Latest / Best of the NFL Podcast Network / MNF Recap, Week 16 Rookie Draft & Who Is The 2023 NFL MVP?
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: And now move the sticks with Daniel, Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
- 0:07Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, welcome to move the sticks, DJ, Bucky and Rhett.
- 0:11Speaker 3: Back with you boys. How are we doing?
- 0:13Speaker 2: I did not get the memo on the matching shirt.
- 0:15Speaker 2: Once again, I've come up a little short. I apologize
- 0:18Speaker 2: to you both, but Bucket's good to see you.
- 0:20Speaker 3: Man. How are you doing, Man, I'm good.
- 0:22Speaker 4: I was just trying to be a lot. I saw
- 0:23Speaker 4: you guys jump over with your your blues. I was like, well,
- 0:25Speaker 4: I guess I need to be compliant.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Like the Eagles just singing the blues today. Baby.
- 0:34Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you know what. Nice transition.
- 0:37Speaker 2: Nice transition, right, because it is time for the Monday
- 0:41Speaker 2: night recap. Look, we can start at the end, right
- 0:44Speaker 2: you want to jump in here, I'll let you do it.
- 0:46Speaker 2: But this, you know, we'll get to the to the
- 0:47Speaker 2: first three quarters of.
- 0:49Speaker 3: This ball game. But really the end of the game.
- 0:52Speaker 2: Drew Locke, the Seattle Seahawks that drive ninety two.
- 0:55Speaker 3: Yards, I think that's where we got to start.
- 0:57Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, And I think a Buck had a
- 0:59Speaker 5: terrific tweet last night following you know it had been
- 1:02Speaker 5: around Drew Locke. I love to get your perspective on
- 1:04Speaker 5: the journey that he's had over the course of the
- 1:07Speaker 5: last few years. Obviously was a part of the Russell
- 1:10Speaker 5: Wilson trade that brought him to Seattle from Denver, where
- 1:14Speaker 5: he did have a stint as the guy in Denver.
- 1:17Speaker 5: Didn't quite work out for whatever reason. You know, the
- 1:20Speaker 5: Broncos weren't a great team over the course of those
- 1:22Speaker 5: few years there. But here's the thing that I keep
- 1:24Speaker 5: coming back to. I mean, the dude had tools, Like
- 1:27Speaker 5: we knew it all along, Like even you know, even
- 1:29Speaker 5: in the draft process, he knew this dude could throw
- 1:31Speaker 5: the heck out of the football. And it was a
- 1:33Speaker 5: matter of you know, putting it all together, putting it
- 1:36Speaker 5: all together, figuring out, you know, how to find the
- 1:38Speaker 5: right play caller, the right playmakers. And man, you got
- 1:42Speaker 5: all of that here in Seattle. And I love that
- 1:45Speaker 5: he improved a little bit after getting that second opportunity
- 1:48Speaker 5: to start this week right.
- 1:50Speaker 1: Didn't go as well as you would.
- 1:51Speaker 5: Have liked that first opportunity this year in Seattle, but
- 1:53Speaker 5: comes back and this week. Man, I just I love
- 1:57Speaker 5: these redemption stories. And for whatever reason, it feel like
- 2:00Speaker 5: Seattle is the home to all the NFL's reclamation projects
- 2:03Speaker 5: at quarterback right now, right, it was Geno Smith first
- 2:06Speaker 5: and now Drew Locke.
- 2:07Speaker 1: I love these stories.
- 2:08Speaker 5: It was a great interview by Lisa Salters kind of
- 2:11Speaker 5: digging into the emotions that Drew Lock was feeling. I
- 2:14Speaker 5: think we love those stories about the NFL. And yeah,
- 2:17Speaker 5: I mean like when given the opportunity, he took his
- 2:21Speaker 5: opportunity to grow right and then using that growth found
- 2:26Speaker 5: a way to execute using the tools that we've always
- 2:29Speaker 5: known he's had buck Yeah, not rid.
- 2:31Speaker 4: I think it's a fascinating story, and I think the
- 2:33Speaker 4: Seattle Seahawks might be onto something at the quarterback position
- 2:36Speaker 4: when it comes to their reclamation projects. First the success
- 2:39Speaker 4: they had with Geno Smith, then you look at the
- 2:41Speaker 4: growth that Drew Locke has experienced. That might be the
- 2:44Speaker 4: secret sauce with them going forward, because maybe you're able
- 2:47Speaker 4: to take talented quarterbacks on the cheap who didn't succeed
- 2:51Speaker 4: in their first environment, but you bring them in there
- 2:53Speaker 4: and you're able to kind of get a bargain player.
- 2:56Speaker 3: That has a lot of upside for Drew Lock.
- 2:58Speaker 4: For me, like, look, this is first know like having
- 3:00Speaker 4: met the kid when he was seventeen, he was a
- 3:03Speaker 4: two sport player, great basketball player in high school, so
- 3:06Speaker 4: he hadn't really fully gone.
- 3:08Speaker 3: All the way in at quarterback.
- 3:09Speaker 4: And to watch him continue to develop through the ups
- 3:11Speaker 4: and downs, and to talk to him in the preseason,
- 3:15Speaker 4: and he talked about his life being settled. He talked
- 3:17Speaker 4: about being newly married and having a kid on the way,
- 3:20Speaker 4: and he had just maturity about him. I think that
- 3:23Speaker 4: postgame interview allowed us to see all of the growth
- 3:27Speaker 4: that he's experienced. And when you kind of take care
- 3:30Speaker 4: of business off the field, naturally, the next progression is
- 3:34Speaker 4: to take care of business on the field, and I
- 3:35Speaker 4: think we're beginning to see that from juw Lock.
- 3:38Speaker 3: Yeah. I went back and looked through the notes.
- 3:40Speaker 2: Guys, guy coming out of the draft, he was my
- 3:42Speaker 2: twenty fifth player. He was the forty second pick. Buck
- 3:45Speaker 2: mentioned that he was a big time hoop star, and
- 3:48Speaker 2: the first note that I have here is there are
- 3:50Speaker 2: big time throws. He can really drive the ball. You know,
- 3:53Speaker 2: the issues came where he forced the ball. He fell
- 3:55Speaker 2: off throws. Like mechanically, footwork wise, he was just a
- 3:58Speaker 2: little bit sloppy. So the grade that I gave him
- 4:01Speaker 2: and Buck you'll be familiar with this, I gave him
- 4:03Speaker 2: a six ' five D. The D stands for development,
- 4:06Speaker 2: and he needed time. Of guys that come in the
- 4:08Speaker 2: league some you know you're ready, he could start right away.
- 4:11Speaker 2: I thought he would benefit from a lot of time now.
- 4:13Speaker 2: He got into the lineup relatively early in his career
- 4:16Speaker 2: there in Denver. I remember one game against the Chargers
- 4:19Speaker 2: haven't been there late in the season where he led
- 4:21Speaker 2: a comeback and they end up winning the ball game late.
- 4:24Speaker 2: He's shown I think this is like his third time
- 4:27Speaker 2: that he's had, you know, a late drive to win
- 4:28Speaker 2: a ball game. So he's shown some poison, some clutch
- 4:31Speaker 2: to his game there. So good for him getting his opportunity.
- 4:34Speaker 2: We'll see what that means for his future. He at
- 4:36Speaker 2: least opened some eyeballs that he'll get an opportunity to
- 4:39Speaker 2: be a starter in this league again at some point
- 4:42Speaker 2: in time. But I do want to flip it over
- 4:43Speaker 2: to the eagle side of things, and Buck, I'll get
- 4:46Speaker 2: this to you. The last drive of the game, I
- 4:49Speaker 2: went back and watched it and I was watching all
- 4:52Speaker 2: twenty two and early on in that drive they got
- 4:55Speaker 2: some inside pressure. I think Fletcher Cox had a pressure
- 4:58Speaker 2: Jalen Carter. I sure, I think Sweat was able to
- 5:01Speaker 2: get a little bit of pressure off the.
- 5:03Speaker 3: Edge on one of them.
- 5:05Speaker 2: But to me, this was about back foot throws, like
- 5:10Speaker 2: they aren't married up in terms of challenging receivers, and
- 5:13Speaker 2: you should not be able to uncover like they were
- 5:16Speaker 2: able to uncover in that situation. In other words, and
- 5:19Speaker 2: I think Collins were even said on the broadcast, DK
- 5:21Speaker 2: catches that slant on the run, he might score. It
- 5:24Speaker 2: might have been a seventy yard touchdown or wherever they
- 5:26Speaker 2: were on the field at that point in time, but
- 5:27Speaker 2: it was low. He went down and got it and
- 5:30Speaker 2: made a catch. And then to get one on ones
- 5:32Speaker 2: and have the ball go over your head twice, the
- 5:35Speaker 2: big one to DK Metcalf and then the touchdown to Bradbury.
- 5:39Speaker 2: You can speak to that as somebody who's played the
- 5:41Speaker 2: position situationally. How in the world you let somebody get
- 5:45Speaker 2: beyond you twice when they have ninety two yards to
- 5:48Speaker 2: march first score.
- 5:48Speaker 3: That didn't make any sense to me.
- 5:50Speaker 4: So I'm gonna say this because I think that last
- 5:52Speaker 4: rode kind of mask what I felt like was a
- 5:55Speaker 4: nice debut performance from Matt Patricia as the defensive play
- 5:58Speaker 4: call it. Matt Patricia comes over from New England. Was
- 6:01Speaker 4: just kind of like an analyst, just kind of helping.
- 6:03Speaker 4: They made the move Shonda Side. It's kind of booted
- 6:05Speaker 4: and cast in a new role. Matt Patricia takes over
- 6:08Speaker 4: as a play caller. So you saw more of the
- 6:10Speaker 4: New England Patriots stuff, more man demand. But what they
- 6:13Speaker 4: were doing they were playing man de man from off
- 6:15Speaker 4: as opposed to pressing and challenging. Now it makes sense,
- 6:18Speaker 4: Darius slays out James Bradbury becomes the new number one.
- 6:22Speaker 4: He's playing often. He is more of a zone corner
- 6:25Speaker 4: than a man corner. And what you saw on those
- 6:27Speaker 4: back to back big plays that he gave up one,
- 6:29Speaker 4: didn't backpedal, didn't challenge DK Metcalf, he runs by him.
- 6:33Speaker 4: He then is lined up on JSN, same situation Drew
- 6:36Speaker 4: Lock's tease and identifies the coverage is gonna be one
- 6:39Speaker 4: on one. He says, I'm throwing you the piel. I'm
- 6:41Speaker 4: gonna throw it up. Beverurd didn't backpudal. And so you
- 6:44Speaker 4: would think that a veteran who has been in this
- 6:46Speaker 4: league as long as he has would utilize some of
- 6:48Speaker 4: the basic fundamentals to put himself in a position to
- 6:51Speaker 4: win the down and he didn't.
- 6:54Speaker 3: Look it's poor execution.
- 6:56Speaker 4: But I can't fault Matt Patrician for the plan because
- 6:58Speaker 4: the plan allowed him to play much better defense than
- 7:01Speaker 4: we have seen of late.
- 7:02Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think if you just just look
- 7:05Speaker 5: at the numbers overall in this game, I mean, they
- 7:08Speaker 5: only give up two hundred ninety seven yards of total offense.
- 7:11Speaker 5: I mean, you know, Drew Locke really came alive, you know,
- 7:13Speaker 5: for sure on that last drive, but I mean only
- 7:15Speaker 5: threw the ball for two hundred and eight yards. They
- 7:17Speaker 5: kept Kenneth Walker under one hundred, although he did average
- 7:19Speaker 5: about four and a half a pop.
- 7:21Speaker 1: Like, overall, pretty solid day for an NFL defense.
- 7:24Speaker 5: I think you just kind of come back to for me,
- 7:28Speaker 5: we expect more out of the Eagles offense. And I
- 7:31Speaker 5: know Jalen Hurts is, you know, battling the illness and battling,
- 7:35Speaker 5: you know, not practicing a bunch you know, this week
- 7:37Speaker 5: because of it.
- 7:39Speaker 1: But you know, when he wasn't running the football, it
- 7:41Speaker 1: just it just didn't look right.
- 7:43Speaker 5: And credit to Julian Love, who had a terrific game
- 7:46Speaker 5: obviously had the terrific interception to end the game, but
- 7:49Speaker 5: then also had the one that stopped the potential scoring
- 7:53Speaker 5: opportunity that Jalen threw deep into the end zone, but
- 7:56Speaker 5: it was a little bit underthrown, allowed Love to go
- 7:58Speaker 5: up and make a play on it and stop scoring
- 8:00Speaker 5: opportunity there. I just I've come to expect a little
- 8:04Speaker 5: bit more, you know, out of this Philly defense, all right,
- 8:07Speaker 5: rather this Philly offense, you know, I mean, and if
- 8:09Speaker 5: your defense gives up, you know, twenty points. You got
- 8:13Speaker 5: to feel like this offense, with the talent that it
- 8:15Speaker 5: has dj is it should be capable of finding.
- 8:18Speaker 1: A way to win.
- 8:20Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt.
- 8:21Speaker 2: And I think also one of the other takeaways is
- 8:23Speaker 2: if you're Shane Steichen and you're making your case for
- 8:26Speaker 2: Coach of the Year with the job you're doing with
- 8:27Speaker 2: the Indianapolis Colts, maybe sneak some of these Philly games
- 8:30Speaker 2: without you into that resume taitan As you're trying to
- 8:34Speaker 2: push for that for that for that title, because he
- 8:37Speaker 2: is a phenomenal football coach, and I think you've seen it,
- 8:39Speaker 2: not only with what he's done in Indianapolis.
- 8:40Speaker 3: You see the void there that he left in Philadelphia.
- 8:43Speaker 2: This does not look like, you know the same offense
- 8:45Speaker 2: that we saw last year, which.
- 8:47Speaker 3: Is easily real, quick, go ahead.
- 8:48Speaker 4: I think I think one thing that is always concerning,
- 8:52Speaker 4: or is always a temptation when you pay the quarterback
- 8:54Speaker 4: the amount of money they pay. Sometimes you have a
- 8:56Speaker 4: tendency to want to validate why you paid him what
- 8:58Speaker 4: you paid him. And so this a different style of
- 9:00Speaker 4: office than what made the Eagles successful last year. In
- 9:04Speaker 4: early this year with Jalen Hurts, they were running the
- 9:06Speaker 4: football more. They were committed to being a grinded out
- 9:08Speaker 4: football team. And I think sometimes some of the chirping
- 9:12Speaker 4: from outside Aj Brown, maybe DeVante Smith asking for more
- 9:16Speaker 4: opportunities in the passing game, I think they've lost their way.
- 9:19Speaker 4: When the Eagles get back to running the football, they
- 9:21Speaker 4: can dominate teams. It's just that they are not in
- 9:24Speaker 4: love with trying to run the football. And so I
- 9:27Speaker 4: just wonder how many more losses will they take before
- 9:29Speaker 4: Nick Sirianti says, hey, guys, let's go back to running
- 9:32Speaker 4: the football because that's how we're built to play.
- 9:35Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, I thought they did a decent job
- 9:37Speaker 3: of running it.
- 9:37Speaker 2: When you when you factor Jalen into the running game,
- 9:40Speaker 2: this particular game. I meant, you know, Swift got loose
- 9:44Speaker 2: a little bit. Game Boll was solid, but they couldn't.
- 9:47Speaker 2: They're not just they're not scoring points. I mean, that's
- 9:49Speaker 2: that's the thing, Like what you'd expect from this offense.
- 9:52Speaker 2: It's not happening. By the way, if you're listening to us,
- 9:55Speaker 2: this won't make any sense to you. But if you're
- 9:57Speaker 2: watching us, I just want to let you know Rhett
- 9:58Speaker 2: is in good health. It's maybe a little lack of
- 10:00Speaker 2: lighting that's why he looks green today, but he is healthy.
- 10:03Speaker 2: Is not a concern. You do not need to add
- 10:05Speaker 2: him to the prayer chain just yet.
- 10:09Speaker 1: Crazy looks green.
- 10:10Speaker 3: He looks green today. What is going on here? He
- 10:14Speaker 3: look Mayan?
- 10:16Speaker 4: He does look great on Mayan. I mean maybe it's
- 10:18Speaker 4: the TV, not the monitor that we have, but they
- 10:20Speaker 4: do look great.
- 10:22Speaker 3: Reht look great. All right, I'll move the topic here.
- 10:28Speaker 2: M VP odds it is brock Perty at the very
- 10:31Speaker 2: top of the list, followed by Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott,
- 10:33Speaker 2: Josh Allen, and Christian McCaffrey. So if we're going to
- 10:37Speaker 2: pick an m v P, can I just I want
- 10:40Speaker 2: to give it to you. Reht with this t sure.
- 10:43Speaker 2: Do you ever remember a year when a quarterback was
- 10:46Speaker 2: talked about for the m v P and we, uh,
- 10:51Speaker 2: we were reserved in giving it to him because of
- 10:54Speaker 2: the talent around him. Like I'm trying to remember, Like
- 10:56Speaker 2: I don't remember when Patrick Mahomes was up for an
- 10:58Speaker 2: MVP S and I don't know he to throw to
- 11:00Speaker 2: Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey, Like, let's I mean, I
- 11:04Speaker 2: don't know about that. We've never done that before. So
- 11:06Speaker 2: why is everybody twisting their contorting, trying to figure out
- 11:10Speaker 2: ways not to say brock Perty's the MVP.
- 11:12Speaker 3: Is what I'm getting at.
- 11:13Speaker 1: Well, they haven't gone they haven't gone back and watched
- 11:16Speaker 1: the throws that party has made this year.
- 11:19Speaker 5: And look, for me, I think that Lamar Jackson is
- 11:22Speaker 5: is kind of neck and neck with what brought Perty
- 11:25Speaker 5: has done.
- 11:25Speaker 1: And I'll get to Lamar in a second.
- 11:27Speaker 5: But Purdy paints it everywhere, man, Like his twenty to
- 11:31Speaker 5: thirty yard down the field, layered throw over the middle.
- 11:34Speaker 1: It's like it's majestic.
- 11:36Speaker 5: It's like if you're ever in like a surf shop
- 11:38Speaker 5: and they've got those those videos on loop on those TVs.
- 11:41Speaker 5: It's like the surfer that hits that perfectly cresting wave
- 11:44Speaker 5: through the tunnel, like that's that ball looks like floating
- 11:47Speaker 5: over the second level right into the arms of a
- 11:50Speaker 5: of a forty nine ers receiver running in stride.
- 11:53Speaker 1: It's it's just a thing of beauty.
- 11:56Speaker 5: I mean, like he does that, and then like he'll
- 11:58Speaker 5: hit those quarter routes, those deep best. I mean, it's
- 12:01Speaker 5: it's just I don't know how you look at that,
- 12:04Speaker 5: how you watch those games, you see him getting pressured
- 12:06Speaker 5: taking hits and still delivering strikes on the money, you know,
- 12:09Speaker 5: to Kittle and Sam and I get it, it's a
- 12:12Speaker 5: they've got a terrific system, They've got terrific plays, but
- 12:15Speaker 5: it doesn't work if he's not making these money.
- 12:18Speaker 1: Throws that he's making here, and.
- 12:20Speaker 5: They're not easy layups, like these are high difficult, high
- 12:25Speaker 5: degree of difficulty throws, and he is just absolutely painted
- 12:29Speaker 5: right down the strike zone. It's so much fun to
- 12:31Speaker 5: sit and watch, especially like from the end zone copy.
- 12:34Speaker 5: It's just like to watch the trajectory of that ball
- 12:37Speaker 5: and just to I mean, it's it's beautiful. And then
- 12:40Speaker 5: I'll say the thing about Lamar Jackson though, that kind
- 12:43Speaker 5: of gives him, you know, some real credence here is
- 12:46Speaker 5: the pizaz like he's obviously got the electricity when he
- 12:49Speaker 5: can make some of those same throws, but do it
- 12:52Speaker 5: by you know, shedding a defender that's rushing, by dipping
- 12:56Speaker 5: under one spinning.
- 12:57Speaker 1: Out of a tackle. And I will I'll tell you this.
- 13:00Speaker 1: I'd love to get you know, Bucky and DJ.
- 13:02Speaker 5: I'd love to get your thoughts on this too with Lamar,
- 13:05Speaker 5: and then you guys can obviously come back to Purty too,
- 13:06Speaker 5: because I do think this is a two man race here.
- 13:09Speaker 5: He is hitting those corners, those deep sale routes, those outs,
- 13:13Speaker 5: those throws outside the numbers, I think more than we've
- 13:15Speaker 5: ever seen in his career, Like in some of those
- 13:18Speaker 5: deep throws down the sideline too, the stuff that's not
- 13:21Speaker 5: in the middle of the field where we saw it
- 13:22Speaker 5: so oftentimes early in his career, Buckie, I feel like
- 13:25Speaker 5: he's doing that even more than we've seen in a
- 13:28Speaker 5: years past.
- 13:30Speaker 4: Yeah, I think this is a fascinating case study for
- 13:32Speaker 4: both quarterbacks. In the MVP discussion brought Pridy and Lamar
- 13:35Speaker 4: Jackson respectively, because I think the biggest thing surrounding both
- 13:39Speaker 4: of their candidacies is how we perceive them to be
- 13:42Speaker 4: coming into the draft. So many of us like that
- 13:46Speaker 4: kind of du what we do when we talk about
- 13:47Speaker 4: analyzing draft prospects and then the outside world where we
- 13:50Speaker 4: have this casual draft subculture where we talk about what
- 13:54Speaker 4: prospects are going to be at the next level. We
- 13:57Speaker 4: can get past what those grades were when those guys.
- 14:00Speaker 3: Were in college.
- 14:01Speaker 4: And so you talk about Lamar Jackson, who many didn't
- 14:03Speaker 4: think would be a franchise quarterback because stylistically he was
- 14:06Speaker 4: different than traditional quarterback and it's hard to kind of
- 14:11Speaker 4: like give him credit for being a little different than
- 14:14Speaker 4: we thought he would be at the next level. And
- 14:16Speaker 4: so because some of us are so married to our grades,
- 14:18Speaker 4: we kind of want him to come back to how
- 14:20Speaker 4: we viewed him prior to entering the league. And I
- 14:23Speaker 4: think a lot of it really falls on Brock Purty too,
- 14:27Speaker 4: because Brock Purity was taken in the seventh round, the
- 14:30Speaker 4: last big mister irrelevant. How can he be a franchise quarterback.
- 14:34Speaker 4: That's why we're hearing these outside conversations game manager versus
- 14:38Speaker 4: game changer, which I would say is a take on
- 14:40Speaker 4: our truck versus trailers. You can't figure out how to
- 14:44Speaker 4: properly categorize brock purity because yes, the stuff around him
- 14:50Speaker 4: is great, but he doesn't appear to be pulling it.
- 14:52Speaker 4: But then if that was the case when other quarterbacks
- 14:56Speaker 4: were running that offense, they would have had six running
- 14:59Speaker 4: like brocken not the case, right, So we need to
- 15:02Speaker 4: give him his due for being look a perfect fit
- 15:06Speaker 4: in that office. And people don't like to talk about
- 15:09Speaker 4: system quarterbacks or whatever, but the best players thrive in
- 15:13Speaker 4: the systems that they play in, and that is what
- 15:15Speaker 4: brod Purdy does. So he should be the MVP based
- 15:18Speaker 4: on how will he's performed and how that office looks
- 15:22Speaker 4: when he's under center.
- 15:24Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll the wrap up the topic here. I do
- 15:26Speaker 2: I think that brock Purty should be the MVP. I'm
- 15:29Speaker 2: glad you mentioned Lamar Jackson. Christian McCaffrey's going to get
- 15:32Speaker 2: a lot of love for the season that he's had.
- 15:33Speaker 2: Tyreek Hill, you know, even having missed a game, is
- 15:36Speaker 2: still going to get a chance to run down two
- 15:38Speaker 2: thousand yards or to get close to it.
- 15:40Speaker 3: Good candidates.
- 15:41Speaker 2: To me, brock Purty's the winner and Lamar Jackson should
- 15:43Speaker 2: be the runner up because think about this one stat
- 15:46Speaker 2: here eighteen drop passes by Ravens receivers this year eighteen.
- 15:50Speaker 2: If you catch some of those balls, I know the
- 15:53Speaker 2: Pittsburgh game specifically, that's at least one more win in
- 15:56Speaker 2: your column. Now we're talking about the Ravens as the
- 15:58Speaker 2: best team and not only their conference but in football,
- 16:01Speaker 2: and he's the quarterback of the best team. I think
- 16:03Speaker 2: that would have changed the narrative a little bit around that,
- 16:06Speaker 2: and you have even some more love for Lamar Jackson.
- 16:08Speaker 3: Nothing you can do about it.
- 16:09Speaker 2: When you put the ball right on guys, they don't
- 16:11Speaker 2: catch it.
- 16:12Speaker 3: It is what it is.
- 16:12Speaker 2: But I think those are the two guys as we
- 16:15Speaker 2: come down the stretch here, and the great thing is
- 16:17Speaker 2: we get to see him play each other. So that'll
- 16:19Speaker 2: be fascinating to see what that looks like when they're
- 16:21Speaker 2: sharing the same field.
- 16:23Speaker 3: All right, let's take a quick break.
- 16:25Speaker 2: When we come back, we are going to jump into
- 16:27Speaker 2: the rookie draft. Do this each and every week. We'll
- 16:29Speaker 2: see where we're at. I think Bucky had a good week.
- 16:31Speaker 2: We'll get to that right after this. The Holiday Classic
- 16:38Speaker 2: is back on NFL Network this Christmas Eve. Watch a
- 16:42Speaker 2: special Sunday night of prime time football as the Patriots
- 16:45Speaker 2: and the Broncos light up the night. The NFL Holiday
- 16:48Speaker 2: Class at Christmas Eve live at eight pm Eastern only
- 16:51Speaker 2: on NFL Network and streaming on NFL Plus.
- 16:55Speaker 3: All right, let's get to this rookie draft. Let's see.
- 16:58Speaker 3: Let's see what happened last week. Buck has been on
- 17:01Speaker 3: a tear.
- 17:02Speaker 2: He picks up six points, so he gets two wins
- 17:04Speaker 2: the running back and the receiver position, with Jamiir Gibbs
- 17:07Speaker 2: and with Jordan Addison both having huge games, Arett solid
- 17:10Speaker 2: second place there in each category with Levis a Chan
- 17:14Speaker 2: and Nikua and then I just got three points off
- 17:17Speaker 2: Aidan O'Connell leading a sixty three point barrage against the
- 17:20Speaker 2: Chargers and nothing with Bijon and Ze Flowers there. So
- 17:25Speaker 2: Bucky has scored twenty three of the possible forty eight
- 17:28Speaker 2: points the last four weeks.
- 17:29Speaker 3: He is right back in it.
- 17:30Speaker 2: He's in second place, he's overtaken rhet he's nipping at
- 17:33Speaker 2: my heels. So we are. We're in the contest here, guys.
- 17:37Speaker 2: But before we get to this week's draft, I want
- 17:40Speaker 2: to get into this discussion about one of the guys
- 17:42Speaker 2: that gets picked every week. He's usually been one of
- 17:44Speaker 2: either the first or second pick and coming off his
- 17:46Speaker 2: worst game of the year and playing for I think
- 17:49Speaker 2: one of the more disappointing offenses in the NFL. That's
- 17:52Speaker 2: Bijon Robinson and the Atlanta Falcons. And before we get
- 17:55Speaker 2: into what we think is wrong with this group, let's
- 17:58Speaker 2: hear from head coach Arthur Smith on his thoughts.
- 18:01Speaker 6: Not where we want to be and we've lost some
- 18:03Speaker 6: close games, but it's not over, and we will die
- 18:10Speaker 6: trying to make sure we get this right and just
- 18:12Speaker 6: go win this game and unlet's see what happens.
- 18:15Speaker 2: Well, anytime death comes into play when you're talking about
- 18:19Speaker 2: the football, it's probably not a great thing.
- 18:22Speaker 3: Buck.
- 18:22Speaker 2: When you look at this team offensively, they just made
- 18:25Speaker 2: another quarterback switch. Looks like Heineke's going to start this week.
- 18:28Speaker 2: It's been kind of a balance around situation at that position.
- 18:32Speaker 2: Are you going to are we looking at this and
- 18:34Speaker 2: saying it's just simply they stink at quarterback or what
- 18:38Speaker 2: are the other issues with this offense? There's way too
- 18:40Speaker 2: many other good players for them to be this bad.
- 18:43Speaker 3: Yeah, the way too many good players for them to
- 18:45Speaker 3: be this bad.
- 18:46Speaker 4: But DJ, it's hard when you have to work around
- 18:48Speaker 4: a quarterback who has limitations, if provision, from getting to
- 18:51Speaker 4: all the weapons that you have. And yeah, we can
- 18:53Speaker 4: throw bubble screens and give the ball to the running backs,
- 18:56Speaker 4: but your quarterback is the biggest driving forward in terms
- 19:00Speaker 4: of what you're able to do offensively. And because they
- 19:03Speaker 4: have it, they don't have a high level quarterback in
- 19:06Speaker 4: Desmond Ritter or Tyler Heineke at quarterback, they're not able
- 19:10Speaker 4: to really get to the back pages of the playbook.
- 19:13Speaker 4: And so until they fixed a quarterback position, we really
- 19:15Speaker 4: don't know what the potential of this offense could be.
- 19:18Speaker 4: And I know Arthur Smith has been a good play call.
- 19:21Speaker 4: It's a good play call in Tennessee. He's shoone flash
- 19:23Speaker 4: and being a good play call at Atlanta, But I
- 19:25Speaker 4: think the quarterback issue has prevented him from fully getting
- 19:30Speaker 4: into his bag as a play caller.
- 19:31Speaker 5: Yeah, man, I would like to think that too, right.
- 19:36Speaker 5: I mean, because you look at Bijon Robinson, Drake London,
- 19:40Speaker 5: Pyle Pitts fifteen total touches for less than seventy five
- 19:45Speaker 5: total yards. Tyler Aljier had more touches than Bijon London
- 19:52Speaker 5: in Pits. I'm buying now Tyler l Jee is a
- 19:55Speaker 5: good player, like he played well last year, and that's fine.
- 19:58Speaker 1: But I think so if we're not going to.
- 20:01Speaker 5: Use Bijeon that way, that why did you spend the
- 20:05Speaker 5: top ten pick on it?
- 20:06Speaker 1: I guess is part of the issue.
- 20:08Speaker 5: And when you go back and look at it, I mean,
- 20:09Speaker 5: be shot had a ten yard ripped a ten yard
- 20:11Speaker 5: run first carry of the gate, and you're like, all right,
- 20:13Speaker 5: off and running well. His next like four carries went
- 20:16Speaker 5: for a loss and then fumbled on either his last
- 20:20Speaker 5: carrier or second to last carry, and so you're just
- 20:23Speaker 5: like calie, man, it's hard to get that thing off
- 20:25Speaker 5: the ground. They're getting pushed back dj that offensive line,
- 20:28Speaker 5: which is almost entirely if I'm not mistaken, homegrown draft
- 20:31Speaker 5: picks from Atlanta. They can't get any push and so
- 20:35Speaker 5: I think it's it's hard sometimes to keep feeding that
- 20:38Speaker 5: to Bijeon when when you know he wants to break
- 20:40Speaker 5: one loose and you're having to exercise all that patience,
- 20:42Speaker 5: it's just not happening. I think it's a collective issue,
- 20:45Speaker 5: not just playmaker, not just quarterback. But I think you
- 20:47Speaker 5: got to look at the offensive line too.
- 20:50Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no room. I went back and watched all
- 20:52Speaker 2: those runs for the last two weeks, and there's I mean,
- 20:55Speaker 2: I'm sitting there watching this going I don't know what
- 20:57Speaker 2: you want him to do. I mean, you can see
- 20:59Speaker 2: him getting frustrated, and sometimes I was looking for it,
- 21:01Speaker 2: you know, through the prism of okay, sometimes young backs,
- 21:04Speaker 2: even talented ones, are home run happy, right, So they're
- 21:08Speaker 2: not taking the three and fours. They're always hunting, Yeah,
- 21:11Speaker 2: they're they're hunting the forties and fifties. Yes, Saquon Barkley's
- 21:14Speaker 2: a good example of that. I didn't see that with
- 21:15Speaker 2: John Robbins. I saw, I saw guys get knocked back.
- 21:18Speaker 2: I saw just a lack of space and there's nothing
- 21:21Speaker 2: really their for him.
- 21:21Speaker 3: But you go back and look at the numbers.
- 21:23Speaker 2: Guys, last year one hundred and fifty nine yards almost
- 21:26Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty on the ground per game. This
- 21:27Speaker 2: year they're at one hundred and twenty six. Last year,
- 21:29Speaker 2: they aver was twenty one point five points per game.
- 21:31Speaker 2: This year they're at eighteen point four points per game.
- 21:35Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting when you look at it, and
- 21:38Speaker 2: you can put the majority of the blame to me
- 21:40Speaker 2: on the quarterback position. They've got to get better there.
- 21:43Speaker 2: That's priority number one. They've got to solve that position
- 21:46Speaker 2: going into next year. That's obvious, right, But they've also
- 21:50Speaker 2: got to put together, you know, personnel that matches kind
- 21:52Speaker 2: of what they're doing and be able to feature these
- 21:54Speaker 2: guys because they have real players and they've got to
- 21:56Speaker 2: have something that fits better. It just as disjointed when
- 21:59Speaker 2: you watch it doesn't really build off of each other.
- 22:01Speaker 2: You've got an offensive line that to me is more
- 22:03Speaker 2: of a finesse offensive line that you're trying to see
- 22:05Speaker 2: them knock guys off the ball, which they do not do.
- 22:08Speaker 2: They've got some issues there with the Atlanta Falcons and
- 22:12Speaker 2: Buck the other side of this, And I want to
- 22:13Speaker 2: get to this real quick before we get to the draft.
- 22:15Speaker 3: I know we got to keep going here. But when
- 22:18Speaker 3: we've talked about running backs in the past, and.
- 22:20Speaker 2: We've been doing it for a decade, we have said
- 22:22Speaker 2: we're not anti drafting a running back high in the draft,
- 22:25Speaker 2: but what we've said is, don't waste a running backs carries.
- 22:28Speaker 2: In other words, have a finished team and then be
- 22:31Speaker 2: able to drop the running back in so that all
- 22:33Speaker 2: of his carries matter. Christian McCaffrey great example, he goes
- 22:36Speaker 2: to the forty nine ers, they're a finished team. Drop
- 22:38Speaker 2: him in there. He might he's in the MVP list.
- 22:40Speaker 2: We just talked about him as a top five MVP candidate.
- 22:43Speaker 2: But it wouldn't make as much sense for Christian McCaffrey
- 22:45Speaker 2: and be on a bad football team.
- 22:47Speaker 3: So I don't know.
- 22:48Speaker 2: Maybe they thought they were more complete than they were
- 22:50Speaker 2: when they took Bjon Robinson, but clearly right now you're
- 22:53Speaker 2: looking at a team that maybe should have gone in
- 22:56Speaker 2: another direction, even knowing that this was one of the
- 22:58Speaker 2: best players in the entire Yeah.
- 23:01Speaker 4: Well, I mean, look, I think they obviously were full
- 23:03Speaker 4: by last year's success running the football. Remember, this team
- 23:06Speaker 4: ran the football on everybody. Tyler Years was a good player,
- 23:09Speaker 4: but Cordero Patterson was backing them up, and so you're thinking,
- 23:12Speaker 4: I'm getting an upgrade over both of those running backs behind.
- 23:14Speaker 3: An offensive line. Last year they create push.
- 23:17Speaker 4: So something has changed this year in terms of the
- 23:20Speaker 4: personality and the effectiveness and the execution upfront that has
- 23:23Speaker 4: prevented them from being that physical team that Arthur Smith envisions.
- 23:28Speaker 4: The other part of it is John U. Smith and
- 23:30Speaker 4: Kalpis and Drake London and the players that they have
- 23:33Speaker 4: outside are terrific individual talents, but for whatever reason, the scheme,
- 23:38Speaker 4: the compliments in the passing game don't match what they're
- 23:41Speaker 4: doing and the running game and the quarterback is unable
- 23:44Speaker 4: to elevate either aspect.
- 23:46Speaker 3: And so we can talk about those parts.
- 23:48Speaker 4: But when you have a better player, maybe a more
- 23:51Speaker 4: dynamic player at the position that maybe has some run
- 23:54Speaker 4: pass capabilities, maybe just maybe the quarterback, a new quarterback
- 23:58Speaker 4: will unlock some of the potential that the rest of
- 24:01Speaker 4: the oppis has.
- 24:02Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm going back through and looking at some
- 24:04Speaker 2: of these previous drafts. Look, they take Drake London. The
- 24:06Speaker 2: quarterback in that draft was Kenny Pickett, and the way
- 24:08Speaker 2: Kenny Pickett's kind of been up and down, you can
- 24:10Speaker 2: look at that and say, Okay, well, I don't you know,
- 24:12Speaker 2: I don't fault them for that, you know, making that
- 24:14Speaker 2: decision and bypassing Kenny Pickett. You back to twenty twenty one,
- 24:18Speaker 2: they took Kyle Pitts, and then you know that was
- 24:21Speaker 2: the one where they got a lot of criticism because
- 24:23Speaker 2: you had Justin Fields there, who would have been, you know,
- 24:26Speaker 2: hometown guy, but Justin Field's in a position where his
- 24:28Speaker 2: team might be moving on from him as well, so
- 24:31Speaker 2: you know whether or not they had a chance to
- 24:33Speaker 2: try and get aggressive and try and make you know,
- 24:35Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson happen, or training for some veteran being bold
- 24:40Speaker 2: and aggressive and some other you know, some other area.
- 24:43Speaker 2: I don't know what opportunities really presented themselves there. We
- 24:46Speaker 2: may never know, but I know one thing. They can't
- 24:49Speaker 2: enter next year with the group to have at that
- 24:50Speaker 2: position right now. They've got to go out and find one.
- 24:53Speaker 2: So that's going to be their charge. All right, let's
- 24:55Speaker 2: get to the rookie draft here this week, Buck, you
- 24:58Speaker 2: are up first. You've been kicking, but you're closing the
- 25:01Speaker 2: gap here. You're up first, fall by Rhett and then
- 25:04Speaker 2: I'll bat in the three hole today, So go ahead, man,
- 25:06Speaker 2: you're up.
- 25:07Speaker 4: Well, yeah, this is wanted more difficult decision to do
- 25:09Speaker 4: because you've got to have a little faith that the
- 25:11Speaker 4: guy that I'm picking, CJ. Stroud, is going to be
- 25:13Speaker 4: able to come back out of concussion protocol.
- 25:15Speaker 3: But I'm gonna take him number one.
- 25:16Speaker 4: Quarterbacks, the most important position on the field, need to
- 25:18Speaker 4: get a dub with c J.
- 25:19Speaker 3: Stroud leading the way.
- 25:22Speaker 5: Okay, so going quarterback there. I don't know what Will
- 25:27Speaker 5: Levis's situation is. I guess Aidan O'Connell is probably the
- 25:32Speaker 5: safest bet there.
- 25:33Speaker 1: You got the although Green.
- 25:35Speaker 5: Bay Packers defense has definitely made some quarterbacks feel better
- 25:40Speaker 5: about themselves in recent weeks, so Bryce Young might be
- 25:43Speaker 5: an interesting choice as they get set to welcome the
- 25:45Speaker 5: Packers on Christmas Eve. But I'm going to go with
- 25:48Speaker 5: the sure thing here, and I'm going to take Jamiir Gibbs,
- 25:50Speaker 5: who's been an absolute stud at the running back spot
- 25:53Speaker 5: for the Lions taking on the Vikings in a big
- 25:55Speaker 5: time matchup right there.
- 25:56Speaker 1: So give me Jimier Gibbs.
- 25:59Speaker 3: All right?
- 26:00Speaker 6: Like that?
- 26:01Speaker 3: Wow?
- 26:02Speaker 7: All right?
- 26:02Speaker 3: Let's see here. Where am I gonna go next? All right?
- 26:05Speaker 2: I'm gonna go because I want a little I want
- 26:07Speaker 2: a little viewing pleasure on Thursday, the Thursday night game.
- 26:11Speaker 2: And I've got the Rams and the Saints there. Give
- 26:13Speaker 2: me Pooka and Nakua with my first one.
- 26:16Speaker 3: Oh and then I will come back. Let's see here. Oh, oh, man,
- 26:25Speaker 3: I gotta.
- 26:26Speaker 1: He doesn't like this for you. He's stealing your anxiety
- 26:28Speaker 1: right now.
- 26:29Speaker 3: I don't know, yeah, I don't.
- 26:34Speaker 2: Know that. I like my Aidan O'Connell pick at Kansas City.
- 26:39Speaker 2: Gotta say, I don't love that one, so I think I'm.
- 26:43Speaker 3: Gonna avoid that.
- 26:44Speaker 2: I'm uh, is it possible to do an entire section
- 26:47Speaker 2: on how disappointing the Atlanta Falcons offense has been and
- 26:49Speaker 2: then come right back and take Bjon Roberts away.
- 26:52Speaker 3: Yeah right, it is. I'm in Jon Brett.
- 26:56Speaker 1: Okay, well.
- 27:00Speaker 5: Man, it's uh huh yeah, I think it's I think
- 27:06Speaker 5: it's time to take a doorback, like I think.
- 27:08Speaker 1: Uh, I think it's just no.
- 27:10Speaker 3: Way around it.
- 27:11Speaker 5: I don't know what else I could do here. I
- 27:14Speaker 5: think there's plenty more options as the pass catchers go. So, yeah,
- 27:19Speaker 5: young here, Bucky's not taking one week. You didn't have to,
- 27:22Speaker 5: he took shrug.
- 27:23Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you can wait till your next pick because
- 27:27Speaker 2: I don't pick again.
- 27:30Speaker 3: I can't go to your team.
- 27:35Speaker 2: Let's go back there taking Bryce Sean that's okay, well cool,
- 27:39Speaker 2: but go ahead, Buck, you get back to backers.
- 27:41Speaker 3: Oh I love this.
- 27:42Speaker 4: So now look, man, Jodan Maddison has treating me so well,
- 27:44Speaker 4: we got to take him again. We're gonna put him
- 27:46Speaker 4: in there, so we're gonna take him right off the board.
- 27:48Speaker 4: And now I have to find a running back of
- 27:51Speaker 4: my liking. I like what Zach Sharbonnay did, but I
- 27:54Speaker 4: feel like I need to go big.
- 27:56Speaker 3: Can I Can I go a chain? Can I go
- 27:59Speaker 3: a change?
- 27:59Speaker 4: Maybe to you somehow find a way to just put
- 28:01Speaker 4: some points on the board and do something fantastic and
- 28:05Speaker 4: that that that bit role that he.
- 28:07Speaker 5: Has, all like, yeah, you can't like it, And then
- 28:11Speaker 5: it's me again, right, Yes, I'm gonna go Laporta. Sammy
- 28:16Speaker 5: Laporta is gonna be my pass catcher, So going heavy
- 28:19Speaker 5: on the lions.
- 28:20Speaker 3: Oh whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa.
- 28:22Speaker 8: Oh wait wait wait wait wait can tightens be included?
- 28:26Speaker 8: Hold up, wait a minute, this is a wide receiver thing?
- 28:29Speaker 8: What whoa the tight end catch?
- 28:35Speaker 3: What are we doing? But we were doing this like sick?
- 28:39Speaker 3: Can we get off protest?
- 28:41Speaker 2: Come on, sorry, Bud, this is the sorry playing by
- 28:44Speaker 2: This is not new. Oh I think I take several
- 28:47Speaker 2: times to be doing Yeah, he's at last place.
- 28:51Speaker 7: Thought, Come on, dude, he always has something. He's like
- 28:56Speaker 7: Bill Belichick. He always has like whatever the rule are,
- 29:00Speaker 7: always to the line, kind of like what I didn't know?
- 29:03Speaker 3: You know, what what am I doing?
- 29:06Speaker 5: I'm gonna exercise all options available to me.
- 29:12Speaker 3: Agreed.
- 29:12Speaker 2: By the way, last week there was a tweet I
- 29:14Speaker 2: can't I cannot remember who's sent it out, but it
- 29:17Speaker 2: was when Aidan O'Connell was playing Easton stick.
- 29:20Speaker 3: Somebody said, Aiden and Easton sounds like.
- 29:23Speaker 2: Uh, like two kids that you have to go pick
- 29:26Speaker 2: up at, like daycare that have been that you the
- 29:28Speaker 2: people have been watching like.
- 29:29Speaker 3: Aiden Easton, Come on over.
- 29:32Speaker 2: I'm gonna stick with Aidan O'Connell. He was good to
- 29:33Speaker 2: me last week. I'm gonna go back to him this week.
- 29:36Speaker 2: See if you can get me some more points. I
- 29:38Speaker 2: don't love the matchup against the Chiefs, but maybe we
- 29:39Speaker 2: get some garbage points late there.
- 29:41Speaker 3: You never know. I will I will roll with that one.
- 29:44Speaker 3: All right. That's it. That's gonna that's gonna do it
- 29:46Speaker 3: for today.
- 29:47Speaker 2: But don't worry. We right back tomorrow again. We've got
- 29:49Speaker 2: I Believe Stix podcast this week, So.
- 29:52Speaker 3: Not your standard five.
- 29:53Speaker 2: We'll give you a little bonus one here as we
- 29:54Speaker 2: march towards Christmas here so appreciate you guys hanging with us,
- 29:58Speaker 2: and we'll see you right back here tomorrow.
- 29:59Speaker 3: On move the sticks