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NFL Week 4 Preview: How Desperate Are The Packers For A Win? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the NFL Weekly Preview Show on
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Inside the Birds. I'm Jeff Mosher. It is week four
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: in the NFL. It's crazy. By the end of this week,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: after the Monday night game, we are going to be
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: just about one quarter through the NFL season, and it
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: feels like it just got started. That's how it is.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: The first half always flies by. Tons of injuries. Tons
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of injuries that are impacting all these games. But I
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: tell you what, something else is also impacting the a
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: lot of games that I just want to talk about
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: quickly before I get into the games. All right. I
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: have had the privilege and opportunity throughout my 20 plus
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: years of covering the Eagles and the NFL, going to combines,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: owners meetings, getting to know personnel, people, coaches. I've gotten
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to know so many people involved with the league who
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: see the game in so many different ways. And a
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: lot of times, you know, I'm always talking about scheme
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: or strategy or personnel, but analytics and game management, things
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: like that have become a bigger part of the discussions
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: that I try to have when I talk to people.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: And the more I watch NFL football, the more I
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: am surprised by coaches who I think are good coaches,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: good scheme, good X's and O's people. Even if they
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: have bad records, sometimes that doesn't show you who a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: coach really is. But what surprises me a lot of
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: times is how bad some coaches are with clock management,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: time management, decision-making when games get tight and you need
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: to make a decision that might, you might be saying is,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: is based on analytics, but it's just good football and
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: smart football versus bad football. It's, I know that you're
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: going to say, Jeff, you covered the Andy Reid era.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: What do you mean? You're surprised by bad clock management. Yes.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Andy Reid's a brilliant coach who for a long, long
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: time earlier in his career, um, was held back by
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: bad time management. And it's true. I thought it would
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: just get better, though, overall, decision-making, time management, clock management,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: as we enter an era of so much analytics and
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: so much resources available to you. But we continue to
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: see games won and lost. On this show last week,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I had talked about Aaron Glenn and his decision-making at
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: the end of that game against the Packers. where he
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: doesn't call timeouts to give his offense a chance to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: have the ball, winds up going to overtime. Then he
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: makes the unpopular decision to take the ball when most
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: coaches always want to give the ball and then know
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: what they have to do. When you know what you
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: have to do, it can influence your play calling better
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: than when you get the ball first and you know
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: that your opponent's got a chance to score, so you're
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: probably less risky there. You don't want to take chances.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: It might make you naturally conservative. You're just trying to
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: at least get a field goal. Whereas you might know
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: if you have a good offense, especially if all I
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: got to do is match a field goal or a
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: square touchdown, you have the advantage of being a little
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: more aggressive. But that was that right. And then we
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: had also talked about week two when the Eagles Titans
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: and you saw Robert Sala, who, you know, obviously left
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: too much time on the clock for the Eagles there
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: by kicking the ball off into the end zone instead
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: of short and trying to, force a return that would
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: have taken time off the clock. And then you saw
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: a couple of games last weekend with similar bad decisions.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I don't need to go into all of them. I mean,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: most people either saw or aware of the Cowboys who,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: you know, left way too much time on the clock,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: both on their final play by throwing the ball out
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of the end zone and running a play where you
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: could have that happen, leaving time on the clock and
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: then leaving the time on the clock to then, and
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: then going and kicking the ball into the end zone,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: which left seven seconds on the clock for the Ravens
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to run a play. They got a big play. They
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: kicked a fuel goal. Schottenheimer at least admitted that that
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: was a mistake on his part, but it just continues.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: There was another game that also had too much time
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: left on the clock or, or a coach made a
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: bad decision trying to see if my memory can get, Oh, Oh,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the Eagles game. Of course. I mean, It didn't hurt them,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: but obviously you saw Nick Sirianni not go for it
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: on a fourth and one long, you call it. I
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: think the Eagles would have made it. I think that
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: even if they didn't, you had to go for it there.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: The way the game was slipping away, you needed to
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: give your offense some confidence. This is what you do.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Fourth and short, for sure, that was a missed opportunity.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: And that's just not my criticism. Nick Sirianni admitted in
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: retrospect he should have done it too. And even though
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: they got away with it, the play before the half,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: right before Jalen Hurts sneaks it in at the skin
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: of his teeth. They throw a screen with time running down.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Then Devontae Smith gets tackled right at the one, and
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: they didn't have any timeouts. It's kind of a baffling
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: play call at that moment. You could have run a play,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: any play, if an incomplete pass or if you throw
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: it out of the end zone, you want to give
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: yourself a chance to score or kick a field goal
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: if you can't score. So you throw the ball into
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: the end zone. If it's incomplete, okay, the clock stops.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: You get two more chances. But they took away all
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: their chances by throwing a screen. Then they had to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: hurry up to the line. And, yes, they snuck in
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: for the touchdown. If your point is who cares they scored,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: then you don't understand the difference between smart, good results
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: off a bad overall philosophy versus a good philosophy that
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: just sometimes lead to a bad result. Every coach you
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: will ever talk to, will tell you it's process over results.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you can't control results. You call a great play,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: a guy fumbles. Nothing you can do. It happened, right?
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: You want to have the right process. And that was
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: not a good process for the Eagles. So it made
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: me think about the 2017 Eagles championship team. And if
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: you look at that team, it wasn't just a special
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: team because it was the first team. Super Bowl team that, yes,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: made it special. And of course, winning it with a
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: backup quarterback and Nick Foles playing out of his mind
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: just added icing to the cake of a special moment
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: in franchise history. But what I think what always stood
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: out about that team to me was that it was
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: not a superstar laden team in terms of like the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: playmaking talent on offense compared to, say, the 22 team
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: that lost or the 2014 that won with Saquon and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Devontae and A.J., Brown and Jalen Hurts. I mean, the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: 2017 team was a balanced team. Great offensive line, but
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: a balanced team that controlled the clock, had a lot
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: of really good players. Obviously, Zach Hurts is a great player,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: but not like all Hall of Fame level kind of players.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: And what stands out is they were so good because
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: they were so aggressive. And Doug Peterson went for it
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: on fourth down. Why? Because he had a really important
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: person in his ear named Ryan Pagnetti who was in
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: charge of those kind of game time decisions that they
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: coordinate the week leading up to and Ryan did all
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: the analytics and he studied all the trends and he
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: knew exactly you know what the league would say you
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: should do or what the stats would say you should
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: do doesn't mean Doug had to say yes we should
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: do it too but Doug generally said Doug Generally listen
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: to Ryan. And Ryan said, hey, the stats say we
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: should go for it here, go for it here. Okay?
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: That led to the Philly special. That was a play
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: that was a fourth down play. And Doug decided to
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: go for it against the great Patriots dynasty. And it
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: changed the game. And there's no doubt about it that
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: they don't get that if they don't win the Super Bowl,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: if they don't get that. And remember the big fourth
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: down conversion by Ertz later in the game as well.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: going for it and being aggressive and having Ryan Pagnetti
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: helping Doug Peterson out. I really think a lot of
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: these new coaches need that. I think every coach now
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: has these data guys or analytics guys, but they don't
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: have them in their ear as much as Doug had
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Ryan in his ear and they need it. These guys
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: have a lot going on. They're good coaches. Schottenheimer's a
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: good coach. You can say what you want about him.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: It's been everywhere or maybe you don't think he's that good.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: I think he's a good coach. I know people who
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: coach with him, played for him. He's a good coach,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: but these guys are all trying to do a thousand
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: things at once in the heat of a game. And
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: they absolutely need someone that they can trust in their
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: ear to help them with decision-making because I really do
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: think games are being won and lost because of bad
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: decision-making by coaches. All right. Interesting slate of games this week.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: We start with the first 9 a.m. game Colts at commanders.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: The Colts are four and a half point favorites. This
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: is of course in, London, look, the Commanders had an
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: awesome win last week. They had some amazing things happen.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: A guy, a linebacker comes in, plays his first snap,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: and it winds up becoming a pick six. And the
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Commanders get a big win over the Seahawks as defending champs.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Great for them. But they're still really beat up. In fact,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I believe Sam Cosme, their probable right guard, didn't even
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: make the trip. Nick Cross, their safety is banged up.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: They still aren't going to have jayden daniels so uh
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: give him a lot of credit i think mariona has
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: actually played well when he is filled in but there's
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of injuries going on with this team and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: when you're injured up front the way they are on
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the offensive line not that the colts are a juggernaut
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: but washington's defense is not very good and i think
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: they're going to struggle with Jonathan Taylor, who's already off
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: to a great start as usual. Daniel Jones is doing
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: all right. You know, three touchdowns, three interceptions. But, you know, again,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: this is not in Washington. It's a neutral field. The
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Colts come in much healthier. You know, they don't have Pierce,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: but they've got Ty Warren. They have Taylor. Their offensive
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: line is very good. They'll get some pass rush going.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: They are playing some young guys on defense, so they'll
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: give up some points. But I think offensively they will
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: overpower the commanders. Patriots, Bills. Man, the Bills are an
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: absolute mess. I mean, they really are a mess right now.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: They are struggling with turnovers. Drake May is not playing
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: good football. You know, they're jockeying between Ramondre Stevenson and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Travion Henderson. Their defense sucks. has been a sieve. They've
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: got a win over the, I think they caught the
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Steelers at the right time a couple of weeks ago,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: but obviously they lost their opener to the Seahawks and
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: then just got pummeled, absolutely pummeled against the Jaguars. And
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: now they won't have Christian Gonzalez or Barmore, their defensive
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: tackle in this game against the Bills. They are running
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: into the Bills at the wrong time. The Bills are hot.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Josh Allen playing really well. It's in Buffalo, which is
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: always a Difficult place to win. Buffalo's running game has
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: been very punishing, as it usually is, with Cook leading
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: the way and with Josh Allen adding a lot. I
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: just think the Patriots, I trust them because I trust
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Mike Vrabel to turn things around eventually, but they're in
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: a rut right now. And it is hard not to
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: wonder if some of that off-season turmoil that Vrabel was
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: entangled with has affected them preparation-wise or... Distraction-wise, I don't know.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: But the Patriots certainly look like the Super Bowl hangover team.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that. Jets and Bears. The Bears
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: are going to just be a pain in the neck
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: for every team, whether they're injured or they're not injured.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming they're going to go with Bajan. Ben Johnson
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: said that he knows what direction he wants to go
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: in at quarterback while Caleb Williams is out. Not going
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: to say. I know Case Keenum played so brilliantly against
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: the Eagles. Ben Johnson, he's the type of guy that
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I think is smart enough to realize that Keenum had
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: some magic moments there and that what he really wants
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: is his backup, the guy he anointed as his number two.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: They gave an extension to Bajan. They feel like he's
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: good for the offense. So it would surprise me, unless
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Bajan isn't ready or has a setback or a concussion,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it would surprise me if Bajan did not play. Let
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: me tell you one thing about Ben Johnson because he's
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: getting a lot of love. He's getting a lot of adulation,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: as he should. I mean, he's an arrogant guy, but
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: he walks the walk. He talks the talk, all right?
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: In Chicago, this is an interesting time for the Bears,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: for Chicago. They have always been a franchise for decades
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: that has gotten average at best quarterback play. I mean,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: they've gone to Super Bowls. with average quarterbacks, Jim McMahon,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Rex Grossman. You know, obviously when you think of the Bears,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: you think of the 86 Bears defense, right? And Walter Payton,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: of course. But you don't think of Bears and think
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: of great quarterback play. I mean, you think of the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Bears going through, basically on a new quarterback every three
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: or four years. You don't think of the Bears and
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: think of offense. You think of the monsters of the midway.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: And I don't, I just, part of me wonders if
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Ben Johnson turned down a couple of jobs, two years ago,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: because he always had his eye on this job. Because
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: in Chicago, in the Midwest there, it's God, it's Ditka,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: and I don't know who number three is. All right?
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: It might be Ben Johnson right now. Okay? I mean,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: he might be the third most popular bear in the history.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I'm jesting a little bit, but he has an opportunity,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the way he runs his offense and with how prolific
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: they are, to really especially if they win, and if
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: they win the big one, right, at some point. I
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: don't think it's going to be this year, but we'll see.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: He has an opportunity to establish himself as an absolute
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: legend in that city in a way that nobody else has,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: you know, for decades, centuries, because the Bears have just never,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: you just never think of them for their offense. They've
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: had some good offensive players throughout the years. Not that many.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: They've had some, but this guy and this offense is
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: just amazing to watch. And I give the Jets here,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: you know, they are three-and-a-half-point underdogs. I give them credit.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, despite some botched calls by Aaron
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Glenn that I mentioned, the Jets have played well. Geno
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Smith has played well. They've ran the ball well. Now
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: they'll be without Brees Hall, so they'll be on Braylon Allen.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: But the kid that they drafted in the first round, Sadiq,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: the tight end, who was a top-five– overall prospect. He
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: fell to the middle rounds because people don't take tight
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: ends that high, other than Kyle Pitts, and that didn't
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: really work out. People don't take tight ends, so he fell,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: but he's a great player. He had a 100-yard game
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: last week. He had a touchdown in his first game.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: He was slowed because he had surgery in the offseason
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: that slowed him down, but he, with Garrett Wilson... Give
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Gino Smith some good weapons. Smith has had a good
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: year so far. I think this will be a competitive game.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: But the problem with the Jets is now one and two,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: no more moral victories. You know, they kind of got
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: that even though they blew the game against the Packers
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: because of Aaron Glenn's decision. People were like, hey, you
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: were up 10 on the Packers. Not bad. Okay. No
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: one thought that was going to happen. Right after you
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: wiped the floor with the Titans. How good are you? Okay.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: And then you get to week three. and you have
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: a chance against the Lions. That game was close. You know,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: they lose 31-24. That game was neck and neck for
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: quite a while. The Jets were down 17-10, and it
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: was 24-10, and you thought they were out of it.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: And then it's 24-24 because, you know, throws a touchdown pass.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: But then, obviously, the Lions go and score one more.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: The Lions are prolific offensively, so it doesn't surprise me.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: But the Jets have had back-to-back moral victory type of games,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: but you can only get it. away with those so
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: long eventually uh you got to go in and win
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: a game and look the bears will be on their
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: backup the eagles couldn't do it the eagles made mistakes
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: maybe the jets can be a little more balanced and
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: give the bears a challenge but let me tell you
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: man ben johnson he's definitely walking the walk speaking of
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: jaguar cater that carries really well into the next game
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: jaguars bengals you know the the liam cohen uh tenure
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: in jaguars got off to a rocky start he kind
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: of Said he wasn't going to take the job. Then
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: he did. And then the people in Tampa Bay, where
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: he was offensive coordinator, got upset. He said you were staying.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Then you left. And then he had an introductory press
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: conference that didn't go so hot. And then the Jags
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: didn't really start off hot last year. And then they
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: started getting it. They started understanding the offense. They started
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: really putting things together. And then they won a bunch
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: of games in the second half last year. And here
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: they are, 2-1, coming on. They just smoked. Absolutely smoked.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the Patriots had a tough loss week two to the Broncos.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: It was close. They lost 2013. They smoked the Browns
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: in week one. That was hard to like gauge because
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: it was the Browns at the time, but now it
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: doesn't look so bad. They're clicking, you know, Parker. Why they,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: they have the offense that the Eagles are trying to get,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you know, they're trying, they run a wide zone. They
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: got some big guys, guys who can block, you know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: they drafted a kid on day two tight end who
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: can catch and block. They got, Parker Washington out there.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: He's a big, strong kid from Penn State who's really
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: becoming one of the better wide receivers in this league.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: They can run the ball explosively with Tootin. They can
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: pound it a little bit with Rodriguez. And Trevor Lawrence
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: is playing great football. And you can't take it. They're
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: a good team. And their defense has been excellent since
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: last year. This is a very tough team. And I
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: tell you what, Brian Thomas Jr. is not a part
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: of it. He'll be the first guy this season traded Well,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I guess there's already been a trade. J.J. McCarthy, we'll
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: get into that in a second. But I wouldn't be
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: surprised if Brian Thomas Jr. gets traded. Why hold on
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: to him? He is not a part of their offense anymore,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: at least not a major part. So, I mean, maybe
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: he's worth investing more time in for them. I don't know.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: But he is not a guy that when you think
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: of the Jaguars right now, you think it's because that guy,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: who had such a great rookie year, is a big reason.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: You got the Bengals. The Bengals are 2-1-1. So they
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: welcome the Jags. This should be a very good game.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: The Bengals' defense has shown finally that it's improved. I mean,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I get it. They just beat the Texans, held them
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: to six points. The Texans are a bad offensive team.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: You know, they gave up 27 of the Buccaneers in
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: week one. I think the Bucs had some defensive touchdowns
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: in that game maybe. So the Bengals' defense is improved. Offensively,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: they've been okay. You know, I even thought with Burrow–
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: healthy and he's playing great and higgins and chase are
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: good and chase fine they are a good offense um
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: they are favored by two and a half in this
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: game which is pretty interesting not they're not getting the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: home three that shows you the respect the jaguars are
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: getting uh the bangles have tried to also become a
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: team that leans into under center and multiple tight ends
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and play action it hasn't always gone well for them
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: from that They still, to me, seem like a better,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: more functional offense when they're in shotgun and Burrow's looking
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: around the field and he's able to maneuver around the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: pocket a little more. But two very good teams right now,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and whoever wins this game is going to feel really
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: good about itself at 3-1. Cardinals at Giants. Cardinals are
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: hitting the road here. Two and a half point favorites
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: over the Giants. The Giants are obviously a mess. They
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: lost Jackson Dart. Jameis Winston looked about as terrible as
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: you might expect him to look. Even though they beat
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: the Titans, they won 12-7. They had a chance to
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: lose that game and then Cam Ward threw a really
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: bad interception in the end zone. That's how the Giants
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: escaped with a win. The Cardinals are putting things together offensively. Interestingly,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I talked about Brian Thomas Jr. It does not seem
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: like Marvin Harrison is any reason for why the Cardinals
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: are able to score points. But the Cardinals lost last
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: week 36-30 against the Niners. They had 26 against the Chargers.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: They were outclassed by the Seahawks. They're not very good.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: They can score points against bad teams. The Giants just
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: lost Brian Burns, one of their best pass rushers. So
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: that's going to be an issue for them. Honestly, because
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: you don't know which Jameis Winston shows up on a
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: weekly basis– which is, I guess, why they traded for J.J. McCarthy.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: If folks, Giants fans, if you're listening, if this thing
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: gets to J.J. McCarthy, I hope they did not trade
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: for J.J. McCarthy thinking, give us three or four weeks
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and we'll make him into a starting quarterback. I hope
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: that's not the case because I don't think that that's
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: exactly what the Giants need at this moment. I mean, yes,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: they need good quarterback play, but I don't know that
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: that guy is the one to give it to him.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: So I would be on– I know it's a 1
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: o'clock game for a West Coast team traveling to the east.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I talked about that last week. It's not what it
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: used to be. However, the Seahawks went and traveled to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Washington and did not play well defensively at all, lost
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the game. So I can understand why the Giants– why
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: someone would want to believe the Giants could win this game.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: The Cardinals are two-and-a-half-point favorites, though. I'd be scared of that.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: But the Cardinals can score points against bad teams. Rams-Eagles,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to get much into. We've covered that
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: on the Inside the Birds pregame show. I'll just say this. Hey,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Sean Mannion, you're the guy that the Eagles hired among
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: several candidates, and I'm not talking about like Dable and
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: McDaniel turned it down. They brought in six or seven guys,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: and many of them had play-calling experience or OC experience
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: or at least more coaching experience than Mannion. So I
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: say this. You impressed the Eagles coaches and brass enough
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Something you said, something you showed them, something you did,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: how you presented yourself impressed them. All right? Now you
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: got one hand tied behind your back. You got a
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: beat-up offensive line. You got no Devontae Smith and Dallas Goddard.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: All right? You still have Jalen Hurts. You still have
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: two of the best offensive tackles in the game. You
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: still have a rookie first-round pick, Makai Lemon. You have
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: a kid in Tay Wicks who knows your offense. I'm
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: not saying no excuses because it's very fair to say
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: you're undermanned against this Rams team. But show up. Show
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the world, or at least Eagles fans, why you were hired.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Why the Eagles believed you were a great, you would
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: be a great play caller and a innovative schemer. This
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is your opportunity to do that. One o'clock game also.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Packers at Bucks. The Packers are three and a half
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: point favorites despite the fact that they've been a train wreck.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: I'll get to the Packers in a second. I have
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: to get this off my mind. I spent the early
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: part of the show talking about bad decision-making from coaches
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: and how they operate late-game decisions. I want to take
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: a second to talk about personnel decision-making. This is whether
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: it's a coach or whether it's a GM, but Baker
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Mayfield is hurt. He's going to be out a couple weeks.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I think it's his thumb. The Bucs' backup quarterback is
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: an undrafted free agent named Jalen Daniels. Okay. Not Jaden Daniels,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Jalen Daniels. All right. That's their backup quarterback. And by
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the way, not just an undrafted free agent, an undrafted rookie.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: This is his rookie year. Most I'm going to be
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: willing to get, but yes, that most people who listen
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: to this show did not know who Jalen Daniels was,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: that he was Kansas's quarterback last year. Okay. How, when
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: you are Todd Bowles and, Your team really blew it
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: last year. And Jason Light, the GM, you guys blew
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: it last year. You had a chance to pull away
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: in the NFC South. You lost a lot of close games.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: You imploded. You had injuries. And then you lost it
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: to a Panthers team that finished 8-9. All right? How
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: do you go into this season? First, you don't pay
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Baker Meafield. Then you give him money. And then you
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: make a bunch of free agent signings. You have your
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: coach on the hot seat. How do you go into
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: the season with a undrafted rookie as your backup quarterback?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Have we not learned? It's not just in Philadelphia. I mean,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: come on. I know in Philadelphia we know about the
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: importance that the Eagles place on the quarterback position, veteran
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: backup quarterbacks, how important they've been. It's not just Philadelphia.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: They're not the only team that does that. A lot
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: of teams really believe in that. How can the Bucs
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: put themselves in the position When they have a guy
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: like Baker Mayfield who tends to get stuck in the pocket,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: he fumbles, he throws picks because he's moving around all day,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: he gets hit a lot. How do you have Jalen
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Daniels as your backup quarterback? I am perplexed, perplexed by this.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: So I'm on my high horse about it. I can't
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: believe they would leave themselves in that position. Trade for somebody.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Do something. Find a veteran somewhere. You know, the Eagles
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: kept four quarterbacks. The Steelers kept four quarterbacks. This is
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: something that should have been done eons ago. And now
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: you have to play a game with Jalen Daniels as
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: your starting quarterback. Now, having ranted like I just did, watch.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: The Bucs will probably figure out a way to win
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: this game. Packers are a mess. They've had all sorts
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: of offensive line injuries. They lose Jaden Reed now. Love
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: that kid. It was tough to see him leave for
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: the season with a neck injury. I hope he winds
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: up being okay. But the Packers are in an identity crisis.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: They can't run the ball. They can't protect the passer
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: very much because their offensive line stinks on ice. They
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: went and signed a bunch of guys. Kevin Zeitler, they
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: signed another guy to their practice squad earlier this week
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: as they try to like, you know, Becton, Makai Becton,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: former Eagle. They're trying, but it's like too little too
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: late here. They really need to turn it around. They
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: have to figure it out. Love is thrown for a
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: lot of yards, 844 yards through three weeks, but all
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: he's doing is dropping back and throwing. That's a great
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: way to get your quarterback killed. They have no running game.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: These are just not the Packers that I've become familiar with.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: They're having an identity crisis because they don't have the
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: players and the scheme. There are 11 personnel, not 12 personnel.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: There are pass the ball over to plays when you
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: know Matt LaFleur wants to run. I think they can
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: still beat this Buccaneers team because the Bucs are in shambles.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: So it's a little bit fortunate for the Packers that
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: they get this opponent and they better win for their
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: sake and get to two and two because then it's Bears, Cowboys,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Lions after that. All right. So the Packers need this
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• 27:58
  Speaker 1: so what you on in this football season? I'll tell
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• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Titans at Ravens. The Ravens are 11 and a half
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: point favorites, man, the Ravens offense has been pretty cool
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to watch with their new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, who
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: of course came from the tree from Ben Johnson, who
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: we talked about. He also was in Denver under Sean Payton.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: So this is a guy who's been under some really
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: good offensive minds and he's doing some different things with
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: this Ravens offense. Zay Flowers, for example, who's been limited
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: by a hamstring injury, but he used to just run
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: all these deep routes. Now they've gotten him running all
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: these motion concepts and, crossing routes. It's cool. And Derek
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Henry's doing his thing. Uh, I don't know that it's
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: completely comfortable yet for Lamar. Uh, Lamar only has four
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: touchdown passes through three weeks. Usually he's a little bit
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: more prolific than that. And he's not running as much,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: but again, he's going under center. He's learning new things too,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: but the Ravens offense has definitely been, uh, fun to watch.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: It's working so far. They're playing well. Uh, they won
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the game last week without their left tackle Stanley. I
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: think he'll be, um, able to play this week. So
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: they're not, they haven't been at full, full strength, but, um,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: they're running on, on cylinders. They're doing well. And, uh,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: you know, the Titans, the Titans will be prepared to play. Uh,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: but this is going to be a tough game for them.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're own three. They're really trying to get
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: cam board unlocked. He was starting to heat up in
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: the second half against the giants last week. Then he
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: just threw a, an atrocious interception in the end zone
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: at the end of the game that just killed, all
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: their momentum Cowboys at Texans. Amazingly, the Texans are three
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: point favorites. I mean, I was joking last week that
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Nico Collins is showing that he's the league MVP because
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: when they don't have them, the Texans offense goes in
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: the tank. Now I think he is expected to play
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: this week. And that is huge because when they don't
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: have a passing game with Nico Collins, everybody just crowds
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: the box against them. and tries to dare them to
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: run the ball. And they don't have that good of
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: an offensive line or running game to be able to
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: run against heavy boxes or run against defenses that are
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: designed to take them out. So Nico Collins should help
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: open up the passing game. And they are a little
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: bit different. Remember they, they, they scored 31 points against
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: the bills in the season opener. They didn't have Nico
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: last week. They only scored 17 against the Colts. They
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: lost 20 to six of the Bengals. Apparently this is
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: just the modus operandi for, the Texans every year. They're
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: going to start off slow, but eventually that catches up
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: to you. And if they don't beat the Cowboys, then
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: they'll be 0-4. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have their own issues.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: They can score. Prescott's playing well. They're running the ball well.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Lamb's playing well. I mean, you think I'd sound like
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: a team. I'm talking like the team is 3-0, but
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: their defensive issues continue to persist. Now, listen, I watched
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: that game against the Ravens, and I'm going to tell
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: you this, okay? Despite what the final score was, I
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: thought I saw some improvement with the defense. I know
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: they give up 31 points, and that's kind of like
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: the standard for the Cowboys these days. They had some
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: big stops. At the end of the game, they had
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: a big stop. They had some big stops on Derrick Henry.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: This thing is not going to be an overnight success
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: for them. They're learning an entirely new scheme. Christian Parker
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: is trying to figure it out on the fly as well.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: They're relying on a rookie linebacker. from Michigan, Jay Sean Barham,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: who's playing well, but he's still a rookie, who's wearing
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: the green dot because overshown's hurt and they've had injuries
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: at the position. They have more injuries in the secondary.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Their safety went on IR, who's very good. They paid
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: a lot of money for him, Jalen Thompson. So it's
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: going to continue to be lose guys to injury, lose
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: guys to injury, but you want the young guys to
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: get better. That's why Caleb Downs makes some pretty impressive plays.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Their pass rush can be all right at times. Their
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: secondary is still rough, but now they trade for Joey
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Porter Jr. We'll see. I don't know if their plan
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: is to get him on the field this week. May
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: might need a week. Who knows? He will help. It's
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: certainly going to be an asset for Christian Parker, but
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: trust me on this. Their defense is getting a little better,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: and now they have a chance to play a Texans
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: team that just is so sorry offensively that it's sometimes
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: painful to watch. All right, the 4 o'clock games. You
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: get Dolphins and Vikings, this is a fascinating game to
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: me because the Vikings win. They're 3-0. They'll go to 4-0.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: They're 10-point favorites. I mean, the Dolphins just are– it's
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: not that they're trying to lose, but they have no talent.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: They're going to lose a lot of games, okay? But
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: what's baffling, what's amazing to me is the Vikings are
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: doing it again. They're getting horrific quarterback play and winning games, right?
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, Murray got hurt, Kyler Murray, in the first game.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: So then Wentz came in and played well. Then they
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: win 9-3 over the Bears. Wentz does not look good.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: It's downpour, whatever. They go back to Murray for week three.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: They look okay, but not great. I mean, you wouldn't
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: have watched that game or even did some box score.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, Murray was 15-29. He threw a touchdown and
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: an interception. He's not playing great. He's learning the new offense,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: so maybe things get better for him. But I just wonder,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: can this Vikings team just continue to win all these
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: games despite getting average quarterback play? it appears that that's
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: how they're doing it right now. I just want, I
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: do wonder if O'Connell at some point will say, I
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: know he's flawed, but we got some receivers here, you know,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Justin Jefferson, who I know he got hurt. He is out.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: This is going to be difficult. I mean, they'll still,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: they should still be the dolphins, but Jefferson's going to
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: be out. I do wonder if O'Connell will look over
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: at Wentz and say, that guy might give me a
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: better chance. As long as I can keep them from
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: doing some crazy, stupid stuff, which he didn't do that
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: much of last year. If I can just keep him
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: a little bit under control, he can give me that
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: deep ball that I'm just not going to get with
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Kyler Murray. He can give me that explosive play that
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: I'm just not getting with Kyler Murray. They're not going
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: to give up on Murray three weeks into the season,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: especially when he had a concussion and missed week two.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: I'm talking more about seven or eight weeks from now.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: What does it look like for the Minnesota Vikings? Great game, 425.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Can't believe we're saying this is a great game, right? Chiefs, Raiders.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: Two 3-0 teams. The Chiefs were awful last year. Didn't
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs. Everybody was ready to put them away
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: and say they're not the team they used to be.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: And they're not. Raiders. Raiders have already won as many
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: games this year as they won all of last year.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: It's amazing. So this is going to be a fun game.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: Clint Kubiak doing a great job with the Raiders. Brock
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: Bowers came back last week, had a ton of catches
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: over 100 yards. And I'm going to tell you this
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: right now. I have no equivocation saying this. If Brock
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Bowers stays healthy and if Clint Kubiak is the head
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: coach that I think he's going to be pretty good,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: if he can be head coach of the Raiders for
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: at least five years and Brock Bowers is healthy for
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: those five years, not only will Bowers go straight to
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Canton with a yellow jacket, he will be Hall of
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: Fame bound. He, by the time his career is over,
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: if this duo works out for the long term, will
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: probably go down as the greatest tight end in NFL history.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: He is not a normal human being. He is a
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: matchup nightmare. He does things wide receivers wish they can
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: do in the body of a tight end. And he's
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: got a guy in Clint Kubiak who absolutely knows how
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: to get the ball through a guy that good. You
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: saw him as offensive coordinator for the Seahawks last year
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: and what he did for Smith and Jigba, who's continuing
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: that even without him. But Clint Kubiak, can be the guy,
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: Brock Bowers, if he can stay healthy. That's a big,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: big if, especially playing that position. That could be really special. Chiefs,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: I think it's amazing that they continue to ride Travis Kelsey,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: who has over 230 receiving yards already, had a big touchdown,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: big gain last game. He continues to be a big
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: part of their passing offense because they don't just don't
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: have any other weapons in the receiving game. I told
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: you a couple weeks ago, maybe it was last week,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: I repeated it, when they went out and got Kenneth Walker,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: that was part of a transition for them that they're
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: going through. Does Andy Reid want to get back to
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: throwing the ball? Heck yeah, he does. Yeah. This might
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: be a one- to two-year thing where he's just riding
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Kenneth Walker, but he's got to get his receiving core
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: and his offensive line straightened out. Been a mess at
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: left tackle for a few years now. Have a great center.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: You have a great right guard. But he's been a
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: mess at the tackle spots. The left guard spot has
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: been a carousel. It's finally got stability to it now.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: But he needs to run the ball for stability right now.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: And Walker's doing a great job getting yards. He's been
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: a real find. I mean, not a find. Everybody knows
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: how good he is. But he's been better with Kansas
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: City than he was with Seattle. And they will continue
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: to ride him. And if they can finally get somebody
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: to wake up in that passing game. Xavier Worthy, hello.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: You know, Rasheed Rice catches the ball over the middle.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: He's not explosive. He just moves the chains. They need more.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: They shouldn't be relying on Travis Kelsey this much, and
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: that worries me about them at 3-0 compared to what
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: they might look like 10 weeks from now. Broncos at 49ers. Well,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: the old guys continue to get it done. The 49ers
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: are three-point favorites. The old guys continue to get it done.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: Kittle has been unreal in his comeback from the Achilles.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: McCaffrey has been good. Not great, but really good. He
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: does what he does. The guy who's been special is Purdy.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, he has nine touchdowns, one interception. His rushing,
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: his ability to leave the pocket and continue to get
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: yards– has been a real bonus for the offense. I mean,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: they are depleted at receiver. It sounds like Mike Evans
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: is going to try to play despite a rib injury,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: but they've lost other receivers already. I mean, they're not
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: very deep in that category. They're going to have to
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: rely on Kittle. They're going to have to rely on
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: McCaffrey as a receiver and a runner. But, I mean,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: you're taking guys away from Purdy, and he's playing great.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: Now he's got to do it against the Broncos, and
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: the Broncos have a very good defense. You've got to
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: give the Broncos a lot of credit. They came back
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: from down, I think it was 16-0 against the Rams
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: last weekend, prime time. Did they get a very, very
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: favorable call on the game-winning drive? Yeah. I think it
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: was Pat Bryant, the receiver, committed offensive pass interference. Instead,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: they called defensive pass interference. And if you really watch
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: it in slow-mo and real-time, too, it's clear the wide
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: receiver initiated the contact. That was a bad call, and
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: it gave the Broncos– the ball deep in their territory.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Then there was a legal Hanson, a face call that
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: was legit, but it was sort of like a snake
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: bitten thing for the Rams. I mean, the Rams were
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: controlling that game. And then you get a couple of,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: a couple of plays, I'll pick six. That's great. Give
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: the Broncos credit for that, but they got help in
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: that game or else they would be one and two
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: right now. So I'm very interested to see how they
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: match up defensively against the 49ers, the Broncos and, You know,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: they can play man, they can play zone, they got
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: great cover guys. They're not afraid to blitz, but the
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: 49ers do so much with their motion principles and concepts,
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: and Ushik is such a big part of their both
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: run and run action game, and Kyle Shanahan's just unbelievable
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: in his scheming. I don't think Bosa's going to be
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: back for them. Their defense is still taking a lot
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: of hits, but the 49ers are 3-0. Even if they
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: lose this game, I think you'll still feel good about
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: how the 49ers have been able to withstand their annual
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: slate of injuries and how they've functioned offensively. And then
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: you'll see if that defense can come together as it
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: gets a little healthier down the road. Charger Seahawks is
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: the last 425 game. Hey, you know, even the defending
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: champs can play a bad game once in a while.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: They went over to Washington. They just did not play
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: well defensively. I'm a little surprised by that. I don't
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: want to, I don't want to say I'm worried for them,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: but with the 0-3 Chargers coming, the Chargers have been,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: as horrific of an offense as you can imagine. And actually,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: you couldn't imagine it because you thought with Mike McDaniel
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: running the show that they were going to be unbelievable.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: But Herbert has not played well. He's been turnover prone.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: Hampton is not running the ball well. So you kind
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: of wonder, we've talked about this with the Eagles, do
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: they have the wrong personnel for the scheme they're trying
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: to run? I don't know. I think it's really interesting,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: like the whole offseason OC triangle of Dable and Mike
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: McDaniel and which one would the Eagles want. And then
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: they both spurn the Eagles and they go with Mannion. Well,
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: all three of them are struggling. I mean, Dable struggling
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: with Cam Ward and the Titans. McDaniel is clearly not
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: finding an answer so far for the Chargers. And Mannion
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: is going through the motions with the Eagles. Who would
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: have thought that, that all three of these guys would
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: be struggling the way they are But I don't like
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: 0-3 teams, man, especially teams that were playoff teams from
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: a year before that have good talent. It's just like
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: you're waiting for them to wake up, and when they do,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: it can get ugly. So, again, the Seahawks are seven-point favorites.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: A little big for me. I do think at some
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: point the Chargers are going to snap out of it
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: and start to get it, and then when they do,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: they might really take off. But they have a big
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: problem at tight end right now. You know, they're missing Kolar.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: He's out. Njoku's out. So, Aranda Gadsen is now there.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: number one tight end, and he's really a glorified pass catcher.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: He doesn't block anybody. So Mike McDaniel has to go
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: back to the drawing board to figure out how to
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: get the run game going because you're not going to
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: get the pass game going until you get the run
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: game going. Lions, Panthers is the Sunday night game. Oh, man.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: You know, the Panthers, I've been excited for them because
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: we've seen Bryce Young play for two weeks. He played
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: a pretty good game, putting the ball in the air.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: I mentioned their offensive play caller, Brad Idzik. was doing
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: a nice job. Then they kind of lay an egg
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: against the Browns. They lost Coker in the middle of
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: the game, which is tough. And their run game has
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: been hurt, which is tough. But they just didn't play
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: a good game. And now they go play a Lions team.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: At least they're at home, but they play a Lions team.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: They've lost both of their starting corners, J.C. Horn and
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Mike Jackson. The Lions are the last team you want
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: to play when you are depleted in the secondary. I mean,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: the Lions, even on a away-from-home team, on grass can
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: score it up. Jameer Gibbs, he might be the best
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: overall playmaker in the game. I mean, he is just unstoppable. St.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: Brown has been good. Goff has been good. I mean,
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: the Lions are going to score points here against the Panthers.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: They're going to try every possible way to exploit a
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Panthers secondary that is really beat up. Unless the Panthers
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: can figure out a way. They have a good D.C.,
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Giro Evro. if they can figure out a way to
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: slow down the lions, God bless them because it's not
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: an easy thing to do. The lions have not always
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: looked harmonious on offense this year, but when they've needed to,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: they seem to dial it up. You know, they scored
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: 31 against the saints. They scored 31 losing to the bills.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: They scored 31 against the jets. So they're pretty, you
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: can put them down for 31 at least against the Panthers.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: Unless things go woefully wrong. Can the Panthers, they will have,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: I believe they'll have Coker for this game. So there'll
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: be a little healthier with their receivers. Can they, Match
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: the Lions, that would be, and this game being on primetime,
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: would be a big feather in the Bryce Young cap
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: and the Brad Idzik cap. It's a big challenge. So
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: that's going to be a tough one for them. And
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: then the Monday night game, I don't know why this
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: is the Monday night game, but the Falcons, again, in
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: primetime for the second straight week, coming off that big
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Thursday night massacre over the Packers, now go play the Saints.
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: It's a big NFC South rivalry. These teams don't love
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: each other. You know that. probably be very chippy. It's
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: in the Superdome, just typically a very, very difficult place
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: to play. But however, the Falcons play there quite a bit.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: The Saints have to stop blowing games. They were down
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: early to the Lions in week one, came back, lose.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: I gave them all the credit in the world for
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: beating the Ravens. That was great. Thought it was a
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: really important win. How did they follow it up? They
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: have a lead against the Raiders, and they blow that game.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: They turn the ball over. late in the game, and
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: now they don't have Travis Etienne. He's on IR. So
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: the Saints are going through it a little bit here.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: You know, there's some expectation for them. A lot of
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: people had them as a breakout team. I liked them.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: I thought them and the Bucs were going to duke
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: it out for the NFC South. Now it just might
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: be the Saints and the– I don't know. We'll see
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: how the Falcons do in this game. Maybe the Panthers
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: catch fire again at the end of the year. We'll see.
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: But the Saints can win this division. You got to
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: beat your division teams. You got to win your home games.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: You should be able to beat the Falcons. Listen, Bijan
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: ran roughshod over the Packers. I told you the Packers
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: are a mess. It doesn't make me think the Falcons
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: are a fantastic team. They got blown out by the
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Panthers the week before and they opened their season with
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: a loss to the Steelers. I'm not sitting here thinking
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: that the Falcons are all that special. Now, I get it.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: They have Michael Penix now instead of Cooper Rush. Maybe
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: the week one and week two, I'm I'm not giving
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: enough weight to the fact that they're on a third
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: string quarterback. Okay. I still think the Saints are the
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: better team. And this is a game that if you
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: want to take them seriously, if they want to be
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: taken seriously, then they got to win this game. I
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: know I said that about them week two against the
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: Ravens in Baltimore and they won the game. Okay. Then
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: you blew it against the Raiders. All right. The Raiders
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: are an upstart team. Now come home and beat the Falcons.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: You're better than the Falcons. They should beat the Falcons.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: And that's a look. At the slate for the weekend,
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: I am very excited because last week I went 2-1
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: in my picks, and I was off to a horrible
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: start for the first two weeks. I was, I think, 1-5, yeah,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: after the first two weeks. So I go 2-1. I'm
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: now 3-6 with my picks against the spread, and here
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: are my picks for week four. As begrudgingly as I'm
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: going to do it, I can't look at the Packers
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: getting 3.5 over the Bucs in Tampa and not take
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: it because for all the reasons I've talked about with
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: the Bucs on an undrafted rookie playing quarterback. They have
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: other injuries too, by the way. So that's not their
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: only one. They got some injuries at wide receiver. So
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: it's not an ideal situation for the Bucs at all.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: So I would say take the Packers three and a half,
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: despite the fact that the Packers are a mess. I'm
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: going to go with the Colts over the Commanders in London,
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: three and a half. I think they'll cover that. I
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: think they'll win this game. I would assume they're going
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: to score a lot of points. All they have to
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: do is play some decent defense, and I think they'll
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: win that game probably by about a touchdown, if not more.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: And give me the Bills. At home, six and a
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: half over a Patriots team that can't find its way.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I don't normally like to take division games, especially between
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: two teams that you expect to be really good like that.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: But the Patriots haven't been good. They seem very unprepared.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: They can't find their identity. And the Bills, they are
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: getting the Bills at the worst time. So I will
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: take the Bills winning that game by six and a half.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: And that's going to do it for the NFL Week
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: 4 Preview. Should be an exciting week, as I tell
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: you every week. Enjoy your football watching.