First Things First - NFL Pro Bowl ending, Cowboys taking pressure off Prescott, Will Justin Herbert live up to the hype?

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

(0:00) NFL ends Pro Bowl, How much pressure is on Dak Prescott & Cowboys? (25:29) Seahawks eyeing Super Bowl repeat, Expectations for Justin Herbert? (40:03) Will Odell Beckham Jr. have an impact on the Giants? (46:40) Key for Lamar reaching MVP form, Are the Bears overhyped? (01:04:05) How can Jayden Daniels rebound this season? (01:14:18) A problem the Raiders haven’t named a QB1?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York, it's the show that is antagonizing Sean Payton. Let's go. What did you do? I said Boehner seems to be better throwing a ball down the field. It's completely more passes down the field. I suppose they got an NFL head coach to tweeted us. Were you on Twitter a lot during training camps when you were the head coach? I'm not on Twitter now.

Okay. Yeah. Definitely wasn't on when I was a head coach now. Yeah, Sean Payton kind of calling you out. There we go. Yeah, but you're standing firm. Yeah. I don't need his approval. Okay. I don't know. I mean, he said, he said you got to do the work. Do your research.

Go ahead. Throws over 20 plus yards, Bow Nix, ranked 25th and on target percentage, 21st to completion percentage, 19th in QBR. And he throws about 20% of his passive and on the range range range. That helps, no? All right, no. I mean, yeah. It is what it is, right, though. I don't do my research.

Open and shut case. We'll begin the show with Jeff Schwartz, Eric Mancini. And thank you for watching. Sean Payton. I'm Danny Parkins. Today, the Seahawks new owner. The Seahawks new owner has addressed the media, and he is confident that there are more Super Bowls in their not too distant future in Seattle. We know coach loves talking Super Bowl in August. Meanwhile, not many no doubt starting quarterbacks playing in the preseason finale this weekend,

but Justin Herbert is starting tonight. Does he still have something to prove in Mike McDaniel's new offense? And finally, I'm not the only one on the Bears hype train in case you ever noticed. An NFL writer is saying that they will be the most exciting team. to watch this season will the Bears offense live up to the hype number one coach that's good do you have like a secret pen name that you write articles on Benjamin Solace yeah Benjubon so let me also known as Danny Parkins yeah I mean honestly that's smart guy smart guy great mind you've always said that I always

have I really always have let's begin today's show though in Dallas where the vibes sky high greatest offense there is We got coach a mug with the acronym. Also though, head coach Brian Schottenheimer's second season, Todd Archer writes that an 11 player leadership council has taken pressure off of quarterback Dak Prescott and put other players into key roles. Here's more from Dak, he says, you know, that was purposeful.

I couldn't be the whatever you want to call it, the chief leader in there because I'm going to speak up. I'm going to talk. I know what I know and I'm not going to be hesitant to say it, but we need other guys to take that lead. And Kenny Clark, or Sean Gary, and Tyler Smith have been those guys to step up, and they're doing a hell of a job. So we'll have a question or discussion about whether or not we think this year will be different for Dallas. But I'm also just kind of curious player perspective, coach perspective.

We'll start with leadership councils. Is that something that you do that you think has real value? Or is it something that's like I can tell the media and it's good for appearances? No, no, absolutely. We did this in New York. And when Brian was there, what, what? What you're trying to do is the locker room is a pretty diverse place. And there's guys coming at the world from all different perspectives,

all different parts of the country, all different socioeconomic. So many different sort of things that the way the guys are viewing what's happening. And what you want to be able to do as a head coach is you can hear from your leaders, but to be able to get, whether it's offensive guys, defensive guys, special team guys, younger guys, older guys, a nice mix. to try to make sure that you're taking to account all the different ideas and concerns that could come up and putting together the best possible plan for the group. Now, they may not always agree with what you're doing,

but it also does give you an opportunity to explain to them, which they can then bring back to the locker room, hey, this is the why we're doing it. And I think it's a great idea. I think it's important for the players to form their own leadership outside of the country. coach having to do it for us, right? Like, you want the players to be cohesive in the locker room with one message, and the leadership council sort of helps that. Plus, there are times where we want to talk with coaches, and the best way to do it is in those meetings, right? There's

things that we want to address, and the players can do that. And so I like seeing when players come together. Plus, the coach's point, like, one player in every position group, the diversity is pretty wide on that. And people in locker rooms, you know, we always come together. It's one place I love about the locker room is that we're all together, you know, as a unit figuring this thing out together. So leadership councils are great now. do you win if you have a great leadership council? No, but it's good to have that in the locker and at least have that base when you start a season. And so much of football is communication.

And there's communication on the field and there's a communication off the field. And for guys to be able to express their opinions and for coaches to be able to share their thoughts as well, it gets over. You can avoid misunderstandings. You can avoid unnecessary problems. And ideally, you're putting. those to rest before they become bigger issues and distractions. It also lets a coach have a pulse in the locker room. I firmly believe coaches should leave that to the players. It's our locker

and we are in the locker room together. But coaches have to know what's happening, I think, a little bit for the run their team correctly. And this is a good way for you guys to understand what's happening in the locker room without having sitting in the locker room listening to us talk about the team. And I always wanted the guys who talked the most in the locker, who had the most to say, the guys that maybe were the that bucked the system the most. I wanted them on the leadership council because I wanted them in the meeting

to say what their concerns were so it wasn't, hey, I'm pissed off about this or I'm upset about this and they're doing it down the line. Like let's get it out in front, let's have a conversation about it, let's put it all on the table, and then we can move forward

as opposed to someone being frustrated talking about in the locker room and becoming divisive. You have an opportunity to express your concerns. We're all here. Let's talk. So I think that all of that, as I was just listening to you guys go back and forth from the coaching and player perspective, it makes total sense. I've covered teams that have had it. I've covered good teams that have had it. I've covered bad teams that have had it to your point about it not contributing necessarily to wins and losses. What I find interesting about

Dallas is, because I do expect this year to be different than the last couple, I think they're going to be really good. I think it will have almost nothing to do with the leadership council. It'll probably have more to do with the talent on the team and the investment on defense and a new defensive coordinator and the ceiling of their offense. I think sometimes we in the media talk about Dallas like they are really dysfunctional. And there are some things about them that are kind of dysfunctional, like with the contract stuff. But it's just that they are, there are 31 teams and then there's the Dallas Cowboys in terms of the Cowboys operate as if they are always auditioning for that Netflix documentary.

But they've won seven games each of the last two years. They won 12 games the three years before that. They're not, they are not as bad and as dysfunctional as we talk about. They just have a big personality owner who calls himself the general manager, who does post-game press conferences and does radio shows. I don't think any of that is going to change this year. We will have weird Jerry Jones quotes this year. And those things can continue to happen.

They will continue to happen. But I give Jerry a lot of credit. This offseason, he has been incredibly quiet. And from a GM ownership perspective, incredibly proactive in areas of needs, he's done a lot of great things. But when that dysfunction does hit or when those comments do hit the media or someone has their podcast or someone says the wrong thing, the ability to communicate about that effectively and proactively can really limit the effect. of the ripple effects in the locker room that we've maybe seen from Dallas teams

in the past. They're very well run if you just take away what Jerry says outwardly and you focus on actually what they do as a franchise. Drafting players, winning football games, scoring points. They're pretty good. Now they've underachieved in the playoffs like a lot of teams.

Sure, but you can say that for 28 teams, right, they're achieving the playoffs. And they've done a good job drafting. Look, the Michael Parsons thing, I will end up being wrong on this, I think. They traded Michael Parsons away. I thought the time you just don't trade those type of players away. They're never going to get back that defense or that type of player. But look at their additions.

Williams, Clark, Gary. You look at the guys they drafted, right? And Von Miller as well. You look at Caleb Downs. They have a much better defense now. And if they use the money they would have spent on Parsons, and they did to make that defense as a whole much better. I will be wrong, I think.

I think this defense will be better because of the additions they made. And Parsons going to Green Bay will not affect them in the long term like I thought it would. Yeah, and he hasn't played very many games for Green Bay. He's going to miss at least the first five this year. And it's not just the draft picks that you got in return. It is the money that you're then able to spend that you didn't spend on his contract that you can put forward to either signing new players or extending players that you want to keep. And look, it's not at that level.

But it's with 22 guys and 53 men on the roster, you need a much, deeper team than one or two stars. Is this the type of thing, though, like, because again, I think we should be talking about what you're talking about. You guys are talking about there, the defense. Dack is two and five in his career in the playoffs, which means the Cowboys are two and five in Dax career in the playoffs, and it's two wildcard wins. We talk about the Super Bowl drought and the championship Sunday draft.

It's been a long time since they've won a divisional round playoff game. Like, Dak Prescott hasn't done it yet. And so I think that this team, and part of it is the talent, part of it is the spot. of the star. Part of it, frankly, is Jerry's age. Part of it is Dax age. There is a lot of pressure on this team to win multiple playoff games and to actually be a legitimate Super Bowl contender that can play late in January. That's the bar. The way I look at it a lot of times, and this is something we talk about in college football more often with young coaches, is like they can't win the big game. Well, then eventually they do. Eventually they do win the big game, right?

And we stop talking about how they can't do it. And yes, Dak has not done it, right? He's not one division around game. But with the roster they have now, and I think we like the coaching staff, we like what we saw last season, and people stay healthy and they just get better on defense and continue to play well in offense, I think they'll win some playoff games. All of a sudden it'll be, oh, well, they won the playoff game.

What's next for them? Right. Like, it doesn't happen until it does. And I think this year, it's setting up, coach, to actually happen for them. It's been 30 years, right, since I've gone to the NFC championship games. There's a lot of this year, it's going to do the year. I would imagine the most devastating

loss was the loss at Green Bay at home. That's clearly their worst. When they were riding, riding that wind streak at home. Is that the Aaron Rogers play where he's, no, no, no, he's talking about it. There's seven to a half point favorite. Seven and a half point favorite. George Lowe scored 48 or whatever. 12 or 15 in a row at home.

Everything with the defense was good. Things were set up for a deep playoff run and they lost that. And here's what I don't love. It was all the things you said. Dax's best record was his rookie. season. They haven't gone past the wild card game and won. And now there's a real opportunity to do that. And things are nice and quiet. But now we got, we got to, hey, we're going to have the greatest offense. Hey, we're going to do. Stop. Just go, go work. Go, go slowly focus on what's

in front of you and take baby steps as opposed to, you know, we're going to be on the top of the mountain in six months. I just want to be sure, though, that you're not being fooled by a quiet offseason from Jerry. Like, you don't think he's skipping the radio show in the post-game press conference, do you? I'm not, I don't think he's going to skip those things, but I do give him a lot of credit. I can only go by what he's done. It's been a quiet June, July, and August.

It's not only been a quiet June, July, and August, but it's also been a productive June July and August, which. Sure. In light of the, hey, we're going all in. Remember that off season? And they went and they did nothing. Correct. This is the.

this is the polar opposite of that. So maybe that's the best omen. Maybe. Maybe. Listen, I think that there will be a quote from Jerry within, like after Cowboys Giants that'll drive you crazy.

And I think largely that stuff is driven to program shows like this on Wednesdays. They want us talking about them on the slow days so then we talk about them almost every day. That's the method to the madness. I think Jerry just likes to talk, man. Yeah.

He just says what comes to his mind and it's non-traditional. A lot of owners, you hear once a year. They talk once or twice a year. That's it. They don't even live in the city of the team they own. Jerry lives and breathes a Cowboys. He's going to say things if he goes on a radio show every week and does a post game and president.

He's going to say things that are off the wall. I'm saying it doesn't happen week one. Okay. I say it comes up at the leadership council. I'm saying there is not a ridiculous statement after week one. Okay. Okay. You're on.

Predictions week. You're filled for whatever you want. That's my prop bet for week one. I know I could get him gambling. This is a success already. All right. Next up here, the Patriots, who earlier this week traded wide receiver, Kishon Booty to the Texans in exchange for safety Jalen Reed and a seventh rounder in 2028.

Houston is again expected to be one of the top teams in the AFC. But the Pats exec, Elliot Wolfe dismissed any idea that the booty trade helped a rival fill an area of needed receiver. Quote, no, there was no concern about that. And I don't think there was any concern for them to send us a safety that we think. think can play. All right, Jeff, we just got coach gambling. Maybe I should keep that momentum going. But you are more of the trained gambler here. What is a better bet to win the AFC? Texans or Patriots? As we currently talk right now, the Patriots have the better quarterback. And that's always what I'm going to default to if I'm going to pick a team to win a conference

or win a Super Bowl. But I do have my eye on the Texans as far as like if they can get it done. Like if we talk about the things you need to win a Super Bowl, right? Head coach, we agreed, good head coach, right? Good and great head coach. Defense, can you rush the passer? Absolutely they can. And now it's up to C.J. Stroud to take the next step in his evolution as a quarterback, right? If he does that, and I'm not saying he has to be a top five quarterback, right? I think we agree Drake May is sort of hovering in that top five category. So, Alming Stratt has to be that good for them to win a lot of football games and be a Super Bowl contender. Coach, if they can do that, if he makes that next jump, this is a roster,

they fix their offensive line a little bit this offseason. It's still question marks there. wide receivers are healthy, minus one that you're added, obviously, in a draft, in a trade. Like, it's a very good roster if Stroud can just take that next step, be more consistent. That's a big if. And even organizationally, it doesn't look like they feel that strongly about that if and the fact that they went the fifth year opt-in route as opposed to extending them. And I understand that. And to me, what this trade says from New England's perspective is they don't really feel like this is

this is going to affect C.J. Stroud very much at all. And that's why you're willing to send a receiver that has talent and has production to a team that's in the AFC. They wouldn't send him to the bills because he could, you know, that quarterback could, I think, utilize Booty a lot more effectively. And from New England, what I find interesting about the moves that they made, so they get rid of Diggs. And we talked about Diggs's stats versus A.J. Brons.

and they were fairly comparable. And then with Booty, he was fifth in the league last year in yards per catch, which is pretty amazing. And then the other thing I want to show you, this is really interesting. Diggs last year lit all wide receivers in catch percentage. Number one in the NFL, and Booty was 11th in the NFL. So they let two guys that, you know, just one, obviously number one, and one just outside the top 10 of guys that had the highest. catch percentage leave the building and they feel like they got an upgrade with AJ Brown and Dobbs. It's a pretty great it's a pretty great Drake Mastat right there though.

It's like throwing a catchable ball. You hope but usually there's two people that are involved in throwing and catching that ball. So just when you when you let number one and number 11 out of the building and the underrated thing about booty is he had that high catch percentage and high numbers per He throws down the field and he's walking. So I think the better bet is the Patriots because the biggest question resides on the Texans. Of course.

Right. We like both head coaches. We like both defenses. Do I like the Texans offense or the Patriots defense more? I think I'd lean towards the Patriots defense. Like the Patriots offense should be excellent. The Texans defense should be excellent. They're both really good teams.

teams, the Patriots have a tougher division in terms of another top team that they have to contend with in Buffalo. Houston has to contend with, I think, more depth in their division. Like Jacksonville thinks they can win, Indy thinks they could win. It's probably more of a two-team race in the AFC. So I think it's a very fair debate. But I just, I see very little reason to believe Drake May is going to be worse. I think AJ, I think he's legitimately really good. He's got an excellent offensive coordinator who I know you loves, who's got continuity of

system. And he, despite that graphic, I do think most general managers, if you said, I could have Kashon Bouti and Stefan Diggs, or I could have A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs. I'm pretty sure most GMs would say that A.J. Brown and Romeo Dobbs is the more talented wide receiver duo to pair with Drake May. So I think a team that was in the Super Bowl last year did get more talented. And I just have such huge questions about C.J. Stroud, who in every Texans lost last year played poorly. Every single one. There wasn't one game you could point to. It would be like, Stroud played great, but they lost because the defense let him down. So it's just too big of a question for me to overlook. Year three for Stroud, right? And so Stroud's had one good year

production and Drake Mays had one real good year of production. Drake Mays year was much better than Strouds. It feels like Mays trending up still and Strouds going down. I mean, isn't a big difference? Yeah. And it's just what's most recent in our memory. But he had shown the potential. And if everybody after his first year was talking about, wow, look at the jump he should make in year two. And that really hasn't happened. And I think that's something that we have to remember about these young quarterbacks. There's a time where people thought Carson Wentz was going to be the next great, you know, potential hall of game quarterback. Sure. And, you know, that went a different direction. So over time, can they string these seasons together? Is there

real growth? Can they have consistency? Look, I, I do really love the offensive coordinator in New England and Josh McDaniels. And I think he does a great job with all quarterbacks, but especially young quarterbacks. We had some breaking news after we got off the air yesterday that we want to get to here. As the NFL announced that it is eliminating the pro bowl games this upcoming season. So despite the change, the league will still honor 88 players as pro bowlers. And that's something that is collectively bargained. It matters for contract incentives and a whole bunch of other things, not to mention history, in the NFL.

They are going to invite those selected pro bowlers to an in-person celebration the week ahead of the Super Bowl. That, of course, being the Sean Taylor hit, Mormon, the punter, which is just an all-time pro-bow moment. They don't really play it like that anymore. Jeff, I guess I'll start with you here. You're going to miss it? You're going to miss the Pro Bowl. No, it's time. And I think the best part about this is the no more alternates.

Like you just voted a Pro Bowler. It is what it. It used to be one alternate maybe, right? One guy sat out. But now you're getting into like the 17th best quarterback is who's your go to. Like if you if I say like that guy was a pro baller. Tyler Huntley. Like, yeah, that's a good one.

Like Sador. Shedore. Yeah. I mean, that is easy. Matt Castle, Mitch Tribisky. Flacco was it last year? Flacco was a pro bowler. I think it was last year as well.

Shedore. Shedur and Flaq was both pool. Sixth alternate for Shur. And so I think the best part of this going away is that look, when the player's salaries rose so high, that there was not an incentive to play in this game anymore. I know not everything's about the money, but in the end, it is about the money, right? Because if you get hurt in this game,

you just can't risk it. So I think players just, it just phased out, Coach. Like we see other sports as well sort of phasing out. And the players just decided, look, we're just done with it. So we'll honor the players now. They'll still be able to contractually say they're pro bowlers and it'll help their career and help their... We have to keep a little bit of that

because when we go to Hall of Fame voting, that matters, right? Like how many pro bowlers you've been, all pros? We got to keep that going, so we have the same basis for all different players over different eras. So I'm glad we still kept that coach. But the game, I haven't watched whatever this iteration has been, five football skills in 10 years. Yeah.

So look, this wasn't a Pro Bowl. This was just sort of an event that they helped down in Florida. But I will miss, like, the old Pro Bowl in 1998, we lost in Denver in the AFC championship. And the way it worked as a staff from the losing team from the AFC and NFC Championship, you coach the Pro Bowl. So we got to coach it that year. Free trip to Hawaii, not a bad consolation prize. It was a great consolation prize.

And you go to the game, you get to meet a lot of guys that you know, you know, because you're playing against them, coaching against them. But you get to spend some time with them. And then the actual game was lighter through the first three quarters. But that fourth quarter got heated because it was a difference of 15K for the winner and loser. So many people had brought family and friends out. That extra $15,000 was going to cover all the people. All the people you brought out. So it did get heated.

You know, we won, so it was even better at that point. Do coaches get the bonus? Yeah. Everybody gets the bonus. It was, you know, you're pushing. It was fairly limited in what you could do, but you're pushing what you could do as much as you can. And just a great experience.

But what it became, just was like a side show that had nothing to do with football. I also think, like, as players sort of became more, world travelers. I'm not sure that Hawaii was looked as like we have to go to Hawaii for this event, right? Like, players just didn't feel like they had to be there. I've been told many stories about it, but I think players don't feel like the same need

to have to be in Hawaii that week. And it just sort of just fell apart. It ran its course. It's okay to say it's over with. It's interesting to get some other whether it was like East versus West or North versus some other type of game. Don't they do like the tug of war and they do like some of those? No, not that. I mean, an actual

football game that took place that you could... I think football just doesn't lend itself to it because of the money and the injury risk and all of that. I, too, have heard all of the stories of the era. It was always like a fun question to ask guys who were pro bowlers, like when they would come on the radio. Tell me your best, like, Hawaii Week story. They're all great. And there were just some incredible stories that guys would tell. So it does feel like an era gone by. But I will just say, like, as a sports media ombudsman with Nick in Europe right now, just... It is a...

amazing that the NFL can look at an event that, yes, has declined in relevance and impact and has become a punchline. And I was reading the athletic article about it. And post-pandemic, it has averaged anywhere from two and a half to six and a half million viewers. Sunday night baseball averages a little less than three million of viewers. Like the premier weekly baseball game of the week. The NFL is like, nah, we're good. Like, five million people to watch something is not nothing. And for the NFL to be like, we're okay. We got enough of those things that we don't need this, even though people still tune in. I'm guessing the cost of the event to put it on is probably pretty substantial. I mean, I don't

know what that cost-benefit ratio is. I'm sure what they put in that weekend. Five million viewers is a, you can make a lot of money putting on an event that has five million people watch an event. That is not nothing in terms of a television event. And so the fact that the NFL is like, Roger Goodell said, he's like, it's not. up to our standard. It's like that that is like there's the NFL and then there's everything else in terms of American pro sports that the NFL can be like man we're good five million viewers we'll be fine. I do wonder if they put something to coach's point like in that window on that weekend before the Super Bowl I don't know what it ends up being but it they might feel that with

something I don't I can experiment with it and try to find something that that'd be fun to watch and kind of cool and they'll probably get five million viewers yeah because as long as it's not a you know tug of war and I don't like the tug of war. They do. Yeah. Kind of. Are you buying the Seahawks going back to back their owner? Not exactly shy.

We've stated with the goal. It's coming up. First things first. Yeah, tug of war, target practice. All sorts of things. What would I watch again? I'm going to. Predictions week just around the corner.

My official predictions begin Monday, 5 Eastern on the OTH. And Nick's been talking around the office before we went on vacation that he's going to predict our predictions. Oh, oh. Two can play that game. I kind of like it. You don't think I can predict Nick's predictions? You can for some divisions.

I, right, Chiefs. Yeah, I will, he doesn't know this and he's not watching because he's on his European vacation. Biggie gallivanting. Yeah, but I'm going to be Gianna Miles. I want to do a digital thing where I predict Nick's predictions ahead of the whole thing. Don't worry. We got it coming. Two can play that game.

Let's get back to the show. We had some breaking news out of Seattle this morning. One of the truly dominant defensive linemen in the NFL, Leonard Williams, got paid. Three-year extension with the Seahawks worth $90 million. Now, yesterday, the team also introduced their new owner, Vinod Kossela, who had a very simple message for the defending champs. Take a listen.

The task ahead is actually used. pretty simple. Keep the winning streak alive, get another Super Bowl. That's simple. I love this guy. I don't know. I like his vibe. I like his aura. I like everything about him. Coach, your reaction. He should talk to some of the other new owners and see how simple it is. It's easy. Just keep winning. Is this the best or worst time take over a new team after Super Bowl win? I would say, well, you probably paid a premium for the club. $9 billion. Yeah, so you probably paid at the height of the market, not that, you know, the market's

the economy. I was going to say, it seems like it just, I mean, the Lakers were a buy and flip. They made 25% in like three months. I totally get that, but I think it does, you do have to pay a little premium when you're buying a World Championship. Sure, sure, yeah. There's that. And then you just won the Super Bowl, so you're at the height of the sport, so it's all downhill

from there. Unless you win again. Yeah, I mean, it is simple. What's going to be so interesting about this is, is he going to allow the people there to continue to do the things that they were doing in order to achieve what they achieved? And typically, I mean, I'm guessing I've never bought anything for $9 billion. Well, you didn't win the Pro Bowl. But I did. There was a little less money.

But I imagine you're going to want to put your stamp on the team. And one of the things that, to me, is really intriguing is they're going to lean into AI significantly. based off of what they've said as a family. And so to see how AI is incorporated in scouting reports and travel and player development and actual draft prep, all those things, are they going to be the cutting edge team from a technology standpoint?

That's really fascinating because to your point, like, what they, Josh Snyder built two Super Bowl teams, two separate Super Bowl teams, right? And they chose him over Pete Carroll end up working for them. And so he knows what he's doing. And the base of this team has been all these draft picks for all these years that they've hit on for so many years. So how do you incorporate what I imagine is what you said? You want to do something your way that works for you in your career. How do you adapt that to the NFL now? And maybe AI is a good way to streamline some of the process

so they don't have to spend so many hours doing all these things, right? And so I'm curiously how they implement all those things. But if I were him, I'd stay away. I'd let my guys do their job. They just one of Super Bowl. They've done this incredible job now in two separate instances of building up championship rosters. One of the things I always found interesting with owners, especially owners that were self-made billionaires, which he

is, is that they didn't get to that point without being really smart and really talented and really good at what they do. But unfortunately, that skill set doesn't translate into pro sports necessarily. There are things that you can take away, leadership

different aspects. But, but But it's not apples to apples. And sometimes these guys who come in and they've done incredible things, try to put their systems in place, and it just doesn't work. And it ends up being the worst thing that can happen. I'm going to pivot this a little bit. I love that you guys looked into the owner, and I think what you're saying makes perfect sense.

But I'm actually, and maybe this is because of the Ben Johnson quotes from a couple of weeks ago, we talked about highest scoring offense. And, you know, I want shutouts and blowouts. and I want the longest winning streak. Isn't this like a quieter version of the winning streak? He says, keep the winning streak alive. So I went, so I went to look at it. He doesn't count.

Correct. Is his first, he's never, he's never, this is. Wait. What are you supposed to say? Guys, I hope we lose. No, no. This is his first press conference. Yeah.

As the owner of the team, first, you know, I know he was part owner of the San Francisco 49, but never did a press conference for him. So his first, this is not the head coach. This is not the GM. This is not the starting quarterback. This is a guy who's been there about 15 minutes in this role. And the deal's not even complete. They haven't even actually turned the keys over.

I don't think that happens until September. My point is, I wanted to take him at his word and see, because I had not considered it, do the Seahawks have a shot at the Patriots record of the longest winning streak in NFL history, which is 21 games? because that went over two seasons. It included a Super Bowl. The Seahawks won their last seven regular season games, then won three playoff games.

If they go 10 and O to start the season, that would be 20 and O with a buy week before at San Francisco on Fox to tie the Patriots record. And then week 13 at home, Cowboys Monday Night Football for 22 straight game. in place? It's the 0-1 Patriots, I believe. O-2-03 Patriots.

I mean coach knows. Yeah. That was a good time. Yeah. I just say it. All right. So, odds are, it's not going to happen. If the Seahawks beat the Patriots in the opener,

you're telling me we're not on 21 and 0 watch? You're disregarding. I'm not disregarding anybody. Chargers. Their favorites every game. The Broncos. If they win, the Chargers, Niners, Broncos, Chiefs, Bears,

They win all five of those games. Just give them the Super Bowl now, right? They went 14 and 3 last year. Yeah, but that's still, they still lost three games, though, right? You're talking about, so to win all five of those games in a row against presumably five playoff teams, right? We agree the chiefs are back in it. Denver was a one. Like, they're all going to be playoff teams.

That would be a remarkable thing to do on a way to 21 straight wins. I'm just saying they won seven straight to end the regular season. and three straight in the plus. So they are just under 50% of the way there, and their new owner is talking about winning streaks. And the times at the end, we have a full two weeks to talk about that in the lead-up to Seahawks Niners to tie the record.

And then, I don't know, do you think Seahawks Cowboys in Seattle on Monday Night Football to break the record would get any height? Are there only three away games through Chicago at the Cardinals at Washington, And at Denver? Yes. Yeah.

That's pretty good. I'm saying it. It's a pretty, it's win week one, win the Super Bowl rematch. And all of a sudden, new owner. They give him a little bit of a break with some of that, Arizona twice in the first 10 weeks. But that. Benode Kosla, he's calling a shot. You guys are underselling it because it's not Ben Johnson.

He's got 21 and 0 on the mind. I can translate billionaire speak, okay? Do you think he even knows about that story? I think he does. I don't. He put in AI. He could definitely do that. I think he figured it out.

And he was like, what do we have going for us right now? We won the Super Bowl, and we've won 10 games in a row. What's the record? 21, boom. But I don't think he takes over till somewhere in September. So does he get to be part of that streak? Yes. Okay.

The Cowboys game isn't until week 13 when it would be to break the record. I'm just saying, I'm on 0.17 watch for the Dolphins, and I'm on 21 straight watch for Seattle. I like to get out in front of these. I'm the guy that calls the perfect game after a perfect first inning. If Seattle wins those 11 games in a row, they're on 17-0 watch too. Yeah, that's how that would work. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, very easily. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you could wager on that now if you would like. So you know that, Jeff, Danny is the king of fast starts. So every schedule he puts up, every team is like 8-0, 12-0. It's time for opposite. And then at the end, it's like, up, they're going to go 500. They're going to lose three out of five.

So is this a preview of prediction week? Just all 17-0 teams? No, I just, I've done a lot of schedules with Danny, and he loves the fast start. I just happened to think that the Bears were going to start 7-0. Sue me. This year or last year? This year. It was like six teams so we're starting 7-0.

There are a few other teams that we just happened to choose that I liked how their September broke for them. I think Seattle, again, 21-0 watch. The Chargers, by the way, they got an interesting preseason situation tonight. They're playing the Rams, and most teams sit. the guys who matter in the final dress rehearsal. But Justin Herbert is expected to start. Here's Jim Harbaugh on what he wants to see from his star quarterback in the final tune-up.

Take a listen. Wanted to be crisp and clean. You know, we've got several things that we were working on offensively and you don't want to see those show up and you want to see improvement. It's never perfect, but you want to see that level of of crispness and execution. We want it to be crisp.

I think his brain should stop for a second and restarted again. That was dead. Jolting. What do you want to see from Herbert? I think they played one drive, the starters last game, I'm correct, right? Yeah, he had three and a half. Yeah, I would like to just see Christmas, I'm just copies of it. I like just see efficiency, right?

Like we'd like to see just moving the ball down the field. I personally want to see the interior of their offensive line, which is still have question marks about. obviously they lost their center, but inside three guys played a little bit longer than Herbert last week, and it wasn't terribly good, coach, and that's been a problem with theirs for a while now. I just want to see what, look. Look, you had, I'd imagine this is more of a game plan week than would be a normal preseason game, right? So they probably have a little bit more of like, here's our first script, here's we want to accomplish in this first drive.

I would like a touchdown would be great, obviously, but that feels like a high bar anytime for opening drive. But let me see some runs, some formations, some passes, just some overall. We know what we're doing. We look like we are confident in ourselves. That's what I want to see. Yeah, everybody handles these three games a little bit differently. And it seems like the way that people are getting to the fourth is you have an inter-squad scrimmage. That's game one and your first preseason game.

And then the second one would really, for a lot of teams, is the scripted one. It's the one where you play longer because if someone does get dinged, you want to have that extra week for them to recover. If it's a soft tissue or minor strain or something like that, What Jim is saying is exactly what I'm sure he wants to see, and it's what I would agree with that you'd like to see. Just go out there. Let's have a nice, clean, positive drive. And I don't think it's going to be three plays unless it's a three and out.

I would imagine he's hoping for seven, eight play drive, kick a field goal, you know, whatever it is, but something that's positive and avoid getting hit. Avoid getting hit. Throw it away. So I'm still a little surprised they're doing it because of that last point. I feel like it's like, man, the finish line is right there. And they had such a bad injury luck.

I would think you would just want to take it out. But I understand be crisp. You didn't look good in your last preseason game. New starter or new system with McDaniel. But also, if dust, if we can throw up the charger schedule and this, because this is one of the ones we did. 21 and 0. No, it's not that. 37 and 0.

It's not that. Okay. But I would argue that there's no team in the NFL that needs to start 2 and 0 more than the Chargers. Look at the week 3 through 10. Week 3 through 10 is the hardest stretch of any team schedule in the NFL this year. At Buffalo, at Seattle, home against Denver, at Kansas City, buy, at the Rams, home against the Texans, at the Ravens. That is the toughest seven games and eight-week stretch of any team in the NFL this year. So I do-

I feel like Seattle stretch that you just showed that, we were talking about was pretty five. No, it was only five. Five games. They did have a buy in between, obviously, here which is helpful. No, listen, I mean, there's, and a lot of AFC West teams have somewhat similar to this because they play the NFC West. I understand that. But like the, that is a such a tough week three through 10 that I do think there is an extra importance for the Chargers to start out hot. But they also are a team with a legitimate backup quarterback duo. So we're, DJ Ui Ungoleil. the kid from Clemson, and then Trey Lance.

Those are different quarterbacks than Justin Herbert. So they still need to figure out QB2 as well. Those guys have played a lot so far in the preseason transfer. I would imagine this is about the wardiness of the offense. Like, let's get in the huddle, let's get set up. And look, you're not going to show a ton in the preseason, but it probably would be good for them to do some of the shifts, some of the motions.

I just sort of get an idea of all those things in a real game setting. The Young Center, too. Yeah, you want to get him. So I'm curious if they, he'll play longer than one. driver would imagine the young center does. That's risky too, though. I know, but now you're down to. Don't you have to play him?

Like, you just have to give him some. Sit slaughter, sit all of them. He wasn't, sit everyone. The last playoff game of the preseason is always a big debate. And then the last game in the season when a team's already made the playoff, it's, I feel like these are the two times a year where you're debating, you know, rest versus rust.

Coming up, one of Jeff's old teammates, Odell Beckett, all of a sudden, maybe in line for a meaningful role on the Giants this upcoming season. Can't believe he called them old. My bad. Jeff. I am. After sitting out last year, 2025, Odo Beckham is looking to make a comeback with his old team, the Giants.

Now, it remains to be seen if Beckham will be on the final roster, though I kind of think he will be. Head coach John Harbaugh had a lot of positive things to say about OBJ, the three-time pro bowler. Take a listen. Yeah, I think he's had a... I think Odell's had a good camp, you know, but he's had, I would say, his best week of camp has come this week.

He's looked good and made numerous plays, and just like you saw it, even today, made numerous plays, so he's doing well. This is your teammate? You think he's going to make an impact? A real, like a noticeable impact? I don't know what that counts as. I mean, he hasn't had that impactful of a career since about around COVID. Now, he played well for the Rams in that short stint and was the best player on the

in the Super Bowl before he got hurt. So he certainly has had that. But that was what four years ago now? He's older now. Look, I think you can never have too many guys that can play football at a high level, right? What impact is he going to have? Will he have 600 yards? I don't know.

We have 40 catches. I don't know, coach. But you can never have too many good players on offense and know how to play football. That's a pretty tepid response by John. I don't think that was like super enthusiastic. He's like, hey, he's at a pretty good camp. The best week has been this week. and it's been pretty good.

I don't know if he's on the roster week one. You know, the problem with keeping those older veterans on week one is you own their whole salary. And with Odell, the reality is he missed last season, right? And he missed two seasons ago completely. He hasn't had over 40 catches in, what, five years? Yeah, it's been well. So what are you really getting?

This might be one of those situations where you say, okay, look, we're glad you're here. We may come back to you in a week or two, but I don't know if he's the answer for 17 games. I don't know that he's a, they've had some injury at wide receiver. The reports are that he's done a nice job being a mentor. Obviously him and neighbors have the LSU connection.

The last time O'Dell Beckham did have what I would say is a real impactful season, not like a superstar impactful season, but you do have to go back to his season on the Ravens, which we could throw up there is 2023. John Harbaugh was the coach. So, I mean, that's not the most impactful year, but 16 yards a catch, 35 catches in 14 games, isn't nothing. And when I was looking at the Giants depth chart,

Calvin Austin, the third, just got hurt. So Malik Neighbors is a lock. Darno Mooney, who I really like, he's a lock. Darius Slayton's a lock. Malachi Field, the kid from Notre Dame, who caught the great touchdown in the preseason from Jackson Dart. Third round pick, obviously he's a lock. Braxton Barrios, probably a lock,

because he's also their starting punt returner. That's five. Most teams carry six or seven. You don't carry six. You carry like five wide receivers. But I mean, with one of them being a special teamer? Yeah, those back end of the roster guys tend to be special teams guys. So they're either returners or their cover guys, things like that.

And again, if you're going to carry a guy who's a back end of the roster receiver, you want them to be able to contribute in some other way, and that's not what he is. That's not what Odell is. So why wouldn't you just go with the group that you have and then come back to him if someone gets hurt, as opposed to carry him for the whole season? Managing of special teams, right? Those back-end the roster guys have got to do more than just the position they play. Obviously, Odell's not going to apply it beyond as a punting gunner out there. That's not his job. I will say, though, the list you read, Slade feels like a guy who's perpetually underrated every single season.

All the guy does is make a ton of plays for the Giants each and every season. And that's a good group if they all come together. I mean, Neighbors is an elite type player that will make everyone in that list better because all the attention will go to him, obviously. Right. That's what happened to them last year is they lost neighbors and they had nobody who can even like approach being a number one. That's a list with a true number one and some guys who are maybe two threes.

But all of a sudden those guys are slotted into more reasonable roles. And do you think of Odell gets released by the Giants? someone else is going to run snatch about week one? No, probably not. That's why the Giants would probably. Yeah, so you could, like you said, he's bending the system. He understands the offense. He's in good shape.

And then you just kind of see where you are with the group that you have. And then if you have to go back to them. You can put on a practice one now too, right? Those are the rules? Yeah. No, it's a function of sometimes guys like Odell aren't necessarily comfortable. Sure. You know, being in that role.

But it's a conversation. I'm rooted for it, man. I think it's kind of a cool story. It's like completely out of the league. Last year, nine catches the year before that, goes back to his old team where he kind of made himself a household name. That was a fun experience. I was on the field for that catch.

I was like, I was like, plays that are life-changing. They're not like Super Bowl winning plays. I mean, that changed. What are that there? Seventy-four. Jumping into Schwartz. That was such a life-changing play for him in a regular season game, a Sunday football game. We didn't even win. But that play was such an important play

for his life. I mean, the superstardom he had after that play, And there have been great catches before, but something about just the way he laid out to make this catch and getting tugged and pulled and being New York giant on national TV against the Cowboys. So it would round out his career ending it with the Giants. Nice awareness by you to hustle down the field to get into the picture.

Those are one of my painted shoes, by the way. Those shoes were painted. Yeah, they're all black, yeah. I knew this guy was going to be good at media. He's like, oh, man, that was an iconic play. I got a sprint down there 43 yards so that he jumps into the right guards arms. I was playing tackle this game. Oh, you're playing tackles? Yeah, right tackles arms.

Thank you very much. No. I mean, it's an incredible play. And obviously, you know, he won the Super Bowl, which will define his career in the end because I'll always say Super Bowl champion next to his name. But this play obviously incredible for his life. What year was that? That you catch, 2014. What year is it? 26. Yeah. It's been a while. Come on, Coach. Come on, Coach.

You just watch the NFL Joe. I think it's a fun play to watch, but I'm not necessarily saying, Hey, we need to go win a lot of games. Let's get that play from 2014. Just saying it's kind of cool. It is absolutely cool. It's a cool story. And a nostalgic sort of way. Yes, yes, that's what we're talking about.

But they have to win games to you. Yeah, that would help. The key to Lamar Jackson returning to MVP form. Maybe we'll show highlights from 2019 to upset coach. Do you have anything from the 80s? Coming up on first things first. Thanks for hanging out. Hour number two, first things first.

rolls on. Bears hype. I mean, honestly, hype it up some more. You're not too much hype. My season's almost here. They're going to be the best offense in the NFL. I'm not the only one saying it. Meanwhile, coach has been

pounding the table all week. You know how he gets. It's been saying we forgot about Jaden Daniels. Will Coach Manjini guarantee a bounceback season for number five, which I think we can call him? But we begin our Back an hour with Lamar Jackson.

Last year, the Ravens quarterback had a career low, 67 carries. And one of the big questions entering this year is will Lamar get back to running more under their new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle? Lamar addressed the question head on. Take a listen. I believe you know, I know, a lot of people know, I was hurt last year too, you know, so I really couldn't do anything like I wanted to, you know, so it really wouldn't put my team in a good position if I was just running hurt. You know, I'm losing yards.

Things like that was happening. But whatever it takes to win, that's what I'm all about. And I always been about that, too. Coach, do you think that's the key to getting him back to MVP form is just run Lamar? I didn't know everybody knew and he knew and you knew and I knew that he was hurt all last season. We talked about it. He played. He played, he played what, started what, 14 out of 17 games?

He played, but he was, remember there was a lot of like missing practices and showing up an injury report. So I guess it wasn't the coach, it wasn't the coach, it was, Lamar was hurt, right? So, well, I see you're going to. But I'm just saying he's hurt all, every game, but got to change the coaching staff. That makes sense. Do I think Lamar has to, has to get back? He's the best. Well, I'm just saying, I'm just saying, everybody knew who was hurt.

He started 14 out of 17 games, but that's the reason why they weren't very good. Do I think he needs to get back to running? Yeah, I think it's what, it's one of the things. And probably, it isn't probably, it is the main. driver for why he's so effective. You have to play him differently when he's running. You have to, you have to account for him with the eighth guy in the box. That creates really favorable matchups outside in the passing game, which helps. It opens up the running game too for Derek Henry, not that he needs that much help, but when you have to account for the quarterback as a runner,

the numbers get a little bit skewed. And let's just take a look at the last two seasons when he was running versus when he wasn't running. So if you look at just TD to interceptions, 41 to 14, which is amazing. Last year, I mean the four, yeah, the last year was 21 to 7. Pass rating 119s, pass ratings last year was still good, but the rush yards per game. So it's 53.8 and 04 and only 26.8 in 05. That was a career low. Yards per rush 6.6 versus 5.2. 5.2 was a career low. And then the 36 sacks, which is 10.7% of the time he was getting sacked.

That was a career high, and he had almost half that the year before. So his ability to be effective as a runner, you can see the difference it makes for just year to year, where he has career lows versus career highs for touchdowns, interception, the year before. He absolutely has to make it a part of his game. I think one misconception about quarterbacks that are as mobile as him is they get hurt running the ball.

They don't. Most time they get hurt in the play. pocket, right? That's typically how quarterbacks get hurt. They don't get hurt running the ball down the field. And he's the best I've seen it diving. Like he does a great job of not taking contact down the field. You know, coach mentioned a lot of the reasons why running the ball is so impactful. But think about the, the, the, how demoralizing it is on third and five. You think you got to quarterback and here goes Lamar, boom, first down, right? Or escapes the pocket, coverage, breaks down deep past touchdown. I love a running quarterback on third and short, fourth and short.

A lot of man coverage in the situations. You pull the ball out, zone, zone. read to the house, right? I mean, there's so many ways to use a quarterback like him in those situations. I would say that a first and second down, probably not the time to be running the football. There's certain times, I think, that work best, but using him in those spots has to be part of the offense. You cannot remove that from the offense. You mentioned Derek Henry, right? Being able to run the ball with the threat of the quarterback keeping it sometimes keeps two defenders away from the running back, right? The defensive end and maybe a linebacker is taking down in the box. That's two less guys to go chase Derek Henry. So it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have a lot of the game. So it doesn't

to be a ton. The threat of him doing it allows you to know where the defense might be on a given play. So I think it has to be part of the offense. I think he knows that. He knows what makes him special as a player in the NFL. And again, he's not most guys are not getting hurt down the field running the football. It happens

every now and then. Plus again, I think he's the best. Coach, I've been a proponent of the dive forward that he does all the time. I think no quarterback should slide. Never slide ever again. Just dive forward. Dive forward. You avoid contact a lot easier. And you get that extra little yard, because if you go slide, they mark the ball back when you slide. If you dive forward, they mark the ball

where you dive, right? And so I've been proponent of the way he has done this for so many years. I would continue to encourage him to run the football. Don McNaab, as his career went on, would run the ball in key areas. So it would be third down, two-minute red zone. He became more of a runner. For Lamar, you know, if he wanted to concentrate it in those areas, the only thing that happens there is if he becomes predictable in terms of when he's a runner, then you can do a lot more things from a defensive standpoint in terms of variety. What makes him so dangerous is his ability at any point to take off. The other thing last year, his longest run all season was 20 yards, which is not what you think of when you

think of Lamar. And that sack situation, that wasn't just the O line by any stretch. That was a function of him not running it very well. In the year before, they lost their O line coach. who passed away during training camp, and his numbers are significantly better in terms of sacks. So I know you were getting the jokes off in defensive coach Harbaugh, but he was hurt. Like the thing that jumped out when I was digging into the rushing numbers was that the percentage of mistackles went away.

He wasn't forcing mistackles last year. Like he was not as elusive. And in other years where he had missed a few games, you know, he had two seasons where he had played in 12 games, but he still had 130-something rush attempts and 112 rush attempts. 700 yards and plus

and last year was down to 67. So he just, he wasn't making guys miss and he wasn't running a lot. But it's clear that if Lamar is healthy and he's running, I think he's the best running quarterback in the history of the sport. You could maybe say Mike Vick a little bit

more explosive, Josh Allen, Jalen, Jalen, Harts, those guys are maybe a little bit better rushing for touchdowns, but in terms of what the dimension of running has added to their game, I don't, I, Lamar Jackson would be my one-one. He'd be my number one pick for running quarterbacks. So I think it's pretty clear that that's what makes him special. The saying is the saying. You see a lot of good young running quarterbacks. You don't see a lot of good old ones. And at some time, at some point, you fall off a cliff with that. And when it happens, it's a pretty steep drop.

And that's why I have said, like, I would bet on Josh Allen's 30s over Lamar's 30s. Because just bigger, stronger, the runs from inside the five-yard line for touchdowns should be able to still stay there a little bit longer than a guy like Lamar Jackson, who depends more on speed and elusiveness. Yeah, look, I guess my frustration comes when you want to write off a whole season because you're injured and you say wink, wink, everybody knew it. but then, you know, you do make changes because it wasn't what it was supposed to be.

Find that problematic. I get it. I get it. You're also, you're defending the coach. I'm just defending, I'm just defending reality. I'm a pro player. Lamar was hurt, coach. What's that?

Lamar was hurt. Come on. I guess so. I mean, I played 14 out of 17 games, and everybody knew it. If you're out there and you're healthy enough to play, we can evaluate you. I mean, you said if you're healthy enough to play,

you've got to be able to play at a high level. I say very, that's a less than ever. young player has to win at some point in their career. If you step on the field, you are presumed healthy. He's not a young player anymore. I know. He's definitely not. But we have some very exciting news. Earlier today, NFL analyst Ben Solac released a list of the most watchable and exciting teams in the NFL. Can you guess who's number one? That's right. Dub bears. There's so much hype around this team. Here's what Solac wrote about the Bears. He says, there's no way you need me to explain this to you. if you watched every Bears game last season,

you saw an NFL leading six comeback wins by quarterback Caleb Williams and Chicago's ludicrously explosive offense. This season's Bears might not produce as many wild swings, but they still figure out how to be the most explosive offense. This one is not a hard sell. So the question is, can Caleb and the Bears

live up to the hype? And I would just say, why not? We see players who are special when they are either in year two, in the league or year two in the system make that MVP jump. Mahomes, it was year two in the league, also having to be year one as a starter, which is what made that so remarkable.

Lamar, year three in the league, year two in the system. Caleb's year three in the league, year two in the system. And I think what's forgotten is it's Colston Loveland year two in the league, year two in the system, Luther Burden year two in the league, year two in the system. Roma Dunzee, year three in the league, year two in the system. I'm like really talented players who are all growing up under the tutelage of this 99th percentile offensive mind and head coach and Ben Johnson. So yeah, I think we're looking at a top five offense and football coach.

I didn't watch every Chicago game and I don't remember them being, what did we, what was this comment? The most watchable team. The most watchable team in football. So the Dallas Cowboys, aren't they supposed to have the best offensive football this year? Well, it's up for debate. Yeah, okay, Cincinnati Bengals. Aren't they supposed to have the best offense in football this year?

L.A. Ram, aren't they supposed to have the best? Oh, okay, so I guess they're not as watchable. So let's look at how ludicrously explosive they were last year because they're definitely the top. Oh, oh, most completions over 15 yards. New England, Detroit, L.A., Dallas, Green Bay, Arizona, Buff. Yeah. So we're, how many, I'm not a math major, that's seven teams.

So I guess they were the eighth most ludicry explosive team. That's right. 38-year-old quarterback, 30-year-old quarterback, 34-year-old quarterback. Well, the quarterback that was in Arizona is now in Minnesota, and I think he's got a pretty good receiver that could create some explosive play. A lot of people really like the quarterback in Green Bay. Buffalo, it's just, we talked about this with tweets. You know, you tweet something, and the more, the more that it can just be.

I'm surprised Denver's not on that list. What was it? Most completion over 15 plus years. Oh, okay. I thought he was on the list. We'll send Sean Payton in the graph. Yeah. Just, you know, light it up.

Just light it up. Eighth is, you don't think it's at least reasonable for me to point out. No, is he kudos to Drake. I think they're going to be the eighth most watchable team next year. I think they could definitely, they could probably get to six. You don't, okay. Look, look, I think part of, part of that quote was the idea that they made all those

comebacks last season, right? They had six of them in the regular season, and then won in the playoffs. So that made them very watchable was the fact that they couldn't stop anybody and their offense had to make up the difference. Except if you watched the first half and then you're like,

this is unwatchable. Correct. The first half, I think for the Bears take that next step, it's obviously Caleb Williams' consistency early in games, which, by the way, you should be better in the first quarter

because you script the plays. Now, every coach is differently. Some do 1 through 15, and then they obviously script the first third in medium and third and long. Some just give you a group of plays. And like, that's when you should, we do see a lot of quarterbacks that struggle that are good early in games

because that's the scripted part. So to see Caleb Williams do the opposite basically, that's where the improvement has to be made, right? Sort of the on schedule, the on script things. If he is able to do that, its complete percentage goes from, what, 58 to 64, 65, and that makes a big difference in the way they could be offensively. I will not be here for predictions a week, but bears, highest scoring offense is going to be in pocket. Like I think the bears, if they're defense isn't as good as they think. They'll have to score a lot of point to keep up. I think Bears' high-scoring offense is certainly something that I will consider this season.

Well, we can bet it. Let's throw the odds up there for highest scoring offense. Nine to one, right? In the NFL, yeah, nine to one. Oh, you had it ready to go. There you go. With some juggernaut teams. Look at that.

They made it in the top seven. They're sixth. You don't think that there's anything to that it's, you know, we got 38-year-old Matt Stafford in year-nine, Josh Allen and year what, 10, 11 Jared Gough, year, you know, whatever it is. I mean, we got, we got guys who've been in the league seven to 15 years on that graphic and year three. Yeah. No, you have, you have guys who have done it and done it consistently and done at a high level versus guys who have done it in the second half of one year after a disappointing first year.

They're trending up. Yeah. Okay, well, these guys are just trending. I love how much coach is a coach. It's like, there's like no carryover from year to year, which is I believe that a lot. But he's trending in the right direction to get better. Like my argument has been what you have said, which is like that year two bump. I know it's year three, but it's really year two.

Year two bump we see quite often, you know, when you are installing them this spring, it's different than last spring, right? Like here's you should be ahead of where you are. Why won't Drake May's year three bump be significant? He just had AJ Brown and Romeo Dodd. It might be. But his bump could be little, and that's enough to give him the MVP though, right? Because there's not as much room, I think, for him to go.

upwards, he's already up at near the top. It's more, all more for Caleb Williams to grow than Drake May, right? Yeah, so you're grading down success and grading up lack of performance. You know, we're talking about potential for this easy. Because he set the bar so low the first year that the second year was like, oh, my God, that's amazing. And because his bar set below Drake May, then obviously he has to perform better than Drake May.

That's a really, you figured it now. That's a really interesting way of looking at that. Don't reward performance, reward potential. Listen, I understand that people do not like Ben Johnson talking about shutouts and blowouts and wins three records and best offense of all time. I think that there is something to betting on the come, like the projection of it. This is not Josh McDaniels who's been doing it for forever. This is a young coach and a young play caller. Say again?

What about Jacksonville? He had a pretty good season last year. I think that there's probably 10 teams in the NFL that think they could be the number one scoring offense. And only one team can do it. I will say that it helps have a bad defense. Are we over betting on the come in Jacksonville? Are we off that?

No. Because he's in New York five? I think you and I disagree. I'm like, I find that to be pretty relevant. Like if Trevor Lawrence has had five seasons of data and it's been up and down, I am less likely to over-emphasize the most recent data because it could just be the latest trend up. We've talked about that. Whereas if Caleb is like here to hear.

He just graded Matthew Stafford down. No. Yeah, he did. You said he's too old. I'm like, he's had 45 touchdowns. Too old. So we graded him down because he performed. formed at a high level, but is older and has consistent performance, but we're grading.

No, Ben Solac had the Rams as the number two offense. I mean, I think it's absolutely, trust me, it's absolutely. In that case, I stand corrected. That is absolutely in play that the Rams offense. When you put it like that. When you put it like that. I read the whole article. I didn't just read the Bears blur.

I did. I read the whole thing. I just, I think it is, I mean, again, I think part of this is having a bad defense. Like, you know, I don't think Lamar. is likely to have the best offense in the NFL this year because I think he's going to have an awesome defense and they'll be running the ball late and running out and protecting leads. Bears defense gives up 26 to 28 points a game. Caleb's going to need to win shootouts. I do think that bad defense can help some of the offensive stats.

Rant's defense should be really good. Unless the other team just controls the clock most of the game. Sure. Yeah. All right. I can't wait. We got to have a side bet going. We definitely do.

We need a bear's side bet. When they lose week one in Carolina. I can do. No. I'm not even entertaining that possibility. That's going to be your upset alert for week one. I just know it. I don't know.

The line's not big enough. We'll talk Jane and Daniels coach's guy next. Oh yeah, starting September 5th, Fox Big Noon. Saturday is back. Start Saturday strong with Big Noon kickoff. Live from Bloomington, the champs, 10 a.m. Eastern, then at noon, defending national champion, Indiana, take on North Texas. I like their chances.

Big noon, Saturday, September 5th on Fox. Back to the show, Jaden Daniels and the Commanders. They're looking to bounce back from, I mean, it was a disappointing 5 and 12 record last season. Yesterday, Washington held a joint practice with the Ravens. Jaden Daniels was asked about how things went. It could have been better. Take a listen. Good players, well coached.

Back and forth battle, not the best day that I thought was. that I thought we could have had. It's just from all around, from myself to everybody else. But, you know, these are opportunities that you get to learn from. Now, Coach, you have been pounding the table. You've been going viral. You've been sending tweets. You've just been, you know, shock jock like you normally are.

About us disrespecting Jaden Daniels. So are you willing to guarantee the bounce back for Jaden this year? So I have a few questions. Okay. Yesterday where we talked about the Chicago Bears, we talked about their left tackle situation. And is the left tackle that started last year back? For the Bears?

Yes. Yeah, hopefully. Okay, and they have other candidates. They have other candidates. Yes, yeah, Braxton Jones. For Washington, is their left tackle gone? Well, they got Laramie Tunsell and he's hurt. Okay, so that's a pretty big one.

That's a big one, right. Yeah, I got you. And then we've talked about the Bears defense, and we've talked about the challenges that that present and the Dallas defense and all these Cincinnati trying to recover. How was Washington's defense last year? Do you remember? I asked Josh to just kind of refresh my memory on the numbers, like the third and fourth down numbers.

He was like 98% of fourth down. It was ridiculous. We're ridiculous. Conversion rate on third or fourth down, fourth in the NFL. His passer rating on those downs was the best by a rookie quarterback in the last 35 years, but it's probably the best of all time. Our data system only goes back 35 years to the early 90s. So I guess my question to you, veterans of football, is that repeatable? Or did he just have a lightning in a bottle?

The league didn't exactly know what was coming. And he just had a lightning in a bottle situational year. He ran into the Bengals bad defense in that shootout. He ran into the Lions' horrible defense in that playoff game. Or is it possible that he's that? I'm not sure if those numbers are repeatable because they were. so good in so many different categories that it's hard to imagine they're going to get back to that. But what it is is it's proof of concept.

He showed that he has the ability to perform at that level. And we talk about this all the time, and I know you get frustrated. You'd like to think that you show it once. You can do it year and year out, but it's hard. And it's hard because of health. It's hard because of who's surrounding you, all the different things that go into it. But he has shown proof of concept that he can perform at that level. And it wasn't a one-trick pony type of situation where, you know, he was just good at this one thing, but he was excellent.

He was good at a lot of things. And he was good under pressure, which to me is probably the most important aspect of a quarterback's play. Can't wait to see it. One of the biggest stories in the NFL this season. All right. We're on to Cincinnati where the Bengals have not made the playoffs since the 2022 seasons. Now, of course, injuries to key players have been a massive issue in recent years. But T. Higgins, he's feeling good heading into the year telling reporter Jared Bailey,

me, Joe, Jamar, we're back. And frankly, that's how the Bengals have approached team building. Like, we got these three. We're going to score a bunch of points and we're going to be fine. This, though, did have me thinking, like, is this because what they spent in free agency on the defensive side of the ball because of the Dexter Lawrence trade, because of the health of those guys? Remember, Joe Burrough said this is the most talented team we've had since I've been here. That includes an AFC title game trip.

That includes a Super Bowl trip. Like, is this the Bengals best chance since that AFC championship game appearance after they had went to the Super Bowl the year before? On paper, it's a better team than they had, especially on defense, right? Offensively, I think their offensive line, it gets too much grief. It's not great, but it's not as bad as people want it to be. And Joe Burroughs talked about like he's okay taking sack. I hate hearing that. Like just avoid hits.

whatsoever. I know he's tracked that a little bit, but he's said enough over the years where he seems okay getting hit, which I don't like. And they need to sometimes build the offense around that. Like, let's go the ball out quick, let's do that. But the weapons are there offensively and the defense got better. To me, as a fan, as a fan of a fan, I'm a Chiefs fan, that's played Joe Burrow, I worry about him more than any other quarterback in the postseason. Like there's a moxie to him. There's an ability to rise up in big moments. Third and 11, you're like, there's no way. 12-yard pass first down, right? Like those things about him

should be elevated, right, if the defense is better, right? If the defense is better, those big moments become bigger for Burroughs. So this doesn't have to be the year, but you look at the chiefs with Mahomes come back off injury. You have a new coach in Buffalo,

a new coach in Baltimore. The defense has improved. It does feel like the balance have a shot coach to make a run here. I would imagine that this has to be the year or else there's going to be regime change. And since, and they do that have the advantage of continuity from a head coaching standpoint in the division,

which should be a significant edge. And they spent significant amount of money of draft capital and free agency money and through the trade. They put money and effort into the defense, which is positive as well. But let's just take a look at 2024. So this is his 2024 season. I think everybody would take these numbers this year. So 70% completion, almost 5,000 yards. Pretty good year.

403 10s and 9 picks, 108.5 quarterback rating, and they missed the playoffs. They missed the playoffs. They were 4 and 8 through their first 12 games and then won 5 straight. Denver played Kansas City the last game of season. Kansas City rested their starters. Denver won the game, got into the playoffs. They've also gotten over the slow start where they were able to win early last year. That's been a big problem for them.

But those numbers are ridiculous. And those numbers are just two years ago. And those numbers didn't get him in the playoffs. So it's, it's, they've been, this formula they've been working at for a long time. It hasn't worked. Correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't that an argument that our analysis just needs to go more than quarterback deep? Like you can't look at those numbers and say that Joe Burrow was the reason that they didn't do it.

Like it's like he's good enough and they just, maybe you can say the team building. is flawed. No, no, I wouldn't say it's just purely a quarterback number. It's the money they put in the quarterback and the two wide receivers that account for a third of their salary cap. And then that, you know, when you spend that type of money in your top heavy and three guys, it's hard to have a deep and competitive team consistently across the board. And I think that they've that year probably like that year plus the injury last year probably led to, okay, we're going to make this hyper-aggressive trade for Dexter Lawrence, which I love Dexter Lawrence as a player. It's one of the most double-team defensive linemen in football.

But they gave up a huge premium, right, a top-10 pick and money to go out and get him. So wanted to look at it. And they let an all-pro walk out the door and got nothing for it. And Trey Henderson, right. It's not generally speaking the best way to do business. But these are the defensive ranks since Burroughs has been drafted in Cincinnati. And it's not tough to tell, like, when they were pretty good. Like, they made the Super Bowl with the 17th.

Defense made the Super Bowl. Sixth best defense, make it to the AFC title game. When they're in the 20s or the 30s, they're bad and they're outside of the playoffs. And then you mentioned the quarterbacks, I think Jeff, you did. Career seasons with a defense ranking in the bottom half of the NFL. Alan Mahomes and Lamar have dealt with it a total of four times in their career. Burrow has dealt with it five. It does feel like he's got to just be looking around like that meme just being like,

Could someone help me over? No, no, no. I know because you're saying what they paid the receivers. I get it. I'm just saying. The draft on defense, hire a defensive coach. But you can't, you can't say, I want all this money. Oh, I want him to have all this money.

I want him to have all this money. Oh, and by the way, you should be way better on the other side of the ball. It's unrealistic. Isn't it part of the problem, though, they went through their draft on defense and guys didn't hit? So now I have to go free agency, right? Like, that's part of the reason why. I mean, they tried to. tried to spend picks on defense to make it better.

It just hasn't happened. Injuries have happened, other things along the way. So now they had to go into free agency and add to those pieces or in a trade to add those pieces on this defense. I've always contended that a quarterback like a borough, Alan Lamar. They just need like a middle of the pack defense. Just be 15th. Just be 12th in efficiency. You don't need to have the number one.

It obviously helps. 12th is pretty good. A tad above average. But 15 can win. I think if any of those quarterbacks have the 15th best defense. Can you know, can get enough pressure on the quarterback, can get enough off the field enough on third down. That's winnable for a guy like Joe Burrow. And when you're making that kind of money, the expectation should be that your receivers can be lesser.

I agree with that. If you're so good, you make everybody else around you better. It's a go spend money on defense. Chiefs model. Yeah. And it worked. And they've won a lot more than the Bengals over the years. Coming up, they're not naming a starter for week one officially in Vegas.

So is there still hope that it could be Fernando Mendoza? We discuss what it should be coming up. First things first. Tonight, we've got a good one coming on FS1. Otani and the Dodgers potential playoff preview against the CUNY Jr. and the Braves. Check it out right after the OT. Coverage begins 6 Eastern on FS1.

Now, the Raiders play their final preseason game tonight against the Niners, and we still do not know who the starting quarterback is going to be. Clint Kubiak was asked whether or not the rest of the offense needs to be ready to support a rookie quarterback if number one pick Fernando Mendoza is going to start. Now take a listen here. It doesn't matter. We all got to get ready. You know, whoever's playing quarterback for us, you know, it's a team thing. It's not it's not the QB playing well and everyone else is not or the other way around. You know, the offense will will play well when everybody's contributing.

So no cousins and expected no Mendoza. tonight and they haven't named the starter, even though Cousins has gotten the vast majority of the reps with the ones. So most people expect this to be Kirk Cousins. But what does it mean, Coach, that they haven't named Kurt Cousins, the starter and Mendoza isn't playing the night? It means those beat writers in Las Vegas are pretty nice in terms of not pressing them. It's like, how could you not name a starter?

How could you possibly go this deep into the preseason and not let the guys be working with the number, you know, whoever's going to start week one. So that's a very positive thing. There may be an element of gamesmanship, gamesmanship where you want to announce as late as you can. I think everybody's expectation is that it's going to be Kirk Cousins, and I imagine that's who the dolphins will spend their time on.

You know, the only other element is could there potentially be some disagreement internally as to who should start with Tom Brady in that mix and ownership he's not as involved as his dad was, but in that mix, it would be pretty exciting for Raiders fans to be able to see Mendoza starting week one in a very winnable game and get a win against the Dolphins at home be a great, exciting thing for the franchise. So if you're the owner, that's part of his equation. Just play Mendoza.

Just make it easy. Play Mendoza. But I don't agree with you, but I don't think they're going to. they're going to. I have never understood the blanket idea that we can't play a young guy early. How many guys have come in week one as rookies and played well? There's a whole list of them, right? Joe Burrow, Cam Noon, Andrew Luck, Trevor Lawrence played week one. Like, plenty of guys have played week one and had a good career. There's other guys that haven't, right? There's no rhyme or reason. For me, it's about, are you ready mentally to play in the NFL? From what we've

seen in Mendoza, it appears he is, right? There's things you've got to work through, of course, that the interception was just a late throw over the middle. You can't do that in the NFL. In college, you can do that. The more reps you have, the more you get used to making those mistakes and the future of this team is Mendoza quarterback. You know, the idea I hear this pushback. Well, the offensive line stinks. Well, it's still going to stink in week seven. Like, and if the offense is playing well, you're not going to take cousins out. The offense is playing well, right? You're going to keep him in as long as you can if the offense is doing well. I would play Mendoza to start coach. I think he's ready. I think every situation is its own situation.

If they're mentally ready to play, put him in the game. He's a very experienced college quarterback, as we know, won the Heisman. He's a gamer. He won the national championship. I'd play him early on. I don't know if you agree with that, but I would just, I would do it. Yeah, I don't totally agree with that. And the reason is that what he did in college, the volume of defense that he saw, it's nowhere near what he's getting pro football, the volume of offense is nowhere near what he's getting a pro football. And even though the offensive line, people want to, you know, maybe say they're not very good,

the difference between a veteran quarterback and a young quarterback is the veteran quarterback can see what's coming, reset the mic point, change the protection, or if he knows he's got a free blitzer, he'll understand that, get the ball away quickly. But sometimes those young guys don't quite understand where that stuff is coming and can't protect themselves as well. Sure. So that would be, especially if your offensive line isn't very effective, you think, okay, let's get the guy in that can get us into the right plays, give us the best chance to be successful. It's not saying that Mendoza can't do that, but there's a lot of, there's so many things that Kirk's seen that you just can't teach Mendoza.

a four-week period. But the pushback I have on that is that, so Mendoza doesn't start, he plays the scout team for a month. Like, what's he going to show in scout team that makes you feel he's ready? You're basically going to bench Cousin some point because Cousins is not playing well to put Mendoza in. That's why I just

just pull the band off and let him play now. Well, it's not necessarily what he's going to see in the scout team, but he's able to go through the process of a weekly game plan and studying the installation and seeing what that's like, and then being able to study an opponent and see all the variations.

So by the time you get, you know, deeper into the season, the comfort level that he's going have with the offense should be significantly higher. I agree with that. And then the comfort level with identifying what the defense is doing should be higher. And you really hope that with, I know Kirk isn't necessarily saying, hey, I'm his mentor, but to be able to see someone who's played at a, I think, a very successful level for a long time to see what it's like for a pro to prepare for the. those games, there is value in that. I think as soon as they brought in Cousins, it signaled

that Mendoza wasn't going to start week one. I tend to come out on the side with Jeff. Like, I want to know as soon as possible if I've got the guy or not. I also would make my decision on Mendoza based on Mendoza and not based on Cousins. Like, if you don't think Mendoza's ready and Cousins sprains his knee in week one, then play Ader and O'Connell. Like, only play Mendoza. That's not going to happen, though. No, but I would, but I'm saying I would only play Mendoza when Mendoza is ready. But I think the thing that Mendoza has going for him, that the last two number one picks didn't have going for him,

last three number one pick quarterbacks didn't have going for him, is he is drafted to the coach that is going to be his coach. Exactly. So like the growing pains that he will have, the good and the bad, will be with Kubiak, whereas like Caleb Williams came in and then they fired his coach. So it was a new system in year two. Bryce Young, new system, Cam Ward, new system. Like Clint Kubiak should be there for a couple of years, at least, assuming it goes well, with Mendoza.

He's not going into a lame duck coach situation. So I would want to get as much data out there together of coaching quarterback. Right. But you want that guy to be in the best, because he is the number one traffic. You want him to be able to go out. And when he plays, be able to play at the highest level possible for him. Because it's not just his confidence. It's everybody else's confidence around him, too.

And all those guys that are older, they're pros and they want to win. They're not there to go through Mendoza's learning curve. Some of these guys in the last year of their career. Some guys are in the tail end. They're not there just to hang out. They want to win games. And there's a responsibility to them, too, to try to put them in a position to have a chance to win.