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NFL Week 2 Preview: When Will Jaxson Dart Get His Shot For New York Giants? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome to the Inside the Birds Week two
0:13
NFL Preview. I'm Jeff Mosher, and of course, in this show,
0:17
we take you around all the games this weekend on
0:20
the NFL Slate Monday Night included. We go through them,
0:23
We take a look at the matchups, and I try
0:25
to give you my best feel for how these games
0:29
are gonna go based on matchups, coaching, scheme, personnel, all
0:33
of that. So week one is in under books, underway,
0:38
and we are already at week two. And I always
0:43
say this, I want to reiterate it, and then I'll
0:46
leave it alone, probably after this week. But week one,
0:49
I don't put a whole lot into Week one is
0:52
a con job. Those who listen to Inside the Birds
0:56
are probably very familiar with hearing me say that I
0:59
don't put a lot of stock in week one. There
1:02
are always scores in week one that are shocking, and
1:06
there were a couple this past week that we'll talk about.
1:10
And then you go on to week two, three, four,
1:12
and you realize when you look back at the week
1:15
one calendar, you realize that some of those winners and
1:18
some of those losers that didn't seem right at the time,
1:21
well it was one of those anomalies. So you don't
1:24
put too much into Week one. You let things settle
1:27
in now. Of course we will mention obviously the Thursday
1:32
night game. The Packers are two to zero. They beat
1:36
the Commanders twenty seven eighteen. To be honest with you,
1:39
it was not that close to It was a very
1:41
one sided game. The Packers have looked very good. Now,
1:45
this is not me overreacting to either Week one their
1:48
win over the Lions or Week two. This is me
1:53
telling you, as I had been throughout the offseason, that
1:57
I think the Packers are one of those teams that
2:00
can be very very good in the NFC. I thought
2:03
they needed a couple of things. One, they needed to
2:06
get a little bit, just a little bit better play
2:10
out of the quarterback. Two, I felt they needed to
2:13
give the quarterback a little more weaponry. They went out
2:17
and drafted Matthew Golden and number three. I just thought
2:20
the defense needed more upfront. And obviously they went out
2:24
and got Micah Parsons. And you're seeing the Micah Parsons impact.
2:28
I mean he had an even though he's dealing with
2:32
the back injury, you can see right away he has
2:35
made a huge impact on that defense, which already has
2:38
some other good players. Eddrian Cooper entering year two, is
2:42
a player who's going to really come into his own
2:45
van ness. Their first round pick with Sean Gary, Keyshawn Nixon.
2:49
This is a talented team. I've said him many times.
2:52
They won double digit games last year. They just weren't
2:55
as good last year as the Vikings Relions, two other
2:58
teams that won double digit games, but they were in
3:01
all of their losses. They all of their losses were
3:05
one possession losses. Well, now they've made a couple of
3:08
big improvements. Love played very well and when you do
3:12
that and you get what you get from Michael Parsons.
3:15
You got to be impressed with a team that with
3:17
a four day span has beaten two teams that were
3:20
in the NFC Divisional Round last year. They beat they
3:23
played each other, They beat the Lions in the opener,
3:26
and then now they've beaten the Commanders, two teams that
3:29
won double digit games, and of course the Lions and
3:31
Commanders played each other in the divisional round. So you
3:35
really got to be impressed with what the Packers have done.
3:38
Both games have been at Lambeau. They are a very
3:41
tough team to beat at Lambeau normally in the winter,
3:44
but hey, it's a great, great venue. They get a
3:48
huge home field advantage there, even in the fall when
3:51
it's not even when it's not cold yet, it's still
3:53
a big place for them to play.
3:56
Speaker 2: And now they're on the road for the next two
3:58
weeks and then basically four of their lot next five
4:03
games are on the road away from Lambeau, So we'll
4:06
see if they can keep it up.
4:08
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna have too many problems. I
4:10
think they're gonna be a very good team, and we'll
4:13
just see if they can avoid the injury bug. They
4:15
obviously have some good weapons. Craft has become a very
4:18
good tight end. Jacobs, you know, the running back. They
4:21
could throw the ball to Dubbs. Dubbs. They already have
4:24
an injury with Jayden Reid, but they have enough to
4:28
withstand that sounds like Reid's gonna be out for a while.
4:31
It's a good player. But I just think the way
4:33
this Packers team is built, their coach, their head coach.
4:37
I've talked about Matt Lafleur many times. I think he's
4:40
an excellent head coach. I think he's a great play caller. Now,
4:44
when I say a great play caller, I don't mean
4:47
that he's aggressive. He's not an aggressive guy. Okay, He's
4:51
a guy who I think has a good feel for
4:54
a game, good feel for when to call the run,
4:57
when to call the pass, when he needs to mix it,
5:00
when he needs to lean heavier on one or the other.
5:03
We know he likes to run the ball. We know
5:05
they don't really open it up and go crazy with
5:07
the passing game, but it works. And when they do
5:10
pass the ball, he has a good fuel for where
5:13
he wants to attack and when he wants to attack.
5:16
He comes from that McVeigh slash Shanahan lineage, and he
5:22
or he's coached with him, I should say, and he
5:26
is someone who I believe when the way you watch
5:29
him call plays in the first quarter a lot like
5:33
Kyle Shanahan. He's searching, He's trying to figure out what
5:36
you're going to do when he lines up in certain
5:40
packages and formations, and then he does it again later
5:43
but runs different stuff out of it because he knows
5:46
how you're going to counter, so he has a counter
5:49
to your counter. So I think you saw that against
5:52
the Commanders. They had a pretty big lead. He saw
5:55
the Commander starting to cut into it a little bit.
5:57
Game got to be seventeen ten. They go right down
6:01
the field and then a beautiful RPO touchdown from Love
6:05
to Craft puts it twenty four to ten and basically
6:07
puts the game away from there. You know, obviously Washington
6:11
got a a touchdown there late to make it look close,
6:16
but it was really not close. The Packers were just
6:19
that dominant. So they're a team certainly to watch. Hey,
6:22
you know that one guy in the group chat who
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hit a five leg parlay a week one and he
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Let's make some money with my bookie and we'll get
7:28
into this week slate. There's obviously a bunch of one
7:32
o'clock games start off with. We can start off with
7:37
the Browns and the Ravens. The Ravens are eleven point
7:41
favorites at home. I believe it was eleven eleven and
7:45
a half point favorites over the Browns. You know that
7:49
that game, that game against the Bills, Man was fascinating
7:54
because for whatever reason, this now goes back to the
7:58
playoffs last year when they played in the division around
8:01
the Ravens are turning the ball overs and in ways
8:05
that they don't normally do that, and here they are
8:09
with a huge lead over the Bills in Buffalo. And
8:13
that was the shocking thing to me. How often do
8:16
you see Buffalo getting emasculated at home? The Ravens are
8:20
up forty to twenty five. Henry rips off a forty
8:24
six yard run. I mean they are cruising, and then
8:28
the Bills get a touchdown, so they're trying to make
8:30
it close, and then comes to Derek Henry fumble. Derek
8:34
Henry almost never fumbles, and then everything turns and then
8:41
it's a completely different game. Baltimore's defense, which was very
8:45
good over the second half of last year, completely implodes.
8:49
Some of that is due with Josh Allen being an MVP.
8:54
He was fantastic, three hundred and ninety four yards, two touchdowns,
8:57
no interceptions, continue to play at an amazingly high level.
9:01
He only ran for thirty yards. He did have two
9:05
of those sneak or tush push touchdowns, but he wasn't
9:07
running all over he was throwing the ball all over
9:10
the place. And he leads this unbelievable comeback. They get
9:14
the field goal, they win, and it's just like the
9:18
divisional round with Mark Andrews not catching passes with Mark,
9:23
you know, the turnovers that they had that they don't
9:25
normally have. Lamar turn the ball over. You just wonder
9:29
how close were the Ravens to win in this game.
9:32
You know, how close were they after Buffalo scored, just
9:37
going back down, maybe getting the three, maybe getting the seven,
9:40
getting getting that lead back up to double digits absolutely feasible.
9:44
It scored forty points. They were doing whatever they wanted
9:49
to do on Buffalo's defense until that fumble, and then
9:53
it the fumble. It's almost like the football gods, who
9:57
who know that the Bills don't lose much at home?
10:00
They came out and they came out and reversed that game.
10:04
So what do you expect this week from the Ravens.
10:08
I expect that the Ravens will shake that off. They
10:10
had a very tough loss last year, I think Week two,
10:13
where they had a ten point lead over the Raiders
10:16
and they're at home, and the Raiders came back and
10:18
won that game. So I have no doubt that the
10:21
Ravens can shake that off. Eleven and a half is
10:24
kind of high against a Browns team that is better
10:28
than you think. What do I mean by that? Browns
10:32
are gonna be bad, They're gonna lose a lot of games.
10:35
They're gonna hope they'll be able to be in position
10:37
to draft the quarterback. But I watched them when they
10:42
were here in Philly and they had their joint practices,
10:47
and you know, you know about Miles Garrett. Okay, that's obvious.
10:50
But whenever you have a player who's a game changer
10:52
like that, sure helps when you're especially if you're not
10:55
a great team. Helps to have an elite player like
10:59
Miles Garrett Defensive Player of the Year, the rookie linebacker
11:02
that got Schwessinger not too bad secondary, got some players.
11:06
Flacco can be efficient. He's gonna throw the ball to
11:10
the opponent, it's gonna happen. But he's also gonna hit
11:13
some big plays. He's gonna gonna hit you with the
11:16
rookie Harrold Fannon Jr. Had a nice little first game.
11:21
He's gonna get the ball to Tillman, maybe get the
11:23
ball to Judy Nidjoku. My point is they're gonna lose
11:27
a lot of games, but I think they're gonna be competitive.
11:30
So eleven and a half is kind of high. Wouldn't
11:32
put it past the Ravens to certainly win by two touchdowns.
11:36
But I do think this Brown's defense and this overall team.
11:39
I've always thought they're well coached. Kevin Stefanski is a
11:43
good coach. It's an AFC North game, so you know
11:47
it's that's gonna come with its own pomp. And circumstance,
11:50
and you know, the Browns play a tough, physical brand
11:52
of football. James Schwartz is a good defensive coordinator. I
11:55
don't think the Browns are gonna win. I think eleven
11:58
and a half is high. I think the brown could
12:01
easily cover. But I would expect to bounce back performance
12:05
from the Ravens, get back on the win column and
12:08
put that Week one implosion behind them. If they don't,
12:12
if they go to zero and two, and particularly if
12:14
they give up a lot of points to the Browns,
12:17
You're gonna have to wonder a little bit about the
12:20
defense and what's going on there. Jaguars at Bengals. The
12:24
Bengals are three and a half point favorites. The Bengals
12:27
did not play well against the Browns. Yes they won, Yes,
12:32
it was an AFC North game. Yes, Zach Taylor achieved
12:36
what he wanted to achieve by winning the season opener
12:40
and getting off on the right foot. That's why he
12:42
played his starters in the preseason quite a bit. But
12:46
they didn't play well the Bengals. They had a terrible
12:50
second half and I'm wondering if this was formulaic. You know,
12:55
they did not throw the ball all around the way
12:59
the Bengals typically throw the ball all around. They ran
13:03
the ball a lot with Chase Brown twenty one times.
13:06
They only threw the ball twenty five times. Well, they
13:09
threw it twenty three times. There were two Joe Burrow runs.
13:13
If those were called passes that he just ran or
13:15
maybe they were sneaks, I don't know, but the point
13:17
is that they were very, very balanced. The Bengals are
13:20
not ordinarily a balanced offense. Maybe they want to be,
13:23
but they're usually not because they're playing from behind. So
13:27
in this game, they were playing from ahead because they
13:30
got a Chase Brown touchdown and then they got to
13:33
know a Fan touchdown the second quarter to put them
13:35
up fourteen to seven, so they weren't behind the eight ball,
13:40
although they did fall behind in the third quarter when
13:44
Flacco hits them with a touchdown, but then they came
13:47
back and got the field goal. I'm just surprised by
13:51
how little offense they were able to generate. Our only
13:55
passed for one hundred and thirteen yards. They only ran
13:58
for forty three yards. Read that they only had seven
14:01
yards after halftime, which is almost hard to believe. So
14:07
they didn't play well but they won, and now they
14:09
welcome a Jaguars team that also did not play well,
14:14
but one you heard me talk last week about my
14:16
excitement for this Jags offense with Liam Cohen as the
14:21
new coach. Cohen comes from Tampa Bay where he did
14:24
wonders with Baker Mayfield, and you see all the talent
14:27
that he's got, Brian Thomas Junior, and he's got Cedric Johnson.
14:31
I'm sorry, Travis Hunter. I don't know I said Cedric Johnson,
14:35
but you know, those two receivers. I was very interested
14:38
to see how they would play. And then of course
14:42
Trevor Lawrence. He figured if Liam Cohen could do what
14:45
he did with Baker Mayfield, he could finally tap in
14:48
to Trevor Lawrence. Well, Lawrence didn't play very well. He
14:51
didn't and because of that, he didn't really get the
14:55
ball to Brian Thomas one catch for eleven yards. He
14:58
didn't get the ball very much to Travis Hunter. It's
15:01
thirty three yards and it wasn't it was. It was
15:04
almost as if the Jaguars won because they were fortunate
15:08
that the team across from them was even more defunct
15:12
offensively and defensively. And that was the Panthers who just
15:15
looked terrible. So again, it's just weak one not overreacting
15:19
to it certainly a lot of time. I think the
15:21
one thing we learned, obviously, and not only in the
15:25
game but in the ensuing action from the Jaguars is
15:29
Travis Atn has emerged as the guy for Liam Cohen
15:33
for now. He had one hundred and forty three yards
15:35
on sixteen carries. Now Atn can do this. He's one
15:39
of those backs that can just look fantastic one game.
15:42
He can look fantastic for a stretch and then he
15:46
doesn't and he's not running well, or he puts the
15:49
ball on the ground. So we'll say we'll see about Atn.
15:54
But obviously he emerged, and then Jacksonville traded Bigsby to
15:59
the Eagles, and so it looks like for now it's
16:02
the ETN show until maybe at some point they might
16:05
turn to their rookie Beshaal Touton that they really like.
16:08
But for now it's ETN And for now I'm still
16:11
waiting to see if the Jaguar offense can really pick
16:15
it up. You would thought when you looked at the
16:18
schedule and you saw Week two Jaguars Bengals. All I'm
16:20
thinking of is Burrow to Chase, Burrow to Higgins, and
16:25
then I was thinking about Lawrence to Brian Thomas and
16:27
Lawrence to Travis Hunter. I'm hoping that we'll see that
16:31
in Week two, but interesting style of play for both
16:34
teams to win in Week one Giants and Cowboys. Cowboys
16:39
are five and a half point favorites. They should be,
16:42
They're home, they're generally healthy. Dron Bland got hurt, He's
16:45
going to be out, but honestly, it doesn't matter. They're
16:48
facing a Giants team that can't throw the football, still
16:51
don't have Andrew Howard back at left tackle, still have
16:54
offensive line issues, which means they have running the ball
16:57
issues and throwing the ball issues, and what else is new?
17:01
This is the New York Giants. They have lost fifteen
17:04
of their last sixteen games against the Cowboys, and some
17:07
of those games were started by Cooper Rush. So I mean,
17:12
the answers are the test are there? The Cowboys should
17:14
be favorite this This is not an impossible game for
17:18
the Giants to win. I'm not putting the Cowboys in
17:21
Juggernaut territory, but you got to be able to block
17:25
a little bit and the Giants just haven't been able
17:28
to do it. And with Andrew tom and the left
17:31
tackle still out Andrew Thomas, I don't know that anything
17:37
better is in sight for them. And I know their
17:39
fans want Jackson Dark. I know that football fans want
17:42
to see Jackson Dart. I know people want something to
17:45
be excited about. They gave Russell Wilson ten and a
17:49
half million dollars I think eight million guaranteed. They're not
17:52
going to spend that money and pull the plug on
17:56
Russell Wilson after one game. That's just not how it
17:59
works in the NFL. They have a tough schedule. Schedule
18:03
still is tough even after this game. So even though
18:08
they played a Commanders team that didn't play very well
18:11
in Week one either and lost that game in a
18:14
poor fashion, the schedule is only gonna get tougher for them.
18:18
And I don't see Jackson Dart playing for the Giants
18:22
anytime in the first five or six weeks of the season,
18:26
and especially until Andrew Thomas gets back. Cowboys this game.
18:31
They got the Chiefs in Week three, the Chargers in
18:34
Week four, and I get a little bit of a
18:36
break with the Saints in Week five, then it's Eagles
18:38
and Broncos, and then Eagles again in six, seven, eight,
18:43
So we're probably looking at week nine, Week ten, forty
18:48
nine Ers Bears as Jackson Dart territory. So I know
18:52
everybody wants to see it. It ain't gonna happen anytime soon.
18:57
In my opinion, I don't think it's gonna happen. They
18:59
pay Russ too much money to be a bridge and
19:02
the bridge is not gonna go crumbling in one day. Now.
19:05
The Giants aren't gonna win a lot of games. They
19:08
may not win any of them, but Russell Wilson's gonna
19:11
go out there and play until they're ready, and it's
19:14
got to start with having a healthy left tackle. They
19:16
don't have a healthy left tackle, then you might as
19:18
well not throw Dart in because he's just gonna get killed.
19:22
Cowboy should win the game. Had plenty of arrests coming
19:25
off the loss of the Eagles. They'll be motivated. They
19:28
know that a couple of plays here and there and
19:30
maybe they could have won that game. And again, the
19:32
Giants are their favorite team to play over the last
19:34
few years because they always win. Bears Lions. Well, this
19:39
one's a really interesting matchup. The Bears had the Vikings
19:43
on the ropes in Week one. They were going to
19:47
get off to this great start under their new coach
19:50
Ben Johnson, and then what happened? They turned into the Ravens,
19:55
so to speak, because all of a sudden, out of nowhere,
19:59
up seventeen to six the Vikings and JJ McCarthy. It
20:03
was funny to see on social media a lot of
20:06
experts basically calling JJ McCarthy not an NFL quarterback. This
20:10
is like, by the second quarter, not an NFL quarterback,
20:14
A mistake Wentz, Carson Wentz getting in and then lo
20:17
and behold, McCarthy leads him on three consecutive scoring drives
20:22
in the fourth quarter. They go twenty seven to seventeen
20:25
to Basically, I don't want to say put the game away,
20:28
but you know, the Bears obviously got that last touchdown,
20:30
but that did it. That McCarthy fourteen yard touchdown run
20:34
sealed it up. And then Minnesota starts off one to
20:36
oh and the Bears are still the Bears. Now, you're
20:39
happy about some things with the Bears. You know, Caleb
20:43
Williams didn't throw a pick. You got a running game
20:49
because of Caleb Williams. He averaged nine and a half
20:51
yards of carry there. DeAndre Swift I feel like they
20:54
need more. DeAndre Swift was the only running back to
20:59
get a carry in that game. He had seventeen. That's
21:03
not enough running for a Ben Johnson offense that did
21:06
an excellent job in Detroit, mixing Jamiir Gibbs and David Montgomery.
21:11
So someone's got to step up for the Bears on
21:14
the run of the ball so that when they are
21:16
up seventeen to six, or when they are up in
21:19
the fourth quarter, they can maybe grind out some yards
21:22
and milk the clock and now have to rely on
21:24
their quarterback to be moving the chains with his legs.
21:28
It's a disappointing, disappointing opener for the Bears. It's a
21:31
game they probably feel they should have won, and yet
21:34
you can see some incremental progress with Caleb Williams. Can
21:38
see a couple of plays made there. It was nice
21:41
to see them get a touchdown from Roma Dunza. So
21:44
I'm just saying Week one is Week one, and the
21:48
Vikings you got to be impressed by their way to
21:50
come back. So now the Bears have to go play
21:53
Detroit and I think Detroit's going to be absolutely motivated
21:58
coming off their Week one loss to the Packers. Now,
22:01
Detroit's offense did not look good Week one, and everybody
22:06
Detroit in general didn't look good. They got embarrassed by
22:09
the Packers twenty seven to thirteen, and their offense that
22:12
scored all those points last year basically did nothing. They
22:17
they didn't get a touchdown until the fourth quarter when
22:19
that third round rookie Isaac Taslah caught one and they
22:23
were already down twenty seven to six. So naturally, everybody
22:27
is talking about the loss of Ben Johnson as the
22:29
offensive coordinator, the loss of Aaron Glenn as their defensive coordinator.
22:34
He's now the head coach of the Jets. They lost
22:36
their pass game coordinator, who's now the offensive coordinator for
22:39
the Jets. Everybody's talking about that, and rightfully so. But
22:43
I think with the Lions, what's going sort of under
22:46
the radar is the fact that their offensive line is
22:49
not the same. They lost Frank Ragnow, who was a
22:52
three time he retired. He was an excellent center, three
22:57
time Pro Bowl center. If I'm not mistaken, Kevin was
23:00
a right guard. He was a good right guard. He's
23:02
being replaced by a rookie. Zeitler is a journeyman and
23:05
he's he's been good on teams that are good around him,
23:08
like when he was with the Ravens, the Bengals a
23:10
couple of years ago, and of course last year with
23:13
the Lions. He's a guy who if you have a
23:15
good offensive line, he can go in there and hold
23:17
the fourth down. So when they had Ragnow, Zeitler and
23:20
Sewell Penne Sewell at right tackle, they were one of
23:23
the of course Taylor Decker at left tackle, one of
23:26
the best offensive lines in the league. They were right
23:28
up there with the Egos last year in what they
23:31
were able to do just resetting the line of scrimmage,
23:34
giving GoF plenty of time to throw. Well, now you
23:37
have a new center, Graham Glasgow. Now you got a
23:40
new right guard. He's a rookie, Tate Ratledge. Okay, that's
23:43
two fifths of your offensive line. But it's not just
23:46
two fifths. It's two guys who were trying to fill
23:50
You know, one guy's a multiple time Pro Bowl and
23:52
the other guy's a really good right guard. And to me,
23:55
that was the start of that, That is the root
23:58
of the Lions struggle in the opener. Now, again, this
24:02
is not something they can't work around. I'm not saying
24:05
these two new offensive linemens stink at the Lions will
24:08
never recover. I expect them to recover this week. I'm
24:11
just saying that offensive line play generally functions best with continuity,
24:16
and the Lions have two new starters there, so it's
24:20
not surprising to me that their offense in Week one,
24:23
with also the new coordinator John Morton, didn't look like
24:27
it looked last year. I have faith in Dan Campbell.
24:30
I think it's a well coached team with good personnel
24:34
on offense and defense. So I expect the Lions to
24:37
get back on the winning track pretty soon, and probably
24:40
against the Bears. Rams Titans interesting game. I got some
24:46
feedback from people who thought I was crazy last week
24:49
when I said I thought the Titans would go to
24:51
Denver and contend. I even in my three picks picked
24:54
the Titans to cover. Guess what they covered. Now. They
24:57
didn't look great offensively. They only scored but twelve points
25:03
was it? So you know, I'm not sitting here patting
25:05
myself on the back. They didn't pull off an upset.
25:08
It was more that. I'm just I'm not fully bought
25:11
in to the Broncos outside of their defense. Their defense
25:16
is fantastic. I take nothing away from it. I'm not
25:19
fully bought into Bo Nicks. I liked his rookie year.
25:22
I'm not taking away anything. I'm just it's a team
25:26
that doesn't have a ton of playmakers, and so I
25:29
don't know how much they can scratch and claw each
25:32
week with Nix and JK. Dobbins and you know, Milkin
25:36
Courtland Sutton their best playmaker for as much as they can.
25:40
They have to rely on their defense to win, and
25:43
they did. They won twenty to twelve, mainly because their
25:46
defense did a nice job. But I thought that the
25:49
Titans would be representative. With cam Ward a quarterback, he'd
25:53
never a great game. But he didn't have a terrible game.
25:55
They played good defense, ran the ball okay. So now
25:59
they come home and they play a Rams team that
26:03
got itself a win in the opener. Matthew Stafford, despite
26:07
the back injury, has looked fine. He actually had a
26:10
really nice game. The Rams are a team that's better
26:14
than the Titans. Their defense. The Rams is something that
26:18
we're gonna be talking about this year. In fact, when
26:21
I previewed last week's game against the Rams and the Texans,
26:24
I said, I felt like that would be a defensive
26:26
battle because both offenses have been are are you know? Well?
26:32
It was the the Texans offense was really had struggled
26:34
last year, and the Rams are not normally a team
26:36
that's gonna score thirty thirty five points there. They're deliberate,
26:40
they run the ball, they throw to their two very
26:42
good wide receivers, kick field goals. They're efficient, kind of
26:47
like how I've talked about the Packers a little bit.
26:49
So it's not surprising that they won fourteen to nine.
26:52
Now they go to Tennessee, should win the game. But
26:56
we'll say again, I think the Titans are an improved team.
27:00
The Rams are five and a half point favorites. It's
27:03
a dangerous kind of spread just because they're on the road,
27:05
But I get it. The Rams are a very good
27:07
team and the Titans are still trying to learn how
27:10
to play football a little bit with all their new personnel.
27:14
I would not be surprised if this was also a
27:16
low scoring game. The total is forty one and a half,
27:20
so that just tells you that the oddsmakers don't think
27:22
it's going to be a very high scoring game either.
27:26
I could totally can see the Rams winning this game,
27:28
like twenty to ten, twenty to six, something like that.
27:33
Seventeen thirteen, very easily see that Patriots Dolphins. Now, this
27:41
is one of those moments and games where I'm going
27:44
to say this might have been a Week one thing.
27:49
The Dolphins were just absolutely humiliated in Indianapolis by Daniel
27:55
Jones and the Colts, And it was such a bad
27:58
loss thirty three to eight, that the Dolphins have already
28:01
had read this must of a report. The Dolphins already
28:05
have had a team meeting to make sure everybody is
28:10
on the same page. Tell me the last time you've
28:13
heard of a team having a team meeting after the
28:16
first week of the season. But you know what, I
28:20
can't blame him. You go to Indianapolis, you got a
28:23
healthy Tua, you got Tyreek Hill trying to make amends
28:27
for his last year, you got Waddle, you know, and
28:30
you absolutely come out completely and totally unprepared to play
28:37
a football game. The most embarrassing effort, the most embarrassing outcome,
28:43
the most embarrassing performance by far of the week and
28:49
if I were Mike McDaniel, I'd be absolutely scared for
28:53
my job security. Totally scared. I have not seen a
28:58
team that unprepared to play in Week one in a
29:02
long long time. I mean a team that has as
29:05
much has talent. I don't think the Dolphins are a
29:08
Super Bowl contender, but I just name for you some
29:11
of their better players. They have no business going into
29:14
Indianapolis and losing by twenty five points to Daniel Jones
29:19
and the Colts. So why do I say this is
29:22
a Week one thing? Because they're home against the Patriots.
29:26
Patriots also lost their opener against the Raiders, did not
29:29
look very good. I always feel this. You hear me
29:33
say this a lot. The South Florida teams have a
29:37
huge advantage in September, especially when they're playing either a
29:42
Northeast team or a Midwest team. Somebody who's not used
29:45
to in September. Mid September, still going and at one
29:49
o'clock in the afternoon, feeling it's supposed to be eighty
29:53
seven degrees in Miami, that'll feel like ninety to ninety five.
29:56
The humidity. The Dolphins enjoy one of the best September
30:02
home field advantages, and now they're coming off just completely
30:06
having their asses handed to them. They're one and a
30:09
half point favorites at home. I think that they will win.
30:13
I expect them to play better. I expect them not
30:15
to embarrass themselves. I expect Mike McDaniel to have some
30:19
kind of answer against the Patriots team that frankly is
30:22
not very good. All right, they want to be better.
30:25
They made a ton of additions. They lost to the
30:27
Raiders in the season opener, I mean the Raiders. Okay,
30:31
so at home. The Patriots lost at home to the
30:33
Raiders in the season opener. Let that say again a
30:36
little bit. They're not ready yet. Now by the end
30:39
of the year, maybe all those moves, maybe Mike Vrabel's
30:42
plan in blueprint, will have made a difference. But for
30:45
Week one, the Patriots lost to the Raiders at home.
30:51
I talked about how West Coast team last week. West
30:53
Coast teams can go to the East Coast and win
30:56
these games. Now it's not that crazy, and that's what
30:58
the Raiders did. So now the Patriots have to go
31:01
to Miami to rivalry AFC East game, and I would
31:06
expect that the Dolphins will get their act together and
31:09
be a lot more formidable if they are not. If
31:13
they are not, when I do the show next week,
31:16
I will tell you that the Dolphins are some serious
31:18
trouble and it will be hard to take them seriously
31:22
in any game the rest of the way if they
31:24
completely implode against the Patriots again. Forty nine Ers at
31:30
the Saints. The forty nine ers want to know, had
31:33
a nice victory over the Seahawks. I'm not quite sure
31:36
who are what the Seahawks are yet, but it was
31:39
good for the forty nine ers. McCaffrey stayed healthy, and
31:43
it was an NFC West win. That's going to be
31:45
a competitive division all year long, and the forty nine
31:49
ers are that team that's trying to bounce back from
31:51
last year. I felt that they would win the game.
31:54
They did, but they paid a price. The price is
31:57
the same price that the forty nine ers pay every
32:00
freaking year. I don't know what's up with their training
32:03
staff or their doctors or whatever. Maybe it's just bad luck,
32:07
but the forty nine ers just can't stay out of
32:11
their own way when it comes to injuries. So there'll
32:14
be no Brock Purdy. He's banged up. There's no George Kittle,
32:18
he's out. I think Juwan Jennings got hurt too, so
32:22
Mac Jones gets the ball. They're fortunate that they're playing
32:25
the Saints, who are about as bad as any team
32:27
in football, but it's in the Superdome. Not always easy
32:30
to go and win the Superdome. I still think the
32:32
forty nine ers are fortunate and should probably win this game.
32:37
But man, this team and all its injuries, I think
32:40
I thought I read that Trent Williams got hurt in
32:43
the game as well. So do they have enough to
32:46
beat the Saints? Yes? Is it great that McCaffrey stayed healthy. Absolutely.
32:52
Ricky Piersoll's the name I mentioned as a guy who
32:54
I thought was really going to come into his own
32:57
this year. He had one hundred and eight yards. Great.
33:00
Let's just if you're the forty nine ers, you hope
33:02
you get out of this game with those guys healthy,
33:05
because if anybody else goes down for a long time, especially,
33:09
then they're screwed. That's just the reality of it. They
33:13
should be able to beat the Saints. The Saints are
33:15
just not good now. They lose a home to in
33:20
Week one, they lose two. You know, Ratler didn't play
33:25
very well. They Why am I all of a sudden
33:31
blanking on who the New Orleans Saints are? The Cardinals?
33:34
That's right, they lost twenty to thirteen. Rattler got the opportunity. Now,
33:40
some people might be surprised that Ratler threw the ball
33:42
forty six times in the game, despite the game never
33:46
really being you know, it's not like they were ever
33:48
down ten, fifteen, twenty points. I think the most that
33:51
they were down at any time was by maybe ten
33:55
in the fourth. In the third quarter, it was mostly
33:58
a seven to ten point game. So why are they
34:00
throwing the ball forty six games with Rattler? Well, Kellen
34:04
Moore's their coach, has got to figure out what he's got.
34:08
They don't really have much of a running game. I mean,
34:10
Kamara is a good running back at this stage of
34:14
his career, but he's not elite like he used to.
34:16
Their offensive line not a very good at the moment,
34:20
and you might as well try to win through the
34:23
aid you got, Kellen Moore. You're gonna run a spread offense.
34:25
You're gonna you know, use a lot of motion, and
34:27
you're gonna try to get the ball to guys like
34:29
Olave and Juwan Johnson and Rashi Chhahid. Maybe they ran
34:33
the ball, I'm sorry, maybe they threw the ball a
34:35
little bit too much. But they are just not deep
34:38
at running back. Their backup, Kendre Miller's hurt a lot.
34:41
I don't know. To me, Kellen Moore is just trying
34:45
to figure out what do I have in Spencer Ratler?
34:48
What throws Kenny make? What throws Kenny not make? Can I,
34:51
you know, continue to go with him? Do I have
34:54
to get Tyler Schuck ready to play. There's a lot
34:56
of questions, and that's how most Saints' games are gonna
34:59
be through throughout the year. All right, Bill's Jets another
35:03
great AFC East early game. Now, the Jets looked more
35:10
like the Lions of last year than the Lions, except
35:13
they did not play great defense against the Steelers and
35:16
they got burned. And only the Jets, in very Jet fashion,
35:21
could score over thirty points and still lose to the
35:25
quarterback that they had but didn't want. They flew him
35:29
in just to tell them they didn't want him, and
35:32
then kicked him to the curb. And then they have
35:34
this opportunity to show you in Aaron Glenn's debut, that
35:38
they are new and that they're going to be this
35:41
team that's feared, and they score points and then what happens, Well,
35:46
they still lose. But if you're going to take a positive,
35:49
their offensive coordinator, Tanner Engstrom did a really nice job
35:53
making the Jet offense try to look like what he
35:58
had last year with the Lions. Engstrom was the pass
36:01
game coordinator for the Lions under Ben Johnson, who was
36:05
the offensive coordinator. Well, now he's the offensive coordinator with
36:07
the Jets. What did you see? You saw, just like
36:10
the Lions had Jamiir Gibbs and David Montgomery, this two
36:15
headed rushing attack. Well you saw that with the Jets
36:18
three headed rushing attack. If you want to throw justin
36:21
fields in there. But you saw Bryce Hall get the
36:24
majority of carries, have a nice game. Brayln Allen I
36:28
mentioned him. He was able to get a few carries
36:30
and get in there. They're gonna ground and pound. Really,
36:33
the Jets have to be impressed by how well their
36:36
offensive line played. Their tackles. First round pick from Missouri
36:40
played well at right tackle. The first round pick from
36:42
Penn State a couple of years ago played well left tackle,
36:45
the interior blocked well. They did a lot of really
36:48
good things offensively. And for all the worry and concern
36:52
about justin Fields in the preseason, folks, that's why the
36:55
preseason doesn't matter. That's why training camp stats don't matter.
37:00
Fields was sixteen of twenty two to eighteen, had a touchdown,
37:04
no interceptions. He got the ball again like the Lions.
37:08
The Lions golf started that thing. They would run the
37:10
ball and then he would get the ball to Aman
37:13
Ross Saint Brown a lot. Well. Fields got the ball
37:16
to his best receiver, Garrett Wilson seven times for ninety
37:20
five yards and a touchdown. So you got one hundred
37:23
and seven rushing yards from Hall, fifty more from Fields,
37:27
and a few more from their other running backs. And
37:29
you ran the ball well. And now why the Jets
37:32
defense played like crap? Well, maybe Aaron Rodgers one year
37:37
removed from being off of that achilles you know, last
37:41
year he played one year off the achilles or right
37:43
off the Achilles injury. This is now a year later.
37:46
Plus he's on the Steelers team that has a lot more,
37:49
a lot solid of an infrastructures, just to put it kindly,
37:54
than the Jets do and even though he wasn't very mobile,
37:57
he even said his back started to stiff up. Two
38:00
forty four and four touchdowns shows it tells you something.
38:03
So the Jets had some trouble containing there and that
38:06
should be a big red flag as they go up
38:08
against Josh Allen and the Bills, because if Aaron Rodgers
38:11
could do that, Josh Allen can do that and then some.
38:16
So the Jets are home and you gotta like their
38:18
offense and running game and what they can do. They're
38:21
gonna ground and pound under Aaron Glenn, but they're gonna
38:24
have to tighten it up defensively. They're obviously six and
38:27
a half point underdogs to the Bills. Surprises not a
38:30
little bit more, but wouldn't be surprised if the style
38:35
of football they play the Jets by being a ground
38:38
and bound team to keep this thing close and make
38:41
it a game. That's if you're Aaron Glenn. After losing
38:45
in your opener. I think it was his introductory press conference,
38:48
he at one point he said he just wants to
38:50
make his fans proud. I don't think the realistic Jet fan,
38:54
if he's out there or she's out there, expects the
38:58
Jets to beat the Bills. I think it is realistic
39:01
to say, hey, can we be competitive, can we do
39:03
some things to keep us in this game? Look forward
39:07
to seeing if that happens. Seahawks Steelers one o'clock. Seahawks
39:11
did not look very good against the forty nine ers.
39:15
It's just one week, you know, this is year two
39:17
of Mike McDaniel. Defensively, they looked okay. Offensively, it's, you know,
39:21
run the ball a little bit because you want to
39:23
be a running team. Throw the ball to Jackson Smith
39:26
and Jigbook quite a bit. But it wasn't enough to
39:29
beat the forty nine ers. Meanwhile, the Steelers, they look
39:32
like if they can get that kind of offensive production
39:36
from Rogers, if they can continue to run the ball diversely,
39:41
I guess with Jalen Warren and Kenny Gainwell, I mean,
39:44
Caleb Johnson did nothing. He was one of those rookies
39:47
that I was looking forward to that I talked about
39:49
last week, but he's clearly down on the depth chart.
39:53
This is a Jalen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell running game
39:57
right now. But with Aaron Rodgers being in able to
40:00
throw the ball like he did and get the ball
40:02
to Metcalf and Fryarmoth and Calvin Austin. That changes changes
40:07
how you might think about the Steelers just a little bit.
40:10
I would expect that they will be able to handle.
40:13
They don't lose very much at home, and underrated in
40:17
what they do is how good their kicker is Chris Boswell.
40:20
I mean, for years it was Acres and then Justin Tucker,
40:26
and then of course you know Harrison Bucker is in there.
40:29
But I don't think we talk enough about how good
40:33
of a kicker that Chris Boswell is. And he nailed
40:35
a sixty yarder to win that game against the Jets.
40:40
So he's a little lucky that it was September, because
40:42
you don't nail sixty yard field goals at MetLife Stadium
40:46
in December, January, and February. But nonetheless, great job by him,
40:51
great kicker, and the Steelers looking competitive so far for
40:55
one week. All right, the four o'clock games. So Broncos
40:59
at Colts. Now, this is where we're gonna find out
41:01
what's weak one real and what is weak won fake
41:06
because the Colts stay home. Now they got a real
41:10
team coming in the Broncos, who again, I'm not sure
41:12
how I feel about the Bronco offense, but I know
41:15
how good the Bronco defense is. Can Daniel Jones, who
41:19
threw for two hundred and seventy two yards, who was
41:22
really efficient with the ball, took a few deep shots,
41:25
but was mainly throwing the ball to Warren, threw a
41:29
couple of passes to his running backs, got a great
41:32
game from Taylor. I mean, the way the Colts played
41:36
absolutely at least for one week, made the decision to
41:40
play Daniel Jones over Anthony Richardson, which was very controversial.
41:46
They made that decision look like genius. And it's almost
41:50
as if Shane Stiken felt, man, I've got a good
41:54
offensive line, I got a really good running an elite
41:57
running back. I have a pretty good defense. I've just
42:00
added a great rookie in Tyler Warren. If I could
42:03
just get my quarterback to be efficient, he doesn't have
42:07
to be great, but can he be efficient, then I
42:11
might be able to win some games and surprise some people.
42:13
And that's exactly what Daniel Jones was. I don't want
42:16
to say. I know some people are, oh, will he
42:18
be this year's Sam Darnold. I don't think he's I
42:21
don't know if he's gonna throw for four thousand yards
42:23
and thirty five touchdowns or anything like that. He threw
42:26
one touchdown pass through for two hundred and seventy two yards.
42:30
He did throw a couple of deep balls, but nothing
42:33
like really crazy. I think the longest one was thirty
42:36
six yards to Pierce and then everything after that was
42:40
you know, mid range intermediary. Some guys made yards after
42:43
the catch. So we'll see can he do this. I'm
42:46
not expecting him to carve up the Broncos defense. Nobody
42:51
carves up the Broncos defense. But can he perform well?
42:55
Can he keep them in the game. They're at home,
42:58
they're one and a half point underdogs. Can he pull
43:00
off an upset or keep it close? So in the
43:02
fourth quarter, it's anybody's plays to play to make that
43:06
to me will be the interesting thing. Either that or
43:10
the pumpkin for Cinderella or a coach has turned back
43:13
into a pumpkin. And the Broncos are gonna come out
43:15
of there with a pretty convincing win. And we're gonna
43:17
look back at the Colts Week one and say, yep,
43:20
that was a Week one con job. The other four
43:23
o'clock game. Panthers are Cardinals, and I'm sorry I had
43:29
high hopes for Panthers Jaguars last last week. I thought
43:32
it would be a little bit more of an aerial
43:34
display for both teams, and it was an aerial display
43:37
for none of the teams. So I don't know if
43:42
there was a major step back taken by Bryce Young
43:45
there to get the ball at Tech. McMillan xaviler Get
43:49
has not looked good as a rookie, and he did
43:51
not look good in his first game, So I just
43:53
don't know if there's a whole enough weaponry for Bryce
43:57
Young to continue to make a progression with. But you know,
44:01
the Cardinals, they're a good team. They're not a great team.
44:04
So if Dave Knalis is going to figure something out,
44:07
he's got to do it quickly. At least he has
44:08
a Cardinals team that he can do it against. But
44:11
we'll see. I am not encouraged. I hope that's just
44:14
a week one thing. By how bad the Panthers were.
44:18
Cardinals were efficient. We talked about him, they went to
44:20
the Superdome, they beat a bad Saints team. Murray played well,
44:25
you know, he got the bal to McBride, He got
44:26
the ball to Marvin Harrison, got a little bit of
44:29
a running game out of out of Benson. Their their
44:33
backup running back, as they you know, gave him probably
44:35
more opportunity than normal, and he and Connor were able
44:39
to split some carries. It was a nice efficient win
44:41
for the Cardinals. They're six and a half point favorites
44:43
over the Panthers. They're home. They should win the game,
44:47
especially if the Panthers aren't very good, and it would
44:49
be very good for the Cardinals to start off two
44:52
and zero and to continue to just play solid football.
44:55
They made some pretty good additions in the offseason to
44:59
me to be they're not great, but they should be better,
45:03
and last year they were starting to make some improvements.
45:06
So we'll say a two and no start will go
45:08
a long way for Arizona. I'm not going to get
45:11
into the four to twenty five game much because we
45:13
obviously have that covered on inside the Birds pregame show.
45:16
Eagles of Chiefs. Eagles are one and a half point favorites.
45:19
I'll just say that both of these teams are extraordinarily
45:25
gifted at being able to win games without playing their
45:29
best game. Both of these teams can win very ugly.
45:33
And one of the conversations that we had on the
45:35
pregame show with myself, Adam Kaplan and Greg Cosel is
45:39
that the embarrassment the Chiefs faced and Looke getting slaughtered
45:43
in the Super Bowl, I feel has made some people
45:46
forget that they actually went fifteen and won last year.
45:49
So you can look at it is that well because
45:51
they got every single break known to man and won
45:54
every game in the fourth quarter, and now this year
45:56
will be their come upance. Okay, maybe it will, or
45:59
you can say that's how good they are is that
46:02
you know you almost have to beat him twice sometimes
46:04
and you know they're in Arrowhead. It's going to be
46:07
ninety one degrees. I did not think when the week
46:13
started that that was gonna be the temperature in Kansas City.
46:17
So maybe bust out the pickle juice if you're the Eagles.
46:20
But I think it's gonna be a good game. I
46:22
don't think it's going to be a blowout on either end.
46:25
I think both teams are dealing with some tough injuries
46:27
on offense and that will impact how they play. And
46:30
you can check out the inside the Birds pregame show
46:32
with myself, Adam and Greg to get the full breakdown
46:35
on that eight twenty Falcons at Vikings. The Falcons, you know,
46:41
the Falcons I talked about last week. They always figured
46:44
out a way to beat Tampa. You know. Somehow they
46:47
beat Tampa twice last year in their division and still
46:51
lost the division by two games. It's like they could
46:53
beat Tampa and nobody else. And then they go and
46:57
they play Tampa in Week one and they got a
46:59
chance to win and the kicker misses a field goal.
47:03
So maybe the Bucks have finally reversed their fortunes there.
47:06
But that's a pretty tough loss for the Falcons. Game
47:09
they should have won. I think it was a forty
47:10
four yarder. Certainly nothing you know, extremer out of the ordinary.
47:15
But the Falcons lose. They fell to zero and one.
47:19
I'm sure they're going to be kicking themselves. Got a
47:22
decent game out of Pennix, who is now there their
47:26
official starter, Bjon Robinson more of a factor in the
47:31
pass game than the run game. Really interesting, you know
47:35
he took that first past fifty yards for a touchdown.
47:39
It's just I didn't think Bucks Falcons was going to
47:42
be a game that combined for only forty three points.
47:45
I thought there would be a little bit more, but
47:47
there was not. Just one of That's what happens when
47:50
NFC South teams, you know, collide. Now, the same story
47:54
for the Falcons. They have no edge rush. They had
47:58
two guys a half a sack in that game, nobody
48:03
else and then only one other person, one of their rookies,
48:05
James Pearce, got a quarterback hit. If they're not going
48:09
to get sacks, if they're not going to create pressure,
48:13
they're not going to win. They're not going to go
48:15
to Minnesota and win a game if they can't make
48:19
JJ McCarthy uncomfortable in some form or fashion, especially after
48:24
McCarthy got his groove there in the fourth quarter of
48:27
that win against the Bears. The Falcons aren't a bad team,
48:31
they're not a great team. They've got good talent, but
48:35
they are so lacking in any kind of great pass
48:38
rush right now that when you face these teams that
48:42
either have good quarterbacks or have good offensive coaching staffs
48:46
and know how to scheme, or can run like the
48:49
Vikings can with Jordan Mason and ther other running back
48:54
Aaron Jones, I mean It's hard to win if you
48:57
can't rush the passer. So the Viking is a three
49:00
and a half point favorites coming off that turnaround win
49:03
against the Bears, and I could see the White Vikings
49:06
winning that game. It's gonna be tough for the Falcons.
49:08
They have again, they're not that far away. They just
49:12
need somebody to either rush the passer or they need
49:15
their defensive coordinator to figure out a way to scheme
49:17
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50:45
The Monday Night games. You get two two Monday night games.
50:49
You got Bucks Texans at seven o'clock. This is sort
50:52
of a fascinating game. The Texans are two and a
50:55
half point favorites. Couldn't have made a worst debut offensively
51:01
coming off last year and trying to fix their issues
51:04
now I know they had some they had some offensive
51:06
line issues. They hadn't move guys around at the last minute.
51:10
I think the left tackle got sick, so they had
51:14
to play a rookie at left They were gonna put yeah,
51:18
the rookie left tackles when I got six as they
51:20
had to move somebody else to left tackle, and they
51:22
moved the right guard to right tackle and start a
51:24
different guy at right guard. That's the last thing you
51:26
want when you're trying to like get your continuity back
51:29
after last year. But it didn't work. I mean, it
51:32
didn't help that they were facing a Rams team that
51:35
is very good defensively. But this Texans team needs to
51:40
figure it out on offense. So I will apply the
51:43
old Week one is a con job deal to the
51:46
Texans because I still have high hopes for them being
51:48
a better offense. Did I see that they were also
51:52
without Christian Kirk he's banged up to man, I don't know.
51:56
I want to think better of this Texans team. Their
51:59
defense is very good and that did show up against
52:02
the Rams. I mean, they alway give up fourteen points,
52:05
so they had a couple of sacks and they generated
52:08
some pressure, but they got to be able to score points.
52:11
If they don't score points, they're gonna struggle to beat
52:15
the Bucks. Bucks. I told you last week there were
52:18
a couple of rookies that I had my eyes on.
52:21
Tyler Warren was one. You saw him for the Colts
52:24
seventy seven yards, even had a run I think a
52:26
three yard run. They're gonna continue to use Tyler Warren.
52:29
He is going to be a weapon. He's He's gonna
52:33
be fun to watch this year. There's no doubt in
52:35
my mind. He's going to be the centerpiece of that
52:38
offense like he was at Penn State. They're gonna use it.
52:41
I'm waiting for them to use him as a quarterback
52:44
like Penn State did as not just a wildcat quarterback,
52:47
but even to throw a pass. But I'm getting off track.
52:50
I'm talking about the Bucks now a Mecca Igbuka. I
52:54
told you last week this is gonna be one of
52:56
the rookies that's gonna hit the ground running, and he
52:59
sure did. Sixty seven yards, two touchdowns, had a long
53:03
touchdown against the Falcons to a thirty yarder in the
53:07
second quarter, a twenty five yarder in the fourth quarter
53:12
that basically put them ahead it was the game winning touchdown.
53:16
You put him and Mike Evans and they will at
53:19
some point in a couple of weeks get Chris Godwin
53:21
back and that offense is gonna take off. And obviously
53:25
Bucky Irving gave you his yards. So do I think
53:30
the Texans defense can help can shut them down? Yeah?
53:33
I think this will be a good game. And there's
53:35
a reason that Texans are two and a half point favorites.
53:37
But if the Texans don't score, if they don't score
53:40
twenty points, they're not winning this game twenty to seventeen
53:43
or twenty thirteen. They're gonna have to score some points
53:46
to beat the Bucks because the Bucks have shown you
53:49
now for a couple of years that Mayfield's real. He
53:52
is legit, he can throw the ball, and they got
53:54
a lot of weapons. So I expect that the Buccaneers,
53:57
they probably won't score thirty thirty five or anything like that,
54:00
but they will put some offensive stress on this Texans.
54:03
The Texans will have to score ten o'clock game. Chargers
54:07
at Raiders. The Raiders are a prime example of what
54:14
happens when you give yourself a quarterback. He doesn't have
54:18
to be a great quarterback. But you give yourself a
54:21
quarterback who is functional, who is accurate, who knows how
54:25
to play the game. I mean, the Raiders have been
54:28
trotting out guys, and no disrespect to any of them.
54:31
But whether it's Minshew or Aidan O'Connell or Jimmy Garoppolo,
54:36
they bring in a real head coach and Pete Carroll.
54:39
They trade for Geno Smith right and Gino Smith right
54:45
away shows you that when you have a professional quarterback
54:48
who is accurate, who can thread windows, which Gino Smith
54:52
can do very well, who can put the ball down
54:54
the field, who can find the open guy, it gives
54:57
you a chance. Now you met sounds like I'm sing
55:00
and here blowing up the Raiders. No, I don't think
55:01
the Raiders are great. I don't think they're going to
55:03
beat the Chargers. But there is a difference when you
55:07
have a guy like Geno Smith, who is a functional,
55:11
capable and at times very good quarterback. You know, sometimes
55:15
if you ask him to throw the ball too much,
55:16
you'll get a couple of picks. You know, he is
55:19
a risk taker. He will fumble if you get pressure
55:22
on him and hit him. He's not the most mobile guy.
55:25
In the pocket. So I'm not sitting here and telling
55:27
you I think Geno Smith is a top five guy,
55:29
a top eight guy. I'm just simply saying the difference
55:33
between Geno Smith and what the Raiders were playing at
55:35
quarterback is the difference between the Raiders not being in
55:39
a whole lot of games or only every once in
55:41
a while pulling out a win that nobody expects them
55:44
to being more functional. And then you add Ashton Genty
55:47
and his ability to run right, and then you got
55:49
a couple, You got Bowers who can catch the ball,
55:52
and you got Trey Tucker. You have all of a
55:55
sudden Deonta. I know they got this a rookie that
55:58
they really like Thornton. I'm not telling you anything about
56:02
the Raiders that I think they're gonna win a ton
56:05
of games. If they win six or seven, that's a
56:07
major improvement. Jacobi Meyers another guy that Gino can throw
56:11
the ball to. All Right, I just think that you
56:14
will see a Raiders team that is far more competitive
56:18
this year. They will run the ball because that's what
56:21
Pete Carroll wants to do, and they now have Ashton
56:23
Genty to do it. He had a slow start Okay,
56:26
no big deal doesn't mean soda de Mario and Hampton
56:29
doesn't really mean anything. The Raiders will run the ball.
56:33
Gino Smith will complete sixty six to sixty eight percent
56:36
of his passes, which means he will move the chains.
56:39
And I don't think you'll see the Raiders blown out
56:42
a whole lot. Now, with me having said that, watch
56:46
some goal lose by twenty one to the Chargers on
56:48
Monday Night. Because the Chargers looked really, really good against
56:52
the Chiefs. They threw the ball justin Herbert Ran. He
56:56
closed out the game with a big run, made some
56:59
big plays down the field to Quinton Johnson. Their defense,
57:02
watch their defense on tape, look pretty good. I liked
57:05
what Jesse Menter does. He doesn't show the same looks
57:08
all the time. He plays multiple fronts. They twist, they stunt,
57:12
they take two lee two to plow two. They'll play
57:15
him at the three tack, they'll play him at a
57:16
five tack. They'll play him as a stand up rusher.
57:19
I like this Chargers team. I think it's they're going
57:21
to be pretty good. My biggest question about them going
57:24
into the year was do they have enough offensive weaponry.
57:27
We'll see It was an okay game for Hampton in
57:31
Week one against the Raiders. I mean, you know, they
57:33
were able to score points, obviously, but I still wonder
57:38
if that's who they are, you know, are they gonna
57:39
be able to get two touchdowns every week from Quinton Johnson?
57:42
I don't know. It's was mind boggling to me that
57:46
Keenan Allen was targeted ten times and caught seven passes
57:51
for sixty eight yards and a touchdown. That to me
57:54
is mind boggling. It's almost like he's the Undertaker meme.
57:58
You know, he's dead and all of a sudden he
57:59
just comes out, sits up and bam, Keenan Allen is back,
58:02
looking like he's a Charger from two years ago or
58:04
five years ago. But that was a good win by
58:07
the Chargers. Chargers Raiders is always fun because it's AFC
58:11
West battle. I expect that the Chargers will figure out
58:14
a way to win. But I also think that the
58:16
Raiders are in a position now where they can be
58:19
competitive and respectable. And we'll see. And by the way,
58:23
the line's three and a half. You know, it's in
58:25
Las Vegas, so you know, obviously the Chargers are still
58:30
favored by three and a half, but in Vegas should
58:33
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free first stake, So that wraps up the games. As
59:45
far as my three picks So let's go through last week.
59:48
I was two and one. I had the Raiders getting
59:52
two and a half at the Patriots. They won the
59:55
game outright. I took the Titans to cover the eight
59:58
and a half versus the Bronco it was they only
1:00:00
lost by eight, so they covered, And unfortunately I took
1:00:04
the Dolphins getting one and a half in Indianapolis. They
1:00:09
were destroyed. They could have gotten twenty and I still
1:00:10
would have lost. So two in one and let's go
1:00:13
to this week's games. I am going back to the Dolphins. Well,
1:00:17
I think you guys probably could have assumed that based
1:00:20
on the way I was talking about them. They are
1:00:22
one and a half point favorites over the Patriots. Again,
1:00:26
South Florida, heat, humidity, big advantage, had a team meeting.
1:00:30
They know that there's a lot at Steak. Here. Mike
1:00:32
McDaniel knows there's a lot at Steak. I expect him
1:00:35
to beat the Patriots by more than three points. Steelers
1:00:40
at home, they are two and a half point favorites
1:00:43
over the Seahawks. Little always dangerous because both teams run defense,
1:00:47
and those can make for some weird competitive games. But
1:00:51
I just think the Steelers have with Aaron Rodgers playing
1:00:54
the way he did, if that was not a con job,
1:00:56
if he's really comfortable in this Steelers offense. Just want
1:01:01
to see the Steelers defense play. A little surprised by
1:01:04
how many points they give up against the Jets, but
1:01:06
they're at home, and the Steelers are very, very tough
1:01:08
at home, so I expect that they'll cover the two
1:01:10
and a half over Seattle and the Cowboys. Cowboys five
1:01:14
and a half over the Giants a little bit of
1:01:18
a gamble. I really don't like to take divisional games
1:01:21
that I'm doing two here with Dolphins, Patriots and Cowboys
1:01:25
Giants only because divisional games are also tend to be
1:01:28
a little weird and fluky. But that's more middle later
1:01:31
in the season. Early in the season, it's usually just
1:01:34
who's the better team, and until the Giants get better
1:01:38
on the offensive line and healthier, I can't take them.
1:01:42
And I'm not saying it's not a winnable game for
1:01:43
the Giants again, but I can't in good faith have
1:01:49
them cover in Dallas, where they always seem to lose.
1:01:52
So Cowboys five and a half, Dolphins one and a
1:01:54
half over the Patriots, Steelers two and a half, over
1:01:56
the Seahawks and the Cowboys covering five and a half
1:02:00
over the Giants are my three picks this week. That's
1:02:02
going to do it for the Week two NFL preview
1:02:05
on Inside the Birds. Hope everybody enjoyed it. Now go
1:02:08
enjoy your football watching