okay, we lose oh
14:08
Speaker 1: b J. We have another playmaker to compliment Cooper Cup
14:12
Speaker 1: last night. No, who's gonna step up? Allen Robinson was
14:15
Speaker 1: supposed to be that guy, but at least in one
14:17
Speaker 1: game he looked very pedestrian. So those are the huge
14:20
Speaker 1: concerns for the Rams. And then also the von Miller effect,
14:24
Speaker 1: von goes, where's the other pass for us coming besides
14:27
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald? So can they right the ship. Can they
14:30
Speaker 1: straighten this out or is this an over react in
14:32
Speaker 1: the one game or these look like things that could
14:34
Speaker 1: continue for a while. Steve, Let's not panic because, as
14:37
Speaker 1: Omar pointed out, when you saw the Rams lose last year,
14:40
Speaker 1: they got bullied, right, They got bullied in the trenches
14:42
Speaker 1: by Tennessee, by the forty niners, by teams like that.
14:45
Speaker 1: They will figure some things out. But I want to
14:47
Speaker 1: get to what you said a compliment to Cooper Cup
14:50
Speaker 1: because all I heard leading up to this game from
14:52
Speaker 1: people with the Rams meant Allen Robinson he could play.
14:55
Speaker 1: He can play the X, he can play the Z,
14:56
Speaker 1: he can play the Y. He played the Y last night.
14:59
Speaker 1: But w h y, why did you throw him the ball?
15:03
Speaker 1: He had one target until the final few minutes of
15:07
Speaker 1: the game, and it really just seemed like it wasn't
15:09
Speaker 1: he was being locked up. It was just seemed like
15:11
Speaker 1: that was all that Matthew Stafford felt comfortable doing because
15:15
Speaker 1: he was under pressure, significant pressure. They could not run
15:18
Speaker 1: the football, so they didn't play any form of complimentary
15:21
Speaker 1: football on offensive. They will figure that out, Sean McVeigh.
15:24
Speaker 1: We'll figure that part out. So you look, go go
15:27
Speaker 1: to the defensive side of the ball. You saw all
15:29
Speaker 1: the confusion in the secondary because of Josh Allen's run threat.
15:33
Speaker 1: They were putting the dvs and conflict who were playing
15:36
Speaker 1: in that soft zone trying to keep everything underneath, but
15:39
Speaker 1: that allows him of those leaky plays when they were
15:41
Speaker 1: getting Jalen Ramsey and other corners to come up and
15:43
Speaker 1: try to stop Alan in the run, put it over
15:46
Speaker 1: their head. Got some bad eyes, bad technique on a
15:48
Speaker 1: couple of plays too. The Rams will clean that up.
15:50
Speaker 1: That was a game one we talked about Super Bowl hangover.
15:54
Speaker 1: I don't know if they were hungover, but they sure
15:56
Speaker 1: did get a sobriety check last night by one of
15:59
Speaker 1: the best teams in the NFL. And if you're a
16:01
Speaker 1: Rams fan this morning looking for optimism, remember how badly
16:04
Speaker 1: the Packers us last season and they're opener three, eight
16:07
Speaker 1: to three down in Jacksonville against the Saints. Obviously came
16:10
Speaker 1: back to be the number one seed in the NFC,
16:11
Speaker 1: So a long, long season to go. We'll be talking
16:14
Speaker 1: about it all year. They're not playing the Buffalo Bills
16:18
Speaker 1: every week, every bit the Super Bowl favorite. We've all
16:24
Speaker 1: made them out to be much more ahead here on NFL. Now,
16:26
Speaker 1: we're just getting warm up Russell Wilson preparing for the
16:30
Speaker 1: huge homecoming this weekend in Seattle. After the break, we're
16:33
Speaker 1: bringing in James Palmer to discuss all the details of
16:36
Speaker 1: Russ's reunit. The Packers and Vikings set to renew their
16:44
Speaker 1: NFC North rivalry. Two time reigning m v P Aaron
16:48
Speaker 1: Rodgers makes his debut without Davante Adams in years. There's
16:52
Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins. A lot of dark Horse
16:54
Speaker 1: for MVP. Talk for Kirk Cousins for more on this
16:57
Speaker 1: monster matchup. We welcome in our Tom Pellicero, who's at
17:00
Speaker 1: the Vikings facility as we speak, and obviously new head
17:03
Speaker 1: coach for the Vikings, Kevin O'Connell in his debuts the VIKE.
17:06
Speaker 1: What's the Vikings vibe right now heading into this one, Lomar,
17:09
Speaker 1: I'd say the vibe has been very upbeat here ever
17:12
Speaker 1: since Kevin O'Connell got hired. You go back through the
17:14
Speaker 1: off season, the way that he took care of players,
17:16
Speaker 1: shorter practices, fewer days and pads. It was all really
17:20
Speaker 1: built to get them to this moment, be healthy and
17:23
Speaker 1: know the schemes going into the regular season. Well, from
17:27
Speaker 1: a health perspective, they're in pretty good shape overall at
17:30
Speaker 1: this point. One situation to monitor is gonna be their
17:32
Speaker 1: first round draft pick. Lewis scene limited in practice yesterday
17:35
Speaker 1: because of a knee issue. I was told it's not
17:38
Speaker 1: anything that's believed to be major. Practice is gonna be
17:40
Speaker 1: coming up here in a few minutes, so we'll get
17:42
Speaker 1: a little bit better idea on scene status. But a
17:45
Speaker 1: real big test for the Vikings, no doubt about it.
17:47
Speaker 1: All those good vibes don't mean anything when you set
17:49
Speaker 1: foot on the field and your home stadium, US Bank
17:52
Speaker 1: Stadium on Sunday against your biggest rival, the Green Bay Packers.
17:55
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers fifteen ten and one all time against the
17:57
Speaker 1: Vikings last several years, going up against Mike Zimmer's defense,
18:01
Speaker 1: obviously new defensive system. Now, how are they preparing to
18:04
Speaker 1: face Minnesota's new defense. It's definitely an unknown there omar
18:07
Speaker 1: anytime that you've got a completely new scheme. The Vikings
18:10
Speaker 1: haven't run a three or four defense since the mid eighties,
18:13
Speaker 1: and now ed Donna Tell, who Kevin O'Connell hired to
18:15
Speaker 1: be the defensive coordinator, comes in installing that type of
18:19
Speaker 1: a scheme Dontel worked for the past decade or so
18:22
Speaker 1: with Vic Fangio in several different places. So I spoke
18:25
Speaker 1: yesterday on the phone to Packers running back Aaron Jones,
18:27
Speaker 1: who told me, not only have they gone into the
18:28
Speaker 1: Vikings tape from the preseason, they've gone back and watched
18:31
Speaker 1: Broncos tape from the past couple of years just to
18:33
Speaker 1: try to get an idea of how the Vikings might
18:36
Speaker 1: attack them. Still a lot of the same pieces in place,
18:38
Speaker 1: a lot of them are gonna be used differently though
18:40
Speaker 1: in this new scheme. So a different type of a
18:43
Speaker 1: challenge for a Packers offense that also is gonna be
18:45
Speaker 1: playing their first regular season game since the trade of
18:47
Speaker 1: wide receiver Davante Adams. Aaron Jones told me it's gonna
18:51
Speaker 1: take everybody. It's gonna be the tight ends, the running backs,
18:53
Speaker 1: the wide receivers to pick up the slack from a
18:56
Speaker 1: receiving perspective. Aaron Jones himself, though it's done a lot
18:58
Speaker 1: of that in the past. Omar ten touchdowns in seven
19:01
Speaker 1: games without Adams, and you may have to do more
19:03
Speaker 1: this week. Alan is Arden not practicing again today is
19:06
Speaker 1: not practice all weeks since he got stepped on his
19:09
Speaker 1: ankle in practice last week. Also, David Baktiari, the left
19:12
Speaker 1: tackle not on the field for the Packers today, doesn't
19:14
Speaker 1: necessarily mean he won't play this week, but that's going
19:17
Speaker 1: to be a situation to monitor heading in the Sunday. Yeah,
19:19
Speaker 1: definitely contributing factors. Both back tri and Alexasar kinda on
19:23
Speaker 1: for major contributions this year if the Packer is going
19:25
Speaker 1: to continue to dominate that division. Tom Pellicero, thank you
19:28
Speaker 1: very much, Mike Garafolo and Ian Rappidport or maybe now
19:32
Speaker 1: with the latest news from around the league, we're gonna
19:35
Speaker 1: start with a huge game in Chicago, the Forts and
19:38
Speaker 1: the Bears facing off against one another. Trade Lance the
19:41
Speaker 1: definitive starter in his debut, will or won't he have
19:44
Speaker 1: George Kittle? Mike, We're gonna find out later today. Omar
19:47
Speaker 1: George Kittle with that growing issue that he's kind of
19:50
Speaker 1: been working his way through. Uh, we'll see if the
19:53
Speaker 1: forty and unders think that he can manage his way
19:55
Speaker 1: through that. Did not practice the last couple of days. Uh,
20:00
Speaker 1: And it's not a great sign obviously. Uh. And you
20:03
Speaker 1: hope when you start to hear growing that it's not
20:05
Speaker 1: more of a long term thing. But nobody has had.
20:08
Speaker 1: I don't think any team worse injury karma over the
20:11
Speaker 1: last couple of years combined in the forty Niners, and
20:13
Speaker 1: they're sitting here thinking, here we go already, Omar, so
20:16
Speaker 1: we'll see later today. Obviously, not practicing the last two
20:20
Speaker 1: days not a great sign for George Hill certainly used
20:23
Speaker 1: that security blanket for Tree Lance. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, we
20:26
Speaker 1: know about Lamar's contract situation. Now what about J K. Dobbins.
20:29
Speaker 1: He's saying he's been going to be playing in Week
20:31
Speaker 1: one this entire off season. Will that happen? He did,
20:36
Speaker 1: uh When Ian Rapp Report reported he was no sure
20:38
Speaker 1: thing for Week one, Dobbins was certainly sure that he
20:41
Speaker 1: would be out there. Well. Lamar Jackson earlier this week
20:44
Speaker 1: said that he hopes that Dobbins will be out there,
20:46
Speaker 1: expects him to be out there in the next couple
20:48
Speaker 1: of weeks. So do with that part what you will.
20:50
Speaker 1: In the meantime, John Harball did meet the media today, UH,
20:54
Speaker 1: and he said he will not talk about the injured
20:56
Speaker 1: players status ahead of Monday. The only thing he clarified
21:00
Speaker 1: was that Marcus Peters, who was not on the field,
21:02
Speaker 1: said the cornerback was just getting a veteran rest day.
21:05
Speaker 1: So we'll see how the forty air for Downers. We
21:08
Speaker 1: did the forty Niners already. We'll see how the Ravens
21:11
Speaker 1: designate J. K. Dobbins on their injury report later today.
21:15
Speaker 1: But it is certainly looking like perhaps even if he
21:18
Speaker 1: is out there in some capacity, it might be a
21:20
Speaker 1: limited role because he's been limited in practice the last
21:22
Speaker 1: couple of days. On more, if who want to call it,
21:23
Speaker 1: it's the Joe Flacco revenge game starting for the Jets
21:26
Speaker 1: against his old team that he led to a Super
21:28
Speaker 1: Bowl win several years ago. Will he have Dwayne Brown
21:32
Speaker 1: to protect him? He will not. The Jets already down
21:35
Speaker 1: left tackle Mackay Beckton, are going to be down Dwayne
21:38
Speaker 1: Brown as well. He suffered an injury on Monday in practice,
21:42
Speaker 1: uh and then wasn't in practice the last couple of days.
21:44
Speaker 1: And Robert Sala finally today saying that Dwayne Brown will
21:48
Speaker 1: not play. So that means George Fent goes back from
21:51
Speaker 1: right tackle over the left tackle. Now, the silver lining
21:54
Speaker 1: and all of this is that even though the Jets
21:55
Speaker 1: have lost their top two left tackles. Fent was the
21:58
Speaker 1: guy that was working there for the entire off season
22:02
Speaker 1: and then in the munch of training camp only recently
22:05
Speaker 1: head he moved the right tackle. So at least that's
22:07
Speaker 1: the guy that's been with your starting offense for the
22:09
Speaker 1: bulk of the off season. So Fant moving into the
22:12
Speaker 1: left side to face the Baltimore Ravens and guard Joe Flacker.
22:17
Speaker 1: Still to come here on NFL Now, Russell Wilson said
22:20
Speaker 1: to return to Seattle a revenge game. Perhaps we'll have
22:25
Speaker 1: much more on that one when NFL Now rules on now.
22:28
Speaker 1: God so that a legendary career for Russell Wilson in Seattle.
22:36
Speaker 1: Want a super Bowl with Pete Carroll in factor, the
22:38
Speaker 1: sixth winning is all time combination of quarterback head coach
22:42
Speaker 1: in NFL history. Russell Wilson returns to Seattle for his
22:46
Speaker 1: very first game as a Denver Bronco Monday Night Football.
22:50
Speaker 1: You can see it on ESPN and ABC. Pete Carroll
22:53
Speaker 1: addressed facing his former star pupil for the first time.
22:58
Speaker 1: He's a terrific player and he's gonna do his thing
23:00
Speaker 1: over there, just like all the guys we play. Um,
23:02
Speaker 1: this has been a long time coming. You know, it's
23:04
Speaker 1: only just you know, we just changed change uniforms last week,
23:07
Speaker 1: you know, so we're in good shape and I'm not
23:10
Speaker 1: in any way expecting it to be anything different. People, Um,
23:14
Speaker 1: you have opinions and thoughts and ideas, and everybody has
23:17
Speaker 1: their own right to think what they want to think,
23:19
Speaker 1: you know, And I know how the whole thing went
23:22
Speaker 1: and how how it transpired and just the whole situation.
23:25
Speaker 1: But also the same same time too, I know that, uh,
23:28
Speaker 1: you know, I every second of it. I've I've enjoyed,
23:31
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of being there and just trying
23:33
Speaker 1: to get them all every day. You know. That's that's
23:35
Speaker 1: all I know. Ronco's social media team fired up for
23:38
Speaker 1: this one. Three days until kickoff, of course, Russell Wilson's
23:42
Speaker 1: number three will be on full display for the entire
23:46
Speaker 1: country to watch his return to Seattle. For much more
23:49
Speaker 1: on this game, we welcome in James Palmer and welcome
23:51
Speaker 1: back Mark Ross James. As you know, Lumnfield is a
23:55
Speaker 1: special special place for a big monster, prime time game.
23:59
Speaker 1: How do you think Russell Wilson will be handling the
24:01
Speaker 1: emotions of his return in that environment? Well, Omaro, you
24:04
Speaker 1: heard what Pete Carroll said there that this has been
24:06
Speaker 1: a long time coming. Everybody's known that this game was
24:08
Speaker 1: going to be opening the season for some time, and
24:10
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson's preparation has been the same for a really
24:13
Speaker 1: long time. I go back to a conversation I had
24:15
Speaker 1: with him at the very beginning of training camp, and
24:18
Speaker 1: he told me, I'm going to go into this game
24:20
Speaker 1: with no emotion. I can't play with emotion. You can't
24:23
Speaker 1: win with emotion. I can play with passion, but I
24:25
Speaker 1: can't let a motion get the best of me. Well,
24:27
Speaker 1: it's interesting, he said that exact same thing yesterday. So
24:30
Speaker 1: he's had the same mantra throughout this entire process of
24:33
Speaker 1: how he was going to handle this. Now he talks
24:35
Speaker 1: to Peyton Manning, who lives here in Denver, regularly, and
24:37
Speaker 1: that's going to continue, he told me throughout the season.
24:40
Speaker 1: This is one thing, though, that they haven't really talked about,
24:42
Speaker 1: because Russ doesn't believe spending time on things that don't
24:46
Speaker 1: help you win are some things that winners don't do,
24:50
Speaker 1: so he doesn't want to focus on the distractions by
24:52
Speaker 1: any means. This has been his approach throughout this entire game.
24:55
Speaker 1: Week as well. And when I've talked to teammates in
24:56
Speaker 1: the locker room, Mark, they have told me the same thing.
24:59
Speaker 1: There's been no Russell Wilson speeches. I've been told by
25:01
Speaker 1: multiple players about we got to go beat my old team.
25:03
Speaker 1: But they have said he has told us little things
25:06
Speaker 1: he knows about Seattle, like so many players do, about
25:08
Speaker 1: ways to beat them. But his teammates have said a
25:11
Speaker 1: couple of things about how they think things could go.
25:13
Speaker 1: And Melvin Gordon specifically said they I think they're gonna
25:16
Speaker 1: cheer him initially, but they might be doing him because
25:18
Speaker 1: I do believe he has a good chance of lighting
25:20
Speaker 1: it up. Agree with that. I was going to get
25:23
Speaker 1: to that, James. I think his preparation will be I'm
25:25
Speaker 1: gonna go mop up this bad Seattle team. I think
25:29
Speaker 1: that that's not gonna be a very good team there.
25:31
Speaker 1: Russell against Geno Smith a little bit of the mismatch,
25:33
Speaker 1: but you're right, Russell Wilson is a true professional. Uh
25:37
Speaker 1: Stars won a Super Bowl, you know, Pro Bowls. He's
25:41
Speaker 1: done it all in out in this league. And that's
25:43
Speaker 1: why he's been so successful is because he's been able
25:46
Speaker 1: to just block out all the distractions, and all his
25:49
Speaker 1: focus is about how do I win this game? And
25:52
Speaker 1: I guarantee you that that what he is really thinking about.
25:55
Speaker 1: Of course he hears the chatter, he knows that probably
25:57
Speaker 1: had a little extra motivation, But the day in and
26:00
Speaker 1: day out, each minute that he's working, he's talking about,
26:03
Speaker 1: I'm trying to win this football game, and I'm gonna
26:05
Speaker 1: get caught up in the emotions of it. So and
26:08
Speaker 1: I believe him. You know, some other players you might
26:10
Speaker 1: see like, I don't know, but Russell Wilson. I believe
26:13
Speaker 1: that because that is why this guy has become one
26:14
Speaker 1: of the best quarterbacks in the NFL is because of
26:17
Speaker 1: his mindset. And this guy has seen it and done
26:20
Speaker 1: at all from high school, college pros, so that this
26:23
Speaker 1: will just be another step to this guy saying, you
26:25
Speaker 1: know what, let me just go win a game and
26:27
Speaker 1: block it all out. Omar, Yeah, you talk about potentially
26:29
Speaker 1: lighting it up. Seattle's defense past defense thirty feet in
26:32
Speaker 1: the league last year. No more Bobby Wagner on that
26:35
Speaker 1: side of the football. So certainly Russell Wilson will be
26:38
Speaker 1: in attack mode all night long. Mark Ross, what's your
26:46
Speaker 1: one more thing? The Bills We're winning on and off
26:50
Speaker 1: the field. En if he saw Isaiah Mackenzie after he
26:52
Speaker 1: scored his touchdown. There did a gender reveal for a sister.
26:55
Speaker 1: A pretty cool moment. He checked that out on social
26:58
Speaker 1: big time. There for Isaiah, it looked like there is
27:00
Speaker 1: a gender reveal. A couple of crazy fans ran out
27:03
Speaker 1: to the stadium with some pink I gas. Looked like
27:06
Speaker 1: a gender reveal, Steve, Let's here one more thing. I
27:08
Speaker 1: missed that one. My one more thing's kind of cool.
27:11
Speaker 1: Here for all my my people over in Hawaii, my
27:14
Speaker 1: Politian folks. For the first time ever St. Louis High
27:17
Speaker 1: School graduates from over in Honolulu, Marcus Mariota and toa
27:21
Speaker 1: Toungo by Loa will be starting a game on the
27:25
Speaker 1: same weekend. Remember Mariota was the one who kind of
27:28
Speaker 1: set the charge, helped get Tugo by Loah to St.
27:31
Speaker 1: Louis High School the first time they're starting together. Props
27:34
Speaker 1: to my guy Rob de Mello in Honolulu for bringing
27:36
Speaker 1: that point atation. Yeah, they make so much of the
27:38
Speaker 1: Hawaiian people proud with the way that absolutely over there,
27:41
Speaker 1: in the way they represent in the NFL. Here's something interesting,
27:44
Speaker 1: Opi Ja remains a free agent. Jokingly, he said that
27:49
Speaker 1: he's gonna go to whichever team won last night. There's
27:52
Speaker 1: Von Miller after the game. I mean what he said,
27:56
Speaker 1: whoever won his game, that's where he was gonna go,
27:58
Speaker 1: you know, so, I mean, you know it's true behind
28:01
Speaker 1: every joke, you know, so we just had to see you. Man,
28:03
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's a he's a huge part of
28:05
Speaker 1: of our success last year. And you know, whenever he
28:07
Speaker 1: gets healthy, whenever he gets healthy, man, I'm sure it's
28:09
Speaker 1: a lot of teams that you're gonna be won't do man,
28:11
Speaker 1: We just gotta wait and see. Man, I think we
28:14
Speaker 1: did everything we could possibly do it again. We just gotta,
28:16
Speaker 1: you know, wait till he gets healthy. Man. Now, we're
28:18
Speaker 1: just gonna keep going. And you know we whenever he
28:20
Speaker 1: gets healthy healthy, well, you know, we'll see what happens.
28:23
Speaker 1: Interesting that Von Miller o b J in the building
28:26
Speaker 1: last night. Major contributors to the Super Bowl, none of
28:29
Speaker 1: them in a RAMS uniform. And by the time he
28:31
Speaker 1: gets healthy, it's gonna be fourteen degrees in Buffalo's coming back.
28:34
Speaker 1: There still has that locker out there. Everybody, have a
28:37
Speaker 1: great weekend, Enjoy the rest of week one. NFL Now
28:41
Speaker 1: is a production of the NFL in partnership with my
28:44
Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit
28:47
Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
28:51
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.