First Things First - Chiefs QB room not ranked 1st, Stafford & Caleb 2025 outlook, Will Eagles & 49ers have success?

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

Watch clips on YouTube! Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FIRST THINGS FIRST YOUTUBE CHANNEL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (00:00) Ravens QB group ranked above Chiefs group / Guaranteeing a successful Eagles season? / Rashee Rice’s suspension (25:46) Time to panic about Matthew Stafford and the Rams? / What are the chances the 49ers miss the playoffs? (41:29) What do we need to see from Caleb Williams in year 2? (51:08) Do the Chiefs have the best QB room in the NFL? / Expect a big year from Jalen Hurts? (1:05:41) Ceiling or Floor? (1:19:43) Colts QB competition (1:24:05) Final thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York, it's a show that all of a sudden has a huge video of Jalen Hertz just lurking behind the gym. 500-inch monitor. Thank God. Now it's gone. I mean, wild. Did you put that up? I'm sure. It was the hot Nick, no question. My goodness, gracious. How are you guys? Well, you know what? We're on vacation next week and the week after that we're going to three hours. Yeah. I will spend the entire people like, where are you going on vacation? nowhere. I'm in the lab. Getting ready. Were you going on vacation?

I'm not going anywhere. I'm in the lab getting ready. I'll be all 22. It's predictions week after that. What are you doing? Getting my predictions. The correct answer is, you're going to casino money.

No. Rollin some diet. On the French Riviera. We're supposed to be in the lab. Listen, the lab comes with me. I'm working all the time. I'm starting,

I'm getting doing media beefs in the morning while you guys are making bacon and eggs. Have you seen this? A3. I had to have a whole. I had to talk on the phone with Florio today. He was so mad at me. He was like, if we're actually friends, you have my number.

I'm like, okay. I call your bluff, sir, and I called it. Florio, getting calls from Nick Wright. Overrated. First hour, first things first. Today, QB room grades, why Mahomes lost the top spot and the stat that I honestly felt horrible asking for. Then why?

Then why? I felt horrid. Ask Troy. I said, Troy, I don't want to do this. I said, it's nasty work. Now you're playing Troy. It's horrible. Would Josh reject you? I didn't want to even bring it to Josh because I didn't want it to jeopardize their relationship. But Troy, I was like, you know what, if this burns us so weak. Wow. Sorry. Talk about the teams. Wait until you see the graph. I have no idea. You're going to be like, wow, that's nasty work. Wow.

No, okay. Meanwhile, the Eagles position group rankings came out. Lots of top five, including the quarterback. Thank you. Michael Scott meme. Thank you. And finally, including a quarter of another round of the most optimistic and pessimistic segment in all of sports television.

Sealing or floor. Coach Manjini will be here to defend his title while Brew looks to get out of the basement. I've been second both days. Nixon, the base. For nothing for me. I'm runner up. I'm like the Chiefs.

Oh, okay. and then complaining that you're not the best. Today will be something. We start in the room where it happens. The Ravens have the number one QB room, according to Mike Clay's positional group rankings, which do take into account backups. Oh, yeah.

That's what this is about. But that's what, it's a QB room. Sure. Really? I mean, I know he does, but really, I mean, for some teams it matters, not for the top of the league. But go ahead.

This is one of the few. rankings that has Jalen Hertz top five. After Tannen and McKee's great game. Ravensville's Chiefs, Bengals, Eagles, commanders, chargers, 49ers, bro. Number eight. Nick, Nick.

Mac Jones bump. Buckingnears and the lion. I bet you it is a little Mac Jones bump. A little bit. No, I do think the backup matters a slight bit. If you're injured or whatever. Is this disrespectful to my home? Since we were talking about the backups,

Let's just, the Ravens, Bills, and Chiefs all have backup quarterbacks who've started a bunch of games in this league. So that part's a, it's Cooper Rush for Baltimore, Mitch Trubisky for Buffalo, and Gardner Minchu, and then your guy, Bailey, Zappy is the third string. Yeah. So we can't say this is about the backups, because I think most people think Gardner's the best backup of those three. You know what I mean? Not in the whole league, but I'm saying between Tribisky, Bruce Guy, Guy, Cooper Rush. Sure. He wasn't saying to do what Dak Prescott did.

other people were saying it four years ago. I have no recollection. So here's the problem. And this is a problem we run into every once in a while. Okay. So how do they win these games? Because here's how the Chiefs did in all the other rankings. And we'll show it to you.

So, all right, running back 31st. That's a problem. Wide receiver above average, tight end really good. Offensive line, exactly average. Defense of line, above average. edge disaster, linebacker, cornerback, good, not great, safety disaster. So how do they win? Harrison.

Harrison. Why are they in every Super Bowl? Harrison. Why did they have the best record in football last year? Because when you look at Buffalo or Baltimore, which overall roster ranked number one, Philly, who we're going to talk about in a bit, what you see is a couple little holes and then a bunch of second, first, third, eighth, sixth. So, but the answer is everybody knows how they win.

Yes, Andy Reid's great. Listen, a great coach. But they win because they have a good team that plays fundamentally sound football, never, aside from the Super Bowl, gets blown out. And if it's close late, that guy will win you the game. And so, yes, do I think the idea that the chiefs have the third best quarterback room is disrespectful to Mahomes? I do find it disrespectful to Mahomes.

Look, I am obviously the Ravens guy on the show. I love Lamar, but this is just wrong. You got to have... That's why you guys have time. I'm the Razzie guy. This is like, and I hate to use this comparison because Nick has made this one, and he is not the James Hardin of the NFL. However, it would be like saying James Hardin is better than Steph Curry.

James Hardin has some phenomenal. Now, Steph has, too. But Hardin has had some phenomenal regular seasons. A lot that have been better than Stephs. But in the playoffs, he hasn't gotten it done. Again, I'm not putting Lamar in that category because he's obviously been improving recently in the playoffs. But still, until he gets over the hump.

And I actually think, Nick, I've said Mahomes is the best I've ever seen at the quarterback. And I think he'll go down is that. I don't have it off the board that Lamar could actually get close to him historically or catch him. I mean, Lamar is clearly getting better, it appears, and if he starts racking up some Super Bowl champ wins,

then he could have a resume. Right, right. Exactly. But right now, you just can't see it. And I was going the same place Nick did. But in eight of the 10 categories, the Ravens were ahead of the chiefs,

all right, including quarterback. So if Lamar is indeed the best quarterback, then there's no reason. they shouldn't win the Super Bowl this year. Like they should run away with the Super Bowl. They were overall number one. It says they had the best roster.

And I think Mahomes, even as his numbers aren't great, and I've harped on that too, his numbers lately haven't been great. He is the straw that stirs that drink in Kansas City. Even to me, the defense benefits from him. Because the defense knows, man, if we just keep it, you know, don't get run over, don't give up a ton of points, that guy's going to win. the game for it. And that's what he does.

And just to add to that, I think the defense benefits from the fact that other teams panic a bit in their own game plan and the own thing they do because they feel like we can't give the ball back to them. There's different factors of this. Again, none of this applies to Philly, which whooped the chiefs in the Super Bowl. That's a separate discussion. But when we're talking about the way the teams that they play year in, year out, either the AFC divisional opponents or the other AFC contenders like ball.

Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati that they seem to play every single year and typically at least one of them in the playoffs. They also, you can see them tighten up a bit against Kansas City, and that's a reaction to him. Go, KW. I can't wait to see this graphic. Yeah. And then can I ask, I don't know what the graphic is. Can I make a request? Nasty work.

Can I make a request? I feel horrible. I feel hard. Whatever the- Hold on. The market just moved. Brew's got a check out. I'm rich. Can I just make one request?

Whatever this graphic is telling us. I hate this graph. Statistically. You don't hate it. No, but you have to make it. So hold on. Just tell us that you believe it. Oh, I definitely believe it.

And I hate to say it, you believe it too. Let me hear it. I don't know what it is. It's not nice. Okay. A lot of these articles that, that we've been reading in every quarterback ranking since Mahomes has been the most successful quarterback in the last few years. They're always trying to poke holes. And if he's the most

successful, why don't you have him at number one? And they kind of always point to the same statistic that we've kind of cooked up. The deep passing. The deep passing. So this is air yards per completion last year. Bo Nix was 32. Gardner Minshu was 33. Mac, Jones was 34. Patrick Mahomes was 35. Oh, I don't hate this graphic. Okay, good. I mean, that's, that's the, when you, when by week five, you're without your top three receivers and you're on your third different left tackle, you, you by necessity,

have to turn into a dink and dunk offense. And it is a testament to Mahomes malleability that even when this was the facts on the ground that he had to work with, they found a way to be as good as they were. Like I, this is concerning for players who've never been at the top of this category. So unless, again, the, unless people believe, and I don't think anyone believes it, Mahomes is not, you know what, he hurt his elbow and didn't tell us about it. And he just doesn't have a strong arm anymore. Like, when we have seen someone be number one in this category, the moment, the

moment they come into the league and very good in this category two years ago, then I feel like you know, or I guess now it's three years ago, the 2022 season, then I feel like you know that was situational and not because he himself called it abnormal. Yeah, yeah, but don't you agree, Brew? Like that was the way the Chiefs had to play offense in order to thrive in order to win games, but it's not because Mahomes can't play a different way. Yeah, I mean, Mahomes, because of his history and what we've seen him do, you don't overreact to something like that. Go, K, W.

What's your take? You had to make the, what's your take? The wide receivers were banged up. I think a fall to Mack Jones levels was a steep fall. So, right, but what's, no, but we know that, but what's the, what's the? I need to see this. I need to see him climb this. see him throw the long ball. I am not willing, I'll say it. I think it's probably an oversimplification

to say the wide receivers were injured and that's it. You had, you actually add the, you add the left taxes. No, I think it was less about wide receivers being injured and more about not having time to throw. And more about, and more, to me, that is a first cousin of the, he got hit more last year than any year of his career took more sacks. I think it was, I don't trust that I'm going to have clean feet and room here, so we're just going to do that. I think to me, that that's as much as, if anything, of the wide receiver. I think that's fair.

What trumps that, though, is that they kept winning. Like, that's the bottom. And it'd be one thing if you could point to other parts of the team that were just awesome. Like if they had a Derek Henry or Saquan Barkley, and even defensively, they didn't have a ton of all pros or pro bowlers or whatever. Then you could say, oh, they're kind of carrying Mahomes, but he still is the engine to that machine. The same thing. But the numbers aren't good.

No. But they're still won 15 games and got to the Super Bowl. Everybody likes quarterbacks that win games and don't put up huge stats. Again, give the tape. If you smile at the camera and tip, you're. If you believe it, give the take. I'm trying to host the show. No, you're not.

You're promoting. When it comes down to it. I'm just glad that we've established that that is important. But here's the difference. Of course. Because you're talking about your guy, Jaylon, Hurts. He can't help him. The difference is if Mahomes had never put up the circus numbers, then we would, even with the three Super Bowls, we would not regard him as the best quarterback in the league.

And if Mahomes and just like Brady earlier. And we're about. to show the Eagles positional rankings. If the Chief's positional rankings, instead of being littered with 31, 31, 25 was littered with first, second, third, that would also change it. So it is the similarity is they both won under the circumstances they were dealt. The differences are everything else. That's it.

Defending champs stacked, ranking in the top five in six different positional groups. Quarterback, running back, wide receiver, O line linebackers, and quarterbacks. Got the third best Super Bowl odds behind the Ravens and the Bills. Brew, are you guaranteeing a successful Eagle season? No, because what is success? That's a great question. To me, success is a Super Bowl. For them or for anybody?

For them. They have to, success is winning the Super Bowl. When you are the defending champions, when you have those rankings that you just showed, you have basically your whole team back and essentially everybody is in their prime. Well, whole offense. back. The defense, they lost a lot of guys. Right. But a few of the guys you expect to actually improve in the defensive

backfield. So I'll define it this way because you may say, oh, good season, 12 wins, the NFC championship game. Make fun of them more. I mean, what is going to make you happy at the end of the year? That's success. And if they get to the Super Bowl

and lose, they are not going to be happy. That's it. So for them, success is a Super Bowl. I think they have a good chance to do it. I certainly will not guarantee it. We've only had two repeat champions this century. So, no, I'm not guaranteeing a successful season. They'll be really good in the playoffs and all that.

Getting to the NFC championship game would be. How? Because it would, here's the argument for it. Let's say, let me paint this scenario. Sure. They turn the offense over to J. and he cooks. He throws for 36 touchdowns.

They are the one seat unlike last year. They get back to the Super Bowl and they lose a duel to Josh Allen. Move the Chiefs out of it. You know what I mean? Because that's like a new rivalry thing. Yes, of course, in the days and even weeks after the game, they're devastated. We had a chance to go back to back. But do they consider it success that they are now an undoubtable?

Is that a word? Proven commodity of, we are the class of our conference. Yeah, I about that. We've been to three of the last four Super Bowls. Our quarterback is that guy. Like, to me, you know, so yes, they would be sad. I agree. Look, when we talk success, I think a player on the worst team in the league,

after a few weeks after the season, when he's chilling on the beach with all his millions of dollars, he's like, I'm saying, you know, like, I get that. I'm talking about on the football field. And the goal is not to be the class of the NFC. Sure. The goal is to win as many Super Bowls as you can. And after you've done it, I just don't think losing it is going to satisfy.

That makes total sense. But like if they lost to the Lions in the NFC championship game, I don't think it, again, I don't think they would bring out the mummer parade out there, obviously. But like, we are just consistently in the mix. Like as a Patriots fan, like, we're always in the mix. Not like the Steelers are in the mix. For young people watching, the Patriots used to be good. Like they had a wrong stretch of really, really good. Well, it's a few gap here.

But just constantly, we swim up here. Like, I think that. But the question is have the Eagles graduated to the Chiefs level? Which is, because what Brew is saying, let's pretend last year the Chiefs weren't going for a three-peep, which kind of compounded how. painful that loss was. Last year for me, if the Chiefs go to and lose the Super

Bowl this year, it will not feel like success at all. I don't care that they will have gone to four straight. You know what I mean? Because so the question, but the Chiefs right now are the only team I view that way. You don't think the Eagles are that way? I don't think I... They've been the two of the last three. Yeah, I, so that's

what I'm saying. The question is, have they graduated to that level? Because I don't view the Ravens that way. I don't view the bills that way. So let's look the Rayman's. I mean, I get it that Lamar's hasn't been to a Super Bowl. But if they get to the Super Bowl and lose. It's a wildly successful year.

Yeah, it's like, you remove. What if they don't beat Mahomes? Like, say Josh Allen beats Mahones or somebody else beats them. And then they beat, they're going to have to beat somebody awesome. I mean, I get it. I just think, and I agree, I'm, the Chiefs are at the top.

I would put Philly at that tier. That's what I'm saying. So you're not quite where Philly is, but they're on that tier where it's like, I bet you if you ask Jalen Hertz. Oh, yeah. What is going to be a successful season? It's the Super Bowl. Well, at first he would say success is defined by.

And then he would maybe answer. Can I get before, can we show that graphic that we showed? Okay, but we got careful. We have to have time for your. I understand. This will just take a second. Okay. The graphic we started with.

This is to me also, because those first three things, four things are offense. This is when, and this was actually one of the things I had said, that Jayland's mom, when she and I had that conversation with the Super Bowl, said, I was like, listen, did I say your son was the weak link of the Eagles offense? I was like, yes, I was like, but that sounds worse than it means if my belief is their top three in every other thing on offense, and they don't have the top three quarterback. This is like a, like. Did that soon, sir?

It was a good conversation. I doubt. It was, no, but it was, it was, the reason I even said that it was. I was being accused of having said some things I hadn't said. So I was like, I did not say that. But I did say this and let me explain it. But this is KW. When you get frustrated at some of the jail in conversation,

this graphic is what is used against him. Like, yeah, he's really good. But he is not like at his position, the pieces around him are better in comparison to their position. My argument to that is you disagree. You think he's. make Sequan better than that Sequin Barclay had a historic year

thanks to Jalen Hertz. The same reason I think Derek Henry had a historic year. Thanks to Lamar Justice. I think that's fair. I think that's on the open mark. Aaron's like, nah, it's probably why. I think that's a, I don't know if I agree with you, but I don't think that's a ridiculous.

That's true. With Sequin and Jalen, though, as much as I respect Jalen and he helped, I would say it's because of that offensive line. That's true too. Yeah. For Seekine. And it's possible they all help each other.

They do. Yeah, except for A.J. Brown is just like. I hate to say it, you're on timeout. You cannot say that on sports television, that it's a symbiotic relationship between the whole team. That doesn't play here, my friend. You can't do that. It's like saying Voldemort. You can't say it.

They all help each other in the Eagles team. I have no idea what you're talking about. Exactly. You know what Wilde is trying to do? Wiles is just trying to make sure Denzel wasn't talking about him. There's no chance Denzel Washington was talking about me. Well, then who was he told? Or me.

If he said there's some muscular guys. Or bro. Let's keep going. He said skinny guys. That only leaves a couple of guys. Is it even a couple? I think Denzel would like me. It doesn't seem like it though.

But go ahead. Let's keep going. If you didn't hear this before we get to your other internet beef, Denzel Washington was upset about what do you refer to this? Opinionaires, which I kind of liked. Yeah. And he said there's some skinny kids out here. And we went through who's skinny and who's moderately used. and who's moderately young in the opinion game, Brew.

You are skinny. He's seen cowboy brew. The young part. Not great for me. Yeah, I don't know who it was. Yeah, I don't know. Let's just keep going. Jay Mack.

J. Mack. He's not skinny, though. No, he's ripped. And he's always showing off his guns. Is he ripped? Yeah, he's ripped. Shout to J-Mack. Ripped is a little strong.

No, he's ripped. That's why he won that Cobbric Kye thing for Halloween for the gun show. Yeah. He goes to the Lakers games in uniforms, which is ridiculous. Jay Mack, yeah, I said it. Wow. Ridiculous. I would do that.

In like a Lakers jersey. To show off his little guns. That's awesome for the record. We end today's A block with a curious story. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk questioned the timing of Rishi Rice's suspension in a quote, I'm not saying, I'm just saying article. Title, this is the real quote. Why is Rishie Rice's case being delayed?

Question mark. Nick, you thought this was unscrupulous by Mr. Froyo. You hashed it out online and then over the phone. Yeah, listen, he and I talked, and in Mike's defense, what Mike is saying is, hey, very important people in the NFL, not league office, but in the NFL, are the ones saying, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but this sure is fishy. So that's news. You know what I mean? So, and Mike and I talked, I vehemently disagree with him, but that's, you know, so be it. Here is the short version of the take.

There is no time, because the argument is they are delaying the suspension either to placate television partners or to help the chiefs. Bruce said yesterday, and I think a lot of people agree, I think the chiefs actually agree with you and not me, that they'd rather it be immediate. You know, and I said I actually like that he's going to be their beginning. You think it's bad for him, but it's arguable whether delaying it actually helps the chiefs. The thing that is being presented as, but look at all these national TV games. And this is what I said to Mike, and this is what's so frustrating. Guys, the schedule's out there. Find me the pocket of games that Rishi Rice could be suspended that doesn't conflict with a bunch of national TV games.

So we'll just show it to you real quick. First quarter of the season, which everyone's like, oh, the big YouTube game, our huge game on Fox, Sunday Night Football, and then CBS game. Well, yeah, league TV partners don't want them suspended for that. What's the next four look like? Because it is the Chiefs. Monday Night Football, Sunday night football, kind of banal game, and then back on Monday Night Football. What's the next four group of games look like for the Chiefs?

Biggest game of the year on CBS, another 430 game on CBS, a non-script game, and then Thanksgiving against the Cowboys, which he now likely is going to miss. And then the last five, where because of flex, you don't really know what all these are gonna be, but two guaranteed prime, time, including Christmas Day. And here is the last and most important point.

And this is what I said to Mike. There's not a single person that plans on watching the Kansas City Chiefs this year. That's like, wait, Rishie's not playing, not watching the game. Like, it's a silly conspiracy theory for anyone, but it's laughable. And I love Rishie Rice, the player, that he's going to impact a television number. And so peddling it on the world's biggest football website, like I said to Mike, things bad for the league. That's it. Nice compliment.

World's biggest football. I think pro football talk is read by everyone. I think it's really important. That's all. It is odd, though. And I agree with you. No, I agree with you because I said I don't think it's good for the chief. Yeah.

But I don't understand why it is delayed. I don't understand. Can I just tell you real quick? Taylor's album? No, it's delayed because the NFL wanted to implement a stiffers. The NFL and the NFLPA could not agree. on the length. Because the NFL wants it to be longer

than the NFL PA thinks is correct. So because of that, it has to go to this judge and the judge said the first date I'm available is this. So like it's honestly, if you really dive into it, it's because, at least according to the NFLPA, the league wants a harsher penalty than they think is fair. So that's what it is. He should have put that in an article, though.

You can call a judge like getting a doctor's appointment? You know, that part, I don't know how it works. It's like, I'm not. Okay. Stafford's weekend plans next on FS1 and Fox Sports Channel, serious like Sam. It involves throwing a football. That's good. That is good.

First thing's first. Now available on YouTube podcast and a once-a-month injection. You can do it yourself right at home. Check it out. We get a chance. Stafford's back or Stafford's back. Get it? Because he has back injury.

Oh, I got it. Thanks, bro. I didn't get it right away. Through 60 passes last weekend, but that's all the. Rams have seen from the 37-year-old as his recovery has been unpredictable. Sean McVease has one thing that goes the other way. Here's his update now. He's going to work out on Saturday. Hopefully it responds a little bit better and then I'll have more information for you guys then. The aggravated disc is it more a functional thing or is it

pain you dealing with? You know, I think probably a little bit of both but it's, you know, we're trying to get our hands around this as well. So I would give, I don't, I don't, I don't really have much more information other than, you know, think, you know, we're trying some different things that are hopefully going to be in alignment with getting him back out on the field. And I'll have updates for you as we go. Okay, worried, confident. How are you feeling after that update? Well, listen, to be clear, you know, I had a nice fling with the Rams last year. It doesn't mean I have any. Oh, here you. It just doesn't mean. What are you dumping? He's about to dump him. What do you mean? It was a, it was, it's like a summer girlfriend. Like it doesn't. It doesn't.

Camp girl. Yeah, exactly. It meant a lot to them. It meant a lot to them. Well, I mean, you know, that's, someone always gets hurt for me. I set the expectations very clear from the beginning. So here's what I will say. Obviously, if instead of Matt Stafford voted on by, you know, 50 NFL intelligence is a top five tier one quarterback,

instead of Matt Stafford playing quarterback, they have this guy playing quarterback, which is post-niner Jimmy-G. Post-Nin-Niners Jimmy G. That's terrifying. I'm just saying. That's not good. However, and this is what I want to posit to coach. Because remember Stafford, you know,

wanted more money and then wanted to be traded, all this. Is it on the board that part of the negotiation to get him to come back in addition to money was like, hey. And training camp? Oh, what a take. We're going to. We're going to have your load be. very light and we're not going to have it. We're not going to put out there, you know,

you're on the Roger Clement's plan. So, you know, you're back and this and it went, but just we'll ramp you up at the end. Is it on the board that this is the rare NFL injury that is being overplayed when we see injuries underplayed all the time because they had told him from the beginning, you're not going to have to go full go at training camp. And I'm not even, I'm not saying that's what it is. I'm asking if that's possible. I would absolutely say it would be on the board in a discussion with a guy. However, in watching this press conference, I'm a lot more concerned than I was the last time we talked about it. And because of the way he answered, so him saying that it's not just pain, but it's also pain and potentially function, that to me is very

different because when we talked about it, it was yesterday, if it's pain, there's pain management things that you can do to kind of progress through the season. So that's one component of it. and then him following it up and saying, we're trying to get our head around this and understand it. I forget the exact terminology. That's a concern, too. The fact that they don't, I thought they completely understood where things were, and this was just more of what Nick was talking about,

the progression of things. And then a third thing to say, we're trying different things. What does that mean? So he's not responding to what they've been trying, Is this, are they needling the back? Is it something, you know, they're going to get some different special cure? Like, what, what is, what does that mean? So those three comments to me take that a little bit more off the board, but it could definitely have been that initially of, yeah, we're going to rest you the whole training camp.

Don't worry about it. You'll be ready to go for the season. Coach, it means Nick's Rams are in trouble. How are they my Rams? You love the, we had a whole skit where you dumped the Eagles for. It was around the same time you were in love with Patrick. You don't love anybody in the West. You don't.

In the EFC. Yeah, you don't love Darnold. You're not going to love Kyler. And Lord knows you're not going to love Brock Perrin. He did love Kyler for a while. No, that coach you're mistaken. You are, can I tell you something? Your memory is usually great.

You're mistaken on this. I don't know. I've never loved the small quarterback. He's too short. He's too short. You're too short. You're talking about the video games. No, you're mistaken.

He's not sure. He's not. He's not. He's a matter. I get it that Matthew Stafford is everybody's all American. And that's everybody right there, those two. All right. Well, it's healthy.

Let's face facts, guys. Let's face it. Oh, here we go. He had a whole offseason to rest and relax. And his back is aching. He can't play. Then he goes out and throws 68 passes against the wind or wherever that was. It feels like a lot.

And, well, it shouldn't be a lot for starting NFL quarterback. But he didn't pass after that. He couldn't practice the next day. The next week. And he's 37 years old, like, which Brady has changed, everybody's thinking. But 37 used to be considered old and still is for some guys. So I just think, I do think he's going to play the majority of the season. I could even be wrong about that.

But I just think he's going to be limited. He's not going to be as effective as he has been in the past. He hasn't these last three years. He has had his moments and his games and his stretches, but he's not like, they're not, they're not a threat to win the Super Bowl. To get to the Super Bowl. I saw a scary tweet from Cameron De Silva. I didn't pull it. I'll just read it to you.

Oh, man. That's the tweet? Oh, man. It's longer. Oh, man. Jimmy G just threw a hospital ball to Devante Adams. Luckily, guys aren't hitting because Devante might have gotten decapitated. And then this video popped up.

Yeah, guys. So this is not going to work, Coach. No, of course not. So the question I have for you is, Oh, geez. It's too bad his body betrayed. No, bro, he's healthy. He was flinging it back in San Francisco.

I know, but this is not going to work. So coach, if this latest weekend throwing session with Stafford goes poorly, more poorly than they expect. And they're watching Jimmy G. Like, man, I don't know about this. And he's got injury history as watching first things first. Bruce says his body betrayed him. What's their next move? Next man up?

Or do they look in the open market? Like, oh, you know who we should try to grab? Yeah. Look, first of all, I think there's a lot worse backups than Jimmy G. There are significantly worse backups than Jimmy G. And he can get you through the early part of the season. The problem with him is you don't know how long he's going to be able to play, even if he does play and he's playing well.

This is where a team like Atlanta could be really well positioned. And that's why you hang on to someone maybe longer than you necessarily want to, because at the end of training camp, teams are going to be looking around and someone could easily get hurt in one of these preseason games, a starter could get hurt, and they say, okay, well, we don't want the whole season, we're not going to give up on the season.

What do we do? And then you look for the next best opportunity and the teams that are sitting on someone that's a viable starter and collectively, most the league feels that that person could come in and at least give you a chance to win. Those guys have tremendous value.

Especially, Kevin O'Connell, who, you know, obviously had success with Kirk Cousins in Minnesota, came from Sean McVeigh. I don't know that they run the exact same thing, but I assume, you know what I mean? Yeah, there's a lot of tons of carry-off. Right. And so there wouldn't, it's hard to bring in a quarterback, you know, this latent, totally new system and everything, but I would assume, again, I haven't been the best move they have. And, but there is, it wouldn't, for Kirk, he has succeeded in a system at least very similar to Sean McVeigh's

if not the same, you know, Kevin O'Connell's on thing. So that's what I was going to say. I was going to say that you can't go into the year with Jimmy G. Like, let me put it like this. If they, if in two weeks the story is, oh my God, Matt Steverts having back surgery and he's out, then they have to move for a quarterback.

They can't, and the quarterback that would move for is Kurt Cuss. You could go into the season with Jimmy G. But the guy who's behind Jimmy G. You want Arch Manning next year. Well, the guy who's behind Jimmy G hasn't played a snap, right? Now, you guys think they're with Stafford healthy, they're contenders. Yeah, in the NFC, yes. As much as I like the Kirk Cousins move, if Stafford's not healthy, they're not contenders.

They would be good. They win a lot of games, but we've seen Kirk. Yeah, but there's value to just making the playoffs. Like there is. I understand. You know what I mean? You'll be the best you can, especially with the moves they made. But they would not be an NFC time.

I agree with that. All right. Let's head up to Northern California. You need a tier one quarterback for that. Kyle Shanahan had said this 49ers team reminds him of his 17 and 18 team. Uh-oh. A quick memory refresher. Those 17 and 18 teams stunk.

Weren't that good? Take a listen. When we got here in 17, we knew we had a roster that we really had to completely change over. We did it all with draft picks. And to me, you know, you don't hit on every draft pick, but we hit on a lot. And we got some difference makers in there. And that kind of became the core of our group from 19 all the way till now. We got a group of players that are difference makers, some borderline Hall of Fame players, too.

But when you look at the rest of the roster, that's what reminds me a little bit more of 17 and 18, that we need to add a bunch of youth. We need to get guys who are younger, you know, so obviously we can afford to keep some of these players, also having to pay a quarterback and things like that. So whenever that happens, you do depend on young guys. My whole goal is that we get better throughout the year and find a way to hopefully get into those playoffs. and once you get into those playoffs, then you've got a chance at anything.

More from Kyle Shanahan. We'll play the full interview. Drew, listen to it. Chances Sanfran misses the playoffs. Well, look, if the injuries, I mean, that's been their problem under Shanahan is injuries. You can look at their record. Some years are great, go to the Super Bowl,

then a bunch of guys get injured. They win six games, five games, whatever. I'm disappointed in Shanahan. because to me it sounds like he is completely trying to lower expectations, which I get because you do have significant injuries. They don't have any receiving court at this point. But he's trying to lower expectations. But to compare him to 17 and 18 is ridiculous.

You got Fred Warner. You got Nick Mosey. At that time, you did not have a quarterback that you had Nick Mullins and C.J. Betherd. So you got a quarterback, you believe. And when Jimmy G. went there is when they took off and started winning. You know, so I just think he's clearly trying to lower expectations. I think in the back of his mind, he believes we could actually be pretty good if guys are healthy.

And I get it. Their injuries are a serious issue. I just don't really like the lowering, to me, the blatant lowering. I don't like it either. I love it. Yes. I ask. Well done, Coach.

Well done. Exactly what he should be saying. So he is, he is. You do agree with me that he is lowering them. A hundred percent. He is establishing with the fan base and he's establishing with the ownership that this could be a really rocky season. So that's the way you go. You under promise and you over deliver.

And they're in the type of situation where they had to go and replace a lot of guys defensively. So they're actually the young, their team has the biggest discrepancy in age between their offense and their defense. So their offense is significantly old, older, and their defense is on the high end of the young side. And there's going to be some growing pains with that. But by him lowering the expectations different than what Cam Ward did yesterday, where he tells that I were going to be a top 10 offense. Okay, that makes no sense. I don't know if you saw it today.

Cam said top five receiving court. Oh, why wouldn't you? Exactly. So, but they could easily miss the playoffensive. And when you've got a quarterback on his first big contract, I talk about this all the time. That guy tries the press. And typically they don't hit anywhere near where they should because they're trying to be someone more than they need to be. You saw a bit of that last year.

When before the year he was like, I don't want to be like Brady and step on their throat in little games. And then he was throwing the pigs late games. And that did happen. You see that. So that's an issue. We talked about the wide receivers. I used to be out. who knows what's going to happen with Jennings.

You've got the older offense. Can CMC come back? What happens with Trent Williams? Got Sala back, but it's a young group. So, yeah, there could be a lot of problems this season, and he's doing the right thing by lowering the expectations. So now if it hits, everybody's like, what a great, you did a great job with this group. Incredible job.

Congratulations. You won't apologize to me? Someone has to make the playoffs. Here's the thing. Hold on you want to apologize to me. For what? Nick is going to do predictions week. We're going to have a vacation week.

Then we have predictions week. And you're going to come on for predictions week and say, NFC West. I don't see anyone making the playoffs. No, that's not true. Again, that's a terrible thing about predictions week. That's not going to happen. However, I might have two teams make the playoffs from this division.

No way. We'll see. We'll see. But as I said a moment ago, would you like to apologize? For what? You know for what? Because you, to the audience, then privately in your office mocked and and scolded me for the scorching hot take a few

weeks ago of yeah, I think the Niners can miss the playoffs. And now their coach is like, hopefully we make the playoffs. That's like that guy tiny. I think he is, like I said, I don't think, I don't say disingenuous. I think coach is right. He's just lowering the expectations thinking if we're healthy, we're going to pop. He's not saying that to the team. And the point he was making is they had to turn over a lot of the personnel in those years,

but they hit on a bunch of guys and those guys all emerged. The other point that he made. So he was saying positive things while also setting the tone externally with just bring down what you're. He also kind of out of nowhere for the first time ever was like, yeah, and we had to pay the quarterback, which was the, I thought that was. He earned his money. That's fine. But I mean, but nobody asked him that. He just, he added these like, yeah, draft bunch of new guys got to pay the quarterback.

Interesting stat to commercial break. This century, teams with the easiest schedule, which is 49ers have, have missed the playoffs, 62% of the time. But is that a good stat you think? I don't know. Because like, what is that? Interesting stat to break. It's a new segment.

New segment. Caleb versus the bill. Sunday night on Fox, first time we'll see the Bears QB. And the first time we'll see Ben Johnson's offense in Chicago. We'll start with you, coach. Which, caveat. Coveot. Coveot.

Clean pocket, getting out, no false start penalties. Don't say that stuff. Give me the good stuff. That's exactly what you're. Give me the good stuff. And he didn't say clean pocket. He was saying, no, operation. Clean operation, no, free snap, penalties.

It's so funny that you said that because I was going to start with, I don't think that can be the only thing it's gave down. Yeah. Because he's not a right. The fact that he had a whole year of pro football, typically in this first game, and this also isn't the first preseason game. So he's had the extra week of practice, which to me great, no problem with doing that because you want to have the most impressive debut as you can have. He's not a rookie, so it shouldn't just be a function of no false starts, you know, no pre-knit penalties. He's got to go out there and there's got to be some good drives.

There's got to be some impressive drives and some things where when the game's over, the team's, is saying okay we understand why this guy was the first overall pick in the draft got to see some his teammates have to have to see that there's got to be some elements of that and then in terms of him operating the offense he's got to be in control of the offense you've got to you've got to feel like he understands it and he can operate it at a high level and to me that's what's going to be acceptable we can't come out of this with another ten excuses of oh it's as a second offensive coordinator it's a really complex complicated system.

No. No, that's not going to be okay for this debut. Yeah, I look, and I alluded to this a week ago, like we're treating Caleb, and including myself with kid gloves. Like what second year number one pick who has an upgraded offensive line, great wide receivers, solid running backs, a great play caller? are we like, well, your operation's got to be smooth. You know, get them in and out of the huddle well

and, you know, don't have any pre-snap. But like, the bar for now is so low. Now, I want to see him throw an accurate ball. Everything coach said is right. We have seen freaking six-round picks. We saw Shadour Sanders, who's hardly even getting reps in Cleveland, go out there and look good in the preseason. He should.

I'm not going to write him off if he doesn't. But he should go out there. there and ball. So I totally disagree that we are treating Caleb with kid gloves. The bar is so low. He's the only that Bo Nicks and Michael Pinnock's. I'm sorry, Bo Nix and J.J. McCarthy are not playing this week. I noticed it wasn't in the show because, of course, it wouldn't be in the show.

When Caleb didn't play in week one, it was, what are they hiding? What are the bears not want us to know? No. That's not just out of the blue. But again, what have been the reports on J.G.? J. McCarthy. They haven't been glowing. Nobody cares. And I understand one guy's number one pick. One guy was, I

understand that piece of it, but they're both second year players. It's more of a combo But JJ had. Jay J.J. McCarthy hasn't played. Right. He hasn't played. Right. And Lowe Nicks played well. Okay, so let's talk Drake May. Like there is and again, I'm not trying, I'm not picking on anybody. My, but the idea

that Caleb is getting a kid glove treatment when in my eyes, he's getting the exact opposite. Like, he is getting every single thing is being scrutinized. Did Ben Johnson not play all of the Bears starters

because that's his philosophy? Or was it to protect Caleb Williams? Like, we know, we did a whole Courtney Cronin article about the good and the bad. That's like kid glove stuff. He is, and now, you guys are both

saying that, well, I won't write him off. But if he's not good in the preseason game against the bills, it's going to be highly concerning. That to me is too much. I didn't say it would be highly concerning. I said my expectation is that he'd go out and have control of this offense and that there would be flashes of why he was on Mahomes Mountain before he was ever even a member of the national football league.

So if you put your, if you're on Mahomes mountain, then show me an element of Mahomes. First of all, I think he will. second of all, it should be noted he didn't put himself on Mahomes Mountain I did. That's right. Like that he didn't pick his team to go to the Super Bowl. I did. So yes, but all I'm saying

and I, yes, he is getting scrutinized. I will give you that. But he should be. What second year starter are we saying man, just don't have any pre-snap problem? Drake May. You know, Drake May didn't look great. Yeah.

And he was the third. And he has a. Drake doesn't have the surrogens. And he has a. Drake doesn't have the surrogens. surrounding, you know, people that... No, he has an established coach that everybody thinks is good. As opposed to been, like, that's the thing.

He doesn't have the receivers, the offensive weapons. I totally agree. The line, the running backs. I just think the... And he didn't play all of last season. Drake may play the start of 12 games. Okay, that's not 17. No, that's true.

But I think the discrepancy in the discussion surrounding Drake versus Caleb is instructive. And again, I actually like the Drake May pick. I mess with Wilds because it's fun, but I think Drake May is going to be a good player. Yeah. I'm not trying to go after Drake. But both of them had, if you look at their numbers,

rookie years. If you watched the games, some very encouraging moments and some wildly like, ooh, very raw rookie moments, both of their coaches got fired. Here's a take no one has had. Drake May failed Gerard Mayo.

You know what I mean? Drake may, like the, And people have hinted at it with Caleb, like, oh, well, why is he on a second coach? Like that we've had those discussions here. And so I understand the first pick is not the third pick, but Drake May wasn't the 33rd pick. If Drake had a play where he was trying to throw it away and it turned into a fumble, if Caleb did that, I agree that the knives would be a little bit sharper for Caleb. And I actually thought Drake skated on that because I hated that play. Vrable did.

But the expectations, even as he was the third pick, were no. was viewed as a sure-fire superstar. I agree. And Drake was like, okay, he's got some talent. And that part, I totally agree. And by the way, my expectations for Caleb are still higher than my expectations for Drake. I know that maybe that's unfair to Drake. I'm simply saying we are, it is after that, and then I'll stop rambling about this.

After that five, you know, he threw five passes and that bad play. Yep. nobody is saying game two of the preseason is a referendum on Drake May and I would argue that Caleb not playing was less damaging than

that one play from Drake that you hated that much and so I just I guess I viewed those two quarterbacks very differently coming out because of Mahomes Mountain well that was part of it I saw Drake May as being more of a project than where

Caleb is is. Me too. And yeah, at the end of this preseason game, I don't think the punter should have to punt. Oh my gosh. Nobody has ever been more damage by someone else's quarterback rankings and a leaked text message. That's not great. I mean, it's, coach, can I show you a new play? He didn't say it. He thumbed it. Don't text it. This was last game. This is Baygent on a fourth and one that they score on a pass to Maurice Alexander. Do you think schematically or just really strategically, I should say, that Ben Johnson is going to take his aggressiveness that he had with the Lions and bring it over to the Bears.

And are we going to see that in the preseason? You will not see it in the preseason. What you see in the preseason is watered down as much as you can water it down. Do I think he'll bring the same aggressive philosophy? Absolutely. I think that's how he excelled. That's what he believes in. Philosophically, that's how he's built.

So you're going to see it. Now, he's going to have to temper that down as he's throwing everything at Caleb. He's got to figure out what does Caleb do really well and then do a lot of that early. And then each week, as he gets a little bit better and used to the system, add, add, add, add. But what I do think you'll see in the preseason is those fourth down. Like you saw the Browns and Shador's game. Remember they had the fourth and one early? Like teams are going to go for it on fourth.

In the preseason, some of it is it's either an extension. training camp. You may go into a whole game and just blitz the whole game because you want to try a bunch of different blitzes. Or you may go for it on every fourth down, even though that's not your philosophy. Or you take a shot on second one, even though that's not your philosophy. It's just some break. It might be smart for the Bears to on fourth down make sure they punt because I don't think he's going to get a lot of work during the year. Bears Bill's 8 o'clock Sunday on Fox. When we're back, we're talking about QB rooms and Jane Dales. Is he going to get better? Also, coach is

to try to defend his title in one of the hottest segments of 2020. Oh, right. Bye from New York. It's the show it's getting ready for flag football season. Coach and I are talking a little shop. You guys were privy to it. He already was doing it. You guys were privy to it.

It's like, here's my no huddle package in flag to have it. You guys were both like, wow, that's interesting. What are you saying? I think, yeah. Wild's up for coach of the year this year. A lot of a lot of bugs. Rainy.

You know what happens a lot to those. Are you the rainy coach of years? My mind. I got a trophy, you tell me. Everybody got a trophy, right? Not everybody in the league. Second hour, first things for us. Today, does Jalen Hertz have to succeed this year?

Because an ESPN article said his whole team is very good. And what does success even look like? We kick it around, man. Meanwhile, will two time champion, Coach Mangini defend his ceiling or floor championship to a motivated Versaard, or will Nick Wright play spoiler? Stay tuned to find out. But right now, we're starting with quarterback rooms.

It's the starting quarterbacks and their backups. Ravens have the number one room according to Mike Clay's positional group rankings. Ravens, bills, chiefs, bangles, eagles, commanders, chargers, 49ers, buccaneers, and then the lions. Nick, do you want to go first year? I think coach should go. Coach, do you think it's strange to have Casey outside of the top spot for QB rooms? Yeah, I tried to figure out how they came to this. And as I was sitting off, I'm saying, okay, so Mahomes is here.

And then the difference between him and Josh or Lamar, how big is that? And now the backups have to be able to offset that gap between him and the next two. I'm like, all right, well, who are the backups? And so I pulled the backup. Coach is going to do a backup floor. Can we please, can we please pull the ball screen? Yes. So I pulled the backup.

We have the best backup too. Mid August. So when I lived at it, they both, so both Minchu and Trubisky have a pro bowl. A pro bowl. They both have a pro bowl. But when you look at at Minchu, he's got the better passer rating. His TD to interception ratio is actually better. His, his yards per attempt are a little bit better.

So I would, I want to, I don't mean interrupt you. Go ahead. I don't think this is about the backup. I like it, though. I think they're saying Mahomes isn't better than Josh. Well, that's obviously wrong. So taking that part as being wrong. Yeah.

And saying, so then it was about what's the gap between. Did you go third string? And there is no gap. Zappie is starting games. I was going to go third string, but I'm saying could that margin of third string really be enough to offset the difference at the top? So I don't know who put this together, but I strongly disagree. I'm in the same way.

much as I like Lamar, you can't have anybody number one except Patrick Mahomes. Wow. What a way to get us ready for producing. Why? Why? Because you're a Lamar guy and Josh won MVP. Mahomes is the best quarterback in the league.

But if Lamar's numbers are crazy and Josh is MVP and Mahomes is winning, there's an argument. Lamar has got to be at his best in the playoffs. That's what it would. Mahomes is actually at his best in the playoffs and in the moments

where even in those playoff games where they need it, third down, fourth quarter, whatever it might be. And Lamar, while improving has not played his best. Lamar's last game was bad, right? No, his last game was good, but he made two killer

turnovers. How about the Holmes' last game? It was in the Super Bowl, though. That's a difference. There was still better than the other. Right. If you're in the Super Bowl, it's still better than... Both of their last games were depressed. Lamar's getting penalized. his last game.

No, no, no, he's getting good eyes for when his last game was W. Okay. Still. No, no, but that's,

you got to beat. It was the division. Would you put, like, until Lamar or Josh or Burrow, beat starts beating Mahomes, I just don't see how you can put them ahead of it. But here's the other,

the other problem is, the other problem is, it, it would be one thing if this same ranking looked at the chiefs like, actually as crazy as it sounds, they are carrying Patrick

because they're just stacked. But when you look at it, they think the Chiefs are pretty, here you go, Hubbs, mid. They are in fact like if we show, they think they have the second worst running back room in the league. Then above average

wide receivers, really good tight end, exactly average offensive line. Slightly above average defensive line, bad edge rushers, pretty decent, linebacker corner, horrible safeties. So again, if you remove the quarterback from it and say, this is a team, that to me is a team you would say, okay, it's about a league average team. Right. You know what I mean? They're not, they're clearly going to really struggle to run the ball. But their overall roster

ranks fourth. Because, right, that's my point. That, that is my exact point. Not trying, I'm not trying to argue about actually just like the methodology here. Did he look at the overall roster It's kind of like when you do like every game, but like it doesn't equal up to it. Yeah. So no, this was the way they did overall roster was not like a mathematical. Everything counts the same. Yeah. You know what I mean?

No, it's you gave, they gave extra weight to quarterback. But my point is the only way for this roster to be a top four roster in the NFL is if you have the best quarterback in the league. Because the, and by the way, that's exactly what happened last year. Like, and so the, and this was my frustration in some of the conversation. Last year and it's now carried over. Someone explained why they're winning. Because two years ago, the defense was extraordinary. Two years ago, they had an argument.

They had the best defense in football, and then in the playoffs, Mahomes turned it on. You know what I mean? That's what happened. Last year, they had a good, but not a great defense at all in any metric. And early in the year, they couldn't force turnovers. They're, you know, near bottom of it. of the league in turnover differential. They had a good defense.

All we did was talking about the defense. No, I mean, look at their numbers. Yes, they had a, they had a absolutely. You love their defense. No, no, no. Two years ago I said I thought they had the best Steventon football. Last year they had a good, but in, there was no case to be made. They had the best eventon football last year.

Not in points, not yards, not sacks, not in turnovers. It was a good, but not what the Ravens did at the end of the year, not Philly throughout the year or any of that. And the question was, and the running back broke his leg and their backup running back was unemployed. unemployed and they didn't have, you know, a 25-yard run all year. How did they win? They won because in the biggest spots their quarterback played great. And now they're saying they have a top five team despite having, according to their own rankings, pretty average roster. It's because the quarterback like that.

And the Ravens had the best roster according to this. Yes. And beat the Chiefs in 80. This is a look ahead. This is this year's roster. Yeah. Right? This is a look ahead.

So it's not totally like... I bet it was similar to last year, though. Yeah, I mean, this is how... Yeah, no, wild difference in... But it includes the draft and people who left. Yeah. Meanwhile, the defending champs, their roster is stacked. They are ranking in the top five and six different position groups.

Quarterback, running back, wide receiver, offensive line. Linebacker, number two, and cornerback's at four. Brew, do you want to go first here? Coach, you want to go? Sure. Let's go, Brew. Brew wants it. Brew wants the ball.

Does Hertz have to have a huge year? No. Okay. Like, he just won the Super Bowl and outplayed the best quarterback in the league. And with Super Bowl MVP, it has been the two of the last three Super Bowl's and played great in both of them. Like, he does not have to have a great. Now, with all those accolades or accomplishments, he doesn't. But, so my answer is yes and no.

Yes, he does. does because of the narrative because he is viewed as the weak link of the team. I don't even think they, I was saying that last year. I don't think people view him as that now. I don't think they view him as the driving force. I don't think they view him as weak. I don't think they view him as bad, but I do think to your point earlier, they believe the running back is better, Sequin Barkley.

They believe the offensive line, the defensive backfield, the receiving court are better. He was five, though. I mean, the quarterback is in here. Yeah. How much as that is from Daner McKee? But he still was lower than lower than the other position. So I just think if he, I won't feel this way, but if he plays poorly this year and they're 10 and 7,

get beat in the first round, whatever, or missed the playoffs and he plays poorly, a lot of people will go at him. Like, see, I told you he's not that good. So for that reason, he does need to play well. But I'm just saying the things he's accomplished and it's so. first what five years as a starter are like pretty incredible. So anybody looking at it, I think really with a smart eye would say, okay, he had a down year, but that doesn't mean he's still not a franchise quarterback. The thing that's going to keep the Eagles out of the Super Bowl is if he

starts to press to be something that he's not. That's going to be the problem. If they if they decide they're going to justify or they need to prove the narrative wrong and turn him into 35 times a game 40 times a game he's going to throw the ball so if he and seriani decide they have to justify you know their their beliefs that to me is going to be the biggest problem with this team he is he is good where he is they can win the super bowl with the way that he played it doesn't have to change. But now there's going to be pressure, just like when he signed his contract. What happened? Fifteen interceptions and then another, what, six or seven fumbles. So he has two, yeah, so six fumbles. So he has 21 turnovers and they go to the supernatural funk.

If they do it, if they decide to do that, which there's going to be pressure on to do it. And the receivers are going to pressure them to do it too. That's what's going to keep them from winning again. Yeah. You want to go KW? Is there any part of what we've seen from Jalen Hertz's demeanor or public comments his behavior that makes you think that he's going to want to air it out and do anything other. No, that's... I just have...

That is so far off of my worry list. So I actually... I actually agree with you that that is, that I'm not worried about that. So how do you guys explain the first four games last year? Oh, I think that they...

30 times, all four games. Yeah, but I don't think that was because... I don't think that was like jail. No, no, no. We're saying two different things. Coat, he is saying, are you worried that they could be winning, doing, with the exact same playbook as last year, and then Jaylen's going to pry, close door to see around and be like, I need to get my numbers, guys. Like, he's saying he's not worried that that's going to happen. No, but I think there'll be wide receivers on the sideline, reading books.

And I think there's the way it goes. There'll be pressure on the head coach, and there'll be a lot of, like. But here's, hold, and can I ask the question? So my worry is a different one, which is what I am. am really interested in, and maybe we won't find out this year, but at some point we will, which is, what if things change for Philly in that, you know, they are relying on a lot of unproven pass rushers, right? They lost. They have the great young secondary. Jalen Carter's awesome. Zach Bonn had a great year. A lot of, and that's four great players, you know, of your

11, a lot of question marks elsewhere. So let's say the defense has a big drop like it did two years ago and Sequin misses a month. And it's like, oh, wait. Now our best path to win is we do have to throw the ball. We do have two star receivers. Our defense is allowed on 27 points a game.

We do have to throw the ball. What I'm interested in, at this point in his career, can they win that way? So what I have said is, I even said Jalen can't do that. I have said Jalen hasn't done that. And I'm not, he doesn't have to me,

I know you don't love it. The pedigree previously that makes me just fully confident, oh, obviously he could. He just hasn't, you know, needed to. He's done it here. Right. And so that's to me the more interesting thing is if they can't do it the way they did it last year, will they be able to have another pitch?

And I don't, they have the receivers for it. They have the O line for it. So then it's usually, and it's the tricky part about the counter argument to that is. It's a little bit like Mahomes graphics, where you can put up anything like, you know, Mahomes, when the moon is in its fourth phase, he's always winning. It's like Brady. Jalen has won so much.

There's a lot of graphics. Like when he throws the ball 30 or more times, he actually has a pretty good winning. Yeah, but it's just not as good as. Yeah, from the pocket. It was like him, Lamar, golf, and burrow from the pass-er rating from the pocket. But he's always winning, and they're throwing, you know, sparing. Sparing. Yeah, so it's not a huge sample.

Coach, two years ago when he had the second and MVP, he did throw it 30 times a game. I do think there's a threshold where, like, I don't really want him throwing it more than 30, like 32, 35 a game. I don't want. But I think he can handle 28 to 30. Through 32 times against the Steelers game. Remember the famous quote when he says, that way you wanted to see. Yeah, but also. 32 times against the Steelers because they were going to shut down Seekwan.

And he came out with his big chain on. I don't think he can't do it one off. I just don't think he's shown that he can do it consistent. And again, everyone should remember, the whole reason the Steelers game is famous is not because the media was complaining. It's because his all pro receiver was like, you know where we need to get better?

Passing the ball. Great leader's leaders there for failing to keep the team. From the ceiling to the floor, via ESPN's NFL nation reporters. We get the best of times and the worst of times. Starting with the Broncos. Both made the playoffs as a rookie and get this. After a joint practice with the Cardinals,

linebacker Mack Wilson had this to say, you can get your reaction. Take a listen. You can tell he definitely made the year two week. Just just comparing, you know, what I saw last year with him as a rookie and he was out there making no look throws and stuff. Oh, yeah, oh my. Sealing's 11 and 6.

Floor is 6 and 11. He's out here making no look throws and his opponent. are saying that he made the leap. Yeah. Okay. Who's first? Your first, of course.

Well, listen, I know what the easy answer is. They won 10 games last year. Yeah. Why can't they win 11 this year? And the answer is, because I don't think, now maybe I'll be wrong, I don't think this year they're going to be able to play more than half of their games against starting quarterbacks who are either no longer in the league or not starting quarterbacks. I don't, I think the defense should be very very very.

good again. My trepidation on that is the two big defensive additions they made are great players who were available in large part because they've been so injured the last couple of years. The two Niners guys. Hufanga who was unbelievable as a rookie been injured since then and Greenlaw who since he popped his Achilles has dealt with a bunch of injury stuff. However, I think they have a brutal schedule and a brutal division and I do not like their weapons. We were talking the other day about, you know, teams, you know, average, above average. I think the Broncos weapons ranked near the bottom of the league.

Now, we'll see what the R.J. Harvey, the rookie running back does. I know Sean Baiton likes him. But I could see, not only could I see this team, I anticipate that this team is going to finish last in the AFC West. So while I'm not calling 6 and 11, I think 6 and 11 is more likely than 11 and 6 for everybody's Super Bowl darling, the Denver Broncos. Yeah, I'm not calling 11 and 6, though I think it's possible. So I'm going sealing.

Okay. And Sean Payton, we all know, is a very good coach. You get mad at some of the things he said. But even with Russell Wilson and then I can't remember who replaced Russell when he benched him. They won, what, seven games? So I do not see them fall into six. You're right about the injury possibilities with Greenlaw and Humphunga. But those guys are really good.

And if they, that defense was great last year, so you put them in there if they're healthy, they're going to be good. I agree with you on the weapons. That's why I've been a little bit, you know, iffy on them myself. They should be able to run the ball with Dobbins and Harvey as a tandem. And I, look, I don't love Marvin Mims and Cortland Sutton and all that. But I'm starting to believe just from obviously it was good last year, but from seeing what the reports and what everybody's saying about Knicks,

It's not just the praise, but I mean, like that linebacker and other players that have faced him are saying about him, not the pundits. I'm starting to believe he's not going to have a bad year. He's going to have probably even a little better year than he did last year. So I'm going to go sealing on this one. So when I looked at the end of the season, I looked at the last three games, and Nick's had nine touchdowns and one interception. But then when you look at those games, they lost to the Chargers. And then after they lost the Chargers, they lost the Bangal. OT. And the only reason they made the playoffs is that Kansas City didn't play anybody.

So now they win that game big. They go to the playoffs and they get blown out by Buffalo. So really, those three playoff teams at the end of the season, they couldn't win any of those games. When they were 0 and 7 last year, coach, against AFC playoff teams, unless you include the Chiefs' backups as a playoff team. Yeah. And then when you look at it, too, is Bo Nicks the fourth best quarterback in that division? Definitely. Depending how you feel about Gino. Now, I do like where they were defensively, and I like the players they added. There could be a question about, you know, injury, all that sort of stuff. But all that being said, I'm going to ceiling.

I thought you were going to floor, come. Hold on. He said, he made a case for floor. Hold on a second. I love coach. He made a case for the floor. There is no rationale that coach won that. I obviously.

He went through the schedule. He's like, bang, bang, bang, the chargers, this and that. Did you not think he was going to say so I'm going to floor? That's the whole design. That's how it did. That's why. Direction. But you got.

You forgot. You forgot Jared Stidham. Yeah. There's no chance. Jared the javelin. Exactly. Everybody knows. He's the guy replaced Russ.

That's what he said. You still got a point. That docked me. Drew. Drew, Drew, I want you to know. I don't know whyles knew he was on camera.

I knew I was on. I was hoping to inspire him. He looked to the camera and rolled his eyes. It was just a lot of like. Did you get that Gianna? I rose. It was just a lot of like. I don't know.

Give me one thing. I was winning last week. I want less Boyd Mayweather. This. Right. More. Knockout. You won a one punt.

Boom. Okay. Punch line. Raiders. Gino. Pete Carroll. Gentie. They're stacked and the only team that our producer has a tattoo of,

if you don't count Jack and Gingerail as a team. Wait, what's that? More of a partnership. ceiling 10 and 7 floor 5 and 12 brew it's your chance Jameson and ginger ale he said he said

oh how's just for your punchline here we go their big acquisition that Nick Wright thinks might be the best running back in the league this year have fewer yards last week

in the preseason game than me now he's back I had zero all right he had minus one All right. They are there. The run game, I know that's what Pete Carroll wants to establish.

That line obviously had trouble last week, so I don't know what. Gentie, I like Gentie. Yeah. All right. And don't say I don't. I like Jentee. You just can't run behind a bad offensive line. All right.

And Gino, Gino, Gino. All right, we know what Gino is. No. I mean, we, I think he might be the worst quarterback in that division. All right. Defensively, they don't, to me. They have problems on defense. They have been bottom, forget top 10.

They've been bottom 10 in the defense, 25 or lower in defense for like the last five years. One time in the last five years they've broken it. Yes. So they're not going to be able to stop people. I don't think they're going to light up the score. Brock Bowers great, but nothing on the outside. So I just think the floor, they're the worst team in that division. Great.

Period. So they bring Gino in, and Gino has 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions last year. He fumbled the ball nine times. Remarkably, he didn't lose any of the fumbles. Was one of the worst in the league in Red Zone in terms of interceptions. So that was problematic. Gentie, I'm not as high as Nick is on Gentie. I don't know if he can carry the load.

Just mad that they didn't throw him the ball in college because they wanted him to get the rushing. They wanted to the Heisman. I hope he has a long, successful career. We'll see how that works out. the defense though they haven't been good defensively but Pete did overhaul the defense he replaced six guys six starters so that that should look different but but all that being said I don't think they're going to be able to do it and I'm going floor all right 10 and seven predictions week spoiler number two is my pick for them wow so it's not more likely that they hit their ceiling I think

they are hitting their ceiling the combination of the division's easiest schedule a massive upgrade at coach who is a badass out there wearing receivers gloves at 70 some years old. Yes. Did you not see where he was on the very respected coach fight power rankings? He was in the top 10. Oh, He's 73. Exactly.

Old man. He doesn't have energy. All right. All right. Thank you. So here is the concern is defense. The hope for them is Pete Carroll for 40 years has been just manifesting good secondaries. and if he has the right personnel, great secondaries.

He takes care of that. Max Crosby takes care of the pass rush, and then you hold on for Deer Life against the run. It's not a Super Bowl formula. And then to, again, just go back and watch some of the decisions Antonio Pierce was making and some of the throws Aiden O'Connell was making. The upgrade from those guys to just average.

And Gino's above average, and Pete Carroll's well above average. All of that, plus the schedule, ceiling for sure. Put the Chiefs on upset alert against the Raider. Maybe. There we go. Listen, let me add one other point before you, before you figure it out. Here's another thing.

This is over when Bruce said, they get the biggest benefit you can get, which is they get the Chiefs, one of their two Chiefs games, week 18. The annual backup game. Did I just get one point even though I cited Red Zone Interception steps? Exception steps. How did I not win that? You got two points. I got last.

Someone has to be last. It's like Justin Herbert in the division. Someone's got to be third. Someone's got to be third best. You're the faux knicks of the... You should win this one. You have to win this one. No, you're going to penalize.

No, you have to win this. You have to win it. The Prince opens the season against the Panthers. Is this a step towards the 11 and 6 ceiling or the 5 and 12 floor? This is a year. must win for you. You got it. You can be eliminated from the whole week.

If they hit the floor, Trevor's a bust and it's over. He's obviously not a bust. It's obviously not over. They have what some people are calling the Otani of the NFL and Travis Hunter. They have two running backs you like. Brian Thomas Jr. was the best rookie wide receiver

last year. Their defensive line is littered with number one draft picks. And Liam Cohen, I love Baker, the best we've ever seen Baker. That's true. Was under Liam Cohen's stewardship. They also have one of the softest schedules in the league. Last place schedule in, or second, sorry, third place schedule in that division. And I think my projection for them is 10 and 7.

There is no chance they go five and 12 unless Trevor's body betrays him. 11 and 6th seal. I am going floor. Jeez, man, you don't even believe that. And I think that division is going to be surprisingly tougher. Then what's the bad division? All right. It's not a great division, but it's going to be better than people think.

I think I don't think this is going to work out with Travis going both ways. And I think at some point, it might actually become a distraction. Distraction. He wants to go both ways. He wants to play full-time both ways. But people seeing it's not the best thing for the team. He's not excelling at both ways. He's there.

Yeah, he's playing both ways, but he's not really impacting the game. And so I think that could become a distraction. And like I said yesterday, I'm kind of high on Tennessee. You're just a kid. Right. No. And I think Houston is going to be tough, obviously. And I think Indy, outside of their quarterback, they're pretty good.

And if they can just get a quarterback that doesn't make mistakes. Hold on. What's really good about it? They're always with Anthony Richardson. They're Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson. No, I say outside of quarterback. Well, I mean, that's kind of a. No, but if Jones can go in there and just not make mistakes, that's a team.

That's not really his thing. Yeah. Thank you. That's not Anthony Richardson. It's neither of their thing. It's Jones. They both love mistakes. You know what?

I'd be honest with you. Once you started to sneak over to my Tennessee territory, I got a little bit. I like the support. I told you yesterday I liked the Titans. Look, I love the conviction that they had to move up to get Travis Hunter. I think that that showed a lot of strength organizationally to do that. But I don't know if you can move up for a positional player the same way that you move up for a quarterback and think that that player is going to have the same effect on your organization.

So- They didn't move up for a positional player. moved up for two positions. Two, well, okay. So really, when you're four and 13 to make a move like that, when you need a lot of players, you don't just need a few players, great, you had the conviction. I don't think it's gonna be able to do

what you hope it'll do. And next year, I think Cleveland's gonna be really happy. So I'm saying, wow. Coach with one point, Nick with two points, brew with the money ball, All. Brew wins it in like an indie championship because he came one first and two seconds. Brew wins the week.

He had two first. I had two first. But he had a third. Did he? He had a third too. No, coached for seconds and a first. It's just the rules of the rules. That Titans thing really worked out for me.

Quarterback one emerging for the Colts this weekend. Well, I hope so. Colts open QB. competition has turned into a game of not it. Neither Daniel Jones or Anthony Richardson have made this an obvious decision for the coaching staff. Take a listen. We'll work through that. You know, we got obviously had today. We got a preseason game. We got some practices next week. And we'll work through it. Again, I don't have exact timetable on it, but sooner than later it would be nice. So there's a bad sign that this is still a competition. Listen, I think this is an indictment on

Daniel Jones. Like they paid Daniel Jones. Everything they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, done. Their actions have said, we really would rather not go into the year with Anthony Richardson as the starter. And then the preseason comes and three plays in. He gets lit up and gets hurt. And so every opportunity for them to be like, hey, it's Daniel Jones's job has been there. And they won't say it. And from what I understand from reading the reports is because at training camp, Daniel Jones, and this is going to shock people, Coach. You know who he's looked a lot like Daniel Jones? I mean, you know, like, you know what that, reminds me of the guy who's played quarterback with the Giants, what was his name?

So yeah, I don't think this is an example of two quarterbacks who are just, you know, killing it and they can't make the decision. It's quite the opposite. I disagree. With a quarterback competition, you want to go through as much as you can to try to get to the right decision. You know, the old adage, measure twice, cut once type of thing. And unfortunately, I don't think that even a week from now, they're going to be happy with either decision. I don't think anybody's become the clear-cut favorite. And I would imagine

organizationally, the general manager really wants Anthony Richardson to work out. And Daniel Jones was brought in as the safeguard, you know, if it doesn't work out or if it continues to look like what it looked like last season. And for him to go in this first preseason game and get lit up not knowing where the protection is and where the hot blitzer is coming from, to me screams that there hasn't been very much progress. But I would bet that throughout the course of the season, we're going to see both those guys play because they're going to be disappointed with both of them.

But organizationally, they desperately, desperately want Anthony Richardson to work. It's just not working. Yeah, I think it's a terrible sign that Jones has not taken the position. I agree with Nick in that. I think they wanted Jones to come in and be the starter and not Bridge, because I think I agree with you in that. I think ultimately they want Richardson to pan out, but

they know he's not ready. They felt he's probably not going to be ready this season. So we got Jones there and then Anthony can keep learning and developing and maybe next year. No, I get it, but he was a complete project and has only played 15 games. And the fact

to me that Daniel Jones cannot definitively beat out a guy. Injured Anthony Richardson. Injured, completes 50% of his passes and only played 15 games and already didn't have any experience coming out of college is an indictment. Like, I don't think Jones has even looked like the Jones with the Giants as bad as that was at time. He did have moments with the Giants. They thought, well, if we get that Daniel Jones, then it'll work for.

You also have a player there that you want to, let's say that was the plan to bring Daniel Jones in. You don't want to totally shut down Anthony Richardson. Okay. So if you come in and you say there's a quarterback competition and then a week into it, you're like, oh, Daniel Jones is a starter. Anthony Richards is going to look at this and say, you never gave me a legitimate shot. That's fair.

So then he could easily be like, okay, you don't care. You know, you're not giving me the chance that you promised me. And that could negatively impact the relationship for a lot right or wrong. You think that'll be the problem. Like, let's say Jones does end up the starter. They don't announce it to a few days before the regular. season. Do you think that would be a problem with Richardson or he'll accept it? I think it's going to be less of a problem because then you could objectively say,

we gave you every opportunity to win this job. He objectively beat you out. And then as a player, you're like, you can handle that. You're not happy, but you can handle it better. Does Purdy have his favorite Avenger? What's the story? Just CMC highlights. Oh, okay. Well, that about does it for us. We're headed to vacation and we leave you with this bit of news. Pat Riley getting a statue outside of what I refer to as the Staples Center in Los Angeles. All those statues, it's perfect.

It's, it's, look, congratulations, Pat Riley. Well, it's fantastic coach basketball guy, all that. We know that. It's too many statues out there. It really is. Y'all haven't covered the team like I had to. I mean, it's amazing. It's just hard to get around.

It's hard to get into the arena. It's crazy. He got.