Latest / NFL Now / Flacco to Start Week 2, Nick Shook's Underdogs, & Thoughts on Aaron Rodgers Going into Week 2

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Flacco to Start Week 2, Nick Shook's Underdogs, & Thoughts on Aaron Rodgers Going into Week 2 · NFL Now

0:05
Speaker 1: NFL Now is a production of the NFL in partnership
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Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. Interview Interview Carner in Insole, Touchdown Harbor,
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the League, and it's touchdown m City laball
0:26
Speaker 1: is Joe Bosa Khalil Market. They show one that Sid
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Speaker 1: Edwards put into the end zone intercepted and he taste
0:36
Speaker 1: the sweet nectar of the end zone. Chargers start the
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Speaker 1: season off with a victory at Jansas City continues it's mastery. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: Week two is almost here. Hard to believe in week one?
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Speaker 1: Just then five minutes ago. Week two begins tomorrow at
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Speaker 1: how about this one? Herbert Mahomes Amazon Prime t n
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Speaker 1: F is back and we are back with another edition
1:08
Speaker 1: of Wednesday edition of NFL Now on NFL Network from
1:11
Speaker 1: our news room in Los Angeles. Hi there, thanks for
1:14
Speaker 1: joining us. My name is ANDREWS. Cicilian. Don't coming up
1:16
Speaker 1: with your coach with your quarterback sat on the podium
1:19
Speaker 1: today all the injury updates and which NFL head coach
1:22
Speaker 1: revealed today that he didn't shower much when he was
1:26
Speaker 1: an assistant coach. But he can't get away with that now.
1:30
Speaker 1: That is later. First, However, more pressing news like who's
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Speaker 1: going to start this week and quarterback for the New
1:35
Speaker 1: York Jets. I can tell you right now it's not
1:37
Speaker 1: going to be Mike White. It is going to be
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Speaker 1: Joe Flacco, who through fifty nine passes in the jets
1:45
Speaker 1: Week one loss to the Ravens. And it's gonna be
1:49
Speaker 1: Flacco again as the Jets continue their tour of the
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Speaker 1: a f C North. They got all four teams in
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Speaker 1: the first four weeks. In Rapp report, Mike carefolo with
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Speaker 1: me now, Mike, start with you. Why Flacco and was
2:03
Speaker 1: there ever consider ration for a change? I'm sure there
2:08
Speaker 1: was at some point as they assess their options, and
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Speaker 1: Robert Sala really wouldn't commit to Joe Flacco fully on Monday,
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Speaker 1: but indicated that this would be the case. So, yes,
2:16
Speaker 1: it's Joe Flacco. After they went back reviewed everything, look
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Speaker 1: forward to this Browns game and came up with a
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Speaker 1: plan offensively that they hope is going to be executed
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Speaker 1: much better than the plan that they executed or failed
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Speaker 1: to execute against the Baltimore Ravens. And that plan needs
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Speaker 1: to be better protection for Joe Flacco. Get guys open quickly, because,
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Speaker 1: as Robert Sala told me, before that game against Baltimore.
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Speaker 1: Flacco doesn't have the escapability that he had early in
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Speaker 1: his career, but he can still sling it and he
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Speaker 1: can still do everything you need to do from the
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Speaker 1: pocket as a passer. So they feel like if they
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Speaker 1: can get that protection upfront, getter better, and get open,
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Speaker 1: Flacco is gonna be able to find those receivers and
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Speaker 1: engineer a much better offensive output than they were able
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Speaker 1: to do against a Baltimore defense that, by the way,
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Speaker 1: played well. I mean, there are two teams on the field,
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Speaker 1: and yeah, I think for the Jets, there's really two
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Speaker 1: things going on here. There's trying to maximize whatever you
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Speaker 1: can out of Joe Flacco, trying to get the best
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Speaker 1: out of him, engineer the game plan, get some sort
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Speaker 1: of much much needed win to turn this around, and
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Speaker 1: kind of get some of the negativity and everything else
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Speaker 1: off for Robert Salis back. That's one part of it.
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Speaker 1: The other part of it is Zach Wilson, when is
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Speaker 1: the starter going to be out there? Remember dealing with
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Speaker 1: a meniscus injury that they had surgery on all sway bone. Bruce,
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Speaker 1: he was at practice that he was suited up. He
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Speaker 1: was doing quarterback drills. All of that is good. Now
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Speaker 1: he's not gonna play this week, and I would say
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Speaker 1: probably not going to play next week, but they have
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Speaker 1: opened the door to him possibly getting out there for
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Speaker 1: Week four. That would be a very very good outcome.
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Speaker 1: If the Jets could just hang on, maybe win a
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Speaker 1: game or maybe even two games by then, they could
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Speaker 1: sort of restart their season. But obviously, very badly do
3:55
Speaker 1: they need Zach Wilson being out there and kind of
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Speaker 1: get this thing going. This game the Brown's home opener, Cleveland,
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Speaker 1: trying to go to and Oh for the first time
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Speaker 1: since ninety three. That was the year they had Bill
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Speaker 1: Belichick as head coach. They opened three and Oh. I
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Speaker 1: was a sophomore in college. Belichick ended up then later
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Speaker 1: cutting Bernie Kosar mid season, putting in Todd phil Cox.
4:15
Speaker 1: The season went down hill. I churs Bill Belichick in
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Speaker 1: my dorm room. Sorry, I'm letting it all out. Where
4:22
Speaker 1: are we? Yeah, I'm just I'm just calculating your age. Okay, Yeah,
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Speaker 1: don't don't, please don't. Cavon Thibodeaux Mike Rookie young Man
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Speaker 1: tweeted after Brian Table went for two got the two,
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Speaker 1: they won the game on Sunday that he needed a cigarette.
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Speaker 1: Uh cigarette aside house he doing in his recovery from
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Speaker 1: an injury. Yeah, alright, well I didn't see that one.
4:46
Speaker 1: That was a good tweet. I may have to go
4:48
Speaker 1: follow Cavon Tia. Uh. Yeah. Cavon Thibodeau suffered that knee
4:52
Speaker 1: injury during the preseason when Thaddeus Moss went low on
4:55
Speaker 1: him a hit that was legal, although we can debate
4:59
Speaker 1: whether or not that should be deemed an illegal hit
5:01
Speaker 1: to take it out of the game. Whatever. Anyway, Tipodeau
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Speaker 1: has been injured since a point and is working his
5:06
Speaker 1: way back. I'm not over at practice today, obviously, I
5:09
Speaker 1: am here, so I'm going off of what everyone is
5:11
Speaker 1: tweeting over there, and I've seen some videos that he
5:14
Speaker 1: is running on the side, running more than he has before.
5:17
Speaker 1: He's got the Guardian cap on his head, which we'll
5:19
Speaker 1: be talking about Guardian caps very shortly here, uh, and
5:23
Speaker 1: doing more than he's done in the past. But my
5:26
Speaker 1: sense is in the sense of the folks on hand,
5:28
Speaker 1: as he's still not participating in team stuff, is that
5:31
Speaker 1: he's still always away from coming back here. So the
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Speaker 1: rookie uh pass rusher working his way back while fifth overall,
5:38
Speaker 1: fifth overall correct yet working his way back, not quite
5:40
Speaker 1: there yet, but he'll be on the field eventually. He
5:43
Speaker 1: was five and Evan Neil was seven. I want to clarify,
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Speaker 1: he didn't tweet that he needed a cigarette. He told
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Speaker 1: Brian D. Bault in person that he needed a cigarette. Regardless.
5:52
Speaker 1: Cavan Thibodeau is a fun follow I'm not following him
5:55
Speaker 1: now you should? You should. He's a fun fallow um,
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Speaker 1: not a fun story Ian. Alex Leatherwood in Chicago went
6:04
Speaker 1: on nf I today with an illness. You don't see
6:07
Speaker 1: that headline off and explain now you don't, and the
6:11
Speaker 1: way the n f I rules work. He is now
6:13
Speaker 1: out a minimum of four games. Mattie refused, saying that
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Speaker 1: he is optimistic that Alex leather would who of course
6:19
Speaker 1: they claimed on cutdown day after he was released by
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Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Raiders and made him a first round pick.
6:24
Speaker 1: He was optimistic that leather would be out there within
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Speaker 1: right out the four week mark. My understanding is Alex
6:31
Speaker 1: Leatherwood has mono. That is why they expected me back
6:35
Speaker 1: by the four week mark, because it's not something he
6:37
Speaker 1: thinks that that long. I believe when Sam Donald very
6:41
Speaker 1: famously had mono a couple of years back. He was
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Speaker 1: out for three games. I believe my math is correct there.
6:46
Speaker 1: So anyway, the Bears believe Alex leather would be back
6:49
Speaker 1: in about a month. All right, I'm going back again
6:51
Speaker 1: to my college days. I had mono. Uh it's awful,
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Speaker 1: So get well soon, Alex Leatherwood. Mike, what funny details
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Speaker 1: about how you got it? I wish there was a
7:03
Speaker 1: good story. Guardian caps, Mike, let's get because you tease
7:08
Speaker 1: this to the Guardian caps and the you know, the
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Speaker 1: caps that the players, the offensive lineman, the d lineman
7:13
Speaker 1: were wearing in training camp. Um, we have the data.
7:17
Speaker 1: Now tell me about that. Yes. Jeff Miller, the NFL's
7:21
Speaker 1: executive vice president of Communications, Public Affairs and Safety helid
7:27
Speaker 1: a conference call earlier today in which he said, concussions
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Speaker 1: during training camp for players wearing those Guardian caps, right,
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Speaker 1: there were down more than eleven concussions amongst those positions
7:38
Speaker 1: playing those position groups at the time, tight ends, linebackers,
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Speaker 1: offensive and defensive lineman. Uh eleven concussions. Of those eleven,
7:46
Speaker 1: six of them were because of contact of the face mask, which,
7:49
Speaker 1: as you can see, is not covered by the Guardian Caps.
7:52
Speaker 1: So these are really promising numbers, especially when you consider
7:55
Speaker 1: that players and other positions who were not required to
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Speaker 1: wear the Guardian caps the concussion rates stayed flat there.
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Speaker 1: So this is encouraging for the NFL all those involved
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Speaker 1: in developing the Guardian Caps. They're not required players right now.
8:10
Speaker 1: I'm not required to wear them, but two hundred players,
8:12
Speaker 1: according to Miller, are still wearing the Guardian caps. I
8:16
Speaker 1: know there was some talk about whether they're uncomfortable or
8:18
Speaker 1: whether it's teaching players to actually lead with their head,
8:21
Speaker 1: and the NFL and those involved say, no, that's not
8:23
Speaker 1: the case. It's doing its job and they expect to
8:26
Speaker 1: improve upon the equipment and approve upon these numbers, which
8:30
Speaker 1: are very promising off the bat. Yeah, that was the
8:32
Speaker 1: more interesting thing that I would hear going around training camps. Well,
8:35
Speaker 1: am I lowering my head more because I feel safer
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Speaker 1: with this thing on? But the data would prove that
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Speaker 1: they are working and they are effective. Thank thank you, Mike,
8:43
Speaker 1: Thank you Ian or inside a report here on a
8:45
Speaker 1: Wednesday to open up Week number two, which the Chiefs
8:49
Speaker 1: and the Chargers will do coming up tomorrow at Arrowhead.
8:53
Speaker 1: What a matchup. This is one quarterback through five touchdowns
8:57
Speaker 1: a week ago, the other quarterback through three touchdowns a
9:00
Speaker 1: week ago. They both look like playoff teams. Get the
9:03
Speaker 1: family together, don't miss sit to to the special players
9:08
Speaker 1: in the league. Um, they're they're as good as it gets.
9:10
Speaker 1: And I think you're seeing in the NFL. Uh, the
9:12
Speaker 1: quarterback position is in a and it is a great
9:14
Speaker 1: spot for the for the NFL, it says, UM. It's
9:17
Speaker 1: exciting for the league when you have this many good
9:19
Speaker 1: quarterbacks all at once, and then a lot of them
9:21
Speaker 1: are are really young, and so the future of the
9:23
Speaker 1: league is really bright. Um. Makes it really tough to
9:26
Speaker 1: cover them. But the future is really bright. And these
9:28
Speaker 1: two guys being in the same division, um, both being
9:31
Speaker 1: young players. Uh, it's great for the game. It's great
9:34
Speaker 1: for the game anytime you have rivalries within a division
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Speaker 1: and then two quarterbacks like this, Um, it's really good
9:39
Speaker 1: for the game. And it's a matchup that we hope
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Speaker 1: to see not only twice a year, but twice a
9:44
Speaker 1: year for maybe at least the next decade. James Palmer
9:47
Speaker 1: is going to be there, Bucky Brooks, Jim Trotter all
9:50
Speaker 1: back with me at NFL. Now, when we talk about
9:52
Speaker 1: Herbert James, you put the tape on, you just say wow.
9:56
Speaker 1: But internally, other than his hair, how do they think
10:00
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert's grown? Uh. We keep showing that promo and
10:05
Speaker 1: of him and Patrick Mahomes and the main in that promo.
10:07
Speaker 1: The hair is phenomenally. You are right. But you know,
10:09
Speaker 1: a side of my favorite things is is men hair styles.
10:12
Speaker 1: Let's go into Justin Herbert. Yeah, there it is right there.
10:14
Speaker 1: I mean, it's flowing, it's beautiful, it's lovely. But how
10:17
Speaker 1: about what he's grown as a quarterback. That's really the
10:20
Speaker 1: more important thing. Right, Let's start with the Chiefs perspective
10:22
Speaker 1: on what they've seen in the growth of Justin Herbert
10:25
Speaker 1: in the times they've gone against him since he was
10:26
Speaker 1: thrown into the starting role. Now one of the best
10:28
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in football, and he read said, the accuracy just
10:31
Speaker 1: keeps getting better every year, and that's something that's just
10:33
Speaker 1: not going to go away every year. He's a better
10:35
Speaker 1: player than I saw the year before. When I put
10:37
Speaker 1: the tape on and Steve Spagnola is going to go
10:39
Speaker 1: against Herbert leading this Chief's defense said on the back end,
10:42
Speaker 1: we just have to start disguising things better and better
10:45
Speaker 1: and better as we go against him, because he starts
10:48
Speaker 1: to see things and read coverages so well. And so
10:51
Speaker 1: that's the chief's perspective on the other side. I thought
10:53
Speaker 1: it was interesting when at a conversation with Mike Williams
10:55
Speaker 1: yesterday where he told me, really, Dan, the biggest thing
10:58
Speaker 1: that's grown for me is his leadership, and that's something
11:01
Speaker 1: we needed. We needed him to be more vocal. We
11:03
Speaker 1: needed him to lead this offense in a more vocal
11:06
Speaker 1: manner and lead this entire team. And that's one of
11:08
Speaker 1: the things, Jim, that you could look at and go, well,
11:11
Speaker 1: that that's part of the thing that gets you over
11:13
Speaker 1: the hump when you have a team that is talented
11:15
Speaker 1: as the Chargers, when you have great players stepping up
11:18
Speaker 1: and being not just great players on the field, but
11:21
Speaker 1: off the field as well. And that's a big, big
11:23
Speaker 1: step that the Chargers have seen this offseason with Justin Herbert, yeah,
11:27
Speaker 1: no question, James. Look. A player who really stepped up
11:30
Speaker 1: for the Chargers last Sunday was Khalil Mac, the new
11:33
Speaker 1: edition they got in the trade from Chicago. And for
11:35
Speaker 1: me this week, what's most interesting is to see how
11:39
Speaker 1: the Chief's offense is going to function against the real defense. Now,
11:42
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to throw shade at at the Arizona Cardinals,
11:45
Speaker 1: but they were injury depleted on defense and they simply
11:48
Speaker 1: didn't have the players to match up. When we look
11:50
Speaker 1: at this week, Patrick Mahomes is going to face an
11:53
Speaker 1: elite defensive unit here when you talk about the pressure
11:56
Speaker 1: that can be brought from both ends with BOTHA and
12:00
Speaker 1: with Mac, as well as the depth that they have
12:03
Speaker 1: in the secondary. So we talked about what Kansas City
12:06
Speaker 1: did this offseason and how Mahomes is going to be
12:08
Speaker 1: more um, he's going to distribute the ball to more
12:11
Speaker 1: players this year with Tyres Bill gone well, to me,
12:14
Speaker 1: this is the first real test and so I'm eager
12:16
Speaker 1: to see how this plays out. Bucky. Yeah, it's a
12:20
Speaker 1: fantastic matchup between Pat Mahomes and Justin Herbert because you
12:24
Speaker 1: have Pat Mahomes who's kind of lorded over his this
12:26
Speaker 1: vision for the last few years, and then you have
12:28
Speaker 1: the young gunner and Justin Herbert. When I look at
12:30
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert from a scouting perspective, he's the prototype size
12:34
Speaker 1: arm telling athleticism, I Q the way that he has
12:38
Speaker 1: played the first couple of years in the league. He
12:40
Speaker 1: is everything that you look for in a franchise quarterback.
12:43
Speaker 1: And the difference in this quarterback matchup is Pat Mahomes
12:47
Speaker 1: may not be the prototype in terms of size wise,
12:49
Speaker 1: but the armed talent and the improvisational the ability that
12:53
Speaker 1: he is displayed with a new cast of pass catchers
12:57
Speaker 1: makes this musty, must see TV. And so when we
13:00
Speaker 1: think about this division, Pat Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Russell Wilson,
13:04
Speaker 1: Derek Carr, one that is typically ruled by the quarterback.
13:08
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert gets to make a statement, not only in
13:11
Speaker 1: this division, but he couldn't make a statement in the league.
13:14
Speaker 1: I'm the new QB one and you're gonna have to
13:16
Speaker 1: come get me and the charges this year if you're
13:18
Speaker 1: gonna get the crown and just bonkers stat here about
13:21
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert, And again he's one of those guys like Mahomes,
13:24
Speaker 1: you don't need the stats. You just turn on the
13:25
Speaker 1: tape and watch him play and and you say wow.
13:27
Speaker 1: Herbert has played thirty two NFL games. Remember he didn't
13:30
Speaker 1: start Week one, Tyrod did when he was a rookie.
13:34
Speaker 1: He has thrown at least three touchdown passes in fourteen
13:37
Speaker 1: of those thirty two games, nearly half of his thirty
13:40
Speaker 1: two games, he's thrown at least three touchdowns. He's that good.
13:45
Speaker 1: This game, hopefully, is that good? James, Bucky Jim, thank you.
13:53
Speaker 1: Clil Mack is driving the Charger's truck into Arrowhead where
13:56
Speaker 1: they won last year without him, they won two years
13:59
Speaker 1: ago as well. Can they make it three in a row.
14:03
Speaker 1: According to Draft Games, the Chargers are four and a
14:06
Speaker 1: half point underdogs. Nick Shook writes an article every week
14:10
Speaker 1: he has shook Up on NFL dot com about these underdogs.
14:14
Speaker 1: What do you like about the Chargers Tomorrow night? Nick?
14:18
Speaker 1: That's a crazy matchup because the Chiefs rolled over the Cardinals,
14:21
Speaker 1: and the Chiefs are twenty one and three against all
14:23
Speaker 1: a f C West opponents, but two of those losses
14:26
Speaker 1: have come against the Los Angeles Chargers, and the only
14:28
Speaker 1: quarterback to beat the Chiefs twice since Justin Herbert. Now
14:34
Speaker 1: he's likely to be without Keenan Allen this week because
14:36
Speaker 1: of a hamstring injury. Will continue to money his monitor
14:38
Speaker 1: that but that's really not gonna matter in this game.
14:40
Speaker 1: You know why, because Justin Herbert connected with nine different
14:43
Speaker 1: targets in that week one win over the Raiders, so
14:46
Speaker 1: he's clearly showing no preference. He's throwing touchdown passes to
14:49
Speaker 1: guys whose names you might not even know, and their
14:52
Speaker 1: offense has rolled. I think this is gonna be a shootout.
14:55
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a doozy. They've been classics in the past.
14:58
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for this. When I think the Charger
14:59
Speaker 1: has got a good shot, I can't believe people don't
15:02
Speaker 1: know Xander horfa um Alright, let's get to of Saints.
15:05
Speaker 1: They're two and a half point underdogs, despite the fact
15:07
Speaker 1: they looked really good in the fourth quarter against the Falcons.
15:11
Speaker 1: This again according to DraftKings Bucks coming into town. What
15:14
Speaker 1: do you like about the Saints? Yeah, that's really the key,
15:17
Speaker 1: is it. It seemed like it took them a have
15:18
Speaker 1: to get their feet under them on both sides of
15:20
Speaker 1: the football, But once they did, they were a menace.
15:23
Speaker 1: They were an absolute force, and I think that they
15:24
Speaker 1: can carry that over into this game. It would really
15:27
Speaker 1: benefit then. You know, there's a lot of history on
15:29
Speaker 1: the side of the satire. Tom Brady since joined the
15:31
Speaker 1: Bucks in He's oh and four against the Saints of
15:33
Speaker 1: the regular season. Big reason defense the Buccaneers versus every
15:38
Speaker 1: other opponents two point three points per game against the
15:41
Speaker 1: Saints thirteen point three points per game. And it's shown
15:45
Speaker 1: his numbers as well. Performance wise, Dennis Allen coordinated those defenses.
15:49
Speaker 1: He's now the head coach. If there's gonna be a
15:51
Speaker 1: team that's gonna beat the Buccaneers this this week, or
15:53
Speaker 1: really any week in the regular season, I give the
15:56
Speaker 1: Saints a really good shot, especially if they can sustain.
15:59
Speaker 1: But they put together in the second half. And by
16:01
Speaker 1: the way, Michael Thomas looks pretty good right now. I
16:04
Speaker 1: think he's all the way back, and so did Jarvis
16:06
Speaker 1: Landry despite the fact the five looks awkward. Just it's
16:09
Speaker 1: weird opinion. It is weird on Jarvis Landry. We have
16:13
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers, Baker Mayfield and company at two and
16:16
Speaker 1: a half point end. It all gone the road against
16:18
Speaker 1: the upstart New York Giants again this according to Draft Kings.
16:21
Speaker 1: What do you like about the Panthers, Nick Well? The
16:24
Speaker 1: Giants shocked the football world last week with their winning
16:27
Speaker 1: se Kwon Barkley for the first time in a long time.
16:29
Speaker 1: Looks really good. The Panthers not so much, at least
16:32
Speaker 1: not in the first half in Week one. Last week,
16:35
Speaker 1: they did start to put it together. Kind of a
16:37
Speaker 1: similar story to the Saints. There is an avalanche of
16:39
Speaker 1: sorts offensively for the Panthers in the second half. It
16:41
Speaker 1: looked like Baker Mayfield was going to lead them to victory.
16:43
Speaker 1: But the big most important thing for them going forward,
16:46
Speaker 1: they got to get more touches. To Christian McCaffrey. He
16:48
Speaker 1: had fourteen total touches, wasn't able to make the impact
16:50
Speaker 1: that a lot of people expected of him. So if
16:53
Speaker 1: they can actually sustain what they did in the second
16:55
Speaker 1: half last week, they're facing a defense that dozen include
16:57
Speaker 1: vile s Garrett. I give them a pretty good shot
16:59
Speaker 1: against the Giants team that again shock people, and for
17:02
Speaker 1: good reason. We'll see if the Giants can actually be
17:04
Speaker 1: that team in a week by week basis. I think
17:06
Speaker 1: the Panthers have enough weapons to be able to take
17:08
Speaker 1: down New York this week. For some reason, this one's
17:11
Speaker 1: odd to me. Here it is odd. The DraftKings has
17:14
Speaker 1: the Steelers nick as a one point underdog at home
17:18
Speaker 1: against the Patriots, who did not show a lot offensively
17:21
Speaker 1: last week. That's the power of t J. Watt and
17:24
Speaker 1: losing t J Watt and in history is not on
17:27
Speaker 1: the Steelers side. They're oh and four since what entered
17:30
Speaker 1: the league in seventeen when he's not in the starting lineup.
17:34
Speaker 1: But the rest of their defense did shine last week
17:36
Speaker 1: against the Bengals. Making Fitzpatrick had a pick six, Cam
17:39
Speaker 1: Hayward and Alex Highsmith combined for four sacks and the
17:42
Speaker 1: Patriots offense only mustard seven points. Now mac Jones also
17:46
Speaker 1: was a little bit banged up, but they got out
17:47
Speaker 1: on the better end of that than the Steelers did.
17:49
Speaker 1: With what Mitch Drabinski, I think he's gonna play a
17:52
Speaker 1: significant role here because I think it does come down
17:54
Speaker 1: to the Steelers offense. But the good news for them
17:56
Speaker 1: is his twelve career wins in which his team scored
17:58
Speaker 1: twenty four points of less. There's only one quarterback who's
18:00
Speaker 1: got more wins in that span of time, Ben Roethlisberger
18:03
Speaker 1: with sixteen against this offense that the Patriots have, and
18:06
Speaker 1: in with the Steelers off it's not quite putting up
18:08
Speaker 1: a ton of points. Yet I still like the Steelers
18:10
Speaker 1: chances because of their defense, and I think it's time
18:12
Speaker 1: for Mr Bisky to channel his inner big Ben to
18:15
Speaker 1: get that victory over new Ing. Kurbisky said today he
18:17
Speaker 1: wants more of a killer instinct out of his offense.
18:20
Speaker 1: Interesting when you look at some of the shots they
18:22
Speaker 1: did take down field, they took him, they just couldn't
18:24
Speaker 1: connect on them. ATFL dot com slash Underdogs, Nick Shook
18:28
Speaker 1: does it every week. Thank you, Dick. As we continue
18:31
Speaker 1: here on NFL Now and focus on this one. Rams,
18:34
Speaker 1: you know, kind of sort of the favorite here, this
18:37
Speaker 1: one despite the BA to day, didn't look good in
18:39
Speaker 1: the second half and they took a ten ten game.
18:42
Speaker 1: It took a big loss on the chin at the
18:43
Speaker 1: end against the Bills. Meantime, the Falcons could not close
18:46
Speaker 1: a two touchdown lead last week against the Saints. It's
18:52
Speaker 1: the Falcons, It's the Rams. It's Steve White back of
18:56
Speaker 1: the desk and hip trotter as well the Falcons. I
18:59
Speaker 1: think this one was surprising to a Steve four hundred
19:03
Speaker 1: yards of offense last week, but they couldn't hold them,
19:06
Speaker 1: and that was the thing. These are both teams that
19:08
Speaker 1: did not play well in the second half of their
19:09
Speaker 1: respective openers. But you talk about that for in the
19:12
Speaker 1: yards of offense, Marcus Mario to move in the pocket.
19:14
Speaker 1: The Saints were used to facing the Falcons team that
19:17
Speaker 1: had a mobile quarterback. They passed the ball, they spread
19:19
Speaker 1: it around well. But the one player for this game
19:22
Speaker 1: who's got to be effective is tight end Kyle Pitts.
19:26
Speaker 1: He is the one player the Falcons have who can
19:28
Speaker 1: really have some matchup advantages. Sure, the Rams could use
19:31
Speaker 1: some combination of Jalen Ramsey and a safety maybe Nick
19:34
Speaker 1: Scott a Taylor Rap to take him out of play,
19:37
Speaker 1: but they still have to get him the ball in
19:39
Speaker 1: contested coverages because of his size and his speed. Now,
19:42
Speaker 1: Drake London, who played really well the rookie out of
19:45
Speaker 1: the USC in the opener he comes home. He could
19:47
Speaker 1: take some coverages away, but the Falcons have to continue
19:50
Speaker 1: to try to run the ball. Cor Darrell Patterson was
19:52
Speaker 1: absolutely fantastic Jim, But Kyle Pitts could be a wild
19:56
Speaker 1: card for this Falcons offense. Is the Rams really try
19:58
Speaker 1: to get their defense together, which did not look coordinated
20:01
Speaker 1: well at all, and the opener against a very outstanding
20:04
Speaker 1: Bills off Jim. The Rams thought that Allen Robinson would
20:08
Speaker 1: gee maybe not a wild card, but certainly be a
20:11
Speaker 1: contributing factor in that game against the Bills, he was
20:15
Speaker 1: not how do they get him involved? Well, for one,
20:18
Speaker 1: they've got to call some plays for him. Look, he
20:20
Speaker 1: was on the field for sixty five of sixty seven snaps,
20:24
Speaker 1: he ran forty seven routes and yet was targeted only
20:28
Speaker 1: once until the final player of the game. Now, afterwards,
20:31
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh said, look, I've got to do a better
20:33
Speaker 1: job of calling plays and putting players in position to
20:36
Speaker 1: be successful. And Matthew Stafford also said that the Bill
20:40
Speaker 1: has played a lot of his own coverage and clouded
20:42
Speaker 1: the boundaries. But the reality is when you look at
20:44
Speaker 1: the past distribution, Cooper Cup got fifteen targets and you
20:48
Speaker 1: understand that him being an All Pro and a Triple
20:50
Speaker 1: Crown winner, but there were also three other players who've
20:53
Speaker 1: got more targets than Allen Robinson did. For the Rams
20:56
Speaker 1: offense to be successful, they've got to have more balance
20:58
Speaker 1: and terms of the past distribution. And I think we
21:02
Speaker 1: will see that this week. Uh Andrew and maybe see
21:05
Speaker 1: a little more cam Acres this week as well as
21:07
Speaker 1: Darryl Henderson got the majority of the touches in the backfield.
21:11
Speaker 1: Kyrien Williams officially put on injured reserve yesterday by the
21:14
Speaker 1: ramps of the rookie running back at a Notre Dame.
21:17
Speaker 1: Thank you, Jim, Thank you Steve. Coming up. Aaron Rodgers
21:21
Speaker 1: and the Packers after a loss under Matt Lafleur beat
21:25
Speaker 1: people by two touchdowns. So should we relax? Last? Kurt
21:30
Speaker 1: Warner straight ahead? I feel like this is an annual
21:38
Speaker 1: right of September? Is Aaron Rodgers are the same page
21:42
Speaker 1: to this receivers? Why is it he there? More like
21:45
Speaker 1: you guys, take a deep breath Under Matt la Flour.
21:48
Speaker 1: The Packers after a regular season loss are nine and oh,
21:52
Speaker 1: winning by an average of fourteen points. Here's Rogers yesterday
21:56
Speaker 1: on the Pat McAfee show. In the preparation, it's not
22:01
Speaker 1: just understanding what you need to do, but why need
22:05
Speaker 1: to do what you're doing, and then what to expect,
22:07
Speaker 1: which will change what is drawn on the paper to
22:10
Speaker 1: what actually needs to show up in lifetime in the game.
22:13
Speaker 1: So you know, again, that's why we have to have patience.
22:17
Speaker 1: A lot of these guys have not played a ton
22:19
Speaker 1: of football, and and really it's not something that could
22:22
Speaker 1: have been figured out and training camp or some offseason
22:26
Speaker 1: throwing session. These are live rep things with the pressure
22:31
Speaker 1: of a regular season game, with the pressure of it
22:33
Speaker 1: counting that they have mistakes you have to make, and
22:36
Speaker 1: there's things that happened in practice that we've corrected. Um,
22:40
Speaker 1: but it all comes down to in the moment. Can
22:42
Speaker 1: we make the right adjustment. Can we think quickly but
22:47
Speaker 1: have a slow mind. Can we play fast but be
22:49
Speaker 1: under control? And that's why I'm not too worried about it.
22:54
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of talent on our side
22:56
Speaker 1: of the ball. We just gotta execute a little bit better,
23:01
Speaker 1: and they did not do that last week. Let's go
23:04
Speaker 1: to the quarterback room, our Hall of Fame or Kurt
23:07
Speaker 1: Warners with us. He's going to be here every week
23:09
Speaker 1: on NFL Alan Wednesday's Kurt, great to have you as always.
23:13
Speaker 1: When you turned on the tape, what did you see
23:17
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers and his young receivers, whether it's Christian Watson,
23:20
Speaker 1: Romeo Dubbs and maybe beyond that, like he said, how
23:24
Speaker 1: long is this going to take? You know? Andrew? You know,
23:28
Speaker 1: I saw what a lot of people saw. There was
23:30
Speaker 1: what seemed to be miscommunication or Aaron thinking one thing
23:33
Speaker 1: and the guys doing something different. Some hesitation from Aaron
23:37
Speaker 1: Rodgers on on that uncertainty of what's going on, and
23:41
Speaker 1: that to me is really you know here and Aaron
23:43
Speaker 1: talk there, I get exactly what he's saying is that
23:46
Speaker 1: we're gonna make it just Bencent and guys have to
23:48
Speaker 1: make h you know, the right place in the moment.
23:52
Speaker 1: But there's a whole another factor to it is is
23:54
Speaker 1: if they go and do it right this next how
23:57
Speaker 1: long does it take before Aaron truly trust them to
24:00
Speaker 1: be able to hit his back foot and let the
24:01
Speaker 1: ball go, saying they're gonna do what I expect him
24:04
Speaker 1: to do right now. It's okay, they didn't do it
24:06
Speaker 1: in week one. We go out in week two and
24:08
Speaker 1: we call one of those plays. What do I do now?
24:11
Speaker 1: Do I throw it on time? Or do I wait
24:13
Speaker 1: to see if they do the right thing? Oh, and
24:15
Speaker 1: then try to make up for it throwing it. And
24:17
Speaker 1: so that becomes the real question, is okay a getting
24:21
Speaker 1: the young receivers to do what they're supposed to do
24:24
Speaker 1: in the moment, and then be Aaron Rodgers getting to
24:27
Speaker 1: the point where he trusts them to do it every time,
24:30
Speaker 1: and so now he can let the ball go on
24:32
Speaker 1: the timing that he needs to let the ball go.
24:35
Speaker 1: So I don't think this is just as simple as
24:37
Speaker 1: you know when you were talking about the status. Hey,
24:39
Speaker 1: we didn't play well in week one. Everything will just
24:42
Speaker 1: be smooth and easy in week two. Because we have
24:44
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. There's a lot of factors here that may
24:47
Speaker 1: take a little bit longer than one week to rectify.
24:50
Speaker 1: And Week two is against the Bears, a team that
24:54
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers pointed out last year he owns. We'll still
24:58
Speaker 1: see if he owns them. This game is at Lambeau.
25:01
Speaker 1: All right, I want to get to the bunday dye
25:03
Speaker 1: game current. We all know by now we've I selected
25:05
Speaker 1: at fifty times. What happened at the end. They opted
25:08
Speaker 1: for the sixty four yard field goal. Afterwards, Napaniel Hacket
25:10
Speaker 1: said that's what he wanted to do yesterday kind of
25:14
Speaker 1: sort of changed his story. Yeah, you know, looking back
25:20
Speaker 1: at it, we definitely should have gone for it. Um,
25:22
Speaker 1: just not not you know one of those things you
25:25
Speaker 1: look back at it and you say, of course we
25:27
Speaker 1: should go for it. We missed the field goal. Um,
25:29
Speaker 1: but in that situation, we had a plan. I mean
25:32
Speaker 1: we had a plan. We knew that forty six was
25:33
Speaker 1: the mark, you know, the market we had all set
25:35
Speaker 1: before we started. We said forty six yards forty six
25:38
Speaker 1: yard line was where we wanted to be, and we
25:41
Speaker 1: got there. So we had to make the decision if
25:42
Speaker 1: we wanted to give it to our you know, Brandon,
25:44
Speaker 1: and we did and didn't work. It sucks, but hey,
25:48
Speaker 1: that's part of it. Kind of sounds like Hackett saying, well, yeah,
25:52
Speaker 1: of course, in retrospect, it would have done the other
25:54
Speaker 1: thing because the thing I did choose to do didn't work.
25:57
Speaker 1: But that aside from a veteran quarterback perspective. Here it's
26:00
Speaker 1: the first game between Russell and his new head coach
26:04
Speaker 1: for game as a head coach for Hackett, Kurt, we've
26:08
Speaker 1: seen guys like Lamar Jackson, Let's say, you know, Lobby
26:11
Speaker 1: Heart to John Harball, we are going for it. Do
26:14
Speaker 1: you think moving forward Russell could or should be more demonstrative,
26:20
Speaker 1: like say no, no, no, no, no, I got this. Well,
26:24
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you have to have that conversation
26:27
Speaker 1: between coach and quarterback. You know, this week you have
26:30
Speaker 1: to talk about that. I mean, the first thing I
26:33
Speaker 1: look at is Russell Wilson. That's where he's at his
26:35
Speaker 1: best is late in games doing that, you know, that
26:38
Speaker 1: magic stuff that that Russell Wilson does to bring teams
26:41
Speaker 1: back or to put him in position to win. You
26:43
Speaker 1: that's where he's always been his best. So that's the
26:46
Speaker 1: first thing that makes you scratch your head. Uh. You know.
26:48
Speaker 1: The second part is, and I'll just say this, no
26:51
Speaker 1: matter what game I played in, I didn't even want
26:53
Speaker 1: to hand the football off. I always felt like, put
26:56
Speaker 1: the ball in my hands for three downs and we'll
26:58
Speaker 1: get a first down. And so to me, you know,
27:01
Speaker 1: Russell is going to be the company guy, ands hey,
27:03
Speaker 1: I'm gonna believe in the coach his decisions, but I
27:06
Speaker 1: would have been angry, like put the ball in my hands.
27:09
Speaker 1: I believe I give us the best chance to win
27:11
Speaker 1: every time out there, no matter how good our our
27:14
Speaker 1: kicker is or how comfortable we feel with this decision.
27:17
Speaker 1: And so I want my quarterback to have the ball
27:20
Speaker 1: and to win games like that for me. And so
27:22
Speaker 1: I do believe moving forward, they're gonna have that conversation.
27:26
Speaker 1: And I believe moving forward they're gonna say, hey, we
27:28
Speaker 1: brought this guy here, we made this move, we paid
27:30
Speaker 1: him all this money. This is what he's supposed to do.
27:33
Speaker 1: He's supposed to win games like this for us on
27:36
Speaker 1: fourth and five, where he needs to get a first
27:38
Speaker 1: down to put us in field goal range to win
27:40
Speaker 1: the game. Let's put it in his hands. Moving forward,
27:42
Speaker 1: All right, moving forward. I think Gina Smith deserves a
27:46
Speaker 1: little credit here as well. Obviously lost in this end
27:48
Speaker 1: of game situation, you kind of overlook the fact that
27:51
Speaker 1: Gina was dealing Kurt seventeen of eighteen right out of
27:54
Speaker 1: the gate um. He said people wrote him off. He
27:57
Speaker 1: didn't write those people back. Um. Is there a reason
28:01
Speaker 1: for optimism now in Seattle after that? Well, definitely after
28:05
Speaker 1: the first half Andrew is that he played well, and
28:07
Speaker 1: he came out and he was decisive, and he got
28:10
Speaker 1: the ball out of his hands, all the things that
28:11
Speaker 1: you want to see, uh, you know, and then he
28:13
Speaker 1: made some plays as we're seeing right there when things
28:16
Speaker 1: broke down. So all that was good. My biggest concern
28:19
Speaker 1: was in the second and they didn't score any points
28:21
Speaker 1: in the second half, and he got a little more
28:23
Speaker 1: tentative in the second half. I want Geno to say, Hey,
28:26
Speaker 1: I belong in this position and I'm not going to
28:30
Speaker 1: lose this job. I'm going to continue to win and
28:33
Speaker 1: prove the people that I belong So I'm going to
28:35
Speaker 1: stay aggressive in every situation and I'm not gonna allow
28:38
Speaker 1: Denver to make this game close with the way that
28:41
Speaker 1: I'm playing and feeling. So that's the one thing I
28:43
Speaker 1: want to see through the course of the years. Don't
28:46
Speaker 1: just play well for a period and then kind of
28:48
Speaker 1: get tentative, like, hey, I've played really well, let's let
28:50
Speaker 1: me just not make a mistake. I want you to
28:52
Speaker 1: attack every time out and show people, yes, I belonged
28:56
Speaker 1: to be a starter in the National Football League. And
28:59
Speaker 1: it's not just for a half, but I can do
29:01
Speaker 1: it for seventeen games. Brandon Staley Curent made an interesting
29:05
Speaker 1: observation this week. He said that when the Chiefs had
29:07
Speaker 1: Tyreek Hill, you know, you you just put a lid
29:09
Speaker 1: on him, You do your best, you put two guys
29:11
Speaker 1: on him, do whatever, and then you deal with everyone
29:13
Speaker 1: else without Tyreek Hill. When Mahomes is completing passes to
29:16
Speaker 1: nine different receivers, how more how different a challenge is
29:20
Speaker 1: that I don't know, and you I know a lot
29:23
Speaker 1: of people talk about that, and you know, if you
29:26
Speaker 1: want to go back and watch tape, since you know,
29:28
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes is taken over, and you're gonna say, oh,
29:30
Speaker 1: Patrick just drops back and looks for Tyreek Hill and
29:33
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey, You're gonna be mistaken. He plays the position
29:39
Speaker 1: and most of the time he goes to the guy
29:41
Speaker 1: he's supposed to go to, not forcing it into you know, somebody,
29:45
Speaker 1: because they're really, really good. And he's gonna continue to
29:48
Speaker 1: do that. And that's what we saw on Sunday. I
29:51
Speaker 1: don't know how it shows up. I mean, Tyreek Hill
29:53
Speaker 1: gets open a lot because he's really good. So yeah,
29:56
Speaker 1: we're probably gonna throw it more to Tyreek Hill and
29:58
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey than the other guys. Okay, maybe we don't
30:01
Speaker 1: have a guy that gets open as much as Tyreek Hill,
30:03
Speaker 1: so now we're gonna spread the ball around. But it's
30:05
Speaker 1: still about Patrick Mahomes playing the quarterback position and that's
30:08
Speaker 1: what makes Kansas City dangerous and so um, I just
30:13
Speaker 1: it sounds really good. Oh that guy's gone. So now
30:16
Speaker 1: they're even tougher. They're tough to stop because their quarterback
30:19
Speaker 1: is great. And that's what it comes down to. Put
30:22
Speaker 1: guys out there that will do the right thing and
30:23
Speaker 1: catch the ball, and they're always gonna be dangerous and
30:26
Speaker 1: the Chargers are tough to stop because their quarterback is
30:29
Speaker 1: really good as well, which is why this game could
30:33
Speaker 1: be great and should be great as well. Kurt Warner
30:35
Speaker 1: always greater or Hall of Fame quarterback. Thank you Kurt
30:39
Speaker 1: t RT. For one more thing, Stacy Dale's goes first
30:44
Speaker 1: Thursday Night Football justin Herbert Patrick mahomes first Week two
30:48
Speaker 1: game in NFL history. You guys with two qbs facing
30:52
Speaker 1: off that in week one through for three or more touchdowns,
30:55
Speaker 1: no picks and at least a completion rating. I know
30:58
Speaker 1: where I'll be, love it to be in One more thing.
31:02
Speaker 1: Do you guys ever watch the Manning cast on Monday
31:05
Speaker 1: Night Football? I generally do, rather than the main TV
31:08
Speaker 1: copy turns out there watching me too. I tweeted about
31:11
Speaker 1: my son Max just learning that Peyton Manning actually played
31:14
Speaker 1: football along with his brother Eli. Shout out to them.
31:17
Speaker 1: They put it on the screen and did a whole
31:19
Speaker 1: segment on it. This was Payton's social media reaction to
31:22
Speaker 1: my son having no earthly idea who he was. All right,
31:25
Speaker 1: Ian's two sons, two million people to watch football week one,
31:30
Speaker 1: Well done, good parenting, Bucky Brooks. One more thing, A
31:35
Speaker 1: lot was made of Derek Carr and DeVante Adams connection
31:38
Speaker 1: when the Raiders traded for the Offer Wide Receiver. Comes
31:41
Speaker 1: to find out that connection is still intact after this
31:44
Speaker 1: game last Sunday. The last teen games that they played together,
31:48
Speaker 1: DeVante Adams has had at least one touchdown in each
31:51
Speaker 1: of those games, twenty one touchdowns total. So it just
31:54
Speaker 1: goes to tell you that chemistry is real. We're already
31:56
Speaker 1: seen it coming to act. Absolutely. My one more thing,
31:59
Speaker 1: speaking for Brown's fans, can I do that for all
32:01
Speaker 1: of them? We don't care if you don't like brown
32:05
Speaker 1: the Elf at Midfield. We like it. If you don't,
32:10
Speaker 1: that's your problem, all right. It was a fan Pole,
32:15
Speaker 1: fan Pole. They voted they wanted Brownie the Elf. We
32:18
Speaker 1: respect your right to be wrong. Brownie the Elf at
32:22
Speaker 1: Midfield is awesome. Goodbye. NFL Now is a production of
32:31
Speaker 1: the NFL in partnership with I Heart Radio. For more
32:34
Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app,
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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.