Fantasy Football Daily - 2023 NFL Week 1 All-22 Review | Take Talk Podcast

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

In Take Talk 71, Steve O'Rourke (@callmesteveo7) and Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) take a look at the film from the 2023 Week 1 NFL slate, and preview their Week 2 Game of the Week. SIGN UP FOR FANTASY POINTS WITH CODE GURRIFIC25 AT CHECKOUT FOR 25% OFF: https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ READ DR. EDWIN PORRAS' INJURY [PRO]NE GUIDE WITH CODE INJURYPRONE25: https://injuryproneguide.myshopify.com/ Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Oh, Steve, we are back with another episode of the Take Talk podcast. I'm your host, Brett Whitefield. This is my co-host, Stephen O'Rourke, and Steve, week one is in the books. we are tired, kind of recovered.

I got sleep last night for the first time in two days. That was nice. Yep. Yep. How are you feeling, dude? Yeah, I'm recovered as well. I hit my recovery yesterday. I woke up. My wife and I were trying to get a new routine.

She started a new job this week. So I've been trying to get, I like to get up with her, have coffee in the morning. But yesterday, I got up with her about 6 a.m. and then I probably took a four-hour nap after she walked out the door. And after that, I felt great. And had a good night's sleep last night. So we're back. Circadian rhythm is back.

We're rolling again. We're feeling good. Nice. Yeah. So Steve and I, along with Chris and the team, we chart every player on every play of every game. I specifically have my hand on literally every play of the week. So I've watched every single, nobody, you know, I don't know how many people in the world can say they've literally watched every play that happened this week, but I can. So that's nice.

You can rest my hat on that. But I'm tired. I'm tired, Steve. So. Yeah. But with that said, all the data is on fantasypoints.com. Data.com is the data suite. It's not too late to get your, your super duper duper discounted membership, Steve.

It's good. You can do it right now. Yeah. That's time. This is time. off this year. Yeah, so all the data's there. There's some really cool stuff.

We'll dive into that in a little bit. For now, let's hit some NFL news, Steve. And the really only bit of like newsworthy thing is probably what, Aaron Rogers tearing his Achilles tendon after four plays in the New York Jets uniform. That and then I'd say the other big news is Chris Jones. Ending his holdout, coming to an agreement for a one-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs. a contract that literally didn't even raise his pay. Didn't raise his pay.

Didn't include a no tag clause, which I thought was both were interesting. But, you know, I think Kansas City's probably thrilled to get him back after having struggled a bit to get pressure. Overall stop the run. And, you know, I think he's bringing him back. You'll see kind of a pretty different Kansas City defense this week. You know the scene in the hangover where Bradley Cooper, the famous, we effed up, man. Yeah. I feel like that was Chris Jones calling his agent this week.

Hey man. Yeah. We messed up. We got to fix this. I can't, I can't come back with the same contract, though. So we got to do something. And then that's right. Yeah.

So he's back one year deal with. It just has some incentives basically is all they did. They threw some incentives on there. He can get, what, like six million more? or something. Yeah, I think it's like 19.6 million is the base with up to 25 million in total earnings. So. Yeah.

All right. Well, good for Chris. Glad he's back in the Chiefs uniform because that defense is going to be tough without him. Yeah. And then Aaron Rogers, tragic. I mean, truly. Yeah. It's not fun.

It's really too bad because you really wanted to see what a rejuvenated Aaron and Rogers looked like on a new team, different, semi-different offense and all that. You know, it's interesting because before the game, I was talking to a couple of my friends in a group chat, and one of my buddies had posed a question of,

you know, who has had it worse as a fan base? The Browns, the lines, or the Jets. And then promptly that happened. And I was like, I think that the Jets just ran away with it because just what a, I mean, it's obvious, it's like bias.

I think I thought it was the Jets beforehand just because I think having the big city, all the lights on you constantly talked about. That's it. Like the Browns and the lines can kind of disappear into the ether at times. And so it's not as talked about with the Jets. It's more poignant, more conversationally, you know, there as a whole. And I just like, it's just too bad because you felt like this was going to be a big year for them with their defense and bringing in Aaron Roger.

and it's just it's too bad. Now they have a lot of pivoting to do. And Zach Wilson, Robert Sala came out. He said he's a quarterback. It's just, you know, it completely changes the trajectory of what this season looks like for the New York Jets. Yeah, for sure. And that defense is so good. It seems like it's just going to get wasted again.

Man, I was really hoping, like I'm bummed Sala came out. I know he had to do something, say, Zach Wilson's our guy, whatever. Yeah. I was just really hoping to spend some time talking about potential options. Got a couple names I was going to throw out you. Kirk Cousins and Matthew Stafford and Eddie Bridgewater. Like, go get some guys, you know, but... Right.

It is what it is. I don't think they're going to do anything like that. Maybe they bring in a vet, like a Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco comes back or something like that, but I can't see them doing something super crazy. Or Tom Brady gets off the couch. Yeah. Don't think Tom wants to play, but... but or rather he probably shouldn't.

I don't know. Yeah. Anyways, that's it for news. Let's, let's pivot to our next segment, which is things Steve likes. We're attempting to,

you know, connect with the fan base a little bit more. We're going to do a few more of these. Steve, do you have three things you like? I do. First thing I like is, Brett,

I like my job. I like our job. Oh. I do. And, you know, it's a privilege and a blessing to be able to say that. But, you know, I was going through and doing the work. I think what I officially clocked myself at was working about 30 hours in a 36-hour span. But it's funny because, like, as we were doing that and as we were going through it,

all I could think was I'm just like, I love this. We're back. This is so exciting. And it was just like nice to get back in the groove and just watch football constantly for 30 hours. And, you know, I was just like, I love doing this. This is, I love it. It doesn't feel like, you know, it can feel grindy at times, of course. But, you know, the overarching theme for myself was like, damn, I love doing this.

Yeah. The second one I like is I like a good happy hour. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. My wife and I found a good one that we've been semi going to, not like super frequently, but like once a week, once every other week at a brewery near. by and they've got a great patio. They've got, you know, good beer. And so I like just going to a

nice, good happy hour where you can get cheap drinks and enjoy like a, you know, an appetizer or something. And especially like now in Michigan where, you know, it's mid 70s, you know, gets cool toward the end of the day. It's nice to go, like, sit out on a patio and just enjoy the sun without feeling like you're absolutely baking in the heat. And yeah, it's just like it's just nice to go and do that and give myself a reason to get out of the house to just go be among other people. And then the last one, and I think this is going to get you, but I like those show Vanderpump Rules. Oh, my God, Steve. It is the most, like, it is the guiltiest, the guiltiest of guilty pleasures that I've ever had in my life.

And I hate myself that I like it. But man, I love it. It's just like for whatever reason, I ended up getting into it when I was working in Boston at a bar. I was working, you know, doing bartending and stuff. And I worked with a couple other servers. And we would just throw up on sandibald. No, God, no. But, no.

Jacks, Taylor? Even worse, arguably. But we would throw it up on the projector because middle of the day because we had like one projector screen. And the girls that I worked with would throw it on. and at first I was like this is stupid but then I was like I was like well you know they talk about it a lot I'd like to I'd like to be a part of the conversation I'll dive in and it's just it's so stupid and they're all miserable people but boy are they entertaining and fun to watch and yeah it's like yeah it's such a guilty pleasure for me and at first I was embarrassed and now I'm like

I don't even care that that people know I like it because it's just a fun it's just a fun watch to be like you know what if I'm feeling down on myself I know that I'm you know I'm a good person because I watch that I'm like I don't think I'd do anything that any of those people do that's why reality exists by the way is to make you feel 100% 100% and it well I have remotely together because these people are screwed up right because I'm not like that is about that is the only reality TV show I watch it's not like that is it other than that I'm not I'm not diving into anything, but yeah, it's a, it's a fun watch. And you can, I can kind of zone out and do other stuff while it's in the background and get like a couple of chuckles here and there.

You have that in common with Brian Drake, fellow Fantasy Points podcast hosts. Yeah, he's a big Vanderpump guy, I believe. Brian, if you're watching and need to correct me, go ahead and correct me. But yeah, I'm pretty sure he's a Vanderpump guy. I'm pretty sure we've talked about this in the Fantasy Points Discord, actually. Yeah, I think I do remember it getting. brought up at one point floated as an overall idea. So I, so like admission time here, I think the show is completely ridiculous.

I hate it. I hate its guts, but I've seen probably four seasons of it because my wife used to watch it. And, you know, sometimes you don't always get to pick the show you want to watch. You know, you don't always pick, you know, Asoka or whatever Star Wars shows on. You don't always get to watch that stuff. So I've watched my fair share of Vanderpump Rules. I know all the characters. my favorite characters no longer on the show,

one Stasi Schroeder. Yeah. I just, she's so, she's so intense and, I just, I just like Stas, but she's gone.

So anyway, way too much Vanderpump rules discussion for the football show. So we're done with that. That'll be the end of that forever. Yeah, forever.

Let's put that in the locker and lock it. Throw the key away. All right. Thank you for things you like, Steve. It's nice to get to know you better. So let's jump into a new segment we're going to do. It's called, what did you think about this? And sometimes when you're watching football, something happens.

You're just like, what the heck was that? And there was a lot of that this week. And sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad. Let's start right off the top with Justin Fields and the Bears offense. Steve, what did you think about that? I thought that it just made no sense. overall, I thought like all offseason, we had heard about the steps and the leaps and bounds and the steps forward that Justin Fields was taking and this offense was taking.

They bring in DJ Moore, all of these, you know, overall good things that you thought were happening. Yeah. And we tooled off the line. Exactly. You know, it all looked like they're progressing forward. You know, people were talking about the bears being a sneaky pick to like be competitive. but at the end of the day, they're playing against the Green Bay Packers,

it just looked dysfunctional overall. I mean, from top to bottom, it's not just Justin Fields' fault either. He has a lot of fault on him, but just a play calling too. I mean, they were not.

It's like 80, 20 fields to the rest of the season. But even then there was some play calling here and there that like, it's, you know, if you have a quarterback who we know, and they have to know that kind of struggles with decision,

making struggles with getting the ball out quickly, they ran a lot of plays that didn't benefit him and didn't give him a chance to make easy reads. I didn't think that they, you know, gave him the easy button type plays. And I think that that hurt him a lot. But then, you know, I mean, when it comes to Justin Fields, he was,

he's so indecisive. I mean, like, indecisive and it just leads to him holding onto the ball forever. And, you know, there were a lot of opportunities for him to, you know, make a couple plays. You were, while you were watching film, you were throwing it, throwing clips at us and saying, like, why isn't he throwing it here? Why isn't, like, why isn't he doing this? I mean, his time to throw ended up being a 2.64, which, you know, at baseline, you'd be like, that's not terrible.

But when you're watching the film, it was a, it was a lot of times where it's like that, his time to throw should be like a 2.3. Well, let's, let's put it in perspective, too. like the time to throw was what it was despite him throwing like screens on 40% of backs. Exactly. So you take the screens out, look at the time to throw? I bet you it's just, it's egregious. Yeah.

Hold the ball forever. And so it's, and it's just, it's going to be interesting to see how they progress through the year because the offensive line still looked bad. He doesn't have, he doesn't have a lot of pocket discipline. You saw that again. And it's just you saw him, you know, do the things where he's inviting pressure, basically, like a lot of a ton of the pressure that is getting on to him. He's kind of putting on himself. And so it's just overall, there's a lot that they're going to have to work on.

And, you know, now that we're in season, it's hard to make those changes and make that switch. And I think Justin Fields is really going to be under a microscope for the rest of the season. And the bears are going to have a lot of, like, you know, if it keeps progressing like this, they're going to have a decision to make come the end of the season. And I just all of the hope that I had for Justin Fields kind of went out the window. And it just looked rough. And I, you know, I saw, I forget who it was. There was someone on fantasy.

I think it was Joe Dolan was like DJ Moore is the new Alan Robinson. Can we get him a new, can we get him a quarterback? And the poor, yeah, it's just like maybe we talk, maybe we need to start talking about how Chicago was a place where good receivers go to die because it looks like they're in the process of doing it again. Yeah, no kidding, man. Yeah, it was rough. I mean, I'm sure some of you by now have seen some of the J.T. O'Sullivan clips that have gone viral.

They're screaming hilarious. And I especially appreciate them because J.T. was a Justin Fields guy when he was coming out. And I think JT. is finally just seeing it. And I understand why people were Justin Field stands. Like the physical tools were insane. If you can make this work, you have a one-of-one type of player. I just, the other stuff on tape coming out of college is just too much for me. I just couldn't get past the processing issues, the offense he played in, him locking on to his first read.

I couldn't get past. It was so prevalent, and he fell apart in some big moments a few times where I just, I couldn't get past it. So I was a little lower on fields and consents. I still had a first round grade on him and everything like that. You got to take a chance on a. guy that talented so absolutely now a guy like j t o'sullivan who you know he's probably the best what qb analyst i mean dan o laoski's too um mainstream at this point like he he he's dumbed down his content quite a bit he's gone corporate yeah he's gone corporate i think jt's probably the best

guy out there like saying what's really happening and uh yeah i was sending you guys clips you know you and chris and the the team just like what i was seeing on take It was bad. I mean, there was, like a third and three play, Steve, where,

you know, they didn't have a great concept called. They had, it was like a wheel post. It was a trips right, wheel post, and then DJ Moore is the outside receiver who runs an out route.

And it's a locked out. But the, the wheel route takes Geyer Alexander inside by like two yards. And Moore had beautiful leverage, good separation. And Justin Fields is staring right at it and just doesn't throw it on third and three.

And then he has a checkdown, two checkdowns actually on the left side of the formation both passed the sticks with nobody on him uncovered and what does fields do he tucks the ball and runs gets hit coughs it up and fumbles it's just like you turn down three options for a first down that didn't require you taking a hit what are we doing yeah and that's just

that's all over his tape I mean actually I don't I don't like promoting other people's YouTube on our podcast Steve but if you go to I would go watch JT O'Sullivan's breakdown of Justin Fields. It's an hour long. And because of where JT was on fields, it's actually kind of refreshing to hear him because he's, you know, when you have to switch your opinion on somebody,

that's a hard pill to swallow and publicly and brand an hour long video about it. So I would go watch. But yeah, the whole team looks dysfunctional, Steve. Like they had that goal line play. I know JT points out that one too, where you literally couldn't tell what the play was. That's a problem. I'm at the point where when I see how, like, how little field is grasping after the snap. I'm actually wondering if he's starting to muddy the play calls up in the huddle.

O-line's doing one thing. Running back's doing another. Receivers are on a whole other planet. Like, there was no connectivity to that play. And it's happening a lot. It's not just, it's exacerbated when it's on the goal line because it's like, this is a crucial. We have to score. That stuff's happening a lot.

Like, where it's just, where's the connectivity here. There's nothing. Nothing of the past pro plan's all messed up. Like somebody's wrong all the time. Yeah. And I don't think Luke Getsey and his staff, it's not possible they're that bad. I think they're bad. No.

I think they've created this culture of dysfunction for sure. But it's not possible that they're calling these or designing these plays this way to me. Yeah. That's just how somebody somebody's got to like get a hold of that organization and shake them. Yeah. What are you doing? Come on. But yeah, with the fields is just the overall like lack of anticipation.

And what I saw from Fields is like what I see when like I'm watching people play Madden. And what I mean by that is that Fields doesn't throw to a guy before he's open. He seems to need to wait to see the guy come open before he can hit before he can throw it. By that time in the NFL, it's too late. If you are waiting to see the guy open, it's too late. and that's what it feels like Fields is doing is that he has to see he has to see the space where the guy is open and by that time like you know the coverage is closing in most cases and zone is zone guys are making their reads and they're able to jump balls and you know force interceptions forcing completions he just doesn't like like you like you would sent the clip where you know it was like it was a i don't know i think it was a dagger concept or it was you know a deep in and it was like the wide receiver was was lined up or was, you know, about to make his break. And at that point, that's when the ball needs to get out.

But he waits. He waits until the guy then makes his cut. He looks open then, makes the throw, incomplete pass. Or I think he rushed or he scrambled one of the two. And it was just like, that's the lack of, like you said, processing and anticipation that he doesn't, he hasn't seen the grasp since he's coming in the NFL. And it's such a detriment overall. And that's like, that's the stuff that gets quarterbacks run out of the.

league unfortunately. Well, yeah, and on a play like that, and the reason it's so concerning, too, it's not like we're asking him, hey, you're one, your first read wasn't there, your second read wasn't there, let's get to a third read and deliver the ball in time. No, this was the intent of the play on that dagger concept you're talking about. The intent of the play is to hit that dig. That's what the play is literally set up for that. Yeah. And it was open. It was literally as wide open as you're going to get in the NFL and he just stares at it and doesn't throw it. It's so mind-blowingly weird. And that's the part that's concerning. It's like, if you're not even, you're not understanding the intent of the play,

the actual concept and what you're trying to do, how are you ever going to build that anticipation up to where you don't have to, like he's never going to be able to throw anticipatory. Like, yeah, that's going to be crazy. I mean, I don't know. That's bad news there. All right, let's move on to another quarterback who really struggled, dude.

What did you think of Josh Allen and the bill's offense? That was rough. I think my Super Bowl pick might be in danger. You know, coming into this season, I think we all made a lot of exceptions for the way that Josh Allen played towards the end of last season. And, you know, it was a lot of, well, his arm was injured. Elbows not right. Yeah, elbow's not right.

Takes gas off the ball and things like that. And we were expecting with a fully healthy, Josh, Allen, fully healthy Gabe Davis, and just overall, you know, a good offense with a new weapon running, probably as we thought, we thought they'd go to a lot of different formations that they didn't do last year, which they did. They did a ton of 12 personnel. And yet, you still saw a lot of the, you know, just the bad decision making by Josh Allen, stuff that you saw a lot of during his rookie year that, you know, kind of left people to question what he was going to be. and it just, yeah, it looked, it's, they're going to win games and they're still going to be a good team.

And Josh Allen probably will still have a good statistical year, but it's going to, it's the teams like the Jets that have a defense that they have where it just makes you question what, it makes you question what the ceiling of this team is. Now, if Josh Allen can't get some of this stuff figured out. Yeah. it's oh man I mean he did this so Josh Allen now has had these stretches he had one in 2021 down the stretch where he was bad too yep did it again last year he this past game looked so much like rookie season Josh Allen or college Josh Allen I'm just a little concerned but I mean he had the third highest turnover worthy throw rate of the week he was a 9.8% Wow, he just had had met lucked him because he had what, through three picks.

Yeah. Yeah. He was behind, he was behind Josh Dobbs and Ryan Tannhill. Ryan Tannhill looked lost. Yeah. But it just with Josh Allen, you just, you didn't. Those are the things you, we thought he had worked through. Those bad decision making the, you know, getting out of the pocket and trying to just throw an FU ball up.

Yeah, the YOLO ball is got a stop. It's, yeah, yeah. 100% and just the, you know, he sometimes, I think he just, you know, he knows he has a cannon. He knows what he has at the end of his off his shoulder. He knows he has a rocket of an arm. And it's like some, it can't, it does, it's not a fix-all thing. You can't just fire it through a guy's face and it phases through and gets the receiver. And that sometimes it feels like that's what he thinks he can do is he thinks he can fit it into these windows that aren't there,

but he thinks are there because of, you know, his abilities that he has. Yeah. He plays hero ball. Like he's the deficit of hero ball. There is such thing as almost being too confident as a quarterback. Like you want your quarterback to be confident in playing like he knows he's the man. Like it might be too much with Josh where he just is like, I can do whatever I want. I'm indestructible.

No one can, you know, no one can stop me. I'm just, I'm the dude. And then he does things like that. So it's just he sometimes plays like he's down by 21. they're winning. It's like you don't have to hit every deep. It's okay to hit some checkdowns. It's okay to, you know, even just throw the ball away. That's something that I'd love to see Josh Allen do is you don't see what you like. Just throw it away. Get it out of there. Especially against that defense. That defense is very good. No reason to force the issue. Be patient.

They were down their starting quarterback. No reason to force the ball like Josh Allen did in that game. No, if anything, all you had to do was just maintain. possession, work the ball down the field, and, you know, trust that your defense is going to get the stops that you need. And, you know, outside of Josh Allen putting the defense in some sticky situations with those interceptions, he, you know, the defense played really well. They really throttled down that Jets offense outside of a couple big splash plays by Brees Hall. You know, they really had that Jets offense in shambles. And if not for some poor decisions by Josh Allen, they probably would have held that team to three points.

And that's where it's like, hey, you don't have to put up 400 yards passing every week. You can throttle it down and just, you know, play ball control because your offense is good and your defense is better than their offense. 100%. All right, let's go to the Tennessee Titans game. I want to hear what you think about. Mike Vrable kicking a field goal on 4th and 6 from the Saints

11 with two minutes left in the game. Let's just for some backstory here, the Tennessee Titans were down by four points to have the ball on the New Orleans 11 and they kick the field goal on fourth and six. Furthermore, on third and 12, they called a concept short of the sticks.

Yeah. So I believe it is either like a little slant or a little short, shallow, into DeAndre Hopkins for six yards. That was the first read. So they hit the first read for six yards. Usually when you call a play like that, Steve, it's because you've already told yourself, I'm going for it.

We don't need six yards from the 17 to kick a field goal. You need to. I don't know. I'm curious to hear what you think, but I was offended by this. Mike Vrable's inability to, like, I think he's a great coach he's really good at adjustments. The one adjustment he seems to fail to make is his aggressiveness on fourth down.

It's caused him so many games. It's unbelievable. They should have won this game. It has three timeouts and a two-minute warning. The problem is, is if New Orleans gets a couple first downs, the game's over, whether you go for it and lose that fourth down or whether you kick the field goal

because they're still down a point. They still need more points. You're on the 11-yard line. You might not get closer than that to score a game winning touchdown. If you score there, you go up three and you're insulated. Now New Orleans has three timeouts, probably not a two-minute warning. But if you hold them to three, you go into overtime.

I just, I don't understand the decision-making there from Rable. What do you think? Yeah, I'm, you know, as you've been talking through it and as I was watching a game, I, you know, tried to make sense of it in my head and I can't get there. because every defense of the decision is like contradictory to making the decision. Because let's say you want to argue, well, their defense was playing well, and they think they could get a stop. Then go for it and you turn it over on downs.

They're on the 11 yard line. That's better field position than if you kick a field goal and, you know, kick off and all that. If you, like you said, running a concept short of the sticks on third down, All right, fine. You're playing for two downs. No, and then they don't. It's just that, like, I honestly don't know how you get to the decision to kick a field goal.

There's, like, there's no defense of it in that situation. Yes, your defense was playing well, but that's, okay, great. You know, turn the ball over on downs. It happens. You have the, they have the ball on the 11. Your defense has been playing really well, especially against the run. And, you know, live and make them punt. And then you get the ball back probably at, like, the four.

your own 40-yard line and you're, you know, no harm, no foul. It's just, I just can't make sense of why he did this. And it, you know, is it too much? Because I think sometimes Belichick struggles with those decisions as well. It's just not as glaring because he's done so well. And I wonder if it's just that mindset, that system that kind of is just embedded in his brain. but I just I cannot fathom how you come to the decision to kick that field goal. It just there's no there's no reason for it.

Everything that, you know, everything that was there for you, you know, works better if you go for it. Like every single situation plays out better if you go for it, then you do kicking the field goal. Because I like arguably and, you know, there's however you feel about momentum and, all of that. But you can confidently say that, you know, if you kick the field goal and kick it off, like, I think the offense is feeling better than if you go for it and don't get it and they're backed up on their own 11-yard line. Or even if you get it up a couple yards and get it short, they're on the seven-yard line. That's a more stressful situation for the offense. When you kick it off to them, it's, you know, I think it's a lot easier for them to just get into their script and, you know,

run what they want to run as opposed to being kind of backed up against their own goal line. You're probably a little bit more hesitant to throw on like if you get stuck on a third and long and things like that. It just I just don't understand why Brable and he's not the only coach that makes decisions like this, but why coaches continue to play this 1980s, 1990s level of decision making where fourth down is an automatic, you know, kick the ball in whatever way that is, whether it's a, punt or a field goal. It just, you have seen aggressiveness really take off in the last couple

years with the, you know, the onset of analytics and, you know, just like that stuff coming into play. And a lot of times we've seen the aggressiveness end up in teams winning the game. And I just, you know, it's just, it's tough to see a coach that really, in other, every other facet, like you said, you really believe in as a coach, he makes great adjustments. He gets the like he is one of the guys that gets the most out of every single player on his team. I mean, this is a team that on paper doesn't look great, but, you know, hey, the Saints are a team that people were picking to win in division. And he, they kind of shut down that offense.

And it just, you know, I, I just don't understand how and why we're putting ourselves in the position to, you know, kick a field goal there. Or why we're kicking a field goal there. So, like on the first half, they did shut down the Saints offense. The second half, the Saints had long, like four long drives in a row. One of them got,

you know, a tipped interception or whatever from Derek Carr to end that drive, but I wouldn't have trusted my defense in that scenario anyways. So like, I would not have kicked a field going to like, oh, cool, defense, go get me the ball back. I, Olave and Shaheed,

were tearing up the Titan secondary the whole second half. Yeah. I would not have, I would not have been okay with that. But I live, I might be biased. Like,

that blew my mind is the broadcast and even bring it up as like a potential option. I'm like, why are we not talking about this? But, you know, I'm default aggressive. That's like my general disposition as a person, whether that's, you know, doing my laundry or jiu-jitsu or work or what, like, I'm just default aggressive. Like, go get after it. Do the best you can. You know, you can sleep later.

So I don't know. What are you fastballing your clothes into the laundry there? Yeah, man. just no but like i'll be like laying in bed at 10 30 and be like man i really really need to get another little laundry and so i'll run down stairs to even though i'm you know i'm tired or whatever so um i always say i don't i don't go to i don't go to sleep when i'm tired i go to sleep when i'm done you know so i like that yeah it's just it you'd like and i don't see him changing this it's not it's something we've seen already from him like you said and so it's just it's

it's hard to come. Like you've seen it in the playoffs against like the one they played the Chiefs and you know, they made some decisions to give the ball back to Patrick Mahomes and it's like, come on, that's a cardinal sin to do that. And so it just, you know, this is, this is who he is. And it's tough to have to watch and live with

and see happen over and over again over and over again with that team. All right. Last one. What did you think about Matthew Stafford and his performance? I thought I was stunned, obviously. I mean, he obviously didn't have Cooper Cup. A lot of, you know, the rejuvenation and him coming back from injury, people were excited about was having the presence of Cooper Cup. He's gone.

And so, you know, you're kind of worried about their receiving group. And another, we were kind of wondering what the offensive line would look like. They got guys back. It's way better than last year. And just overall. I thought that he looked like he did in their Super Bowl winning season. He looked decisive. He looked confident.

He was pushing the ball down the field. He, you know, he clearly found his new chain mover guy in the absence of Cooper Cup. In, you know, would it put a puka cup or Cooper Nakuwa. And it just, yeah, it was refreshing to. see Stafford, you know, kind of get back into the groove. And especially with like, and it's not a great offensive line by any means. It's not, you know, an all world beating. They're not a top 10 unit, but they played well. I think it's more product of the lack of pass rush that Seattle has. But they still, you know, hey, he only faced a 25.6% pressure rate.

And that's, if there's one thing that Matthew Stafford does well, it's that when he has a clean pocket and clean looks he can pick a part of defense and he got to do that and it was it was it was fun to watch it was it was just a good performance and i think it in my mind it changes my outlook on what the rams can be this year yeah he um i don't know how i don't know how much i'm going there but i will say that like he looked pissed like he was playing that game pissed like i'm just i'm just mad about last year i'm mad that cooper cup is gone i'm just i'm getting out here and I'm just chucking it. I'm just,

I'm Matthew Stafford. Hit the zip looked back too. Like I was, hit the Super Bowl run. I was concerned about his velocity. Last year it looked really, really bad. He was,

he was throwing some absolute darts in this game. So big. You did hear about how this was like, quote unquote, the healthiest he's felt in like a few years. And, you know, that's always a lot, you know,

posturing, things like that. But he looked like it. He looked like he, like you, like you said, he looked like he had the zip back. He looked like he had that, you know, that FU mentality. And it gave me a clean pocket.

And I promise you, you can't stop me. And he did that. And it was, you know, and when I say it changed the outlook of their season, I mean, it goes from like five wins, so like eight wins, which eight wins could get you into the playoffs if you're the Rams. But it's just, you know, I'm interested to see how it progresses because it's, it's nice to see Matthew Stafford back. And it's nice to see Sean McVeigh calling, you know, a very fluid connective game with, you know, his concept, his concepts.

And, you know, you saw a lot of the motion stuff working and him getting guys open looks, you know, through scheming because, you know, they don't, they didn't have this, like a bona fide route winner every single time. And, you know, he just, I thought the scheme was really good. I thought that the use of their motion was really well done. And it was still way over utilizing the run game, though. Like, yeah. It could be game strip related. They literally beat the tar out of the Seahawks. They ran the ball 40 times for an average of 2.3 yards to carry.

Like, what the hell? Like, come on. Let's stop at that. Yeah. I think they ran like the passing concepts there, right? They ran like 45 more plays in the Seahawks or something crazy like that. It was not. All right. We're going to wrap the show up with a segment where we review the game of the week from this past week, and then we will preview what we think will be the game of the week next week. Let's start with Dolphins Chargers. Steve, this was a absolute thriller. Nine lead changes. It was back and forth all game, including a game winning drive with two minutes left, led by my game ball recipient of this week to Atagalavoa, started that drive with a 47-yard dart to.

Tyree Kill. What an absolute game did. An absolute humdinger of a game. It was so much fun to watch. Like Michael is just a, he's a national treasure. We need to keep him. Oh my goodness. Like

just everybody on the Dolphins offense was absolutely in their bag in this game. Like it was just such a good good fluid offense from start to finish. I mean, the Chargers had given the Dolphins fits last year, even when two, it was healthy.

And what Mike McDaniel did, and it's been talked about a lot, but what he did to free up Tyreek Hill a lot was he would do that short fly motion from like a bunch set, motion him out or motion him in, and then get him on the run and going. to prevent, you know, the Chargers' corners from getting their hands on Tyreek Hill. And it worked. Well, not only that. He's running. Tyreek is one of the few guys that run as fast as he is, but he can also turn a corner running that fast. So it's not even just about getting your hands on. It's like you literally can't, you can't match him.

Like you can't even get in the phase properly because he's so fast. But they're just, they're doing the motion stuff with everybody, though, too. It wasn't just like they're using. Like they're using a lot of CFL Arena League principles where you know, you're motioning and running guys at the line of scrimmage. Obviously, you can't run guys at the line of scrimmage during the snap. But he's getting it as close to that as possible. Last year, Steve, we saw them run this, the jet motion with Tyreek.

And he would hit a post on the backside. So he'd run jet, take a fake hand off and then hit a post route off of that to success. Now he's shortened that motion up. they're not even using it as a jet. It's he'll be the inside guy in a bunch, like you said. Then they'll, they'll line him at that tight end to hit him on a post this week. Yeah.

And they motion them out from there. It's so hard to stop. But they're running RPO's with these crazy motions now. All these zone inserts they're doing too in the like run game and run fake type stuff. Dude, it is so pristine. The defense has, I don't know what you do against them. I really don't. Like if two is going to play like that, by the way, two will play.

played out of his mind. Like that was his best thing was a pro by far. Oh, yeah. Dude, that was, oh, did you see some of the data points I threw out my article about Tua? Yes, it was absurd. For the listeners that didn't get a chance to read it, head over to FantasyPoint.com. Check out Brett Whitefield's Game Ball of the Week.

That's a weekly segment or a weekly article that would be up every Tuesday on Fantasy Points. But he led all QBs with seven hero throws. For those you don't know what a hero throw is, that's the, those are the throws most, you know, highest degree of difficulty, spectacular level variety that either beat coverage themselves or maximize the result of a big play. He had seven of those. Most QBs, like I would say elite QBs get two or three a week. He had seven. He led all QBs an accurate ball percentage at 71.9 percent despite also leading the league in A dot. He was pushing the ball downfield 12.4 yards

of air yards per attempt, which is crazy. He had 123 yards when. on the move. And that was big for me, Steve, because to a out of structure, he's been scary so far in his career. He takes a lot of unnecessary hits, doesn't process things super cleanly, a little indecisive when he gets out on the move, puts the ball in harm's way, was not doing that at all this week. He was decisive. He created with his legs. He created six first downs on, you know, when he got off his spot, whether that was a design rollout or he was scrambling. He a pass a rating of 145.8 on 24 dropbacks against middle of the field open looks. 145.8. That is insane. And the reason that's so crazy moving forward and why it paints a really good picture of what's to come the season, nobody's playing single high against the dolphins.

No. When you get Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddle. No. He's going to get middle of the field open looks on dang near every snap moving forward. And this is what you can do. This is what he showed him what he's capable of. So I, two is the dude i really think the this game was a turning point in the dolphins franchise yeah when you have a plus 15.6 percent differential between your hero throw rate and your turnover worthy throw rate i think that's going to be a successful day you know he led obviously led the NFL this weekend hero throw rate but he also led the NFL and turn out of a

throw rate with only 2.2%. And so just the overall processing and, you know, like we said, the way Mike McDaniel was getting his guys open, it was just like a ton of crossers, putting the defense in conflict, and just the charge of secondary didn't know what to do. They had no answer. I was, I mean, arguably egregious what happened on that last drive for Miami that Tyree Kill got deep on just a go ball like that. it was a perfect throw

but you know I thought I was ridiculous it was nuts but I was groaning that they let that happen um I'm it'll be interesting to see the offensive line still looked a little bit

shoddy at times and that you know brings in concern for Tua bring if you know teams that can generate more pressure than the Chargers did but the charges were playing on their heels for the entire game. They, you know, it was, they didn't know what to do.

And it was fantastic play calling by McDaniel. And like you said, if two, a place like this all year, I mean, Tyreeks probably going to set the record for receiving yards in the season. Yes. He's on pace for 3,000 something right now. So. And then it'd be like, what, 3,400, 3,500? And then on the flip.

side for the Chargers. You saw some encouraging things from their offense, but at the same time, I don't know, I'm interested to watch Justin Herbert because, the rest of the season, because

maybe we were wrong. And yes, Lombardi's play calling was pretty atrocious at times last season, but at the same time, does Justin Herbert have a little bit of fear to turn the ball loose as much as he should because there were times where he had guys coming open

and he had opportunities down the field and he didn't take it and that's something that I want to watch going forward. Yeah, Herbert had a lot, similar to Justin Fields he had a lot of turn downs in this game. Guys running open. His A-DOT was only 7-5 I think which middle of the league, if I remember right? I mean, that's I guess better

but it's not really what you expected. Austin Echler still targeted. Five is fine. I can live with five. I can live with five targets. Even some of the stuff Keenan Allen was doing was a short part of the field. Mike Williams was working out of the slot a lot this game.

They were hitting him in the short parts of the field. Yeah, the A dot stuff is concerning. It's like Herbert, it's almost like you need a blend of him and Josh Allen to fix each other. We need a little more Josh Allen and Herbert. We need a little more Herbert and Josh Allen. You do that. Those two would be fixed.

Josh Allen trusts his arm too much. Justin Herbert doesn't trust his arm enough. And this was, it was like from the Chargers offense, they ran the ball pretty effectively in this game. And like that was something that you did not see really at all last season. They struggled to run the ball. And they had a lot of game scripts that they were running the ball a lot on first down. And they did that again. They ran the ball a decent amount on first down in this game,

but they were successful runs. And they kept the ball moving. And it just like, now granted, they met an absolutely unstoppable force on the other side. And I still think this charge's offense has a lot of promise. But I'm interested to see how Herbert works in these shootout games where it's like, keep firing, keep firing, go throw for throw with this guy, because you can and you have, you know, three ball or two, two and a half ball winners on that

offense, like give them a chance. Just, you know, give them a chance. Give Keenan Allen's chance. Give Mike Williams a chance. And, you know, like, I just, you'd like to see it more. And the charges defense, like, I'm not even going to make a judgment on them because I think every single defense in the league in week one would have gotten torched by this offense. I don't think anybody would have had a chance against the way Tuo was playing and the way Mike McDaniel was calling plays. Yep. All right, let's wrap this thing up with previewing

what we think will be the game of the week for week two. And the Chiefs travel to Jacksonville? I got that right, right? Or is it the other way around? Yes, Chiefs travel to Jacksonville. To take on the Jaguars. Obviously, the Chiefs are looking to rebound after a opening night loss of the Detroit.

Lions. The Jags beat the Indianapolis Colts, but it was not super clean. Colts hung in that game probably much longer than anyone thought they would. Richardson looked great in the first half, by the way. Yeah. Kind of fell off in the second half a little bit. That's kind of when the Jags put the pedal down a little bit and took control finally. But shoot, the Colts had to lead going into the fourth quarter, by the way. Yeah. We're not doing that game, but I'm just pointing out. Jags also kind of struggled week one, similar to how the Chiefs did.

They were just able to close that game out much better than the Chiefs were able to. What do you think, how do you think this game is going to go, Steve? Well, we're going to see a completely different Chiefs team. Chris Jones is back. I would, you know, I'd like to assume that Kelsey's probably going to come back. You know, he was close to, he was close to playing last Thursday. Now he's got a long rest up until Sunday. So I'd like to believe he's back.

that offense should be a little bit more functional. Petch Mahomes should play a little bit better and have a guy that can actually catch the ball consistently. On the flip side, the Jaguars, man, Trevor Lawrence is coming alive. He made a lot of really, like, fantastic throws throughout that game. And I think, like, I think this could be a somewhat murky game. I think this could be like a, it comes down to who can make, the more, you know, decisive, confident throws in tough moments.

Overall, the Jaguars defense, I thought their pressure was a lot better in the game compared to how they were doing last year. I thought that that was a big issue with them last year is their ability to generate pressure. Over, I think the chiefs end up winning this game, but I think it could come down to, like, who has the ball last. I think that Mahomes will be more confident. I don't anticipate the Chiefs to drop as many passes as they did last week coming into this week. And so I think you'll see a more explosive offense from the Chiefs, especially bringing Kelsey back.

And it's an exciting game. It's a rematch of the, what was it, the ASE Divisional Round last year. That was a good game. The Jaguars had a chance in that game to pull it out, and they didn't. So I it's just this is, I think this is a potential playoff matchup. It's a potential playoff preview.

And, you know, I think this is a big test for Trevor Lawrence against the defense that is decent. They don't have an amazing secondary with Chris Jones coming back. I'll have a little bit better pass rush. But he's going to have his chances to take advantage of that defense. And it'll be,

I'm excited to watch to see if he takes advantage of those opportunities, especially with the way he was working with, Calvin Ridley, though that connection looks great. It looked at that, that is in mid-season form for those two. Yeah, for sure.

I thought Lawrence had his moments for sure in this opening week game. I thought he definitely had some, he had a one wicked throw. That was just like ridiculous down the left sideline. Out of structure as well. But for the most,

I mean, he was really up and down, I thought. He had his moments for sure, but he was, he could have played. better. He missed some throws. He had the pick. I thought he took a really unnecessary sack at one point

in this game. Honestly, I felt like their week one games really resembled each other. The Chiefs and the Jags, where the Jags really didn't play to their potential. Same with the Chiefs. I'm really curious to see how this goes. I think

I think the Jags might struggle to move the ball a little bit. If they can run the ball and control the line of scrimmage, they have a chance. to win this game. I'm probably picking the Chiefs, though. I think Mahomes comes back with Fury. Also, a lot of people have asked me specifically, what do the Chiefs do at Wide Receiver? I think the answer is on the roster already, and I think it's Rashi Rice. Yeah.

Rashi looked great all preseason. He was a big draft crush of mine. He looked good against the Lions. He had two catches, 29 yards. He had an end around. He looks fast and explosive, good route runner way more disciplined in what he's doing than I would say Cadarius Tony or Sky more at this point I would if I were the Chiefs I'd push all my chips onto his lap and just roll with him as our as the main guy I thought MVS he didn't have a great stat line against the lines but he played really well in that game yeah I don't know if you've noticed Steve but he's running a lot more intermediate

type routes shortened yeah I think he's actually developed a little bit and they're getting a little bit out of him that he's never shown before, and that's good for them because he's explosive. Haynes have always been an issue, but the problem with him is he's kind of a tell before. Like he's your deep route guy. Most of what he does is run clearouts

or actual deep concepts where he's getting targeted. Now if you can start to use him a little bit in the short game, intermediate, you force corners to be a little more disciplined, a little more, they have to stay honest. And that's going to be big for that offense, too, especially when Kelsey comes back.

Yeah. Yeah. One thing that, you know, I think we undersold and we thought when I, I mean, I know I personally didn't think it would be that big of an issue, but that tackle play is concerning for the Chiefs. Well, not when you can cheat every snap. Well, you know, hey, it's the fact that he's getting to cheat every snap and it's still concerning. Yeah. Yeah. You know, he's still got, he's got another tough match up this week against, uh, Josh Allen. And so hopefully they take steps forward literally and figuratively. And you just see,

you hope to see Patrick Mahomes kept clean because it could be a long season if like if that tackle play continues to be what it was against the Lions because 51% pressure rate isn't going to hold obviously, but that's still pretty egregious. And even Mahomes being who he is is going to struggle when facing pressure on half of your dropbacks. It's also Trey Smith. Trey Smith is bad and pass pro last week. Yeah. But Aiden Huchson lined up inside a couple times at three tag and just Molleywopped him.

Yeah. Yeah. Destroyed him badly. Speed. Speed is clearly, a speed rusher is clearly somewhat of an issue for Trey Smith. I think that he works well against more of a big body, bull rush type guy, but speed moves is where, you know, you saw him struggle because that's

Aidan Hutchinson's game. So I'll be interested to see if the, if the Jaguars do some different things with their defensive line and kind of move maybe like move around Josh Allen and get him in favorable past rush situations. But that is something to watch in this game and going forward this season is that offensive line, you know, could be a detriment. And I, I didn't think could be that big of an issue. But I guess when both tackles are folding in and you don't have one stalwart on one side, Patrick Mahomes doesn't have as good of a chance to kind of chase out of the pocket and make plays like he does. When he had, you know, one solid offensive tackle and one offensive tackle, you know,

he was able to escape out to one side. And with Donovan Smith on the other side and Joanne Taylor on one, it, you know, it invites more interior pressure. It doesn't give him as much escapeability. So that's something that I'm keeping it. on this week and going forward this season. Absolutely. All right. That's going to do it, guys.

Before we go, I'm going to send you to the Fantasy Points website, www. www. www. com. We have so much content coming out right now. It's ridiculous.

I highly recommend getting a premium sub. But even if you don't have one, there's a bunch of cool stuff that's in front of the paywall. Like really cool stuff. Please go check it out. Data suite. active, fresh data. This was the best week one I've ever had as a charter as far as like we got the data up on the site.

It was up there on Monday. Monday. Yep. It was a little later than it will be in the next few weeks, actually. We'll speed that up a little bit. And by midseason, you'll be getting that fresh data by like midday Monday every week. Insane stuff though. If you want like, you know, really deep dive, numbers, deep dives into what happened on Sunday

and try to forecast what's going to happen. and this Sunday, go in there and check it out. There's so many cool things you can do all the way down to covered shells and run concepts, like all kinds of fun stuff. So please go check that out. We're still running that stupid promo, Steve, where we're giving it away for 50 bucks. All year. I guess all year, apparently.

That value only goes down as the season goes on. So you might as well get in now. That's true. Take advantage of the full value. Because with every passing week, that $50 increases in, you know, value to return. It's like inflation, kind of. Yeah, a little bit. And so get in while the getting's good.

Yes, get in while the getting's good. All right, guys, that's going to do it. I am Brett Whitefield, and this is Stephen Rourke, and we are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe. rate and review on your favorite platform, and come join the roster at fantasypoints.com.