First Things First - Chargers Injuries, Cowboys on Upset Alert, Bears Best Offense?

Episode Date: August 19, 2026

(00:00) Baker Mayfield thinks Bucs will shock people(25:19) Best bet to win first ring: Allen, Lamar or Burrow?(39:45) Cowboys already on upset alert Week 1?(49:18) More faith in Jordan Love or Bo Nix this season?(1:09:07) Time to sell stock in 49ers?(1:21:14) Bears can be best offense in football(1:29:11) Winners and Losers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

First things first is sponsored by Ram Trucks. Live from New York, it's the show that is reliving the 2012 wildcard game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers. We all know the result, but they beat us, yes. We've done a quarterback, to be fair. You were down a quarterback. It wouldn't have mattered. We beat you six days beforehand in Minnesota, and we went to Green Bay six days later with a backup quarterback and lost.

It happens. Feels like it might have mattered. All right. Thank you. Thank you. How many Super Bowls do you have? How many playoff wins do you have? Zero. Okay. The opener is three weeks from today.

I'm Danny Parkins with Greg Jennings and Jeff Schwartz. Setting those types of vibes for the show. We will talk Patriots' Super Bowl hangover. Is it on the board that Wild's team misses the playoffs entirely? Talk for Wilds to hear that tease when he's on vacation. Also, Shadour, he gets the preseason start on Saturday. Can he do anything? to win the starting job ahead of week one.

And finally, friend of the show, Drew Brees, was talking Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrow winning their first ring. We will weigh in on who is most likely to get their first. Greg, I'd love to ask Jeff this question, but is there any feeling better as all teams think they can win the Lombardi trophy? Anything better than hoisting that trophy?

You know what, let's ask Jeff, because having never won a playoff game, I'm curious to see how they felt in his locker room. I, oh, for that, Lawson, general. I got to see this through my brother's eyes and won a championship with the Chiefs. I will tell you, the postgame party is very fun. Yeah. The post game party at the hotel.

Pitbull performed. So I will answer to the, everyone kind of feels like we got the team to do it. Yeah, it's a good, just that time of year to believe that you can do it. Let's start the show, though. Why not? In Tampa, they probably think they have the team to do it. Baker is already playing with a chip on his shoulder this year. He wanted a contract extension.

Apparently him and the team were far off. He's taking notes and ready to silence the doubters. Take a listen. I think we're going to shock a lot of people this year. And so I'm excited just get on the road and do that. There's no embellishing. I think you can't avoid it. There's the TVs everywhere.

I think everybody's. Yeah. Hell yeah, I am. Everybody's picking us probably to have a losing record. So we'll see. I don't know that everyone's done their picks yet. How does Baker? No, it's not even predictions week time.

But Jeff, do you like Baker's optimism? You should be optimistic as a player. I agree with Greg. Everyone thinks this time of year they're winning a championship. Whether they know it or not, they think they're going to win championship. I love his energy. I love the way he plays. But they're on the downslide.

Look at the way last year. It started six and two, went two and seven to end the year. Baker Mayfield's numbers dropped off. Really, turnovers became really high. Now, they had injuries, of course. But I was trying to think about, do we all agree that Todd Bulls on the hot seat? Yeah. Yeah, he's definitely.

Okay. The last two years, hot seat coaches. Brian Dable, gone. Gannon gone last year, right? Stefanski gone. Rahim Morris gone, McDaniel gone. 2024. Sala gone.

Dable survived. Ibrufuze, your guy, gone. Peterson gone and Mike McCarthy gone. Like, this has not gone well with a coach that we think is on the hot seat and a team that won't commit to their quarterback, right? They will not commit to Baker Mayfield long term. I think they sort of know where this is going after this season. So I love the enthusiasm from him, but the refreshing guys on defense.

And I think, Ruben Bain is going to be good. I think Trotter is going to be good, but they're still young, right? They have to avoid the injuries on offense. And is Baker-Math are going to regain some of that form that we saw with the first half of last season? I don't buy it. I think the Panthers are better in that division. I don't love the Falcons and the Saints can win some football games this year as well. So coach on a hot seat, right? Quarterback, they don't really want to pay for long term. Quarterback, a little older coming off injury, redoing a little bit of the roster shuffling.

I'm not high on the bucks this year. I'm not sure if the Panthers are just better. I know they won to get in and all things they were to playoff team and represent that division. But in that division, like, if I'm Baker Mayfield, of course I feel like this. Why not? And a lot of this is stemming probably from him not getting the extension and getting the money that he feels like he's the contract that he feels like he's deserving. But also, he's been in that locker room.

He's been on that side of the offense where, you know, they didn't have a great running game. They had injuries galore. and now you kind of press the reset button to a degree and you have a motivated Baker Mayfield. We've seen motivated Baker. And when Baker Mayfield is motivated and he's playing for a contract, he is a problem. Simply but his first year in Tampa,

he was playing to prove that he was a starting quarterback in this league and he can be the face of a franchise, which happens to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And he did it. I mean, glowingly with no questions asked. And so now his back is against the wall once again. And he's saying, well, you gave me a couple weapons offensively. You gave me game well who can catch out of the backfield, who can run the ball, give Brooks

Bucky Irvin a spell. You gave me a young guy in Mecca, Bucca, who I've established a relationship with. He's probably going to be your number one guy. I still got older veterans in there. Ted Hurst, he's been talking about him and his progression over the course of offseason and training camp. So there is a level of excitement that you should have is your Baker Mayfield. And more importantly, he is betting on himself once again.

And when Baker has bet on himself, he has won. So I get it. Defensively, we don't know what they're going to look. Offensively, I think they're going to be just fine. I also think that Baker's optimism or cockiness because he doesn't shy away from that label either. Never has. Sure.

Since he pointed the flag in California. Never has. I think quarterbacks don't have to be cocky, right? No, I don't win unless they're cocky. Listen, man, I've known you a long time. You know I'm saying cocky as a compliment. Yes. Like I like, I like the swagger.

It galvanizes a locker room. It galvanizes a team. I think in this case, it is a little make believe. And we've seen athletes to it before. Like you see that right there on the bottom? Buccaneers. Favorites to win the NFC South. He's like, no one believes in us.

It's like, no, you're actually the odds on favorite to win your division. Now, you're not like a minus 200 favorite. You're still, you know, you'd still take the field over them. But regardless, like, You are the favorites to win that division. People could pick the Saints or the Falcons or whoever, or the Panthers, whoever you like. But also, two years ago, Baker was excellent, right? It was 4,500 yards.

It was excellent. Last year, he started excellent. Like, if we, if such a thing exists as an MVP conversation through six weeks, and I know on this show it does with Brew's ballot and sports television in general, but, like, he was five and one with 12 touch. against one turnover. He was the third favorite for the MVP. And look at who he had beaten.

He won that unbelievable 3835 shootout with the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks. And a couple of other playoff teams in the Niners and the Texans, including a Texans team that by the end of the year we were like, oh, that's the best defense in football. So his optimism of, hey, if we're healthy, and you add in Zach Robinson from the McVeetree, the in vogue offense of the NFL, that in theory should make everything a little bit easier for the offense.

Baker's optimism is earned. Even if you are skeptical of it, it doesn't surprise me at all that he's carrying it that way because he has real data that he can point to. He does have real data to point to. And how much do we believe the end of last season will carry over this year is the big question, right? Was it just a product of Mayfield being injured,

which he certainly was? I watched that documentary on Netflix. I love, I love, Baker Mayfield's fantastic to root for. He's easy to root for the way he plays the game, his energy, his passion. He was beat up. We saw that through that show. They had some injuries last season at wide receiver,

injuries an offensive line. He was playing through it. He was playing through it, as you do. I mean, playing guys play hurt, but he was playing through it as well. Greg, do you think that downslide is sort of the backside of his career or that just was a blip?

Because he's getting older now, too. See, I think it was a blip. We saw this type of downslide when he was in Cleveland. He played through injury. He was betting on himself. But he wanted to show his guys that I'm here for you. I'm going to play. I'm going to be loyal to this.

organization. I'm going to do everything I can to provide my services. And it hurt him. It hurt him then. And it hurt him this year as well. And sometimes I think to a fault, Baker is such a competitor. He feels like I got to be out there for my guys, even sometimes, and in this instance, to his detriment. But I think just like when we look at teams and we say, man, they had a great, they had a great regular season last year. Do you think that'll carry over? And we'll get into some teams today. Every season is new. So it doesn't matter if you end the season.

Positive momentum or negative momentum is something that we talk about. It doesn't really exist. It's not a real thing that exists unless you just know that teams are, you know, getting rid of everybody and they're just starting over. Then we have expectations and realistically to a degree that that team's not going to really be a competitor. This team, though, they're not just selling. They're trying to win.

They have a quarterback that is fired up, that, feel slighted by the organization. Meanwhile, in the organ within the organization, you got everyone saying, well, he's, he's, he's been great. He's been getting here at 4 a.m. He's been doing everything. He's more focused than I've ever seen them. But you won't give him an extension.

Isn't that a problem though? Are they, are they telling you how they feel about Baker Mayfield without giving them that money? No, I don't know if they're telling us how they feel about just Baker Mayfield or they want to see what they look like this year and see if they, and see if what you're saying is real. Okay, are we going to just turn this thing upside down and start over? Or do we have a real chance because Baker is actually legitimate? Also, and this is not how you should pick division winners because it is a team game. But he's the best quarterback in the division still, right?

He is. Yes. Like, I'm not willing to put Bryce Young above all yet. He's not there yet. It's clearly not Tua or Penn X. We're going to see what Tyler Shuck looks like. I know. I know.

Listen, Tyler Shuck was very. He's going to be. He was productive. He might be, we'll see. We'll see. But I think everybody at this table would agree that Baker is the best quarterback in the division. Correct. So picking the Panthers to win sort of breaks my rule about picking the best quarterback in the division to win that typically is the way it works out.

It didn't work that way last year even in this division. He's the best in his division. If he plays up to what he's been, they can certainly get back to where they want to be. I'm curious what needs to get done this season for them to re-sign him. Is it 9-8 division win or is it 11 and 6? No, that's a good question. I don't know if it's more tied to his staff. or playoff wins.

I would think if he did what he did two years ago, I think you'd have to pay him in that way, even if they didn't win in the playoffs. But yeah, if it is tied to playoff wins, then there might not be anything that he can really realistically do. Let's go to New England where they won plenty of playoff games last year. They're trying to put their Super Bowl 60 loss to the Seahawks behind them. They do have to play them, though, week ones.

So rearview mirror also in front of them. Mike Rice weighed in on how they're going to respond, right? And quote, a lot has happened since then. It's at the stage for the question many are asking. Are the Patriots primed to succumb to a tougher schedule or will Vrable's relentless commitment to establishing team identity deliver another surprising run to the Super Bowl? All right, Greg, is it more likely that the Patriots reach the Super Bowl

or miss the playoffs? Miss the playoffs. Sorry, Wilde, if you're listening. This is, these are facts. So the odds say, of course, they are facts, right? There's seven and a half to one to make the playoffs, and it's like two to one that they miss. So, yeah, the odds are, of course, in your favor.

Yeah, look, I believe this to be a really good team. Did their schedule prove to be favorable? Possibly, yeah. But once they get into, no, no, no, no. No, no, let me finish. Let me finish. It was the easiest schedule of the 21st century. Once you get into the postseason,

then the schedule is null and void now. Did they win those games? I mean, yeah. Okay. Okay. So they confirmed that they were a good team once they got into the postseason. They ended up getting to the Super Bowl. We're not going to say the Buffalo Bills or Denver Broncos.

I get it. Injuries happen just like the Houston Texans. Yeah. All the teams, it doesn't matter. Once you get in, it's about can you actually be what we all kind of think you are, but maybe you're not. But this team is. It's just, I don't think they're getting back. Six teams in NFL history have lost the Super Bowl and made it back.

Three of them have won, three of them have lost. Those six teams are historic teams. Like this, I don't believe, is a historic team. Now, they have a lot of potential. They're very young. It takes a lot to get back. It takes a rebooting or resetting. I don't know if they have that based on their schedule this year

and then trying to go through that thick conference of AFC guys. You talk about schedule. I look at quarterbacks you play more than like strength of schedule, like whatever year was last year. Let's look at who they played last year and look who played this year. Like this is the problem, right? Is you're playing a schedule now that is just going to be that much more difficult for you this season?

Have they improved as much as we think with the roster? Because you either get better or you get worse, right? You don't want to stay in the middle. Are they much better this year than they were last season now playing where they have, they had Lamar, Baker, and Josh Allen twice last year, right? Yeah. This year they have Donald, Lawrence, Gough, Mahomes, Caleb Williams, love Herbert, Allen twice.

That doesn't include, by the way, Kyle Murray ended the season. Maybe he's playing very well. And Bo Nix ended the season for the Broncos. Like, they play, what, three times as many quarterbacks this season, is the defense as good as we think it is? Offensively, right? Does A.J. Brown make this offense that much better than it was last year?

I think he will, because they need a deep threat. The offensive line, where's the offense line at right now? now through the early part of training camp. Like there's questions I have. And when you play that many quarterbacks like that, let's say you split that schedule right there, right? That gives you what? At the max nine wins, 10 wins, like they're just,

they're not going to be as good this season. Jeff, I think one of the things that you're missing, like you gotta put Drake May on that then. Absolutely. Because the other teams that are playing them are like, okay, you gotta play Drake May. And he's no slouch. Like he has proven that he can play at a high level

throughout the course of a season. So as much as I agree with you, yes, they're playing better quarterback play. The teams that are playing against them, they're playing a better version of their offense, and hopefully he'll take another step with those receiving weapons that he acquired. So, again, as the gambler on the show with respect to Jeff also being a gambler on the show, it's nice to have you out here, buddy. If there was 20 bucks on the table and you said you get to pick it up, miss the playoffs or make the Super Bowl, clearly the odds would be in favor of missing the playoffs.

I understand that. But I tried to do the exercise before the show of finding seven AFC teams that I could see making the playoffs and having New England out. It's hard to see, man. They're good. They are.

They are just legitimately good. Do you know how many of their draft picks are expected to start? Zero. Every draft pick is a depth piece. That is the sign of a really good team. Really good team. They added A.J.

Brown and Romeo Dobbs for a quarterback who is the runner up to Matt Stafford for MVP in a really, really close vote. Drake May is awesome. Their coaching staff is awesome. I understand what you're doing with the quarterbacks and they have to face on the schedule, but they also still get to play the dolphins twice. They get to play the Jets twice. Like that should be four wins. I have a very hard time seeing this team missing the playoffs. I just who are your who your AFC teams? Well, I mean, listen, so we're Predictions week's coming up a little bit, but like, bills and Patriots. The three teams out West. In terms of like who can make it, who can make it?

Yeah, sure. Chiefs, Chargers and Broncos can make it. That would be five. Ravens and Bengals, I think, can make it. That's seven. And then AFC South. You need someone. You need someone.

But I mean, they got viable teams down. Texans, Colts, Jaguars could make it. So, like, I think that's 10 teams for seven spots, like off the top of my head. I don't think Pittsburgh. I would put in that group. But so that's seven teams for 10 spots. I think New England is in.

I think they are in the playoffs this year because I think Drake May is awesome. Okay, so getting back to the question, I know, I know. Right. So I'm sort of saying, like, I don't want it to be clipped because I know the odds are. Seriously, but like, I don't think they're missing the playoffs.

I don't. I agree with that. So therefore, I would rather bet them to win the AFC than I would bet them to miss the playoffs. I absolutely think this team can go back to the Super Bowl. What's the weakness? Left side of their offensive line? The offensive line is a question mark.

Left side of their offensive line. Drake May took a ton of sacks last year and his sack rate did not improve like Caleb Williams is from year one to year two. So Drake takes a bunch of sacks. And some of that is on him. It's not just on the offensive line when we watch the play. I appreciate that. Someone had to say that on national TV.

I like that. Yeah. It was clearly evident. Like he holds the ball longer than what he should. He needs to get rid of it. But I think, again, if we're talking about Caleb and some of these other quarterbacks taking a step, he's watching film on himself. He has to correct that.

He understands that. I think that they are the most obvious, better team, worst record. Like, they're not going to win 14 games, but I do think they are better than last year. You add Romeo Dobbs and A.J. Brown to that team. You don't lose a ton. The pieces that you lost, you replaced. I think they are a very, very solid roster. That if they win 11 or 12 games this year, it's like, oh, did they take a step back?

I don't think so. I don't think so. Them and the Bears are the two teams that will be better with worst records. I'm sorry to bring the Bears up. They're the two that I think are better with the worst records. Their schedules are just much tougher. What happens in the NFL? I mean, Jacksonville is a candidate for that.

Denver is a candidate for that. The Bears, the Patriots. There's a lot of teams that are candidates for it. But I don't see the Patriots missing the playoffs. Let's go to LA. We had some news today. Chargers Center. Tyler Beattish, we hinted at this yesterday.

Out indefinitely suffered an ACL injury during yesterday's joint practice with the Niners. Now, the Chargers signed Beattish to a three-year, $30 million deal this offseason. So it's a tough start for him. Jeff, as our resident offensive lineman here. How big of a deal is this for Herbert? This video, put the video back. That video really bothers me because this is a very avoidable injury, right? and you have to learn in the NFL how to practice properly.

That's a big part of being the NFL. I think those veterans, there are veterans, not Joe Alt, but they have veterans on that left side of that charges offensive line. There's also the issue I have a little bit with joint practice. They probably aren't throwing their own guys on the ground when they're not having joint practice. But you can't throw, you cannot throw guys on the ground in the line of scrimmage. So you're saying that on, that is on his player,

he threw the opponent into him. Don't throw guys on the ground in practice. In a game, it's going to happen, but in practice, just hold the guy up. If he's out of control and defense,

grab him, hold him up. Part of being a pro is learning how to practice properly. There's another reason we don't get joint practice civiquity now, but like that wouldn't happen if they're playing the charges,

in my opinion, they'd hold the guy up. Nonetheless, look, they brought him Biotch because their center position was the worst in the NFL last year. Like, it was atrocious. When you watch them play last year,

the center was bad, everything he did. He wasn't good to anything. They brought him Biotch to make that happen. Obviously, now, not good. Now, they did draft a guy from Florida this year, Jake Slaughter, who's going to have to play

immediately now, clearly. And this is why, by the way, I think you draft for best player available. They didn't need a center. They just got a center. But now they have a center to play. This is why teams, I think, are best suited all the time to draft the best player available on your board. You never know when you need them. But this is a veteran

guy. I mean, he's just a good football player. He's been with a lot of quarterbacks. It's a problem. He's not there. Now, Slater should be back soon. We know all it's backed. So the office line is going to be better, but I still think it's a loss. And the Chargers is just every year they have these losses, man. So it's clearly a loss.

I'm not as concerned because of what I saw them able to overcome last season. Yes. And you talk about literally your cornerstones of your offensive line and your two tackles. You don't have them. And you still found a way to make the playoffs, make the postseason, you lost your running back. There was a lot of things that were going against this team. with a young center that you're talking about that they drafted. You draft him.

The reason why it's not as concerning for me is because you don't take, he doesn't take on any of those pressures of I got to ID what's going on. I got to get it in the right protection. You have a very capable Justin Herbert to do that. He's a veteran guy. He's clearly going to be calling an ID and protection and, you know, the pressures and all that, taking that pressure off a young. center. Obviously, Vyadish is a big, he is a loss. And so I don't want to, I don't want to

undervalue that. However, when you have a veteran quarterback and a young center, I would rather it be that way than have a young center and a young quarterback. Now you're in trouble. And so hold on to say, because I, I can hear in my ear buzzing, Nick Wright from Europe being like, here comes the excuses for Justin Herbert. He didn't. And all these people, I didn't, I didn't. No, no, from me, from me. From me. All the people on the internet flashing that meme of him like a superhero with the if. He's the if quarterback. If this, he would do it. If this. I want to be very clear. Where am I looking? Nothing changes for Justin Herbert. The expectation is still be an MVP caliber player and win multiple playoff games.

But I feel for Chargers fans, because it feels like deja vu all over again. It feels like 2022 when Rashon Slater tore his biceps. It feels like. like 2023 when Corey Lindley, their Pro Bowl Center, played three games and it was like a heart issue out of nowhere. Feels like last year with Rashaun Slater and Joe All both going down. So obviously losing Tyler Biotish on a three-year $30 million deal before the season so you can prepare for it is not the same as losing Joe All, a top five pick and Roshan Slater on a $114 million deal to your four highest paid players on the team. This obviously isn't. that, but they do, or they're like, we had 10 different offensive line combinations last year.

And we had problems the year before, and three years ago, and four years ago. So there is a little bit of a feeling around the Chargers that the protection from Justin Herbert is just straight up cursed. I don't believe in curses, but hopefully this is the only piece of bad news that they get in terms of protecting Justin Herbert. So it's not, here we go again. It is not an excuse for a lack of success this season. It is not. It's just a, it's a data point that the center is out, Right? They have a rookie center in there. The one thing that I, that's curious about this offense, though, is this offense does put a lot on the center. So I'm curious to see if they do change that with Herbert being a veteran and maybe some of the other guys help them out a little bit.

But look, I mean, this is why you got to play young guys. You got to draft guys. You got to play them sometimes. And buddy, here you go. Here's your ball. Like, go play center. And sometimes explanations are excuses. Or excuse me, excuses are explanations.

I said that backwards. Like last year, they had 10 different offensive line combinations. Correct. The only guys sacked more than Justin Herbert were Cam Ward, who had no idea what he was doing, and Gino Smith, who turned in one of the worst quarterback seasons we've seen in the last five years. And Justin Herbert, who had 26 touchdowns and 1-11 games. And, like, he had no help in front of him. So, like, last year, it reached a critical mass where it was an excuse that also explained the poor play.

Tyler Beiotish losing out to an injury, that's not enough. They got to be able to overcome it. They got to be able to overcome it. I'm kind of with Nick on this one, because I don't want to hear the excuses either. You're not, Tyler Viotic does not raise the level of excuse. What has the potential to come up is, you know, they lost defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter, so their defense is maybe not going to be, I don't do it. I can't be any clearer.

Nothing changes. Okay. The goal is still win. Archive this clip. But if, listen, man, archive this clip. Tomorrow, they're like, hey, Rashaun Slater's not coming back. That's a part of the day after that. They're like, and now lad Patonki's out.

Like at some point, he can reach a critical mass. But right now, it's like, okay, bad news, but that'll be fine. For now. I'm sorry, Chargers, man. You've had it rough. You've had it rough with these injuries recently. I forgot about it. Freedom 250 Grand Prix.

0.7 miles. Look at the crowd. Fans have turned out in a huge. The capital. We are officially counting down to the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. See it right there. Three days. 20 hours from now. It takes place in our nation's capital. Sunday, coverage begins at 11.30 a.m.

Eastern, only on Fox. Let's get back to football. This is one of those fun barbershop hypotheticals here. Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrow all still hunting for their first Lombardi trophy. Now, friend of the show, Drew Brees, was asked which one of the three is the most likely to get a ring? Here's his answer. Take a listen. I'll start with Josh Allen because I mean, look, he's certainly a fan favorite. I'm a huge fan of him. I love the way he plays the game. I love the way he's evolved, I think, as a player.

You know, when he first came in this league, he was super raw, unbelievable talent, unbelievable athlete. Man, he's really playing the quarterback position at a high level. I was then going to go to Lamar Jackson. I was then going to go to Joe Burrow. Like, I feel the same way about those guys as far as, like, what they mean to their teams, right? and to those franchises.

The problem has been they all got to go through Mahomes and the cheese. Take a stand, Breeze. Greg, who is your pick of the three? Not necessarily this year, but who will get their ring first? Yeah, so I'm kind of looking at it like even this year, Lamar Jackson. And the reason why, and it's not just about the head-to-head to how I see these quarterbacks because you've heard me mention like I feel like Josh Allen's best quarterback in the game like respect him Joe Burrow obviously he's been there to the Super

Bowl been to an ABC championship he beat Mahomes we all know that but the reason why I say Lamar Jackson is because he has something now that I don't think the other two have which is a head coach that has an emphasis on defense and the talent on defense is already their sense and really good. And what Jesse Mentor's track record shows me and will show us is that he did it in in LA with the Chargers in terms of turning that defense around. And when you look at the talent that's on this Baltimore Ravens defense, he's going to have this defense ringing right out of the gate. It feels like he has more talent.

Absolutely. In Baltimore than he did LA, but he had LA's defense outperforming Baltimore. Yes. And so the reason why I say Lamar is because. Because when you look at the history of the Baltimore Ravens, like, they just run the ball. Like, they've always been top three since 20, I think 2018. Until the playoffs. Like, until the playoffs, but, but again, I'm equating that Jesse Mentor is going to be a difference maker because of that defense.

And so Lamar, I feel, I believe Lamar is going to be who Lamar has always been. Regardless of how we feel about them in the postseason, you can say what you want. Josh Allen has been tremendous. Last year in that Denver game, he felt something when he missed the tight end wide open. Like, if that had been Lamar, we'd have been like, there goes Lamar again. Joe Cool has always been cool, but it's like, can they get back there? And sometimes when you make it as early as Joe Burrow and the Bengals did, you just think you're going to get back and you never have the opportunity to get back.

And we know what that defense does not look like. I'm picking Joe Burrow, even though I think they're maybe not as good as Baltimore on the roster. Don't love the coach. But as a fan of a team who plays Joe Burrow in the playoffs, they worry me the most of anybody. Joe Burrow has lost two playoffs in the screen. He only been twice, though, but he lost two of the playoffs, but he's five and two. Correct. And he lost on the final play of both those games, the Super Bowl and the NFC championship game.

He has proven in the postseason if he gets there that he can win at a high level. Now, they approve their defense obviously this year. I know a lot of people love them to go over their win total and potentially win division. We'll see if those things come to fruition. But when he is in the postseason, he has proven that he knows how to win these games. He makes clutch throws. He's super cool in the pockets. All those winning plays.

You know, Josh Allen is a great quarterback, as we know. I think we all agree best NFL. He's fumbled the ball 15 times in playoff games. He's only lost five of them, but 15 fumbles. Joe Burroughs funnel the ball zero times in seven games. Like Joe Burrow takes care of the football in those big moments. The if is always if they get to the postseason. if Joe Burrow makes it healthy.

Because, again, their offensive line. I don't love their offensive line. It's not as bad if people want it to be, but it's not great. The defense will have to see those guys play this year, but Dexter Lawrence is such a huge addition to that defense. They added guys at all three levels. So to me, it's Borough, because I've seen him do it. And as a fan, I worry about him the most.

If I'm a Chiefs fan and we're playing Buffalo, Baltimore, or the Bengals, I worry most about the Bengals. So I love this topic so much, and I'm going to pick Josh Allen. Like, so we're all because, like, I honestly think that this could be like a 60-minute podcast that at the end we'd be like, we all made some pretty good points. Yeah. Uh, because I think I, I agree with everything you said about Jesse Minner and what he could do for the Ravens defense.

And I agree that Burrow, you won in college, feels like what he gets into the big games, he's, he's, he's terrifying. But Josh Allen, he's eight and seven in his career in the playoffs. Lamar's three and five and burrows five and two. That means that you add up Joe Burroughs games and Lamar's games and you equal Josh Allen's games. Like Josh Allen always gets there. he's always there.

He is, he's always healthy. He always makes the playoffs. And generally speaking, he always plays well in the playoffs. Now, I know he had the fourth turnover game against Denver. I'm not writing that off. But in three of their last five playoff losses, they've allowed 29 points or more in those games. Like sometimes he loses in shootouts. Like, you know, he, he, whereas Lamar, I got real questions about whether or not

Lamar is going to individually be good in the playoffs. And I got real questions about whether or not Joe Burrow is going to make the playoffs and be healthy. Like both those guys have bigger injury issues and he's not as good in the playoffs and he doesn't always make the playoffs. So I would pick Josh Allen, but I could make cases for both of your guys too. Like I think the Ravens are the best organization and I think they might be the best offense. Like it's it is a, it's a fun debate because they're all awesome players. Does your opinion change about Buffalo yes or no because they made the coaching? The physical coaching change was made to get over the hump.

We're not winning these games. There's many reasons why they haven't won these years. The 13 second game, obviously, very famous. But, you know, they lost the Chiefs in Division around, was it two years ago at home. Mr. Fielgillard went a fake punt for no reason, wrong time. Last year, it was a turnover. I thought they had to make a change. I put out there at the time after that Denver game last year, something had to change,

whether it was like a roster redo, whether it was a coaching. Something had to be different because they've been broken too many times over. So do you think Joe Brady is the right guy to get him there? Listen, it's tough to know. I was thinking about this topic, obviously, since we decided on it. And it was like, all right, I don't love Zach Taylor. And I don't really know about Joe Brady or Jesse Minter. Like, Jesse Minter, I completely agree with your analysis.

He seemed to overachieve with the Chargers. But we have no idea if that'll carry over when he's a head coach. He's never done it before. Joe Brady, he was instrumental in Josh Allen and then becoming more balanced in their offensive line or on. But we have no idea how he's going. going to be as a head coach because he's never done it before. It's weird that we can have three quarterbacks that are going to be Hall of Famers that are going to be like era-defining players and all of them are heading into this year where we're like, I don't know if any of them

have an asset at head coach. So one thing I will add is when you look at the Buffalo Bills, they've always had the easiest path or Josh Allen, I'll say. And now the Patriots are good. easiest path versus these two who have to go head to head against each other and then try to beat Josh Allen and or Patrick Mahomes in the postseason. Whereas Josh Allen has always, it's just easy path. Now we'll see how it looks because the Patriots are for real. And it's not they're not going to allow or afford Josh Allen to just cruise through that division every single year like he has been. So those eight playoff wins and that guaranteed we're making the playoffs, not saying that they're not going to make the playoffs. but it's going to be a little different.

Did you tip your hand with your predictions week there? Felt like you might, you pick the Ravens? No, it's not prediction. You pick the Ravens this year? It's not predictions week. I didn't know. It felt like a little hand. Okay, I like that then.

All right. Week one is officially three weeks away. Three weeks from today, we have real football boys. The Seahawks will steal a page from Nick Wright's book and drop a banner in Seattle to open the season. Vegas giving them the fourth best odds to win it again. And this is very meta, Jeff. I'm going to ask the question. Are we talking enough about the Seahawks chances to repeat? We could just talk about their chances to repeat, but it's like, I'm talking enough about it, but we're the people who talk about it.

No, we're not. Okay. And I think the reason why is they're the Pacific Northwest. They're far away from everything, which is certainly true. But two, I still think people sleep on Sam Donald. I think it comes down to. He played great last year. Actually, the Super Bowl, I didn't play very well in that game. But I think we still look at Sam Donald and think to ourselves, At best, he's what? The 10th, 12th best quarterback, some around there. And people like me who liked the Rams, I liked the Rams a lot last season.

I like him again this year. You know, they were one funky, weird, two-point conversion attempt away from having to go to Los Angeles for the next to championship game. Instead, they were the ones that got to host that game, right? So a coin flip of a play that was reviewed there, I mean, it's a worst play of the entire season they ran. They scored two points on it, right?

Like, that could have changed the entire season. I think we look at the Rams being really good. The Seahawks, again, coin flip that they switch that game, Sam Darnold, but they're still really well coached team and a lot of good football players. They're going to be right back in the hunt again. So I feel like a lot of my takes have been surrounded by coaching. And when I look at this Seahawks team, do I feel like we aren't talking about them enough? We're not. They are a really good team.

And just like the Patriots, how we talked about them, can they make it? This is a team that definitely can make it back. of how they're configured from a roster standpoint and their head coach, really good head coach and Mike McDonald. However, when you lose a coordinator that afforded Sam Donald to go from Minnesota and perform and look the way he looked and then come to Seattle with Clint Kubiak and hit the ground running right away again, that's what gives someone like myself or outsiders a little bit of pause.

It's not that I do believe Sam Donald is a good quarterback. But now it's like, I got to see him do it again with Brian Flurry. And the way that that offense looked and how they clicked, he and JSN, you don't have Kenneth Walker, you got Charbonnet coming off of injury. Like there's a lot of little small pieces, but the biggest piece that's gone is Clint Kubiak. And anytime you lose a play caller like that, it's going to impact you. And so for that reason, I think that's why there's not been a lot of talk about them. Yeah, I don't know if the Kubiak departure is why we don't talk about it enough,

but I think it's definitely a reason to doubt him. The Pacific Northwest and the Darnal thing is definitely a media literacy point. I would just say this, like, and you're correct about it. I would also say, like, they return a lot for a Super Bowl champion. Clint Kubiak might be huge, but this is what they actually on the field return. Of the guys who started the Super Bowl, 20 of 22. Of their total touchdowns last year, 39 of 44. Of their pressures and pass rush rank, 45 of 47.

It's a remarkable amount of continuity for a team that was pretty dominant last year. Like they lost the three-point game to the Bucks. They played the three games against the Rams to within three total points. And they're just, and they steamrolled everybody else. Like they steam-rolled the Niners in the playoffs. They steam-rolled the Patriots in the Super Bowl. They were a dominant football team, so I don't think we are giving the idea of back-to-back championships enough credence because they're bringing back basically everyone who matters. Also, it is hard to do.

It is simply hard to do. But if to Jeff's point, like, if the Eagles or the Chiefs had played last season. It would be the Seahawks had played it. Hey, you're going to be 14 and 3. you're going to be the one seed and you're going to blow out the opponent in the Super Bowl and you're going to return 20 of 22 starters and your head coach and your quarterback. They'd be the odds on favorite and they'd be in the A block every day. Like there is something to the geography of it.

Correct. And part of it is the Rams might be better like on paper than they are. And that's also why we I think look at the Rams and say look what they did with Miles Garrett, look at what they've done with Stafford, like look at what they've done with the entire roster. They might actually be better than the Super Bowl champions. The Kubi, I think, is a great point. I parallel that to Ben Johnson leaving Detroit. Detroit was like 10% worse last season on offense. Like it wasn't a lot.

It was just enough to lose a few games. And if that happens in Seattle, they might not have the one seat, but now they're a wild car team. They're on the road. Like that is a big change to go from a guy that got that offense going to something else. And if it's not the same, it's going to fall back a little bit probably. But if it falls back like 20%, you're looking at a much different team. Price, the rookie, just slide him right in.

Overrushing? There we go. Yeah, I'm saying it comes in. Is that upset alert's music? It's never too early to talk a little week one upset alert. Three weeks from the opener. It's practically tomorrow. It's next.

And first things first. When West Jet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion. Inline skates were everywhere. And two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when West Jet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96.

Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. All right, time for my edition of Weird and Wonderful with the Wilds and the guys on vacation. Let's check it on my cut. No big deal. A little crosstown classic, another walkoff. This time Alex Bregman getting in on the action. I mean, break up the Cubs. I mean, they just can't do any wrong right now.

They can't. They can't. Rigley is hopping. It's upsetting White Sox fans, so it's like an added bonus. Surprise we don't have the game on right now somewhere. I mean, dude, track it on your phone. It's all good. I'm just saying, fifth best odds to win the World Series.

You're playing a good ball, man. You on board? Playing good ball. All right. Best manager in the game, Craig Counsel, got the MVP, PCA, a guy, Nico Horner, break them up. Weird. Deep fly ball, Julio Rodriguez makes the routine catch turns and, well, I don't think this is what you're supposed to do. Yeah.

That was out number two. I love when that happens. It's just objectively hilarious. Makes me think of smalls in Sandlot. It's also 20-0-0 in a position of players pitching. Like, I understand why he forgot how many outs. Exactly. I mean, it's 19-0 when he threw that pitch.

Now it's 20-0 after the sack fly. But I sort of get why he wasn't paying attention to the full extent in a game like that. Brewers went on to win 22-0. I mean, just be a professional. Count your outs. One, two, three. Wonderful. Eagles, Pats, joint practice.

Jeff wants these banned. AJ Brown, Cooks, Quinyan Mitchell. But doesn't you'll play it. Gotta finish the play, baby. The ball placement though? The ball placement, only where he can get it. This is why they got him. And so-

To drop the pass? No. Okay. To have this deep threat consistently now. He has to make the play. I believe he'll make that catch. But man, right out the gate. too. Right off the gate trying to set the tone like this is what it's going to be.

And going against AJ Brown's old team. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. All right. Let's get some weird. O.G. Ananoby. He was in Times Square. We're going to just do, hey, let's get some weird. Time Square every single day. He's missing shots on purpose so fans could try to recreate his finals tip-in from game four. Some things just can't be recreated. And I can promise you that Spider-Man and the gorilla and the naked cowboy and what other else is going on in Times Square. None of those people could recreate this either. This is, okay, to get to full context, this makes sense, because I'm like watching this, thinking, there's no way he's missing these shots like this.

He's trying to do the alley-up off the rim. Yeah, I didn't know it was because of them trying to recreate it. Would you be able to tip slam that? Slam? Right. How high is that room? I'm guessing not 10 feet. Okay, yeah, we good.

Okay, cool. We good. Final wonderful. Fondres at City Field. Last night, base is loaded. Francisco Lindor, deep fly ball to right field. The robbery. Give me those.

Tatis bringing it back. So great. Legit catch of the year, Canada, right there. Oh, absolutely. Look at this. I mean, like, over the wall. Give me that. On the road, like not his home park.

Snatch at heart. The ball flip at the end. The hair flip. Unbelievable. Yeah, hair flip and a stare down. Not all catches have swag. That catch had a lot of swag. All right.

Time now for afternoon headlines sponsored by RAM trucks. You know, nothing stops a RAM. Vaughn Miller made his Cowboys introduction yesterday. And with the team fully embracing talking about the Super Bowl, he fit right in, talking about what it would mean for the fans and the city of Dallas. Take a listen. The fans here are dark hard fans. And if we're able to do that, if we're able to have a successful season and win the Super Bowl,

like it would be a holiday in Dallas as well. Like, people love the Dallas Cowboys. They either love them and hate them, but at the end of the day, they all root for the Dallas Cowboys. And for us to be able to win a Super Bowl, it would be crazy in Dallas. It would be a holiday as well. All right. So they're talking big picture in Dallas. They are not shying away from the Super Bowl stuff.

Coach Manjini hates it. Either of you guys have a problem with it? No. No. No. Okay, cool. Me neither. So let's talk week one.

Just like coach. to be like, talk. Talk about the next practice. Yes. The next film session. The next rep. The next rap. Him and I disagreed on a lot of topics last week.

It was great. Can I make the case that they're on upset alert? I'm not saying I'm picking it, but the week one upset alert call here. Cowboys' biggest offensive question is left tackle. Giant's biggest defensive strength is pass rush. Tibido, Burns, Abdul Karz. Giants were absolutely atrocious against the run last year. Maybe Dallas takes advantage of that,

but Giants could take advantage of some past protection issues. The games at night, games in New York, new coach bump for the Giants, takes a while for the Cowboys' new defensive parts to gel a little bit. They're relying on a lot of youth on their defense to click. Cowboys only being two and a half point favorites in New York tells me, like this is, Giants are a very live. upset spot here, Greg, against Dallas.

This is not a long shot. Like, as much as we've talked about the Cowboys, as much as I believe in this team, like, it's week one. Anything can happen. It's you're on the road. There's going to be a buzz. Again, the Giants, you mentioned all these things. You got the new head coach.

You got a young, swag, vibberish quarterback coming out. You don't, anything can happen. And if you're the Cowboys going on the road against. a division rival, you can't take them for granted. You can't look at them and say, oh, they're the giants of last year or they're not that good. You're going to take, you got to take them serious because if you don't, you're playing against professional guys. Every single time I took the field, and Jeff, you can speak to this. It didn't matter how I saw that guy on film. I had to respect him enough to want to destroy him every single time. Even though I knew I might have been better

than that guy, I still got to respect him and have a healthy enough fear to where I can't let him get his hands on me or I can't do that. That's the Dallas Cowboys going into week one. Well, you learn the less and the hard way. I think everyone does. The one game, you don't do that. The one game you don't respect your opponent, you give up like three sacks and have a holding penalty and give up four pressures. It's not very fun. Hypothetically speaking. Hypothetically speaking. It was actually one sack and two halves. It doesn't matter. Like you just, you learn that. Every player learns that they have one game, but they don't respect their opponent.

Look, so the Giants, obviously, are rebuilding this offense. And I have questions about where this offense will be in week one. I think the offense should be better in week 10 that isn't week one. You have Matt Nagy, you have Greg Roman there as well, and Brian Counts. You have sort of three different philosophies all into one. What does it look like week one? I think it's easier for a defense and the Cowboys to be new with new pieces and play faster and play a little quicker and be up to speed a little bit more.

And the Cowboys, yes, their offensive line. I know people question. I think it's going to be fine this season. And the pass rush for the Giants is excellent. But you look at the weapons that Cowboys have. They should be able to generate points in that game. Should be able to run the ball in that game. MetLife Stadium is not a home field advantage.

It's not one of those places where it's going to be loud and we have to worry about first game of the year, cadence and all this stuff. It'll be loud enough, but not to where it disrupts the Cowboys very much. I don't have this on upset alert. It's not a game that I have. Now, I'm not taking the Cowboys cover two and a half. Probably not.

But I'm not one of those guys that's going to take them to lose this game. Okay. Interesting. I just, and not because of the, the talk, but it's like so much of what Dallas's talk is, Super Bowl, Super Bowl, ending the drought, Super Bowl. And then it's like, oh, they're not like opening up at home against the Dolphins. They're opening up in prime time on the road against the team that absolutely believes that they can get them. Like, I, and that one, you shouldn't, you shouldn't overlook any week one opponent. You've been waiting months and months and months for the season to start. So I'm not saying trap game necessarily. But so much of Dallas is about the Super Bowl and it's like, I don't know, man, don't overlook the Giants in week one. Yeah, again, I'm with

you. I'm not picking this as an upset alert. Just wait. However, I'll pencil right. Yeah, this is pen. This is Sharpie for me. I'm not going to pick it as upset alert, but you definitely can, if it, it's a thing that can happen. Simply because, again, I'm going to go back to the week one. Everybody's learning something different. Everybody, no one knows what's going to get thrown of them. There is no film. You can try to watch last year's tape on the opponent. It's going to look different. You have new personnel. You got new coaches. You got a lot of different variables. And so

anything can happen. Even with an offense that you're talking about with the Giants that we feel like, I don't know if the continuity would be there. Well, if you find out there are some plays that just work and they get it going and that crowd gets going and your quarterback gets to getting outside of the pocket making great throws and anything can happen in week one. There's also that one week one game we look back on every year and we're like, how'd that

happen? I'm not sure this game, but... Raiders, Patriots. Yeah, something like that. It could cost the team a chance to be as we think they are. Speaking of the Raiders, I think Fernando Mendoza can take the job. No one else seems to agree. We'll discuss. First things first. Real Canadian Superstore has everything you need this back-to-school season. Save on lunchbox savers like Zincis sliced deli-meat products for. for always 375 and get life brand pure Vita shampoo or conditioner for $8 each.

At Real Canadian Superstore, when you're ready, we're ready with a whole world and more. First Things First is sponsored by Ram Trucks. Live from New York, it's the show that I was reading about this. Dan Campbell says he drinks a gallon of coffee. That is... That is true. It's too much. It's too much. Yes.

He was cutting back. I'm like, cutting back to a gallon? I don't drink coffee, but... I don't either. I drink coffee. But I drink over a gallon of water every day. Oh, good for you. Because he works out.

Do you hear he works out? Yeah, yeah. He's got a big exercise guy. Just making... I turn about a gallon of water a day. It's a relatable moment. Yeah. I drink a gallon of water.

Do you drink a gallon of anything? No. I do the water as well. Yeah, I should. I should hydrate more. Yeah. It's all on the energy charisma and red wine. It's going to happen. It's going to be my personal trainer.

Nope, I'm not going to be that. Okay, cool. Coming up. I'm a cheerleader. A cheerleader. I appreciate that. Can the Bears have the best offense in the NFL? Pretty compelling case was made earlier today. We'll discuss. Also, the Rams. We're calling them a super team. Is there a weakness that's potentially emerging and should Matt Stafford be concerned? We'll discuss. Let's start with some preseason action.

A lot of games coming up. Seder Sanders in line to get the start Saturday against the bills. Now, many people have to Sean Watson in the driver's seat to be the Browns week one starter. But Todd Munkin has not declared a winner to this competition yet, insisting that it is won. Jeff, do you look at this as Sodor's last chance to win the starting job? Yes, I've been clear about this from the beginning. I don't think he's gone a fair chance. I don't think fair is a word we use in the NFL very often, and it's not really the way the league is constructed.

But he's not gotten the fair chance. He's not going to see an opportunity Deshawn Watson has. But there's also now two staffs that have coached him that have said, maybe you're not the starting quarterback for the Browns anymore. He's got to play well this weekend. It might not matter, Greg. It really might not. They might have already made their mind up.

And they're doing this just to be fair. Okay, let's give him the opportunity. But even like, I think I saw yesterday, Deshaun Watson took the reps with the ones yesterday. So the Browns are playing standards, but he's not taking the reps all week with the ones. They were saying they're rotating reps with the ones in the week leading up to this for the, but Deshawn was going to get the reps with the ones.

in the main joint practice, and then Chador was going to get other reps. It's a weird competition. I know that people don't like when I talk about the signs that Browns are showing that they want one guy start or the other, but they're very clearly showing signs they want Watson to start. He might not win the job because Sanders might play that much better than him, but they're trying to make Watson or at least have him win the job, Greg. And look, fifth round quarterbacks do not start very often in the NFL.

I know that people, I thought he'd be drafted much higher. I'm sure you did. I don't know if you did or not, but he was a fifth round pick. There's only two franchise quarterbacks right now in the NFL. Franchise guys. So really, guys on second deals that are, there are guys or young guys that are playing on the re-contracts that are not dropped in the top 55.

Doc Prescott and Brock Purdy, that's it. So even Sanders to get a full-time job would be an outlier in the NFL right now. And so I think this is it for him. He's got to prove this next couple of weeks. He could be the guy who won't be starting in Cleveland. Yeah, it's hard for me to believe that this is not his last chance. Like, it's, and the reason you kind of alluded to it, This is the second coaching staff.

So there was a lot, a lot of people that kind of felt like, I don't know if Kevin Stefansky was giving them a fair shot. I don't know if he liked them. I don't know if he really wanted them even to be drafted. And so we had that last year and he really didn't play. Then he had an opportunity to play. And we saw what that looks like. Now you have a new head coach and Todd Munkin that we saw the interaction when he first

got hired, Shadour comes into office. It was like, man, we tried to get you in Baltimore and all these things. You didn't try that hard. But could have had him in the first four rounds. Well, no, they, they, they, they valued him where they had him. Yes. Okay, so I was just saying, they didn't try that hard. But they valued him where they had them.

And so for me, when you, when you, you use another word, talked about it being fair. If Shadour Sanders were clear head and shoulders better than Deshawn Watson, he would be, he would have the job. Well, and he's getting passes deflected at the line of scrimmage and fumbling snacks. It is that simple. This is no trying to knock on Shedura Sanders. Like, I wish him the best. I thought he was a lot better, and I thought he was going to get drafted a lot higher. It didn't happen.

I'm not a scout. I clearly didn't evaluate him the same way 32 other teams did. With that being said, if he goes out there and he looks the way he did in that first preseason game or what we've seen, where he is hesitant, where he is not decisive, where he is not decisive where he is late, where he is not making those reads, understanding where he needs to go and actually putting the ball where it needs to be. Because he said that, you know, I know I made the right decision. I just, I slipped.

I just didn't get it. Well, you can't have that. In your position, fighting for a starting job, you can't not execute what you know you should, you should do. So it has to look clean across the board. I expect Deshawn Watson to be named the starting quarterback of the Browns on Monday. Like, this is it, but it's more ceremonial because of what you alluded to with the practice snaps during the week. A lot of coaches, whether you agree with it or not, do seem to value the controlled environment of the joint scrimmages, the joint practices, more than the preseason game.

And that's when Deshawn is getting the reps in like the main practice tomorrow against the bills. So Deshawn started the first preseason game. He's starting with the ones in the main practice against the bills. He's better than Shador Sanders. Now, that doesn't mean that he's good. It just means that he's better than a fifth round pick. I expect Shadur to start at some point this year, and I expect the Browns to draft a new quarterback to be their quarterback

next year going forward. And my guess is we'll talk about this occasionally throughout the year. But I don't think the long-term answer for the Browns at quarterback is either of these two guys. Look, in practice, I'm sure Deshaun probably looks far better than Shadour. Yeah. Because practice is so much different than the games. And so when you want things to be clean, especially when you're going in joint practices, you want to have a clean looking offense and or defense.

And so you're going to give your unit the best chance at doing that. You're going to put Deshawn Watson out there. It was the first round traffic. Like, I know he's not lived up to what we've seen. saw him be in Houston and what he was early in his career. But he understands how to play quarterback. We know he understands how to play quarterback. And when you have that mental edge, it's going to show, especially in practice.

Now, in games, different. But in practice, yeah, he's probably, he's no, probably about it. He's light years ahead of Shadurr Sanders. Well, the announcement will come soon. Let's go to the Raiders. First overall pick, Fernando Mendoza, got some reps with the ones at the joint. practice yesterday, should see a lot of action in tomorrow's preseason game against the Texans. It was very impressive, I thought, in the preseason opener against Arizona. Greg, do you think

Fernando Mendoza will look good and impress again? Absolutely. He just gives off the vibe of he's prepared. And what I mean by that is he's going to go into every game, whether he's the starter week one, whether he's a starter in the preseason game, prepared, knowing what's expected from him and ready to execute that game plan. When you watch them in that first game in those past attempts, he was very decisive, he was comfortable in the pocket. I don't even want to say he was poised,

but he didn't feel, he didn't look rattled. He was going through his second and third reads. In preseason games with young quarterbacks, Jeff, you know this. You don't see them getting to second and third reads. often. He did it over and over and over again and was completing those in those second one. Another thing, throwing the ball across the middle, you don't see a lot of that. And the way he threw the ball and getting, letting his eyes take the defender one way and coming back and throwing behind the linebacker level guys. Like he did that on repeat.

He just has a comfort about himself. His footwork is great. Like he believes that. that he should be a starting quarterback. There's a reason why the Raiders picked him number one overall. They saw what they saw. Now, will he be week one starter? That's a whole other conversation. But I do expect him to be impressive in week two. That throw we keep showing this one right here,

the deep end, like he didn't do that in college. That's not an Indiana's offense. No. And that was sort of the question that I think people had. Like, can he make those NFL-type throws? He made an NFL-type throw right there. Yeah. And so he looked really good.

I hope the Raiders name him the starter on Monday. I think he should be the starter week one. You think you should start over Cousins. I do too. Absolutely. Nobody seems to agree. The people will push back and say, well, the Raiders' offensive line. Okay, well, if it's not good in week one, what's going to matter week four?

Like, just playing it. Like, playing now. Am I crazy? I mean, Colton Miller, people like him at left tackle. Tyler, Tyler Linderbom is one of the best centers in the game. On the right side. Jackson, Jackson, they, theory, like, right tackles is a big question. The reason why I play Mendoza is because you need to, you need to, you need to,

end this year knowing he's your guy. I think we know he's the guy. But I think you want to see him play a full season. When the season's over, you evaluate what you have on film and how to build around him. And maybe you only need eight games to do that, but I would play him for 17. Cousins is not part of your future. There's no reason to have him play, in my opinion. You have a new coach. You draft a Mendoza. Let Mendoza go through being a rookie, figuring things out so you can figure out how to play better throughout the season. We'll help him in a year too. I also think he has something going for him that a lot of number one picks do not have, which is he is aligned with his head coach. He was drafted at the same time that the coach was hired. Caleb didn't have it,

Cam Ward didn't have it. So many guys don't have it because they're like, they get drafted to a team that was bad, but the organization doesn't fire the coach. So he gets drafted to a team with a coach on the hot seat. And then he has to change. It's like Fernando Mendoza and Clint Kubiak just get to grow together. So I'm with you. I would play him and I think he'll look good again in the preseason. All right, Broncos and Packers, next preseason game we're going to talk about because Jordan Love and Bo Nix both expected to play. Love coming off that early playoff exit. Who was that to? Who was that too? Oh, bears. Oh, it was the Bears. Yeah, there's the Bears. Just the Bears made the polls. Just in case anybody forgot. I don't know.

I just not. B'nicks, of course, game short of the Super Bowl with the unfortunate timing of his injury. Jeff, you got more faith this year in Jordan Love or Bo Nex? I guess the question is, what are the expectations? I mean, I have faith in Jordan being what he's been throughout his career, right? He's going to be the same guy. I don't really see Jordan Love wherever the next step is. I don't know what that would even be, but I think people started, I think if he put together a consistent season at his high level, he would be like a guy who's in the MVP conversation, which he never has been.

Sure, I could, I could buy that. I just, I don't believe that's the next step. I think he Jordan Love is sort of what he is at this moment. You know, Bo Nix, I think for me would be more consistency, right? just more taking shots down the field, maybe opening up the offense a little bit more than Sean Payton has for him. So I trust Jordan Love to be the guy that we expect him to be. I'm not sure Bo Nix is going to Greg sort of take that next step for his career. But the Packers to me, they just like, they just are what they are.

What do you think they are? I don't really expect more or less from them. Like I just, they're like a 10-win team. They're not going to miss the playoffs, in my opinion. They just sort of are what they are. They don't really scare me very much, but they win a ton of football games. And that's what I expect from Jordan Love this year.

I expect that from the Packers this year. They're going to be a 10-win team. They're not going to win a Super Bowl. They're not going to miss the playoffs. They play good sound football. So I expect Jordan Love to be him. Bo Nix, I'm not sure he's going to get much better. So I'm going to answer the question first,

and I'm going to touch on that. I have more faith in Jordan Love because he has more talent. He has more ability, and he just needs to get it done. Yeah. Now, that being said, Bo Nix, I think they did a great job of getting him some additional weapons with Waddle, with Evan Ingram at tight end. I think he'll be better. That's the hope. That's why you start to put some pieces around him.

He's had a decent offensive line, obviously run the game, and then the defense has been the calling card over there in Denver. Whereas Jordan Love, it's been about him. And he has a guy now in his division in Caleb Williams, and I'm going to mention it, that is, I'm going to mention it, that is, I'm going up. up with a bullet. And if you're a Packer fan, you want to see Jordan Love start to go up and not, you don't want to see a plateau because you now see another guy coming in your division that can give you some real problems and headaches. And you know you have a guy that you, you truly believe he can give others problems and headaches. He just has to do it on a consistent basis. They have a young, talented group on offense, Matthew Golden. If he gets unlocked,

he's going to be a problem. Jordan Love has to be better. So it's a clean sweep here. I just think Jordan Love is a better player than Bo Nix. Bo Nix is in a great situation. I also think that the pressure that's on Jordan Love is he has to be great out of the shoot because Micah is hurt. And like there are, the Packers have some offensive line questions. And they've got, they don't have a great defense.

But with Micah Parsons, he erased a lot of the issues that they had. I was shocked they used that first round pick on Matthew Golden. I thought they were going to keep firing either at offensive line or at defense, because I thought they had a lot of receivers. Now, they obviously decided to let, you know, D'Otttavian Wicks go. They let Romeo Dobbs go. So they had a different vision in line. But it's like, all right, that's a lot of investment that they've made in weapons around Jordan Love.

With Christian Watson and with Matthew Golden and with Tucker Kraft and with Josh Jacobs, obviously a lot of continuity on the offensive side of the ball. I don't know why if you're a Packer fan, you wouldn't expect them to be a top 10, maybe top five offense this year. He's had nine game stretches of seasons where it's like, did Jordan Love just have 20 touchdowns against one interception in nine games?

Like he's done that before in his career. So I think his ceiling is actually very, very high. They just need to put it together right out of the shoot because Michael Parsons is going to miss a third of the season. Yeah, you make a good point with starting the season off hot. I think more than anything, Matt LaFleur has to allow Jordan to do more. And I say this because you get the sense that when you watch,

I'm going off that last playoff game, you don't get up against the bears on the road and then kind of settle or throttle it back. You have a quarterback that you know you can give the keys to and he can drive the car wherever you wanted to go. You don't take the keys back from him. Ever. You don't put them in the passenger seat. And I feel like that's what has happened sometimes.

You've got to let your quarterback go. If he's going to make mistakes, he's going to make mistakes and let him grow from those mistakes on his own. It's wild, too, because I have talked about it. Like, how that game ended was a bad Jordan Love mistake, like the last time he had the ball. But then you look at his interception rate is excellent. Like, Jordan Love doesn't turn the ball over a lot. He doesn't.

But his turnovers are awful. They are. When he does. When he does, they are real bad. You don't seem to be very high on Jordan Love. I'm just not high on the Packers. I think that, like, I think about game wreckers on a team, right? Like, if you look at the best teams in the NFL, you could list like the game wreckers.

Like, guys, like, you got it. This guy. We got to stop this guy. I don't think they have a big list. I really don't think they have a big list compared to other contenders in the NFL. And that's a concern me. And you mentioned something that's important. So you want to see them unlock Jordan Love offensively.

Does he trust him to do it? That's the question. Does you trust him to do more offensively? If you don't, then you're just going to. be this team every year that sort of just is what what they are every season with Jordan love. I hope he does more. Interceptions to me, you can throw some interceptions. It's okay. That's a sign to me you're not pushing the ball down the field and trying to make some plays every now and then. Let's go to the Chargers here who obviously had the injury news. Tyler Beiotish out

indefinitely with the ACL injury. Chargers are hosting the Niners tomorrow. Yesterday we talked a little bit about check in the box, Jeff, or a red flag. So do you need to see? an opening drive. This is the debut. They better do it. Of Mike McDaniel and Justin Herbert. Do you need an opening drive touchdown? I don't. I just want to see the process work, right? I want to see what it looks like offensively. Is it clean? Do you have, obviously, the cadence's correct? Do you have the motion's correct? Like, if they're not scripting an opening drive, I don't really care if they score or not. I just want to see it look like it should. And that's again, that's the check

marker. Oh, it looks like it should. He's going to play one series, I would imagine. Probably most starters are playing and just doesn't great, it looks like it should. A touchdown someone might fumble, some might be tip pass interception, might miss a field goal, I don't know, but just doesn't look like it should. Yeah, no, you don't need to see an opening drive, but if there was ever a time

that, you never want guys to get hurt, if there is a time that you want would prefer guys to get hurt, it is early when you have a chance to adjust and then move forward. And so with that being said, you got a young center starting, you want the operation to be

on time. You want the snaps to look good. You want everything that you normally would get would be oddish out there. You want it to still look the same and or better. I'm pretty liberal guy. I'm so conservative when it comes to the preseason. I'm just terrified of injury. I actually work through the rust in week one. More guys have gotten hurt in training camp than the preseason games. Okay. The last like three days and enjoying practices than the preseason games. Well then don't do that either. I'm throw. Bubble wrap, don't tackle, come out in week one, and if you're a little rusty, be healthy man. Honestly, like, they are very talented.

They have a very high ceiling. Play. He'll get a drive probably the most. If it doesn't go well, he'll get a second drive. I just don't need to see anything from Justin Herbering. I know he's good. I think with the new center, though, I know he's good. The new center, you got to work in that operation.

You want to see that operation. I mean, listen, I guess you guys played, so you probably know better than me. I guess I'll concede that. I have zero career stats in the NFL. But it's just like the only news that ever comes out of this stuff that matters is bad. The only news that comes out of his bad. You are right. There's never any good news.

Oh, wow. He had a touchdown in the preseason. It means absolutely nothing. No one cares. Oh, wow. That guy ruptured his Achilles in the preseason. That seems to matter a great deal. We did the Joe Burrough.

He was five of six passing, but he got sacked and he got hit another time and they didn't score. Is that a bad sign? I'm like, did he survive the game? Then it's fine. That's all that matters. Do you come out of preseason healthy? It's the only thing that matters. And it doesn't look like it should.

I mean, but how many times have you seen, remember Peyton Manning used to be winless in the preseason and then go out with the Super Bowl? Yeah, but he did his job in the first drive of the game. I'm just saying. I don't see much correlation. Just be healthy. I hope Caleb takes zero career preseason steps.

That's what I'm. Monday, the NFL is back on Fox. It's a preseason show. case the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks taking on the Titans. It all kicks off 8 Eastern Sunday on box. Time now for afternoon headlines sponsored by Credible. All of the rates, none of the bull. So the Rams have officially built a super team.

But Nate Adkins of the Athletic is reporting that there is some growing concern with their offensive line depth, writing, the heavy play action nature of the offense does help the line in pass protection, But it also asks Stafford to turn his back to the defense on a given snap. So the protection will need to hold up to protect what matters more than anything to this team. Protecting number nine. Totally fair observation. There's no perfect team.

Every team has at least some question marks. Jeff, is this a legitimate concern for the 38-year-old Matt Stafford? Yes. It has to be concerned, especially if Jackson's going to be out for some time at left tackle. They don't, look, that would be fair, most of them don't have backup tackles just waiting out there. It's not just a Rams problem when guys get hurt, but it's still just not an overly talented offensive line. They play hard.

They certainly do. I think the scheme definitely helps them to play action pass. They've built a lot of double teams, right, and what they do with the duo on the inside zone and stuff. And they do a really good job of sort of eye-mimulating the defense to give you different looks to sort of move guys pre-snap and post-snap. They find ways to make it work. The problem is you're in Seattle in third and eight.

Can you hold up on third eight, right? You're on the road somewhere else. Can you hold up in those situations where Matt Stafford needs a little bit more time? I'm not sure I trust this offensive line as it's constructed to do that consistently enough to where I feel great about. I mean, they're not in the top, probably half of the league in offensive lines. Maybe they're bottom third somewhere around there. So it is a concern, absolutely. It's not that big of a concern, in my opinion, because you do have Matthew Stafford.

And this is why I say it. when you have a veteran guy who do you think we know if the offensive line is more of a concern than Matthew Stafford? No, he probably has more intelligence. And so if he's aware of it, like typically when you have a veteran quarterback, a guy who knows, okay, my left side is a little weak, I know when I need to get the ball out quicker. I know when I need to speed this thing up. That's what you got in Matthew Stafford. He is fully aware of so as well as Sean McVeigh.

So all those points that you make about the window dressing and the most of the most of the most of the most of, you know, and the helping out, if you will, of where you are weak or where you can have some voids, you're going to do those things. But the number one thing for this outfit offensively, they have to be able to run the ball. If they cannot run the ball, none of what they do truly works because it's predicated off of the play action fake. But if they can run the ball, everything, all systems go. You can be missing the offensive lineman and Matthew Stafford knows, okay, I got to get this ball out quick. because I know this guy is rushing from the right and I don't have that long of protection.

I got to get the ball out and make a quick decision. So I remember going into last year. Remember Matt Stafford has the stiff back and he had questions about the offensive line? And we were like, man, this is going to be the thing. I didn't think he was going to make it through the season. And then he led the league in touchdowns. And one MVP going away. And it was one of the great seasons that we've seen from a quarterback recently.

So I think there's all the reason in the world to give McVeigh and Stafford the best. benefit of the doubt. And Stafford, it's kind of insane for his age 35, 36, and 37 seasons, his last three years. How many games he's missed due to injury? One. And it is really impressive that he has had the bumps, the bruises, the bad back, the age, the bad offensive line, the questionable offensive line, and he stayed upright for it. So he knows. But I will say it is how you go from a super team to overrated if you, if this is the year that the offensive line is the issue because we were looking this up before the show. Matt Stafford, when he's not hit, and we just judge this by sacks, and I know there's other

ways to do it, pressures, hits, all those things. But when Matt Stafford is sacked zero or one times, he is obviously everyone's good, right? Like the NFL average there is excellent, score 20. If you're not getting the past rush home, you're going to be good. But Stafford is in another universe, right? He's scored 33 points per game if he's operating back there without being afraid of getting touched. It's spectacular. But if he gets sacked three or more times, and again, everyone's numbers go down, but Stafford is right in line with league average. So I thought that was fascinating.

Everyone is good when they're not hurt or not hit, but Stafford is way better than average. When he is looking down, worried, not confident about his offensive line, getting peeled off the turf a few times, he is right in line with a league average player. So can that be the Achilles heel for the Rams to turn this offense, which was arguably the best in football, into a league average unit? To your point, it would be if that's the reason why they don't play well. It's the offensive line. But Greg mentioned it's important.

Running the ball on early downs makes third down shorter, which means you get the ball quicker, which means Stafford has more protection inside, which means you can play extra passes and move the pocket. I thought it was interesting in the first precinct. They moved the pocket a lot. They did. a lot that maybe more they do with Stafford. I wonder if that's something they're going to add to the offense.

That allows the offensive line just sort of get a break on that play. With all the tight ends they do, there's so many different ways they can use a lot of that bootleg. Actually, Stafford doesn't move as well as Ty Simpson does. But that was not new to the offense, but it was very heavily influenced in game one. That means they've been doing it at camp. That means they've been working on moving the pocket stuff. That's another element to help an offensive lines through a tough stretch. I think that the super team moniker is fun

because we know a lot of the names, but it's a very top-heavy roster. Like when you don't have all of those first-round picks, they've done a good job of drafting in the middle rounds, but they don't have a lot of young, cheap reinforcements of premium draft talent. You know, Devante, old, Stafford, old. Obviously, you know, Pooka and Nekua not old

and should be excellent in his prime. We're talking about Aaron Donald making a big difference. Miles Garrett at 30 years old. changing over their secondary. I just, I think they are the deserving favorites who are still a little overrated. Like, I don't think they are much better than every other team in the NFL. If we have questions about their offensive line, if they're a top heavy roster. So we talked briefly about the Seahawks.

And the one thing that you kind of mentioned or alluded to was they're returning players. Yeah. And then mentioning, well, they drafted guys, but they're not going to be playing. So they have depth. This is one of the issues when you have a top heavy roster. It's like, okay, we have the names that we're rolling out immediately. But if anything starts to happen, do we have the depth to where we can still sustain who we expected ourselves to be because of the depth behind them? And I don't know if this team has that.

If they don't have the injuries, no issue. All things, all systems go. They should be fine. But if they start having some issues of injuries, then it could go left really fast. They have done this once, right? They won the first Super Bowl and reloaded and got back to where they are now. But the question is, if you look at the roster just as it is right now, the depth is not quite there. But that typically happens for very top-heavy teams that are trying to win Super Bowls.

And you've got a very high floor with Sean McVeigh and Matt Stafford. It's a very high floor. Let's talk about another team that's probably also being a little forgotten in their division because of how good Seattle and the Rams are. And that's the San Francisco 49ers. They are, of course, they're the Niners. They're dealing with a slew of injuries. They have the joint practice going on right now with the Chargers. Also, that shockingly, or not, is impacting Brock Purdy.

Take a listen. Honestly, I don't think it was our best day. I feel like fundamentals and stuff. We're just a little loft and whatnot. I mean, obviously there's some good stuff, some stuff we need to work on, but just feel like we could have came out with a little bit more chip on our shoulder. Offensively, I don't know how our defense did. But yeah, that's just overall thoughts.

Greg, would you sell stock in the Niners? Yeah, I would sell stock in the Niners. Look, Kyle Shanahan did a tremendous job last year. Tremendous job last year. He's a great coach. If he has to, if things that we're seeing right now continue to be what we're seeing moving through the season again with the injuries, not having guys available, it's just hard.

I don't care how good of a coach you are. to do it again in this league, let alone in that division. Yeah, being the third best team behind the two teams that were in the NFC championship game and having injuries is a tough spot to be. It's just a tough spot. The problem besides the injuries is that they have drafted very poorly for four years now. They have not drafted well. When you look at their roster and their depth, you can look at the first round picks.

Obviously, we couldn't put all the last four years on here. But Trey Lance, obviously, they traded all those picks. They missed out on first round picks for years. Pierce, so obviously, unfortunately, he had some off the field, right, got hurt again. Williams got hurt last season. But the rest of the roster, none of these guys are any impact players. You go down 2023, 2024, 2025.

They don't have any impact players that are young. They're all super top-heavy. So if these guys start getting hurt, which they're getting hurt, as they get older, there's no one to backfill. There's just no one there. And we don't talk enough about anything about the Niners draft picks, man. Who are the dudes? Who are the dudes right now that you got Trent, obviously, got McCaffrey,

got Warner. Yeah, you got Purdy. Who else? Kiddle, Bosa, Evans. But they're all old. Yeah, right. They're old. That is the thing.

If this was a video game and you could turn health or you could turn injuries off. Right? You're just like, you're, everyone, everybody gets to play a 100% healthy season. I would think they're very live. But it's very hard to, because it's not a video game, I checked. Like to say that there aren't going to be injuries when your best players are old players and your best players are old players with an injury history, and you're in that division.

But I would also say, they are a good team. They've got a great coach, so that gives them a high floor. They have a quarterback who is way better than I thought he would ever be, but forget that. He just executes that system to an unbelievable level. And if they weren't in the NFC West, no, AFC West, it wouldn't be. NFC North, it wouldn't necessarily be.

I think the Niners would be favorites or second favorites in about half the divisions in football. But they're third in this division because of where they're they are a very good team that it feels like at the beginning of the year, their ceiling is the wild card because of how good the Seahawks and the Rams are, whereas obviously if they were in the NFC South, they'd be the clear favorite. So I do think they're a little bit better than we talk about, even with the injury caveat. So when you listen to Brock Purdy and he starts talking about, he leads with talking about fundamentals. That's a red flag. You talked about this. red flag or what was it just check mark check mark right flag the preseason when your

quarterback is getting up and saying man the fundamentals just we could have been better fundamentally what that means somebody there's a lot of missed assignments there's a lot of pre-snap issues but mcalfrey's not practicing right now Mike Evans isn't doing it you know we totally we we get that which is why I'm saying I'm taking all my stock and I'm selling I can tell you're not a gambler you Yeah, you pull your stock boards. You know what he was trying. I was about to push it in and I'm really, I can't push it. I am not.

I get it. It's very confusing. We're mixing metaphors here. Top five is boring. Best offensive football for the Bears. I can tell you how many times it's happened in my lifetime. Zero. Two-50 Grand Prix.

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Now, back to football. Caleb Williams and the Bears put up about 26 points per game last season, just under. It was Ben Johnson's first year as the head coach. But according to Ben Solac, he had a great piece out today on the Bears' offense and its evolution, there's more to it than just Caleb Williams. Solek writes,

The Bears offense was stripped down to the studs and rebuilt a new in a process Johnson knew would be painful and slow, but it worked. It set up the Bears for total team success. Not only in 2025, when it revitalized QB, but for years to come with a complete system, and it started not on the air, but on the ground. So I wanted to make this question very high stakes. Do you think, and by the way, shout out to Ben Solac. I was asking Troy, our esteemed researcher here at First Things First overtime and First things first. Do you know how he got one of these stats in there? And he's like, no.

And that means they're going deep. If Troy hasn't seen one of the stats, that is very good stuff. It was a very thorough piece. But do you think it is on the board that the bears are the best offense in football? I would say it's not off the board. If Williams takes the next jump, look, he's got to complete more passes. We talk about it all time with them. It just got to be a little more in rhythm, a little more in structure.

We know we can do the off-structure stuff. We know he can do the fourth quarter comebacks. and those sweet plays in overtime. We get the, can he do it early in the game? Can you do it on script? And if the bear's defense is not very good this season, he's going to have to score a ton of points to keep up. So there's that combination as well.

Look, if you sort of have the check marker pieces, right? Running back, good, quarterback, tight-end really good. Weapons are really good. Obviously, you hope for health and burden and whatnot, you know, it's healthy. Offensive line, four of the five, you feel pretty good about, you've got to figure out left tackle. Great.

They're capable of being that team. It's a lot of competition. but if we think Caleb Williams can be as good as he can get to, year two, I'm kind of this is year two for him. Year one we're throwing out, right? Year two, basically. A lot of quarterbacks make that jump between year one and year two. So, yes.

I'm going to answer the question straight up. Yes. Love it. And it was a Ben Solac? Yeah. He said it started not in the air on the ground. And when you watch this, team, they run the ball well.

Oh, yeah. Like that was out the gate. We were going to run the ball. Ben Johnson knew he did it in Detroit. He understood the philosophy of we got to start with our ground attack. They have established what they want to be and what it's going to look like if you're playing them and you're trying to stop the run. You better be ready.

The next step is the passing game. And I got, I had to look more into why Caleb was so bad in terms of completion percentage because when you watch them with it. at the coast of Loveland. It's like, man, I don't see too many drop passes. I don't see too many errant throws. But it was the receivers. And again, when you look at these numbers, they are, they're glaring.

Like, you got to be able to make those throws on the left to your receivers. And now you got Roman Dunez. I know Moore isn't there. Zach is not there. But Luther Burden on Dunez, Roma Dunezay, they're going to be there. You cannot throw under 60% when you're trying to be a great. offense moving forward in the next phase is the offense. Now, when he's throwing to the tight end, specifically Coaston Loveland, over 70%, but 67% is the

average. Now the targets are down. I think that's actually going to come up because they, Ben Johnson is one of those deals, one of those guys that he's going to challenge him in the places where he's been most uncomfortable. And clearly where he's been most uncomfortable is throwing outside the numbers to those guys at the skill position, meaning the wide receivers. If he gets that up to 63, 64%, he's going to improve with the tight ends.

So that number may go up. And naturally, they'll be able to sustain drives, make drives a little easier, and execute in the red zone with him as a dual threat quarterback and that running game. Yeah, they can be one of the better offenses, if not the best offense in all of football. Obviously, everyone knows I think that they can be the best offense in football. And it's just an amazing thing to go into a year thinking that the Bears can be. I mean, they literally have never had the number one scoring offense in my life. I turned 40 in October.

So it's never happened. They've been second twice. And that's basically it. And so it's a foreign concept. Ben Johnson just talks about explosive plays. The article details brilliantly how the first four weeks of last year, they basically had no running game. And they spent the entire by week being like, this is what we have to do. This is what you guys are messing up.

These are the attention to details. And then from the by week on, they were the best running. team in football ended up as the second overall rushing team in the NFL the first four weeks sunk it their offensive line is very good sure there's questions at left tackle dalman retiring at center is an issue but they brought in bradbury and they drafted the kid out of iowa they drafted another tight end sam roush they kept my guy cole come at they still have coles to level like they want to be at the forefront of putting two and three tight ends on the field so if you go small we're going to run on you and if you go big we're going to pass on you. Like he is, Ben Johnson wants to be at the forefront of that and the play action game. And I just truly believe that by the end of the year, we're going to say there is a big three of the young, big-brained coaches in the NFL with Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh. And Ben Johnson's just in that group. And I think it's going to be Ben Johnson, Sean McVeigh,

Kyle Shanahan. And then you give those guys great quarterback play and great quarterback talent. They just win big. Yeah. Like that's just what we've seen. So Caleb Williams with that coach, I do think that's their ceiling. Now, again, Dallas thinks they can be the best offense. And they have a shot. Buffalo, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Detroit, the Rams. There's a lot of teams who think they can be the best offense in football. But I firmly believe the Bears are in that group.

I seem to look at year two with these coordinators, these young wizas, man, year two that really pops, right? You know what your team is good at, you know what team is bad at, and you spend all off season working on those things. You come into year two, and everyone just so much more confident. Imagine where they are now just entering this, week of training camp compared to last year. They're just way ahead.

I think they're going to have a great season. They said last year in training camp, everything about Caleb Williams was pre-snap, getting the play call out, getting to the line of scrimmage, not having procedural penalties and false start penalties. Everything was about pre-snap. This training camp, they said it's all been about post-snap. So just in terms of what you're talking about, he was like, I didn't spend a lot of time reading defenses last year because he was so worried about everything that was happening

pre-snap. I just, there's a very, very high ceiling associated with this team on offense. You're going to be fine, Greg. I know. You're going to be fine. That's why they play the preseason? No, don't play the preseason at all. Practice fights.

It's good video, but Jeff Schwartz wants it banned. Team no fun over here. It's next, the first things first. Predictions week is coming up. I'm so not concerned with how I'm going to dominate predictions week. I'm not even wearing a tie in the front. That's how easy. It is for me to pick winners.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every division, Super Bowl winner. Every division, Super Bowl winner MVP. And then of course, me and Nick have our head-to-head against the spread contest. Correct, yes. Three years in a row?

Well, listen, I won last year if you include the playoffs. No, no, no, no. No, no, no. Last year. Just hold that in the regular season. It's time now for winners and losers. First up, winner. Yeah, a sore loser, okay?

Fights. Tensions flare, Cowboys and Saints joint practice. And you would think this would be universally condemned by both parties. Brian Schottenheimer, Cowboys Head Coach, I have this quote correct said, we're not taking bleep from anybody. Yeah, you're not going to take it. But they had 13 fights yesterday at practice. That feels like a bit above average. It's a little bit.

It's a little too much. Look, I don't mind guys going at it. It's a part of the game. but the joint practices, it gets, it tends to go a little overboard because they're not your teammate. You don't have to go in the same locker room with them. And so there's a point, there's a line that's drawn when it is your teammate, where sometimes there's not a line that's drawn when it's. Just a suplexing dudes.

I think that's starting cowboy safety. Like, the thing with the joint practice fights is that guys go into it, I think, looking to fight for coverage. One, they just, it's your physical aggressive. But two, like, some guys do want to, like, get thrown out of practice. So I'm... Oh, yeah, get thrown out of practice. I will say this. Like, I don't mind the fights.

Like, I want to see, especially my line and my big guys. Yeah, fight. It's so tiring. I'm not going to do it, though. I'm in the back. I'm, like, way in the back looking like, oh, they fighting over there. So you're the guy that puts his helmet on and runs over and kind of is like... Yeah, I'm definitely putting the helmet on.

You have to be seen on the film that you're, like, near the pile. You don't have to get in the pile, but you'll put the helmet on. Let me, let me, let me, full disclosure. I'm that guy. I'm going to put my helmet on, grab Danny, because he's the closest one to me, and we're going to be talking like, yeah, man, what you told? You got to be, we're not really doing anything. What are you doing for dinner tonight?

Someone punched. How are your kids? Yeah, no, that's different. Okay. That's different. But no, I'm not joining. You ever win any bites? I'm like one in one.

I started a big one in college, a big one in the NFL. That one in the NFL didn't go very well. I got tackled the ground, helmet fell off. It was not great. Yeah. All right. Let's get to a loser here. Caffeine.

Dan Campbell said he's cutting down his coffee intake from a gallon to a half gallon a day. And said he also can chug a cup of coffee before bed. I believe that. Yeah, I could have coffee near bedtime. I'd be fine. I don't drink a gallon a day or half gallon. I mean, a couple cups a day. But eventually caffeine sort of wears off.

That's why he doesn't drink a gallon a day. So you're hyped up. Wasn't he the one who said he used to get like four expresso shots at every? Yeah. So he's doing this plus the expressor or just the, oh, boy, though. It's Dan. I've been around Dan. I've been in the locker room with Dan.

But he cut back though. We should congratulate him on half a gallon now. Hey. New year, new Dan. Yeah, there we go. It's like a mellow Dan Campbell. I don't know if I thought. His doctor was probably like enough.

I don't know. Yeah, right. I don't know if he can mellow out. That's, no. Yeah, there's no version of him. There's no version of him. Winner. Incentives.

Von Miller made his Cowboys debut yesterday. War number 40. When asked what he will have to give to get the jersey from fullback Hunter Leipke, Vaughn said, a lifetime supply of chicken. Either you guys ever have to buy a jersey number or have one purchased from you? No and no. Okay. But if I did have to, I mean, I wish the guy that I had the jersey,

I could offer him some free gas. Do we have any details about like, is it like anywhere he wants to eat at? Or is it like he's giving him the chickens? What kind of chicken? Is he giving him the chicken like the whole chicken to prepare himself? Like, hey, you call, hey, I want some chicken today. Like, can I use your credit card? Like, I hope it's Popeyes.

Then he got a guy. Yeah, it's the best. It's not like my kids. Oh my God, it's the best. Luser. Greg Jennings. Rain delay in Cubs White Sox. Cubs and White Sox fans coming together in the rain, tarps off,

tarp on the field but shirts off. Boy. Little Green Bay sucks, champ. That's how it brings the north side and the south side together. You got audio on this? I'd love to hear this. Little harmony. I can tell you how it sounded.

Green Bay sucks. Green Bay sucks. This is, this is amazing. You know how much that rent is? You know how much I pay for that rent? That's what Packers fans like to say. Three. That's what Packers fans like to say.

That is free rent right there. Scoreboard two and one against you guys last year. The O.T. is next. This is why we can't let you win.